The Justice, November 13, 2018

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Justice www.thejustice.org

The Independent Student Newspaper Volume LXXI, Number 10

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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 13, 2018

STUDENT UNION

‘TRUE INTEGRATION’

Senators blast Union in mass emails, deepening rift over piano proposal

■ Senators Linfei Yang ’20 and Alex Chang ’22 criticized the Executive Board, with Yang calling it “hostile.”

By NAKUL SRINIVAS JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Class of 2022 Senator Alex Chang and Senator for International Students Linfei Yang ’20 sent out successive emails last Tuesday to the firstyear class criticizing Vice President Benedikt Reynolds ’19 and the Executive Board of the Student Union.

In one email, Yang called the EBoard “brisk, opaque, inconsistent, and at times, downright hostile” for their “refusal” to accept his and Chang’s proposal to purchase two electric pianos for the first-year residence halls. In a different email, Chang claimed that only $80 of the Senate’s $20,000 discretionary budget remained for the rest of the academic year, which would not be enough to

cover the estimated cost of the pianos.

At Sunday's Senate meeting that figure was established to be about $240.

The emails sparked a week of conflict within the Senate over funding, E-Board transparency and last Tuesday’s emails. On Sunday, however, the Senate passed a $773.78 Senate Money Resolution to purchase the two pianos, drawing from money that had been designated for the two upcoming Midnight Buffets.

In an interview with the Justice on Friday, Chang and Yang said that they proposed the piano resolution because “the freshman lounges are [falling] apart.” Chang and Yang both said they had overwhelming support from other senators and the student body, and that only one senator voted against the piano proposal. Class of 2019 Senator Kent Dinlenc clarified that the Senate’s vote on the proposal was a “hypothetical vote” that asked, “If [the Senate] resolved the current

See PIANOS, 6 ☛

CAMPUS SPEAKER

Survivor recounts her Holocaust experience ■ Rena Finder described her

childhood in Nazi-occupied Poland and being saved as part of Schindler's list.

By GILDA GEIST JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Holocaust survivor Rena Finder spoke about her experiences in Oskar Schindler’s factory and in Auschwitz at an event last Wednesday held by Facing History and Ourselves, an international nonprofit organization whose goal is to engage with and educate students about racism and anti-Semitism.

The talk, sponsored by the Center for German and European Studies, was held to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, a series of attacks against the Jews in Nazi Germany that is often seen as the beginning of the Holocaust.

Finder was born in Krakow, Poland in 1929. In 1939, when the Germans invaded Poland, a lot changed, she explained. “It was like overnight. From being a little girl, I became an enemy of the state.”

That same year, Nazis started sending Jewish children under the age of 10 who resided in Krakow to farms where they would grow food for the German army. Finder was 10 years old at the time, so her parents changed her birthdate, mak-

ing her seem two years older to prevent her from being separated from her family.

Finder said she remembered the moment she realized that even though the Polish people of Krakow were also occupied, most were allowed to go to school, keep their shops open and go about their lives without paying attention to what was happening to the country’s Jews. “All of a sudden, nobody saw or cared what was happening to their neighbors,” she said.

The Germans began moving the Jews in Krakow to the ghetto. Finder recounted when her family left for the ghetto. There was a group of Polish people, many of them young, terrorizing them as they walked by, she said. “Polish people … were throwing stones at us, they were throwing mud at us, and they were screaming, ‘Good riddance Jews, don’t come back!’”

According to Finder, soldiers would often search the ghetto, looking for people to send away. “Every day, every morning, every evening, during the day, in the middle of the night, there were always searches,” she said.

She remembered one search in particular during which her mother made her hide in a pile of dirt and leaves. “We lay there, hardly breathing, and we could hear shoot-

See HOLOCAUST, 7 ☛

Waltham, Mass.

ANDREW BAXTER/the Justice

‘MEANINGFUL WORK’: Former Senator Tom Harkin spoke about his policy work on behalf of Americans with disabilities, including creating a law requiring closed-captioning technology for new TV sets and the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act.

Former Senator Tom Harkin talks state of disability policy ■ The retired five-term Iowa

senator focused on the more personal parts of his career fighting for disability rights.

By SAM STOCKBRIDGE JUSTICE EDITOR

The architect of the Americans with Disabilities Act, former Democratic Iowa senator Tom Harkin, discussed the importance of disability legislation on Wednesday as the featured speaker of the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy’s Annual Distinguished Lecture. Harkin’s lecture, titled “True Integration: Meaningful Work for People with Disabilities,” celebrated the expansion of rights for Americans with disabilities since the 1990 passage of the ADA, but criticized the lack of progress made in government policies to encourage economic self-sufficiency for citizens with disabilities.

Early in Harkin’s political career, he was recruited by fellow Senator Ted Kennedy, a Democrat who represented Massachusetts from 1962 until his death in 2009, to draft legislation for the rights of the disabled. A leaflet distributed before the lecture containing a brief biography of Harkin explained, “What emerged from this legislation would later become his signature legislative achievement — The Americans with Disabilities Act.” Rather than discuss his role in the drafting and passage of the ADA

— “That’s fine, [but] a lot of people [were] involved in that,” he said — Harkin spent the lecture discussing his career and the experiences he had while campaigning for citizens with disabilities. Harkin grew up with a deaf brother, which contributed to his interest in the difficulty of getting access to closed-captioning in TV programming. To watch TV with captions at that time, consumers had to buy a $279 set-top box — more than $500 in today’s dollars — that could decode the caption signals being broadcast.

“I had someone come to me and say, ‘You know, new technology, they can have a chip just as big as your thumbnail and put [it] in your TV set that will do all that that big box can do,’” Harkin said. As thenchair of the Senate Subcommittee on Disability Policy, Harkin held hearings to assess the viability of requiring TV manufacturers to put those chips in their TV sets.

TV set manufacturers protested the proposal, arguing that it would increase the cost of TVs by at least $100.

“So I got ahold of my friend in the chip business [at] Intel and asked, ‘Is that true?’” Harkin recounted.

“He said, ‘Well, yeah, if you make a hundred of them, or a thousand.

But if you make millions of them, it’ll hardly cost anything!’”

With this information, Harkin was able to convince his fellow representatives of the viability of his initiative. Called the Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990, the legislation was signed into law

by President George H.W. Bush in October of 1990, the same year the ADA was passed. The law stipulated that TV manufacturers needed to put caption chips in all TVs that were 13 inches or bigger within five years. Harkin said the TDCA demonstrated the far-reaching impact of disability legislation. “When you do something in disability policy to meet the needs of a segment or a group, more often than not it benefits everybody.”

Harkin said that the TDCA improved the lives of almost every American, not just those with disabilities. Several times during his lecture, Harkin mentioned “universal design,” the attitude that design that accommodates people with disabilities often benefits people without disabilities. This is also known as the “curb-cut effect,” a term coined in the 1970s when researchers discovered that wheelchairaccessible slopes in the curbs at intersections in Berkeley, California helped all pedestrians. Similarly, the caption decoders made mandatory by the TDCA led to the use of closed captioning in other places, such as sports bars, Harkin said.

Harkin also explained that prior to the passage of the ADA, few companies realized the value employees with disabilities could bring to their company. When his deaf brother Frank graduated from the Iowa School for the Deaf he was told that he could be “three things: a baker, a shoe cobbler or a printer’s assistant,” Harkin explained.

See LURIE, 7 ☛

The FBI and Bernstein

Sankofa

Brandeis alumnus charged with hate crimes

 An FBI file on the composer almost ruined his career.

 BASO hosts annual "Night for Africa" in Levin Ballroom.

By CHAIEL SCHAFFEL

By VICTOR FELDMAN

By YVETTE SEI

NEWS 3

Vote by mail could improve democracy

By VIOLET FEARON

FORUM 12

Women’s soccer ends season on a loss ANDREW BAXTER/the Justice

FEATURES 9 For tips or info email editor@thejustice.org

YVETTE SEI/the Justice

Make your voice heard!

Submit letters to the editor to letters@thejustice.org

ARTS 19

By JEN GELLER

COPYRIGHT 2018 FREE AT BRANDEIS.

SPORTS 16

2

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018

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NEWS

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THE JUSTICE

NEWS SENATE LOG

KINDNESS IS FREE

After dividing Union, piano resolution passes Senate by one-vote margin After more than two months of discussion, the Senate approved a resolution by a one-vote majority on Sunday that would purchase public pianos. The pianos will be housed in each of the two first-year residence quads, Massell and North.

The decision came less than a week after senators Linfei Yang ’20 and Alex Chang ’22 sent a pair of contentious emails to members of the Class of 2022 encouraging support for the piano Senate Money Resolution. The emails also criticized Union Vice President Benedikt Reynolds ’19 and the Student Union Executive Board for a lack of transparency about Senate finances.

Sunday’s Intra-Union Meeting, so named because a representative from each of the bodies of the Student Union attend, was largely spent addressing the confusion surrounding the Student Union budget. Class of 2019 Senator Vidit Dhawan represented the Allocations Board, joined by Chief Justice Gaby Gonzalez Anavisca ’19 representing the Judiciary and Assistant Treasurer Adrian Ashley ’20 representing the Treasury. Student Union President Hannah Brown ’19 was also present to represent the Executive Board.

Ashley began the meeting with a report of the Student Union’s finances to clarify the state of the Student Union budget. A spreadsheet showed the amount of money spent on each branch of the Union as a fraction of the Union’s total budget, which was set at $38,000 for fiscal year 2019. The Senate was allocated $20,000 at the beginning of the year for discretionary spending, of which $3,758.90 has been spent so far. Senators estimate the cost of the fall and spring Midnight Buffets at approximately $8,000 each. Deducting that cost from the remaining Senate budget, the Senate is left with just $241.10 to spend between now and the end of the spring 2019 semester.

Next, Brown clarified the events that had unfolded over the last three weeks and said she had made a “mistake” by neglecting to inform the Senate that her veto of the A-Board’s rejection of an emergency funding request had been overruled by a unanimous vote by the A-Board. Brown also reminded members of the Student Union to explore all available mechanisms to resolve disagreements within the organization, including communication with the leaders of their branch or members of the E-Board.

Brown announced that hours prior to the Senate Intra-Union Meeting, she met with the A-Board to discuss broader problems with “vague” language in the Student Union Constitution, namely the definitions of “Secured Clubs,” “Secured Funding,” “benchmarks” and “the Student Union.” Reynolds further noted that the A-Board took three weeks to schedule Sunday’s meeting with Brown.

