the
Justice www.thejustice.org
The Independent Student Newspaper Volume LXXI, Number 17
of
B r a n d e is U n i v e r sit y S i n c e 1 9 4 9
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
FIGHTING FOR CHANGE
STUDENT UNION
Yang rejects recall vote after months of conflict ■ The former International
Student Senator criticized the Student Union’s “nepotism” in an email sent Sunday night. By SAM STOCKBRIDGE JUSTICE EDITOR
On Sunday evening, former International Student Senator Linfei Yang ’20 sent an email to members of the student body announcing his intention to continue serving in his position until the end of the semester, an unconstitutional action. Yang was recalled from his position following the results of the winter 2019 Student Union elections, held on January 30. The recall was the culmination of four months of conflict with the Student Union, beginning with the introduction of a Senate Money Resolution for pianos at the beginning of last semester.
The piano proposal
At the Oct. 7 senate meeting last year, Yang and former Class of 2022 Senator Alex Chang introduced a SMR requesting $765.96 to purchase two upright pianos for Massell and North Quad lounges. In the original proposal, the pianos would also have headphone ports so that residents could use the pianos without disturbing others. The Senate agreed to discuss the proposal the following week. At the Oct. 14 meeting, Chang and Yang announced that they had man-
aged to find two upright pianos for free, and would need only $150 to transport the pianos in a U-Haul. However, as the free pianos would be acoustic, not electric, they would not be equipped with a headphone port. To address possible noise disturbances from the pianos, the two senators argued the pianos could be locked during quiet hours by either the oncall Community Advisors or by the Area Coordinator. The Department of Community Living had been supportive of their SMR, and Chang said locking the pianos should be easy to figure out. The Senate voted to continue discussing the proposal as long as Chang and Yang could provide written support from DCL. The following day, Chang met with first-year quad Area Coordinators Maira Pantoja and Peter Budmen to obtain their written support for the proposal, he explained at the Oct. 21 Senate meeting. But Budmen and Pantoja said DCL no longer supported the piano initiative, because the two first-year quad lounges were not accessible for students with disabilities. They also said the Student Union needed to “quantify” demand for the pianos. Chang and Yang expressed their frustration with this predicament at the senate meeting, with Yang asking, “How quantifiable do they want it to be?” Adding to this frustration, Chang said he had found a woman in the area who would be willing to donate a baby grand piano and pay up
See RECALL, 6 ☛
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Trustees talk about funding, reaccreditation ■ Trustees go over
Springboard Funding plan, diversity and inclusion and changes in Title IX regulations. By NATALIA WIATER JUSTICE EDITOR
At their Jan. 27–28 meeting, Board of Trustees members discussed funding for the Springboard Funding Plan, the reaccreditation process and disability issues on campus, University President Ron Liebowitz announced in a Feb. 5 email to the community. One of the issues discussed was Liebowitz’s “Framework for the Future” plan, and Trustees participated in interactive sessions with members of the Framework’s task forces, Liebowitz reported. The Trustees “expressed valuable ideas” on enhancing student life, expanding research projects and maintaining the University’s values and Jewish roots. During his report to the Trustees, Liebowitz briefed them on searches to
fill several administrative positions, including senior vice president for communications, marketing and external relations, the vice provost for student affairs, the director of athletics and the vice president for human resources, per the email. In addition, Liebowitz discussed the Jan. 22 accessibility forum, and the Trustees “agreed that [the University] must pursue, as a high priority, specific recommendations on services for students, faculty, and staff with disabilities, both physical and nonphysical.” The Trustees then reviewed feedback on the second part of the independent investigators’ report on the campus climate and discussed ways in which they could work with administrators on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion, according to the same email. Liebowitz also briefed the Trustees on the recently proposed changes to federal Title IX regulations and expressed concerns on their “overly prescriptive approach that would inhibit our ability to craft pro-
See BOT, 7 ☛
Waltham, Mass.
ANDREW BAXTER/the Justice
NOTABLE ALUMNI: Angela Davis ’65 and Julieanna Richardson ’76 H’16 spoke as part of the event series celebrating the 50th anniversary of the department of African and African American Studies. Davis talked about her experiences with activism.
At AAAS event, Angela Davis discusses her life in activism ■ Davis helped celebrate
50 years of the department of African and African American Studies. By GILDA GEIST JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISSTANT
Angela Davis ’65 spoke about her experiences as an activist and Brandeis student on Friday as the keynote speaker for an event series commemorating the African and African American Studies Department’s 50th anniversary. Julieanna Richardson ’76, H’16 introduced Davis and asked her questions throughout the program that fueled the conversation. Davis began by describing her educational journey during her early life. At 15, she was accepted to Fisk University. Per her father’s recommendation, Davis turned down the acceptance. Instead Davis went on to finish high school while living with a white minister’s family in New York. The school she attended was founded by teachers who had been blacklisted from the public schools in the area because
of their political beliefs. “It was really exciting,” Davis remembered. “I went to a high school where we read the Communist Manifesto and … Freud.” After high school, Davis continued her education at Brandeis University, where she was one of very few Black students. At Brandeis, she dove into French language and culture, discovered a love for the humanities, and abandoned her goal of becoming a doctor. Despite enjoying the “intellectual atmosphere” at Brandeis, Davis struggled with facing a kind of oppression that she was unfamiliar with. “I made this journey from the south to the north in search of some kind of freedom, and what I thought I would find in the north wasn’t there,” she said. “I discovered new forms of racism that I could not at the time articulate as racism.” Davis explained that her introduction to the conflict between Israel and Palestine took place during her undergraduate years. “I first learned about Palestine when I was a student here at Brandeis,” she said. “I simultaneously learned about how important it was to challenge anti-Semitism and to speak courageously against the contin-
See ANGELA DAVIS, 4 ☛
Going the distance
Tony Shalhoub
Human rights violations in the food industry
Long-distance couples share their stories.
Actor Tony Shalhoub sits down for a conversation with Brandeis students.
By EMILY BLUMENTHAL
By SAMMY PARK
By ELLA RUSSELL Photo Courtesy of KENDAL CHAPMAN
ued perpetuation of anti-Semitic ideas and practices, and at the same time, to speak out for justice for Palestine.” Davis said her mother’s activism influenced her to become an activist herself. Her mother participated in a campaign to defend the Scottsboro Boys, a group of Black Alabama teenagers who were falsely accused of raping two white women. She also joined the Southern Negro Youth Congress, a group led by Black communists. “It took me a long time to recognize that my mother was really the primary influence in my life,” Davis said. Davis spoke about the role her mother played in campaigning for her daughter’s freedom when she was in jail for her involvement with the Soledad Brothers, a group of Black inmates charged with killing a white prison guard. “My mother traveled all over the country speaking out on my behalf,” Davis said. Davis discussed her time in prison and how that impacted her view on the prison-industrial complex. While facing the death penalty and living in solitary confinement, she read
FEATURES 8–9 For tips or info email editor@thejustice.org
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Make your voice heard! Submit letters to the editor to letters@thejustice.org
NEWS 3
The secret of Superbowl ads By VIOLET FEARON
FORUM 12
Women's season approaches its end
ARTS 18
By JEN GELLER
COPYRIGHT 2019 FREE AT BRANDEIS.
SPORTS 16
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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2019
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NEWS
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THE JUSTICE
NEWS ‘I WANT TO GO TO JAIL’
SENATE LOG New amendments proposed, old bylaws discovered
WALTHAM BRIEF
Waltham goes green with community gardens, marijuana retail shops
Vice President Aaron Finkel ’20 began this week’s meeting by swearing in Class of 2020 Senator Trevor Filseth and Racial Minority Senator Denezia Fahie ’22.
Running Club Presentation
Lydia Sawyer ’21 and Neeti Kulkarni ’21 presented the Running Club to the Senate for probationary status. Sawyer added that the club’s goal is to create an atmosphere where people can connect with other runners and get “a beneficial workout.” The Senate voted by acclamation to approve the Running Club for probationary status.
Upcoming Special Election
After “a few members decided to leave” last semester, Finkel announced, there would be a special election the week after February break. Finkel declared that Student Union Secretary Simran Tatuskar ’21 found a section in the Bylaws which would eliminate the problem of vacant Senate seats. The Community Senators clause allows all community members to run for any seat should no one of that constituency declare their candidacy.
Presence
Finkel introduced Presence, a website which “consolidates all of student life.” Presence will have study abroad forms, club information and more and will eliminate the “disastrous” Listserv system, Finkel explained, asserting that the software will make student life much more accessible and “convenient for people” and will bring the University “into the 21st century.”
Executive Reports
Chief Justice Gabriela Anavisca ’19 has stepped down “due to personal reasons,” Executive Senator Kent Dinlenc ’19 announced. At the E-Board meeting, Dinlenc reported, the board discussed the Union Code of Conduct and Branchan, a controversial forum similar to 4chan. They also discussed the upcoming Judiciary hearing about the jurisdiction of A-Board and E-Board regarding the allocation of funds, to take place on Feb. 24.
Senate Committee Chair Reports
Service and Outreach Committee Chair Kendal Chapman ’22 announced that the Midnight Buffet will take place in the SCC this semester and that the committee is working to involve cultural clubs in the event. Dinlenc, the Sustainability Committee chair, announced a preliminary proposal to ban the sale of bottled water at the Hoot Market and dining locations, to be implemented by the end of the semester. The University would have to change its deal with Coca-Cola to cut bottled water distribution, he stated. Dinlenc added that the committee would distribute free water bottles and would try to increase access to tap water by adding more water fountains around campus.
New Business
The next amendment proposed abolishing the mandate that clubs have a website. Senator-at-Large and Club Support committee chair Noah Nguyen ’21 objected, stating that once Presence is implemented, clubs will have to maintain their own pages and the mandate would have to be re-added. The Senate postponed the vote until its next meeting. The final amendment proposed requires a weekly report from the judiciary, as they have not been transparent about their activities, according to Village Quad Senator Jake Rong ’21. He pointed out that though there are confidentiality clauses, it is “unfair” for the judiciary to say nothing about cases. The Senate will vote on the amendment at its next meeting. —Emily Blumenthal — Editor’s Note: Kent Dinlenc is a staff writer for the Justice.
CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS n A News article incorrectly stated that voting on an amendment was postponed until next semester. It was corrected to state that it was postponed until next meeting. (Feb. 5, Page 3) n A News article spelled Chaiel Schaffel’s name incorrectly. (Feb. 5, Page 2) n An Arts article spelled the name of the Garth Greenan Gallery incorrectly. (Feb. 5, Page 20) The Justice welcomes submissions for errors that warrant correction or clarification. Send an email to editor@thejustice.org.
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’DEIS Impact showcased “I Want to Go to Jail,” a play written by WSRC scholar Pam Swing (above) and Elizabeth Dabanka ’20 about the last arrests of the American suffrage movement.
It may be the depths of winter, but Waltham is going green — in more ways than one. Waltham Fields Community Farms are offering Learning Gardens, which are educational programs for kids aged two to 18. Participants will learn about planting vegetables, cooking food and composting, per a Monday report in the Waltham Wicked Local. Learning Gardens’ programs allow kids to make and eat “farm fresh” food in the spring, summer and fall. The Learning Gardens’ programs announcement came out only shortly after Waltham’s January 2018 designation as a “Green Community,” per the Jan. 2, 2018 Waltham Patch article. According to the article, the Department of Energy Resources grants this designation, along with over $200,000 in funding for the city. In exchange, Waltham has pledged that it will cut energy use by 20 percent over the next five years, per the article. The solar energy industry is also taking off in Waltham, as Rodman CPAs recently hosted a “Solar Series After Hours Networking Night” event in Waltham, according to a Feb. 1 article in the Patch. At the event, “solar advocates” chatted about the recently launched Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target program and shared strategies for storing solar energy, as well as “structuring tax equity deals [and] tax modeling,” per the same article. Waltham’s green revolution also encompasses its burgeoning cannabis industry. Per a Feb. 5 Justice article, Waltham is considering allowing four marijuana retail shops to open in Waltham, but legal consumption of the substance is already lighting up the news wires. Residents are discussing how to discern between various market options (Feb. 7, Waltham Wicked Local), how to protect oneself from moldy cannabis (Jan. 24, Waltham Wicked Local) and the negative effects of marijuana on pets (Feb. 11, Waltham Wicked Local). In the Feb. 11 article, Kiko Bracker, a doctor at a Boston-based humane organization, told the Patch that veterinarians are now seeing multiple cannabis-related emergency room visits per week. Owners are advised to use caution when storing their edibles, and to put them in out-of-reach areas when possible. —Eliana Padwa
POLICE LOG MEDICAL EMERGENCY February 4—A party reported flu-like symptoms and was treated by BEMCo staff. Cataldo Ambulance transported the party to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care, and the area coordinator on call was notified. February 4—BEMCo staff treated a party in Cable Hall who had reported flu-like symptoms, with a signed refusal for further care. February 5—BEMCo staff treated a party who was feeling ill in Renfield Hall. Cataldo Ambulance transported the party to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care, and the area coordinator on call was notified. February 5—After being treated by BEMCo staff, a party in Renfield Hall with flu-like symptoms was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital by Cataldo Ambulance for further care. The area coordinator on call was notified. February 6—The area co-
ordinator on call was notified that a party in Massell Quad needed psychological assistance. Cataldo Ambulance, with the assistance of University Police, transported the party to Newton-Wellesley Hospital, and Brandeis Counseling Center staff filed Section 12 psychological transport paperwork. February 6—BEMCo staff treated a party at the Foster Mods who reported flu-like symptoms, and the University Police transported the party to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care. February 9—University Police received a report of an unconscious and non-responsive party at Ridgewood Quad. BEMCo staff, Cataldo Ambulance and Waltham Fire Department responded, and the party was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care. The area coordinator on call was notified. February 9—University Po-
lice and BEMCo staff responded to a report of an intoxicated party at Village and found the party conscious and alert. Cataldo Ambulance transported the party to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care, and the Area Coordinator on call was notified. February 9—University Police responded to a report of an intoxicated, but alert, party at Ziv Quad, and BEMCo staff treated the party. The area coordinator on call was notified and the party was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care. February 10—University Police responded to a report of an intoxicated party in Ziv Quad, and BEMCo staff treated the party. Cataldo Ambulance transported the party to NewtonWellesley Hospital for further care, and the area coordinator on call was notified. HARASSMENT February 6—A party in Sky-
line reported a harassment incident, and a report will be compiled. VANDALISM February 9—University Police compiled a report on damage done to a building directory listing in the Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center. MISCELLANEOUS February 4—A party reported hearing a scream from the area behind the Mods Apartments. University Police found nothing unusual when they arrived on the scene. February 9—University Police assisted Waltham Police in responding to a car alarm going off in the parking lot of 567 South Street. The operator was present and attempting to handle the car alarm, so the police units left. —Compiled by Jocelyn Gould
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THE JUSTICE
‘THE SOUL OF THE STRANGER’
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NEWS
By JOCELYN GOULD JUSTICE EDITOR
NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice
INCLUSIVE INTERPRETATION: Joy Ladin, the first openly transgender professor at Yeshiva University, gave a lecture about interpreting the Torah to include transgender people. She spoke about excerpts from her own writing and the
Prof. discusses transgender perspective on the Torah and Torah from a Transgender Perspective,” was part of ’DEIS Impact. By ELLA RUSSELL JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
Joy Ladin, a poet and the first openly transgender professor at Yeshiva University, gave a lecture about her perspective on the Torah as a transgender woman last Thursday. This lecture was part of ’DEIS Impact, a social justice festival that took place from Feb. 3 to Feb. 9. Throughout the talk, Ladin read excerpts from her new book “The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah From a Transgender Perspective,” published by Brandeis University Press. The book is a collection of poems, literary analyses of Torah excerpts and personal anecdotes from Ladin’s life. Ladin had been to Brandeis before for readings of her original poetry, and in 2015, the Hadassah Brandeis Institute gave her a research award to write for their Series on Jewish Women. HBI Director Lisa Fishbayn Joffe, who introduced Ladin in the lecture, explained that the Institute supports “research at the intersection of Jewish and Gender Studies.” Ladin opened her talk with a poem unrelated to “The Soul of the Stranger” from a series she wrote about the Shekhinah — the feminine aspect of God. As a prelude to reading the poem, Ladin explained that the Shekhinah is an inspiration to Jewish feminists, but although she is “present [and] compassionate,” she is also
silent. For this poem, Ladin’s goal was to give Shekhinah a “voice that didn’t have gender boundaries” by combining “certified God language” from the Book of Isaiah with a Jan. 2015 Cosmopolitan article, “Why This Woman Is Proud to Be Known as ‘The Pageant Queen Without a Uterus.’” The next excerpt she shared analyzed the story of Jonah and the whale. Jonah is a prophet, but instead of following the will of God and preaching to the city of Nineveh, he runs away, choosing to get on a ship and jump overboard rather than obey God’s wishes. Instead of dying, a whale swallows him and God keeps him alive. This experience leads Jonah to change his mind and fully commit to being a prophet. Ladin linked Jonah’s reluctance to fulfill the duties of a prophet with the reluctance of transgender people to fully express themselves. Even if the townspeople of Nineveh did not retaliate violently to his announcement of God’s displeasure in them, Jonah acting as a prophet would still “disrupt the community and challenge social norms by acting in ways that mark him as different.” Ladin explained that Jonah’s self-destructive behavior and his desire to “kill [him]self for the sake of others” reflected “a psychological pattern all too familiar among transgender people.” Throughout the lecture, Ladin spoke about how her feelings of isolation from the gender norms of society led to her developing a closer relationship with God. She said that while Jonah and the whale resonated with her when she was younger, instead of bringing her back to land, she thought God was preserving her in the depths, allowing her to remain
concealed. Another excerpt dealt with the formlessness of God. While other deities are usually given some kind of form or identity, God has no identity and takes different forms to suit the occasion, Ladin explained. For instance, Ladin analyzed a scene from the first Book of Kings. God creates wind, earthquakes and fire, but the prophet Elijah only recognizes the true presence of God in a “still small voice” that comes after these displays of magnificence. By contrast, when God gives the 10 commandments to the Israelites, his true presence manifests itself in “fire” and “thunder.” According to Ladin, while God rejects any set identity, he accepts misrepresentation for the benefit of humanity. Ladin related her analysis of the Torah to her rocky relationship with her son, who was 13 when she announced her transition in 2007. According to Ladin, the reason her son took her transition poorly was because in transitioning, she broke the “promise of identity” that core aspects of herself were unchanging. Ladin argued that accepting language’s limitations in describing identity is an experience that all of humanity shares, not simply transgender people. After the lecture, there was a question and answer session. One person wondered why Ladin was not more angry with God when she was younger. She responded by saying that “God is all we’ve got … It’s like being trapped in an elevator with one other person who happens to be God. You could scream at them for twelve or thirteen years, [but] they’re all you have.”
