The Justice, November 12, 2019 by The Justice

the

Justice www.thejustice.org

The Independent Student Newspaper Volume LXXII, Number 10

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, November 12, 2019

‘THINKING IS AN ACT OF REBELLION’

STUDENT UNION

Union looks to elect new vice president ■ There will be a special

election Thursday to replace former Union Vice President Guillermo Caballero ’20. By EMILY BLUMENTHAL JUSTICE EDITOR

Union Director of Outreach Kendal Chapman ’22 is the sole candidate running for Student Union vice president in the upcoming special election. She said in an interview with the Justice on Thursday that she hopes to change the Union’s direction by creating more lines of communication and making the responsibilities of Union officers more clear. The special election will take place Thursday, and community members can vote via a link that will be emailed to the Brandeis community that day. With an “open, honest and positive” approach to working with other Union members, Chapman will bring a “fresh take” to the position, she said.

“I decided to run because I feel like we’ve had a lot of turnover in this position, as we’ve seen, and I feel like I have the right temperament, the right experience and the right approach to this position,” Chapman said. “I’ve been involved with the Union for the past two years, and I think running for VP is that unique opportunity to be really involved with [the] Senate, really involved with [the] E-Board, and start making those positive changes and changing that culture … around the Student Union,” she said. As vice president, Chapman said she hopes to be an “open and consistent” source of communication for Union members and to “serve as that bridge of communication between the Senate and the E-Board.” Having served on both the Senate and the E-Board, Chapman said her understanding of the dynamics and procedures of both branches provides her with the experience to serve as vice president. Chapman has previously served as the Massell Quad senator and chair

See UNION, 7 ☛

CAMPUS CLUBS

Secured clubs face differences in wages ■ The Justice looked at

different methods and provisions for paying secured club members. By GILDA GEIST and JACKIE TOKAYER JUSTICE EDITOR AND JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

An amendment to the Union Constitution proposed by Charles River Senator Oliver Price ’20 would, if passed, allow certain members of secured clubs to become wage-eligible. The Constitution defines the Campus Activities Board as one such secured club. The others are WBRS 100.1 FM, BEMCo, Waltham Group, Brandeis Television, Archon Yearbook, Student Sexuality Information Service, the Justice, and the Brandeis Sustainability Fund. Of these clubs, however, only CAB’s Executive Board members are already receiving monetary compensation. In a Nov. 7 email to the Justice, CAB President Liana Porto ’20 wrote that as of the 2019-2020 school year, all members of CAB’s executive board are paid. Prior to this year, only the president and vice president were paid positions. Similar to Price’s proposed amendment, which is a work in

progress and subject to change, paid CAB members receive their wages through A-Board and are not paid for every hour of their work. Price’s proposed amendment would include language in the Bylaws that would only allow four members of a secured club to be paid, but eight CAB members are currently paid, per Porto’s email. Porto said in her email that she did not know whether or how Price’s amendment would affect CAB members’ wages. According to Porto, “our funds are currently paid out through the budget of the Department of Student Activities,” and “CAB receives its budget from the Student Union Allocations Board.” In a Nov. 9 email to the Justice, Price explained that the Department of Student Activities pays CAB. He clarified that the Allocations Board distributes money to clubs from the Student Activities Fund, a pool of money equaling $2.4 million per year coming from Brandeis students’ tuition. “My understanding is that [the Department of] Student Activities uses some of this money to pay CAB with the permission of A-Board, but that ABoard does not really oversee this money transfer,” Price wrote. Porto said that all executive board

See CLUBS, 7 ☛

Waltham, Mass.

NATALIA WIATER/the Justice

A POWERFUL STORY: At an event hosted by Brandeis Young Americans for Liberty and the Brandeis Korean Students Association, Yeonmi Park told the story of her experience fleeing North Korea. At age 26, Park is now a human rights advocate.

Human rights advocate describes her escape from North Korea ■ Yeonmi Park spoke at an

event about her experience growing up in and fleeing North Korea. By SAMANTHA GOLDMAN JUSTICE EDITOR

Brandeis Young Americans for Liberty and the Brandeis Korean Students Association hosted 26-year-old North Korean defector and human rights advocate Yeonmi Park for a talk on Wednesday about her escape from North Korea and the difficulties of fighting for freedom under the country’s dictatorship. Park was born in 1993 in North Korea and grew up with one older sister and “loving parents,” she said. She said that for many years, she did not know that she was oppressed. There has not been a revolution in North Korea because “if you do not know you are oppressed, how do you fight to be free?” she said. She added that many North Koreans do not know of the existence of a world where people are free. When Park was growing up, food was scarce, so she her diet consisted of grasshoppers and dragonflies, and she weighed between 50 and 60 pounds, Park recalled. She said that the only way for her to survive was to escape. Much of North Korea was

Zzzz...

 During ‘Sleep Week,’ students were encouraged to nap — even in the library! By JOSHUA ALDWINCKLE-POVEY

without electricity, and for Park, the only hope of finding food came from “seeing the electricity at night coming from China.” Park said that she thought that “maybe if [she went] where the lights [were, she] might find something to eat.” Park’s sister escaped before her at the age of 16 with her friend, and Park said that she was supposed to escape that day as well. Instead, Park had a stomach ache one day that led to her being in the hospital. The hospital lacked proper equipment to diagnose her, and the doctors assumed that she had appendicitis. After doing the operation, they found out that what Park had was a complication from malnutrition. Park described the hospital as unsanitary, with nurses using the same needle on multiple patients and bodies piling up in the hallways with no way to remove them. She had her appendix removed without painkillers and did not contract an infection following surgery. As a result of her procedure, Park couldn’t escape with her sister, but her sister left Park a note telling her of a woman who could help her and their mother eventually escape. Park said that as she, her mother and her father attempted to escape, they encountered brokers who claimed they could help them. The Parks were so desperate to leave North Korea that they did not question the brokers, who ended up raping Park’s mother. Park was sold

into sex slavery for less than $300 and separated from her mother at age 13. The broker who bought Park told her that if she became his mistress, he would buy her mother. Park said that she “stopped being a child, and stopped feeling things” and that it was a “different kind of trickery, [that makes] you believe that's not you, you kind of see yourself in third person perspective.” Park was a sex slave for two years before she was rescued by South Korean missionaries whose goal was to get the Bible into North Korea. The missionaries told her that if she “believed in God, they would help [her].” Park said that she wondered why she had to believe in something just so that she could survive. She said that “when you’re so desperate, you don’t care, you believe anything they ask you to believe.” In North Korea, “thinking is an act of rebellion,” Park said. One of the first lessons she said she learned from her mother was that she should not whisper because “the birds and the mice could hear [her].” When Park was 15, South Korean missionaries in China let her free and allowed her to go to South Korea on her own. The missionaries gave her only a compass, and she had to walk across a desert in negative 40-degree temperatures to get to South Korea. Once Park made it to South Ko-

See NORTH KOREA, 7 ☛

‘‘Oy!’’

Profs. discuss varied approaches to climate change

 Last week, the UTC presented ‘Oy!,’ a collection of 12 short comedies.

What does it really mean to be diverse?

By MAYA ZANGER-NADIS

By ABIGAIL CUMBERBATCH

NEWS 3

By LEEZA BARSTEIN

FORUM 11

Women’s soccer ends on a win NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice

FEATURES 8 For tips or info email editor@thejustice.org

ZACH KATZ/the Justice

Make your voice heard! Submit letters to the editor to letters@thejustice.org

ARTS 19

By HANNAH O'KOON

SPORTS 15

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

●

NEWS

●

THE JUSTICE

NEWS VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

WALTHAM BRIEF

POLICE LOG

Waltham elections produce several surprise upsets The elections for Waltham mayor and city councilors took place on Nov. 5 and featured several close races and upsets of longtime incumbent councilors. Incumbent mayor Jeanette McCarthy defeated challenger Diane LeBlanc, according to a Nov. 5 Waltham Wicked Local article. In the same article, Waltham Wicked Local reported that McCarthy is now the longestserving mayor in the city’s history, having held the position since 2003. A Nov. 7 Patch Waltham article reported that McCarthy received 7,758 votes to LeBlanc’s 3,791, with 11,549 voting in total. The same Waltham Wicked Local article reported that Jonathan Paz defeated incumbent City Councilor Robert Logan in Ward 9. Logan served as councilor for the past 30 years, according to the same article. The Nov. 7 Patch Waltham article reported that at 26 years of age, this will make Paz one of the youngest councilors Waltham’s history. Paz is the son of Bolivian immigrants and his father was deported in 2007, according to his website. He won the race with 496 votes, compared to Logan’s 377. A second Nov. 7 Patch Waltham article reported that in Ward 2 the losing candidate, Bill Hanley, will be asking for a recount, due to only losing to Caren Dunn by 10 votes. Ward 2 includes the planned site for Waltham’s new high school building — a project which has attracted controversy. The same Patch Waltham article said that the last recount in a municipal election was years ago on the topic of “the community preservation act.” The Nov. 5 Patch Waltham article reported that there was a 34% voter turnout, with 11,743 residents turning out to vote out of 34,423 registered voters. Patch Waltham reported that this is significantly high amount of voters, despite the “dreary weather.” —Jason Frank

Have Strong Opinions? Write an op-ed the

Justice!

Contact Gabriel Frank at forum@thejustice.org for more information.

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS n The corrections incorrectly listed the date of the applicable issue. It should have said Oct. 29. (Nov. 5, Page 2) n A Sports photo credit misspelled photographer Ivy Dall’s name. (Nov. 5 Page 15) The Justice welcomes submissions for errors that warrant correction or clarification. Send an email to editor@thejustice.org.

Justice

the

www.thejustice.org

The Justice is the independent student newspaper of Brandeis University. The Justice is published every Tuesday of the academic year with the exception of examination and vacation periods. Editor News Forum Features Sports Arts Ads Photos Managing Copy Layout

editor@thejustice.org news@thejustice.org forum@thejustice.org features@thejustice.org sports@thejustice.org arts@thejustice.org ads@thejustice.org photos@thejustice.org managing@thejustice.org copy@thejustice.org layout@thejustice.org

The Justice Brandeis University Mailstop 214 P.O. Box 549110 Waltham, MA 02454-9110 Phone: (781) 736-3750 The Managing Editor holds office hours on Mondays from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.

IVY DALL/the Justice

Union Director of Outreach Kendal Chapman ’22, the sole candidate running for Union vice president in the upcoming special election, spoke with students at a “Meet the Candidates” event on Thursday.

SENATE LOG Senate discusses Midnight Buffet, mold problem At its Sunday meeting, the Senate passed a Senate Money Resolution to fund Midnight Buffet, brought up concerns regarding students getting sick in Deroy Residence Hall and discussed Student Union President Simran Tatuskar’s ’21 apologies to the Brandeis community and Union members.

Midnight Buffet SMR

Services and Outreach Committee Chair Alison Leibowitz ’20 presented the SMR for Midnight Buffet. The total cost will be $7,614. Leibowitz acknowledged the steep cost of the event. “I’ve been trying my best to cut this down,” she said. She suggested that they could eliminate 200 spring rolls from the budget, which would spare $407.21 of the $3495.21 food budget. She also presented two options for t-shirts, one costing $1,715.13 and the other costing $1,562.63. After some discussion, the senators decided to keep the spring rolls and select the less expensive shirts. The rest of the money would go toward decorations (about $525), utensils ($187) and the fee that Conference and Event Services charges for hosting the event in Levin Ballroom ($1,828.98). This fee covers the cost of tables, chairs, food warmers, custodians and more. The Senate voted on the SMR by roll call. The amendment passed, with Class of 2022 Senator Joseph Coles, East Quad Senator Priyata Bhatta ’22 and Rosenthal and Skyline Quad Senator Leah Fernandez ’22 voting against the SMR. Coles and Fernandez said that they thought the expense was too high. Coles pointed out that the total cost was about 40% of the Senate’s yearly budget of $20,000. “$16,000 on two events is a lot,” Fernandez added, estimating the total cost of Midnight Buffet for both semesters.

Senator Reports

Class of 2020 Senator Scott Halper told Massell Quad Senator Dariel Jimenez ’23 during Jimenez’s senator report that he had heard several complaints from Deroy residents saying that students are getting sick because of mold in the residence hall. “I’ve just been hearing a lot of students who live in Deroy specifically complain that they keep getting sick,” Halper said. “They believe that the building has mold.” The students “emailed [the Department of Community Living] and DCL … basically told them that unless the whole building responds, they’re not going to check it, so a bunch of Deroy residents have been trying to get everyone in their building to reach out to DCL,” Halper said. Class of 2023 Senator Skye Liu said she wanted to make the Lunar New Year a holiday at Brandeis. She explained that there was a high population of Chinese, Japanese and Korean students at Brandeis who celebrate the Lunar New Year and that she thought it would be beneficial for those students to be able to have homework extensions should the holiday fall on a school night.

Senate Committee Chair Reports

Coles announced that next week he will introduce an amendment mandating that chartered clubs have advisors. The amendment is to a bylaw mandating that secured clubs have a club consultant. “I’m looking forward to expanding the club advisor proposal,” Coles said. “Obviously it’s … pretty unpopular, but I think it’s very misunderstood, and I think it’s overall very beneficial.” Halper, also the chair of the Rules Committee, said that at the committee’s meeting, Charles River Senator Oliver Price ’20 proposed an amendment to

the Union constitution that would allow some secured clubs to pay certain club members. Price added later that he has begun drafting the language for the amendment. Senator-at-Large Nancy Zhai ’22 said that there would be a continental breakfast available to students on campus over Thanksgiving break. The breakfast will be in the Stein on Nov. 27 from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from Nov. 28 to 30 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Senator-at-Large Josh Hoffman ’21 was not at the meeting, but Zhai read a message from him saying that the Health and Safety Committee was working with DCL to fix “the frequent flooding in Massell basements.” Price announced that the Sustainability Committee would hold a Meatless Monday in Lower Usdan on Nov. 18.

Apology Follow-Up

Halper updated the Senate on the apologies Tatuskar was mandated to make following the Union Judiciary case. He said Tatuskar would be reaching out to Interim Union Vice President Jake Rong ’21 to set up a meeting to apologize to him. Halper added that former Union Vice President Guillermo Caballero ’20 has requested that Tatuskar’s apology to him be written rather than in person. Halper added that an apology to the Senate was already under revision. Halper said he hopes that all actions suggested under the sanction will be completed by next Sunday. Later, Halper reported that some people were “disappointed with the language” in Tatuskar’s public apology and “how it was sent out.” —Gilda Geist —Editor’s Note: Justice Editor Jocelyn Gould works at Conference and Events Services.

MEDICAL EMERGENCY Nov. 4 — BEMCo staff responded to the Foster Mods for a knee laceration with a signed refusal for further care. Nov. 5 — In Sherman Dining Hall, BEMCo staff treated a party with a throat issue with a signed refusal for further care. Nov. 5 — A party in Gordon Hall with an ankle pain was treated by BEMCo staff with a signed refusal for further care. Nov. 6 — Health services reported a party in Gordon Hall with a stomach ache. University Police and BEMCo staff responded, and the party was treated with a signed refusal for further care. Nov. 7 — BEMCo staff treated a party in the Gosman Sports Complex with an injured arm with a signed refusal for further care. Nov. 7 — A party in the Goldfarb Library with an insect bite was treated by BEMCo staff with a signed refusal for further care. Nov. 8 — BEMCo staff received a report for a sprained ankle in Gordon Hall and treated the party with a signed refusal for further care. Nov. 8 — A party in Usen Hall fell and struck their head. The Area Coordinator on call was on scene and BEMCo staff responded. The party was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care via Cataldo Ambulance. University Police compiled a report on the incident. Nov. 9 — University Police and BEMCo staff responded to a party on Charles River Road suffering from stomach pain. The party was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care via Cataldo Ambulance. The Area Coordinator on call was notified. Nov. 10 — A party went to Public Safety with a sore ankle. BEMCo staff treated the party with a signed refusal for further care. DISTURBANCE Nov. 9 — University Police investigated a noise complaint in the Hassenfeld Residence Hall. On arrival the students were spoken with and complied with being quieter. DRUG VIOLATION Nov. 4 — The Area Coordinator on call was requested by the University Police to go to the Foster Mods to confiscate drug contraband. A report was compiled on the incident and the the Area Coordinator on call was to address the matter with the resident. TRESPASSING Nov. 6 — Staff at the Goldfarb Library reported a party may have been banned from the University’s property, but was present in the Library. University Police responded and identified the male party who was placed under arrest for trespassing pursuant to a previous Brandeis trespass order. The party was transported to the Waltham Police Department for the booking process by University Police without incident. MISCELLANEOUS Nov. 5 — A suspicious male was found walking in Massell Quad. University Police searched the immediate and surrounding areas but were unable to locate anyone matching the description provided: a white male in his 40s with a white beard and hair, wearing a red hoodie and grey sweatpants. Nov. 6 — In the Shapiro Admissions Center, University Police compiled a report for a suspicious email received by staff. Nov. 7 — University Police observed a small group of people on the Chapels Pond walkway standing over a small flame. Upon investigation, it was discovered the parties were burning their group exam. The burning piece of paper was extinguished on the concrete. The parties were educated on the University’s policy on open flames. They were cooperative and dispersed without further incident. No further action was taken by Brandeis Police. Nov. 8 — University Police investigated a report of a suspicious party getting off of a BranVan at the Rabb steps with a large backpack. University Police conducted a check of the area, and the party was not found. —Compiled by Jen Geller

Do you have a nose for news?