When asked by a senator why, as president of the Senate, he did not disclose the overturned veto to the Senate, Reynolds said he had not wanted “misinformation” to spread further.

Brown announced that the Student Union budget will henceforth be included in the weekly Student Union email to the student body to demonstrate the Union’s commitment to transparency.

Senator Aaron Finkel ’20 announced that he is drafting a resolution to revise the checks and balances of the Student Union branches to prevent another problem like this happening in the future.

Bylaws Committee Chair Jake Rong ’21 criticized the members of the Student Union for the consequences of the budget dispute, telling them that a meeting with University Provost Lisa Lynch that had been planned “well in advance” had to be pushed back because of the disagreement. Senator Kendal Chapman ’22 agreed, saying the situation “wasn’t handled the best [sic] from either end.”

After the Senate Committee chairs sped through their weekly committee reports, senators voted on Chang and Yang’s piano resolution by roll call. With abstentions from senators Finkel and Joshua Hoffman ’20, among others, the vote initially resulted in a tie, with the Senate unsure how to proceed. Chief Justice Anavisca consulted the Constitution and determined that a “simple majority” was needed, meaning a tie would fail to pass. After a brief aside with Chang, senator Chapman changed her vote from “abstain” to “yea,” passing the resolution by the slimmest possible simple majority.

—Sam Stockbridge

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS

BRIEF

Massachusetts elects new House members, decides ballot measures

Photo Illustration Courtesy of MICHAELA CABRAL; YVETTE SEI/the Justice

On Kindness Day, students were given a chance to write cards for their friends that volunteers would deliver to their mailboxes at a later date. Kindness Day organizers also created a Snapchat filter for the event, seen here.

Massachusetts residents have set a new record for voter turnout the 2018 midterm election, according to a Nov. 9 CBS Boston article. On Friday, Secretary of State Bill Galvin confirmed that 2.7 million voters had gone to the polls, compared to 2.1 million in the 2014 midterms. At the time, ballots were still being counted. Massachusetts re-elected Republican governor Charlie Baker. FiveThirtyEight considers Baker to be a “moderate, or perhaps even liberal, Republican.” Voters also elected an all-Democratic House of Representatives delegation to Washington, D.C. The state also voted on three ballot questions.

Baker maintained his position as governor, receiving 66.9 percent of the vote, compared to his Democratic opponent Jay Gonzalez, who received 33.1 percent of the vote, as reported by The New York Times.

A Nov. 7 Boston.com article quoted Baker as telling supporters, “You told us to focus on the work, not the noise. To work across the aisle … to chase the best ideas wherever they come from. And to find common ground.”

Baker chose to keep his distance from President Donald Trump, according to the Boston.com article. Baker often criticizes White House policies and claims he probably won’t vote for Trump should he be on the ballot in 2020.

Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren won another six-year term and has promised voters to take a “hard look” at running for president in 2020, according to the same Boston.com article. Boston. com also reported Warren as saying, “I try to stay focused on the issues, not on division and hate.”

A Nov. 7 WGBH article summarized how Massachusetts voters voted on the ballot questions. Voters rejected Question 1’s proposal to create strict limits on the number of patients Massachusetts nurses could be assigned. Ballot Question 2 passed and will create a commission of 15 volunteer citizens to study “the issue of money in politics at a state and federal level.”

Voters also approved Question 3, the first statewide referendum on transgender rights in the United States. Massachusetts voters upheld a 2016 state law protecting transgender people from discrimination in public places. According to Ballotopedia, a “yes” vote for Question 3 upheld Senate Bill 2407 that prohibits discrimination in areas such as hotels, stores or restaurants.

According to the CBS article, local election officials need to certify their results by Nov. 21. The governor and Governor’s Council will have until Nov. 28 to certify all results.

—Liat Shapiro

POLICE LOG MEDICAL EMERGENCY November 6—BEMCo staff treated a party who was not feeling well at Shapiro Hall.

The party signed a refusal for further care.

November 7—BEMCo staff treated a party feeling faint in Deroy Hall. University Police also responded, and Cataldo Ambulance transported the party to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care.

November 7—Cataldo Ambulance transported a party from the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center to NewtonWellesley Hospital for further care after BEMCo staff treated the party for a knee injury.

November 9—A party reported feeling unwell at Spingold Theater Center. BEMCo staff treated the party and Cataldo Ambulance transported the party to Newton-Wellesley

Hospital for further care.

November 9—Brandeis Counseling Center staff requested a patient transport for a Section #12 psychological evaluation. Cataldo Ambulance transported the party from Mailman House to Newton-Wellesley Hospital, and University Police assisted.

November 10—A party at Renfield Hall reported feeling ill after dinner from a potential allergic reaction, and BEMCo staff treated the party. Cataldo Ambulance transported the party to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care.

November 10—BEMCo staff and University Police responded to an intoxicated party in Gordon Hall. BEMCo staff treated the party, who was then transported to NewtonWellesley Hospital for further care.

HARASSMENT November 9—A faculty member at the Lemberg Academic Center reported that their coworkers were receiving spam emails that appeared to be coming from the faculty member’s account. University Police compiled a report and Information Technology Services will follow up with the party.

November 9—The mailroom in the Usdan Student Center intercepted an “unusual” piece of mail, and the University Police compiled a report on the incident.

LARCENY November 6—A party at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management reported to University Police that their wallet had been stolen and charges had been made. Uni-

versity Police compiled a report on the incident, and will conduct an investigation.

November 7—University Police compiled a report on an incident of currency theft at Renfield Hall.

MISCELLANEOUS SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES November 6—University Police received a report of a party in a black coat yelling to themselves on Loop Road near Spingold, but they were unable to locate the individual.

VANDALISM November 6—A party reported an incident of graffiti on desks in Goldfarb library.

University Police compiled a report and advised Facilities Services to remove the marks.

—Compiled by Jocelyn Gould

n A photograph in News was incorrectly credited to Thu Lee. Her name should be spelled Thu Le. (Nov. 6, Page 1) n A photograph in Sports was incorrectly credited to Thu Lee. Her name should be spelled Thu Le. (Nov. 6, Page 15) The Justice welcomes submissions for errors that warrant correction or clarification. Send an email to editor@thejustice.org.

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THE JUSTICE

University alumnus arrested on charges of anti-Semitic hate crimes charged for arson, mischief at three Jewish locations in New York City.

By CHAIEL SCHAFFEL JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Brandeis alumnus James Polite ’18 was arrested on hate crime charges in New York City last Friday after vandalizing Brooklyn’s Union Temple with anti-Semitic graffiti. He was charged with reckless endangerment, aggravated harassment, two counts of arson and three counts of criminal mischief for actions taken at three different Brooklyn locations, according to the office of the NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Public Information.

All three locations were Jewish organizations of varying sects and denominations, including a private school for ultra-Orthodox children and the historic Union Temple, a Reform synagogue. The University Office of the Registrar confirmed that Polite graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Politics in May 2018.

Polite is charged with writing anti-Semitic messages inside Brooklyn’s Union Temple, including “Die Jew Rats” and “Jew Better Be Ready,” according to a Nov. 3 article in the the New York Times.

Jewish comedian Ilana Glazer was set to hold a political event at the temple, but canceled the event when the graffiti was discovered, according to the same article. Polite’s arson charges are from the other two locations.

Polite has struggled with mental illness and substance abuse, smoking marijuana up to three times a day while attending Brandeis, according to a 2017 profile in the New York Times. Polite had been in and out of 10 foster homes throughout high school, per the same article.

While at Brandeis, Polite entered rehabilitation for substance abuse, and was hospitalized for psychiatric treatment this summer, according to the 2018 Times article. Polite was diagnosed with bipolar disorder during his time at Brandeis, according to the 2018 Times article.

As of Nov. 3, after being charged, he was being held for psychiatric evaluation.

Polite worked for Christine Quinn, a former speaker of the New York City Council, as an intern for several years before enrolling at Brandeis. Among other duties, he worked to address hate crimes, according to the 2017 Times profile.

Quinn wrote that she was “simply and utterly devastated” by Polite’s actions in a statement on Twitter.

She called Polite the “adopted child of the Quinn administration” in the profile.

According to a January 2011 newsletter from Harvard Medical School, the relationship between mental illness and violent crime is complex. Most people with mental illnesses are not violent, and the degree to which mental illness contributes to a person’s likelihood to commit violent crimes varies when compared to substance abuse, age, stress and other factors, according to the newsletter.

The newsletter quotes studies that suggest a dual diagnosis of mental illness and substance abuse make a person more likely to commit violent crimes, but that substance abuse may be more to blame.

Brandeis Counseling Center Director Joy von Steiger declined to comment.

Dr. Jonathan Sarna (NEJS), the University’s Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, wrote that the alleged crime “serves as a reminder that antisemitism can be due to much more than just ignorance,” in a Nov. 6 email to the Justice. Sarna has written extensively on American anti-Semitism.

“A Brandeis graduate unquestionably interacted with Jews and had multiple opportunities to study with them and learn about them.

Nevertheless, perhaps under the influence of addiction and mental illness, we are told that he lashed out at Jews and committed vandalism and arson against Jewish institutions,” he elaborated.

Sarna also noted that it was important to avoid stereotyping Polite’s actions as a function of the communities he is a part of. “James Polite is no more representative of African Americans than Baruch Goldstein is representative of Israeli Jews,” he said, referencing the Israeli that killed 29 Palestinian worshippers at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the West Bank in 1994.

He explained that recent events such as Polite’s charges in Brooklyn and the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh were indicative of the fact that “Jews are not just ‘white folks’” and that “antisemitism has by no means disappeared in our country.”

University President Ron Liebowitz and Hillel Executive Director Rabbi Seth Winberg did not respond to requests for comment.

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NEWS

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018

3

COMMUNITY CONVERSATION

COMMUNITY

■ James Polite ’18 was

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ANDREW BAXTER/the Justice

DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES: Assistant Dean of the Division of Student Affairs Timothy Touchette (center) spoke with Brandeis students about residential life at Brandeis at the first of many planned “Community Conversations.”

DCL, administration, students discuss residential policies

■ Participants discussed

themselves were “not handicap accessible.” Blanding asked if there are policies in place for future installations and proposals.

Touchette responded by explaining that there are “currently pretty specific policies in place” regarding installing items in residence hall lounges. According to Touchette, one of the primary concerns about the piano resolution stemmed from efficiency concerns. He explained that although the lounge spaces “are used constantly,” the pianos themselves may not “get used much at all.”

