The Observer, Volume LIV, Issue 12, 11/18/22

Kaler’s email puts CWRU and USG in national spotlight, bringing risk to students

There was a clear look of relief on fourth-year Ethan Deemer’s face Tues day evening on Nov. 8. Despite the contentiousness of the topic and the many years of heated debate surround ing the bill, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) of Case Western Reserve University had seemingly suc cessfully navigated a vote surrounding a resolution calling on the university administration to divest from com panies that support the “Israeli apart heid.”

While there were passionate speak ers on both sides of the issue, and many student spectators usually not present for USG votes, pandemonium had not been unleashed during the General As sembly (GA). In fact, it was a rather respectful discussion, with arguments, counter-arguments and anecdotes, and it featured very few interruptions, name-calling or explicit dismissive ness of concerns. As the speaker of USG, it was Deemer’s responsibility to moderate discussion, and from his per spective all had gone well.

Addressing the speakers before votes were cast, Deemer thanked all for a “productive discussion,” and said he hoped the GA would be “a great starting point for collaboration on this campus.” The resolution passed by an overwhelming majority. When the re sults were announced, there were some cheers of jubilation and looks of disap pointment, but otherwise it was a very reserved ending to what could have been an explosive evening.

“I had horror stories of what this was going to look like in my head,” Deemer said about the inflammatory language he expected. “I was in [the USG advi sor’s] office this morning shivering and shaking, trying to think about what this evening tonight would look like.”

Those horror stories came true the

Shreyas Banerjee Executive Editor

is not so simple” due to the presence of settlements and Israeli infrastruc ture in Palestinian territory, and that he “walked away with a better under standing of the realities of what a twostate solution would look like, and also the realities and difficulties of a onestate solution.”

SPOTLIGHT continued on pg. 2

sports

Women’s soccer rolls to Round of 16

Puneet Bansal Sports Editor

next day when CWRU President Eric Kaler sent out an email to the CWRU community the next morning, Nov. 9, labeling the newly passed resolution as “an aggression towards the Jewish members of our community” and in herently antisemitic, while implying that USG members who supported the bill were encouraging “hate” and not engaging in “informed debate.”

While before only those who active ly kept up with USG were aware of the bill’s passage, suddenly the entire cam pus community had been told by their administration about the existence of the bill and its “naïve” and “antiSemitic” nature, and that their student representatives were responsible for it. Additionally, President Kaler’s com ments had spread outside of CWRU, with national organizations and poli ticians commenting on the resolution

and Kaler’s statement. CWRU students and their USG were suddenly part of a national debate they never expected.

The American Jewish Committee (AJC), a national Jewish advocacy group, praised President Kaler’s “brav ery in clearly and forcefully condemn ing the undergrad student government” and his “courage and strong moral vi sion.” President Kaler is an alumnus of AJC’s “Project Interchange” program, as he participated in an AJC delegation to Israel in 2018 to meet with Israeli officials, policy-makers and educators when he was the president of the Uni versity of Minnesota. In an interview with AJC, he stated that before the visit he “believed a two-state solution was a relatively straightforward way to at least make some progress” but after meeting with experts on the Israel and Palestine conflict he realized that “it

An open letter from CWRU faculty regarding President Kaler’s statement

We write in defense of our students, who have taken a principled stand against the policies of a state. Whether one agrees with the students’ proposed solutions or not, labeling their stand as hateful towards a people and their faith is inaccurate.

We are living in a time of increased overt antisemitism in this country. Sensitivity to this problem makes it all the more urgent to distinguish be tween antisemitism—a bigotry against a people—and criticism of particular policies of Israel. The Jerusalem Dec laration on Antisemitism, for example, states that criticism of Israeli military activity and the West Bank occupation are not antisemitic, nor are calls for di vestment from associated companies.

President Kaler stated that the major ity of the Undergraduate Student Gov ernment “promotes anti-Semitism,” “aggression toward the Jewish mem bers of our community” and “hate.”

The Undergraduate Student Govern ment’s resolution, however, called for divestment from arms manufacturers, companies operating in the West Bank and for-profit prisons. It’s important to stress that the resolution did not attack the Israeli state per se, but particular

policies. Does condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine make one bigoted against Russian people?

President Kaler’s Nov. 9 letter en dorsed open debate. Labeling one side’s speech as “hate” however, has had a chilling effect on speech among students, staff and faculty.

We’re proud of our students who, despite this effect, wrote a reasoned response to Kaler’s letter in their Ob server editorial of Nov. 11.

Many faculty teach about sensitive global topics that even under the best of circumstances can make some stu dents uncomfortable. The president has made this task more difficult. We support a safe environment for all of our students and other members of our community.

Signed, Anonymous Faculty, College of Arts and Sciences

- I sign anonymously because I anticipate administrative retaliation.

Anonymous Junior Faculty, College of Arts and Sciences

Anonymous Pre-Tenure Faculty Member, College of Arts and Sciences

Anonymous Pre-Tenure Faculty

Member, College of Arts and Sciences Faculty for a Democratic Society, CWRU

Jeremy Bendik-Keymer, Depart ment of Philosophy

Tim Black, Department of Sociol ogy

John Broich, Department of History Avidan Cover, School of Law

Dale Dannefer, Department of Soci ology

Laura Hengehold, Department of Philosophy

Paul Iversen, Department of Clas sics

Kenneth F. Ledford, Department of History

Pete Moore, Department of Political Science

Einav Rabinovitch-Fox, Depart ment of History

Jonathan Sadowsky, Department of History

Renee Sentilles, Department of His tory

Ted Steinberg, Department of His tory

Rachel Sternberg, Department of Classics

After posting the best regular sea son in program history, the Case Western Reserve University women’s soccer team swept through the first two games of the NCAA Division III championship tournament. Hosting the first two rounds from Nov. 12-13, the Spartans defeated the University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg 6-1 on Sat urday and Ithaca College 6-0 on Sun day. The team now stands at 17-0-1.

In front of a boisterous home crowd on DiSanto Field, second-year forward Carolyn Koutures kicked off the scoring bonanza against Greens burg 20 minutes into the first half.

Fourth-year midfielder Aniya Hartz ler launched a corner kick towards the goal box. First-year midfielder Jamie Goldfarb was the first to it, headinwg it closer to the goal. Koutures finished off the play and netted a goal into the lower right corner. Hartzler and Gold farb earned an assist each on the 1-0 play.

Almost two minutes later, Hartzler passed the ball from midfield to gradu ate student forward Camryn Hartman, who was closing in on the box. Hart man collected the ball and juked past the defender with a spin move, taking a shot into the lower left corner for the 2-0 lead. With the score, Hartman net ted her 11th goal of the season while Hartzler recorded her 8th assist.

Fourth-year midfielder Helina Van Bibber owned the second half, scoring two goals within the first 20 minutes. Fourth-year midfielder Anika Wash burn assisted on VanBibber’s first goal, and in the second VanBibber put on a dribbling clinic with multiple spins before finally kicking it in.

“I was on the side and just looking for teammates,” said VanBibber when asked about her second goal. “I was dribbling and I saw a corner of oppor tunity and just shot it. Ani [Washburn] had a nice little fake and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without [her].”

Washburn joined the scoring party less than two minutes later. Fourthyear defender Elizabeth White took a free kick, which went flying into the box and was deflected off a defender. Washburn took the rebound and fin ished the play, sending the ball into the lower left corner for her second goal of the season and securing the 5-0 lead.

SOCCER

The Student Newspaper of Case Western Reserve University

Editorial

friday, november 18, 2022 volume LIV, issue 12 estd. 1969

President Eric Kaler has brought national attention to CWRU fol lowing his Nov. 9 email about USG Resolution 31-15. Courtesy of Gabe Hernandez/San Antonio Business Journal

letter to the editor

History of reproductive health panel educates CWRU and raises awareness

Nihal Manjila Staff Writer

Tyler Vu/The Observer

Recently, members of the Case Western Reserve University commu nity held a panel on the history of re productive health. This was the first of a speaker series that the Reproductive Health Task Force was hosting on re productive health and justice. Provost and Executive Vice President Ben Vin son III gave opening remarks, and the three panelists were associate professor Aviva Rothman, professor of history and co-director of the Women and Gen der Studies Program Renée Sentilles and assistant professor Noël Voltz.

Opening the discussion, Rothman argued that medical legal history was at the root of the legal argument around abortion. She described how people had been thinking about abortion for a very long time, giving Aristotle’s reflection on fetal development as an example. She discussed the idea of epigenesis, a concept used to describe how a being gains a soul. Within this framework, humans are described as having rational souls that develop after conception.

For male fetuses, this process takes 40 days and for female fetuses 80, meaning fetuses could be alive but lack a soul.

She went on to describe how Chris tian thinkers, including St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine, structured Christian beliefs of fetal development on this Aristotelian framework. Quick ening, or the first movement of a fetus, began to be seen as the beginning of human life, determined by what the pregnant mother could physically feel.

Rothman further described the lack of historical basis for the overturn ing of Roe v. Wade. Understandings of life have changed over time due to advances in technology. Additionally, total abortion bans are ahistorical when considering the history of abortion ac cess in the U.S.