Want the scoop? Contact Emily Blumenthal and Gilda Geist at news@thejustice.org

THE JUSTICE

●

NEWS

●

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

CAMPUS EVENT

Profs. discuss different approaches to combating the climate crisis ■ As part of Critical

Conversations, Profs. Paul Miller and Sabine von Mering talked about climate change. By LEEZA BARSTEIN JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Prof. Paul Miller (BIOL) and Prof. Sabine von Mering (GES, WGSS) sat down with moderator Prof. Charles Chester (ENVS) on Nov. 5 for an event titled, “Fiddling While Rome Burns: Understanding Humankind’s Response to Climate Change.” The event was offered as a part of Brandeis’ Critical Conversations. Miller, a scientist, and von Mering, an activist, shared how their different backgrounds have shaped their ideas of what is most important in the scramble to combat climate change. Von Mering and Miller first addressed the existence of the climate crisis, both emphasizing the lack of legitimate science contradicting the claims of climate scientists. Miller pointed out that there is a need for balance between trusting the scientific community to produce reliable data and also doubting and recreating studies if needed. “Is there enough certainty to act [on climate change]?” Miller asked. “The answer is, yes.” Chester then asked how the activist and scientific communities can change the minds of climate change deniers. Von Mering turned to the audience and reminded them of their responsibilities. “The problem is not deniers,” she said. “The problem is all the good

people that understand the problem and are just putting other things first.” Von Mering stressed the importance of individuals changing their own behavior, referring to the approach in Copenhagen, Denmark, where most of the population chooses bikes over cars. Miller, on the other hand, placed an emphasis on policy change. “There are enough states run by deniers that [states] are going to be emitting a lot of carbon dioxide,” he said. “We have got to get them on our side.” Additionally, Miller emphasized the need for advocacy, stressing the importance of the gas tax and the Paris Climate Accord. He specifically acknowledged the importance of the Paris Climate accord as the United States began the process on Nov. 4 to formally withdraw from the Accord. The United States will complete the withdrawal process next year, according to a Nov. 4 article by NPR. Von Mering and Miller also discussed the role of technology in the climate crisis. “I think it is a lot easier to get people to change with technology that is available and is simply a switch,” said Miller, who shared the importance of appealing, readily available and cost-effective technology. One emerging field is technology created to reduce the production and use of animal products but convincing carnivorous Americans to embrace meat substitutes can be challenging. “To get everyone in America eating 100% vegetarian, they need to design burgers that taste as good to the red-blooded, never-gonna-hug-atree American,” Miller said. Although von Mering said tech-

nology was undoubtedly important, she also mentioned that with a catastrophe progressing as quickly as the climate crisis, “We are going to need to come up with a lot more radical changes to the way we live.” Von Mering explained that the scientific review process creates a multi-year informational lag, meaning reliance on the slow development of technology is not always effective. “Radical change is going to happen by design or by disaster,” she said. “Right now, unfortunately, we are looking at it happening by disaster.” Both also acknowledged some ways that they, along with fellow scientists and activists, have been ineffective in creating effective and needed change. Miller said that many climate scientists face a dilemma about their own career paths, and he acknowledged that conducting research and publishing their studies can often mean less time teaching and advocating for anti-climate change policies. “Those who end up being the best for changing the world are not going to be successful scientists,” he said. Von Mering also discussed a new approach to raising awareness about the crisis — theatrical performance. She discussed how clowning has helped draw people to start an open conversation about climate change, creating a less intimidating and charged interaction. To lighten the mood, she scrolled through photos of her wearing the polar bear costume that has debuted on campus. “People’s anger goes down and they are more willing to talk,” she said, “and I think what we need the most is to talk about this.”

BRIEF Union president issues email apology to community following Judiciary hearing Student Union President Simran Tatuskar ’21 apologized for her role in breaking down communication within the Union in an email to the Brandeis community on Friday. “I apologize for the role that I played in perpetuating this cycle and want to make it clear that my focus moving forward within the parameters of my role is to ensure that these lines are strengthened via internal restructuring and overall policy changes,” she wrote. On Oct. 15, the Union Judiciary ruled against Tatuskar at a hearing brought upon by a complaint from former Union Vice President Guillermo Caballero ’20 as well as Senior Representative to the Board of Trustees Zosia Busé ’20. The Judiciary reported that Tatuskar did not effectively communicate with other members of the Union nor the Union’s branches. They also concluded that Tatuskar “unconstitutionally sidestepped the vice president and executive senator in deciding the role of the executive senator,” according to the Oct. 22 Justice article about the hearing. The Judiciary released its formal opinion on Oct. 18. At an executive session at the Oct. 27 Senate meeting, the Senate passed a resolution that condemned Tatuskar’s actions, which included a mandate that Tatuskar would have to issue a public apology. At the Nov. 3 Senate meeting, Chief Justice of the Judiciary Rachel Sterling ’21

updated the Union by reporting that the Judiciary received a draft of that apology. She said the Judiciary would be reviewing and discussing the apology by Friday — the day Tatuskar sent it. In her email, Tatuskar wrote that she wants to “refocus the purpose of the Student Union on it’s intended nature, which is to help better the student community. The last few weeks and the respective conflicts, have further clarified that our reason for existing is to make life better for YOU all, the Brandeis community.” Tatuskar wrote that future policies will be focused on ensuring that lines of communication do not break down in the future. She concluded her email by linking to a Google form where students can submit projects they would like to see the Union work on and suggestions for ways they could improve. The form’s description says it is an “Ongoing yearly form to submit anything you’d like to bring to our attention, no matter how big or how small!” The form explains that this can include issues students have faced with professors, majors, dining, housing and facilities. —Jen Geller —Editor’s Note: Chief Justice of the Judiciary Rachel Sterling is an Arts and Culture Staff Writer.

CAMPUS SPEAKER

Scholar presents sex education research findings

■ Dr. Pheobe K. Schnitzer

and Makayla Richards ’19, discussed the shortfalls of sex education. By HANNAH TAYLOR JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Women’s Studies Research Center Scholar Dr. Phoebe K. Schnitzer and her research assistant Makayla Richards ’19, delivered a presentation on Thursday about the state of sex education in the United States. This presentation, entitled “Sex Education is a Feminist Issue: Student Survey Reveals Gender Differences,” described the results of a 2017 survey of college students’ experiences with sex education. Schnitzer and Richards both offered their analysis of the data from the survey and discussed their own opinions regarding sex education in the country. Schnitzer explained that “sex education is a product of its time,” meaning that as trends and cultures change over time, so do people’s opinions on how sex education should be taught. When she was growing up, Schnitzer said, sex education was little more than a film on anatomy and menstruation shown in her school and some pamphlets that her mother gave her. As far as she recalled, the boys her age, at the time, had even less sex education. However, Schnitzer said, things changed in the 1980s after too many unwanted pregnancies and infections due to a lack of sex education in schools. In 1981, Schnitzer said, the federal government began funding abstinence-only sex education programs, spending billions on these programs prior to and through 2018. The abstinence-only curriculum, she said, used scare tactics to prevent students from being sexually active, resulting in misinformation, unprotected sex and students feeling shameful. Its underlying idea was that women had to protect themselves from “men’s urges,” a sentiment that promoted gen-

der stereotypes. This approach was replaced by comprehensive sex education programs, thuogh Schnitzer said that this curriculum still had flaws. For example, she said, the curriculum focused on “risks, dangers and the need for precaution” — still using scare tactics as a teaching tool. Schnitzer analyzed the results of a survey originally created by Emily Appel ’15 that launched in 2017. According to the survey, on average, students had their first introduction to sex education at the age of 11. Most students had their first formal sex education course between eighth and 10th grade. However, Schnitzer said that respondents wished they’d had even earlier start to sex education in school. Moreover, she added, the majority of respondents were taught in a non-comprehensive fashion by an unqualified health teacher, gym teacher or coach, and their courses ranged from one week to one semester. Instead of being taught prevention techniques, most respondents said they were shown graphic descriptions and images. Schnitzer also said students reported certain topics being “taught with extreme bias” and that teachers were often unresponsive to questions surrounding topics such as “abstinence, abortion, contraceptives and porn.” Schnitzer said abstinence was the topic that students wanted to hear the least about. She said they instead wanted a “sex positive” and non-heteronormative curriculum, with many students wanting more LGBTQ+ inclusiveness. Furthermore, she said most students wanted a “variable education system” for their sex education programs, meaning some topics would be taught in a co-ed group and others would be taught separately. Women were more likely than men to be “dissatisfied” with their sex education. Furthermore, Schnitzer said that women were more likely to report having had biased teachers who taught with the underlying idea that “sex is bad and women who have sex are dirty.” Men reported receiving less education overall, resulting in many turning toward pornography as

a source of sex education. Only 10 states mandate medical accuracy in sex education curriculums and only 10 states with mandated sex education “mention sexual assault, consent and healthy relationships,” Schnitzer said. However, she said that this year there has been an increase in sex education bills that promote “LGBTQ+ inclusive instruction” and consent. Nonetheless, Schnitzer said she believes that there will need to be a “generation turn over” to bring about real change to sex education. Richards delivered the second part of the presentation. She began by saying, “Sex is not a common or comfortable topic of discussion in the home, nor is it really in the classroom or in relationships,” and explained that many students felt “unprepared and confused about what was true or realistic about sex.” She explained that sex education plays a role in students’ understandings of themselves and others. Richards then said that misunderstanding bodies and relationships is a result of oppression due to a “cis[gender] and hetero[sexual] patriarchy, white supremacy and racism.” Richards discussed the idea of “body literacy,” or “the intimate knowing of one’s own body as well as a general understanding of the various types of bodies you may interact with in any sort of relationship.” Richards added that people experience sexual and romantic attraction in different ways, noting the validity of both asexuality and aromanticism. She said that sexuality and gender-identity spectrums should be better acknowledged in sex education. Richards concluded the presentation by saying that statistics show that people will continue to be sexually active with or without proper sex education, emphasizing the importance of a curriculum that would provide “access to language for bodily experiences, desires and concerns.” Richards said she believes that “body literacy could also provide the framework for dismantling some of society’s most violent gender stereotypes. … This could shift multiple generations’ understanding of autonomy and harm.”

‘SEX EDUCATION IS A FEMINIST ISSUE’

LAUREN BERK/the Justice

DID YOU KNOW?: According to Dr. Phoebe K. Schnitzer, only 10 states mandate medical accuracy in sex education curriculums. Also, she said, only 10 states with mandated sex education teach about sexual assault and consent.

Email Yvette Sei and Andrew Baxter at photos@thejustice.org

NATALIA WIATER/ the Justice

MAKE A DIFFERENCE EVERY DAY.

TEACH

DASTER OF ARTS IN dEACHING

/E&KZD d/KE ^ ^^/KE %HFRPH D FHUWLILHG WHDFKHU ZLWK D 0DVWHU V GHJUHH LQ RQH \HDU )XOO \HDU LQWHUQVKLS LQ (OHPHQWDU\ RU 6HFRQGDU\ LQ 3XEOLF RU -HZLVK GD\ VFKRROV $GGLWLRQDO &HUWLILFDWLRQ LQ (6/ RU 6SHFLDO (G

TuesdayÍ&#x2022; December 3, 2019 ĎąÍ&#x2014;ĎŻĎŹÍ˛ĎłĆ&#x2030;Í&#x2DC;ĹľÍ&#x2DC; ^ ĎŽĎŹĎ°Contact ZÍ&#x2DC;^Í&#x2DC;sÍ&#x2DC;WÍ&#x2DC; Ć&#x161;Ĺ˝ ĹľÄ&#x201A;Ć&#x161;Î&#x203A;Ä?Ć&#x152;Ä&#x201A;ĹśÄ&#x161;Ä&#x17E;Ĺ?Ć?Í&#x2DC;Ä&#x17E;Ä&#x161;Ćľ Contact Hannah Kressel at Maya Zanger-Nadis Visit go.brandeis.edu/mat

arts@thejustice.org at arts@thejustice.org

THE JUSTICE

●

NEWS

published a study that found that light exercise is correlated with better sleep quality. By GILDA GEIST JUSTICE EDITOR

VERA SHANG/the Justice

A LEARNING EXPERIENCE: Katherine Verdery, a professor at CUNY, talked about her book, “My Life as a Spy: Investigations in a Secret Police File.” The research she did on the file was the most difficult research she had ever done, Verdery said.

CUNY professor shares experience discovering police file on herself discussed her book about her discovery of a Romanian secret police file about her. By ELLA RUSSELL JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

City University of New York Professor of Anthropology Katherine Verdery gave a talk on Friday about her discovery of a Romanian secret police case file about her years of anthropological fieldwork in 1970s Romania. She has written about these experiences in a recent book titled “My Life as a Spy: Investigations in a Secret Police File.” After the fall of General Secretary Nicolae Ceauescu’s Romanian government in 1989 and the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives was created in 1999 to probe the archives of the Securitate, the former Romanian secret police. Verdrey worked as a researcher for CNSAS and gained access to her own case file in 2008. She learned that she was incorrectly suspected of being a spy and was known by the Securitate as Vera, taking the first three letters of her last name and making it “a nice Russian name,” as she later learned from a former agent involved with her file. The case file began near the beginning of her stay in Romania, Verdery said. She explained that she was touring the Transylvania region by motorbike, looking for an ideal site to perform her fieldwork. According to Verdery, she was riding toward the setting sun and found it hard to see. This led to her riding into a restricted area, missing a sign that warned against foreigners trespassing. From then on, she said, her time in Romania had been closely recorded by many people she interacted with, including some of the people she considered her closest friends. Verdery described how her research into the case file was “the most difficult research [she] had ever done.” She had to fully engage with her research while

Univ. researchers find link between exercise and sleep ■ Brandeis researchers

also “standing back and analyzing those feelings and experiences.” She was not alone in her conflicted feelings. According to Verdery, many Romanian scholars have written furious pieces denouncing the immorality of the Securitate’s excessive surveillance. As her research continued, Verdery explained that her attitude towards her case file gradually changed. At first she felt both “appalled and depressed” as well as “violated and angry,” considering that she was spied on personally. Eventually, however, she began to find the research interesting from an academic perspective. She realized that the Securitate was reasonable in its wish to prevent “sabotage and spying.” She also recognized that her behavior could easily be perceived as suspicious, so the agency had very good reason to compile information on her. However, she also argued that spies serve as a function of fear to justify systems of oppression. Therefore, even if the Securitate had little concrete evidence to support Verdery’s identity as a spy, it was valuable for the Securitate to gather information on her and other scholars, because it increased the Securitate’s legitimacy. One of Verdery’s closest friends was a man she referred to as Silviu. She explained that she was especially shocked to read in her file that he discussed her supposed spy status with the Securitate a number of times throughout her stay in Romania. Through these communications, he supposedly confirmed Verdery’s identity as a CIA agent and a Hungarian spy. Verdery explained that Hungarian-Romanian relations have historically been tense due to Hungary and Romania fighting on opposite sides during WWI, which resulted in the transfer of the Transylvania region from Hungary to Romania. Verdery said that during her stay in Romania, Silviu told her that he was being harassed by the Securitate for unexplained reasons. According to Verdery however, he implied to her that

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

BRANDEIS RESEARCH

‘MY LIFE AS A SPY’

■ Katherine Verdery

●

he was refusing to cooperate. She explained that she was particularly “enraged and distressed” by the reports of Silviu’s informing because they “incorporated baldfaced lies coming from someone who appeared to be a person of integrity and good judgement.” However, she eventually forgave him, realizing that her relationship with Silviu and other Romanians had to be considered “in the context of the larger set of relationships in which they are embedded.” If she thought of their actions as a betrayal, she said, she would be implying that she was more important than their other relationships. One central question Verdery asked was whether her fieldwork could be considered as a type of spying. Over the course of her research, she interviewed a number of people involved with her case file, including three former Securitate officials. Each official had a different interpretation of what constituted a spy, according to Verdery. According to the officers, a spy is a person who either collects political, economic or social information about a population’s state of mind, gathers information to “propagate a negative image of Romania abroad” or works for intelligence agencies, Verdery said. She pointed out that she is perhaps implicated by the first two definitions, but not the third. Verdery concluded her talk by discussing her thoughts about Russian interference in the 2016 United States presidential elections. She argued that this interference resembles the central goal of the secret police — “to sow chaos, disorder and confusion to keep people off balance.” She recalled one paper by a Bulgarian colleague arguing that the secret police have become “new businessmen, not by following the rules of capitalism as westerners expected.” Instead, the colleague argued that “it looks like the collapse of the socialist system ushered in not free markets and democracy but a worldwide mafia of oligarchs with secret police connections and relatively high solidarity.”