Additionally, the pianos would have to be moved and relocated frequently, causing the instruments to require frequent tuning. This makes the process costly in the long term, he explained. To directly address Blanding’s question, Touchette explained further that he was concerned that maintaining the instruments themselves would be costly for DCL. Touchette was also asked about the costs for students working for campus publications who stay on campus after the spring semester ends to cover commencement. Touchette explained that DCL “works with Facilities and contractors to reduce the cost of living to as small a rate as possible” during commencement and Senior Week. “If we kept operating the way we were,” Touchette explained in reference to previous years in which DCL attempted to cover the leftover cost themselves, “it would not contribute to a sustainable plan,” as the department would have to draw funds from its office’s budget.

One question submitted online inquired about the necessity of having recycling signs on all papers posted or distributed on campus, as well as to why DCL does not provide recycling sign stamps. Grimes explained that “the requirement of a recycling sign is not in the University Rights and Responsibilities” handbook and is rather an idea “adopted within the student centers.” She noted that a stamp could serve the same purpose.

Touchette added that DCL has been

pianos in quad lounges and laundry room accessibility, as well as other topics.

By MAURICE WINDLEY JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

In the first of a series of campus conversations sponsored by the Dean of Students’ office, members of the Brandeis community gathered in Skyline Commons to hear the Department of Community Living address questions regarding piano installation policies, accessibility and declassing dormitories.

The event was the first in a series of “Campus Conversations” organized by Dean of Students Jamele Adams and Student Union President Hannah Brown ’19. The new series is designed to “use the intimacy of the space and the setting to have a discussion,” Adams explained. “Campus Conversations” are replacing a previous discussion series, “Small Form,” that served to alleviate concerns between DCL and the student body.

The event was also attended by Jim Gray, the vice president of Campus Operations, Stephanie Grimes, assistant dean of the Dean of Students Office, Provost Lisa Lynch and Timothy Touchette, assistant dean of the Division of Student Affairs.

Members of DCL and Area Coordinators were also in attendance.

Adams began the forum with a moment of silence for the victims of last week’s shooting in Thousand Oaks, California. He then invited Brown to select the first question from those submitted. The discussion then continued in a seminar-like conversation about different submitted questions.

Roland Blanding ’21, a member of the Union’s Allocations Board, inquired about the response from DCL about a recent resolution aiming to install pianos in quad lounges in first-year residence halls. DCL had told A-Board that the pianos could not be installed because the lounges

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working with a company called Mvix Digital Signage, which promotes digital advertising, to provide a sustainable option for advertising while reducing the amount of paper waste in the residence halls.

Another question addressed accessibility within the laundry rooms, noting that the card-swipe machines do not generally have any auditory indication that actions have been taken. Additionally, the buttons do not have braille on them, making it more difficult for visually impaired students to navigate the process. Responding to this, Gray said that he would attempt to ensure a more accessible process for the card-swipe systems across campus.

Finally, when asked about residential life and whether or not DCL would remove the restrictions of the current dorms to specific class years, Touchette explained that in a survey of the entire student population that asked if “they’d want to declass the housing system,” students said that “they did not want to declass the system” because it would prevent them from accessing dormitories they desired. Skyline’s housing class requirement is not currently finalized, but is generally open to sophomores.

Lynch explained that common areas will be refurbished to make them larger, more enjoyable spaces, using Skyline Commons as a blueprint.

She also visualizes future “common areas that would connect multiple residence halls,” an idea modeled off other campuses.

In an interview with the Justice, Ziv Quad and Ridgewood Quad Area Coordinator Lusi Wang explained that DCL focuses on “responding to crises” as well as “supervising CAs and talking through issues.” Area Coordinators are also able to address on-campus dorm conflicts. She explained that DCL is happy to respond to students and learn more about their experiences.

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—Editor’s note: Roland Blanding is a Forum staff writer for the Justice.

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THE JUSTICE

’DEIS IS NICE

●

NEWS

By JEN GELLER YVETTE SEI/the Justice

COMMUNITY: The Shapiro Campus Center, decorated with balloons and streamers, housed a collection of Kindess Day events.

Community celebrates 9th Kindness Day hosted events and activities throughout last Thursday to promote kindness.

By LIAT SHAPIRO JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Brandeis celebrated its ninth annual Kindness Day on Thursday, bringing together University faculty, staff and students in a campuswide effort in the spirit of passing along kindness.

According to a Nov. 5 email sent by the Division of Student Affairs, a Brandeis faculty member began the Kindness Day tradition in 2009 as an opportunity to build community, encourage small acts of kindness around campus and promote morale. The Student Union and various departments across campus funded the day’s activities and events.

Michaela Cabral ’19, a 2018 Kindness Day coordinator, explained in an email to the Justice that there are two Kindness Day committees: a faculty committee and a student committee. Within the student committee, students can serve in one of six positions: archivist, treasurer, club outreach coordinator, events coordinator, faculty outreach coordinator and volunteer coordinator.

This year, event organizers created a Kindness Day Snapchat filter. Coordinators also took over the University’s official Instagram Live Story. They encouraged students to use hashtags such as #brandeiskindnessday, #niceatdeis and #deisisnice.

Pink streamers decorated the Shapiro Campus Center and golden balloons spelled out the words “Be Kind.” One wall was dedicated to Post-It notes on which students could write positive messages.

They could also choose a message to take with them. Various student

clubs and campus partners tabled with free merchandise and hosted various activities, such as rock decorating.

Kindness Day volunteers also tabled in the SCC, Upper Usdan and outside of the Department of Community Living office all day, giving passers-by the opportunity to write Kindness Day cards for friends or drop off already-written cards.

These cards were then delivered by volunteers.

Cabral shared with the Justice that her favorite part of Kindness Day is the Kindness Cards. “It’s always so heartwarming to see how excited people get to write cards for their friends and how much support there is on campus,” Cabral wrote. “This year, we actually ran out of cards, that’s how engaged people are.”

Student organizations and departments across campus also hosted events. According to the list of Kindness Day events, the Brandeis Orthodox Organization sponsored the wall of Post-It notes. Brandeis Veg Club offered students the opportunity to hand-make a dog toy for shelter dogs, while the Waltham Group and the Department of Community Service co-hosted a makeyour-own s’mores event. The Graduate Student Association hosted a food drive to help stock the newly opened Brandeis Food Pantry located in Kutz Hall.

The Multifaith Chaplaincy hosted several events during the week, such as the Multifaith Dinner on Wednesday, where students from all religious backgrounds enjoyed a meal together, and the Zen Zone on Friday, where students could participate in mindful breathing and peaceful activities in the Usdan Student Center Peace Room.The Hiatt Career Center gave out free portable chargers, while Academic Services set up a table with hot chocolate and pastries for those who stopped by.

Community Advisors, supported

by DCL, passed out cider, hot choc-

Join Forum! ant w u Do yo voice your d? hear

5

Tampering with laundry swipe machines almost caused fire

and plugging in the laundry card swipe machine in Grad created a dangerous electrical problem.

■ Students, staff and faculty

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018

CAMPUS ISSUE

■ Repeated unplugging

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olate and donuts outside residence halls in the morning while students walked to and from class. CAs across campus also hosted events for their buildings on Kindness Day. Some asked their residents to send in videos describing what kindness means to them or pictures and videos documenting acts of kindness completed throughout the day.

The Massell Quad and Rosenthal Quad joint Kindness Day activity was a “great way to spread kindness to all of campus and share what kindness means to each of us,” Audrey Grotheer ’20, a CA in Massell Quad, told the Justice.

North Quad CA Michelle Yan ’19 recalled the impression Kindness Day left during her first year at Brandeis. “I was so amazed that Brandeis had a day intentionally dedicated to thinking about kindness,” she told the Justice, adding, “I love seeing people smile more on this day and receive love and appreciation.”

Cabral said that her favorite Kindness Day event was the Facilities and Custodial Lunch, during which members of the Facilities Services staff enjoyed lunch in Ridgewood Commons, courtesy of meal swipes donated by students.

Students were encouraged to stop by and personally thank their Facilities Services staff. Cabral noted that the lunch is always “full of positive energy and gratitude.”

This year, Kindness Day extended beyond the physical borders of campus. Kindness Cards could be sent electronically to friends studying abroad via a Google Form, sponsored by the Office of Study Abroad.

“Kindness Day is important because it gives students a chance to appreciate each other and themselves,” Cabal explained. “[That] often gets pushed to the side with our busy schedules. I see [Kindness Day] as being a moment where we simultaneously care for each other and ourselves.”

Image Courtesy of CREATIVE COMMONS

JUSTICE EDITOR

Machines in the laundry room in Charles River Apartment 114 almost caught on fire on Nov. 4, Community Advisor Zosia Busé ’20 wrote in an email sent to residents of the building.

According to her email, University Police and on-call employees from Facilities Services determined that the incident was caused by an electrical issue with the dryers that resulted from someone unplugging the card reader. In an email to the Justice, Charles River Apartments Area Coordinator Joshua Adlerman said that University Police and Facilities Services staff arrived on scene on dispatch and saw smoke upon entering the laundry room, room 114 B-001.

Alderman said the issue of students unplugging and plugging back in the laundry machines “causes problems with [laundry] machines everywhere,” not just in the Charles River Apartments.

The immediate effect is that the machine will reset and give the user a free wash or dry cycle, Alderman said. However, it also makes the machine enter an error code. The machines then cannot be used again until they are serviced, which needs to be done by an external contractor, he explained.

Fire safety becomes a primary concern when students unplug machines, because it creates an electrical issue — an “overload of sorts,” according to Alderman.

“Just two months ago there was a residence hall fire in Boston that resulted in 40 students being displaced from their housing because their rooms were damaged by the fire,” he explained. Alderman said that interfering with the laundry machines can harm student safety,

which makes this problem a priority for the University to address.

According to Busé’s email, if students do not stop unplugging the card reader machine, consequences will be determined in accordance with the Student Rights and Responsibilities handbook, which says that damaging University property is a punishable offense.

Adlerman clarified that section 6.2 of the 2018-19 Rights and Responsibilities handbook instructs students to “Respect, maintain, and care for property belonging to others. Vandalism, littering, theft or attempted theft of, destruction of or damage to, and unauthorized possession or inappropriate use of property (including intellectual property) belonging to the University, a member of the University community, or any other individual or entity is unacceptable. This section also applies to the grounds, and to personal and public property that surrounds the campus.”