The second panelist to speak was Dr. Sentilles, who spoke about how abortion had been illegal in the U.S. for roughly 93 years. Medical politics were at the center of legal changes from roughly 1860 to 1973, and reli

gion was not at the heart of the abortion debate until the 1980s. From the U.S.’s earliest days, abortion had been legal, as English common law allowed for the practice. Eventually, there came to be a period where state laws controlled access to abortion before the SCOTUS ruling that protected abortion access. With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, control over abortion access has once again returned to state governments.

Sentilles explained that there were many methods of contraception and abortion practiced across times, places and cultures. Women controlled fe male reproduction prior to the 1860s, as midwives performed various pro cedures for women and their families.

The U.S. birth rate dropped by half be tween 1800 and 1900, raising concerns among some white Americans who feared for the future of the “white race.”

Sentilles continued on to say that due to this, motherhood became revered for upper- and middle-class white women who could help save the “white race.”

The advertising and selling of abortion and contraception began to be seen as a sign of moral decay within the nation.

Additionally, the panel noted that the creation of the American Medical Association in 1847—composed en tirely of white men—was fueled by a desire to outlaw midwifery and vil lanize abortion as wrong when per formed outside of hospitals. Police enforcing anti-abortion laws went after doctors and medical practitioners on the margins, as well as non-pregnant women themselves. This period of 93 years, from 1880-1973, was character ized by abortion being illegal except when performed by reputable doctors trying to save women’s lives.

Sentilles also addressed that while it is often said that men are trying to take away women’s access to abortion, there are many women on both sides of the abortion debate. New state laws

SPOTLIGHT continued from pg. 1

Meanwhile, the Council on Ameri can-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Mus lim civil rights and advocacy group, and its Cleveland Chapter released a public statement calling on Kaler to “apologize, retract his false statement, and meet with students” while also call ing his statement “dishonest, dangerous and defamatory.”

CAIR national deputy director Ed ward Ahmed Mitchell said, “By slan dering students for expressing support for Palestinian human rights and call ing on the university to divest from companies that provide military sup port for the Israeli apartheid govern ment’s human rights abuses, President Kaler has endangered the very students he is supposed to protect.”

Government officials from the Cleveland area have also commented on the USG resolution while specifi cally referencing Kaler’s statement.

Newly elected congressman Max Miller, a Republican who represents many Cleveland suburbs, denounced the resolution and said he was “deeply disturbed by the CWRU undergraduate student government’s endorsement of the deeply antisemitic and wholly unAmerican [Boycott, Divestment, Sanc tions (BDS)] movement,” saying he

joined President Kaler “in denouncing this resolution and [urged] all Ohioans of goodwill to do the same.”

Congresswoman Shontel Brown, a Democrat who represents the city of Cleveland proper, also said she sup ported President Kaler’s statement, stating that “college campuses must remain free from anti-semitism and hate towards any group in order to fos ter respectful and honest debate.” Rep. Brown has been a staunch supporter of the State of Israel, having also gone on a trip to Israel in 2018 and received nearly $2 million in PAC spending by the Democratic Majority for Israel in her primary victory in 2021.

With more attention put on our USG than ever before, USG representatives have received an influx of harassment, threats and hate messages from around the country. Wanting to remain anony mous, a USG representative said they were losing sleep over the resolution and the ensuing harassment. They also expressed regret for running for USG in the first place. Another USG repre sentative noted seeing some of their colleagues breaking down crying due to the messages they were receiving.

On Nov. 11, USG sent out an email to the CWRU student body to provide

context for the resolution and clear up misunderstandings about its content. In their statement, USG noted that the debate surrounding Israel and Palestine “is incredibly nuanced and should be treated as such” and also condemned “any acts of hatred or discrimination towards any group on campus.” In their email they also included the text of the resolution, along with the minutes from the GA and urged students to read them and come to their own conclusions as to the tone of the debate and the intentions of all those who voted on the resolution.

“We knew this resolution wasn’t go ing anywhere,” one USG representa tive said. “Administration could have just let this die by not acting on it. No body even would have known about this if it weren’t for that email. Now we are dealing with all this shit.”

Multiple professors have expressed concern regarding President Kaler’s statement and the position it has put CWRU students in. One professor com pared Kaler’s email with “dous[ing] [a fire] with kerosene.”

Jeremy Bendik-Keymer, a profes sor in the Department of Philosophy, expressed dismay at the way the uni versity administration had approached the issue, saying, “Without knowing

criminalizing abortion are more ex treme than previous iterations, and are not advocated for by the medical estab lishment. These new laws also target pregnant women and people helping women get abortions, and rely on preg nancy tests that measure pregnancy based on implantation.

The final speaker, Voltz, spoke on the importance of bodily autonomy when studying Black women in the U.S. In doing so, Voltz structured her discussion around four central themes: Black women seeing abortion as lib eration, Black women seeing abortion as oppression, abortion being a part of healthcare for Black women and abor tion fundamentally being about bodily autonomy.

Voltz described how abortion had historically been a method of resistance against sexual assault and forced breed ing by white slave masters in the U.S. In the scientific field, Black women ex perienced similar hardships with Voltz describing how James Marion Sims, the father of gynecology, experimented on enslaved Black women without the use of anesthetics. Even in daily life, Voltz explained, Black communities, particularly impoverished communi ties, lacked access to resources like contraception, abortion and health in surance which contributed to negative community health overall.

At the end of the panel, Sentilles noted that discourse around abortion continues to be an issue today, and that social media has exacerbated the ability to have nuanced conversations. This first lecture in the speaker series was able to shed a historical light on abortion. In the future, the Reproduc tive Health Task Force speaker series will continue to provide students an educational resource for topics related to reproductive justice, giving them the power to engage in fruitful conversa tions and make educated decisions.

whether there was a causal relation be tween President Kaler’s recent public letter and threats to USG officers, his letter clearly added fuel to the fire and legitimized an extreme and adversarial, even existentially threatening, interpre tation of the situation. It put students at increased risk. This is unacceptable for a college president to do.”

He mentioned that many of his col leagues were discussing the best way to address and deescalate the situation, with some ultimately deciding to sub mit a Letter to the Editor through The Observer.

“Some faculty are scared of the president, with some saying that they will not publicly comment out of fear of reprisal during [promotion and ten ure] review and anonymous letters have begun to circulate,” he added. He also expressed worry at reported antise mitic remarks appearing toward Jewish students in the aftermath of the events of this past week, especially on some social media platforms, like the anony mous app YikYak.

“What we need from the campus administration is a clear message that draws down reactivity in all quarters and helps secure a safe environment for all.”

Taylor Swift

Kate Gordon Copy Editor

Taylor Swift is an artist with a long, messy history. The early years were good, with Swift slowly phasing out her country roots for pop and be coming one of the most recognizable artists of the 2010s. Then she argu ably got too big, and it became popu lar to hate Swift, or at the very least dislike her. She was accused of lying about whether she approved a lyric in Kanye West’s “Famous” where he said “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. Why? I made that bitch famous.” West also featured a nude wax model of Swift lying in bed next to him in the “Famous” music video to add insult to injury. Later, a leaked phone call revealed that Swift had not in fact approved the latter part of the lyric—“I made that bitch famous”— but at that point, the damage was done.

Before and during the release of Swift’s sixth studio album, “Reputa tion,” she experienced online ridicule and widespread hatred. People flood ed her Instagram comments with the snake emoji, a reference to the insult given to her by West’s then-wife Kim Kardashian, and articles began to pop up with titles like “When Did You First Realize Taylor Swift Was Ly ing to You?” and “How Taylor Swift Played The Victim For A Decade And Made Her Entire Career.” Essentially, it was no longer cool to like Swift. And even if you didn’t have a prob lem with her supposed lie or her feud with the Kardashian-West clan, there were plenty of popular criticisms of the artist you could tote as your rea son for disliking her: she’s whiny, she only writes songs about her ex-boy friends, she’s played out, she’s an noying and she’s old. As for her mu sic, while “Reputation” and her next album “Lover” were both admittedly large commercial successes, musi cally and lyrically they were nothing to write home about—that is, at least not compared to what Swift was go ing to put out next.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Taylor capitalized on her time at home to release two surprise albums, “Folklore” and “Evermore.” Not only were they runaway hits, lauded for their lyricism and distinct departure from Swift’s previous up beat style, but they provided a cru cial chance for her to rectify her im age. There she was, a major celebrity stuck at home and pursuing her hob bies like the rest of us. Swift began to circulate more and more on social media, and this time for a good rea son: TikTok loved “Folklore.” Gen Z decided Swift was cool again, and back into the pop culture limelight she came.

Swift has only kept this momentum going by releasing “Fearless” (Tay lor’s Version) and “Red” (Taylor’s Version) in 2021, both even more successful than they were during their initial debut. People screamed along to all 10 minutes of the new “All Too Well” cut, and sobbed to its short film starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O’ Brien. Most recently, Swift

has come out with her tenth studio album, “Midnights,” and while it has topped the charts, reviews of the al bum from critics and fans alike are decidedly mixed. Some praise its re turn to pop, while others are confused what happened to the intricate lyrics and indie-esque sound of “Folklore.” And although no criticism of Swift has come close to what she was expe riencing during the release of “Repu tation,” I’m still afraid that her era of near-universal likeability is coming to an end.