A study by Brandeis researchers showing a link between light exercise and better sleep was published in last month’s issue of “Sleep Journal,” which is published by the National Sleep Foundation. The study, “Walk to a better night of sleep: testing the relationship between physical activity and sleep,” found that participants who were more physically active had better sleep quality, but not more sleep overall. The study was written and conducted by Alycia Sullivan Bisson MA ’17 PhD ’20, Stephanie Robinson PhD ’18 and Margie Lachman PhD. Fifty-nine Bostonarea residents with an average age of 49.43 participated, according to the study. Each participant tracked their physical activity using FitBit Zips for four weeks, and according to a Nov. 1 New York Times article, reported their sleep duration and quality in questionnaires each day, as well as at the beginning and end of the four-week period. In a joint Nov. 8 interview with Bisson and Lachman, Bisson told the Justice that participants were told to rate their sleep quality each day on a scale from zero to 10. Although Bisson said that they did not give participants criteria defining good or poor sleep quality, the New York Times article explained that sleep quality could include factors such as “how long it took them to fall asleep, how often they woke up, or how refreshed they felt the next morning.” The researchers also found that the relationship between physical activity and sleep was related to each person’s sex. “Sex moderated this relationship; women who took more steps and were more active reported sleeping better than those less active,” the study said. Women who were more active over the course of the month said they slept better, whereas men who were more active did not. Men and women, however, reported better sleep quality and duration “on days that participants were more active than average.” Regardless of sex, a person who was more active than usual on

any day would report better sleep that night. Bisson emphasized that it was important to note that both sleep quality and duration were self-reported, and that people’s views of their own sleep are not objective. “We’re not entirely sure how people’s views of their own sleep match up to how well they actually sleep, so that’s something we’re doing in future studies,” Bisson said. She specified that because of the self-reporting, they found that physical activity “changed how well they felt that they slept,” not how well they had actually slept. By studying adults who did not suffer from sleep disorders and focusing on mild exercise, this study filled a gap in sleep research. Many previous studies on the relationship between sleep and physical activity have focused on subjects who were younger, had sleep problems or engaged in high-impact exercise, per a Nov. 7 Boston Globe article. According to the study, the researchers wanted to focus on “whether low-impact daily PA [physical activity], like walking, can affect sleep in healthy adults.” This way, they were able to find that “just walking is enough to make a difference,” Bisson said. Lachman and Bisson said during the same interview that there are other areas in the field that still need further research. Lachman said she was curious about why physical activity improved sleep. Lachman also emphasized that their research found a correlative relationship between physical activity and sleep, not a causal relationship, and that further research would have to be done to prove any type of causation. Bisson added that there were other possible relationships between physical activity and sleep, such as that well-rested people have energy to be more active, or that healthy people tend to exercise and sleep more than others. Proving or disproving these hypotheses would involve further research, Bisson said. Both researchers said that research on physical activity, including theirs and others’, led them to be more physically active in their own lives. Bisson said during the same interview that she had a “walking buddy” at work. “I definitely try to practice what I preach,” Lachman added. Lachman explained that in addition to their study, there is a wealth of research showing the physiological benefits of exercise, so she tries to stay physically active. “You can’t go wrong by doing more exercise,” she said.

BRIEF Spring course registration opens one month early Course registration for the spring 2020 semester reopened on Thursday, almost a month earlier than originally planned, University Registrar Mark Hewitt announced in a Nov. 6 email to Brandeis students. Course registration was initially set to reopen on Dec. 4, Hewitt explained in a Nov. 8 interview with the Justice. Early course registration ran from Oct. 30 to Nov. 4 and gave undergraduate and International Business School students the chance to enroll in courses for the Spring 2020 term. In previous years, there was a gap of six to eight weeks between early registration closing and registration reopening. The gap gave the Registrar time to look at course demand lists and then decide whether to add seats to or sections of courses, or to cancel courses with low registration. The Registrar’s Office would also work with departments, having students on demand lists come to the office to enroll in courses. They would also “wipe out the demand lists” during the gap, requiring students to add themselves back onto the lists when registration reopened, a process students found “entirely mysterious and confusing,” Hewitt explained. In a Nov. 11 email to the Justice, University Provost Lisa Lynch explained that “with the collective bargaining agreements for part time faculty and graduate students who work as teaching assistants we needed to notify instructors of cancellations much earlier than we had in the past.” To accommodate the agreement, Lynch said, she asked the Registrar’s Office to have regular registration begin “at least 40 days in advance of the first day of class.” Previously, regular registration opened only 10 days before the first day, Lynch explained. Because of this change, the gap between early registration closing and registration reopening was only three

weeks this year. The Registrar’s Office realized that “it made more sense to just open registration early [and] continue to work with departments to handle the demand lists,” rather than wiping the lists entirely, Hewitt explained. Now, departments can directly provide students with consent codes or continue to work with the Registrar’s Office to get students off demand lists. Hewitt hopes this system will make things easier for students, department administrators and faculty. Lynch echoed Hewitt’s optimism, calling it “very good news” that “there no longer needs to be a middleman” for the process of students being added to low enrollment classes or getting off demand lists, because students will not have to contact the Registrar’s Office. These changes should “make the demand list process more transparent and convenient for students and instructors,” she wrote. Hewitt said that the Registrar’s Office has not decided whether to implement a similar schedule for Fall 2020 registration. “In the spring, when students are doing early [registration] for fall, we have the complication of the summer registration period for first-year students,” he said. His office sometimes adds or holds seats for incoming first-year students during that period, which is one of the reasons that wiping the demand lists during the gap has been necessary. Depending on how Spring 2020’s registration process goes, the University will either stick with the old schedule or switch to the new system. “We’ve had no negative feedback from instructors or students thus far,” Lynch wrote. “I really think that this is a big improvement in the process for registering for classes.” —Jocelyn Gould

Capture the best parts of campus

Meeting: Tuesdays at 8:15 p.m.

Join Photos! Email Noah Zeitlin and Sarah Katz at photos@thejustice.org Illustration by MORGAN MAYBACK/the Justice, NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice; Photos by ANDREW BAXTER/the Justice, NATALIA WIATER/the Justice, YURAN SHI/the Justice, NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice, SARAH KATZ/the Justice, ZACH KATZ/the Justice

PHOTOS NEWS

ADS

Image Courtesy of CREATIVE COMMONS

FORUM

FEATURES LAYOUT RE

ULTU C & S T R A

Are you our missing piece?

COPY

SPOR

JOIN THE JUSTICE! For more information, contact Jocelyn Gould at editor@thejustice.org.

THE JUSTICE

UNION: Students to elect vice president CONTINUED FROM 1 of the Services and Outreach Committee. “I’m here for communication, and I want everybody to talk to me, whether it’s something nice or something not so nice. I want to hear it from that person and have that personal connection,” she said. She also plans to clarify the roles and responsibilities of Union officers by creating a document explaining the roles and responsibilities of each branch and officer. The document will serve as an “investment” in the Union’s future, with the goal of fixing its problems of instability, turnover and clarity, she said. Chapman also highlighted her experience in planning events as a qualification for the position. According to her campaign biography, she has been involved with the Midnight Buffet, Turkey Shuttles, the Ollie Awards and Pumpkin Fest. “I’ve been doing a lot of Unionwide events, which gives me the unique experience of communicating with all the different branches [and] getting people to come together … so I’m already known for reaching out to everybody and being that source of communication,” she said. Overall, Chapman said her goal is to change the perception of the Union and to make it more struc-

●

NEWS

members of CAB are paid for time they input into Workday for office hours, during which they hold meetings and organize events. CAB chairs are paid for three hours per week, Porto said, and the president and vice president are paid for five. “The hours members of CAB are getting paid for in no way accurately reflect the amount they actually work,” she wrote in her email. “They typically work at least twice as many hours of what they get paid for on a weekly basis.” Porto wrote in her email that she did not “have enough information to comment” on why CAB was the only secured club that paid some of its members. She added that she “recognize[s] that the Brandeis student body contributes a tremendous amount of time into their extracurricular involvements,” and that “monetary compensation for these sacrifices should be a standardized

turally sound for the benefit of the Brandeis community The special election comes after former Union Vice President Guillermo Caballero ’20 resigned abruptly during the Oct. 27 Senate meeting because of a Judiciary case concerning the role of the Executive Senator and alleged exclusivity within the Union. Caballero was one of the complainants in the case, which ultimately found that Caballero failed to communicate effectively across branches and that Student Union President Simran Tatuskar ’21 overstepped her boundaries in interpreting the role of the executive senator, according to the Oct. 22 Justice article. Jake Rong ’21, the executive senator during Caballero’s term, has been serving as interim vice president. This is the second special election in two semesters for the position. Former Union Vice President Aaron Finkel ’19 was elected for the Spring 2019 semester after former Union Vice President Benedikt Reynolds ’19 resigned that fall, partly because of criticism from former Class of 2022 Senator Alex Chang and former International Student Senator Linfei Yang ’20 over difficulties stemming from a heated campaign to purchase pianos for the first-year residence hall lounges. Chang later resigned and Yang was recalled. There will be a candidates’ debate tonight from 9 to 10 p.m.

practice.” Price wrote in his email to the Justice that the Department of Student Activities “pays CAB because they want to make sure that Springfest is student organized, but also that it gets done. They think that paying the president makes the position more accountable and therefore insures that the proper planning is done.” According to the Union Constitution, CAB is eligible to receive a total funding benchmark of $225,000 through the Student Activities Fee. This is the highest benchmark of the secured clubs. The second-highest is Club Sports at $175,000, and the third-highest is WBRS 100.1 FM at $60,000. Director of Student Activities Dennis Hicks did not respond to a request for comment. —Editor’s Note: Justice Editor Emily Blumenthal and Staff Writer Joshua Aldwinckle-Povey are members of WBRS 100.1 FM.

Image Courtesy of CREATIVE COMMONS

Everyone has a story. Help us find it. Join

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

THE STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE

CLUBS: Secured club funding differs CONTINUED FROM 1

●

Features!

Contact Eliana Padwa at features@thejustice.org

NATALIA WIATER/the Justice

A CHANGE OF PACE: Even after Park was out of North Korea, she still struggled with stigma and had to learn new ideas about the concept of freedom. Today, Park lives in New York City and will soon graduate from Columbia University.

NORTH KOREA: Speaker tells story of how she escaped CONTINUED FROM 1 rea, she said that her troubles were not over, despite South Korea being a free country. She faced stigma against rape survivors, and all of the blame for her rape was placed on her. Park then discussed how she felt when she learned that people explored the Moon before they had explored North Korea, and said she hoped that people would discover North Korea before anyone explored Mars. Park also stressed that it is “our duty as free people to speak for [the] people who [do not] have [a] voice” because “when nobody is free, who will speak for us?” During the Q&A after Park’s talk, one student asked Park, at what point was it that she learned what freedom was. Park said that this moment came when she was in South Korea and was asked to introduce herself. She said that in North Korea, no one used the pronoun “I” to describe themselves, but instead used “we.” In South Korea, Park

said that everyone wanted to know about her as an individual. Another realization of the concept of freedom came when she read the book “1984” by George Orwell. Park said that she realized the importance of language as she read about the concept of doublespeak, where one word means something completely different than its definition. In North Korea, the word “gay” does not exist, and if the word for something doesn’t exist, there is no way to understand that concept, Park said. Another student asked Park if she missed anything about North Korea and her childhood. Park answered that the only thing she did not like about North Korea was the dictatorship, but that she missed her friends. In North Korea, Park explained, her connection with friends was very different from in the United States. She said that every morning, she would knock on her friends’ doors to see who was available to play, a custom that does not exist in the United States

because of the availability of technology to plan in advance. Park was also asked about how she found the strength to function after what happened to her. Park explained that she didn’t feel anger towards her past, but that she gained perspective. Park said that “after you go through all of that insane amount of suffering, and you survive, but now you’re going to be resentful of why you survived. So then [what] would [be] the point of me surviving that?” One of the last questions Park was asked was if she had any regrets about her past. Park said that she was glad that she didn’t follow through on any of her attempts to take her own life and that if she could tell her younger self something, it would be that “life is a gift that you [have]” and to “keep that faith, and that everything is [going to] be alright.” Park lives in New York City and is married, with one child. She will be graduating from Columbia University this winter.

Justice!

the

@theJustice

Image Courtesy of CREATIVE COMMONS

features

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019 ● FEATURES ● THE JUSTICE

just

VERBATIM | RALPH WALD0 EMERSON What we fear of doing most is usually what we most need to do.

ON THIS DAY… In 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court nullified an Arkansas law banning the teaching of evolution in public schools.

FUN FACT

In 2009, Canada passed a law declaring that an apology can’t be used as evidence of admission to guilt.

Shh! Brandeis is Sleeping If sleep was homework, what grade would you get? By JOSHUA ALDWINCKLEPOVEY JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Here’s a challenge for you: Ask any Brandeis student what they need more of. Their answers may range from hours in the day to a lot more coffee, and maybe some will just say money, but it seems to be the case that most could use an extra hour or two at night, even if they don’t think so. During “Sleep Week” this past week, organizations ranging from the Department of Community Service to the Brandeis Mountain Club held activities promoting the benefits of sleep, why we need it and why we should take it a lot more seriously than we currently do. “Sleep Week” events included free candy from Community Service, yoga classes and a campus-wide pajama day. “This whole week [was] about your physical and mental health,” said Ysabel Munoz ’21, president of the Brandeis Mountain Club and a Bridges To Wellness member, who spoke to the Justice at Wednesday’s “Camp In at the Library” event, at which the Mountain Club offered students trail mix and tips on how to take proper power naps. “Sleep Week” was of great importance to Munoz, who saw it as an opportunity to highlight the significance of something that Brandeis students seem to be missing the message on. Sleep, according to Health and Wellness Promotion at Brandeis, provides the energy necessary to manage stress well, helps consolidate memories, boosts your immune system and improves motor skills, among other benefits. There are clear benefits to sleep, and we all know that we should be getting more of it than we are right now. So why

aren’t we taking that advice? “In general, across this campus, students chronically prioritize the urgent over the important,” said fellow Mountain Club member Stephanie Woodland ’21. “Deadlines [and] assignments over mental, physical, spiritual and communal health.” Woodland feels that poor mental health is an epidemic among young people in America, and feels that it would be helped by having spaces to “exist and be ourselves in a meaningful way.” Woodland added, “Events like this are so important because they offer us the chance to slow down and breathe.” Mountain Club spoke highly of the importance of making time and space for the things we love — spending meaningful time with friends that doesn’t involve studying. Anna Dorosenko ’22, a Mountain Club member, told the Justice that Sleep Week taught her the power of yoga, and Munoz said she’d learned more about effective power napping. A 20 minute nap, she explained, will have the same effect as a cup of coffee. Members of Bridges to Wellness handed out free sleep kits to students on Thursday, Nov. 8. Young adults should aim to sleep between seven and nine hours, they instructed — and they said naps can improve productivity. Other tips that BTW offered include creating a routine before sleep, unwinding mentally by completing a low energy task like reading or journaling and turning off all screens 30-60 minutes before bedtime. It may sound difficult, but as Woodland said, “The best way to create a new habit is to start.” There is one clear take away from Brandeis Sleep Week: No matter how many of your points one spends on iced coffee, it’ll never make up for the missing hours of sleep.

NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice

SLEEP TIP: Staying off your phone 30-60 minutes before bed can greatly improve your sleep quality, BTW said.

NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice

STOP FOR A SNOOZE?: BTW handed out free sleep kits with eye masks, ear plugs and herbal teas to passersby in Goldfarb Library.

LAUREN BERK/the Justice

ZZZZ: Many students took the opportunity to rest at “Camp in the Library”!

LAUREN BERK/the Justice

SLEEP UNDER THE CEILING: Brandeis Mountain Club turned Rappaporte Treasure Hall into camp, encouraging students to make trail mix and take power naps.

Design: Grace Sun/the Justice, Yael Hanadari-Levy/the Justice

THE JUSTICE ● FEATURES ● TUESDAY,NOVEMBER 12, 2019

Bias on Trial Brandeis’ Mock Trial team unveiled a new anti-bias training for tournament judges.

NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice

By TALIA ZITNER JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

“None of us are free from unconscious bias,” Rachel Blau ’20 said. Blau is the former tournament director for the Brandeis Mock Trial team, and one of the brains behind the new antibias training that the team developed for their tournament judges and for judges around the country. Every year for the past 14 years, Brandeis has hosted a twoday, four-round Mock Trial tournament, planned and run entirely by students. Last year, when Blau and her co-director, Mayan Kleiman ’20, began planning the tournament, they realized they had the power to address this pervasive issue facing mock trial participants. “Historically in Mock Trial, it’s been a really big problem that judges will score in accordance with their own biases,” Blau explained. “Mock trial provides a perfect forum for unconscious biases to emerge, because basically

you’re being asked to score every competitor every time they speak, and you’re not really held accountable for why you gave certain scores to certain people, so people are given leeway to score in accordance with what they believe is most appropriate.” The pair was initially inspired to address unconscious biases by an incident that impacted their team directly. When they received their scoring from a particular judge, the group noticed that a senior female competitor, who also happened to be the captain at the time, had been marked significantly lower than that of one of her teammates, a male first-year. “The comments and scoring that this white male student got were so much higher than this senior female who actually knew what she was doing. … It was the first time that those biases were reflected so poignantly, because it was so obvious to everyone on our team that she knew what she was doing and he didn’t, but in the eyes of the judges it

didn’t matter,” said Blau. The issue seems to be widespread throughout the Mock Trial community. When they began developing their training, Blau and Kleiman posted on a forum page used by about 5,000 Mock Trial participants around the country, asking about peoples’ experiences with judging bias. “We received hundreds of comments, literally hundreds,” explained Blau. The experiences ranged across a variety of identity related issues, the majority having to do with gender, race, accent or attire. The biases were clear in the language that the judges used to score the participants. For example, a male competitor may be called “assertive,” while their female counterparts may be referred to as “aggressive.” Using the comments that they received on their online posts as evidence, the team worked with the Brandeis Prevention, Advocacy, and Resource Center, as well as attorneys, Brandeis professors and other Mock Trial

competitors to develop a series of slides that would be presented to judges prior to their involvement in the tournament. “Getting all of that input, we figured out the best way to address the issue without making judges feel like they have to get defensive. … The judges volunteer their time and we’re really grateful for their support. At the same time, we have to find a sensitive way to tell them that just because [they’re] an attorney doesn’t mean [they’re] free from unconscious bias, and let’s have an honest and open conversation and talk about constructive ways to guard against that rather than make it a defensive environment,” Blau commented. Since developing the training, Blau and the rest of the team have worked to get their slides seen by other teams around the country. “We emailed the American Mock Trial Association and got in contact with them regarding this and they were pretty open to it. … They’ve adopted one of the slides into their

judges’ presentation materials, which is good, but then we also thought that all of the slides should be presented, so we reached out to all of the tournament directors who run the invitational tournaments across the country and we emailed it to them. … We explained why it’s important, and we got a lot of really positive feedback from people saying that would integrate it into their tournament,” Blau said. “Ultimately, I think it’s had a pretty positive effect, not only on our tournament but on tournaments across the country.” In order to determine the impact of their training, the team sent out surveys to their competitors asking for feedback after last year’s tournament. This year, the training will also be given to judges, and Blau hopes that it will overall have a positive impact on this year’s season. “We feel pretty confident that this season of Mock Trial, people are going to have a more heightened awareness of some of these problems,” she said.

Image Courtesy of Creative Commons. Design: Yael Hanadari-Levy/the Justice

10 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019 ● FORUM ● THE JUSTICE

Justice

the

Established 1949

Brandeis University

Jocelyn Gould, Editor in Chief Jen Geller, Managing Editor Avraham Penso and Natalia Wiater, Senior Editors Andrew Baxter, Hannah Kressel, Yvette Sei, Judah Weinerman and Maya Zanger-Nadis, Associate Editors Emily Blumenthal and Gilda Geist, News Editors Eliana Padwa, Interim Features Editor Gabriel Frank, Forum Editor, Megan Geller, Sports Editor Luke Liu, Arts & Culture Editor, Noah Zeitlin, Photography Editor, Sarah Katz, Acting Photography Editor Yael Hanadari-Levy, Layout Editor River Hayes, Copy Editor, Lily Schmidt-Swartz, Interim Copy Editor Frances Hoffen and Yona Splaver, Acting Ads Editors Samantha Goldman, Acting Online Editor

EDITORIALS

Secured club leader payment bylaw needs work In February, Charles River Senator Oliver Price ’20 plans to introduce an amendment to the Union Constitution that would allow certain members of secured clubs to be paid. According to a Nov. 5 Justice article, the amendment would give secured clubs the opportunity to request a wageeligible status. Wage-eligible clubs could then petition the Allocations Board, which would decide whether or not club members would be paid, which select members would be paid and how much those members would earn. Though this board sees both potential benefits and potential downsides to implementing this amendment, we do not approve of its passage as it stands. Paying students for their work in clubs would address an issue of inequity that exists in club role opportunities. For students who need to work a certain number of hours each week for financial reasons, club leadership positions or even general membership positions are often inaccessible. The time commitment that is required for some clubs is significant, and it might be difficult in many cases to balance those hours with a paid job. This could inevitably lead to patterns in the type of people seen in club leadership roles in the University community — those who do not need to work during the school year may be more likely to be highly involved in clubs than those who are dependent on earning money while at school. If students were able to earn money for their club involvement as per the proposed amendment, club positions would become available to a wider community of people. Payment would also motivate people to continue with roles that they might otherwise consider leaving for a variety of reasons, which could help reduce high turnover rates in club positions. A problem with only paying members of secured clubs, and only up to four members in each club of this status, is that it would not fully address the wider problem of inequity in access to club leadership positions around campus. According to the Union Constitution, current secured clubs include WBRS 100.1 FM, Brandeis Emergency Medical Corps, Waltham Group, Brandeis Television, Student Events (Campus Activities Board), Archon Yearbook, Student Sexuality Information Service, the Justice and the Brandeis Sustainability Fund. Other clubs, which are important to the Brandeis community and whose members put in just as many hours as members of secured clubs do, would not be included in this amendment. Furthermore, limiting the number of club leaders that could be paid to four disregards the fact that many clubs have well over four students who are deserving of and/or in need of payment. Deciding which members of a club should be paid would be not only a difficult and highly subjective process, but also likely unreflective of some of the club members’ opinions regarding who deserves and needs the payment. Another concern with having only some members of each club receive payment for their contributions is that it could present an unwanted power dynamic between paid and unpaid

Creates a power dynamic members. It could damage relationships and foster a sense of unnecessary competition between people vying for club roles. There is also an implication behind paid positions that those roles are more important to the club and that paid members work harder and deserve more reward and recognition. Even in a situation where this is the case, unpaid members might feel as though they need to answer to paid members who are not their superiors or who do not actually have jurisdiction over a certain matter. This board sees several possible alternatives to the proposed amendment. One option to explore is that of a scholarship fund for club leaders. This would be handled by the University administration, rather than A-Board, in order to avoid breaches of privacy with individuals’ financial information. Students who demonstrate sufficient need, or show that their extracurricular involvement actively takes time away from a paying job, would receive this funding. This board acknowledges that proving financial need is a complex and imperfect system; however, a needbased scholarship fund would likely solve some of the potential problems of imbalanced group dynamics because its implications would no longer be dependent on A-Board’s evaluation of which positions in a group deserve a stipend and which do not. Such a fund would, of course, not be relevant to the proposed bylaw. Its dispensation would fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Student Activities or perhaps Student Financial Services, not the Student Union, but it would still come from the Student Activities Fund. In this way, the suggestion of a scholarship fund for club leaders may not be an ideal alternative to the proposed bylaw. This board simply views it as a somewhat more viable method to equitably dispense University funds. Considering the issue of the A-Board having a limited amount of money to disperse among select club members, another suggestion is to redirect funds to members of one club that is deemed worthy of having all its members paid. This board agrees that the Brandeis Emergency Medical Corps is a vital organization that should receive payment for all of its members. Although this board acknowledges that we are not familiar with all the organization’s dynamics, this board feels as though the rule limiting paid members of a club to four would be neglectful of the important work that all of BEMCo’s volunteers provide to the University community. If this amendment passes as it stands, the Justice will not be applying for wageeligible status. In order to maintain journalistic integrity, it is important that we do not take part in a system that would further hold us accountable to the A-Board. However, this board would like to urge the Senate to consider all of these positives and negatives when deciding whether or not to pass the amendment, and to look into possible alternative options.

HARRISON PAEK/ the Justice

Views the News on

As part of its experimental “Work-Life Choice Challenge,” Microsoft Japan closed its offices every Friday of Aug. 2019, but still paid their employees for a five-day work week, and reported a nearly 40% jump in productivity. Additionally, the company found that the policy helped cut down on electricity usage and preserved a significant number of office resources such as printer paper and drinking water. What should other employers learn from this experiment? Given these results, do you think that a four-day workweek should be implemented on a larger scale?

Prof. Joel Gershenfeld (Heller) Recent news from Microsoft in Japan claims a 40% increase in productivity when people were working four days a week, while being paid for five. This sounds like great news for workers everywhere, but it is unlikely to herald a global shift in working hours for at least three reasons. First, we don’t know how productivity is being measured, so it is hard to verify the results. Second, the gains may be short term – what are called “Hawthorne Effects” from an experiment in the 1950s where there were productivity gains just from people knowing they were part of an experiment (and one they wanted to continue). Third, even if the measurement is valid and sustainable, it won’t necessarily apply to all types of jobs – such as service work and machine-paced work. Still, the work pace in Japan has historically been intense among salaried workers and there may be real gains in work life balance signaled by the experiment that are worth further experimentation. So, employees and employers should be cautious about the news, but be bold in further experiments! Joel Gershenfeld is a professor at the Heller School specializing in largescale systems change, high performance work systems, negotiation and dispute resolution, cyberinfrastructure and labor-management relations.

Prof. Daniel Bergstresser (IBS) I would be skeptical here for a number of reasons. First off, their measure of productivity is sales in August of this year versus August of the previous year. It is notoriously easy for companies to shift revenue from one month to an adjacent month, and a 40% increase in revenue stands out to me as being large enough that one would be wise to look for signs that revenue has been shifted across adjacent months. It also does not sound here like Microsoft ran anything close to a clinical trial, where you might observe effects in treatment and control groups. So please treat this story with some caution. Daniel Bergstresser is an associate professor of Finance at the Brandeis International Business School and the chair of the Undergraduate Business Program.

Prof. Rajesh Sampath (Heller) The high tech sector, particularly in the age of software, the Internet and social media, has not just innovated new technologies for human consumption but also altered traditional notions of life-style, work-life balance, and the nature of work itself in offices and virtual, remote teams. Maybe they are onto something. The early writings of Marx reveal a keen insight that for animals, there is no partition of life, labor, and being into a set ‘work-day,’ private recreational time, vacations, etc. They do not externalize their labor as an object of the consciousness, which then alienates them from their true essence. Whether you believe humans are just higher-order animals or fundamentally distinct in our nature in about ability to transform our natures and relationship to our natural environments is not the issue. We still have to admit that the age of industrialized capitalism is less than two hundred years old, with the exception of England and the colonies of New England; and that modern urban life in many industrialized cities has led to a 24/7 work scheme, including trade-offs due to commute time and meeting basic needs in a fast-paced world of every increasing pollution and carbon-emissions. Our natures have already been distorted. The Japanese office of Microsoft may have a visionary alternative that can increase our productivity, give us time to embrace our creative natures, and help reverse climate change. With the third largest GDP in the world behind U.S. and China, perhaps there is a lesson to be learned here: we human beings have the creative potential to alter our existing assumptions about life and work while still releasing the enormous potential of technology and capitalist growth. Do we have the courage to change? I think so. Rajesh Sampath is an associate professor of the Philosophy of Justice, Rights, and Social Change at the Heller School. Photos: Noah Zeitlin/the Justice; Brandeis University

THE JUSTICE ● FORUM ● TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

Recent Marvel films are a warning for cinema’s future Judah

WEINERMAN CHATTERBOX

Recently, the cesspit that is Twitter has found itself the battleground for a war between two of the Internet’s loudest partisan groups. No, they are not the Democrats and Republicans. It’s between the uber-fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies and acolytes of legendary director Martin Scorsese. See, the problem all started when Empire magazine asked Scorsese what he thought of the most recent entry in Disney’s flagship superhero franchise, Avengers: Endgame. Scorsese was honest and direct in his response, admitting that he thought Marvel movies were “not cinema.” He explained that, “Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.” Marvel fans remain furious, calling Scorsese an out-of-touch old hack who can’t get with the times, unable to move past casting Robert de Niro as a succession of angry white men. The “true film” contingent, the kind of people who can recite the complete filmography of Luciano Visconti from memory but have never seen The Dark Knight, are content to call Marvel fans idiots who think corporate schlock qualifies as high art. No one is happy, everyone is mad and a lot of film reviewers and journalists have posted downright awful takes. Time for another awful take! I’ve enjoyed Marvel’s output from time to time, particularly those movies within the Marvel Cinematic Universe that allow their directors to break loose a little. Taken on their own outside the franchise structure, films like Taika Watiti’s gleefully silly Thor: Ragnarok and James Gunn’s mile-a-minute Guardians of the Galaxy are fun, breezy action films that have no problem flexing their creative muscles. However, I can’t say that the entirety of the House of Mouse’s output under the Marvel brand is worth the watch. A distressing amount of Marvel’s output under Disney falls into the category of “I’d watch that on an airplane if there was nothing else, I guess” cinema and shows no signs of giving up. For every Black Panther we get, there’s at least two more films like Age of Ultron or Thor: The Dark World, bland and gormless products with sleepwalking actors and the color tone of a Soviet apartment block. If you can find any artistic message in Ant-Man and The Wasp

besides “We own the rights to this character and have Paul Rudd under contract,” you’re clearly better at this whole film criticism business than I am. Given that, it’s easy to see why the people who claim that a forgettable yawner like Captain Marvel has more going on from an artistic perspective than a Goodfellas or a Casino which don’t really hit the mark. Brie Larson briefly wearing a Nine Inch Nails t-shirt before a CGI model that sort of looks like Brie Larson flies into space does not make for a well-crafted period piece, or even a fun two hours. In fact, I think that the attempts to place Avengers: Endgame — a movie that features a giant CGI green man dabbing and has the gall to give both Scarlett Jonhannson and Jeremy Renner speaking parts — as somehow superior to the likes of The Last Temptation of Christ or The King of Comedy are downright comedic. “Endgame made lots of money, so more people like it than anything Scorsese ever made,” an imaginary Marvel intolucator might say. So what? Avatar also made a lot of money, and the last time someone pretended that movie was good, I was in fifth grade. Why be so uptight about this distinction? Because we shouldn’t reward lazy filmmaking. There is more skill and technical excellent in the Copacabana tracking shot in Goodfellas alone than in any individual Marvel movie. That’s not an indictment of these films’ talented cast and crews, but of a corporate filmmaking process that takes place almost entirely on a greenscreen and eschews any sort of risktaking in favor of dumping off an unfinished product for the visual effects department to finish later. Even talented directors like Waititi and Ryan Coogler are saddled with this laziness — witness the final battle in the otherwise well-constructed Black Panther that looks like a poorly rendered cutscene from a Playstation 2 Marvel game. Furthermore, just because something is fun doesn’t mean it’s high art. Sure, I enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy, but I also enjoyed the Guardians of the Galaxy reskin of the old Disney Tower of Terror. Neither is particularly thoughtful. I adore dumb action classics like Die Hard and Evil Dead 2, but I’m not going to pretend that I’m watching The Godfather or The Seventh Seal. Superhero movies can theoretically be vehicles for mature, thoughtful filmmaking, but Marvel’s current output isn’t exactly examining the human condition in full. One such person who doesn’t care much for the finer points of moviemaking is Disney CEO Bob Iger, who clearly took Scorsese’s criticism poorly. “I don’t think he’s ever seen a Marvel film,” Iger said in an interview with the BBC. “Anyone who has seen a Marvel movie could not in all truth make that statement,” he added. Iger further went on to challenge Scorsese to a debate on the subject, and defended his company’s flagging Star Wars franchise amid