Discussing potential disciplinary measures, Alderman said that such measures will be “very dependent on the impact of the actions taken, as well as prior history of the individual involved.”

Facilities Services and the Department of Community Living are working to prevent similar or worse situations from happening in the future by trying to stop student interference with laundry machines. Adlerman said that the two departments are looking to set up the laundry rooms in order to prevent the card reader machines from being unplugged. He added that Skyline’s laundry room is set up so that the card swipe machine cannot be unplugged.

“If you are having trouble affording laundry, please reach out to your respective CA or Area Coordinator … and we can help,” Busé wrote in her email. Alderman reiterated this by saying that DCL commits itself to supporting students who are unable to pay for laundry and experience financial hardship. These students and their Community Advisors can work on solutions together, he said.

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018

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NEWS

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THE JUSTICE

Author reflects on Lauryn Hill’s ‘Miseducation’ ■ Joan Morgan shared her

experiences as a hip-hop journalist and discussed her recent book about musician Lauryn Hill’s first album.

By ECE ESIKARA JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Journalist and feminist author Joan Morgan explored the relationship between hip-hop, feminism and musician Lauryn Hill — an American singer, rapper and songwriter — in a Wednesday event sponsored by the Department of African and Afro-American Studies, the Creativity, Arts, and Social Transformation program, the Music department and the Dean of Students. The event, titled “20 Years of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill: A Conversation with Joan Morgan,” began with Prof.

Chad Williams (AAAS) introducing Morgan, author of “When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: A Hip-Hop Feminist Breaks it Down” and “She Begat This: 20 Years of the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.”

Williams introduced Morgan as “an award-winning cultural critic, feminist author and a pioneering hip-hop journalist.” Morgan was born in Jamaica and raised in the South Bronx. “Ms. Morgan is hiphop,” Williams said.

The talk initially focused on the social climate that hip-hop was born in at the end of the 20th century. At the time, Jamaican musician Bob Marley was not popular in United States, even though his music was beloved throughout Africa. According to Morgan, DJ Kool Herc, a Ja-

maican-American DJ, knew that he could not play the Jamaican records or reggae albums he listened to for his audience. “Herc said, ‘I know what to do with the technology. I know that I can’t play these Jamaican records that I play in my home but I can do this thing where I will mix them up and create a different kind of rap beat.’ … So we consider him the father of hip-hop,” Morgan explained. She said this was Herc’s way of “dealing with his Jamaicanness” in America.

Describing her own identity, Morgan said she considers herself Jamaican but noted, “Jamaicans consider me Jamaican, but they are quick to remind me that I am not Jamaican in the way as someone who grew up in the island.” She added, “I don’t have an identity that fits easily into an African American historical experience.” Because of this, Morgan said she always sits “outside the frame.” That is how her “lens is naturally positioned — just to see something outside of frame,” and she bases her analysis on that.

Morgan then discussed her career writing journalistically about hip-hop in the 1990s. Major critics of hip-hop at the time were white, but she thought it was important for people raised with the culture of hip-hop to write about it. “We were not the first people to write about hip-hop. We were the first people of color to write about hip-hop. So I would pick up Spin and Rolling Stones, and it is basically all these Ivy League white boys who were writing about the music and the culture, just simply was not where they were from.”

Morgan decided to write about

THE LEGACY OF LAURYN HILL

ANDREW BAXTER/the Justice

HIP-HOP FEMINISM: Joan Morgan discussed her response to being asked whether Lauryn Hill is a feminist, a common question from those interested in Morgan’s most recent book, “She Begat This: 20 Years of the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.” hip-hop instead. “I love this thing, … I come from it, and [that] gives me the right to talk about it,” she said.

Williams asked what makes “hiphop feminism,” a term Morgan coined in “When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost,” distinct from Black feminism. Morgan highlighted that hip-hop feminism comes from a specific period. Morgan explained that while she learned about feminism in college, her friends at home were using hip-hop as a way to have conversations about gender.

The feminist theory she studied in college through writing and fiction lacked an important part of her identity. “What I felt was missing in that body of written work was that I was not picking up something that said I am a product of hip-hop generation and this is how I articulate feminist identity.”

Morgan then talked about Lauryn Hill, the subject of her recent book.

Morgan explained that she did not talk to Hill while writing the book because she only wanted to focus on Hill’s album, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” not Hill’s current life.

She addressed the question of whether Hill is feminist. Morgan emphasized that she thinks it is important to hear artists call themselves feminist before starting a conversation about their feminism.

Hill has never said she is a feminist, Morgan explained, so she sees no point in framing her as such, even though others often do.

Williams’ class, “Hip-Hop History and Culture,” read Morgan’s book as a part of the class, and his students attended the event. Maya Satin ’19 told the Justice, “I just think it is really valuable to have someone of her stature and her background to come and speak with us. She has so much knowledge. Lectures are nice and Prof. Williams does them well.

… But as far as an educational experience goes, you cannot get much better than someone who has literally wrote a book on the subject.”

Kariyana Calloway ’19, an Undergraduate Department Representative for AAAS, said, “One thing that I learned is the sincerity and the genuineness of Lauryn Hill’s experience. Most specifically, … how Hill’s experience as a Black woman shaped what the language of ‘Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’ was.”

She continued, “I think that not a lot of people create space for Hill to step into and be her most Black woman self or just to be herself …

[Morgan] allows us to understand the humanity of the contemporary moment that the album was created in, but also just the experience and what it meant for Hill to create that album and to give language to the experience of the so many Black women in that time.”

PIANOS: Union divided over transparency, finances CONTINUED FROM 1 A-Board issue, would you approve of the proposal?” Dinlenc and Ridgewood Senator Leigh Salomon ’19 also added that many voted “indifferent” to the proposal.

Salomon also called the emails “inappropriate and disrespectful,” while Dinlenc described the piano proposal as “ludicrous” in an interview on Friday. When asked for an interview, Reynolds said he would prefer to “sit this one out.”

Dinlenc and Salomon said that Chang and Yang have overstated the demand for pianos, both from senators and the student body. “Alex keeps insisting there is a demand, but we are yet to actually hear about it,” said Dinlenc. When Dinlenc expressed this sentiment at Sunday’s Senate meeting, Class of 2022 Senator Topaz Fernandez Fragoso said a number of her constituents had approached her earlier in the week to express their support for the resolution.

In a separate interview with the Justice on Friday, Chang and Yang said they believed their proposal had not yet been passed due to the Union’s tight budget. According to the Student Union’s Constitution, the Union Government Fund has a “benchmark” of $50,000. The Allocations Board designated only $38,000 to the fund for fiscal year 2019, which started on May 1, 2018 and will end on June 30, 2019. In October, Senate Chief of Staff Emma Russell ’19 filed an emergency request to A-Board asking for the remaining $12,000, citing the initial amount as insufficient.

Student Union President Hannah Brown ’19 told the Justice that Russell asked A-Board Chair Aseem Kumar ’20 to reach out to her “if [they] needed more information, specifics, or details” about the request. But the A-Board rejected this request, which Brown then vetoed because “in the rejection letter, [A-Board] said that [Russell] didn’t provide enough spe-

cifics or details, without reaching out to her. I felt this process was not fair.” A-Board then overturned the veto in a unanimous vote, leaving the Union budget at $38,000.

Of the $38,000, $20,000 was allocated to the Senate Discretionary Fund — of this amount, $3,220 was spent on subsidies for Turkey Shuttles and $700 was spent on Social Justice and Diversity Committee events, according to Brown. Considering the cost of the fall and spring semester Midnight Buffets — about $16,000 total — around $240 of discretionary funding remains for other proposals until June 2019. On Sunday, Brown clarified that the Senate was able to pass a SMR for the pianos because “nothing has been spent on Midnight Buffet yet.”

The remaining $18,000 went to other parts of the Student Union, such as promotional, E-Board, projects, office supplies and A-Board budgets, a breakdown of which is available in A-Board’s public documents.

In his email, Chang said he was in the process of drafting an amendment to the Constitution that “would change the Senate’s funding from a ‘benchmark’ of $50,000 to a ‘requirement’ of $50,000.” According to Chang, the “benchmark” is simply a recommended amount of funding the Union should receive. “With this increase in funding, the Senate would be able to provide for the student body far more effectively than it does today,” he wrote. After Sunday’s Senate meeting, Yang said that he and Chang have “decided to put [these] plans on hold for the moment.”

During the Senate meeting, Junior Representative to the Board of Trustees Zosia Busé ’20 said, “Hannah and Emma have been working for weeks now dealing with this issue behind the scenes with the A-Board to come to a peaceful resolution. For the sake of delicacy and diplomacy, [they] didn’t want to plaster information around. Just today did they have a

conversation with A-Board.”

A-Board and E-Board are working “together to address the vague language surrounding secured clubs, secured funding, benchmarks, and the Student Union,” Brown and Russell explained in an email sent out to the student body yesterday.

Another point of conflict between Chang, Yang and the E-Board was the process of gaining approval from the Department of Community Living to place the pianos in the residence hall lounges. Once Brown learned about the idea for the piano proposal, she informed Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Timothy Touchette of the proposal and encouraged Chang to meet with him.

Two weeks later, Brown met again with Touchette, after hearing from Chang and Yang that DCL had rejected the piano proposal. Touchette “expressed concern,” in Brown’s words, because he still hadn’t heard from Chang and Yang. She explained that after that meeting, she told Reynolds to ask Chang and Yang to meet with Touchette.

According to Chang, Reynolds did mention that Touchette had “expressed concern” about the proposal, although they took it to mean that Touchette had taken issue with the content of the proposal. When Chang and Yang met with Touchette, he asked them, “How can I be concerned about a proposal I’ve never read?”

Chang and Yang subsequently concluded that Reynolds’ remark that Touchette was concerned that the proposal was intended to discourage their endeavor. They told the Justice that they thought Reynolds was obstructing the flow of information between the Senate and the E-Board.

Chang and Yang also accused Reynolds of “intimidating” them, and said that they felt “uncomfortable” when he told them the small budget might not be able to accommodate the piano proposal.

In his email, Chang claimed that

“[Reynolds] delayed telling the Senate about our dwindling funds for several weeks.” He added that he met with Reynolds before the Nov. 4 Senate meeting to discuss the Senate’s finances, but claimed that Reynolds told him not to inform his constituents of the financial situation.