The first cause for concern is the music of “Midnights” itself. The al bum is clearly a move back to the style of “Reputation” and “Lover,” both released when Swift was at her lowest popularity-wise—already a bad sign. “Midnights’” lyricism, as I’ve already mentioned, has also seemingly taken a step back—one particular lyric circulating on social media is “Sometimes I feel like ev erybody is a sexy baby,” from “AntiHero.” And although the “sexy baby” is a reference to an episode of “30 Rock,” those who mock the line see it as silly and cringey, criticism they ap ply to Swift as well. Some of today’s headlines read, reminiscent of those from the “Reputation” era, “Taylor Swift is peak millennial vibes,” “The Beautiful Banality of Taylor Swift’s Midnights” and, worst of all, “Taylor Swift’s ‘Midnights’ Album Is Shock

ingly Dull.” The album is either too boring or too dated and embarrassing. It’s also strange how no one seems to be able to write badly of “Midnights” without conflating it with who Swift is as a person, tied as she is to her albums’ marketing. If “Midnights” is no longer cool, then neither is Swift herself, and you’d better not be caught listening to anything on her discography—or at least, that’s the direction we seem to be heading in.

A potential reversal of Swift’s popularity would only be exacerbated by some of her recent controversies. First, she was revealed to have the highest carbon emissions of any ce lebrity, measured by how frequently she uses her private jet. Then, with the release of “Midnights,” she came under fire for including a scene in her “Anti-Hero” music video of herself stepping on a scale that read “fat,” intended to portray her struggle with eating disorders, but with many claiming that it actually perpetuated body image issues instead. If Swift has another public scandal, it’s easy to see cancel culture and the media at large coming for her as it has for many other celebrities, and she may not be able to recover.

Worse, she might not even need another public scandal to lose her new fanbase, although that would certainly hasten her fall from grace. We now live in an era where music

trends are controlled—or at the very least are easily swayed—by TikTok. They also tend to come and go very quickly, with songs and artists re maining popular for a week and then fading into obscurity when the next big thing pushes them out of the spot light. Swift has managed to stay pop ular for far longer than one week, I’ll grant you, but she’s also established in the mainstream music industry in a way that the younger artists blowing up on the app are not. Still, it’s only a matter of time before the cycle shifts and suddenly Swift is kicked aside for a younger, cooler and less oversaturated celebrity instead.

So is Swift definitively going to become unpopular again? While I think that most of the signs unfortu nately point to yes, I will acknowl edge that the recent surge of aware ness of how the media treats female celebrities—think the 2021 Britney Spears documentary and the many movies from the past two years cen tering on Princess Diana—means that there is a glimmer of hope for Swift. Maybe, just maybe, people will be able to leave who she is as a person alone even if her music is no longer their cup of tea. As Swift continues to rerelease her masters and poten tially put out even more original new music, we’ll just have to wait and see how the public reacts. Hopefully I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Is

going to become unpopular again?

What the mixed reviews of “Midnights” mean for an artist whose popularity historically comes and goes

Taylor Swift’s newest album, “Midnights,” has topped the charts and crashed Spotify but isn’t receiving as much acclaim as her previous works. Courtesy of Republic Records.

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is a continuation of Chadwick Boseman’s groundbreaking work

The recent release of “Black Pan ther: Wakanda Forever” has been a bittersweet one, continuing the be loved series without its leading actor. The film portrays the grief of a com munity following the death of King T’Challa, which coincides with the death of his actor Chadwick Boseman in 2020. It effortlessly serves as a trib ute to the actor while simultaneously continuing the series, but does so in a way that acknowledges the major loss that has occurred both within the fran chise and in the real world. Unlike other films in the genre, “Wakanda Forever” is able to successfully tackle difficult topics without controversy or by reverting to comedy as a means of representing the grieving process. It allows viewers to witness the hole that the actor’s death left in the fran chise and reflect on what he meant to us all.

In 2018, the first “Black Panther” marked the beginning of a major shift in representation for Black people on the big screen and Chadwick Bose man’s portrayal suggested the rise of a new star within the Marvel Cine matic Universe (MCU). The film was the first of its kind to tackle the tough issues of being Black in both Africa and America. Later films continued to discuss these topics, providing much needed representation in a genre that had been lacking for so many years.

It was the first series with a predomi nantly Black cast and, in having one, proved that narratives about Black lives could be immensely profitable if they were given the proper attention. From the beginning, “Black Panther” struck the heartstrings of its viewers and instantly became a fan favorite, proving to be both entertaining and an important touchstone in the conversa tion about representation.

Throughout the new film, Marvel does not shy away from portraying the grief that fans of the series have expe rienced since the death of Boseman and centers around the hole that it left in the series. In the film, T’Challa’s mother Queen Ramonda (Angela Bas sett) has come into power, struggling to lead a broken Wakanda in an in ternational community that is vying for their resources, while also deal ing with the grief of losing her child. The nation mourns the loss of their king and their Black Panther as well. The mantle of the Black Panther can no longer be carried on as all of the power-giving heart-shaped herb was destroyed by Killmonger in the previ ous film. As such, the nation believes that they have been left without a pro tector. T’Challa’s sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) also struggles with grief and her expectations as a leader in Wakan da. It is evident that the death of King T’Challa has drastically changed the

trajectory of the Wakandan nation as well as the franchise as a whole.

At the beginning of the film, we see Wakanda struggling in their role as the most powerful nation on the planet. The world powers want to har ness the powerful metal vibranium— which is thought to be only found in Wakanda—and use it for their own benefit, a claim which Wakanda is adamantly opposed to. Therefore, the countries try to take it by force, only to be thwarted by the Dora Mi laje, Wakanda’s special forces. Queen Ramonda gives a passionate speech about the ramifications of attempting to acquire Wakandan resources, be lieving that they are the only nation that possesses vibranium. However, Queen Ramonda and Shuri quickly learn that they are not the only ones, as they are introduced to the under water nation of Talokan and its leader Namor (Tenoch Huerta), a demi-god of sorts. The United States has created a machine with the help of a teenage scientist named Riri Williams (Domi nique Thorne) that is able to detect vibranium, and accidentally discovers Talokan. Namor seeks out the Wakan dans, asking them to bring the scien tist to him so that no other such ma chines can be created. However, when Shuri refuses to let him kill the scien tist, he suggests an alliance between Wakanda and Talokan to destroy the

surface world that had enslaved his people. Shuri rejects the proposal and war between the two nations breaks out, forcing Shuri to revisit her plans to recreate the heart-shaped herb and bring back the Black Panther.

Without spoiling too much of the film, the war between Talokan and Wakanda leads to the death of another major character in the franchise, forc ing the remaining characters to grieve yet again. The film, already struggling with the loss of its leading actor, takes a drastically dark turn as the war forc es the Wakandans to confront their emotions and their place in the world.

Overall, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” presents a heartbreaking continuation of the “Black Panther” saga, dealing with the feelings of loss and grief for both the characters and the actors. The film contained sev eral tributes to Chadwick Boseman that left the theater absolutely silent other than sniffles. There is also a gutwrenching post credit scene that will have you pulling your tissues back out. The film has been a major boxoffice success in its opening weekend and will surely continue to rack in huge viewership. I highly recommend checking out this movie, even if you aren’t an avid fan of the MCU. It will surely have you on the edge of your seat and sobbing: a duality that is un matched within the genre.

Joey Gonzalez Life Editor

Queen Ramonda (center), played by Angela Bassett, successfully leads Wakanda in the newest “Black Panther” movie following the death of actor Chadwick Boseman in 2020. Courtesy of Marvel Studios.

Hor scope The signs as Soups

The Moon (Reversed)

Someone is hiding something from you and not knowing will continue to drag the relationship down.

The Star (Reversed)

It’s your time to make the right choices for the next semester. Decisions made now will determine the quality of your future.

Judgement (Upright)

It’s your time to make the right choices for the next semester. Decisions made now will determine the quality of your future.

The High Pristess (Reverse)

Peer pressure is making you lose sight of your previous values for yourself. Don’t forget about your own priorities in the grand scheme of things.

Temperance (Upright) Someone you weren’t expecting will be there for you in a time of need.

The Heirophant (Upright) Reach out to that professor you were intimidated by, they have the counsel you need.

The Magician (Reversed)

You are entertaining yourself with shortterm accomplishments. Use your power for your greatest benefit, even if it is less fun.

The Hanged Man (Upright)

The sacrifices you are making are going to pay off in the coming week.

The Hermit (Reversed) You may have forgotten that an organized place of living means a organized mind. If you’re feeling in disarray, try by cleaning up where you spend most of your time thinking.

The Sun (Reversed)

Just because it’s been a cloudy time for you, doesn’t mean the sun is gone. Good times are bound to come in the coming days.

The Lovers (Reversed)

How much you want to be on the same page with a person will determine how much they need to be in your life.