AMANDA PYUN/the Justice

the series’ noticeable drop in quality. It is not a good look to attack someone who’s questioning your movie making process while arguing over the charred husk of George Lucas’ onetime passion project. Is Scorsese telling people to stop seeing Marvel movies? Absolutely not. And Iger’s callous dismissal of the critique shows that he and the rest of the Disney higher-ups never understood his case in the first place. There’s nothing wrong with seeing a larger-than life action movie on the big screen sometimes, but the film industry and audiences would be best served if there also existed a place for more serious fare. The issue is not that Disney is making lots of superhero films, but that they’re trying to rid movie theaters of any semblance of creativity and artistic drive by squeezing out anything that isn’t a franchise action movie. In their attempt to monopolize and consolidate the cinema experience, Disney shows no care for film’s past, present or future. As Scorsese put it in a recent op-ed for the New York Times, “The situation, sadly, is that we now have two separate fields: There’s

worldwide audiovisual entertainment, and there’s cinema. They still overlap from time to time, but that’s becoming increasingly rare. And I fear that the financial dominance of one is being used to marginalize and even belittle the existence of the other.” As Disney begins to spitefully bar classic films in its newly acquired 20th Century Fox archive like Alien and Raising Arizona from being shown in independent theaters, we stand at a precipice for the industry. Even old hands like Scorsese are having to adapt. His most recent film, The Irishman is a co-production with Netflix, who will have the exclusive streaming rights to the film after its cinematic release. As long as Disney refuses to slow down the Marvel pipeline and audiences keep enjoying them, new spaces for more mature fare outside of the traditional theater might very well open. Perhaps in the future when you see ads for the likes of Spider-Man: I’d Like A Stand Mixer on My Wedding Registry or Captain Marvel: Rising: Revengeance: Reloaded, you can ponder what creativity might be flourishing just outside of the frame.

Institutional diversity needs to exist for the right reasons By ABIGAIL CUMBERBATCH JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

What does it mean to be diverse in 2019? The word has slowly integrated itself into conversations regarding the workplace and university populace. However, are the people involved in these conversations genuinely concerned with the homogeneous environment workplaces and universities have created, or rather how they will be perceived in this tumultuous time in American society? The issue of diversity has always weighed heavily on my mind. I was fortunate enough to come of age in a time where many individuals are brave enough to discuss the unfair treatment marginalized individuals (in regards to race, gender and sexual orientation) have endured in various places, when compared to the treatment of non-marginalized individuals. However, I also wonder if initiatives to diversify workplaces and institutions by those in managerial positions are out of genuine concern or rather stem from a fear of being scrutinized. In other words, as an African American woman, should I worry that my presence at a company or institution is solely based on my ability to bolster a diversity quota? In a society where callout culture runs rampant, people often voice their opinions at the expense of another individual, which has allowed fear to become the driving force behind diversity. As a result, the genuine intent behind

diversity is in peril. If an institution is worried about being perceived as overwhelmingly patriarchal and white, this would not only warrant a few insults, but also may tarnish that institution’s reputation. But by solely focusing on ‘diversifying’ the workplace or any institution with a large populace, the point is entirely missed. Let me pose this simple question, what is the significance of diversity in the first place? Many may argue that diversity is needed to enrich the circulation of ideas within a workplace or institution, or that it is needed so all can be cognizant of various cultures. However, if these are the only two reasons for diversity, then why can’t an individual just read a book or do some Googling to learn more about different cultures? The fact of the matter is that having individuals of various backgrounds, whether it be in terms of race, socioeconomic status, gender or sexual orientation currently serves the purpose of fulfilling arbitrary quotas. As I was preparing to apply to college, I would often flip through different brochures, feeling a sense of pride to see people of color smiling back at me. However, when I began to learn more about the schools I was interested in, I was surprised to learn that only a limited number of people of color were present at that specific college or university. People of color, whether it be in the workplace or on a college campus,

do not just exist; their “job” is to entice other people of color to apply. Within this vicious cycle, the meaning of diversity becomes lost. In the frenzy to increase diversity, institutions and workplaces have become obsessed with looking diverse instead of actually being diverse. Honestly, this does not really surprise me. In a fast paced, image-obsessed society, how something looks has become far more important than how something truly is. If companies and institutions can gather marginalized individuals to take photos of them or ask them to share their story for promotional reasons, what diversity means not only gets muddled in perception, but becomes seemingly unimportant. While I do worry about the intent behind diversity, I do not want to undermine the work that various institutions and workplaces have done in order to create a more heterogeneous environment. But what I want to implore about diversity is that it isn’t so much about including different faces, perspectives, ideas and voices as it is about making said entities feel included beyond their ability to contribute to an arbitrary quota. At the end of the day, no matter where I go, I will always be an African American woman. I could be in the most diverse or least diverse settings, but that part of my identity remains constant. I urge workplaces and companies to look beyond physical markers of diversity such

as race or gender, and instead focus on inclusion. According to T. Hudson Jordan, writer of Moving From Diversity to Inclusion, inclusion can be defined as “put[ting] the concept and practice of diversity into action by creating an environment of involvement, respect and connection — where the richness of ideas, backgrounds and perspectives are harnessed to create business value.” In my opinion, diversity cannot exist without inclusion, and the most important part of inclusion is fostering an environment of connection. While I do believe to some degree that it is important to acknowledge each person’s differences, it should not become a habit. Connection is what builds community, and once community is built I believe workplaces and institutions will move from an image of diversity to internalizing a diverse environment. So, what does it mean to be diverse in 2019? In my opinion, it goes far beyond introducing a variety of people from different racial or socioeconomic backgrounds. An environment should feel accepting of every person that walks through the door instead of exclusively focusing on how their presence in an institution or workplace will look to the outside world. If we are willing to shake the shackles off of always trying to be perceived as a diverse society, I believe that is when we will truly understand not only the intent behind diversity, but also its power.

The opinions expressed on this page are those of each article’s respective author and do not reflect the viewpoint of the Justice.

Write to us

The Justice welcomes letters to the editor responding to published material. Please submit letters through our Web site at www. thejustice.org. Anonymous submissions cannot be accepted. Letters should not exceed 300 words, and may be edited for space, style, grammar, spelling, libel and clarity, and must relate to material published in the Justice. Letters from off-campus sources should include location. The Justice does not print letters to the editor and op-ed submissions that have been submitted to other publications. Op-ed submissions of general interest to the University community— that do not respond explicitly to articles printed in the Justice — are also welcome and should be limited to 800 words. All submissions are due Friday at noon.

Fine Print

The opinions stated in the editorial(s) under the masthead on the opposing page represent the opinion of a majority of the voting members of the editorial board; all other articles, columns, comics and advertisements do not necessarily. The Justice is the independent student newspaper of Brandeis University. Operated, written, produced and published entirely by students, the Justice includes news, features, arts, opinion and sports articles of interest to approximately 3,500 undergraduates, 900 graduate students, 500 faculty and 1,000 administrative staff. The Justice is published every Tuesday of the academic year with the exception of examination and vacation periods. Advertising deadlines: All insertion orders and advertising copy must be received by the Justice no later than 5 p.m. on the Thursday preceding the date of publication. All advertising copy is subject to approval of the editor in chief and the managing and advertising editors.

The Staff

For information on joining the Justice, write to editor@ thejustice.org.

Editorial Assistants

Forum: Abigail Cumberbatch, Harrison Paek*, Trevor Filseth*,

Features: Sofia Gonzalez

Angela Self, Vandita Malviya Wilson, Mehmet Zorluoglu

Online: Ana Hatfield

Sports: Jonah White, Jonathan Sochaczevski

Copy: Cameron Cushing, Hannah O’Koon

Arts:

Production Assistant Features: Victor Feldman Photography: Thu Le Staff News: Ari Albertson, Leeza Barstein, Jason Frank, Chaiel Schaffel, Maya Rubin-Wish, Ella Russell, Hannah Taylor, Jackie Tokayer Features: Haven Dai, Josh Aldwinckle-Povey, Talia Zitner

Vicente Cayuela, Brianna Cummings, Shoshana Finkel,

Caylie Jeruchimowitz, Huilin Li, Rachel Sterling, Mendel Weintraub, Jacqueline Wang Photography: Lauren Berk, Zoe Brodsky, Ivy Daal, Haven Dai Vera Shang, Zach Katz Copy: Jane Flautt, Lizzy Freeman, Sara Fulton, Sofia Gonzalez, Ellie Hulan, Ora Rogovin, Emily Shen Layout: Sara Fulton, Shinji Rho * denotes a senior staff member.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019● FORUM ● THE JUSTICE

FORUM

Be wary of Google’s recent acquisitions in health and fitness By VANDITA MALVIYA WILSON JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

I suddenly feel like I’m being followed, and not just online. I just read that Google bought Fitbit, the company that pioneered the wearables industry and makes devices that monitor fitness and health. My first thought was to ditch my Fitbit and buy an Apple Watch. But I have limited financial resources and even more limited space available on my left arm for a smartwatch to sit next to my analog watch. I am concerned about two main things: First, how will Google use my data and second, how does this latest acquisition affect the consolidation of companies, especially under the FANG (Facebook Apple Netflix Google) umbrella? It’s not like I couldn’t go out and get a Garmin, Xiaomi or a Samsung. I’m just not in the mood to drop a couple of Benjamins yet again on an activity tracker. And I’m still worried about my data. Google claims it will allow me to review, move or delete my data. They also claim that they will not sell my personal information, and that the Fitbit health and activity data will not be used for Google ads. If it’s not used for Google ads, then what will it be used for? Previously, Fitbit had said that they didn’t sell my data, that it belonged to me and that I could even download it and analyze it. Now, Google can analyze it too. This worries me for a few reasons. I want to know why Google is buying Fitbit. In the past few years, Google has been on a bit of a buying spree, especially in the hardware industry. In 2018 they purchased HTC, the makers of the Pixel smartphone. Earlier this year, they purchased the smartwatch intellectual property of the Fossil Group. This gave them access to the brands that Fossil was making like Diesel, Kate Spade, Michael Kors and many others. The design array of the latest smartwatches is impressive. The brands combine their aesthetics and brand loyalists with the Android Wear operating system’s connectivity. Before Fitbit was gobbled up by Google, Fitbit had purchased Pebble, mostly for the software as well as for a few engineers. Pebble was another innovator in the wearables market, making a smartwatch that could connect to both iOS and Android devices. Until its acquisition by Google, Fitbit was one of the few companies left in the fitness wearables market. If they’re not doing this to be in the wearables category, which is always a future possibility, then they must be doing it to merge their hardware and software in the smartwatch category so they can compete head to head with Apple. In a sense, it’s a win for a Google that was missing a brand name as well as a user

community in their wearables segment, and it’s a win for Fitbit in that their sales have been sluggish, and a cash infusion from Google/ Alphabet will help them stay competitive. The problem is in what comes next. Google wants to do more wearables. Fitbit wants to “make health even more accessible to everyone.” It feels to me more like Google wants Fitbit’s data and user community. Eventually, the Fitbit platform would be melded with the Wear OS one, and repackaged as the latest Pixel. This would be a stronger competitor to the Apple Watch and its surrounding ecosystem. Still, I am troubled by the health care aspects of turning my step, sleep and heart rate data over to Google. Before the acquisition was announced, Fitbit had approached the FDA for clearance on heart rate and sleep data. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, owns a few companies focused around medical research, Calico and Verily. Calico’s stated goal is extending human life. Verily tracks data through some of its own wearables. And

it is true that the Apple Watch has partnered with health insurer Aetna to track and reward a user’s personal health goals. This particular program, called Attain, allows a member to “get” a “free” watch by completing certain health goals within a specified timeframe. If you already have an Apple Watch, your points can be credited towards gift cards. The Attain app also reminds the user of doctor’s visits, prescription refills and even vaccinations. The problem is that this app gives the user recommendations based upon age, weight and gender. That’s a lot of personal information to give out, especially in combination with other data the health insurer might have access to, even if this program is offered directly to the member. And the health insurer could also communicate with the employer. Health data combined with geolocation data could unmask user identities. This would be in violation of HIPAA compliance requirements. None of this prevents cyber criminals from hacking into Fitbit or other user accounts and accessing a

SARAH KATZ/ the Justice

lot of personal data. I’m not sure that I trust Google with my information any more than I trust any other big tech company. To me, Fitbit was more of a real company, one that made a real product. Fitbit wearers were and are a real community. I have fitness friends on Fitbit with whom I compete in daily challenges. Some of them I have never met in real life, but being in the challenge, and sometimes winning, is still exhilarating. I’m concerned that the Google buyout will destroy the culture and community that Fitbit has built up over the past several years. It’s true that I am more a member of the Apple ecosystem than the Android ecosystem. Similarly, I am a member of the Mac ecosystem and not a member of the PC ecosystem. Still, I am always rooting for the little guy, for the David that stands up to the Goliath, that succeeds despite the odds. Is it too much to ask that my favorite companies not get gobbled up by Apple/Facebook/Amazon/Google/IBM/ Microsoft/SAP?