BRIEF
Lurie Institute names inaugural Starr Fellows The Lurie Institute for Disability Policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management announced the inaugural class of its Nathan and Toby Starr Fellowship for the spring 2019 semester in a Feb. 7 press release. The program aims to “foster research expertise and expand understanding of disability policy among undergraduate students,” per the same announcement. The fellowship is a semester-long research opportunity during which the nine fellows will train with the Institute’s researchers for about six to eight hours a week and will receive a stipend of $2,000, according to the fellowship’s website. Research topics will include “health policy, disability support systems, education, disability law, and civic engagement by people with disabilities,” per the press release. Monica Chen ’19, one of the Starr Fellows, told the Justice in a Feb. 9 email that she will be working with her mentor and Research Associate
Robyn Powell on research regarding “parents with disabilities and their involvement in the child welfare system.” Another fellow, Julia Brown ’19, will work with her mentor and Postdoctoral Fellow Eun Ha Namkung to look into the “effects of discrimination, both institutional and interpersonal, on the health of people with disabilities,” she told the Justice in a Feb. 9 email. The fellows will also participate in local disability community events, and at the end of the semester, they will each produce an opinion piece that will be featured in a news outlet such as The Huffington Post. Fellows will also have the opportunity to attend a disability research-oriented conference, such as the University of Alabama’s Symposium on Disability Rights. Prof. Monika Mitra (Heller), director and associate professor at the Lurie Institute, said in the announcement that she was “delighted” to welcome the students to the Starr Fellowship. “It is critical to
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Activist speaks about Water is Life movement
lecture about the Dakota Access Pipeline conflict and protests.
■ The lecture, “Reading God
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2019
CAMPUS EVENT
■ Jennifer Weston gave a
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educate young researchers about the many societal changes spurred by the disability rights movement, and the vital role that cross-disciplinary research has played in informing disability policy,” she added. “I have minor cerebral palsy, so disability has always been something I’ve kind of thought about,” Norma Stobbe ’20, another Starr Fellow, told the Justice in a Feb. 10 email. “I really want to do work relating to normalizing the spectrum of disability through schools and hopefully theater.” Working with researchers at the Institute is the “perfect way” to learn more about disability policy and research, she said. In a Feb. 9 email to the Justice, Starr Fellow Shoshana Finkel ’20 said the fellowship was “one of those hidden gems at Brandeis, in terms of its dedicated scholars and world-renowned research.” —Natalia Wiater
Sharing her personal experiences with the 2016 Standing Rock protests, Jennifer Weston discussed the evolution of the Water is Life movement, which attempted to prevent the Dakota Access Pipeline from being built through unceded tribal territory land in North Dakota. Her lecture on Wednesday, “The Water is Life Movement: Standing Rock in Social Justice and Spiritual Context,” was part of the American Studies Program’s Native American and Indigenous Studies Colloquia Series. The NAIS Colloquia Series seeks to “promote conversation at Brandeis about Indigenous issues, settler colonialism, and NAIS, and to help students, staff and faculty build relationships with scholars, community organizers, and tribal representatives in local area,” Prof. Lee Bloch (AMST/ANT), the Florence Levy Kay Fellow in Native American and Indigenous Studies, explained in an email to the Justice. Weston, of the Hunkpapa Lakota people, grew up on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, and her activism is dedicated to issues of cultural resiliency and language revitalization among tribal communities, per the event description. She is the director of the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project and the Language Department director for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, and she teaches at University of Massachusetts Boston. “I’m asking you today to think about what it might mean to envision social justice from a place that centers indigenous rights, and part of those rights involve treaties that our ancestors negotiated, and fought and died to defend,” Weston said at the beginning of her lecture. Throughout her talk, she stressed that the issue of treaty rights being violated is at the core of the Water is Life movement’s opposition to the DAPL. The DAPL transports 500,000 barrels of oil a day from oil fields in North Dakota’s Bakken formation to Illinois, per a Nov. 29, 2018 National Public Radio report. The pipeline runs through large areas of unceded tribal territory north of the Standing Rock reservation — territory that indigenous communities would still control if the government had not violated treaties. The region also contains ancestral burial grounds and ceremonial sites that are significant to many indigenous tribes in the area, Weston explained. Although the original DAPL route ran north of Bismarck, the state’s capital, that route was abandoned due to environmental concerns for nearby wetlands and drinking water, according to Weston, which led to the development of the current DAPL route. As early as 2014, the tribal government met with extraction company executives and state and federal agencies in charge of approving the pipeline’s route, but, as Weston explained, “it just became apparent to everyone, and particularly the young people, that these vast bureaucracies were not going to be able to do anything to stop this pipeline.” The Water is Life movement that grew out of this sentiment was “grounded in non-violent, peaceful resistance and acts of prayer,” Weston said. In March 2016, a group of indigenous youth called the Oceti Sakowin Youth and Allies, led by Bobbi Jean Hu Yamni, began their first Spirit Run, running from Standing Rock to the Army Corps of Engineers headquarters in Nebraska, a distance of about 700 miles. Oceti Sakowin is collective term for Lakota, Dakota and Nakota families and allies, spread across about a dozen Indian reservations and First Nation reserves from Nebraska to Canada, according to Weston. In a series of Spirit Runs throughout 2016, the youth carried an eagle staff — “the equivalent of a flag,” often given to individuals who
have become community spiritual leaders — and raised awareness and opposition to the DAPL. Spirit Runs and social media activism — including hashtags like #NoDAPL — conducted by indigenous youth were “instrumental in launching this movement and in bringing literally the world to our doorstep,” Weston said. In April, the Inyan Wakanagapi Oti, or the Camp of the Sacred Stone, was established on the Standing Rock reservation, according to Weston. A second camp, the Oceti Sakowin or Seven Council Fires camp, was established in mid-August, and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe established a third camp, the Sicangu Oyate or Burnt Thigh Lakota. Weston explained that these water protection encampments grew throughout the year, eventually having schools, clinics and internal security forces. “I don’t think anyone could have predicted that upwards of 10,000 people would be camping out along our river in solidarity with us,” Weston said. According to Weston, more than 70 law enforcement agencies, working with private security contractors hired by the extraction companies, responded to the Standing Rock protests. In her presentation, Weston juxtaposed photos of nonviolent protests conducted by native community members with photos of militarized responses, including clouds of tear gas. Standing Rock became “a training ground for militarized police response,” she said, calling the level of the response “terrifying.” A significant “language barrier” also existed between the police response and the tribal protestors, Weston said. She recounted how some indigenous water protectors brought ceremonial pipes to the camps, but law enforcement misinterpreted this language and said they were talking about pipe bombs. This was the beginning of a “media narrative that really focused on the potential for violence among these tribal families,” Weston said, which was spread not only among local media but also among publications from other parts of the country. In reality, of the more than 800 people who were arrested throughout the protests, only one was armed, according to Weston. In December 2016, after months of indigenous protests along the pipeline route, the Obama Administration halted the construction by denying a necessary permit, but the Trump Administration reversed that decision and the pipeline was completed, per the earlier NPR story. Weston pushed back against the idea that the protest “was all for nothing,” arguing that the Water Is Life movement started discussions about treaty rights and tribal sovereignty in a country that “lives in a state of denial” about these topics. The movement also highlighted issues of civil rights, “this unchecked potential for police militarization” and environmental justice, she added. “I think we understand ourselves as part of this greater [Oceti Sakowin] nation again,” Weston said, highlighting the way the camps brought together different indigenous languages and ceremonies. Looking to the future, Weston urged her community to take the “long view,” stating that she sees the DAPL’s construction as a “temporary victory” for the fossil fuel industry. “I firmly believe that I’ll live to see the day when this pipeline permit expires, and our community will participate in its removal from our treaty territory,” she said. Bloch explained in an email to the Justice that he believes that the Water is Life movement “radically transformed the public consciousness” around native and treaty rights. This violation of treaty rights “isn’t something we can look at as a dark chapter of history that we’re all ashamed of,” Bloch wrote, “it is how settler colonialism operates right here, right now.” “What do we do once we recognize that we live in this settler state that has a vested economic and militaristic interest in the dispossession of Indigenous peoples?” Bloch asked of the Brandeis community in his email.
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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2019
NEWS
THE JUSTICE
50 years of African and A ●
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ANGELA DAVIS: Activist and Brandeis alum CONTINUED FROM 1 co-council on her legal case. In the outside world, her family was organizing rallies for her freedom. “When people come together in that kind of united and concerted way, it is possible to thwart the plans of even the most terrible people in the world,” she said, speaking of her eventual release from prison. Davis also emphasized the importance of voting. She explained that even when the candidate isn’t the “right candidate,” one has to make a “practical decision.” Davis explained that even though it seemed like a contradiction, she told people to vote for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Presidential election, despite feeling like she wasn’t the ideal candidate. She continued talking about the idea of “living with contradictions” in the context of the Black Panthers.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Julieanna Richardson spoke with Angela Davis as part of the AAAS 50th anniversary event series. Davis talked about her time at Brandeis and her years of activism that followed.
BLACK STUDIES PANEL: Students and alumni discussed their educations experiences with Black studies.
As a member of the Black Panthers, she witnessed sexism in how the party was organized. Although the majority of the membership was female, the male leaders got much of the attention and power. “In virtually all Black movements, women did more than their share,” Davis pointed out. At the same time, Davis admired the Black Panthers’ work for racial justice. When party leaders asked their members to choose between being Black Panthers and their involvement with other groups, Davis said she chose the Communist Party, but still respected the Black Panthers’ ideals. Davis closed by talking about building a new, anti-racist, laborbased political party because the two-party system doesn’t work, she said. “Our sense of who we are in this country cannot be founded on the history of the United States of America,” Davis said.
Alumni Legacies pane experiences with Bran ■ Five alumni discussed
how the AAAS department shaped them as students and as individuals. By NANCY ZHAI JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Hundreds of Brandeis students, faculty and alumni convened in Levin Ballroom on Feb. 9 for the AAAS and Alumni Legacies Panel as part of the 50th Anniversary Commemoration of the the Department of African and African American Studies. The AAAS department welcomed five alumni, Aja Antoine ’17, Janice Johnson Dias ’94, Lucrecia Jones ’77, Napoleon Lherisson ’11 and Curtis Tearte ’73 to share how AAAS has enabled them to grow as individuals and beneficiaries of its legacy. “[The anniversary] is not just about the history, it’s about people,” Professor Chad Williams (AAAS) said when he introduced the panel. As the chair of AAAS department, Williams credited the former department chairs on their monumental strides to enhance the department’s historical presence and contemporary value. He highlighted Ronald Walters, the founding chair of AAAS, and discussed Walters’ views on the founding values of the department. Considering how the American education constantly overlooked the implications of racism and intersectionality, Walters saw AAAS as a “much needed environmental intervention” and upheld the conviction that the
department presented the “same opportunity to develop intellectually” as other disciplines did, as Williams reiterated Walters’ remark. Walters came to Brandeis to not only enable Black students to learn about their own heritage but to foster a close-knit community between students and the AAAS department, according to Williams. “Without very strong ties to [the] Brandeis Community, Black studies would be irrelevant,” Williams said, quoting Walters. Antonie, a cum laude graduate with a dual degree in AAAS and sociology, shared her first AAAS experience. “The value of my education has been in its content [sic], but it’s also deeply personable,” she said. “I was able to see myself as a nation, as a Black woman, [as a] young nation.” Her “well-rounded” AAAS education not only enabled her to flourish as a scholar but also gave her a sense of purpose and helped her embrace the future as an adventurer, she explained. When asked what skill set she gained from her AAAS degree and how it has informed her work in the field of public health, Jones described how her education taught her to combat poverty with social justice. Returning to her hometown of Bronx, New York after her undergraduate career, she was astounded to witness the “disparity between her neighborhood and others,” Jones said. Aiming to conduct extensive research about issues of housing, environment, and education in order to promote environmental and social justice causes, she founded Mothers on the Move.
“It’s worthwhile to make change outside of Brandeis,” Jones said in reference to her immersion in AAAS academia, where she gained the research skills she utilized to help alleviate wealth inequality. Johnson Dias shared how her upbringing with and expertise in AAAS had been empowering and, in the meantime, left a lasting social impact across the nation. Born and raised in a low-income family in Jamaica, she never imagined herself attending college. When she first came to Brandeis, she did not understand the Ford Hall movement or the interracial dynamics that existed among various Black student groups, she explained. However, she said, majoring in AAAS taught her to “enjoy the benefit of being Black.” Her time at Brandeis also shaped her into an articulate leader and social activist, as she spearheaded the campus-wide initiative of Black History Month. She has since gained organizational skills through “multicultural coalition” and co-founding the ICC in 1992, she explained. While equipping her with the ability to advocate for herself, Johnson Dias’ time as a AAAS student at Brandeis also transformed her understanding of the “insidiousness of poverty” as she noticed the disproportionate wealth distribution between white and Black people through a book she read in sociology class. Apart from uneven interracial wealth distribution, women and girls were always susceptible to the implications of poverty. “The burden is felt in their bodies. They couldn’t march or protest just
FORD HALL PANEL: In 1969, students occupied Ford Hall and presented the University with a series of demands, one of which was the creation of a Black studies department.
ALUMNI PANEL: Alumni shared their hopes for the future of AAAS at Brandeis.