The Emperor (Upright)

After facing countless hardships, you have been bestowed with lessons to face your new horizons.

opinion

opinion

Editorial: CWRU’s student employment system doesn’t treat students fairly

Editorial Board

Many students at Case Western Re serve University work jobs on campus, whether that be for federal work-study purposes or otherwise. However, the student employment system at CWRU is essentially inadequate, and most students are not paid enough.

If you’ve ever had to use Human Capital Management (HCM), you know how difficult the entire payment system is. The website regularly does not work and can take multiple tries to get past the login page. Furthermore, if you want to access payment records or hours in between semesters, HCM will not let you log in unless you are actively working at CWRU. While that isn’t the biggest problem, it is still inconvenient—especially when it comes to checking and confirming payment records. However, navigat ing through the HCM website is just the beginning of student employment issues.

When a CWRU employer first hires a student, they have to fill out a hire form and other new hire documents and have it processed before they are able to start working on campus. However, after turning in those forms and verifying your identification in person, it takes weeks or even months to process. On average, the Office of Student Employment takes about a month to process those forms, but that’s an entire month when a student cannot work in their new place of em ployment. Additionally, if you have already worked on campus before, or are being rehired for the year, it still takes at least a month for that simpli fied form to be processed. By taking an incredibly long time to complete the hiring process, the Office of Stu dent Employment hinders students from getting paid sooner.

Furthermore, the HCM payment schedule and system is inadequate. It takes a long time before your hours are actually sent to payroll after your hiring process is approved. Therefore, you can have weeks of supervisorapproved hours not sent to payroll. And that’s without any egregious er ror on their part—there are instances where students are not paid for a ma jority of the semester, and their super visor has to remind HCM that their student needs payment. When stu

dent employees do get paid, they get paid at the midpoint and the last day of the month—which in and of itself is fine since biweekly payments are not abnormal for jobs. However, ap proved hours sent to payroll are cut off around 12 or 13 days before the next payment date. So for instance, the next payroll date is on Nov. 30, but the approval cutoff date is on Nov. 17, which is almost two weeks before the actual payment. Essentially, hours are backlogged, meaning many students are not getting enough or timely pay ment on each pay date. If there is such a large gap between approved hours being sent to payroll and the pay date, then students should be getting paid on a weekly basis to offset that gap. In addition, if CWRU is not capable of giving payments on a weekly ba sis, then the cutoff date for approved hours submission to payroll should be closer to the actual payment date. Stu dents rely on their on-campus jobs for groceries, rent, financial aid and much more—a problematic payment system for CWRU’s on-campus jobs makes it so that students cannot depend on their work for their basic necessities.

While the university’s payment system is flawed, the amount stu dents are getting paid is even more concerning. Ohio’s current minimum wage is $9.30 per hour—or $4.65 per hour for tipped employees. Accord ing to CWRU’s Student Employment Handbook, undergraduate wages start at $9.20 and can go up to $13.90. For graduate wages, the range is $10.45 to $18.30. While federally a $15 minimum wage has not been passed, Ohio’s minimum wage is not a living wage. CWRU should not be following Ohio’s minimum wage standards.

It’s clear that the Office of Stu dent Employment does not have the resources to process everything in a timely manner, which negatively im pacts students. However, that’s not necessarily the fault of the office, as CWRU has been known to have staff ing shortages across their adminis trative departments. There are sev eral areas CWRU can dedicate more resources and funds to, but student employment is definitely one that de serves high priority. Our wellbeing at this university depends on it.

Sam Seidman Graduate Student

I am a Jewish member of the Case Western Reserve University commu nity for whom President Kaler claimed to speak in his email of Nov. 9. In the email, he informed the CWRU com munity that the Undergraduate Student Government had disappointed him when they had joined the international consensus in accusing Israel of the crime of “apartheid” within its borders and especially in the territories it has oc cupied since 1967—East Jerusalem, the

West Bank and Gaza—and demanding that CWRU divest from assets funding or supporting these crimes. Of course, his feelings are his own. Who am I to tell him not to be disappointed that his students support the Geneva Conven tions?

However, I found several of his asser tions to be erroneous and slanderous— two of which I’m concerned with and writing about today. First, that the reso lution’s assertions are “anti-Israel” and

friday, february 18, 2022 volume LIII, issue 20 estd. 1969

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In regards to President Kaler’s message from a Jewish graduate student

its adoption is “profoundly anti-Israel and anti-Semitic.” Second, and more personally, he insisted that adopting this letter “undoubtedly promotes anti-Sem itism,” “undermines the safety…of our Jewish community” and promotes “ag gression toward the Jewish members of our community.” To the first claim, he seemed to be characterizing factual in formation as “anti-Israel,” which it may be his prerogative to do, but the function of his generalization seems to be to mis

lead rather than inform. For instance, one might ask what the point of even having international human rights law is if we can so simply dismiss accusations as “anti” the country of concern. Read ing through the resolution the reader receives a compelling, factual picture of the crime of apartheid committed by Israel.

Don’t conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism

A response to President Kaler’s email

John Mays Contributing Writer

On the evening of Nov. 8, Case Western Reserve University’s Under graduate Student Government (USG) voted on Resolution 31-15—a reso lution calling for our university to “fully divest its assets from Israeli apartheid, the international militaryindustrial complex, and the interna tional prison-industrial complex.”

The following morning, President Kaler sent out an email critical of the resolution, calling it “profoundly an ti-Israel and anti-Semitic” and claim ing that voting for the resolution con stituted an “aggression towards the Jewish members of our community.” He concluded by saying we must re ject hate and, in doing so, he “cate gorically [rejected] the calls to action outlined in this resolution.”

President Kaler’s email was not only a limp and inadequate rebuttal to the resolution but also insulting to us as students. Furthermore, Kaler as serts that USG founded the resolution on antisemitism and anti-Israelism. At best, this is just a poor choice of language; at worst, it is a disingenu ous tactic to reframe Israel as the pri mary victim in its asymmetric conflict with Palestine.

In calling the resolution antise mitic, Kaler has made the obnoxious mistake of conflating Jewish people with the State of Israel. The resolu tion claims that the State of Israel is engaging in apartheid, not Jew ish people worldwide. This seems clear throughout since the “whereas” clauses mention “Israel” or “Israelis” 15 times, yet the words “Judaism” or “Jews” are nowhere to be found. The ethnicity/religion of the aggressor state seems irrelevant.

Perhaps then Kaler is suggesting that criticism of the State of Israel somehow implicitly targets Jewish people as an ethnic or religious group. However, what does an unproblem

atic criticism of Israel look like? By his logic, it seems like a criticism of state action by Norway would be anti-white or a criticism of Saudi Ara bia would be Islamophobic. I’m not so naive as to suggest that critiques of states cannot go hand in hand with feelings of hatred toward their citi zens. However, under these blanket assumptions, it would be completely impossible to criticize a government without targeting its people for their ethnicity or religion. Therefore, I re ject this notion because it precludes legitimate criticism of state actions— furthermore, the conflation of Jew ish people and Israel is ignorant and offensive. To pretend the actions of Israel represent Jewish people would simply be false as they are entirely different categories. Additionally, there are many Jewish people around the world, such as Noam Chomsky, who criticize Israel in much the same fashion that the resolution does.

Kaler also called the resolution “anti-Israel” and suggested that this is a hateful position, but what ex actly does he mean by anti-Israel? If he means to be against the citizens of Israel as an entire population, this would go hand in hand with the kind of repugnant and indiscriminate ha tred that antisemitism is. However, it is unlikely that this is what he meant, as following this logic would imply that Kaler’s condemnation of the Russian invasion would be hatefully “anti-Russian.” I would never con done this kind of thinking, and for the aforementioned reasons, I would again reject the notion that the reso lution and its authors promote this belief.

Still, maybe Kaler is using another definition; perhaps he believes that the resolution’s writers are against the government of Israel. I cannot claim to speak for Students for Justice

What we owe others

Nihal Manjila Staff Writer

As I was talking with a friend, the topic came up of how we should treat others—and, as an extension of that, what we owe others. I do not mean money or other forms of debt, but rather we were talking about how the way we treat other people is set by so cietal social norms.

As a preface, social norms around how we should behave and treat oth ers vary greatly from culture to cul ture, place to place and time to time. However, I’m limiting this article to today’s campus environment, and I am applying this view to strangers and acquaintances, since it is expected that we treat familiar people well. Overall, we can and should treat each other better, particularly when it comes to manners and looking out for the well-being of others. It is giv en that we should not actively wish or cause social or material harm to oth ers. But should we see that as the end goal? Simply to be neutral? I don’t

believe so. Our end goal should be to be positive forces for each other, even if we are not close friends. Not only does this raise expectations of how we should treat each other, but it also has the potential to benefit us if others treat us in this way. This view must be consciously held and acted upon in order to begin a culture change so we can protect people from emotional or social harm.