Don’t give Bernie too much credit for his antisemitism essay By LEON KRAIEM JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Last week, the Brandeis Labor Coalition held a kickoff event for the nascent campaign to cut off Brandeis’ contract with Sodexo, on account of Sodexo’s contracts with private prisons and other institutions that violate human rights. A few organizers were brought in from a national activist group to help. At the start, one of these organizers spoke about how happy he was to have found as his political home one that was “antiracist, anti-fascist, anti-Zionist.” One of those things is not like the others. Many reprehensible things have been done in the name of Zionism, the movement to establish a home for the Jewish people in the land of Israel. But it is not a wicked ideology like fascism or racism. Really, it’s not an ideology at all, so much as it is a survival strategy by a battered, refugee people whose numbers still have not recovered from a genocide in the middle of the last century. There is nothing wrong with opposing certain Israeli policies, but if you look at the last century and your go-to villians are the Zionists, you’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere. Stop and consider how you got there. Two weekends ago, I was at the J Street conference in Washington, D.C. J Street is an organization that advocates a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At the conference, I heard from advisors to the Palestinian president, leaders of the struggling Israeli left and a number of United States presidential candidates, most notably Senator Bernie Sanders. Bernie made news during his appearance at the conference when he said that some of the military aid that the U.S. gives to Israel ought to be going to humanitarian aid in Gaza. This was the most any viable U.S. presidential candidate has advocated for in changing the American-Israeli relationship. And, Bernie has an understandable motivation. In 1963, Bernie volunteered on a kibbutz — a labor-Zionist agricultural settlement in Israel — where he was able to see firsthand “many of the progressive

values upon which Israel was founded.” Bernie believes that “it is very important for everyone, but particularly for progressives, to acknowledge the enormous achievement of establishing a democratic homeland for the Jewish people after centuries of displacement and persecution.” If anyone in American politics has a claim to Zionism, it’s Bernie Sanders. And, if anyone can criticize the Zionist project out of love, it is him. The quotations above are from an article that Bernie published a few hours before I wrote this, on Nov. 11, 2019, in the leftist publication “Jewish Currents.” His words are exactly what I want people like that “anti-racist, anti-fascist, antiZionist” to hear. And, they’re a useful text to point to when Berniecrats say that Zionists have no place in their movement. But I recommend that people read Bernie’s piece in full. It is nothing close to a call-out of the sort of toxic language around Israel, ubiquitous in progressive spaces, of which that organizer’s comment is one pretty mild example. The two statements I quoted are the only two in the 1,449 word essay that question the orthodoxy of Bernie’s base — namely, people on the left. And, the paragraph that those statements make up serves a structural function that shouldn’t be ignored: it allows Bernie to segue from the first half of the essay, which situates antisemitism as a part of white supremacy, to the second half of the essay, which defends criticism of Israel as part of the Palestinian cause. Of course, both of those things are worthwhile. The man who shot up a synagogue in Pittsburgh last year was motivated by white nationalist conspiracy theories, as was the shooter in Poway. And of course Palestinians, who are stateless in a land controlled by Israel, have human rights like anyone else. But Bernie’s supporters know those things. What they might not appreciate is that antiracists are often antisemites; that criticism of Israel is not inherently antisemitic, but it can be and it very often is. Take, for example, the case of Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the British Labor Party. Corbyn

is a committed antiracist — so, with regard to Bernie’s first point, Corbyn’s doing great. Corbyn is also a critic of Israeli policy and a champion of the Palestinian cause — but as we know from Bernie’s second (correct) point, that doesn’t make him an antisemite. But maybe this does: In 2006, Corbyn campaigned for the release of two convicted terrorists who had bombed a building housing Jewish charities. In 2009, he said that Hezbollah — a terrorist organization that has bombed, among other things, a Jewish community center in Argentina — was “committed to peace [and] social justice.” A month later, he organized an event with someone who said that “Jew-worshiping” is Europe’s “alternate religion.” These are just the first three examples from a timeline that includes forty-seven others, compiled by a Jewish advocacy group. Those incidents are indefensible. But they are defended consistently using the language that Bernie used in his “Jewish Currents” essay. Jeremy Corbyn cannot be an antisemite, Labour leaders say to British Jews, because antisemitism is a right-wing force, and Jeremy Corbyn is a committed left-wing antiracist! And, when Jews respond that Corbyn’s “friends,” as he calls them, in Hamas and Hezbollah vow to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth, they say: Criticism of Israel is not antisemitic! So how would Bernie respond? He writes in his essay that “It is true that some criticism of Israel can cross the line into antisemitism, especially when it denies the right of self-determination to Jews, or when it plays into conspiracy theories about outsized Jewish power.” This is a good, but impressively vague, description of the sort of antisemitism facing British Jews from the Labour Party, as well as the pernicious tropes about the American Israel Public Affairs Committe (AIPAC) and U.S.-Israel aid that are part of left-wing discourse in the U.S. Bernie writes, “I will always call out antisemitism when I see it. My ancestors would expect no less of me.” This would be reassuring if only it were true. When it comes to antisemitism

The opinions expressed on this page are those of each article’s respective author and do not reflect the viewpoint of the Justice.

from the right, Bernie has facts, figures, and importantly names: Donald Trump, Bernie correctly says, has had Jewish blood on his hands from the moment he made a deal with the white supremacist devil. But what of Jeremy Corbyn, who counts murderous antisemites as his “friends?” Bernie has endorsed him. Or consider Linda Sarsour, the controversial activist who resigned from the leadership of the Women’s March after widespread reports of antisemitism within the organization. Sarsour is against the existence of a Jewish State, presumably raising Bernie’s red flag of denying Jews self-determination. But she is an official surrogate for Bernie’s campaign. When Sarsour resigned from the Women’s March, they managed to find someone worse to take her place: Zahra Billoo, who said that the Israeli Defense Force was the moral equivalent of ISIS, and that it “kills children as a hobby.” Rashida Tlaib (DMI) retweeted Billoo’s non-apology for these statements, called them smears and added: “Stay strong.” What of Tlaib? She is also a campaign surrogate. If Bernie wants to be part of the solution to antisemitism, he can start by not being part of the problem. It is not just Bernie’s “ancestors” that have expectations of him, but also his living and threatened Jewish contemporaries in Israel, the U.S. and the United Kingdom. This past Thursday, the Jewish Chronicle published a full-page, front-page plea to non-Jewish Britons to listen to the Jewish community’s fear of Jeremy Corbyn. Bernie would have done far more good just sharing that article than he did by writing his own. Of course, that might alienate some of his partners. It is awkward to call out people in your coalition — that’s why no one did it the other day at Brandeis, even though I debriefed after the event with a number of other Jews who shared my concern. But when it comes to fighting antisemitism, if a little awkwardness is too much to ask of the most prominent Jew on the left, then really, what sort of a commitment can he possibly have?

THE JUSTICE ● SPORTS ● TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

NAILED IT

MSOCCER: Team ends season victorious CONTINUED FROM 16 the Judges’ Hennessy, Breiter, Warren, Murphy, Mercer, Irwin, backup goalkeeper Gabriel Sultan, injured forward Colin Panarra ’20 and captain Alex Walter ’20. Now 10–5–4 overall and 3–3–1 in conference play, the Judges are tied for second place in the UAA and must hope for an at large bid to the postseason NCAA tournament if their season is to continue.

In an interview with the Justice, Glass explained that the team is led by Senior Alex Walter. "Ever since his sophomore year he has held down the back line as our centerback and has continued to be a rock for us this year. He’s aided by our second captain, junior Noah Gans, who has been an integral part of the midfield since his freshman year. Together, they’ve been able to keep our team on track in pursuit of our collective goals” Glass said.

Meeting: Wednesdays at 6 p.m.

MEGAN GELLER/Justice File Photo

Want to be more than just a spectator?

Write for Sports!

Contact Megan Geller at sports@thejustice.org

CELEBRATION: Brandeis volleyball’s Emma Bartlett ’20 celebrates after a good play in a game against Emory University on Sept. 21.

VOLLEYBALL: Season concludes 4–23 overall CONTINUED FROM 16 lead, but the Judges stayed within five points of Emory for the whole match. Despite their offensive struggles, Belle Scott ’21 led the team in offensive play with nine kills and only one error. Judges 0, Spartans 3 The Judges, yet again, were left without any set victories in their match against CWRU. The sets, with scores of 25–17, 25–20 and 25–20, gave the Spartans a season overall record of 25–17. However, unlike against the Eagles, the Judges were off to a much better start against CWRU in the first set. An attack error by the Spartans’ Brianna Lemon put the Judges ahead 10–6, which looked incredibly promising. Nevertheless, the Judges’ lead narrowed. The score was tied at 12, 14, 15 and 16 points before the Spartans scored eight consecutive points. This gave them the edge they needed to win the set.

In the second set, the Judges held an early lead. However, the Spartans scored the set’s next nine points, putting them in the position to win the set. Although the Judges shrunk the lead to 22–19 at one point with a service ace by Maddie LaMont ’22, Case Western won the set 25–20. In the final set, the Judges led 4–1, but after the Spartans scored the set’s next five points to pull ahead, they never lost their lead, and won the set — and therefore the match. Judges 0, Yellowjackets 3 In the Judges’ third consecutive match where they failed to win a set, they lost their 13th consecutive match, closing out the regular season. Oppenheimer opened the game with an attack error that gave Rochester the set’s first point. However, the Judges did try to pull ahead. They managed to be in the lead 3–7 from a kill by Scott, before the Yellowjackets caught up to tie the score at seven. The set actually remained neck and neck as leads alternated, and there were several

times where the score was tied. However, in the end, a final attack error by Oppenheimer put the Yellowjackets ahead 26–24. In the second set, two attack errors by Rochester’s Sonia McGaffigan and Tamera Show put the Judges ahead 0–2. The first point for Rochester only came from an attack error by Emily Morrison ’23. Despite this, the Judges kept Rochester at bay for a while, and the score difference was narrow. However, after the score was tied at nine from another attack error by McGaffigan in favor of the Judges, the Yellowjackets permanently remained in the lead, which would carry through the set for them to win 25–20. In the final set, the Judges were slow to get moving. Rochester was ahead 6–0 before Oppenheimer put the Judges on the scoreboard with a kill. The Judges never really came close to winning this final set and could not stir up the momentum needed to win. Rochester ultimately won the set by a score of 25–13, and with it the match.

PRO: Yankees-Red Sox, Celtics-Lakers are two infamous sports rivalries CONTINUED FROM 16

times and the Yankees have won only once.

games to none and facing elimination in a best of seven series, trailing 4–3 in the bottom of the ninth inning, facing the best closer in baseball, Mariano Rivera, the Red Sox managed to tie the score and later win in extra innings. The Red Sox then win three straight games to won the ALCS and went on to win the 2004 World Series and finally break the “Curse.” Since 2004, the Red Sox have won the World Series three

Celtics-Lakers EJ Lambert documents this great basketball rivalry between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers in a How They Play article. The rivalry originated when the Celtics, led by point guard Bob Cousey, shocked the then Minneapolis Lakers, sweeping the championship series in 1959, just before the Lakers moved to Los Angeles. In the 1960s, the Celtics

were beyond dominant, winning the NBA championship every year in the decade except 1967. The Lakers could not seem to topple the Celtics, losing to the Celtics in the championship series six times in the 1960s, including three series that went to seven games, making the losses even more bitter. The Lakers were highly talented with Hall of Famers Elgin Baylor, Jerry West and Gail Goodrich, while the Celtics had the legendary center, Bill Russell. The rivalry heated up again after

the acquisition of Irvin (Magic) Johnson by the Lakers and Larry Bird by the Celtics in the late 1970s. The two players had already established a personal rivalry in college, facing each other in the national title game. The Celtic and Lakers were the dominant teams of the 1980s, with the Celtics appearing in five championship finals to the Lakers’ seven. The Celtics won three championship titles during this time, compared to the Lakers’ five. In head-to-head championship appearances, the Lakers won two of

three over the Celtics. The rivalry was renewed in the new millennium with the Celtics, led by star center Kevin Garnett, and the Lakers, led by star guard Kobe Bryant, splitting championship series in 2008 and 2010. These rivalries between perennially great teams have fueled interest in both die-hard fans of the teams and enthusiasts of the sports in general. Watch for a review of the great Packers-Bears football and CanadiensMaple Leafs hockey rivalries in next week’s issue.

Meeting: Sundays at 3:30 p.m.

Everyone has a story. Help us find it.

Write for Features!

Contact Eliana Padwa at features@thejustice.org for more information. Illustration by MORGAN MAYBACK/the JUSTICE; Photos by ANDREW BAXTER/the Justice, ADAM PANN/the Justice, CLEMENTS PARK/the Justice, MORGAN BRILL/the Justice; NADIA ALAWA, IRA BORNSTEIN, CREATIVE COMMONS.

Meeting: Tuesdays at 6:00 p.m.

Write for Arts ! e r u t l u C d n a

Interested in music, theater, film, comedy or museums? Contact Luke Liu at arts@thejustice.org! Illustration by MORGAN MAYBACK/the Justice; Photos by YVETTE SEI/the Justice, CHELSEA MADERA/the Justice, NATALIA WIATER/the Justice, ANDREW BAXTER/the Justice, HEATHER SCHILLER/the Justice, SARAH KATZ/the Justice.

THE JUSTICE

TEAM STATS

UAA STANDINGS Chicago Rochester JUDGES NYU Emory WashU Carnegie Case

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12 , 2019

SOCCER

JUDGES BY THE NUMBERS MEN’S SOCCER

● SPORTS ●

UAA Conf. W L D 7 0 0 3 3 1 3 3 1 3 3 1 2 2 3 3 4 0 3 4 0 0 5 2

Overall W L D 11 1 5 11 5 1 10 5 4 7 6 1 9 5 4 8 7 1 7 8 1 6 8 4

UPCOMING GAMES: Season has concluded

Goals

Will DeNight ’23 leads the Pct. team with seven goals. .794 Player Goals 7 .676 Will DeNight 6 .632 Max Breiter Noah Gans 4 .500 .611 Assists .531 Dylan Hennesy ’20 leads the .469 team with five assists. .444 Player Assists Dylan Hennesy 5 Noah Gans 4 Jared Panson 2

WOMEN’S SOCCER UAA STANDINGS WashU NYU Chicago Carnegie Case JUDGES NYU Rochester

TEAM STATS Overall W L D 15 1 2 13 4 0 12 2 3 11 5 1 13 5 0 11 7 0 11 7 0 9 6 2

UAA Conf. W L D 6 0 1 5 2 0 4 2 0 4 3 0 2 5 0 2 5 0 2 5 0 1 5 1

Goals Pct. .889 .765 .794 .676 .722 .611 .611 .588

UPCOMING GAMES: Season has concluded.

Juliette Carreiro ’22 leads the team with eight goals. Player Goals Juliette Carreiro 8 Makenna Hunt 7 Daria Bakhtiarti 6

Assists Juliette Carreiro ’22 and Caroline Swan ’23 lead with five assists. Player Assists Juliette Carreiro 5 Caroline Swan 5 Makenna Hunt 4

THU LE/the Justice

HUSTLE: Brandeis’ Juliette Carreiro ’20 dribbles the ball down the field in a game against New York University on Saturday.

VOLLEYBALL UAA STANDINGS UAA Conf. W L Emory 6 1 Chicago 7 0 WashU 5 2 Carnegie 4 3 Case 2 5 NYU 3 4 Rochester 0 7 JUDGES 1 6

TEAM STATS Overall W L 29 2 26 3 24 8 22 7 13 16 25 8 12 20 4 23

Kills

Pct. .935 .897 .750 .759 .448 .758 .375 .148

UPCOMING GAMES: Season has concluded.

Emma Bartlett ’20 leads the team with 282 kills. Player Kills Emma Bartlett 282 Belle Scott 241 Amelia Oppenheimer 183

Digs Kaitlyn Oh ’22 leads the team with 294 digs. Player Digs Kaitlyn Oh 294 Belle Scott 227 Amelia Oppenheimer 214

CROSS COUNTRY Results from the Keene State lnvitational on Oct. 3.

TOP FINISHERS (Women’s)

TOP FINISHERS (Men’s)

5-Kilometer Run RUNNER TIME Danielle Bertaux 18:38.0 Erin Magill 18:44.4 Andrea Bolduc 19:09.6

5-Mile Run RUNNER TIME Mark Murdy 26:04.4 Mathew Dribben 26:08.3 Dan Curley 26:52.1

Nov. 16 at NCAA New England Regional Championships Data Courtesy of THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS ASSOCIATION and the BRANDEIS ATHLETICS WEBSITE; Images Courtesy of CREATIVE COMMONS

Women’s soccer finishes regular season with a win ■ The Brandeis women’s soccer team ended their season with a win, improving their record to 11–7. By HANNAH O’KOON JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

This Saturday, the Brandeis Judges womens soccer team closed out the regular season at home, taking on the New York University Violets. Saturday was also Senior Day for the Judges, as the team honored its seven seniors. Winning 1–0, the team finished the regular season strong, advancing their record to 11–7 overall and 2–5 in the University Athletic Association. The first half of the game was

relatively quiet, with both teams failing to score any points. In the first minute of the game, in an attempt to get the Judges on the scoreboard, Emma Spector ’20 attempted a shot but missed. Just minutes later, Daria Bakhtiari ’21 also missed two shots. At the end of the first half, rookie Ruby Siegel ’23 aimed to put the Judges on the board again, though her shot was blocked by the Violets’ goalie Meghan Marhan. Ultimately, throughout the first half, the Judges and Violets continued to go for shots, though both teams failed to score any points. Beginning much like the first half, the Judges and Violets continued to attempt shots, though neither team managed to get on the board. During the 62nd

minute of play, at 62:55, Bakhtiari scored the first and only goal of the afternoon, putting the Judges up 1–0. Bakhtiari’s sixth goal of the season was assisted by Caroline Swan ’23. Although both the Judges and Violets continued to go for shots, the Judges failed to score again while the Violets failed to get on the board at all. Ultimately, one goal was all the offense the Judges needed to seal a much-needed victory, as they successfully stymied the Violets’ offense throughout the second half. With five losses in the UAA thus far, this win helped to improve the team’s conference record. With a win against NYU, the Judges successfully snapped a twogame losing streak to finish the regular season.