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African American Studies
elists share ndeis, AAAS because their bodies couldn’t do it,” Johnson Dias said. Thus, she founded the GrassROOTS Community Foundation to combat the health challenge faced by impoverished women and children by teaching youth early “how their physical, mental and sexual health was going to be essential to their ability to be free,” she explained. In 2009, when Lherisson was a AAAS major, the University demoted the AAAS department to a program in the wake of the recession, he explained. Students and the AAAS leadership formed a unified front to restore the department’s status, and Lherisson said he was grateful that the protest shaped his vision of AAAS. “This was an important program for me in terms of my own identity and development,” he said. “This is our history.” Looking to the future, Lherisson asked, “What can we do to continue the legacy of this department?” As the co-chair of the Brandeis Alumni of Color Group, he regards the AAAS department as “the backbone of this university.” He urged the audience to take substantial steps to not only better understand AAAS, but to “think of all the goals that this University made, and how [they] can lead the change of the world.” Tearte, secretary of the Board of Trustees, echoed Lherisson’s remark, adding that “it’s important to make contributions to [the University’s] endowment” and reminded the audience of President Liebowitz’s “vision” and the “Springboard funding initiatives” proposed in the early semester. He commended Williams’ endeavor
as the co-chair of Liebowitz’s Equal Opportunity, Social Impact, and Community Engagement Working Group. According to Tearte, Williams worked tirelessly to engage in conversations with Board of Trustees that are “key to our success.” Tearte also encouraged students to participate in the forums that Liebowitz plans to host in the coming months. During the Q&A, recent alumni shared their own understanding of the AAAS department and asked the panelists an array of questions. The panelists’ responses often centered around the importance of building lasting connections. As the co-founder of the ICC, Johnson Dias explained that intellectual development and intercultural immersion are inextricably connected, which parallels the conjunction between the AAAS department and the ICC. Often, she found that “students are too intellectual” at the University, and they “don’t come together in social spaces.” Johnson Dias urged students to build connections with those who “really helped [them] become [their] better selves.” Lherisson agreed with Johnson Dias’ statement, assuring students and alumni, “we have to really connect with one another to build a community, so if there’s anything we can do to support you, let us know, we are here for you.” Johnson Dias closed the panel with her hopes for future alumni, saying, “know your capacity and recognize that you are a genius. It may not be currently apparent to you, but that genius is real, so explore it, know it, and be able to articulate it.”
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Brandeis alumni recount Ford Hall occupation ■ Former student activists
remember the 1969 protest for the creation of a Black studies department. By JEN GELLER JUSTICE EDITOR
On Wednesday, Jan. 8, 1969, between 60 and 75 student members of the Brandeis Afro-American Society began to occupy the Ford Hall building. The occupation, which lasted until Saturday, Jan. 18., began when 10 to 15 Black students told the building’s two switchboard operators to vacate the premises and took over the phone system. The students ordered students in classes to leave the area and secured the building. They then held a news conference in the office of Black student advisor Lathan Johnson, during which Rocard Millet ’68, MSW ’71, Ph.D. ’74 and Brandeis Afro-American Society President Roy DeBerry ’70, MA ’78, Ph.D. ’79 read a statement consisting of ten nonnegotiable demands for the University. This historic event now lives on in the University’s archives. 50 years after the Ford Hall occupation in 1969, the Brandeis community gathered to commemorate the 50th anniversary of one of the demands those students made: an African and Afro-American Studies department — now called the African and African American Studies department. Millet and DeBerry, as well as five other students involved in the occupation of Ford Hall in 1969, returned to Brandeis for a panel on Friday to discuss their experiences at Brandeis, including the events surrounding Ford Hall 1969. Hamida Abdal-Khallaq ’72, Randall Bailey ’69, Vera Plummer ’74, Helen Stewart Ph.D. ’80 and Patricia Van Story ’72 joined Millet and DeBerry for a conversation facilitated by Prof. Chad Williams (AAAS). Abdal-Khallaq recounted coming to Brandeis in the fall of 1968 and being excited to arrive on campus. “When I got here … being in this environment, we were the biggest class. There were thirteen of us,” she said, referring to the number of Black students in her graduating class. “But we bonded so quickly and so tightly … because we felt like we needed each other, and we did not really associate with other students.” Abdal-Khallaq mentioned that she regrets only interacting with other Black students, but explained that many Black students went into Ford Hall simply to be with their community. She said she was nervous during the occupation, but never scared, and shared that many students’ parents were afraid their children would lose their scholarships or be hurt by police. She said, however, that her parents were supportive of her despite the risks. Her family was often involved in the Jewish community in Roxbury, Mas-
sachusetts, so they had established positive relationships with Jewish people. When Williams introduced DeBerry to speak, he mentioned a few of the demands that DeBerry had shared with the University 50 years ago. These included the creation of an African and Afro-American Studies Department with the ability to “hire and fire” faculty and securing involvement in selecting the department’s chairmen and faculty. DeBerry spoke about why such demands were important and why merely a concentration in the discipline — which University faculty had already approved — was not sufficient. “We felt very strongly that we needed a department,” he said, “not something that was going to last for a few weeks or a few months, not something that was not going to be funded well. We wanted to, again, have a viable department, and with that we also wanted to have professors … and s e e the
real effort to recruit m o r e students of color.” He explained t h a t t h e y achieved some, but not all, of the demands when the occup a tion ended. Millet, who Williams called “one of the older students in the protest,” expanded on the necessity of a department. Millet highlighted how Black students’ desire for a more diverse student body culminated in the creation of the Transitional Year Program in 1967. Between 1967 and 1968, however, the University rolled back the program, which upset many students and made them realize the problem with negotiating for something that could easily be taken away. Therefore, instead of another TYP, they wanted a department that would be permanent. Millet said his mother and others pressured him to leave the occupation, but he persisted, holding onto the notion of “truth even unto its innermost parts” by advocating for a discipline that was missing. Today, the Myra Kraft Transitional Year Program admits “students who have shown academic prom-
ise, tenacity, leadership, and resilience in their life experiences, but have had limitations to their pre-college academic opportunities,” according to its website. Stewart, a sociologist, explained that she came to Brandeis for its intellectual depth and because some of the best sociologists in the nation worked there. She described the divisions within the Ford Hall group about appropriate courses of action, as many people feared for their lives. Plummer, a TYP student, came to Brandeis to avoid the “school to prison pipeline,” he said. As a student, he was grateful for Brandeis, but said that he felt it was not following through with the promises it had made. Students had watched negotiations with the administration prior to Ford Hall 1969, but no progress was being made. He recounted the night the occupation began, when Black students met in Ford Hall with San Francisco State University representatives. The SFSU students told stories of their own similar experiences. According to Plummer, Brandeis “made a lot of promises [and] they did a lot of good things, but they weren’t following through, and that was very disheartening.” Plummer explained that it was while the SFSU students were speaking that the Brandeis students began taking over the building and the switchboards, getting people out of the building, and securing and barricading the doors. More students were subsequently recruited and the outside community began to provide support, such as restaurants providing food for the students. Van Story ’72, who was originally a pre-medical student, said she joined the movement after realizing that “at some point of time in your life, you have to stand for something, you have to believe in something, and it may not go along with your plans that you have that day, or later in life, but you have to step out of yourself and look at it. And that’s how I made my decision to support Ford Hall.” Bailey brought up his experience as a Black Jewish student. ThenUniversity President Morris Abrams had accused Black students of antiSemitism, so Bailey was chosen by DeBerry as a spokesperson so that Abrams could not continue to employ those accusations, Bailey remembered. Bailey said that while he was sad that he did not have a Black professor while at Brandeis, he played an important role in creating the department that has incorporated many Black faculty into the University. Ford Hall 1969 made a lasting impact that led to students participating in Ford Hall 2015. According to a Dec. 8, 2015 Justice article, after the 12-day occupation, administrators agreed to pursue new policies to further address racial injustices on campus. Though the students occupied the Bernstein-Marcus Administration Center, as Ford Hall was torn down to make room for the Shapiro Campus Center, the protest was named after the 11-day takeover in 1969.
Photos by ANDREW BAXTER/the Justice
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Provost Lisa Lynch presented author Hortense Spillers with the Alumni Achievement Award.
FORD HALL PANEL: Panelist emphasized the importance of lasting change, not temporary fixes.
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RECALL: Union tensions culminate in referendum CONTINUED FROM 1 to $400 to cover the cost of transporting it to campus. She would be moving out of her house in less than a month, so the piano needed to be picked up before then, Chang reported. Two weeks later, on Nov. 4, Chang and Yang updated the Senate, explaining that the pair had spoken to Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Tim Touchette, who said DCL would also pay for any security measures needed to maintain the pianos and that DCL again supported the initiative. The senators also announced that they had found a Black Friday deal on two electric pianos and urged the senate to approve the SMR so they could purchase the pianos before the sale ended. Several senators voiced concerns over the cost of the purchase, following a separate dispute over Senate funding between the Allocations Board and the Executive Board of the Union. Chang held a straw poll to determine support for the SMR if, hypothetically, the funding dispute was resolved. The hypothetical situation had broad support from senators. Still, Yang pushed back against a delay on the vote, saying he was concerned that a vote on the resolution would be postponed indefinitely. The vote on the SMR was scheduled for the following week’s Senate meeting.
Chang and Yang’s emails
Two days later, on Nov. 6, Chang sent an email to the members of the MyDeis Class of 2022 Facebook page. Chang said that then-Vice President Benedikt Reynolds ’19 had “accosted” him shortly before that week’s Senate meeting and told him that the Senate only had $80 left in its budget for the academic year, so the Union would be unable to fund the pianos. According to Chang, Reynolds had “warned” him not to share details of the Senate’s budget with his constituents. Later that same evening, Yang sent a similar email to members of the MyDeis Class of 2022 Facebook page, also stating that Reynolds “accosted” him and Chang and “tried to intimi-
date” them into delaying a vote on their SMR. Yang also wrote that at the beginning of the semester, Reynolds had “pressured” him and Chang to find pianos for free, rather than purchase new ones, which Yang said “led [their] project to be delayed for an excess of over two months.” Yet the biggest source of friction for the proposal — support from DCL — ultimately had nothing to do with whether the pianos were free or acoustic. It was instead a matter of demonstrating support for the proposal among the first-year student body and addressing concerns with wheelchair accessibility.
Senate funding dispute
Both emails detailed a funding dispute between A-Board and E-Board that had not yet been disclosed to the Senate, according to Chang and Yang. In a Feb. 11 interview with the Justice, Finkel challenged the claim in both emails that the dispute had not been disclosed to the Senate when Chang and Yang sent their emails. He said he informed the Senate about budget concerns “a couple weeks” before the Nov. 4 meeting. Each semester, the Senate allocates roughly $8,000 for the midnight buffet, meaning that it had only $4,000 of its $20,000 discretionary fund to spend on other projects for the entire academic year. By Nov. 11, the Senate had spent $3,758.90 on SMRs, leaving just $241.10 to last for the remainder of the academic year. Union Chief of Staff Emma Russell ’19 made an emergency request to the A-Board in Oct. 2018 for $12,000, which the Union believed it was entitled to as part of its $50,000 funding “benchmark” stipulated in the Union constitution. The A-Board rejected this request, but Union President Hannah Brown ’19 vetoed the A-Board’s rejection. A-Board then unanimously voted to overturn Brown’s veto. E-Board was deciding how to proceed from this exchange when Chang and Yang sent their emails.
Fallout from emails
In the wake of these emails, the Nov. 11 Senate meeting was heated. Assistant Treasurer Adrian Ashley ’20 explained the funding dispute between A-Board and E-Board in a presentation to the Senate. Senators expressed frustration that the emails had disrupted important meetings scheduled between branches of the Union. Finkel also announced that he was drafting a constitutional amendment to revise the checks and balances between the branches of the Student Union. As was agreed the week prior, the Senate voted on the piano SMR by roll call. The first round of voting resulted in a tie. On the second vote, the SMR passed by one vote. Before the meeting adjourned, Reynolds was visibly emotional, and Ashley reminded the senators of the consequences of their actions. Chang apologized for the effect of his email on the Union. In a Feb. 3 interview with the Justice, Linfei said the email he sent out to members of the student body along with Chang “may have” been disrespectful. At the following Senate meeting, held on Nov. 18, Reynolds announced that he would be stepping down from the vice presidency at the end of the semester, citing health concerns. At a Dec. 4 Senate meeting, Chang and Yang apologized to Reynolds for their actions, and Yang followed up with his own apology to Chang for causing “unprecedented levels of vitriolic hatred ever directed toward a freshman.”
Recall petition
In late November, following Reynolds’ announcement, Class of 2019 Senator Kent Dinlenc and Ridgewood and Ziv Quad Senator Leigh Salomon ’19 drafted a petition to recall Yang from his position as International Student Senator. They partnered with thenSecretary Lian Chen ’19 to distribute the petition to Yang’s constituents. Salomon told the Justice the first signature to the petition was added on Nov. 30. The petition included the follow-
ing assertion: “Throughout his two years on the Student Union, he has been warned multiple times regarding his disrespectful demeanor for his colleagues and chairs during Senate meetings and committee meetings.” President Brown verified this assertion in a statement to the Justice. She said that she and Russell had met with Chang and Yang on Nov. 8 to discuss their conduct at Senate meetings, and that then-President Jacob Edelman ’18 had had a similar conversation with Yang last year. In a Feb. 11 interview with the Justice, Finkel said of Chang and Yang that they would “talk behind people’s backs” and “talk amongst themselves during the meetings,” laughing at things on each other’s computer screens. He added that Chang and Yang’s conduct “borders on bullying.” Finkel continued, “I think most of the toxicity has come from them. … If they came to [the] office hours [of EBoard members], if they reached out [to E-Board members] individually, they would have learned everything they possibly could have wanted to know.”
MyDeis admin controversy
The recall petition also took issue with Yang’s assumption of an admin position on the MyDeis Class of 2019 and the MyDeis Class of 2020 Facebook pages. Salomon explained that Yang had become an admin of the MyDeis pages sometime “before October 15,” because at that time Dinlenc requested that Yang add him as an admin to the Class of 2019 page. Dinlenc wrote in a message to Yang that Yang had made Class of 2019 Senator Vidit Dhawan a moderator, not an admin, for the page. “I think it’s only fair a senior also be a full admin of the Class of 2019 page,” he added. Yang did not respond directly to Dinlenc’s messages, instead messaging Salomon to “please tell Kent [Dinlenc] that Vidit [Dhawan] will be the senior admin of MyDeis 2019 effective immediately.” Yang never made Dhawan the admin of the Facebook page. Two days later, Yang responded di-
rectly to Dinlenc’s admin request: “I understand your concerns Kent. But the thing is, we can’t get all the positions we want sometimes however qualified we may be. I could consider making you a moderator if you still want to but otherwise, if I’m expected to be okay with the way things are, you should be too.” Yang confirmed that he assumed the position of admin on both the MyDeis 2019 and the MyDeis 2020 Facebook pages in a Feb. 3 interview with the Justice. However, he was unable to give a rough estimate of when he did so. Yang explained that he assumed that position “out of responsibility as a Student Union Senator,” and that he was “glad to protect the MyDeis groups from falling into the hands of unsavory people.” He claimed that he “forgot” he was admin for about a month, then emailed the Admissions Department, which creates the pages. Yang said he got an out-of-office reply and that no one followed up with him, though he did not provide evidence to substantiate that claim. In a Jan. 16 email sent to Yang and provided to the Justice, the authors of the recall petition explained the extent of Yang’s behavior: “[Your constituents and fellow Student Union members] feel that by appointing yourself sole admin of the MyDeis Class of 2019 and 2020 Facebook groups without the rest of the group-members’ consent, disabling comments on your own post and ‘pinning’ others in the ‘Announcements’ section, and excluding other senators from joining the MyDeis Class of 2020 Facebook group, you have exhibited unfaithful behavior for your constituency.” Yet Yang continued to closely monitor this page. According to screenshots provided to the Justice by a former moderator of the MyDeis Class of 2020 page, Yang and Chang worked in tandem to extend invites to each other and other accounts for non-University profiles to become admins of the page, as recently as Jan. 22. According to the screenshots, Chang was an admin for the Class of 2020 page
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THE JUSTICE
Expert speaks about rights for food workers Wendy's: Why and How," focused on abuse in the fast food industry. By EMILY BLUMENTHAL JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
The next time you have a craving for fast food, you should think twice about going to Wendy’s, according to representatives from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the Alliance for Fair Food. Many field workers who pick the tomatoes consumed at Wendy’s chains are routinely abused, and the chain refuses to act, they said. Lupe Gonzalo Mendez from the CIW and Roxy Rozo-Marsh from the AFF spoke about these abuses and the fight for workers’ rights and called for action at the Brandeis Labor Coalition’s ’DEIS Impact event “Boycott Wendy’s: Why and How” Feb. 3. RozoMarsh served as Mendez’s interpreter during the speech. For decades, workers have faced much abuse and have not been guaranteed their promised wages, according to Mendez. There were many instances of modern-day slavery, where workers were “forced to work against their will with no pay,” she said. It was difficult to handle abuse cases because workers often did not report mistreatment for fear of possible threats against themselves and their families. In the 1990s, however, field workers began to fight for protection against salary theft and sexual, verbal and physical abuse, Mendez explained. Workers took action with strikes and tried to negotiate better conditions and fair pay, but growers refused to engage with them. The workers, however, had already organized themselves, so they took their fight to fast food corporations. The CIW’s Campaign for Fair Food started in 2001, according to Mendez, and laid out farm workers’ demands for a fair working environment. It argued that fast food chains should pay a penny more per pound of food they purchased from growers, which would be paid directly to workers. The campaign also aimed to create a code of conduct allowing workers to report abuses without fear and enacted a zero-tolerance policy for sexual assault and modern-day slavery. First targeting Taco Bell, the CIW organizers sought allies in student and faith groups and led the fouryear “Boot the Bell” campaign to boycott the restaurant until it met the workers’ demands. In the beginning, Mendez said, people thought organizers were “crazy” to believe that they
could negotiate with large corporations like Taco Bell. Then, workers “started showing consumers … the kind of abuses [they] were facing” and encouraged consumers to demand “just food” from corporations. After strong financial pressure from the boycott, Taco Bell signed the Fair Food agreement. The CIW’s CFF waged similar successful campaigns against other fast food chains and food service providers, including McDonald’s, Burger King and Sodexo. The strength of the campaigns led growers to choose between “respecting the rights of workers or losing millions of dollars,” Mendez said. By 2010, 90 percent of Florida tomato growers had signed the agreement, according to Mendez. The AFF, a partner organization of the CIW, started the Fair Food Program in 2011, which included worker-to-worker education, which entails workers educating workers about their rights and a complaint hotline for reporting abuses. Companies under the Fair Food Agreement are required to register all workers under a grower and guarantee them a minimum wage. Before programs like the FFP, growers were not liable for worker abuses occurring on their farms, which made it difficult for abused workers to pursue justice. For workers, the FFP is important because they “don’t have to give up [their] dignity just to provide food for [their] families,” Mendez said. While the AFF and CIW have decreased worker abuse, Mendez asserted that “thousands of workers who are not on Fair Food farms continue facing these kind of exploitation and abuse.” Thus, the workers have continued to put pressure on corporations to combat these injustices. Wendy’s, for example, is refusing “to face that there exists exploitation in its supply chain,” Mendez said. Wendy’s has not acknowledged the problems broached by the boycott, nor has it signed the Fair Food agreement. This explains the event’s title, a call for customers to “Boycott Wendy’s.” In an interview with the Justice, Mendez stated that Wendy’s is particularly reluctant to sign the Fair Food agreement because they believe they are already doing enough for workers. The chain has a code of conduct for its suppliers and buys tomatoes from farms where workers work in greenhouses which provide shade. Workers, however, were not involved in writing the code of conduct. Giving workers shade is not enough, Mendez said, as that “doesn’t mean that they have human rights.” The workers, she declared, “don’t just want shade, [they] want dignity.”