We can also apply this concept in our courses. Rather than seeing classes as a competition against other students, it may actually be helpful to work together and help each other. For instance, I found myself doing much better on exams when studying with others. Helping each other identify and fix weaknesses can be much more helpful than simply grinding alone on the third floor of the library. This sort of collaboration is not only allowed, but encouraged by most professors. To that end, we should be actively

in Palestine or any of the other cosponsors, and I do not belong to any of those organizations, but if that is what he believes then yes, I am “antiIsrael.” I support a resolution critical of the oppressive, militaristic and set tler-colonial government of Israel. I will not be an advocate for or be neu tral toward a government I believe is evil. In this sense, if you are to be “pro-Palestine,” you must be “anti-Is rael.” In this sense, you cannot be for the well-being of Palestinian people without being “anti-Israel”—the state is not the people. The state is an insti tution and the ruling hand of the elite. I am “against Israel” in the sense that I must be for the well-being of Pal estinians; however, these are rather fickle categories. What I truly am is anti-violence and anti-militarism.

Kaler has needlessly complicated the outcome of the resolution; still, it is clear that holding hateful feelings toward a people is not a necessary precondition of wishing their govern ment acted differently. I do not have any ill will toward the average Israeli citizen or Jewish person, and I deeply resent the fact that President Kaler suggested that I and many others do simply by supporting this resolution.

For Kaler to suggest the resolution is antisemitic and hateful toward Is raeli people is as foolish as it is for me to suggest that Kaler is Islamo phobic or hateful toward Palestinians. I do not know how he personally feels about those groups of people. Simi larly, he does not know how the cosponsors of the resolution feel about Jewish people, and I have explained that the resolution does not promote any hateful values on its own. How ever, I might understand why he, as the university president, felt the need to send that email.

There has been a noticeable rise in antisemitic sentiment in the United

States, as is exemplified by the recent comments by Kanye West and Ky rie Irving. This is terrifying because Jewish citizens in the U.S. continue to experience symbolic and physical violence as a consequence of anti semitic ideology, and there are cer tainly antisemites on and around this campus. Jewish students have voiced their concerns that the outcome of this resolution makes them feel threat ened, and I think it is at least under standable for them to have a portion of their cultural identity intertwined with the idea of Israel. Therefore, I understand Kaler’s desire to make it clear that antisemitism is abhorrent and not in line with CWRU’s values, and to let Jewish students know that they are safe and welcome here.

However, I cannot go without mentioning that this resolution most likely poses a severe risk to this uni versity’s fiscal interests. CWRU prob ably decided to invest in these com plicit companies at some point, which implies that it would not be in their fiscal interest to disinvest. Further more, this resolution was so conten tious among CWRU’s students that it was most likely also contentious among CWRU’s donors. This email reads like pure posturing to me, and if Kaler chose to send it to support those financial interests, he is spineless and immoral.

Overall, I found Kaler’s email to be reminiscent of the segregation ists who pathetically insisted that the civil rights movement was inherently anti-white. His claims are logically incoherent, disingenuous and down right offensive. I hope that we can do better as a community and that we can work toward a world with less suffering, less killing and less hatred. USG’s resolution is in line with those goals, and as it stands, President Kal er is not.

working to meet and study with other unfamiliar students.

Further, this notion is reflected in the educational ideal of the university as a place of learning. Historically, universities were not just a place to check off some academic require ments, earn a degree and move on— they were places where people could learn technical skills, develop critical thinking and, most importantly, be a part of a learning community. The strength of this community is that we can learn from each other, not just from lectures and notes—and not just from faculty and graduate students. Undergraduates can also establish these connections and perform better in their courses or other endeavors.

Lastly, we should apply this con cept to volunteering and community service. It’s easy to engage in service because it looks good for graduate school applications or fulfills the ser vice requirements of a fraternity and

other extracurriculars. However, these motivations make performing com munity service somewhat superficial and not as meaningful as it potentially could be. The most basic idea behind community service is serving people we do not know but who could benefit from our time and energy. It is difficult to perform meaningful service and make real connections with the people you serve if you are not open to the possibility of doing good for others for its own sake. Additionally, we owe our communities, particularly because they live alongside us and work in the stores we shop in, restaurants we eat at or hospitals we go to for medical care. Lifting up and serving our com munity, particularly those in the low est socioeconomic strata, is based on the idea of owing others around us.

I challenge you to think about what you believe we owe others. Should we focus on looking out for ourselves or should we try to do good for others?

The word “lazy” first became pop ular in the 16th century when the Pu ritans came to the United States. The idea stemmed from their religious beliefs, which revolved around the notion that those who couldn’t work hard and focus on their tasks were damned to go to Hell when they died and were unable to receive the salva tion of God. As such, with the rise of the slave trade in the United States, these Puritanical religious ideals were pushed onto enslaved people to justify their brutal treatment and their use as free labor, as they prom ised them religious salvation and re wards in the afterlife. Thus, the use of laziness as a justification for slav ery began.

While slavery has been abolished, the obsession with productivity has long since prospered, trickling into the workplace, academia and even the home. How many times have you been described as lazy? Was it your manager at your part-time job push ing you to stay busy, even when there was nothing to do? How about your parents nagging you to get out of bed

on a Saturday instead of “doing noth ing”? Society widely uses the idea to shame people into being productive; however, when are you actually “do ing nothing”? You’re doing some thing when you watch TikToks in between classes—entertaining your self. You’re doing something when you nap—recharging your energy. However, these activities are often used against people. But what do they all have in common? You’re do ing something, but you’re not doing it for anyone else. And that is where the “laziness lie” comes from, cour tesy of Dr. Devon Price’s book “La ziness Does Not Exist.”

The laziness lie is the idea that working hard is good, but wanting free time is morally wrong. Laziness became a deficit to overcome, with shame and ridicule following any one who ever dares take idle time for themselves. Unfortunately, the laziness lie prospers in the U.S.; we are a capitalistic society built on the foundational concept of “hard work pays off.” If you work hard, you can make money for yourself and for

those above you. However, this is not always true. How many people work 40-hour weeks at a minimum wage job, barely able to afford rent? How many people give up their weekends to finish an understaffed project at their job, with no bonus in sight? These people definitely work hard, but their hard work hasn’t paid off. Why? Because they are victims of the laziness lie: working hard with the hopes of a reward, but never giv en their due.

To the Case Western Reserve Uni versity student, this lie is prevalent in all aspects of college life. It’s not uncommon to hear students chatting about how busy they are between looking for internships and taking 21 credit hours their first semester. But why can’t we just slow down? Why are we feeding into this lie that we need to be busy all the time? As a response, some might say, “Well, I need work experience!” or “I need a job to make money!” Well, I do too, and I already have these things. And I am working on them consistent ly—but consistently is not the same

thing as constantly. You don’t have to work constantly to progress in life. Because life is not just about mak ing money and getting straight A’s. In fact, you couldn’t even do those things without psychologically dete riorating from a lack of rest. Progress does not have to happen in four years. It doesn’t even have to occur in 20 or even 50 years. You have your whole life to make progress. It is perfectly okay to slow down, take a breather and use your idle time to simply be idle.

Working hard is exhausting, and in reality, it’s not even always nec essary to succeed. You don’t need to force yourself to constantly be do ing something, especially when you barely take time for yourself. The internal pressure to work hard with out limits is unhealthy and disregards the natural boundaries for attaining happiness. Tiredness and needing to take a break is not failure. It’s just a momentary but extremely necessary step towards achieving your goals. It’s time to step away from the lazi ness lie and be kind to yourself.

CWRU needs to improve transparency in class registration

Caroline Kuntzman Staff Writer

Undergraduate class registration at Case Western Reserve University began on Monday Nov. 14, with stu dents set to graduate next spring and summer able to enroll in courses on the Student Information System (SIS). Class registration at CWRU is well organized and designed to ensure that graduating students will most likely get the classes they need. That said, it also presents significant limitations regarding the information available to students before they start enrolling in classes. Furthermore, the reality of un predictable course offerings can make it difficult for any student to build a four-year plan to ensure that they graduate.

CWRU’s course registration system uses a seniority-based system—the students closest to graduating are the first to gain access to the system and then the other students get access to it, with first-years being the last to have the opportunity to sign up for classes. While a seemingly unfair system, it protects students who want to gradu ate the next semester from failing to do so due to inability to enroll in their required classes—such as physical education courses. So, the overarch ing concept of the class registration system should be maintained to en sure that seniors can meet graduation requirements.

The major problem with the exist ing class registration system lies in its failure to provide students with use ful information about the classes they want to enroll prior to registering for them. This semester, a considerable amount of classes don’t have locations assigned to them. From history to biol ogy to nursing courses, there are a sig nificant number of classes where the location is listed as “To Be Scheduled (In-Person)”. Some schools within the university, such as the Weatherhead School of Management and the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, appear to have listed more courses with assigned classrooms than other schools—so some students will be aware of where their classes will be taught before reg istration. It should be acknowledged that certain students can predict what buildings their classes will be in, be

cause some departments have the majority of their classes on the same quad. However, as someone who has an English course in the Bingham Building—which largely houses civ il engineering classes, I can say that class location is not always apparent or predictable. For students intending to enroll in back-to-back classes, it is important to estimate how much time it will take to go from class to class. It would be helpful for SIS to feature this information so students may build ideal and feasible schedules.