PRO SPORTS BRIEF

Sports fan shares feelings, musings about recent professional sports seasons It’s been a little over a week since the Washington Nationals beat the Houston Astros in the World Series, and we have all moved on. I’m going to call that the first thing I want to talk about in this column. This column is going to really just be me being me, talking about stuff that I see in pro sports right now. 1. It’s been a little over a week since the Washington Nationals beat the Houston Astros in the World series, and we have all moved on. Nice. 2. LeWashed James. Can you imagine only averaging 26.1 points, 8.3 rebounds and a league-leading 11.1 assists per game, whilst having one of the best defensive seasons of your late career in your 17th NBA season? Wow, LeBron James, you are so washed. On a less sarcastic note, please reread those stats. For the advanced stats fans, James is putting up an offensive rating of 116, a defensive rating of 96, and a box plus/minus of +11.5. For those who aren’t advanced stats fans, LeBron is really good. Like really, really good. He has made a case for being the best player in the league again, and it is so beautiful to watch. 3. WANTED: Kawhi Leonard. LAST SEEN: not getting on the team plane to play the Milwaukee Bucks. Kawhi Leonard has already missed two games this season, and we are not even at the three-week mark of

the season. The Clippers are already 0–2 in games played with Leonard, and both of these games were played against playoff-level opponents, the first game against the Utah Jazz, a very possible playoff matchup, and the second against the Milwaukee Bucks, probably the most likely finals matchup if the Clippers think they are making the NBA finals. It’s all right though, Kawhi Leonard made sure he played against the Charlotte Hornets who might not even have five NBA players, and the falling San Antonio spurs. Can’t be the best player in the league if you don’t play. 4. The NBA’s drug problem. The NBA has suspended John Collins and DeAndre Ayton, star big men for the Atlanta Hawks and Phoenix Suns respectively, both for 25 games for use of illegal substances, most likely Performance enhancing drugs. The NBA is widely regarded as the most relaxed league in terms of using PEDs and drugs in general. Will we see more stars fall victim to failed drug tests, or were these two just unlucky? Were they not careful enough? Only the future will tell, but there’s a chance we are watching the start of a big change in the NBA that could have lasting impact on the NBA’s history. 5. Jonathan Isaacs has got it. The IMG Academy alum is having an absolute career year on the defensive

end. The young star is second in blocks per game, with three per game, posting a defensive rating of 95, and a defensive box plus/minus of 7.2. Isaacs has always had the tools to be one of the best defenders in the league and it seems like he is finally figuring it out. 6. Who would have thought that surrounding one of the best scorers in the NBA with an actual point guard might help your team win games? It’s okay Phoenix Suns, not all of us came to the same conclusion (we actually all did, but don’t tell them though). The Phoenix Suns have been going toe-to-toe with every team in the league, including toppling the previously undefeated Philadelphia 76ers. To make it even more impressive, they’ve been doing all of this without the help of star big man DeAndre Ayton, whose suspension we talked about earlier. Robert Sarver is a garbage owner, but I am way too happy to see Devin Booker killing it and winning. 7. Luke Walton commits regicide. Last year the Sacramento Kings were the ninth seed and almost in the playoffs. They then fired head coach Dave Joerger, notorious for being hard to work with, and hired head coach Luke Walton, notorious for being loved by everyone. This year they sit in the standings right beside the injured and retooling Pelicans,

the injured and retooling Warriors, and the ‘one last year before we get serious’ Memphis Grizzlies, who are at the bottom of the standings. Lakers fans tried to warn them that Luke Walton sucks, but no one listened. Now the Kings pay the price, a quick return to their status-quo: losing seasons and not making the playoffs. 8. Dwight Howard’s resurgence! Yes, I did write an article talking about why Dwight Howard should not be signed by the Lakers. Yes I am eating crow. Yes I am so happy to be wrong, I cannot believe it. If I was always this happy to be wrong, my girlfriend would be the happiest woman in the world. Dwight Howard has been absolutely critical for the top of the league Los Angeles Lakers, with his hustle play, stifling defense, selfless play and much improved mobility, he has been everything the Lakers could have asked for and more. With a 136 offensive rating, a 92 defensive rating (both career highs), a 7.0 defensive plus/minus and 8.0 box plus minus (also both career highs) in terms of advanced stats, this season so far has been the best of Dwight’s whole career. Obviously the defensive player of the year awards and Houston years were actually better but that doesn’t invalidate how amazingly Dwight has played this year. He also hasn’t done anything extraordinary - just hustle and work

hard, which makes me believe this is sustainable in his bench role. Very excited to see if D39 can keep this up. 9. Young flukes, or new stars? Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves. Both basketball teams have been playing to their potential, and it’s really great to watch Andrew Wiggins go on an 11–0 run all by himself the other night. Personally, I think they both will fall, but the Mavericks might still sneak into the playoffs. 10. “Gangstas don’t die, they get absolutely shredded and they move to Miami!” - almost Tory Lanez. The Miami Heat have been one of the best teams in the league this year, beating even the mighty Phoenix Suns and absolutely obliterating the Houston Rockets, at one point being up over 40 points. The Heat went from Jimmy Butler and a bunch of average role players to Jimmy Butler and some dedicated mercenary journeymen, hungry rookies and one of the best coaches in the league. Kendrick Nunn has scored the most points of any player in their first five games, Meyers Leonard looks like the $11 million he’s being paid, Tyler Herro is going to win rookie of the year,and they are all absolutely shredded because of the Miami Heat’s strict fitness requirements. —Jonathan Sochaczevski

just Sports Page 16

TOP PRO SPORTS NEWS 10 intersting things happening in the world of professional sports right now, p. 15. Waltham, Mass.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

VOLLEYBALL

ZERO GRAVITY

Volleyball team ends a difficult 2019 season ■ The Brandeis volleyball team ended their season with a loss to the University of Rochester on Saturday, bringing them to a 13-game streak. By JEN GELLER JUSTICE EDITOR

The Judges closed out their regular season with three matches in the University Athletic Association Championships. Two matches took place on Friday against the Emory University Eagles and the Case Western Reserve University Spartans, and the third match took place on Saturday against the University of Rochester Yellowjackets. The Judges finished the regular season with a 13-game losing streak. The women’s final overall record was 4–23 and 1–6 in the UAA. The winning percent for the Judges this season was a fairly low .148. Judges 0 , Eagles 3 The Eagles demolished the Judges in what would be the team’s 11th straight loss. The Judges dropped all three sets by scores of 25–11, 25–10 and 25–20. This match was destined to be very difficult

for the Judges to win, though. The Eagles had an overall season record of 26–2 prior to this match. As the set scores indicate, the Judges' offense of the Judges had a really tough time. In the first set, after an attack error by the Eagles’ Leah Saunders gave the Judges a 2–1 edge, Emory soared ahead. The score would be 2–9 before the Judges could muster up a single point with a kill by Amelia Oppenheimer ’23. Emory brought the score to 3–14 before the Judges could score another point — another kill, this time by Avery Donovan ’22. The Eagles never lost their strong hold against the Judges in the first set and claimed the match up 14 points. In the second set, a similar story took place, though the Judges did hold a 3–1 lead at the start. Still, after a score tied at four, Emory took the lead and never looked back, this time winning the set by 15 points. The final set was the closest the Judges had to a set victory. They only lost by five points and although the Eagles scored the set’s first four points, the Judges responded and claimed the set’s next three. The score was tied at nine before Emory look the

See VOLLEYBALL, 13

☛

PRO SPORTS BRIEF

Top sports rivalries: YankeesMen’s soccer season Red Sox and Celtics-Lakers concludes with a win

THEA ROSE/the Justice

HIGH JUMP: Brandeis’ Alex Walter ’20 gets great height while jumping in a game against NYU on Saturday.

■ Some of the best rivalries in professional sports include the Yankees and the Red Sox and the Celtics and the Lakers. By MEGAN GELLER JUSTICE EDITOR

By the time this article comes out in the Justice, the New York Jets and New York Giants will have played their football game for “bragging rights” in the New York area. Despite both of their dismal records, this is a meaningful rivalry for devoted fans of each team. For sports fans, it is fun to ponder what are the greatest rivalries in professional sports. According to thetoptens.com, the top four rivalries comprise Yankees-Red Sox, Celtics-Lakers, Bears-Packers and Canadiens-Maple Leafs. Yankees-Red Sox This historic baseball rivalry is chronicled in soxandpinstripes.com. The start of the rivalry began with the 1919 sale of the rights to Babe Ruth, who is widely considered the greatest baseball player in history, from the Boston Red Sox to the

New York Yankees for $125,000. To understand the stature of Ruth as a player, it is helpful to realize that this sum of money would be worth $1.9 million today, per the USDinflation website. This sale led to the “Curse of the Bambino.” The Yankees had the better of the rivalry throughout the 20th century, including a huge comeback in the standings as the Yankees tied the Red Sox to force a one-game playoff for the division title, won in 1978 by the Yankees on a late home run by Bucky Dent. In 2003, current Yankee Manager Aaron Boone hit a walk-off home run to lead the Yankees to a game seven victory over the Red Sox in the American League Championship Series, and the “Curse” was alive and well. Between the sale of Ruth’s rights and 2004, the Red Sox reached the World Series four times, losing each time, while the Yankees won 26 World Series titles. However, things changed dramatically in 2004 when the Red Sox accomplished the greatest comeback in professional sports history, culminating in victory in the ALCS, according to an MLB postseason article. Trailing three

See PRO, 13 ☛

■ After a rough season, the Brandeis men’s soccer team ended their season with a 2–0 victory over New York University on Saturday. By JONAH WHITE JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

On Saturday, the Judges finished their regular season with a 2-0 win against the New York University Violets. The first half featured few chances of note in the biting cold and fizzled out toward the end as a frantic opening gave way to a more choppy final quarter of an hour. In potentially the final career game for the senior players on both teams, emotions were running high from the beginning of the second half. The Violets’ Matteo Russo was booked less than 90 seconds into the period for a late challenge, and frustration grew as the Violets were caught offside three times over less than four minutes. The frustration boiled over on in the 57th minute

when a scuffle broke out well away from the ball. From afar, it appeared as though things may have settled down rather quickly before getting out of hand, but evidently this was not the case. NYU forward Sergio Monton was shown a straight red card, for throwing a punch according to the Brandeis Athletics website. Michael Burch ’22, who had played his part in the scuffle, was given a yellow card but would not have minded as the sending off marked the game’s biggest moment and turned the match decisively in the home side’s favor. It looked like it would be only a matter of time before the Judges would find the opener. They did so six minutes later when University Athletic Association scoring leader Will DeNight '23 swept home following an Evan Glass ’21 long throw. A goal up and playing with an extra man, the Judges’ result seemed in little doubt; but the visitors showed resilience, forcing a save out of Greg Irwin ’20 a mere 15 seconds after the restart. The victory would only be wrapped up 12 minutes from

time, when a quick thinking Dylan Hennessy ’20 found Jake Warren ’20 from a throw in, allowing Warren to turn near the byline and send a low cross to Noah Gans ’21, who tapped it over the line from close range. Head Coach Gabe Margolis made a nice gesture in the game’s penultimate minute, bringing on seniors AJ Mercer ’20 and David Murphy ’20 to finish their careers with the result no longer in question. Max Breiter ’20 was industrious throughout the game despite not getting on the scoresheet. With the help of a man advantage for over half an hour, Brandeis outshot the Violets 14–7, led by five efforts from DeNight. The Judges also had six shots on goal and six corners to three and one respectively for their opponents. Each team received two yellow cards in the match, while Irwin made all three possible saves in keeping a clean sheet. Before the game, all of the seniors on both teams were honored in a brief ceremony, including

See MSOCCER, 13

☛

Vol. LXXII #10

November 12, 2019

just

Arts & Culture

FALL FLEX >>pg.19

Waltham, Mass.

Images: Noah Zeitlin/the Justice, Creative Commons. Design: Thu Le/the Justice.

TUESDAY, THE JUSTICE NOVEMBER | ARTS 12, | TUESDAY, 2019 I ARTS JANUARY & CULTURE 31, 2017 I THE JUSTICE

THEATER REVIEW

‘Oy!’ will make your zayde laugh By MAYA ZANGER-NADIS JUSTICE EDITOR

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into “Oy!” on its Nov. 7 opening night. I was certainly not expecting the first thing I saw to be a bunch of boss-ladies (and Lucian Dobroszycki ’23) in utterly fabulous pantsuits, but that’s what I got, and I am not complaining. I would like to dedicate this entire opening paragraph to costume designer Kat Lawrence ’21 for the many superb pantsuits and blazers in this show, as well as the heels that Shoshi Finkel ’20 wore in the scene, “Can This Marriage Be Saved.” Technically speaking, this was a strong show. Two of the 12 selfcontained scenes stood out for me in terms of direction: “Oy!” (for which the show is named) and “Murray, Leo and Sol Rewrite the Criminal Code.” Both scenes feature the same trio of crotchety old Jewish men (Evan Shapiro ’22, Dobroszycki and Harrison Carter ’22) sitting

together in the shvitz, and both were audience favorites. Although I personally found the “Oy!” scene more annoying than comedic, the rest of the audience loved both scenes, and I was impressed with director Becca Lozinsky ’20’s ability to make an entertaining performance out of an otherwise visually uninteresting situation. I will also say that Carter is a stellar crotchety old Jewish man. Several parts of “Oy!” took concepts that were close to home for me — and for many members of the Jewish community — and opened them up for examination. Sure, there were quite a number of loud, whiny Jewish mothers on stage, but there was also the tense and undefined father-son relationship explored in “Close Call,” the complications of being gay, Jewish and dating a shiksa outlined in “Come Light the Menorah” and several others. Was each sensitive topic handled well by the script? Perhaps not. But perhaps they were in the time ZACH KATZ/the Justice

PUTTING IN WORK BEHIND THE SCENES: The costumes were all simple but effective, and the designers derserve to be praised for the work they put in.

they were written. I genuinely am not sure, and I don’t really think it matters. They made me think a little more deeply and critically about the people in my community, and they made the audience laugh. Isn’t that all you can really ask of a studentproduced comedy? The Judaism described in many of the scenes reminds me of the Judaism my parents grew up with in the 1950s and 1960s. For those who are not familiar, think along the lines of the Amazon hit, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” — a little too reliant on sexist and anti-Semitic stereotypes, but ultimately sweet and certainly reflective of its time. While “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” was set in the 1950s and produced in 2018, most of the scenes in “Oy!” were written in the 1990s. You know what else was written in the 1990s? “Friends.” I’d say “Oy!” has aged better than “Friends,” and we will leave it at that. Basically, if you’re morally opposed to cringeworthy Jewish mother stereotyping and overly nebbish young men, this may not be the show for you. Now that the grievances have been aired, I want to focus on the really wonderful aspects of this show. I cannot name every cast member or even every director, because there were simply so many, but the comedic timing in the show overall was excellent, especially considering it was the opening night. I will highlight just a few extraordinary performances: Esther Shimkin ’21 is always a delight to watch onstage, but her performance as Stevie Goldstein in “Stevie Goldman Faces the Day of Atonement Unprepared” was an absolute riot. I laughed out loud. Leanna Ugent ’22 is also an Undergraduate Theater Collective

ZACH KATZ/the Justice

TOP-NOTCH: The show included 12 different stories, featuring a variety of characters and excellent performances.