TRUSTEES: Board discusses changes CONTINUED FROM 1 cedures, unique to our particular circumstances, that ensure equity, fairness, and respect for all community members,” he wrote. Profs. Pengyu Hong (COSI) and Susan Lichtman (FA) were promoted to full professor status during the meeting, and Prof. Amy Singer (HIST) was awarded tenure and full professor status. Trustees also met with their respective committees over the course of the two days. At the Resources Committee meeting, Board members reviewed Fiscal Year 2019’s goals and budget updates and learned that the original budget had an operating surplus. Members also toured Brown Social Science Center to examine its physical conditions, which will be evaluated during the three-month review of the campus’s physical infrastructure as part of preparing for Liebowitz’s “Framework” to be implemented. The Investment Committee reported that the return for the calendar year is 1.2 percent, compared to a
policy benchmark of -4.7 percent. Dean of Arts and Sciences Dorothy Hodgson presented the new general education requirements, Brandeis Core, to the Trustees. This common core is the first major revision of the requirements in 25 years and will first apply to the incoming class of 2023 when they matriculate in fall 2019. Provost Lisa Lynch also spoke about the reaccreditation process and the steps the University has been taking to address the issues raised, such as hiring Athletics staff and searching for a new vice provost for student affairs and director of athletics. The Institutional Advancement Committee discussed the University’s fundraising efforts for FY 2019, and reported that 58 percent of fundraising goals had been met by Dec. 31, 2018. Based on forecasts, the University will meet its fundraising goal by the end of this fiscal year. In addition, the Committee reported that Alumni donations have increased since prior years, due in part to Toshizo Watanabe’s ’73 $10 million donation for international students, and is up to 55 percent of total fundraising.
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CAMPUS EVENT
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THU LE/Justice File Photo
JUST FOOD: Lupe Gonzalo Mendez, a representative from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the Alliance for Fair Food, discussed the impact of consumers demanding "just food," or food that is produced using fair labor practices.
RECALL: Judiciary affirms vote CONTINUED FROM 6 on Jan. 22. At 10:10 p.m. that night, Chang invited Yang to be an admin for the page. Yang accepted the invitation at 10:10 p.m. Two minutes later, Yang invited a person named “Susan Thomson” to be an admin for the page. One minute later, Chang demoted himself from admin to member. Another minute later, Yang invited the newly-demoted Chang to be an admin for the page. At 10:15 p.m., “Susan Thomson” accepted the admin invitation. Three minutes later, Yang changed his position from admin to member. A minute later, “Susan Thomson” changed the permissions “so only admins and members can approve member requests,” according to the screenshot. At this point, Yang and Thomson were the sole admins of MyDeis 2020. At 10:27 p.m., “Susan Thomson” removed Dinlenc from the group and shortly thereafter approved a request for membership for another profile, “Michael Ray.” “Susan Thomson” then invited “Michael Ray” to be an admin for the page. “Michael Ray” accepted the request. The former moderator told the Justice they believe both “Susan Thomson” and “Michael Ray” were fake accounts based on the content of their profiles. “Susan Thomson” posted an announcement about “Branchan” on the page as an admin, then proceeded to pin that announcement to the top of the page. “Susan Thomson” was later removed as admin by Sara Lodgen, an Admissions staff member. The moderator said that the two profiles have since been deleted. Branchan is a spinoff website of 4chan, an anonymous image board website. It was created by Alex Chang last semester. He currently moderates the site. Yang told the Justice in a Feb. 3 interview that he gave up control of the MyDeis pages before the end of the fall 2018 semester, citing the high “amount of bullying” he said he received during his vice presidential campaign.
The recall vote
On Jan. 16, the organizers of the petition sent an email to Yang informing him that they had begun the process for his recall. At the time the email was sent, the petition had garnered 128 signatures, 110 of whom were verified as international undergraduate students by the University Registrar, according to the email. According to the Union’s constitution, to trigger a recall vote, 15 percent of a Union member’s constituents must sign a petition calling for them to step down. With an undergraduate international student population of 725, the petition was signed by 15.17 percent of Yang’s constituency. The organizers first presented the petition to then-Secretary Qingtian Mei ’21, who also held the position of Chief of Elections. But Mei recused himself from that role due to a conflict of interest, as he is an international student, transferring his duties to Brown, the Deputy Chief of Elections. Brown certified the petition and began the process of organizing a recall vote. In the Jan. 16 email, the organizers requested that Yang resign rather than continue with a recall vote, “to give you the opportunity to end your service as a Student Union member on a more positive note.” The email was signed by Dinlenc, Salomon, Chen, Junior Representative to the Board of Trustees Zosia Busé ’20 and international student Wilson Chen ’20. Yang replied, “Thank you for your kind offer, but I'm afraid that I have to respectfully decline.” 66 international students voted in the winter Student Union elections. Of those, 42 voted in favor of Yang’s recall, while seven voted in opposition. The Union’s constitution stipulates that an official “shall be recalled if two-thirds of the official’s constituents vote in favor of a recall.” The Judiciary initially ruled that this meant Yang had not been recalled, since less than 10 percent of his constituents voted in the election
in the first place. Brown and Dinlenc contested the ruling in an email, arguing that no other vote in the Student Union requires a two-thirds majority from an entire constituency — just from the voting population. The Judiciary subsequently reevaluated their decision, and replied to Dinlenc’s email, writing, “some justices do not know the protocol for past elections and have now heard this perspective.” They then overturned their previous ruling, deciding that two-thirds support from the voting body is required for a successful recall, not two-thirds of the constituency. That final ruling made Yang’s recall official.
Another email
Yang’s Sunday email called attention to the “alarming prevalence of nepotism” in the Union and criticized the Senate’s passage of a set of “draconian 1984-esque conduct codes” at last week’s meeting. Finkel responded to this in a Feb. 11 interview with the Justice: “The senate voted on it.” If the codes were so abysmal, Finkel said, why would the Senate have passed the measure? Yang also wrote: “As a wise Israeli man once said to me, after this semester, the current administration will be gone – much like a Limebike being slowly submerged in the snow.” He added that the current Union members who “want to meddle … will ultimately be forgotten.” He concluded his email, “Don’t worry about Alex and I, we are doing fine. It is our ailing Union that you should be worried about… So just sit back and play some piano.” Attached to the email was a quote from a Justice opinion piece written by Dinlenc: “We live in a society…” — Emily Blumenthal contributed reporting. — Kent Dinlenc is a staff writer for the Justice.
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ur out o k c e Ch
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2019 | THE JUSTICE
just
features
LOVE ON THE BRAIN: B
Going the distance
Images Courtesy of CREATIVE COMMONS
8
Long-distance couples share their stories.
By SAMMY PARK JUSTICE EDITOR
Kendal + Angus Kendal Chapman ’22 and her boyfriend Angus Lee’s relationship grew out of the train conversations they had on the way back from their New York City high school. While Chapman is a Brandeis first-year, Lee stayed in New York City for college. Despite the distance, the pair talk every day and take every opportunity to be together. Chapman and Lee — separated by about 200 miles — have to rely on FaceTime and iMessage to have the same kinds of conversations that originally cemented their bond. “The biggest challenge is not having the little things. The little inside jokes, the little hand holding, the little smiles. It adds up
“
Photo Courtesy of KENDAL CHAPMAN
FRIENDS TO PARTNERS: Kendal Chapman and Angus Lee were friends before dating.
The biggest challenge is not having the little things. The little inside jokes, the little hand holding, the little smiles.
and it’s really frustrating when you get out of sync with those things and have to re-adjust after every time you’re apart. It’s something that no amount of calling or texting will make up for,” Chapman said. Chapman and Lee were best friends for years before they officially began their romantic relationship. The first Valentine’s Day they spent together the pair agreed not to exchange gifts, but Lee surprised Chapman with a dozen roses, which Chapman described as “adorably cheesy.” Despite being physically separated, the couple often sees each other on FaceTime while doing everyday tasks. Every weekend, Chapman brings her laptop to Sherman Dining Hall, and the two have a “breakfast date.” This Valentine’s Day, Chapman will be on a night bus to New York. Although they aren’t technically spending the holiday together, they have plans to exchange gifts once Chapman arrives in New York. Even though maintaining a long-distance relationship is challenging, Chapman says that the experience has strengthened and matured her connection with Lee. When asked if she ever considered going to the same college as Lee, she said that she “love[s] him, but college is a time for self-development and growth. It wouldn’t have been healthy not to have our own spaces and experiences.”
Lily + Daniel Lily Swartz ’20 and Daniel Shoham ’20 met during their first year at Brandeis. “We were both involved with the Orthodox Jewish community on campus, so we saw each other fairly frequently and became friends,” Shoham said. When asked what her first impression of Shoham was, Swartz joked that she found him “really shy and a little awkward;” that during her “first week at Brandeis, I approached him in Sherman and asked if he knew my best friend who went to his high school and he shrugged me off.” A year after meeting, however, Shoham and Swartz started dating officially. Now she describes him as a “thoughtful, hardworking and open-minded person.” Swartz’s initial impression of Shoham has, obviously, been debunked. “He always does things for others and has an incredible work ethic. He’s also the least judgmental person I know, which is honestly inspiring,” Swartz said. After almost a year of dating, Swartz left the Brandeis campus for a study abroad program in England this semester. To stay up-to-date on each other’s lives, the couple texts every day and FaceTimes throughout the week. However, the time difference between Massachusetts and England has presented the biggest challenge to the couple’s communication. “It’s hard to find times when we can talk to each other
that work for both of us. During weeks where we both have hectic schedules especially, that becomes an issue,” Shoham said. This Valentine’s Day, the couple is unable to celebrate the holiday together but plans to FaceTime. Despite this, Shoham says that “when we do spend time together over FaceTime, it’s qualitatively different than spending time in person because there aren’t really any candid moments over FaceTime. The whole time we’re interacting solely with one another, so I don’t get to see her normal mannerisms when she interacts with the rest of the world, which are also parts of her that I love.” Shoham’s advice for long-distance couples is to communicate as often as possible and take every opportunity to visit each other.
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It’s hard to find times when we can talk to each other that work for both of us.
Photo Courtesy of LILY SWARTZ
AN OCEAN AWAY: Lily Swartz is in England while her boyfriend Daniel Shoham is oncampus.
Alessandra + Josh Josh Hoffman ’21 met Alessandra Guccione in Connecticut through a mutual friend. Although Hoffman and Guccione attended colleges in different states — Guccione lives in Connecticut and goes to NYU — Hoffman says that there was “no question” that they would begin a long-distance relationship.
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I have never met anyone like [her] and I would do it [maintain a long distance relationship] again in a heartbeat. Photo Courtesy of JOSH HOFFMAN
SINCE THE START: From the beginning of their relationship, Josh Hoffman and Alessandra Guccione have been long distance.
Unlike many long-distance couples, Hoffman and Guccione began their relationship fully knowing that they would face the challenges of distance. “I have never met anyone like Alessandra and I would do it [maintain a long distance relationship] again in
a heartbeat,” Hoffman said. The couple tries to visit each other once a month. When Guccione drives up to Brandeis, the pair “just like to hang out,” according to Hoffman. During Guccione’s visits to campus, she often accompanies Hoffman to his club activities. “When she comes up here we study together, hang out with our mutual friend, or just chat,” Hoffman explained. Since Hoffman is only a state away from Guccione, she visits the campus often. However, this proximity is also the main challenge of their relationship: “balancing weekend commitments with visiting [each other] since [they] are in completely different places,” according to Guccione. The couple said that the most important component of both starting and maintaining a long distance relationship is communication. “There is no ‘wrong’ way to go about it as long as you’re both comfortable and happy with what you have,” Guccione said. Even though the couple often goes weeks without seeing each other, Hoffman said, “I always get excited and my heart starts racing. I basically sprint to the door once she texts she’s there.”