Another area where CWRU’s class registration system falls short is that it often fails to list the instructors for all of the classes prior to registration. CWRU makes course evaluations available for students to view with the stated purpose of helping them “choose the courses that will best meet their academic interests and needs.” Two faculty members will teach the same class differently, so viewing evaluations can help students make in formed decisions about specific class es and sections before registration.

The irregularity with which some departments teach courses can also present challenges for students mak ing plans to graduate. While depart ments offer the required core classes more regularly, elective course offer ings can be highly irregular. SIS does display when the class was previously offered, which can help students pre dict when it might be offered again. However, if it was more clear how of ten any given course would be offered or if departments were more consis tent, it would be easier for students to plan what they want to take. This is not to say that departments should stop of fering new courses or should be obli gated to provide the same electives ev ery semester—but the unpredictability of elective offerings can make it dif ficult for students to balance required classes and preferred electives. There should just be more information avail able for students.

CWRU’s course registration pro cess is good because it ensures that seniors can enroll in the classes they need to graduate; even so, it fails to provide information that helps stu dents make informed decisions about

their long-term graduation plans. Striving to ensure that classes have locations, instructors and an indica tor of when they could be offered

next would help students navigate the course registration process with more confidence.

CWRU Film Society

Friday, November 18, 2022 FREE ADMISSION

Starting at 7:00 p.m.

At Home but Not at Home (2019) Letter from Your Far-off Country (2020) Golden

Jubilee (2021)

Directed by: Suneil Sanzgiri

Format: Digital

Presented in Partnership with moCa Cleveland and FRONT

There will be a talkback after the showings presented in partnership with moCa and FRONT. In 1961, 14 years after India gained independence from Britain, the Indian Armed Forces defeated the last remaining Portuguese colonizers in the newly formed state of Goa. In considering identity, liberation, and the movement of people across space and time, Sanzgiri returned to this period in search of moments of anti-colonial solidarity across continents.

A search for solidarity in the Muslim women-led Shaheen Bagh movement in Delhi, in the poetry of Agha Shahid Ali, the song of Iqbal Bano, the theater of Safdar Hashmi, and images of the radical anti-caste Dalit intellectual B. R. Ambedkar—all surrounding a letter addressed to the filmmaker’s distant relative Prabhakar Sanzgiri.

Golden Jubilee, the third film in a series of works about memory, diaspora and decoloniality, takes as its starting point scenes of the filmmaker’s father navigating a virtual rendering of their ancestral home in Goa, India, created using the same technologies of surveillance that mining companies use to map locations for iron ore in the region.

Saturday, November 19, 2022

7:00 p.m., 9:30 p.m.

Pan’s Labyrinth (1988)

Rated R (118 mins.)

Directed by: Guillermo del Toro

With Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Sergi López

In 1944 Spain, Ofelia, a girl fascinated with fairy tales, is sent along with her pregnant mother to live with her new stepfather, a ruthless captain of the Spanish army. During the night, she meets a fairy who takes her to an old faun in the center of the labyrinth. He tells her she’s a princess, but must prove her royalty by surviving three gruesome tasks. If she fails, she will never prove herself to be the true princess and will never see her real father, the king, again.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The struggle for justice in CWRU and Palestine goes on

Tim O’Shea CWRU ‘20

Four and a half years ago, I co-au thored Resolution 27-04, the first USG resolution calling for the divestment of CWRU assets from the Israeli occupa tion of Palestine. That effort ended on April 22, 2018, in—what seemed to be at the time—utter defeat. But the suc cess of Resolution 31-15, authored by CWRU Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and endorsed by the USG General Assembly on Nov. 8, says differently.

On March 29, 2018, the USG Execu tive Committee unconstitutionally re fused to allow Resolution 27-04 onto the upcoming April 10 General Assembly (GA) agenda. At that GA meeting, we again sought to introduce the resolution via “Open Forum,” which had no prece dent of requiring a vote, but that night it suddenly required two-thirds of the GA in favor, which was not met. When USG came under considerable pressure from the ensuing political blowback, it was agreed that an emergency GA would be held on April 22 to formally introduce Resolution 27-04. Despite significant interest from the wider public in holding a moderated discussion, too few mem bers of GA itself attended and quorum was not met, ending the legislative term of the 27th Assembly.

In the wake of Resolution 31-15’s passage, SJP and its supporters may feel both celebratory of their accomplish

contextProvidingand condemning hate

USG Executive Committee

CWRU Student Body,

We want to provide context for the Undergraduate Student Government General Assembly on Tuesday, Nov. 8. The resolution on the table was au thored by Case Western Reserve Uni versity Students for Justice in Pales tine and co-sponsored by a number of student groups across campus. The topic discussed is incredibly nuanced and should be treated as such.

All parties on Tuesday participat ed in a peaceful, open dialogue—we encourage you all to read the min utes and resolution availible on The Observer website to form your own opinions.

Every student is your peer and has their own valid experiences. We implore you all to respect those who made their voices heard and to treat everyone on campus with the dig nity and kindness you would like to be treated with. Our campus is moti vated by community, not by divisive ness.

We recognize that this resolution has impacted the mental health of our community and want to share re sources you can reach out to for sup port. If you have any questions, we encourage you to contact our execu tive board at usg-executive@case. edu.

Finally, we as the Undergraduate Student Government condemn any acts of hatred or discrimination to wards any group on campus.

Sincerely, USG Executive Committee

ments and discouraged by President Eric Kaler’s callous response, which has been rightfully called divisive, ig norant and misleading. But while Presi dent Kaler refuses to take up an investi gation of CWRU’s complicity in Israeli apartheid today, he or the next CWRU president will be forced to reconsider through your continued struggle. This is your university, not his, after all. Just as the efforts my colleagues and I made in 2018 were not final, yours too will be a step towards further accomplishments for generations of CWRU students to come.

Congratulations to SJP and all ad vocates of Resolution 31-15 on your success. To the co-sponsoring organi zations supporting justice in Palestine, thank you. This is exactly how we make change—by building cross-cutting co alitions of groups which all share an interest in challenging the transnational systems of militarization and imperial ism. Know that SJP will have your back when you engage in your own struggle. Thank you all for your unyielding prin ciples and dedication to the cause and be content in the knowledge of the shame supporters of Israeli apartheid will feel in the near future as we continue to win the fight.

Tim O’Shea, CWRU ‘20

GRADUATE

Indeed, the historical record as recounted in the resolution demon strates that Israel has committed the crimes of occupation and apartheid: forced migration, re-settling its popu lation in occupied lands, political dis enfranchisement and so on.

Moreover, a review of the full histor ical record reveals that the resolution paints an overly conservative picture of Israel’s behavior. As the resolution states, apartheid is a crime whereby an “institutionalized regime of sys tematic oppression and domination” is established, and details evidence of this in their “whereas” statements. But if one accepts the definition from such radical bodies as the UN General As sembly resolution on apartheid, then we must include not just apartheid but the “inhuman acts resulting from the policies and practices of apartheid and similar policies.” In this broader definition, considering the acts re sulting from the policy and practice of apartheid we get a more grim but more accurate portrait of the crime being committed. Pulling back this veil reveals a decades-long regime of torture, atrocities and deprivation. For an example of their reserved account, the resolution mentions that “between September 2000 and August 2014, ap proximately 440 Palestinians…were killed during targeted killing opera tions.” But this is an overly restrictive picture. In just a few weeks in 2014, during Israel’s “Protective Edge” op eration in occupied Gaza, an estimat ed 550 children alone were killed and 18,000 homes were leveled. This wan ton killing of children perhaps is not a surprise considering Israel’s blockade of Gaza includes such nefarious items as children’s puzzle games.

The above accounting of Israel’s behavior is widely accepted and has informed the international consensus leading mainstream organizations and human rights groups to agree that apartheid is indeed taking place, as

President Kaler’s letter was wrong

Jeremy Bendik-Keymer Professor of Philosophy

President Kaler recently sent a letter to the campus community addressing the Undergraduate Student Government resolution 31-15-SJP, which seeks the boycott of industries supporting milita rized injustice in the occupied territories of Palestine. I agreed with his implied view that the reasoning for the boycott was weak at points, for Case Western Reserve University is not “directly cul pable” for Israeli human rights violation by investing in the military-industrial complex. Nonetheless, President Kal er’s action was wrong.

The main reason why is that his let ter disrespected student self-governance from an office whose opinion could serve to repress such governance. Stu dent government has a right to produce resolutions. They did so in accord with their procedures. The faculty and the ad ministration have to respect that. For the president to send an emotional, inflam matory condemnation of student gover nance working as it rightfully can was irresponsible and an abuse of the office of the president.

The letter was also wrong because it harmfully misrepresented students. It characterized the resolution as a hate act and as antisemitism. This can plausibly bring disrepute, stigma, even violence against them. Yet reading the resolution shows no comments made against either

Judaism or the Jewish people. The reso lution is against a set of state policies as these are enabled economically. More over, the reasoning for the resolution is grounded in social justice and human rights, citing as authorities major inter national human rights organizations and documents, including one in Israel that bears a proud Hebrew name - B’tselem (“in the image of G-d”). The resolution was not hateful; it was an expression of social justice in intent.