regular and a crowd-pleaser. Like the rest of the cast, she played multiple roles throughout the show, and I most enjoyed her as Protagonist in “Last Minute Adjustments.” As a child about to be born receiving her soul, Ugent kicked and screamed, not wanting to enter the complicated and painful world we inhabit — a scene that made me laugh and made me think, “perhaps I would be better off as an aardvark.” Shoshi Finkel has returned to the UTC after a couple of years off, and her performances were strong throughout. Her strongest scene, however, was “Can This Marriage Be Saved?” in which she (wearing what appeared to be 6-inch heels) represented the entire human race in court, trying to divorce God (Ruthi Wasserman ’23). I can’t describe Finkel’s performance better than the girl sitting next to me in the audience, who leaned over and whispered, “Wow, Shoshi is so good.” She was just so good. Finally, Evelyn Inker’s ’23

portrayal of Russian yenta Rhoda Wikoff in “A Trolley Named Tsuris” (a parody of “A Streetcar Named Desire”) was authentic and hilarious. I cannot wait to see what Inker’s future involvement in theater at Brandeis will look like. The show wasn’t perfect, but it was good. If it were running for longer than a weekend, I’d recommend that you see it if you haven’t already. Given that it isn’t, I’ll leave you with a quote from everyone’s Russian bubbe, Rhoda Wikoff: “People will always respect you if your SHOES and your HANDBAG match!!” Glossary: Bubbe — N. Grandmother Nebbish — Adj. Pitiful, geeky Shiksa — N. Gentile woman (derogatory) Shvitz — N. Sauna Yenta — N. A gossipy or nosy woman Zayde — N. Grandfather

CONCERT PREVIEW

‘Unforgotten Song’ addresses history that should not be forgotten By JACQUELINE WANG JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Eighty seven years ago, World War II surged across the globe with invasions and massacres. Across 6,563 miles on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, while men were fighting against the invasion from the Axis Alliance, women in occupied areas of East and South East Asia were captured and forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military. More than 30,000 women from Korea, China and other countries became what were known as “comfort women” between 1932 and 1945, and their stories were recorded in history. On Nov. 16, from 8 to 10 p.m., the “MusicUnitesUS” program will collaborate with Korean musician Gamin Hyosung Kang, New Yorkbased visual artist Chang-Jin Lee, Skakuhachi (Japanese traditional musical instrument) player Adam Robinson and the Lydian String Quartet. The concert, “Unforgotten Song,” commemorates the suffering comfort women experienced during wartime. Last week, the Justice had the opportunity to talk to Prof. Judith Eissenberg (MUS), the director of “MusicUnitesUS” and a member of the Advisory Board of the Korean Cultural Society in Boston, about the inspiration and motivation behind the concert. Eissenberg recalled her memories from nearly 20 years ago when the events of Sept. 11, 2001 struck American society and the political dynamic of the country was drawn back to conservatism. Religious isolation and condemnation seemed to build a wall between people. She quickly realized that the isolation was a wall that must be pushed down, and cultural communication could be the key to uniting the people. In 2005, Eissenberg set up the project “MusicUnitesUS,” which encourages cultural exchange between the Brandeis community and visiting scholars and musicians with different cultural backgrounds. The project has been running ever since. Through a Korean music workshop, Eissenberg came to learn and love the music of Korea as well as the culture. It was also in Korea where she met Gamin Kang, who was “a multi-dimensional artist performing across the genres of traditional Korean music, theater, collaborative projects and cross-cultural performances,” she recounted. This year, Eissenberg invited Kang to Brandeis for a residency project, focused on unveiling the anguished history through a Korean voice. The topic of comfort women is often not familiar to Western audiences. When Kang picked the topic as the theme of her residency project and concert, Eissenberg had to do a lot of research to learn the history of occupied Asia during the WWII period. The concert, however, does not feature the history, but rather the lesson taught by the history. Tens of thousands of women were deprived of basic human rights and forced into sexual slavery nearly a century ago, and women today — as well as other minority or marginalized, unrepresented groups in society — still are facing injustice. The music is the lens through which the audience can look at the injustice in the contemporary world.

Design: Yael Hanadari-Levy/the Justice

Eissenberg told the Justice that music is much more than recorded sounds and rhythms. “Music amplifies human emotions,’’ she said. Music is momentary communication that takes place between the audience and the performers. It encourages feelings to be shared and brings up the deepest contemplation of a person. Eissenberg praised Kang in her article in the Boston Musical Intelligencer for Kang’s ability to “transform the concert hall into a place of deep enchantment, transcending time and space.” In the concert, Kang will not only perform the Piri, the traditional Korean musical instrument, on her own but will also perform it with the Lydian String Quartet and the Skakuhachi player Adam Robinson. The concert will also feature a collaboration with visual artist Chang-Jin Lee. Since 2007, Lee has run a project on comfort women survivors. In a picture that Eissenberg showed to the Justice, a poster of a comfort woman created by Lee was put in Chelsea, New York, surrounded by a huge commercial advertisement featuring an underwear model. It was quite an ironic comparison — on the one hand, women today have more freedom of dressing; on the other hand, society still materializes women and presents them as sexualy attractive figures. The collaboration with Lee in the concert is meant to bring more visual impact to the experience. Kang incorporates Western string musical instruments and Japanese traditional instruments in collaboration with Korean Piri to add to the diversity and depth of the concert. The suite of compositions blends music and cultures together, hoping to help reach the reconciliation of history and bring peace to the future — the Western string quartet stands for the cultural exchange between the East and the West, and the Japanese Skakuhachi expresses people’s will to put away hatred, welcoming a peaceful tomorrow. The concert will also present music composed by Brandeis students and Prof. Yu-Hui Chang (MUS) from Undergraduate Composition, MUS 106A. From Nov. 11 to 16, Kang will be involved in discussions within several music, art and humanities classes and hold a concert on the very last day. At the end of the conversation with the Justice, Eissenberg expressed her expectations for the concert and music as an art form. Music is a bridge that connects people to history and emotions. “What is our role as artists and try to make a difference in the world? ... How do we interpret the things around us? How much do we witness? How much do we provoke?” Eissenberg asked herself, the audience and her fellows. As a violinist, she hoped to discuss the susceptibility of women during wartime and the future of peace through music; as an artist and scholar, she hopes to encourage fellows in academia or society to be responsive to ethical and social issues. Through music, Eissenberg, Gamin Kang and the “MusicUnitesUS” project hopes to bring attention to this unforgotten history and provoke a peaceful future from there.

Photo Courtesy of KANG-RYEONG LEE

COMMUNICATION THROUGH RHYTHMS: Being a master of multiple instruments, Gamin Kang will be collaborating with a variety of performers to bring attention to the history of comfort women.

Chang-Jin Lee, “COMFORT WOMEN WANTED” (2013), Public Art in New York City, in collaboration with The New York City Department of Transportation’s Urban Art Program Photo Courtesy of CHANG-JING LEE

NOW AND THEN: Along with the musicians, visual artist Chang-Jing Lee will present his work on comfort women survivors.

THE JUSTICE I ARTS & CULTURE I TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

CONCERT

Fall Flex rocks Usdan

By NOAH ZEITLIN

Photos by NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice

DJ Ekenomics won the student DJ competition, allowing him to be the opening DJ for the Fall Flex concert.

JUSTICE EDITOR

On Nov. 12, Campus Activity Board hosted their annual Fall Flex concert. The concert featured performances by DJ Ekenomics, Social House, Sage the Gemini and Cash Cash.

Cash Cash performed many of their most popular songs, getting the audience excited.

Some students were lucky enough to get a selfie with members of Cash Cash following the Fall Flex concert.

Social House came to Brandeis dressed in matching outfits for their performance. During the performance, their friendly banter caused a faux argument between sides of the audience.

Sage the Gemini interacted with the audience throughout the performance. The colors of the lights on stage conveyed the messages of the songs he performed.

Many of the performers throughout the evening requested that the audience use their phone flashlights to underscore the intimate messages of their songs.

CULTURE SHOW

Bringing ‘Night for Africa’ to life: A conversation with BASO By BRIANNA CUMMINGS JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

When one plans an event, they get a chance to exercise both their creative and logistical muscles. This is true for Jennifer Okewunmi ’21, the president of the Brandeis African Students Organization. On Saturday, Nov. 9, BASO held their annual “Night for Africa” event. Students from all over the world attended this event to celebrate the culture, achievements and history of the great continent. This year’s theme was ‘Gbé Sóké,’ which means ‘Lift Up’ in Yoruba. The event received acclaim from the student body. The extravaganza would not have been possible without the BASO executive board and other collaborators. This weekend, I corresponded with Okewunmi to discuss “Night for Africa” and other projects BASO is working on. Okewunmi is of Nigerian descent, with her ancestors descending from the Yoruba tribe. Her heritage has helped her connect with other Brandeis students. “It has positively impacted my experience at Brandeis because I’m able to be a part of a powerful group of Africans that can come together to celebrate our similarities and differences,” she wrote. BASO members can trace their ancestry to various African countries, representing PanAfrican unity. Okewunmi has been active in BASO since she first arrived at Brandeis. She wrote, “I got involved in BASO in my first-year by being a general member. Sophomore year I became the Assistant Treasurer. Now, I’m proud to be the President of BASO!” Throughout her responses, Okewunmi showed gratitude and appreciation for the other members of BASO, attesting to the harmony and intimacy of the group.

Putting on “Night For Africa” involved a lot of time and commitment on behalf of BASO’s E-board. The club started planning last spring. Their first step was going through the Marathon process with the Student Union’s Allocations Board to receive funding. “My Vice President, Precious Ufomadu ’20, and I had many FaceTime calls during the summer going back and forth about our ideas and how we see the organization and event going,” Okewunmi said. Okewunmi acknowledges that this semester consisted of a large amount of planning, because she had to work with an array of people. “The most challenging thing was working with non-Brandeis people and getting our communication straight about deadlines.” She says she would not have been able to do it without the help of the BASO secretary, Aisha Waggeh ’22, who took notes throughout the process regarding ideas for the show. “Night For Africa” featured food, fashion and fun performances that came from groups from all across the Brandeis community and people off-campus. “The performances were chosen early in the semester! We, more like my phenomenal Event Coordinators Brittney Nanton and Akwasi Owusu-Brempong, reached out to many off-campus performers and on-campus performers to have a wide variety of performances,” Okewunmi wrote. One of the off-campus personalities was the host, Chief Obi, a Nigerian comedian, known for his impressions of a stereotypical Nigerian father. “We got Chief Obi from the premature vision of me and Precious to have an African entertainer host this year’s Night For Africa; however, the majority of the credit is due to my dedicated Treasurer, Selase Dzobo, and Assistant Treasurer,

SARAH KATZ/the Justice

ANNUAL CELEBRATION: Because “Night for Africa“ is the biggest show BASO hosts each year, the organizers started to plan for the event even before the semester started.

Melissa Nicholas, for putting energy and time into communicating with different entertainers, working with our allocated budget, and securing Chief Obi.” Okewunmi wrote. Chief Obi’s notoriety and hilarity made him the perfect host. One of the highlights of “Night for Africa” is the fashion show. “BASO included the fashion show because African fashion and beauty is one of a kind and deserves to be admired on a big stage,” explained Okewunmi. All of Okewunmi’s hard work paid off when this year over 450 people attended “Night for Africa,” making it the largest turnout in the event’s history. Okewunmi attributes this popularity to the club’s use of flyers, social media posts and promotional videos to advertise the event.

“Night for Africa” is not the first event that BASO has hosted this semester, though. They worked with the Taiwanese Student Association to produce the Night Market. “It was mostly the doing of the individual organizations for planning the events,” Okewunmi said. “The e-board came together to make our part of the event come to life by publicizing and ordering food, because who doesn’t love food?” Okewunmi promised bigger and better things from BASO within the next year. “Night for Africa” is important, because it represents a part of the Brandeis community that does not always get the representation it deserves. It is great that BASO can help share the beauty of Africa with Brandeis.

Design: Sara Fulton/the Justice, Yael Hanadari-Levy/the Justice

THE JUSTICE I ARTS & CULTURE I TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019

INTERVIEW

JUSTARTS SPOTLIGHT ON THE FACULTY/STAFF ART EXHIBITION 2019

By Luke Liu JUSTICE EDITOR

One of the oldest objects in my house in China was a wooden baseball bat. During the war time in the 1940s, my grandparents fled home in Wuhan for a few years when the city was occupied. When the war ended, they made their way back to the city, with not much left in the house except a baseball bat left by the occupant who was no longer there. Fascinated by this equipment from a sport that almost no one watched back home, my family kept it until today, as a token from that era. When I saw “Ghost Town Artifact: The Concertina” by Digital Communications Associate Naomi Ribner at the JustArts Faculty/Staff Art Exhibition 2019, I immediately felt the weight of time. The concertina is clearly torn out of shape and might just fall apart if you make any attempt to use it. Most of the buttons are missing, and the brass handle is no longer shining. At the same time, one can still see the bronze declarations on the concertina, leaving space for imagination of what the instrument looked like at its prime condition. After spending more time looking at it, I realized that there are so many more details beyond the drawing itself. The artifact was sketched on a bronze yellow paper with piece of writing on the background. There was so much effort put in to make it look naturally aged, including leaving parts of the paper dirty and damaged — like someone made the sketch on a newspaper and decided to keep the piece. The glass box that contains the art is also specially designed to create a three-dimensional texture and the illusion that the piece is floating in the air. On the sign next to the piece, Ribner wrote, “I am not documenting real people; rather, I’m intrigued by story suggestions triggered by the objects I’ve found....These works explore memory and the passage of time.” This might be why he also named the series “Ghost Town Artifact.” Life is short and memory will fade eventually, but artifacts can be the medium of a piece or memory that last for generations. Just like the baseball bat that is still sitting in my house, the concertina lives beyond its own time as a piece of art.

Joon Cha ’20 NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice

Naomi Riber, Ghost Town Artifact: The Concertina. NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice

This week, justArts&Culture spoke with Joon Cha ’20, the president of the Brandeis Korean Student Association, about the “Pojangmanch” street food tent that the club hosted on Nov. 1.

JustArts&Culture: Tell me a bit about your role in this event. Joon Cha: As the president of KSA this year, my role was assigning tasks for other E-board members and making sure that all steps of the event were taken care of. Our digital media chair made the poster, which our publicity chairs then advertised on campus and on social media. Our event coordinators Angela Yan ’22 and Crystal Hariga ’21 planned the menus, decorations, presentations and games for the event. Although most tasks leading up to the event are role-centered, the shifts on the day of are irrelevant to the title of their position, such as cooking and decorating. JAC: How long did it take to put together this event? What was the process of preparing so much food? JC: We had about three weeks to plan for this event, which begins with choosing the menus and starting the advertisement for the event. All three menus were cooked by KSA E-board members (tteokbokki - Korean spicy rice cake, eomuk - fish cake soup, kimbab - dried seaweed rolls). It is not so easy to cook for a large audience. The struggle starts at H-Mart where we go to buy most of our ingredients, which fill up the whole car. On the day of the event, most of our members come straight to the ICC kitchen when their classes end. From 1:00 p.m. and until the start of the event at 7:00 p.m., we cook and cook.

VICENTE CAYUELA/the Justice

JAC: This is KSA’s last event of the fall semester. What is something you are most proud of about your club in the past semester?

STAFF’S Top Ten To be continued...

EMILY RIORDAN/the Justice

SUDOKU NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice

Top 10 words in the English language

JC: KSA is a long-standing club, so we tend to repeat the same events every year. In our second event, Hyugeso (rest area on highways), we introduced an aspect of Korea that has not been touched upon previously. It was successful, or at least, the food was tasty. As a president, I am proud of all of our E-board members who devote a portion of their time to spread the Korean culture on campus. We will make several more appearances in November at BC3’s “Taste of East Asia,” VSA’s “Hotpot Night” and our “Hotteok” (sweet pancake) fundraiser. Next semester, we will come back with our annual culture show K-NITE, and end the year with four brandnew events that Brandeis has never seen before.

By Sofia Gonzalez

JAC: What’s your go-to dish at a Pojangmacha and why?

Welcome to SAT vocabulary prep.

JC: It is getting cold, so my winter favorite around this time is bungeoppang, which is a fish-shaped bun with red bean paste inside. For many Koreans, it would ring nostalgia.

JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

1. Zoanthropy 2. Bloviate 3. Ragamuffin

JAC: Anything else you want to add or tell the readers?

4. Flummox 5. Curmudgeon

JC: We appreciate every one of you who take interest in our events. We will continue to work hard to bring different aspects of Korea to Brandeis.

6. Lollygag 7. Agastopia 8. Oxter

— Luke Liu

9. Ulotrichous 10. Xertz

Sudoku Courtesy of OPENSKY SUDOKU GENERATOR

Solution Courtesy of OPENSKY SUDOKU GENERATOR