THE JUSTICE | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2019
9
Brandeisians and their romantic lives
Love at first sight swipe First-years explore the digital dating world, one “like” at a time. By MEGHNA KANTHAN
Photo Courtesy of SIMARN REGMI
JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Simarn
Photo Courtesy of JACK RANUCCI
Boston, MA
Jack
In college, there are so many different activities students have to juggle. Between balancing academics, clubs, dating and just finding time for themselves, it can be hard for young adults to navigate the little facets of life. So it’s no surprise that dating apps like Tinder and Bumble that make dating and meeting new people more accessible have been so eagerly welcomed by the college community. With the world at our literal fingertips, it is almost too easy to slide into the world of dating (and that cute kid’s DMs). The appeal is obvious. Anyone can connect with other 18+ aged individuals with similar interests without the pretense of commitment. Sifting through a slew of potential interests with the flick of a finger makes it simple to weed out the ineligible hookup candidates, but what factors weigh into that decision? According to four Brandeis first-years, Ruth Itzkowitz, Jack Ranucci, Simarn Regmi and Joella Waldman, a bio and quality pictures rank in as the most important aspects of a like-worthy profile. Users who have a bio that isn’t cocky, but who also offer interesting details about themselves, are more likely to be “swiped right” on. To have a successful profile, pictures must be tastefully curated. Waldman says among the least appealing types of pictures are the token cigar/ smoking pic, the “pro fisherman” pic and excessive or exclusively group photos. Another thing students look out for is a university or school listed in a profile. It is hard to trust people you meet in person, let alone online, so a school listed along with a description of a person helps make them more reputable and relatable. Students may not even consider profiles that don’t have a school, or a prestigious school, listed under their name. In addition, most students interviewed have a “No Brandeis” rule to avoid the awkwardness that comes with bumping into a failed match or online flirtationship. University students, underclassmen especially, tend to have the age range set from 18 to 22 because older people might not be in the same place in their lives or have the same expectations as them. After matching with someone, admitting mutual attraction on some level, the next step is the first message. On Tinder, the female students interviewed said that they only message first about a
quarter of the time and on a case-by-case basis, just by nature of the platform. On Bumble, the deciding difference is that women must message first, per the app’s rules. Ranucci, a Bumble user, says that this helps avoid the “creepy men stigma” and creates less initial distrust between both parties with the women in charge of conversation. Either way, crafting the perfect way to establish initial contact can be nerve-racking. Everyone is using these types of apps for different reasons, but whether it be for dog pictures, to find parties, make a friend or for a quick hookup, students are looking for people with similar interests and intentions. Regmi predominantly uses it to find parties on other campuses. Students attending larger Boston schools tend to invite Tinder matches to their weekend parties, possibly with the intention of hooking up (or maybe just to fill events up). Regardless, invitations to parties on Tinder make it easier to find something to do in the city or take a break from the usual off-campus Brandeis frat parties. Other students are just on these apps to flirt or for the instant gratification that comes with complete strangers stroking your ego. Chatting with strangers can be its own fun too, because it’s low-risk and both people know they passed the initial test of the swipe. Meeting up with matches can be a whole other daunting experience entirely and isn’t as common as the casual, bored flirting that most people aren’t foreign to. Seeing someone that you met on an app like Tinder for the first time is inherently awkward if expectations are not discussed beforehand. Waldman says that it is important to talk about sex and boundaries to clarify what both parties intend to do and expect. Although platforms such as Tinder and Bumble do promote the casual hook-up, students said they would not be opposed to meeting someone through the app that they could have a future with beyond a date or hook-up. Good or bad, most people have some type of opinion on dating apps. However, students agree that stigma has evolved. Millennials and Gen Z-ers, even if not active users or supporters, tend to understand the logic behind it. Even though Tinder dates will probably remain something you might not write home about, they are still an accepted part of young adulthood. In the college atmosphere, lots of people are looking for new experiences and new people to talk to, especially on a smaller campus like Brandeis. Dating apps can provide an exciting way to meet similar students or cute dogs through a controlled and more or less safe environment.
Indianapolis, IN
Photo Courtesy of JOELLA WALDMAN
Photo Courtesy of RUTH ITZKOWITZ
Tinder released a collegeonly version of the app called “Tinder U” in August 2018.
The Pew Research Center found that the number of 18 to 24 year olds using online-dating apps has tripled since 2014.
Joella
Budapest, Hungary
Ruth
Palo Alto, CA
10 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2019 ● FORUM ● THE JUSTICE
Justice
the
Established 1949
Brandeis University
Avraham Penso, Editor in Chief Natalia Wiater, Managing Editor Amber Miles, Senior Editor Jen Geller, Jocelyn Gould, Deputy Editors Nia Lyn, Associate Editor Sam Stockbridge, News Editor Sammy Park, Features Editor Gabriel Frank, Forum Editor, Megan Geller, Sports Editor Maya Zanger-Nadis, Arts Editor Andrew Baxter, Photography Editor Morgan Mayback, Interim Layout Editor Liat Fischer and Devo Meyers, Ads Editors Eliana Padwa, Copy Editor
EDITORIALS
University is falling down on its social justice mission This year’s ’DEIS Impact, Brandeis University’s annual social justice festival, featured 52 events. Unfortunately, this is the most impressive thing one can say about ’DEIS Impact. Though the festival’s name suggests that attendees should walk away with some sense of how Brandeis students can make an impact — either on the University itself or on society as a whole — the majority of its events provide little guidance to that end. This shortcoming, however, is only one of the reasons the festival as a whole is so poorly attended. ’DEIS Impact events tend to suffer from one or more drawbacks. Too many are simple lectures, never a promising format for attracting students hoping to get off their chairs and actively effect change. Most occur during the day, and while the prospect of learning about the “theoretical frameworks” on self-awareness and “cross-identity dialogue” may be intriguing to some, it is unlikely to draw many students away from concrete concerns such as homework and jobs. Additionally, many events — such as talks about the anthropology of power and the various drivers of global migration patterns — suffer from being overly theoretical. Considering the many widespread, easy-to-comprehend problems in the United States that need addressing, ’DEIS Impact can only be seen as a missed opportunity to equip students with the skills to help out. According to a 2017 report by the USDA, 11.8 percent of American households face insecurity insecurity. This year’s festival focused on “exploring oppression, power, [sic] and privilege.” Why was there no room for a workshop on food insecurity and the racial and economic imbalances that contribute to it? It’s not as though the administration is lacking in infrastructure to build on. Students participating in the Waltham Group regularly engage in the important work of distributing food, tutoring students in need of extra support and addressing homelessness. A few of this year’s ’DEIS Impact events, such as Saturday’s “Housing Insecurity in Waltham and Beyond, “Fit in nicely with the Waltham Group’s focus on achieving local and tangible impacts. Future ’DEIS Impact festivals should be focused on hightlighting Brandeis’s existing programs for advancing social justice and increasing participation in the Waltham Group, instead of holding numerous lecture events based on yearly themes. Another effective and obvious change would be to reduce the overwhelming number of programs and move the remaining ones to the evening, when students can actually attend them. Furthermore, lectures should be replaced by workshops whenever possible to increase interest and participation. Ultimately though, the festival’s attendance will remain low unless events are geared to students’ interests and abilities, not faculty and administrators’ projects. 2019’s ’DEIS Impact theme was “What is Social Justice?: Consciously Exploring Oppression, Power, and
’DEIS Impact needs work Privilege in our Communities”; this board is more curious as to why an event titled “’DEIS Impact” appears more fixated on analyzing terms than on solving real problems. Even if the University did understand its purported values, its celebration of those values conflicts ironically with its celebration of Black History Month. At Brandeis, February is many things: the start of midterm season, a week off and ’DEIS Impact. This month is overcrowded, and we tend to lose track of February’s designation as the time to commemorate Black history, culture, accomplishments and people. This board calls on the University to refocus on the contributions of Black students and scholars to the University and the larger world. Black History Month should not be treated as a niche occasion, remarked on only by the African and African American Studies Department and the Black student groups on campus. Instead, it should be given institutional attention and recognition. Why are students not introduced to the BLK Archives at orientation? Why is the Intercultural Center the only place on campus where such conversations are always encouraged? This board calls on the University to hold an annual school-wide Black History Month commemoration. The event should be big, it should be proud, it should embrace Black history as absolutely integral to the school’s identity and mission. The University should, each year, honor a different event or figure in Black history. The honoree or commemoration would be chosen for its relevance to current events, and in their opening remarks, the University president could elaborate on how it ties into the University’s ongoing goals each year. Brandeis seeks to be a social justiceoriented school, and, though the University may not be clear on what that means, this board holds that celebrating Black History Month is an integral part of that mission. While this board urges the University to meaningfully recognize and celebrate Black History Month, it commends the active expansion of the AAAS Department with its most recent hiring of Dr. Amber Spry as an Assistant Professor. Additionally, the Department just celebrated its 50th anniversary through a weekend full of programming, which this board commends the University for. However, the program should still be strengthened by expanding the number of courses available and admitting more applicants who express an interest in majoring or minoring in AAAS. Additionally, there could be a University Writing Seminar focused on Black writers so that first-year students gain a basic understanding of Black history and an interest in AAAS. Ultimately, the University’s self-proclaimed values of social justice will only come to fruition once it realizes the power of ethnic studies and makes a substantive effort to continue the expansion of the AAAS department.
MARA KHAYTER/the Justice
Views the News on
This past week, a photo from Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s page in his medical school yearbook emerged depicting an unidentified student wearing blackface makeup and another wearing the garb of a Ku Klux Klan member during what appeared to be a costume party. Governor Northam initially apologized for being in the photo, only to backtrack the next day and claim he was not in it. Instead, he referenced another “mistake” from his past: wearing blackface for a Michael Jackson impression at a dance competition. Many politicians are calling for Governor Northam to resign. Do you think he should resign, and why or why not?
Judah Weinerman ’20 The patently absurd nature of this Northam story reminds me of a quote from Twitter’s poet laureate @dril: “Turning a big dial that says ‘Racism’ on it and constantly looking back at the audience for approval like a contestant on the price is right.” From the initial admission of guilt and subsequent denial, to the claims of advanced facial recognition technology being applied to the photo, to the pivot that Northam was actually wearing the KKK hood instead, this situation would be horrifying if it wasn’t so stupid. The fact that a governor of a major U.S. state was seconds away from moonwalking during a press conference about his inability to stop doing blackface as a grown man before being stopped by his increasingly nervous wife is equal parts comic and tragic. Frankly, Northam is a Grade A moron who desperately needs to resign. Every day he doesn’t is another chapter in an increasingly embarrassing saga, and his political career is likely dead as a doorknob once he leaves the Executive Mansion. However, any cries of racism coming from the Republican camp ring hollow. People who spend their waking hours desperately attempting to keep statues of Confederate slavers like Robert E. Lee standing in public spaces are in no position to argue from a point of racial tolerance. Don’t be fooled by another bad-faith argument from the party whose only real virtue is unabashed racial hatred. Judah Weinerman is an Associate Editor for the Justice.
Nia Lyn ’19 I wholeheartedly feel that Governor Northam should resign. Anyone who thinks blackface is an appropriate way to emulate a celebrity at a party or competition is clearly not wise enough to be in a position of power. Wearing blackface isn’t a mistake — a mistake is accidentally calling a professor “mom” or “dad” by mistake. This was a decision that Northam, a competent adult, made completely disregarding the history of racism in the United States. This isn’t even something that he did in private; it was something that he did in a public setting and — if the yearbook photo is, in fact, him — he was completely fine with it being documented. Who is to know what he has done in private? Ideally, Northam should be held accountable for his actions, but the past year has made it clear that bigots, like our current president, are above the law. Nia Lyn ’19 is an Associate Editor for the Justice.
Mara Khayter ’19 The way the public appears to deal with ignorance and feelings of accountability by terminating people from positions of power might feel impactful and righteous, but it encourages people to avoid facing and reflecting on their actions. There succeeds little discussion of what it means to create racist caricatures through costume, as well as recreating the likeness of a terrorist group as a costume. Undoubtedly there are more people who are in political positions who have yet to be, or never will be, “exposed” (and/or who likely feel this type of activity is relatively harmless). It would be wrong to skip over this event as if someone who has participated in outwardly racist acts is not capable of thinking differently in the present and can’t “own up” to it by providing reparations in any form, specifically in positioning himself as someone who’s willing to listen to those who have something substantial to say to him about how he may improve himself and perhaps use his governance to combat the same ignorance he participated in. Mara Khayter ‘19 is a Computer Science major and a member of the Waltham Group.
Photos: the Justice
THE JUSTICE ● FORUM ● TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12 , 2019
11
Enacting social justice requires personal responsibility By FRANCES HOFFEN JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
As part of the University’s festival of social justice, DEIS Impact, the Brandeis chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine invited Phyllis Bennis to discuss the complex situation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Bennis, a member of the Jewish Voice for Peace’s Board of Trustees, has spent decades discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She has served on various United Nations committees, spoken at universities across the nation and written nine books. Most of the pro-Israel community at Brandeis lament the rise of Students for Justice in Palestine, along with figures such as Bennis, simply because the opposition and ideas that run contrary to those at a historically Zionist university seems uncomfortable. Undoubtedly, Bennis’ visit brings a new discussion of Israel to the Brandeis campus. However, the most consequential impact of this new movement is the abandonment of personal responsibility. In her speech, Bennis detailed commonly cited grievances against Israel: a disproportionate use of force and excessive Palestinian civilian casualties. These are dubious claims at most. Israel is known to warn civilians in the West Bank and Gaza before attacks in unprecedented ways for a modern state. Before retaliation bombings, Israeli forces drop leaflets from planes or use a ‘roof-tap’ method to warn civilians of the incoming danger. The ‘roof-tap’ method involves dropping a small warning bomb before dropping a larger bomb. This warning bomb will shake structures a bit, but will not seriously injure anyone. Even Bennis concedes to Israel’s utilization of these techniques for the safety of Palestinian civilians. Of course, civilian casualties are inevitable and deeply unfortunate. It is heartwarming to see that individuals care about those living thousands of miles away, who have completely different values from those of Americans. One would hope that this is largely due to the compassion characterized by the proPalestinian movement; unfortunately, it is largely due to a new trend of individualism that has paved the way for an end to personal responsibility. As children grow into adolescents, they look for ways to establish their own sense of autonomy. They want to drive to school, manage their own relationships and eventually, make their own money. Yet no person ever desires the ugly responsibility that comes with recognizing their faults. No individual wants to admit that they carelessly ran the red light or told their best friend’s secret. Humans want responsibility when it induces pride, not when it induces shame.
By learning how to take responsibility for mistakes, one can transition to adulthood. Bennis disregards the importance of responsibility, as if it is the enemy of social justice. Noticeably absent from her dialogue of the Palestinian case is any mention of a governing body, such as Hamas or the Palestinian Authority. According to Jewish Voice for Peace, Bennis’ associated organization, no fault can rest upon the Palestinian leadership because they simply do not have the capabilities to accomplish diplomacy. In fact, there is no mention of Hamas or the Palestinian Authority in Jewish Voice for Peace’s core values, nor any mention of them throughout their website. While Bennis attempts to elicit pity for the Palestinian cause, she effectively infantilizes the Palestinians. Bennis sees that the Palestinian leadership fails to contribute to its citizens’ welfare, but instead criticizes Israel for the faults of Palestinian leadership. Israel, as Bennis mentions, has “the absolute political backing of the largest superpower in the world.” This leads Bennis to reason that the Israelis are at fault, regardless of the recent plan pioneered by Israel to provide residents of the Gaza Strip with around $1 billion for humanitarian aid. Israel supports residents of the Gaza Strip, but Gaza’s own government does not— somehow, based on Bennis’ logic, it is Israel’s fault for not doing enough. True social justice involves empowering individuals to help themselves and realize their full potential. Social justice should not make excuses for the crimes committed by a terrorist group, even if they are perceived to be part of a marginalized community. This perpetuates discriminatory ideologies. For example, Bennis’ argument that the leadership of the Palestinians holds no responsibility for their plight downplays the influence of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. This reaffirms the idea that those from underdeveloped societies cannot reason at the same level that members of Western civilizations can, which in itself is inherently discriminatory. Undoubtedly, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority are smart enough to know that violating the human rights of their people — using United Nations funding to build tunnels from Gaza to Israel for explosives, not to mention using Gazan schools as rocket launching pads to kill civilians — does not promote peace or prosperity. Yet activists do not place blame on Hamas for this. They instead place blame on Israel, as if Israel controls the minds of the Palestinian leadership. In fact, according to Bennis, Palestinian leaders are some of the most welleducated in the Middle East. If countries are to make legitimate agreements with one another, they need to have equal expectations. We need to stop making excuses or de-emphasizing the
JULIANNA SCIONTI/the Justice
effects immoral behavior have on others. In the 21st century, this lack of responsibility is blatant. An anonymous post on Youtube, for example, allows individuals to hide their identities and escape the potential backlash faced for inappropriate language. This contributes to the diminishing of responsibility because individuals can escape unprincipled deeds without punishment. Similarly, disempowered groups can escape immoral behavior by blaming their actions on oppressor. Activists buy into this, seeing marginalized groups as by definition entirely blameless. They assume that circumstances cannot change without the intervention of outside forces. Instead of arguing that individuals should find the best course of action given their circumstances, activists choose to solely place blame on a predetermined oppressor for the failures of the marginalized group. Of course, inequality of opportunity is never acceptable, and as activists, we should all work to eliminate this injustice. However, once enough opportunities are provided for all sides of the equation, we have to hold our
expectations high and instate repercussions if these expectations are not met. For example, if the law argues that people should not murder, we cannot make excuses for murder if everyone is made aware of the law. Drug laws should work similarly. If our society becomes one that makes excuses for crime and inappropriate behavior, we will make these actions acceptable if the person committing them is of a marginalized group. Regardless of a person’s status as marginalized or not, we must acknowledge their rational capabilities and therefore serve justice as it is due. The pro-Palestinian group’s argument for a lack of Palestinian responsibility superficially promotes social justice. Yet, when one looks closer, it is obvious that this argument only infantilizes marginalized groups. This furthers discriminatory stereotypes of marginalized groups as being incapable of logical reasoning and assuming moral responsibility at the same level of the so-called oppressors. Therefore, as pursuers of social justice, we must regard other groups as equal in the realm of moral responsibility for inappropriate behavior, regardless of the circumstances.