Finally, having spent years reading Jewish philosophers, studying Holo caust literature, knowing social justiceloving Israelis who also oppose human rights violations by their state and hav ing spent many a powerful meal during Passover with friends, I would think that any group that acts out of love of justice and for human rights is a group in line with the best in the traditions of Judaism.

Respectfully,

Jeremy Bendik-Keymer Professor of Philosophy

the resolution mentions. This is hardly even hidden within Israel itself any more with the passing of the “NationState” law in 2018 proclaiming that the “fulfillment of the right of national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.” Even if one were to deny the existence of an occupation, despite the overwhelm ing evidence, this is tantamount to the formal establishment of a Jim Crow regime within Israel’s post-1967 bor ders. Is a factual account of Israel’s criminal behavior, the response from the international community and the lack of action by the CWRU commu nity “anti-Israel,” as he asserts? This is indeed an interesting standard and I hope he also applies this standard to factual accounts of American Jim Crow in the Deep South, in this case as being “anti-American.” If not, then an emotionally potent oversimplifica tion (“anti-Israel”) is being deployed as a distraction and has no place in a serious consideration of justice. The resolution’s account of things does not even begin to approach Israel’s other crimes which fall outside the rubric of “apartheid” but nevertheless meet cri teria for international crimes under the Rome Statute including other crimes against humanity (e.g., torture), war crimes (e.g., targeting homes) and ag gression (for example in its invasion of Lebanon in 1982). Criminality de mands accountability.

I also want to address his second claim, that adopting the resolution harms the Jewish community. Besides the fact that the resolution never uses the words “Jews,” “Jewish,” “Juda ism,” etc. it is presumptuous of him to speak for the Jewish community as a monolith. More importantly, the charge of antisemitism is erroneous. Indeed, the Jewish community is en hanced by consistent condemnation of injustice wherever and committed by whomever. The Jewish values that I was raised with insist that I speak up

about injustices regardless, particular ly those that I have some complicity in as all American taxpayers do, given the billions of dollars of funding the US provides to Israel’s military each year.

“Justice, justice, you shall pursue” (“tzedek, tzedek, tirdof,” Deuterono my 16:20). Justice that does not ac count for the consequences of one’s own actions is hypocrisy.

Moreover, his letter intentionally conflates Jews and the State of Israel. This is at best also erroneous and at worst confirmation of real antisemitic tropes. For instance, according to Pew Surveys, American Jews—about half of world Jewry—rank having an ori entation towards justice and leading a moral life far above caring about Isra el as key to being a Jew. Caring about Israel is at about the level of having a good sense of humor. Therefore, the assertion that criticism of Israel is the same as criticism of the Jewish people as he does is out of step with Jewish opinion on the matter. This is, however, in keeping with the attitude of the far-right American politicians (who are interestingly almost all not Jewish) who chastise Jews for being so out of step with Israel as to insist it observe international human rights law. It is troubling then that his asser tion here echoes historic antisemitic tropes: that Jews have “dual loyal ties,” have allegiances to an outside state and are therefore a parasite on the national body politic.

It is important that CWRU actual izes the values that it claims to hold, divest from those financial interests which benefit from apartheid and sup port the CWRU community in up holding human rights.

Best, Sam Seidman Doctoral Candidate Department of Psychological Sciences

sports

Spartans defeat Pitt-Greensburg 6-1, Ithaca 6-0

SOCCER continued from pg. 1

Around the 70-minute mark, the Bobcats slipped past the formidable Spartan defense for a quick score, pre venting a shutout for the 5-1 score.

About five minutes before the con clusion of the game, first-year forward Ceci Dapino iced the score with her third goal of the season off an assist from fourth-year defender Lexi Gomez. CWRU came away with the 6-1 victory to advance to the second round.

The Spartans limited the Bobcats to just five shot attempts total while re cording 28 of their own. CWRU also outnumbered Pitt-Greensburg in corner kicks 13-2. Hartman led the team with eight shots total including four on goal. Third-year goalie Maggie Storti earned her 16th win of the season after saving two shots.

“The team played really well,” said Head Coach Abby Richter in a post game interview with the CWRU Ath letic Department. “We talked about the importance of having a really good start ... Our intensity was really good from

the beginning and I’m really proud of the team effort.”

When asked about the team’s slow start, Coach Richter discussed the high stakes atmosphere of the championship tournament, saying, “Going into the first tournament game, there’s always a bit of nerves and anxiety so it took us a little bit to settle in ... once we did, we moved the ball really well [and] things started rolling for us.”

Ithaca—11/13

On Sunday, the Spartans took on Ithaca in the second round in almost identical fashion. Washburn opened the scoring in the 13th minute, taking the 1-0 lead off an assist from VanBibber. With the goal, Washburn set the pro gram record for game-winning goals at 12 for her career.

Hartman continued her strong of fensive play in the 24th minute, netting a long-range shot over the goalie’s ex tended hands for the 2-0 lead and the 12th goal of the season. First-year Mag

gie Farra rounded off the first half scor ing burst with a quick score off an assist from Washburn.

Gomez scored an unassisted goal about two minutes into the second half for the 4-0 lead. Graduate student for ward Samantha Cramin finished the scoring for the game with two goals in less than three minutes. In the 68th minute, Hartzler’s corner was headed by VanBibber, setting up an easy tap from Cramin for the 5-0 score. Hartz ler earned her ninth assist of the season, tying her for third-most in a season in program history.

In the 71st minute, second-year de fender Katie Rishel and first-year mid fielder Julia Flynn set up the passes for Cramin to score the sixth goal to take the game 6-0.

Once again, CWRU outshot their opponents 19-8 and maintained the corner kick advantage 7-1. Storti an chored the defense with a season-high six saves and improved to 17-0-1 for the year with the shutout, breaking her

own program record for 16 wins from the previous year.

Hartman, Storti, Washburn and fourth-year defender Merry Meyer were named to the All-UAA First Team. Hartzler earned All-UAA honorable mention honors. The coaching staff was named the Coaching Staff of the Year after leading the team to the pro gram’s first conference championship. Coach Richter, in her first season with the team, shared the honor with assis tant coaches Cameron Shedenhelm and Kayleigh Piscioneri as well as student coaches Rebecca Hammill and Grace Bratter. This is the second straight year the Spartan coaching staff earned this honor and the sixth time in history.

Hartman, Hartzler, Storti, VanBib ber, Washburn and White were also named to the CSC Academic All-Dis trict Team, announced by the College Sports Communicators, for their high achievements on the field and in the classroom. All six athletes will advance to the Academic All-America Ballot, the winning teams to be announced on Dec. 6.

Washburn was named the Spartan Club Athlete of the Week for her domi nant offensive play through the first two rounds of the tournament.

CWRU will host the three games of the third and fourth rounds of the Divi sion III championship tournament from Nov. 19-20. The fourth-ranked Spartans will play on Saturday at 11 a.m. in the Round of 16 against the 15th-ranked Loras College (18-0-3). The winner of this game will play the winner between eighth-ranked Amherst College (18-20) and sixth-ranked William Smith Col lege (13-1-6) on Sunday at 1 p.m. in a showdown for a trip to Salem, Virginia to play in the quarterfinals.

Men’s basketball starts season 3-0, wins Bill Sudeck Tournament

Jack Martin Staff Writer

Case Western Reserve University’s men’s basketball team started their season off hot with a three-game win streak. The Spartans entered the 202223 season ranked 19th in the D3hoops. com Preseason Top 25 poll and look to build on the success of last season, in which they finished 20-7 and pushed into the third round of the NCAA Divi sion III championship tournament.

On Tuesday Nov. 8, the team hosted the Denison University Big Reds in the season opener. The Spartans pulled off a 78-72 victory despite only shoot ing 5-24 (20.8%) on three-pointers and trailing 35-32 at the half.

Fourth-year forward Cole Frilling led the team in scoring with 24 while also notching 10 of the team’s 37 rebounds. Second-year guard Sam Trunley, thirdyear guard Luke Thorburn and secondyear forward Umar Rashid also scored in the double digits for the Spartans, recording 11, 14 and 11 points, respec tively. Graduate student and starting guard Danny Frauenheim contributed with a team-leading seven assists to go along with 8 points, 3 rebounds and 1 steal.

Three days later, the team faced off against the Oberlin College Yeomen to kick off the 2022 Bill Sudeck Tourna

ment held at CWRU. After giving up a 3-pointer to open the game, the Spartans went on a 7-point run and didn’t look back. The team led for the remainder of the game, as much as by 22 in the sec ond half, winning their second game of the season 78-66. The Spartans bounced back from their poor shooting perfor mance against Denison, finishing the game shooting 29-58 (50.0%) from the floor and 11-31 (35.5%) from deep.

Frilling posted his second doubledouble of the season, scoring 28 and grabbing 10 rebounds, while Trunley and Rashid combined for 23. For the second straight game, Frauenheim led the team with 8 assists.

The following afternoon, the Spar tans faced the Dickinson College Red Devils in the Bill Sudeck Tournament Championship Game. After a back-andforth battle in the first half, the Spartans ended the opening frame with a 28-27 lead. Early in the second half, CWRU went on an 8-point run and secured their lead for the remainder of the game. Overcoming a difficult shooting day, the Spartans managed to hold off the Red Devils, taking the championship 71-60.