Brown said that she thinks the e-mail “portrays Benedikt in a bad light.” Reynolds “has really worked with [Yang and Chang] a lot on this project, giving them a lot of advice and connecting them to a lot of resources,” she said.

Reynolds “is not the confrontational type,” Dinlenc said. Salomon added, “Benedikt and Hannah have been nothing but professional, courteous and kind. … This is the best E-Board I have ever seen.”

In her interview, Brown said she was surprised to see criticism of E-Board over the piano resolution because “a lot of people [within the E-Board] thought it was a good idea,” and “the Executive Board has no say in what the Senate does. The Senate is the ultimate decider.”

Brown added that neither Yang nor Chang met with the E-Board before sending out the email, even though each E-Board member holds office hours every week. Yang and Chang said they assumed it was Benedikt’s responsibility to communicate this information between the E-Board and the Senate, not their own.

In an email to the student body on Monday, Brown and Russell emphasized that “concerned parties can consult the leaders of their branch and members of the Executive Board for help — all of which hold two to five office hours. The Chief of Staff of the Union serves as a resource for issues concerning Union members while the Student Union Judiciary can mediate any type of dispute and provide clarification on policies.”

At Sunday’s Senate meeting, Chang verbally expressed his “full and sincere apologies” to Reynolds in front of

the Senate. “I forgot to show courtesy … I don’t have an excuse for [sending the email]. I wasn’t in a correct state of mind. I made mistakes,” he said.

However, Chang also criticized Brown and Reynolds at the same meeting for not immediately broadcasting the veto of the A-Board rejection of the emergency request, for which Brown apologized. “It was my mistake that I had forgotten to put the [veto] on my weekly report.

There weren’t more details to give because the conversation hadn’t yet happened. The only updates were made this morning,” she said. Brown had previously explained in the Nov. 9 interview that she saw a suggestion on Facebook to publish the Union’s budget more often and said she was open to doing that.

Brown said that the E-Board has made great strides in increasing transparency. “I remember when I was a first-year senator, I was the person who said, ‘The E-Board needs to be more transparent.’” She referenced the addition of weekly reports from the E-Board this year.

“I make sure, every time the Union gets together to say, ‘If you need anything, I will answer your question,’” Brown said. “That’s my policy. I will be honest with you, and I hold the rest of the E-Board to that policy as well.

Maybe [Chang and Yang] are right, maybe there are ways we can be more transparent, but I’m open to those.”

Another change Brown mentioned is that the executive senator (currently Andrea Deng ’21) — a member of the Senate elected by fellow senators — will soon return to sit in on E-Board meetings. Brown explained that this tradition stopped because the vice president fulfills that role anyway, creating an overlap.

—Editors Note: Nakul Srinivas ’21 is a member of the Union’s Social Justice Committee. Kent Dinlenc ’19 and Leigh Salomon ’19 are Justice staff writers.

THE JUSTICE

LURIE: Iowa Sen. recognized for disability policies CONTINUED FROM 1 Frank wanted to work in a job with engineering or manufacturing and felt deeply frustrated by his limited options, according to Harkin.

Then, the owner of the Delevan Corporation, a jet engine nozzle manufacturing plant, hired Frank.

“As he told me later, ‘I hired your brother because I liked him, I felt sorry for him, and sort of out of the goodness of my heart I figured that I would take care of him,’” Harkin explained. “Where he was working was very noisy, and lots of drills going and banging and clanging and people shouting. Didn’t bother him a bit. He just kept right on working.”

Harkin explained that currently 65 percent of adults with disabilities “who can work, who want to work, are not in the workforce.”

Those that are employed often “work for low wages or sub-minimum wage jobs, in what I call deadend jobs.” He called this “a blot on our national character.”

Returning to the ADA, Harkin said, “The Americans with Disabilities Act had four goals: full participation, equal opportunity, independent living and economic self-sufficiency. … On the first three, we’ve done pretty well. We’ve moved the needle. But on economic self-sufficiency we haven’t even moved the needle. In

28 years. We’re [in] about the same place we were when we passed the ADA.” Harkin said that he believes there are two reasons the private sector doesn’t employ more workers with disabilities. First, most private companies don’t measure disability in their diversity portfolios the way they measure things like race and sex. Second, Harkin believes that many unemployed Americans with disabilities are unsure that they will be treated with respect by their coworkers if they start working.

Harkin also noted that many programs that are designed to empower workers with disabilities don’t give them opportunities to fail and learn from their mistakes. Teenagers without disabilities often work summer jobs to help develop their work ethics, but teenagers with disabilities rarely get this chance. Harkin believes there is still important work to be done — shortly after announcing his retirement from the Senate in 2013, he founded the Harkin Institute for Public Policy and Citizen Engagement at Drake University in his home state of Iowa.

As Harkin spoke, two sign language interpreters took turns signing his speech. At the conclusion of the event, Lurie Institute Director Monika Mitra presented Harkin with a plaque recognizing his contribution to disability policy.

SACRED TEXT BURIAL

NEWS

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018

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SCHINDLER’S LIST SURVIVOR SPEAKS

YVETTE SEI/the Justice

“I FEEL LIKE I AM IN 1938”: Rena Finder, 89, survived the Holocaust when she was enlisted to work in Oskar Schindler’s factory.

Finder spoke to the Brandeis community on Wednesday about her survival and explained what we can learn from the Holocaust.

HOLOCAUST: Finder recounts Kristallnacht, experience in Auschwitz CONTINUED FROM 1 ing when they found people hiding.

There was breaking windows, there was throwing furniture outside.

And it seemed like forever.”

One day, Finder’s father was arrested and taken away by the Gestapo, the secret police of Nazi Germany. “They told me that my father was working for the underground, which was not true,” Finder said. “I never saw him again.”

Life in the ghetto became increasingly unbearable, with a shortage of food and the constant danger of being shot, Finder explained.

Eventually, Finder and her mother were sent to work for German industrialist Oskar Schindler at his factory. “I will never forget coming into the factory, and he was standing there, and I said, ‘He must be sent by God. That must be an angel,’” Finder said.

Finder remembered being in awe of the fact that everyone who worked at the factory had enough to eat and had access to medical care.

“We were surrounded by people who wanted to murder us, kill us, and he [Schindler] was somebody who actually cared.”

In 1944, the Schutzstaffel, also known as the SS, forced Schindler to shut down his factory. Finder, her mother and other factory workers were placed on an overcrowded train to be relocated. They had no water and no place to sit.

“When the train stopped and the

doors opened … I remember seeing miles and miles of barbed wire.

And then I looked up. [There were] hundreds — it seemed to me like hundreds — of soldiers with dogs, screaming, yelling, dogs barking,” she said. “And I look[ed] up and I [saw] the sign: Auschwitz-Birkenau.”

While they were waiting outside the train, still without water, Finder said they tried to catch snowflakes.

“We were so thirsty,” she said. “It was snowing, so I remember reaching out — we were all reaching out — to get some snowflakes. But these were not snowflakes. Those were ashes.”

Finder talked about how dehumanizing her experience at Auschwitz was, especially when the soldiers cut off her and her mother’s hair. “I said to my mother, ‘Now we are dead, so we are not going to suffer anymore.’ And my mom said, ‘No, we are not dead, we are alive.’

But when I looked at my mom I did not recognize her, because without our hair, I just didn’t really feel human anymore,” she said.

Finder explained that while she was in the camp, Schindler was doing everything in his power to save his former factory workers.

He made a list of his workers, now known as Schindler’s list, who would be saved from the death camps and instead sent to his new factory in Brunnlitz, Czechoslovakia.

While Schindler was working on

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Jewish law dictates that sacred texts must be disposed of through burial. The Nachshon Project joined with Brandeis Hillel for a “once in a generation” event: the burial of Jewish prayer books no longer in use, per the event description.

The Berlin Chapel had several hundred prayer books to remove, which were placed in cardboard boxes and buried in the woods behind Sachar International Center. Max Silverstone ’19, pictured here, helped cover the boxes.

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Send an email to Shinji Rho at layout@thejustice.org

reclaiming his workers, Finder and her mother continued to suffer at Auschwitz. “It was a horror every day, it was a horror at night, and we didn’t have enough food. We were getting sick, we had lice,” she said.

Eventually, Schindler’s bribes of and negotiations with the SS worked, and Finder and her mother were among the 300 women put on a train to Schindler’s factory in Brunnlitz. “It was one miracle after another,” Finder said. “Oskar Schindler would not allow them to kill us.”

Finder and her mother stayed at Schindler’s factory until the Russians liberated Brunnlitz in 1945.

They moved to a displaced persons camp, where they stayed until Finder moved to the United States in 1948. Finder and her mother were the only ones in their family to survive the Holocaust.

Finder concluded her story by discussing the importance of passing down stories of the Holocaust to younger generations. “It cannot be forgotten. Forgetting is dangerous,” she said. “I try to tell young people that they have the power to make changes. … And I try to tell young people not to hate, because hate is the worst emotion.”

At a Q&A session following the talk, an audience member asked Finder about how she felt about the mass shooting that took place at a synagogue in Pittsburgh last month. She replied, “I feel like I am in 1938.”

Images Courtesy of CREATIVE COMMONS

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features

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018 ● FEATURES ● THE JUSTICE

just

VERBATIM | DEVAL PATRICK We need a government that is what we are at our best: Smart, efficient, pragmatic and compassionate.

ON THIS DAY…

FUN FACT

In 1994, the European Union welcomed Sweden as its newest member.

Honeybees can remember and distinguish between human faces.

ANDREW BAXTER/the Justice

MIDTERM REVIEW: State Senator Adam Hinds (D-Pittsfield) is optimistic about the new generation of young women entering politics.

Is it time for unity?

State Senator Adam Hinds stressed the importance of bipartisanship

By SAMMY PARK JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

This midterm election season brought forth the rise of diverse candidates and winners: from Massachusetts’ own Ayanna Pressley, the first AfricanAmerican woman to represent the state in Congress, to the election of Andy Kim, the first Korean-American Democrat in Congress. While the 2018 election cycle had record-breaking numbers of diverse winners, it also was the most expensive, with House candidates alone raising more than $1 billion dollars. Since the 1980s, the increasing role of money in politics is just one of the reasons for our increasingly polarized political climate, according to Massachusetts State Senator Adam Hinds.