Yemen famine crisis is an untold, preventable tragedy By HARRISON PAEK JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
Reading the news gives me a feeling of being stuck. I feel stuck being a college student, especially in a world that has so many problems. Often I sit on the f loor and feel powerless. I want to save the world, but I have classes and the T runs to Boston, not Yemen. Thus, too often my solution to big problems is to not think about them at all. How Brandesian. There is a famine in Yemen right now. Millions of pounds of grain earmarked to relieve the widespread famine are rotting in storehouses, according to the New York Times. Doctors Without Borders says the medical health system has effectively collapsed and the country is a hairbreadth away from an outbreak of measles, cholera and diphtheria. To you, the reader, this is not a put-down piece, and it is not a tearjerker. This is a serious consideration of political missteps occurring because those in power have put big issues on the backburner, just like many of us. Prioritization is a challenge for the college student, and sometimes the easy solutions follow one into adulthood. Capitalizing on what is manageable is productive, but forgetting that which is unmanageable is not. In his article in the
Washington Post International Crisis Group consultant analyst Peter Salisbury concludes that, “As the country slips into unimaginable, desperate hunger, it’s important to understand that what is happening was utterly, tragically predictable. The people who should have known knew. They just had other priorities.” There are hungry people in Yemen living on the precipice of total starvation, and the United States government is playing with fire.
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There are hungry people in Yemen living on the precipice of total starvation, and the United States government is playing with fire. Making an effort to explain the complicated relationships between the U.S., Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen and others would result in egregious
understatement and oversimplification. Within the scope of the article, a ceasefire that would allow the U.N. to reach the innermost famine-stricken areas of the country is a hard call to make. If either side disturbs the peace in any way, it would destroy any potential of peace talks between the two sides. It is a sensitive situation — the current shaky truce implemented by Britain in the port city of Hodeida is allowing a minimal amount of supplies in. However, military action by both sides in more famine-vulnerable areas is making lawmakers nervous. Even the current agreement was extremely difficult to implement. Britain’s previous several attempts at humanitarian aid were opposed on the same grounds. However, according to a different article in the Guardian, “British diplomats had argued that the the threat of famine was so catastrophic that there could be no delay, and were taken aback by the lack of support.” It feels too much like a privilege game borne out of “liberal-socialist poison” to say that the people in Congress are apathetic because they are aff luent white men who know not what hunger feels like. However, it does appear that many countries are advocating for kicking the can down the road. According to the same Guardian article,
the U.S., China, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia argued against the British resolution, while Poland, the Netherlands and Peru supported the move. France, Russia and Sweden abstained. Maybe the world is overwhelmed. Maybe hunger is an abstract concept to those making the decisions comfortably, waiting for the ideal situation to present itself. However, with an issue such as this, time is to the U.N. as caviar is to the starving people in Yemen. In this sense, the situation lends itself to no easy solution. Especially in the face of the dumpster fire in Washington, there seem to be bigger priorities for Americans than stressing about people starving halfway around the world. I don’t know what starvation feels like, though maybe close — on those days Sherman serves underdone chicken for dinner. Someone once told me that overseas states are a lost cause and that violence in Chicago is the real problem. This is a valid sentiment, but part of the privilege and responsibility of living in a large and interconnected world is having a concern for a greater number of more distant people. Live in the moment, you college student, and don’t feel guilty for eating. Be all this as it may, living in the moment is knowing what it means for people other than oneself. In this moment, the most immediate humanitarian crisis is Yemen, and it is now.
The opinions expressed on this page are those of each article’s respective author and do not reflect the viewpoint of the Justice.
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Mendel Weintraub
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Arts: Kent Dinlenc*, Luke Liu, Evan Mahnken*, Ella Russell, Photography: Clara Alexander, Ydalia Colon, Charlie Catino, Zach Katz, Yuran Shi Copy: Gabriel Freiman, Sara Fulton, Leon Kraiem, Rachel Moore, Peri Meyers*, Ora Rogovin, Emily Shen, Ellie Whisenant Layout: Leah Samantha Chanen, Shinji Rho
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12
TUESDAY, FEBRURARY 12, 2019● FORUM ● THE JUSTICE
FORUM
Superbowl ads are emotionally manipulative By VIOLET FEARON JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The Super Bowl is a celebration of all things American: snack foods, big crowds, boundless passion, nefariously concealed concussion scandals and colossal amounts of money. Perhaps its most American feature is the widespread concept of “watching for the ads.” Across this great nation of ours, countless individuals — myself included — passively watch a sports game they’re not terribly invested in, in order to enjoy being marketed to. As a person who eagerly avoids ads in all other contexts, it’s hard to articulate the appeal of Super Bowl commercials — but I’ll try. Due to the vast amounts of money invested in creating them, they’re cinematically produced, usually wellwritten and generally a step above the everyday stream of aggressive marketing we all experience. If regular ads are bologna, Super Bowl ads are steak tartare. The price of these time slots makes it fascinating to watch companies optimize their few seconds of airtime. They’re also a source for Monday-morning small talk, which is especially useful if you’re trying to avoid an in-depth conversation about the actual game. The best Super Bowl ads are the funny ones, especially those that focus so heavily on humor that they barely mention their product. I also have a soft spot for the weird ads, although many people would disagree with me; according to USA Today’s survey, Burger King’s ‘Andy-Warhol-eats-a-burger’ approach was the most hated ad this cycle. I would beg to differ with this consensus. Warhol might not be to everyone’s taste, but the worst Superbowl ads are the manipulative ones. Here’s the thing about the emotionally manipulative Superbowl ads: they never start out by telling you what they’re selling. First it’s the cinematic shot of the soldier returning home, or the abused kittens, or the mother holding her infant for the first time; you get the picture. The Bob Dylan song plays; flags are waved by cute children. Then, at the very end: apparently, this is a car ad. What does a puppy kissing a horse have to do with buying a car? You’re not sure, but it’s hard to criticize - after all, who wants to be the guy that makes some cynical remark about puppies? All that remains is the vague connection forged in millions of minds: puppies, horses ... and Ford Explorers. While manipulative, irrational advertising is unusually blatant during the Superbowl, it is also present in everyday marketing. In fact, it’s become so common that it’s easy to stop noticing it. Will using a certain awful-smelling deodorant really attract crowds of voluptuous blonde models? Will purchasing this specific brand of watery beer get you invited to giant parties? Will this particular car send you on grand adventures along rocky coasts? It’s easy to
LEON KRAIEM /the Justice
laugh at these common examples, but the fact that this type of illogical connectionforging is so common among marketers is evidence that it works well enough to justify production costs.
“
The best Superbowl ads are the funny ones, especially ones that focus so heavily on humor that they barely mention their product. Emotionally manipulative advertising extends to social movements, too.
Occasionally this can backfire, as in the case of the remarkably stupid Pepsi ad that suggested soda could heal racial divisions and solve police brutality. More often though, the gamble pays off. Observe the recent Gillette ad that capitalized on the “#MeToo” movement and the public’s growing awareness of toxic masculinity. Just as Gillette desired, their brand got an incredible amount of press coverage in the ensuing partisan debate. Less attention was paid to the fact that shifting gender norms are not terribly relevant to the quality of Gillette razors versus competing brands’. While this practice of co-opting social movements seems to have gained popularity in the last few years, it’s nothing new. For a long time, cigarette sales were lower among women due to smoking’s masculine reputation. To remedy this, Virginia Slims’ successful 1968 ad campaign adopted women’s liberation slogans to make smoking seem
cool and feminist, according to the Center for Disease Control. Imagine, for a moment, something crazy: a world where advertising is fact-based, rather than an exercise in psychological tinkering. A car ad tells you their new model’s gas mileage and price versus competitor’s cars; a deodorant ad explains why their particular pine scent is better than the hundreds of other options. Of course, the obvious response to this is that if straightforward marketing worked better, companies would already be doing it; the only reason they use these tactics is because flag waving makes more money than honesty does. So perhaps it’s our responsibility to be aware of our often-illogical motivations behind brand preferences. If advertising’s power to shape consumer’s thinking faded, branded products could be seen less like magical life-improvers, and more like ordinary, mass-produced objects.
The BranVan’s problems are unacceptable and easily fixable Trevor FILSETH
SANITY
There’s a lot to dislike about Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Aside from generally being an unpleasant person, he invented modern fascism, killed thousands of dissidents in horrible ways and fought on Hitler’s side in World War II. Nonetheless, it’s widely stated that he made the trains in Italy run on time, which apparently makes up for all of that. I often find myself thinking about this aphorism while I wait at the Admissions stop for the BranVan. I use the BranVan every day to get to class. I live around two miles off campus; I used to have a bike, but it’s been broken for several months, and biking while it’s snowing isn’t something I’d recommend for the faint of heart. An Uber ride to Brandeis typically costs between $5 and $7, which most people can’t afford on a daily basis. For me, the only other option is to walk. On account of BranVan problems, I’ve done a lot of walking in the past month. For the purpose of this article, I’m talking about the Waltham BranVan, which is the
one I have the most experience with. There are two different routes; the morning one, which is run by Joseph’s Transportation, and the evening one, which is run by Brandeis. The morning bus has been late before — eighteen minutes once, making me late for class — but incidents like these are the exception rather than the rule. Most of the time, the Joseph’s Shuttle is where it’s supposed to be within five minutes, and it’s never too full to refuse anyone. With the Waltham BranVan, by contrast, your results will vary wildly depending on the time and place. Before and after most classes get out, when things aren’t as busy, the bus usually leaves Brandeis at the right time. However, from 5:00 p.m. until around 8:00 p.m. in the evening, things are extremely chaotic. The bus starts at the Rabb steps, which at rush hour always has more people than it can hold. Because the Rabb steps are the first stop on the route, the people there get first crack at the bus; those who wait at Admissions, as I frequently do, are perpetually screwed over. Frequently, the full BranVan blasts right past Admissions without so much as a warning to the people waiting on the curb. If we’re lucky, another van comes — after an unanticipated ten minutes or so of additional waiting. If we’re not, the driver forgets or neglects to call a second van in, or the second van is unavailable anyway. I once had to wait an hour to go home because
the 5:00 p.m. van was full, no backup was called, and there is no 5:30 p.m. run. All of this would be better known if the shuttle trackers were turned on or working, which they almost never are; this way, people would at least know if no backup was on the way. Instead, we’re left guessing. In the same vein, if there are service issues — a flat tire, for instance — there’s no way to notify the people waiting.
“
On account of BranVan problems, I’ve done a lot of walking in the past month.
Finally, I’m deeply dissatisfied with the reservation system. Perhaps I’m acting entitled, but I think that I have a right to expect my shuttle service to work the way it should without me having to call in ahead to ensure it does. The fact is that these concerns aren’t new. There have been no fewer than ten — ten! — prior Justice and Hoot editorials dedicated to them from as early as 2011, which ought
The opinions expressed on this page are those of each article’s respective author and do not reflect the viewpoint of the Justice.
to be a clear sign that complaining in broad, general terms won’t convince the administration to improve service. If the BranVan is going to improve, we need to have a concrete plan for how to improve it, and we need to be able to create that change in the Student Union. On the first count, the obvious remedy to this is to put more shuttles into service, perhaps having two running Waltham BranVans or more on peak hours — one at Rabb and one at Admissions, to serve both evenly — with the option to call in more if necessary. This would be expensive, but it would do actual good to the Brandeis community. Do we still have the receipts for the pianos? On the second, it’s necessary to target complaints and suggestions specifically towards the Student Union, because they actually have the power to enact changes. Fortunately, this past week, I was elected to the Union — bribes are payable in cash or Venmo, by the way — and I’m on the Campus Operations committee, which theoretically oversees the BranVans. Any of you who have comments on the shuttle service are welcome to come to our meetings, which are from 6-7 p.m. on Mondays. If you’d rather not come in person, I’m collecting complaints, so you’re all encouraged to share horror stories with me; my email address is tjfilseth@brandeis. edu. This is a simple enough problem. We shouldn’t need a Mussolini to fix it for us.
THE JUSTICE ● SPORTS ● TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2019
TRACK: Judges charged with a successful season CONTINUED FROM 16 tied his personal record in pole vault. His jump of 4.55 meters was also good for second place at the event. Dion Morris-Evans ’22 ran the 60-meter hurdles in 8.62 seconds which was good for second place. Morris Evans had a personal record in the high jump of 1.85 meters. Jeremiah Fantroy ’22 achieved a personal record in the 35-pound weight throw by making it 10.85 meters. Jack Allan ’20 ran the 60-meter hurdles in 8.87 seconds good for third place, but not a personal record. Next Saturday, the team will travel to Harvard University to
13
REACH FOR THE STARS
participate in the USA Track and Field Indoor Championships, followed by the UAA Championship meet on Feb. 23 and 24 hosted at home in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center. The team is led by head coach Sinead Delahunty and assistant coaches Steve Flanagan and Jason Sliwoski. Delahunty has remained head coach for the Brandeis men’s team since Dec. 2013. Under her coaching, 11 runners qualified for seven different divisions in NCAA Championships. Assistant coach Flanagan has coached the Judges since August 2015. Finally, Assistant coach Sliwoski is in his third year with the Judges.
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ZOE BRODSKY/Justice File Photo
STRETCH: Brandeis' Kerry Tanke ’22 sends the ball through the hoop in the game against the University of Rochester on Feb. 3.
WBBALL: Team works hard as season’s end approaches CONTINUED FROM 16 catch up, as by the end of the third, the Spartans expanded their lead to 14 points at 56–42. By the end of the game, the Judges tightened the score, as the Spartans would remain victories 67–55, a 12-point margin. Nicolson led the Judges in points and rebounds with 13 and nine, respectively. Eight of her points were scored in the second half. Casanueva fell close behind at nine points and six rebounds. She also tied the game with Jaromin for assists with four of them. This game was senior day for the Judges honoring Jaromin, Joelle MarkAnthony ’19, Gillian O’Malley ’19 and Ellery Riccio ’19. Carnegie Mellon 67, Judges 58 In their third consecutive loss, the Judges tried to overcome the Tartans. Similar to the aforementioned game against the
Spartans, the Judges actually tied in points scored in the first half of the game and even led going into the half. This was as a result of the Judges scoring a point over the Tartans in the second quarter. After ending the first quarter tied at twelve, the Judges scored 16 points in the second, while the Tartans only scored 15, entering the second half with a score of 28–27 in favor of Brandeis. The first half was marked by its defensive nature. However, the second half brought the Judges a new beast to conquer. After scoring the first six points of the half as a result of two layups from Nicholson and two free throws from Abdelrahim, the team led 34–27, but Carnegie Mellon called a timeout and then scored the next four game points to end up within three points of the Judges 31–34. The Tartans would eventually tie the game at 37 less than a minute after Casanueva made a three-point shot with 5:59
left in the third, but the Judges responded quickly. They scored 12 of the next 17 points of the game, leaving the Judges ahead by seven points, but the Tartans tightened the game to a score of 49–44, only a five point difference. With 8:30 to go in the game, the Judges were ahead after Rubinstein made two free throws with a score of 53–47, but with 6:36 to go, the Tartans tied the game at 53 points. Jaromin made a threepoint shot to pull the Judges ahead, but the Tartans responded, and their own Katie Higgins put them ahead 57–56. Tanke made a layup with 4:33 left in regulation to put the Judges ahead by one point 57–58, but the Judges would not score again, and the Tartans would end victorious by a score of 67–58. Casanueva led the Judges, scoring 12 of the team’s points and with five assists. The Judges will next take on the University of Chicago away on Friday at 7 p.m.
MBBALL: Judges outshoot their recent opponents and start a winning streak CONTINUED FROM 16 in the half was with seven minutes remaining in the second half, when the Judges were down by 5 points. The Judges came back strong, increasing the score to 54–53. The score was tied again at 56 with three minutes left in the second half.