Frilling notched his third straight double-double, dropping 22 points with 10 rebounds. Thorburn had the first

double-double of his collegiate career, totaling 16 points and grabbing 11 re bounds. Frauenheim also dropped 16 points while Rashid recorded 2 blocks, 5 rebounds and 1 assist to anchor the defense.

Frilling was named the MVP of the tournament and was selected to the

D3hoops.com Team of the Week for his three double-doubles. Frauenheim was also named to the All-Tournament team.

The Spartans will embark on their first road trip of the season, facing SUNY Buffalo State College on Nov. 18, Medaille University on Nov. 19 and Capital University on Nov. 29.

Puneet Bansal Sports Editor

The women’s soccer team poses triumphant at the second round of the NCAA Division III Championship, after defeating Ithaca College. Courtesy of CWRU Athletics

Graduate student Danny Frauenheim shoots a layup in CWRU’s match against Oberlin on Nov. 11. Courtesy of CWRU Athletics

Football drops regular season finale 20-7 to undefeated CMU

Gaurav Hardikar Staff Writer

On Saturday Nov. 12, the Case Western Reserve University football team hosted Carnegie Mellon Univer sity in their final game of the season.

The Tartans entered the game with a formidable 9-0 record, whereas the 6-3 Spartans came to DiSanto Field looking to spoil their rival’s quest for an undefeated season. With a daunt ing task ahead of them, the Spartans offense took the field first in front of over 2000 spectators.

CMU’s defense won the first battle, forcing a three-and-out from the home team. Fortunately, the CWRU defense did the same to give their offense the ball right back.

The next drive ended catastrophi cally for the Spartans. Facing thirdand-12 on their own 21-yard line, they tried a pass play for the first down con version. Third-year Tartans linebacker Logan Young came in flying and sacked second-year quarterback Ian Kipp. He managed to strip the foot ball from Kipp, recovering it to give CMU possession one yard from the end zone. The Tartan offense punched the ball in with a rushing touchdown to take a 7-0 lead.

CWRU’s offensive struggles con tinued in the next drive, as the team picked up just 25 yards and two first downs before punting again. The de fense, however, remained strong as third-year defensive lineman AJ Du dowski sacked CMU’s quarterback on third down to bring out the Tartan punting unit. Just when it seemed as though the Spartans were on the verge of scoring, CMU’s defense struck once more with another strip sack on Kipp. This fumble, forced by second-year defensive end Mitchell Stokey and re covered by fourth-year defensive end Ben Coyne, gave the Tartans the ball back at their own 39-yard line.

The Spartans run defense stifled the Tartans to another three-and-out. The next possession for CWRU featured a 12-yard pass from Kipp to second-year wide receiver Noah Coyne and back-

to-back runs from fourth-year running back Antonio Orsini for 21 yards. In side Tartan territory and desperate for points, the Spartans attempted a fourth down conversion with 3 yards to go. Unfortunately, the CMU’s pass rush continued to haunt Kipp, who was sacked by third-year inside linebacker Robert Coury to turn the ball over near midfield.

In their final game of the season, the CWRU football team honored its 17 seniors and their families before kickoff. Courtesy of CWRU Athletics made his presence felt immediately; he tackled Vasiliadis for a loss of nine yards, forcing CMU to punt. Trailing by two scores and with the possession near midfield, the Spartans offense fi nally made its way into the end zone. Orsini and first-year quarterback Aaron Filips controlled the drive, with each yard coming from the running game. Orsini picked up 28 yards on five car ries, including one for 9 yards. The re maining 25 yards that Filips picked up were highlighted by an 18-yard sprint to CMU’s 3-yard line which was fol lowed by a rushing touchdown on the next play.

As the game carried into the second quarter, the Spartans responded with a fourth down stop of their own. On fourth-and-2 in the red zone, thirdyear linebacker Gabe Troch came up huge for the Spartans, stifling thirdyear running back Tre Vasiliadis into a one-yard carry to force a turnover on downs. CWRU remained lifeless on offense, however, punting after anoth er three-play possession that lost them six yards. The punt gave the visitors the ball on the Spartans’ side of the field, and the Tartans scored a touch down just four plays later with a 25yard pass to gain the 14-0 advantage.

The Spartans quickly picked up steam on the ensuing drive. Kipp hit Coyne for a 29-yard completion and then ran the ball for a crucial first down conversion on fourth-and-1. Orsini broke off an 18-yard run to get the Spartans into touchdown territory, but disaster struck once again. Facing fourth-and-3 with just 10 yards to go, Kipp threw an incomplete pass, caus ing another turnover by the CWRU of fense.

The Spartans defense kept the team in the game, limiting the Tartans to just a one-yard gain on their next posses sion. Yet the home offense put up an identically stagnant drive despite be ing given the ball near midfield. The teams traded three-and-outs once more before a vital sack by CWRU’s thirdyear defensive lineman Kaden Tong took CMU out of field goal range at halftime.

Though the Tartans got the ball to begin the second half, CWRU’s sec ond-year defensive back Nate Cikalo

Women’s Basketball

Down 14-7, the Spartans looked to their defense for a stop. Though a 37yard completion on the second play of the Tartans’ drive brought them into field goal range, CMU missed the 43yard field goal attempt, giving CWRU the ball back at their own 26 yard line.

With a chance to tie the game, Fil ips and the Spartan offense took the field once more. The impressive drive, featuring 8 and 9-yard carries from Filips, a 14-yard pass to fourth-year wide receiver Michael Wojkowski and a 16-yard pass to Coyne, brought the Spartans into field goal range. Given the offense’s difficulty in converting fourth downs, the Spartans attempted the 37-yard field goal attempt. But Tar tan linebacker Young wreaked havoc again, blocking the kick and giving the Tartans the ball at their own 8-yard line.

The Spartans defense, fatigued from carrying the anemic offense, was unable to hold on as the game made its way into the fourth quarter. CMU put together an impressive 13-play, 92-yard drive that ate over 5:30 off the clock and ended with a 12-yard touch down pass. Though the kicker missed the extra point kick, CWRU was star ing at a 20-7 deficit with under 14 minutes remaining. Even worse, the offense went three-and-out on their next possession. CMU running back Vasiliadis sprinted a discouraging 34-

Women’s Cross Country

yard run on the subsequent drive, but back-to-back holding penalties on the Tartans let them run down the clock a bit before punting.

Filips continued to play as a dual threat, with impressive completions to third-year wide receiver Isaiah Ar rington for 11 yards and Wojkowski for 19 yards all while recording a 14-yard run. However, three straight incom plete passes put CWRU in a fourthand-10 situation at CMU’s 20-yard line. Ben Coyne, who had already re covered a fumble following the second Kipp strip sack, recorded a strip sack of his own to force a fatal turnover for the Spartans. The ball was recovered by CMU third-year inside linebacker Kevin Cooke at CMU’s 32-yard line.

The Tartans decided to run the ball for their final drive, with Vasiliadis picking up 16 yards and leaving just 22 seconds on the clock for the Spar tans’ final drive, who still trailed by 13. Though Filips found Coyne for a 26-yard completion, time expired be fore CWRU could get within scoring range.

CMU finished a perfect 10-0 on the season and returned to Pittsburgh to prepare for the first round of the NCAA Division III tournament. They will host the 9-1 DePauw University Tigers on Nov. 19. The Spartans fin ished their 2022 season at 6-4 and are No. 5 out of 11 teams in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference.

Though the Spartans’ season ended in disappointing fashion, the team still has much to be proud about. A win ning record, an average win margin of 25.6 points per game and two separate three-win streaks indicate that the pro gram is moving in the right direction. While the 2021 Spartans finished with the same 6-4 record, their win margin was 21.5 points per game in a season that featured a three-loss streak and one more loss within the PAC.

The NCAA DIII football tourna ment begins on Nov. 19 at 12:00 PM EST.

Scores and Upcoming Games

CWRU at Mt. St. Joseph (11/11)W 68-55

CWRU vs. Westminster (11/12) - W 79-50

CWRU at Baldwin Wallace (11/14)L 81-58

CWRU vs. Alma (11/19)

CWRU at Wooster (11/20)

CWRU at Marietta (11/22)

CWRU vs. Alleghany (11/26)

CWRU at Kenyon (12/2)

CWRU at Denison (12/7)

NCAA Great Lakes Regional Champion ship (11/12) - #10 / 34 teams

Grace Jackson - 34th of 247(22:21.6)

Ashley Novak - 35th of 247 (22:27.1)

Julia Kocherzat - 43rd of 247 (22:39.3)

Men’s Cross Country

NCAA Great Lakes Regional Champion ship (11/12) - #2 / 38 teams

Jack Begley - 3rd of 272 (24:26.8)

Joe Jaster - 4th of 272 (24:27.7)

Robert St. Claire - 10th of 271 (24:34.8)

Wrestling

CWRU vs Ohio Wesleyan (11/12)W 39-8

CWRU vs Baldwin Wallace Invitational (11/17-19)

Swimming / Diving

CWRU vs Magnus Cup (11/17-19)

CWRU vs CMU Diving Invitational (11/18-19)