Hinds spoke to an intimate group of Brandeis students and faculty on Wednesday in the Mandel Center for the Humanities. The lecture, which was co-

sponsored by the International & Global Studies Program and the Department of Politics, was an informal discussion. “We’ve seen that since the 80s, there has been a 555% increase in the amount of money in political campaigns,” Hinds said. “[Candidates] will stick to an extreme position so they can avoid that [PAC] money being spent against them, being primaried, or they want to attract that money. Certainly, you can imagine how this changes the policies that are developed, if not the positions, from a social perspective.”

Another reason politicians are becoming more extreme is because of gerrymandering, according to Hinds. “Gerrymandering has happened for as long as we’ve had this country, but it’s really become more apparent since the 80s and 90s where data is being used to make outcomes more favorable for your party,” he said. The outcome of gerrymandering is that candidates only face significant competition

during their primary, motivating them to be more extreme. Hinds mentioned that this leads to “no interest in finding that middle path. At the national level, when there’s a confluence of that, it is a real inhibitor to the process as a whole and getting things done.”

Hinds named gerrymandering and voter suppression as his biggest concerns for both the 2018 elections and the political process as a whole. Regarding the gubernatorial race in Georgia, Hinds said, “it was a close race, but let’s look at who was purged, ID requirements, the number of polling booths in a polling location. It’s all very deliberate and very scary.” However, Hinds mentioned the restoration of felons’ voting rights in Florida a day earlier as a reason to be hopeful.

When one student asked about the specific ramifications of the Democrats’ House victory, Hinds said that among the most important actions that a majority-Democratic House can do is “call the bluff of the Senate

side. You can imagine what bills can be filed strategically just to get people on the record. But I’m not expecting a revolution.”

“On one hand, we’ve been watching Donald Trump support states that promote voter suppression. While here, in Massachusetts, we’ve gone the other way. This year we passed automatic voter registration: that’s significant,” Hinds said, touting the state Senate’s actions.

While gerrymandering and campaign donations have essentially been instituted by the government, Hinds pivoted to a nongovernmental entity as another reason for the growing division in America: the media. In the 1970s, Americans had access to a limited number of news sources, and the vast majority of news networks were objective and consistent in their reporting. “In the 90s with cable television, we start to see this trend of watching news that caters to your own views,” Hinds said. “This leads to confirmation bias. You start, particularly when

it comes to politics, with a view and then you seek to confirm it.”

Even though Hinds’ lecture was mainly focused on the reasons America’s political climate is increasingly divided, he stressed the importance of bipartisanship. “The way to sell it [bipartisanship] is to say to people that the old way isn’t working. Putting a bunch of money in, shifting districts to favor your party, and then getting the politician that will push your policies is not effective if those policies are immediately undone. There’s a need to actually reach across the aisle,” he said.

Near the closing of his lecture, Hinds mentioned the importance of young politicians like recently elected Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York in motivating other young people to be politically involved. Referring to the rise of women seeking public office across the nation, he said, “It’s just amazing to me, and it shows a step in the right direction.”

THE JUSTICE ● FEATURES ● TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018

9

Leonard Bernstein: Beyond Music An exhibition on Bernstein highlights the musician’s affair with controversy

Photos By ANDREW BAXTER/the Justice

BERNSTEIN IN THE SPOTLIGHT: In an exhibition titled “The Power of Music” on display in Spingold Theater Center, Bernstein’s life’s work is laid out for the public to see.

By VICTOR FELDMAN JUSTICE EDITOR

Leonard Bernstein graduated from Harvard University in 1939 in an unusual fashion — with a diploma and the beginnings of a 600-page FBI file detailing his political activities. The aspiring conductor was unaware of the dossier for some time.

In an exhibition organized by The National Museum of American Jewish History titled “The Power of Music” on display in the Spingold Theater Center through Nov. 20th, Bernstein’s life’s work is chronicled for the public to see. The FBI file on Bernstein has been put in a binder for visitors to peruse, but many in attendance turned their gaze elsewhere — to the monitors and portraits on the walls of Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic and the letters in display cases that the composer wrote throughout his career.

In an essay titled “Leonard Bernstein and the FBI,” provided to the Justice last spring, Prof. Steven Whitfield (AMST) examines Bernstein’s affair with controversy and how, if events had unfolded differently, the binder of FBI documents in the exhibit could have easily ruined his career. Whitfield writes, “This swollen dossier suggests the risks that he took (perhaps unwittingly) by signing the numerous progressive petitions that circulated in the cosmopolitan cultural circles he inhabited.” Bernstein was one of many prominent figures targeted by the Red Scare, and because of his place on the FBI security index, he could have been arrested and placed in a detention camp in the case of a national emergency. Whitefield notes that the Truman administration even revoked Bernstein’s passport and pressured CBS to blacklist him from their airwaves for four years during the 1950s in an effort to intimidate the rising star, whom the state department considered to be a communist sympathizer.

While FBI investigations hindered Bernstein early on, success for the young composer was imminent. A sign at the exhibition notes that at the age of 25, “On a few hours’ sleep and a lot of nerves, Bernstein took a leap of faith and stepped onto the podium at Carnegie Hall, and guided the orchestra through Don Quixote. His debut was broadcast nationally to rousing success: It made the front pages of the New York Times and catapulted the boy wonder to stardom.”

By 1954, a series of successful appearances on CBS’s “Omnibus” and his original score

THE BRANDEIS YEARS: Despite his short tenure at the University, Bernstein was a beloved teacher who made a profound impact on campus.

for the major motion picture “On the Waterfront” helped establish the young and telegenic musician as what Whitfield calls “the most influential of all educators into the mysteries of classical or ‘serious’ music.”

Soon, that success brought Bernstein to the University in the summer of 1951 as one of Brandeis’ first 71 faculty members. Although his short tenure at the University ended in 1953, he made a lasting impact on the students and the Brandeis community, as evidenced by the annual festival of arts named after and dedicated to him.

The exhibition sheds light on a central theme in Bernstein’s life and career: a crisis of faith. One of the exhibit walls reads, “World war, the Holocaust, the Civil Rights movement, nuclear weapons — all tested Bernstein’s faith.” More often than not, Bernstein’s approach to music and his personal opinions were intertwined, as he was political in every sense of the word, vocally supporting the Civil Rights movement, marching in Selma, Alabama, fundraising for the Black Panthers, and vehemently opposing the Vietnam War. A day after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, he conducted the first televised performance of Mahler’s “Resurrection Symphony.” Addressing the audience afterwards, Bernstein famously said, “We musicians, like everyone else, are numb with sorrow at this murder and with rage at the senselessness of the crime. But this sorrow and rage will not inflame us to seek retribution; rather, they will inflame our art. … This will be our response to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.”

Over his long career, Bernstein served as the music director for the New York Philharmonic for 11 seasons, composed three symphonies and wrote the music for “West Side Story,” “Peter Pan,” “Candide,” “Wonderful Town,” “On the Waterfront” and “Mass.”

He educated a generation of Americans on the capacity for music to effect change both on the Brandeis campus and through his CBS television series, “Young People’s Concerts.”

As visitors made their way through the exhibition, Cynthia McKee, a Waltham local, stopped to sit at a desk piled with envelopes and blank sheets of paper. She grabbed a pen and wrote a letter to Bernstein. Before leaving, she shook her head and told the Justice, “We need a Bernstein today, we need somebody who believes in the power of music and the arts.”

FBI REPORT: Bernstein’s political activism made him a target of the Red Scare. An FBI investigation, including a 600-hundred page dossier on him came close to ruining Bernstein’s career.

CELEBRITY CONDUCTOR: Bernstein educated a generation of Americans at Brandeis and through his CBS television series, “Young People’s Concerts.”

10 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018 ● FORUM ● THE JUSTICE

Justice

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Brandeis University

Avraham Penso, Editor in Chief Natalia Wiater, Managing Editor Amber Miles, Senior Editor Jen Geller, Deputy Editor Nia Lyn and Morgan Mayback, Associate Editors Jocelyn Gould and Sam Stockbridge, News Editors Victor Feldman, Features Editor Judah Weinerman, Forum Editor, Zach Kaufman, Sports Editor Maya Zanger-Nadis, Arts Editor Yvette Sei and Andrew Baxter, Photography Editors Shinji Rho, Layout Editor Liat Fischer and Devo Meyers, Ads Editors Eliana Padwa and Lily Swartz, Copy Editors

EDITORIALS

Accessibility issues on campus need to be addressed In Brandeis’ mission statement, the University expresses hope that students graduate “deeply concerned about the welfare of others.” Unfortunately, the University itself has failed to model that concern. A student-run advocacy group called Addressing Accessibility at Brandeis reached out to University President Ron Liebowitz in an open letter last Thursday, expressing that they are “baffled” at how Brandeis can be “so exclusive of those with disabilities.” Addressing Advocacy at Brandeis requests that the University discuss accessibility at Brandeis through an open forum. This board commends these students’ efforts, urges the University to hold the requested forum and has additional suggestions for improving accessibility on campus.

Along with the letter, Addressing Accessibility emailed Liebowitz a series of personal accounts from members of the Disability community at Brandeis. Given the breadth of the accessibility problems on this campus — administrative, academic, physical — we call on every member of the Brandeis faculty and staff to read these accounts and attend the open forum.

Everyone on campus can learn from this discussion.

Many universities have taken steps to improve accessibility on their campuses. The University of Michigan has a computing center for students with disabilities, complete with specialized hardware, video magnifiers and speech-recognition software, per their website. Northeastern University holds five sessions of “transitional tutoring” that guide students through their Disability Resource Center, per collegechoice.net. Additionally, many schools’ disability services websites contain clearly labeled portals to filling out forms and requesting services.

We suggest that the University look to other schools’ efforts to implement cutting-edge services for students with disabilities and consider how similar changes can be made at Brandeis.

There are additional Brandeisspecific changes that should be implemented. The Health Center is one of the most difficult places to reach on campus for those with limited mobility, and the BranVan does not stop directly at the entrance. We suggest creating a service to bring students from the nearby BranVan stop at Stoneman.

Additionally, one student account mentioned wheelchair ramps to buildings being blocked by overgrown bushes. These issues are easily fixable, and we hope the University will do so promptly.

Few options for students In their accounts, students also cited frequent miscommunications and negative experiences with administrators responsible for helping with accommodations. One student was never reached out to by Student Accessibilities Support Office after their advisor left, and the student’s requests for a meeting with the office were not answered. One student was even told by an Accommodations counselor “to give up on college because [they] were incapable of finishing.”