The game ended in a tie, resulting in overtime action, and, during overtime, the team missed three 3-pointers in a row. However, the Judges’ defence was on its A-game and refused to let the Spartans score. The Judges managed to end the game in a win. In an interview with the Justice, Austin Clamage ’21 said, “One thing
that myself and everyone else on the team has been so thankful for is the support we’ve gotten from everyone.” In addition, Clamage expressed that, “Talking to some of the upperclassmen on the team, they told me that this year we’ve been getting some of the best fan turnouts for games that they’ve experienced in their years here. Having a great
crowd for all our home games has really made playing at Brandeis special.” Next week the Judges are scheduled to play the University of Chicago away followed by another away game against Washington University. The final game of the season is scheduled for an away game against New York University
on Feb. 23. Rounding out the last game of the season, the Judges, led by captains Corey Sherman '19 and Latye Workman '18, have maintained an overall record of 13–9 this season. In addition, in the 22 games played so far this season, the Judges have an average of 65.5 points per game and are currently on a winning streak of two games.
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THE JUSTICE
JUDGES BY THE NUMBERS
● SPORTS ●
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2019
15
SWIM AND DIVE
MEN’S BASKETBALL UAA STANDINGS Rochester WashU Chicago WashU JUDGES Carnegie Case NYU
UAA Conf. W L D 8 3 0 8 3 0 7 4 0 7 4 0 6 5 0 5 6 0 2 9 0 1 10 0
TEAM STATS
Points Per Game
Overall W L D Pct. 18 4 0 .818 17 6 0 .773 14 4 0 .636 14 7 0 .635 13 9 0 .591 10 12 0 .455 9 13 0 .409 6 15 0 .318
Corey Sherman ’19 leads the team with 13.9 points per game. Player PPG Corey Sherman 13.9 Chandler Jones 12.2 Eric D’Aguanno 11.2 Collin Sawyer 9.8
Rebounds Per
Chandler Jones ’21 leads the team with 6.1 rebounds per game. Player REB/G Chandler Jones 6.1 Latye Workman 5.8 Lawrence Sabir 3.8 Eric D’Aguanno 3.6
EDITOR’S NOTE: Feb. 15 at University of Chicago Feb. 17 at Washington University Feb. 23 at New Yory University
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL UAA STANDINGS UAA Conf. W L D WashU 10 1 0 Chicago 8 3 0 Emory 8 3 0 NYU 5 6 0 Case 5 6 0 Rochester 3 8 0 JUDGES 3 8 0 Carnegie 2 9 0
TEAM STATS
Points Per Game
Overall W L D Pct. 16 5 0 .727 17 4 0 .773 17 5 0 .773 13 6 0 .619 13 9 0 .591 9 13 0 .409 8 10 0 .333 10 8 0 .500
EDITOR’S NOTE: Feb. 15 at University of Chicago Feb. 17 at Washington University Feb. 23 at New Yory University
Camila Casaneuva ’21 leads the team with 14.3 points per game. Player Camila Casaneuva Sarah Jaromin Jillian Petrie Shannon Smally
PPG 14.3 9.3 9.0 8.8
Rebounds Per Game Hannah Nicholson ’20 leads the team with 7.2 rebounds per game. Player REB/G Hannah Nicholson 7.2 Camila Casaneuva 5.9 Jillian Petrie 5.4 Shannon Smally 5.3
SWIMMING AND DIVING Results from the meet on Feb. 2.
TOP FINISHERS (Men’s)
TOP FINISHERS (Women’s)
50-yard Breaststroke
SWIMMER TIME Daniel Wohl 27.50 Alex Wang 29.79 Thomas Alger 31.48
200-yard Freestyle
SWIMMER TIME Kylie Herman 2:04.26 Natlie Westrick 2:10.53 Rebecca Sokoloff 2:21.79
EDITOR’S NOTE: Feb. 13 at UAA Championship Feb. 21 at NEISDA Championship
TRACK AND FIELD Results from the Branween Smith-King Invitational on Jan. 26.
TOP FINISHERS (Men’s)
TOP FINISHERS (Women’s)
60 Meter Dash
60 Meter Dash
RUNNER TIME Reese Farquhar 7.54 Leung Michael 7.62 Michael Kroker 7.71
RUNNER TIME Kanya Brown 8.39 Anna Touitou 8.45 Gabby Tercatin 9.10
EDITOR’S NOTE: Feb. 16 at USAT&F Indoor Championships
JEN GELLER/Justice File Photo
JUST KEEP SWIMMING: Brandeis swimmers outpace opponents in their meet against Merrimack College on Jan. 13.
Judges swim to the end of a successful season ■ Team looks toward the end of their season and approaches their championship meets. By ELLIE WHISENANT JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Last week’s win against Clark University was a much-needed victory for both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams as they gear up for the upcoming championship meets — the University Athletic Association Championships at the University of Chicago and New England Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Association Championships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The women’s team has had a rough journey to the championships. They started the season off with a win against Roger Williams University, but ended the dual meet season 6–8. Though the women have not been at their best, the incoming class of swimmers has dominated the top times as stated by the Brandeis Athletics Website. First year Lauren Howard, a native of Hannover, Massachusetts, led the team in the 50-, 100- and 200-yard freestyle during the
Worcester Polytechnic Institute Gompei Invitational, swimming personal bests in the finals. Breaststroke swimmer and native of Storrs Mansfield, Connecticut, Olivia Stebbins ’22, also made personal bests in the 50-, 100and 200-yard breast at the WPI Gompei Invitational. Claire Xu ’22 from Woodbridge, New Jersey, finished the season strong with many personal bests in backstroke and the individual medley — a continual swim consisting of all the strokes in a specific order: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. The two seniors on the team, Sabrina Greer from Greensboro, North Carolina, and Kylie Herman from Weston, Florida, both did swimmingly in their last home meet against Clark University. Greer came in second place during finals in the 50-yard fly with a personal best time of 31.51 seconds. Herman finished first in both the 200- and 500-yard freestyle with times of 2:04.26 and 5:34.69 seconds, respectively. On the men’s side, the team enters into the UAA and NEISDA championships with an overall record of 6–5, having won the last three meets. Ranked 43 in Division
III dual meets, swimmers like junior Tamir Zitelny from Syosset, New York, and sophomore Richard Selznick from Las Vegas, Nevada, lead the team. At the WPI Gompei Invitational, Zitelny swam a 50.25 second 100yard fly, a seasonal best that brought him into fourth place overall in the division A final. Both Zitelny and Selznick, based on the number of points scored for their team, came in as two of the top five swimmers at the WPI Invitational meet. Selznick finished first in all three of his individual swims. He swam a 4:52.02 in the 500-yard free, a 10:07.03 in the 1000-yard free, and a 4:20.41 in the 400-yard Medley. Brendon Lu ’22 from Basking Ridge, New Jersey, has also done well this season. He began his career with the Judges by swimming four personal best in the 50-, 100- and 200yard breaststroke and 400-yard IM at WPI Gompei Invitational. In the 400 IM, Lu swam 4:16.60 in prelims and 4:12.95 in finals, dropping a total of 3.65 seconds in just one meet. Looking forward, I anticipate that the swimmers mentioned will do well in the UAA and NEISDA championships. Both the women and men’s teams have the talent to end this season on a high note.
PRO SPORTS BRIEF The ethics surrounding the increasingly popular practice of tanking in professional sports “Tanking” has become an increasingly common practice in professional sports. The controversial practice of tanking, as defined by Mark Deeks: “the team’s intent to do less than everything it can to win.” It is a concerted effort over several months by a team to be deliberately not as good as it could be, according to sbnation.com. Tanking is the cheap and dishonest byproduct of a flawed system where a team is rewarded for being bad, and deliberately losing is thereby a strategic decision. The obvious motivation for this practice is in the selection of new players. Major sports allow drafting of new amateur players by some modification of the principle of picking players in order, in inverse relation to the team’s record the
year before. The National Football League has a straight inverse order, meaning the team with the worst record picks first. Using this format to their advantage, the Indianapolis Colts, a bad team in 2011, were able to acquire a premier quarterback from Stanford, Andrew Luck, to replace the aging legend, Peyton Manning, by virtue of having the worst record in the NFL. The term “Suck for Luck” was coined during the 2011 season, according to the NFL website, to describe a team justifying poor performance in order to succeed in the future through obtaining a higher-ranked draft pick. The National Basketball Association has a modification of a straight inverse draft order. The three teams with the worst records each have a 14 percent chance of
picking first in the NBA draft, based on a lottery. This process aims to mitigate overt and obvious tanking by its teams, according to a Sept. 28, 2017 article from the NBA, about how people who invest time, emotional energy and money in following their favorite sports teams feel about the practice of tanking. This was recently studied in a poll conducted by the New York Post on Feb. 7 2019. Among the fans polled, there was a slight tendency toward approval of the practice of tanking by the fans (46.7% approved, 41.8% disapproved). However, a solid majority of fans (64.0%) believed that tanking led to a diminished interest in their team, while only 25% believed there was no impact. Ironically 10.7% of fans felt the tanking enhanced their interest —
presumably dreaming of the next great college prospect for their team, such as Zion Williamson, a Duke basketball player believed to be a future superstar who is very likely to be picked first in the NBA draft this year. 67.4% of fans believe that the leagues should implement rules to discourage tanking. Is tanking ethical and consistent with the principles of fair athletic competition? on Dec. 18, 2013, Mike Gilleran from the Santa Clara School of Law addressed this question. He explained that while we would never accept a high school or college team trying to lose, we accept this practice at the professional level because we are “seduced” by the prospect of drafting a player who will act as a “savior” and lead our favorite professional sports team to glory.
Gilleran notes that we should not “hold our breath,” waiting for team owners to lower the prices of tickets, parking, souvenirs and concessions during the time the team is giving its fans suboptimal effort and an inferior product. He also seems to lament the fact that we are raised and taught in our youth to compete by giving our best at all times, but that presently, we seem to be accepting tanking by our mediocre or bad teams in exchange for a possible championship team later. Because of this acceptance and the absence of moral outrage by the fans, despite the ethical or moral issues inherent in this practice, tanking is likely to remain present in professional sports for the foreseeable future. — Megan Geller
just Sports Page 16
SPORTS TANKING SECRETS Tanking is seen in professional sports as the controversial practice of deliberately losing games, p. 15. Waltham, Mass.
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
FIERY FOCUS
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Team continues its losing streak ■ Judges start a new three-
game losing streak as the season approaches its end. By JEN GELLER JUSTICE EDITOR
As the Judges inch closer to the end of their season, they continue to battle their University Athletic Association rivals. This week, they took on the Carnegie Mellon Tartans and Case Western Reserve University Spartans. Unfortunately, their last home games of the season resulted in two more losses, bringing their losing streak to four games in a row. They are now at an overall record of 7–14 for the season, specifically at 3–8 in the UAA, according to the Brandeis Athletics website. Case Western 67, Judges 55 The Judges marked their fourth straight loss against the Spartans in Red Auerbach Arena. The Spartans scored the first points of play with Hillary Hellman making a threepoint shot within 20 seconds of regulation. Kat Puda ’21 tried to tie the game, but fell short of the threepoint shot. The Judges finally hit
the scoreboard with 8:30 in the first quarter when Samira Abdelrehim ’21 made a layup, bringing the score to 5–2. Soon after, the Judges scored again with another layup, this time by Puda, making the score 5–4. The Judges did not score again for over another minute when Sarah Jaromin ’19 made a three-point shot to bring the score to 10–7, followed shortly by a layup by Hannah Nicholson ’20. With 4:36 left in the quarter, Camila Casanueva ’21 tightened the game to 12–11, but the Spartans quickly responded with a layup from Hellman. However, the first quarter did look promising for the Judges as Lauren Rubinstein ’20 tied the score at 14 with a free throw, followed by Kerry Tanke ’22 tying the score at 16. In fact, the first quarter ended with a tied score of 20. However, the same luck did not continue for the Judges. Kara Hageman of the Spartans made a three-point shot just 21 seconds into the quarter, and shortly after scored a layup. Quickly, the Spartans pulled ahead and did not look back, as by halftime, the team was ahead 40–31. Come the second half, the Judges would not be able to
See WBBALL, 13
☛
TRACK AND FIELD
Season continues at the Valentine’s Invitational at Boston University ■ Team participates in four meets and approaches UAA Championship as well as the NCAA Championship. By ZACH KAUFMAN JUSTICE SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The University track and field teams traveled to two neighboring schools this past weekend to compete in two different meets. On Friday and Saturday, the team traveled to Boston University to participate in the Valentines Invitational, and on Saturday, they went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to compete in the Gordon Kelley Invitational. Valentines Invitational Women Emily Bryson ’19 was, yet again, one of the team’s top performers. At BU on Friday, she had her season’s best mile time, finishing the event in 4:48.36 and beating her Division III season-best time by over a second. She finished third among her heat, 13th among all collegiate runners and 22nd overall. Gordon Kelley Invitational Women On Saturday, the women had one event at BU: the distance relay medley. This was the first time that the Judges had run this event in a competitive setting all season. The top five finishers in this event posted the five fastest times for Division III schools this season. Julia Bryson ’19 started off the race with the 1200-meter leg. Devin Hiltunen ’22 ran the 400-meter leg,
while Doyin Ogundrian ’19 ran the 800-meter leg. Emily Bryson anchored the race as usual, and overall, the squad finished with a time of 11:50.34, the third fastest time recorded by a Division III school this season. The women’s team had several runners post personal bests at BU on Friday and Saturday. Maya Bliss ’19 ran the 800-meter in 2:20.2. Leinni Valdez ’21 finished close behind at 2:20.7. The team also had three runners post personal best times in the 200-meter. Hiltunen ran the event in 26.25. She was followed closely behind by classmates Anna Touitou ’22 and Sonali Anderson ‘22 finished the event in 26.87 seconds and 27.11 seconds respectively. Finally, Erin Magill ’22 ran the 3000-meter in 10:53. Valentines Invitational Men The men’s team also had many runners place in events and record personal bests in the two meets at BU and at MIT. At BU, Lorenzo Maddox ’20 ran the 60-meter dash in 7.2 seconds. Regan Charie ’19 finished the 200-meter in 22.49 seconds, good for a personal best. The men had two more personal bests at BU, both in the mile run. Josh Lombardo ’21 ran the mile in 4:27.88. He was followed closely behind by Matthew Driben ’22, who came in with a time of 4:29.30. Gordon Kelley Invitational Men At MIT, Daniel Curley ’20 ran the 3000-meter in 9:11.52. His time earned first place at the event, but fell just short of setting a new personal best. Breylen Ammen ’21
See TRACK, 13
☛
ZOE BRODSKY/Justice File Photo
STRETCH: Brandeis’ Austin Clamage ’21 faces and outplays a defensive player at the game against University of Rochester on Feb. 3.
Judges found guilty of defeating both teams they played this week ■ After intense games on Friday and Sunday, the Judges start a new winning streak. By MEGAN GELLER JUSTICE EDITOR
As the season continues towards its end, the Judges continue to fight their University Athletic Association opponents and managed to end in victory this past week. The Judges faced two challengers: the Carnegie Mellon University Tartans and the Case Western Reserve University Spartans. This week, the Judges managed to be victorious over both of these teams. Case Western 68, Judges 72 On Friday, the Judges faced off with the Tartans. The game that resulted in 72–68 remained tight for most of the night. The game
started off with Chandler Jones ’21 scoring seven of the Judges’ first nine points. Throughout the first half of the game, the Judges led by a maximum of eight points, which occured when Eric D’Aguanno ’20 scored a three-point shot nine minutes into the game. 11 minutes into the game, the Judges hit a maximum of fouls for the half, and the Tartans held on and eventually overtook the Judges. The first half ended with a score of 40–36 in favor of the Tartans. At the start of the second half, the Tartans’ scored, leaving the score 42–36. The Tartans largest lead was early in the second half with a score 45–38. The Judges then fought back, and the score moved to 56–49, with the Judges still trailing behind. After a failed attempt to increase their lead, the Judges started to gain on the Tartans. Graduate Student Latye Workman took advantage of the Tartans and
dunked the ball through the hoop. This was followed by a shot by Lawrence Sabir ’21. With three minutes remaining in the game, the score was tied 64–64. The last three minutes were fought hard by both teams; however, the Judges ultimately came out victorious. Carnegie Mellon 66, Judges 71 On Sunday, the Judges faced the Spartans during their senior game. The game started with the Judges making eight of their first 10 shots. After 10 minutes of play, the Judges took their largest lead of 10 points, making the score 21– 11. After this, the Spartans fought to catch up until two minutes were left in the half. At this point, the Judges led 34–30 at the end of the first half. Throughout the second half, the game had four tied games and the lead in the game changed 10 times. The largest lead
See MBBALL, 13
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February 12, 2019
Vol. LXXI #17
Hooked on Tap: ss e M . T . O . H
>> pg. 19
just Arts
Waltham, Mass.