This oversight and hostility should not be occurring. They can be solved through administrative training, more staff, drop-in hours at the Health Center and Disability Services and better communication between administrators and students in need.

The University and administration should be as accessible as possible — right now, the departments responsible for providing services are often an additional barrier.

Professors also need to acknowledge student concerns and adopt an ethos of proactive accessibility. In their personal accounts, multiple students said that professors ignored their need for large-print materials and failed to use microphones in large lecture classes. Additionally, one professor failed to provide an alternative to a multiple-choice exam for a student with severe dyslexia. University professors need to be proactive in working with students with disabilities.

In his Framework for the Future, Liebowitz said he hopes to renovate campus infrastructure to “place students at the center” and “promote collaboration.”

Currently, many dormitories and academic buildings are inaccessible to students in wheelchairs, and the many hills and stairs provide barriers to students who experience chronic fatigue. As the University plans renovations, we urge it to prioritize accessibility on campus.

Liebowitz hopes to “allocate institutional resources” to meet specific goals, including enhancing the student experience, per the Framework’s website.

Fewer than 35 percent of students with disabilities” at four-year colleges graduate within eight years, according to a Nov. 11, 2017 article in the Hechering Report.

To truly enhance the student experience, the University must consider the experience of all Brandeis students — particularly those with the greatest needs.

Continuing Kindness Day: Did you....

Compliment someone?

Hold a door open for someone?

Compliment yourself?

Leave somewhere cleaner than you found it?

Smile at a stranger?

Help someone who needed help?

Check on a friend?

Make someone laugh?

Text loved ones?

Invite someone to a meal?

HARRISON PAEK/the Justice

Views the News on

After months of buildup, the dust has almost settled in the 2018 elections. Barring any major recounts, Democrats have taken back the House of Representatives, and Republicans have extended their majority in the Senate. Gubernatorial races were split down the middle, with Democrats picking up key victories in Wisconsin and Minnesota and Republicans holding onto Florida and Georgia. How has the national and local political situation changed after the elections, and which election outcome will have the biggest impact moving forward?

Prof. Jill Greenlee (POL) The 2018 election results mark several important shifts in our political landscape. We saw a record number of women run for elected office at the local, state and national level. Many of the women won, which means that many of our legislative bodies will inch toward greater gender equality in terms of their members, though they are still very far from equality. We also saw that a meaningful number of these newly elected public officials were women of color and/or LGTBQ; this represents an incredibly important step in ensuring that previously silenced voices will now be heard in lawmaking institutions around the country. This diversification of elected officials is important not only because they will give voice to particular policy concerns, but because they also will positively affect young people who reap the psychological benefits of seeing public officials who embody some of their own characteristics. The “role model effect” may mean that more children of color, girls, and LGBTQ youth will become engaged with and interested in politics because of the 2018 election. So we may be seeing the impact of this election cycle for decades to come.

Prof. Jill Greenlee is an Associate Professor of Poltics, specializing in political behavior and public opinion.

Emily Glovin ’19 Last Tuesday, Americans refused to endorse President Trump.

Midterms are often a referendum on the president, but this year, the election results were a clear reaction to Trump’s policies. If Republicans had kept the House and the Senate, Trump would be invincible. The violence he has perpetrated thus far would have received a stamp of approval, encouraging him to not only continue his rhetoric, but to make it even more harmful. A Democratic House shows Trump that his actions have consequences. And while it is tempting to lament the losses of progressives like O’Rourke or Abrams, the massive outpouring of support for these candidates should provide Democrats a positive outlook as we begin to think about 2020. Of course, many of us have been thinking about 2020 since 2016. But with the midterms in our rear view, candidates can be hopeful that a young, diverse electorate will help Democrats prevail.

Emily Glovin ’19 is majoring in American Studies and Sociology.

Alex Friedman ’19 You can say much about the urban/rural divide growing and how that will make it exceptionally hard for Democrats to ever take the Senate again, but to me there’s just one answer: Florida’s Ballot Initiative 4. This returned the right to vote to 1.4 million non-violent felons, about a fifth of disenfranchised felons in the United States. This disenfranchisement policy from the Jim Crow era was designed to do one thing: suppress the black vote.

It worked. Nearly 1 in 5 black Floridians were previously barred from voting in America’s largest swing-state. To get a sense of scale, understand this: according to a study in the American Sociological Review, voter disenfranchisement just in Florida was easily the difference between President Bush and President Gore.

Right now, I think it’s fair to say it would have made the difference between Senator Scott and Senator Nelson, between Governor DeSantis and Governor Gillum.

Alex Friedman ’19 is a double major in Politics and Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, with a minor in Business.

Melanie Rush ’20

The national and local political situation has shifted towards a slightly more inclusive form of representation. The fact that our government is beginning to reflect traditonally under-repsented and minortized groups is incredible! However, we must be careful not to celebrate our progress and subsequently call it a day. If we want to change the reality of discrimination experienced by these minoritized groups, if we want to create a polity in which these groups are not underrepresented, we cannot tokenize these leaders. Our government remains a systemically white institution; by tokenizing these diverse leaders, and claiming progress has been achieved, we are in effect maintaining and supporting the white status quo. Increasing diverse representation both locally and nationally is an amazing achievement, however we should be fighting for it to become the norm.

Melanie Rush ’20 is Vice President of Mock Trial Internal Affairs and Recruitment, Events, and Media Coordinator for Brandeis Quiz Bowl.

Photos: Jill Greenlee; Emily Glovin; the Justice

THE JUSTICE ● FORUM ● TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13 , 2018

11

Brandeis Confessions: anonymous honesty at a price

By TREVOR FILSETH JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.” So said Oscar Wilde in 1891, long before the advent of internet forums. The fact that his quote still circulates in various forms says a lot about how true it remains. When people are anonymous, they’re more likely to say what they believe, especially if those beliefs are unpopular or would lead to social stigmatization. It’s why all the questionnaires we take nowadays are anonymous – no one in their right mind would tell the truth on the recent Health Survey if there was some chance that their drinking habits and sexual proclivities would become public knowledge.

In this regard, anonymity is extremely valuable. However, it comes at a cost. It largely removes the consequences of one’s speech, meaning one is as free to lie as to tell the truth. Worse still, it is possible for someone to say hurtful things, whether true or not, with the intention of offending someone and the expectation of not getting caught. I’ve never understood the appeal of offending others for laughs, but clearly some do. The existence of certain less-than-friendly online groups – 4chan comes to mind – is evidence enough of that.

This brings us to Brandeis Confessions, a Facebook page set up last year in the model of other universities’ confessions pages.

Brandeis Confessions exists as a place for students to anonymously comment on, or ask questions about things that happen on campus. The process for entering a confession is pretty simple – one fills out a short Google form with the confession and submits it. No login is required, and no information about the poster is recorded. In theory, someone could post as many confessions as he or she wanted to in one sitting. Once every few days, the group’s anonymous administrator posts the latest batch, all at once, onto the wall,

where Brandeis students and the occasional helicopter parent can publicly comment on them. That’s really all there is to it. Ultimately, it’s at the administrator’s discretion to post a confession or not, but I get the impression that almost everything gets through. I’ve used the page a few times in the past, and, to the best of my knowledge, everything I’ve submitted has been posted.

The anonymous nature of the confessions is helpful because, as Wilde said, if people are guaranteed anonymity, most will tell the truth.

Brandeis Confessions has therefore become the place to talk about things that can’t be discussed elsewhere. A common refrain on the page is someone anonymously talking about sex – after all, where else can sex be openly discussed? Others ask for romantic advice, or complain about Brandeis’ supposed lack of attractive students.

Unpopular opinions are frequent, and it seems to me that the political commentary on the page has a rightward slant. This shouldn’t be too surprising; Brandeis has a relatively left-leaning climate, so it makes sense that political conservatives feel isolated and turn to Brandeis Confessions to discuss their beliefs anonymously. As before, this is about people being honest and telling the truth as they see it, and that shouldn’t concern anyone.

What should concern everyone, and concerns me, is the repeated presence of confessions that can only be described as inappropriate. By this, I don’t mean the person who fantasized about making love to Louis Brandeis on the Usdan deli counter, or who petitioned us to change the University’s mascot to Gritty or a pair of sentient cargo shorts. I mean the person who talked about how vaccines cause autism, or who used a slur while referring to a club member, or who posted a neo-Nazi slogan – admittedly a fairly innocuous one, but still. It’s not clear whether these people were being serious when they wrote their posts, or whether any of them

MEGAN GELLER/the Justice

were deliberately trying to anger others. If the latter was their goal, they clearly succeeded, especially considering the traction that each of those confessions got. This situation would be bad enough if it were just among students, but faculty and family members look at the page too. I don’t want to sound like the thought police, but it seems to me that confessions that are factually incorrect or misleading, or that are designed deliberately to anger others, should be screened from the page.

It looks as though some progress is being made toward this end. Recently, one post was taken down minutes after it went up, and an apology was issued shortly afterwards. I don’t

Conservative Democrats: still useless as ever Judah

WEINERMAN CHATTERBOX

After a brutally long primary election cycle and a head-spinning run-up to the general election, the 2018 midterm elections are finally behind us. Sure, the heralded “blue wave” was more of a blue splash, but Democrats took back the House of Representatives and evened the score in governor’s mansions across the country. A new wave of exciting progressive politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) represent the likely future of the Democratic party, marking the first time the Democratic Party has bothered to actually care about people since 1967.

However, one demographic didn’t come away quite so pleased. For conservative Democrats, the 2018 midterms were an embarrassing affair.

Now, it’s not like so-called Blue Dog Democrats, a largely Southern bloc so-called because they were being “choked blue” by both parties’ polarization, were thriving beforehand. The 2010 midterms were something of a bloodbath for the caucus, with 28 of the incumbent 54 members in the dedicated Blue Dog Caucus losing their reelection, per a Nov. 11 Politico article from that year. The upcoming 115th Congress will only feature 18 Blue Dog members, a far cry from their legislative peak during the President Bush Jr. years.

Of the six Democratic Senators who could reasonably be considered right-leaning, only two appear to be making it out of this election with their jobs intact. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) all were blown out in their re-election efforts, with none of them getting about 45 percent of the vote. Donnelly and McCaskill’s efforts were particularly embarrassing with both Senators coming in support of President Trump’s incredibly racist petition to remove jus soil citizenship in the waning days of the campaign cycle, per an Oct. 30 New York Times article.

Guess it would be worth selling out your actual voter base in favor of chasing after that solid Democratic constituency of hardcore xenophobes

if you won, right? Missing step there, guys.