Images: Andrew Baxter/the Justice, Creative Commons. Design: Noah Zeitlin/the Justice.
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TUESDAY, THE JUSTICE FEBRUARY | ARTS 12,| 2019 TUESDAY, I ARTS JANUARY I THE JUSTICE 31, 2017
THEATER REVIEW
‘Sampled’ explores identities with music
CLARA ALEXANDER/the Justice
ONE PERSON SHOW: Khabeer performs the song from the soundtrack she created for the show.
By ELLIE WHISENANT JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Sa-Roc’s “Forever” plays as the audience members look around searching for the performer, Su’ad Abdul Khabeer. She walks in from the back of the theater, wearing a backpack and large black headphones, and continues up the stairs to the stage dancing and mouthing the words to “Forever.” She begins the show. Khabeer, an alum of Georgetown and Princeton, has been performing “Sampled: Beats of Muslim Life,” a multimedia one-woman show, for several years. She changed small parts and added some new characters as she learned more about the interactions between hip-hop and Muslim culture. Khabeer is an anthropolo-
gist and has been studying Muslim life in Chicago for seven years. With “Sampled,” her goal, as written in her performer’s statement, is to challenge the “accepted narratives on race and gender, religion, popular culture and citizenships… what we think we know about Black people, about Muslims, [and] about hip hop.” With each contrasting character, Khabeer addressed different controversial topics. In one scene, she confronted the complicated relationship between Islamic identity and wearing a hijab. Khabeer narrated a video of a young girl deciding to what extent she wished to cover herself. The young girl chose a new “hip” style hijab because, as Khabeer explains, this is how the girl believes she will fit into the hip-hop culture of her Black
Muslim community. Later, Khabeer explained that the idea behind this scene was to start a conversation addressing that a woman’s practice of Islam is not determined by what she wears, but about what she feels. There is no “right” way to be Muslim. What makes “Sampled” so captivating is the soundtrack that plays for the entirety of the show. Every song was chosen based on what Khabeer thought each character would listen to. This is how she drew the audience in; she broke down the fourth wall with her relaxed stage presence. The performance didn’t feel rehearsed or mechanic, it instead felt like Khabeer was telling us a story. The soundtrack created a unique dynamic between the music and dialogue. As Khabeer told her char-
CLARA ALEXANDER/the Justice
DIVERSITY: Khabeer plays a varity of characters to address different topics. acters’ stories, she often spoke in time with the beat. Her words became lyrics, and her performance became more poetry than monologue. I am sure that if any other person were to adopt this show, they would never have the same impact on the audience as Khabeer did. Her confidence on stage demanded the audience’s attention. Her speech was strong and truthful. It was through this strength and magnetic personality that Khabeer earned the audience’s respect and compelled them to
genuinely understand her message. After the performance, Khabeer sat down at the edge of the stage, out of costume and dressed in a tight bright purple hair wrap and large gold hoop earrings. For the next 45 minutes, she conversed with the audience, answering all of their questions. I asked her if she had any closing statement for Brandeis students. She stood there for a second, and then smiled as she said: “We have nothing to lose but our chains, we’re gonna be alright.”
CULTURE
Tony Shalhoub discusses acting career By ELLA RUSSELL JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
On Sunday, actor Tony Shalhoub came to Brandeis for a question and answer session in the Wasserman Cinematheque. Shalhoub has a prolific career in plays, movies and TV shows; he is well-known for his portrayal of troubled homicide detective Adrian Monk in the show “Monk” for which he received multiple awards, and he currently plays Abe Weissman, father of Miriam “Midge” Maisel in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”
Eric Chasalow, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, began the event by mentioning his own “eerie” connection with “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” – Dean Chasalow’s father, like Weissman, was an applied mathematician who worked at Columbia. Chasalow asked Shalhoub about what inspired his portrayal of Weissman, leading Shalhoub to talk about his mentor Robert Brunstein. Brunstein was Shalhoub’s teacher at Yale Drama School who was “almost like a second father” to him. After
NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice
MENTOR: Shalhoub talks about Robert Brunstein’s influence over his career.
Brunstein founded the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge Massachusetts, Shalhoub followed him and spent four years there. In addition, he mentioned he was the father of two daughters around Midge’s age, so it was easy to relate to his character. Shalhoub remarked that Abe Weissman’s clothes reminded him of Brunstein’s, bringing the conversation to the costume design of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” which Shalhoub praised, saying that the wardrobe, as well as the set and the props ,“make it very easy to be transported back into that decade.” A child of the 1950’s, he remarked on the authenticity of the parents’ leaving the kids to their own devices. The conversation turned to the many different characters Shalhoub played over the years; he said he was lucky that his roles were often very different. He played both dramatic and comedic roles, each of which informed the other; to enrich his performance he would attempt to find the humor in a dramatic character and the drama in a comedic character. Shalhoub worried sometimes about being typecast when one of his characters became popular, but he has played more than one well known character — from Monk, to Antonio Scarpacci in “Wings” to Weissman, which has
NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice
A DIFFERENT PROCESS: Shalhoub talks about the difference between theater and film.
diluted any potential typecasting. When the audience was given the opportunity to ask questions, discussion continued of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” Shalhoub talked about some of the most challenging aspects of the show: the fast-paced dialogue and long takes. Every actor was forced to be hyper-alert in every scene if they did not wish to make a mistake and exasperate their colleagues. Filming has a different process from that of live theater, Shalhoub said. In theater, everything is generally practiced and performed lin-
early, allowing emotions to build upon each other. By contrast, film is almost always shot out of order based on location and availability of the actors. He gave an anecdote about having to take a red-eye flight to start filming a movie and having his first scene be his character’s most emotional scene of the movie. Shalhoub finished off the session saying that “it’s all about the material and the people you’re working with. If you’re working with great material and people that you love and respect, that’s half the job really.”
THE JUSTICE I ARTS I TUESDAY, FEBURARY 12, 2019
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DANCE
Hooked on Tap brings us a HOT Mess By ANDREW BAXTER JUSTICE EDITOR
Photos by ANDREW BAXTER/the Justice
Hooked on Tap, Brandeis University’s tap dance group, put on their semester show, titled H.O.T. Mess on Feb. 9, 2019 in the SCC Theater. They were joined by other tap dance groups from Boston University, Boston College, Wellesley College and Brown University.
Liam Gladding ’21 and Ben Greene ’21 were the emcees for the show. The comedic duo put on a series of humorous bits between dances and introduced each act. Lily Norian ’22 dances with the whole Hooked on Tap ensemble as they take the stage in matching tie-dye shirts to open the show. Brandeis dancers tap to a piece titled ‘Remember’ choreographed by Genevive Bondaryk ’21 in matching red tops and colorful leggings. The dancers tapped in unison for most of the piece but got the chance to shine in a small section where each was featured by herself.
Genevive Bondaryk ’21 lifts herself onto her toes as she dances her solo section in a piece that she choreographed. The dancers of Hooked on Tap performed dances choreographed by their teammates both as an ensemble and in smaller groups.
THEATER REVIEW
Haley Director ’20, co-president of Hooked on Tap dances to “Opening Up” from “Waitress,” a dance that she choreographed.
Creative talents shine at Quickies
By LUKE LIU
JUSTICE EDITORAL ASSISTANTS
Last Sunday, the Undergraduate Theater Collective presented “Quickies,” the annual festival of student-written short plays. In the three weeks leading up to it, students wrote, cast and rehearsed eight different short plays which were performed at the SCC theater. After the lights dimmed, “Coffee” kicked off the show with three groups of people in a coffee shop. Thanks to the well-written script, the play maintained a balance between the developments of each individual character and the overall context of overheard conversations in a public space. Each character told their own story, yet no one was removed from the environment. Switching gears from the lighthearted coffee house, “Where the Sidewalk Ends” presented the Shel Silverstein poem of the same name. The cast portrayed some of the best children-playedby-college-students I have ever seen. It is also refreshing to see a poem represented in a new light. Immediately following was “Another Night at the Red Light,” a period comedy about how the right-hand of the most powerful gang leader made the biggest mistake of his life. While it was a bit distracting to see the narrator reading most of his lines from the notes in his newspaper, his hilari-
NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice
GOOD OLD TIME: “Another Night at the Red Light“ catches the taste of a period drama.
NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice
A DIFFERENT PATH: The cast of “Where the Sidewalk Ends” presents new way to interpretate poetry.
ous performance made up for it. Speaking of great acting, “Forecast” transported the audience to a room where four people waited anxiously for “something” to happen while trying to decide whether or not to go outside. Because the audience never learns the nature of the mysterious element they are waiting for, the story’s mood swings between comedy and thriller, which is hard to successfully accomplish in such a short play. However, I do feel like ending the story by revealing the secret or giving any hint robs some of the satisfaction, even
if it is the vision of the creators. Then, to ease the audience from the intense mood, “8 Limbs” offered a hilarious safety instruction with a twist at the end, and caught the audience delightfully off guard. Carrying on the delightful spirit, “A Life’s Purpose” tells the story of a man in his afterlife struggle to accept what is believed to be “the most important moment of his life.” Seth Wulf ’21 showed that he is not only a skillful writer but also a tremendous actor. It also has one of the funniest supporting character of the night.
“A Favorable Audition” reanimated a classic high school theater audition story with unique characters. The interaction between the two distinctly different kinds of students, played by Alec Gelman ’22 and Rachel Lese ’21, had great chemistry from beginning to end. At the end of the night, with its twelve-person cast, “Sunday Night Live” told the story of a theater student who dreamed of having her show on Saturday Night Live and three skits she wrote that relates to college students. From bothersome relatives to dealing
with the friend who just came back from abroad, the show played out college students’ struggles hilariously. The way it utilized handheld signs to interact with the audience is also a smart technique, and the audience loved it. “Quickies” gives students who are interested in theater a chance to experience the whole process, from brainstorming to casting, without having to worry about spending too much time on a big semester-long project. The night was full of laughter and cheers, signifying its success and a potential call for more frequent events like it in the future.
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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2019 | ARTS | THE JUSTICE
INTERVIEW
JUSTARTS SPOTLIGHT ON THE ROSE
By ADDISON ANTONOFF JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The United States flag is an iconic symbol, one that elicits an immediate and powerful reaction. Howardena Pindell takes advantage of that involuntary response in her piece “Separate but Equal: Genocide AIDS.” Two flags hang next to each other, one silver and the other black. Whatever your initial reaction to the flag — be it pride, disgust, or something else entirely — the installation forces you to pause as you read the names printed on both flags in the context of American symbolism. They are the names of Black and white victims of AIDS. This piece was made between 1991 and 1992, a decade after the AIDS crisis had begun. The red ribbon was introduced as a symbol for AIDS awareness in 1991. In 1992, AIDS was the leading cause of death for American men aged 25 to 44. The disease had become part of American life. The only stripe on either of the flags in color is a singular red line on the edge, resembling a straightened ribbon. There is no avoiding the fact that racism is a part of America — so much so that it should be one of the first things that comes to mind with the image of our flag. Pindell takes this aspect of our culture and puts this in the context of the AIDS crisis. Despite differing histories and privileges during their lives, all of the people listed on this piece of art are victims of the same disease. Even when the quality of treatments and medical care differed, they all suffered from the AIDS epidemic. Separate in life, but equal in death.
STAFF’S Top Ten
ANDREW BAXTER/ the Justice
Top Ten Worst Valentine’s Day Gifts By EMILY BLUMENTHAL JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSITANT
Valentine’s Day can be a stressful time, as for many couples. To keep as many together as possible, here is a list of terrible Valentine’s Day gifts you should never give to your significant other. 1. STDs 2.A breakup text 3.Dental hygiene products 4.Edible underwear 5.Your mom’s favorite perfume 6.Heart-shaped meat 7.Shareable clothing 8.Dinner at Hooter’s 9.A fake diamond ring 10. A rendition of any John Mayer song, especially “Your Body is a Wonderland”
Batsheva Moskowitz ’22 JEN GELLER/the Justice This week, justArts spoke with Batsheva Moskowitz ’22 who wrote and directed one of the Quickies this semester. ANDREW BAXTER/the Justice
JustArts: Can you tell me a little bit about the play? What is it about? Batsheva Moskowitz: So it’s called “Coffee”. It’s placed in a coffee shop and there are three different scenes going on: the barista and the waiter, a son and a mother, a boyfriend and a girlfriend. It kind of switches between the three different scenes. And they are all under the theme of different types of relationships, what people expect of you, and staying true to your passion ... So they all have that theme. JA: What inspired you to write and direct this play? BM: At first I didn’t think I was gonna write a Quickie. But one day I thought of an idea for the structure of a play, and then I started thinking about theme ideas … [It] kind of evolved from there into what it is now. JA: How long did it take you to transform this idea to a play?
LUKE LIU/the Justice
CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Distinctive parts of Darwin’s finches 6 Opinion piece 10 ____-mo 13 Aspect 14 “Out of my way!” 15 Place to post about oneself 16 N.J. city on the Hudson 17 Amazes 18 Crater _____, Oregon 19 “Avengers: Endgame”, e.g. 22 Like a crowd at a boxing match 23 Sn 24 Outbreaks 27 Apartment alternatives 30 Provide weapons for 31 John ______ tractors 34 Does some cooking prep 36 Hideout 38 *Keyboard button 40 Replacement for the Lira and Franc 41 Completely lost 43 Irk 45 Lucy of “Charlie’s Angels” 46 Owner of the 53-Across 48 Sighting, old-style 50 _____ Alamos 51 Zulu language group 53 Items central to “Avengers: Endgame”, as seen in the 6 starred clues 59 Words in an impression of Emperor Palpatine 60 “Little Caesar” gangster 61 Moisturizer brand 63 Humble response to praise 64 Model who was married to David Bowie 65 Famous question from Judas 66 “____ Boot” 67 Dry 68 Coming soon
28 Eyes: Lat. 29 Opera _____ 32 Omar of “House” 33 Carly _____ Jepsen 35 *Music genre in Motown 37 *”Jersey Shore” TV genre 39 _____ planning 42 Soon, to the Bard 44 Country whose capital is Tallinn 47 Egyptian god of the underworld 49 Give a detention, say 51 One way to commute 52 All together 53 Confessor’s words DOWN 54 The “N” of N.B. 1 #1 pal 55 Christmas trees 2 Has something 56 *Major magazine 3 Org. that fights for your rights 57 Woman’s name that sounds 4 Don’t give up on like two letters 5 Had the wheel 58 “Go ______ Watchman” 6 Nebraska’s largest city (Harper Lee novel) 7 *Remote button 62 Help 8 Always 9 Car named for an explorer 10 Russian, e.g. 11 “Avengers” villain 12 Convex molding 15 Long-running newspaper comic 20 Bouquet contents 21 *Care about 24 Room en la casa 25 Chris of “Avengers: Endgame” 26 Ones not using technology 27 Woman’s name that sounds like a repeated letter
BM: So since the idea, it was like a week of thinking of different themes and then two weeks to go over it and writing it, then submit it. So three weeks in total. JA: What is your past experience with theater? BM: I’ve never written a play before. I do write poetry and short stories and things like that. I love writing and I also love theater. Last semester I was in “Noises Off.” ... and since I was really little I did a lot of theater camps. I actually went to a program called BIMA. It’s at Brandeis ... it’s a pre-college summer program. JA: Have you been working mostly on the creative writing parts of theater or the acting parts? BM: Mostly I’ve been on the acting side of it. So it’s really cool to be sitting on the other side and also to be able to direct it … and to understand the other perspective. I’m always the actor and but now I understand the director’s perspective. JA: What do you consider the most difficult part of producing a play?
Crossword Courtesy of EVAN MAHNKEN
BM: When I first wrote the play, I had a specific vision for it. So, I wanted to direct it because I wanted to be able to bring that vision to life. It could be hard to write something and then give it to someone else. But it’s also a cool process cause there’s many artists and many creators and a lot of collaboration with different people. But it was really cool to be there for all of it and have that idea, write it, cast it, and figure out who I wanted in it ... and actually bring [it] to life with those characters. So it was really cool to be there for the whole process. JA: Now that you have worked on this project, what is something that you are looking forward to being involved with in the future? BM: It’s making me want to direct a full play. I also want to take a playwriting class, since this experience showed me how much I love playwriting. I think it would be cool to experience other aspects of the behind-thescene works.
Solution Courtesy of EVAN MAHNKEN
—Luke Liu