Although his election is headed toward a recount, things don’t look good for Bill Nelson (D-Fla), who tacked way to the center in his race against Gov. Rick Scott (R-Fla.). Jon Tester (D-Mont.) squeaked by in an incredibly close race, aided by accusations of carpetbagging against his opponent, wealthy Maryland real estate developer Matt Rosendale. Voters apparently believed Tester when he said the election was over “who understands the rural nature of this state” in a Nov. 2 Washington Post interview. The only convincing Senate victory for a conservative Democrat was Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), whose vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh has made him something of a pariah in a party that already loathes him.

As for conservative Democratic challengers, forget about it. Former Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen’s (D-Tenn.) campaign was a hope spot for national Democrats, but he was swiftly embarrassed by hardline Trumpist Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) in a snoozefest of a race.

Democratic Senate candidates in Mississippi, Nebraska and Wyoming all failed to crack 40 percent of the vote. The only Blue Dog anywhere near a Senate victory is Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), currently in the midst of a razor-thin recount.

As for Blue Dogs in the House of Representative, their electoral victories weren’t exactly hardfought. Most returning Blue Dogs either ran unopposed or had the advantage of running against weak opponents. In the most ridiculous example of the cycle, Blue Dog co-chair Dan Lipinski’s (D-Ill.) general election opponent was self-professed neo-Nazi Arthur Jones, who proclaimed that “the Holocaust is what I said it is: It’s an international extortion racket” in a Feb. 6 interview with the Chicago Sun-Times and has disavowed Donald Trump for allowing his daughter to marry the Jewish Jared Kushner.

While obviously individual electorates and politicians might skew conservative, the apathetic nature with which the Democratic establishment treats Blue Dogs is largely counterproductive. Primaries are won fair and square, but the kingmakers in the party apparatus itself spend far more time kneecapping left-leaning candidates than they do Blue Dogs.

When national Democrats concede these races to uninspiring, anti-progressive candidates, they show both a complete lack of imagination and a degree of contempt for non-coastal areas.

Telling people that the “best we can get” out of West Virginia is Joe Manchin is patronizing and insulting to local activists and political leaders yearning for real change. Baby steps towards semi-competent governance won’t cut it.

In particular, Democrats seem perfectly happy to write off rural areas to the Republicans as a matter of policy. Why not promote candidates with an unambiguous progressive, leftist economic agenda that might appeal to these constituencies? If the Democratic Party is the “big tent” it claims itself to be, it has to realize that leftward progress can be tailored to local populations. You can’t just make strides on race, gender and sexuality in urban areas and give up on the rest of your platform. Real change happens on all fronts.

If Joe Manchin is going to do the same will he/won’t he dance of a Susan Collins (R-Maine) when the next Brett Kavanaugh saunters into the Senate, why bother getting him into office in the first place? Then again, we can barely trust the Senate Minority Leader either, but neoliberals are a slight one step below Blue Dogs in terms of uselessness.

Furthermore, the Democratic base clearly is aching for a fighter, not a compromiser. As a case study, look no further than Andrew Gillum who, barring a miracle recount, will lose the Florida governor’s race to Ron DeSantis.

Gillum’s campaign started strong with a wave of progressive energy, powered by his support for Medicaid for All and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement. What happened? Gillum got scared of his own platform and ran away from his left-wing base. He tied his campaign closely to 2016 primary scapegoat Debbie WassermanSchultz, paid lip service to conservative dog whistles like immigration issues and increased military intervention and accepted speaking tours from centrist bores like Michael Bloomberg and Hillary Clinton. In an Aug. 29 Meet the Press interview, Gillum brushed aside the label of democratic socialist so eagerly embraced by stars like Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders, instead insisting that “I am a Democrat. And, frankly, the values that I hold, I think, are consistent with the values of the Democratic Party.”

Unfortunately for Mr. Gillum, the only consistent Democratic values these days are losing elections and getting screwed over by Republicans. In that regard, Mr. Gillum more than lived up to the party credo.

know what the contents of that post were, but perhaps that’s for the best.

This kind of problem has plagued other anonymous systems for some time, most famously in the case of Yik Yak, the oncepromising digital bulletin board that descended into a platform for hate speech and bomb threats. Clearly, some moderation is needed to avoid this fate.

Brandeis Confessions plays a valuable role in our community for the same reason that the Health Survey does. People can be honest on it.

Sometimes the result is funny, sometimes sad, sometimes heartwarming. It should never be offensive. Let’s keep it that way.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR I read your coverage of the Father Cuenin situation. The content and bias were disgraceful. While a student, I complained to the Archdiocese about him and the administration laughed my concerns off as a sanctimonious zealot peddling “fake news.”

The writers’ choice of content irks me.

They imply the Archdiocese’s previous sanctions exist due to Cuenin’s views on Church dogma and policy, evoking the comments of Reverend Mahoney as proof. Father Cuenin was not a martyr for “social justice” but rather, he wanted to be liked: nothing more.

There is a mass (no pun intended) idea that a priest must dilute their faith to survive in the modern age. By doing so, Cuenin was amicably treated by Brandeis; in their eyes he could do no wrong. That’s how the article treated him: he agreed with us in the past, we should give no criticism today. There was not a single criticism about the administration’s lack of transparency or anything in general.

I could forgive the aforementioned points if The Justice was ideologically consistent. Imagine the reporting on a case where a professor assaults a student after giving them alcohol. The Justice editorial board would demand firing and retribution. However, the incident itself in the article is handwaved! The writers allow the administration to blame the assault happening due to Father Cuenin’s alcoholism.

They did not question or investigate the truth. It was that fact alone that made me respond. A person is still responsible for a crime committed under the influence.

I am utterly devastated that both this paper and school, which speak out against injustice, once again let someone slide, just because they liked him.

Just another reason my alma mater will not get a donation from me.

Sincerely, Joe Lanoie, ’15 —Joe Lanoie ’15

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

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Anonymous submissions will not be accepted. Letters should not exceed 300 words and may be edited for space, style, grammar, spelling, libel and clarity. Submissions from offcampus sources should include location. Op-ed submissions of general interest to the University community are also welcome and should be limited to 1300 words. The Justice does not print letters to the editor and op-ed submissions that have been submitted to other publications. All submissions are due Friday at noon.

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Forum: Roland Blanding, Ben Feshbach*, Trevor Filseth,

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018 ● FORUM ● THE JUSTICE

FORUM

Voting by mail the best option to cure sluggish voter turnout

By VIOLET FEARON JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Last week’s midterm elections saw a historic level of voter turnout. With an estimated 113 million Americans casting a ballot, it was the highest midterm voter turnout in 50 years, per a CNBC article. 113 million may sound like a lot — but in the scheme of things, the United States still lags far behind other developed nations. In analyzing the 2016 presidential election, in which 138 million people voted, Pew Research Center ranked the U.S. 26th out of 32 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development nations in terms of voter turnout. When looking at countries like Belgium and Sweden, both with voter turnouts north of 80 percent, the U.S.’s 55 percent seems especially troubling.

Perhaps Americans are less interested in politics than Swedes — or perhaps the issue is structural. To put it bluntly, our system is not set up to make voting easy. Most obvious are the overt efforts at disenfranchisement: frequent attempts to reduce voter turnout among minority groups with restrictive voter ID laws, voter roll purges and the strategic closing of polling places. But even the simple fact that election day is on a weekday — a vestige from a time when harvest schedules and Sunday sabbath were the government’s primary considerations — speaks to the low emphasis placed on making voting as accessible and convenient as possible.

Over the years, numerous methods to increase voter turnout have been floated.

Making election day a federal holiday is routinely proposed. However, private employers are not legally required to recognize federal holidays, making this an imperfect solution. On the most extreme side of the spectrum, some countries like Australia and Brazil have mandatory voting, imposing fines on those who don’t cast their ballots. But given the U.S.’s general wariness surrounding government reach, mandatory voting is approximately as likely as a ban on Big Gulps.

A less drastic way to ensure everyone has a chance to have their voice heard is a system already implemented in certain states: universal vote by mail elections. It’s an elegant solution — rather than having voters go to a physical polling place, a ballot is automatically mailed to every voter.

Recipients then have multiple weeks to fill out their ballots and either drop them off at designated sites or mail them back free of charge.

Thanks to federalism, we can already see the effects of this system in the few states that have adopted it. In Oregon, Washington and Colorado, the results speak for themselves.

Turnout rates in these three states increased after the new system was established and are “now among the highest in the country” per a Jan. 26 Washington Post article. The Post additionally found that turnout was especially

JULIANNA SCIONTI /the Justice

boosted among young people, a demographic traditionally difficult to get to polling booths.

Likewise, the Washington Monthly analyzed the few states with universal mail voting and found that “if other states adopted universal vote by mail, they could increase their registered voter turnout in midterm elections by 10 to 15 percent.

“

Increasing the voices of moderates and less frequent voters would be healthy for our political system.

Even more dramatically, they could double or triple their primary election turnout.” In one particularly stunning example, when Garden County, Nebraska switched to universal vote by mail for its 2018 primary elections, it resulted in a voter turnout rate over twice that of surrounding counties, per a May 24 Vox article.

Universal vote by mail isn’t about arbitrarily increasing a percentage — there are numerous

real-world benefits to the system. For one, it could decrease political polarization. In a Jan. 26 Washington Post analysis of partisanship and voter turnout, vote by mail’s “biggest turnout boosts were toward the middle of the spectrum.” When voting is an onerous process, more motivated partisan voters are disproportionately represented, an effect that is especially relevant in primaries.

This leads to more polarized candidates, and encourages incumbents to cater to their most extreme constituents. Increasing the voices of moderates and less frequent voters would be healthy for our political system.

Even more importantly, vote by mail subverts the many efforts of the Republican party to reduce the voter turnout of marginalized groups and low income voters. There has been endless controversy surrounding these attempts, which range from strategically shutting down polling places so voters have to travel longer distances, to passing stringent voter ID laws.

During During these past midterms, even early voting came under fire: 20 percent of early voting stations in North Carolina were closed in a move that disproportionately affected African Americans, per an Oct. 17 NPR article. These anti-democratic efforts are troublingly effective when most elections rely on the traditional polling place. But vote by mail neatly bypasses these issues; as the Washington Monthly pointed out, “Y ou don’t

need a voter ID to fill out a ballot at your own kitchen table.”

As if all this wasn’t enough, universal vote by mail is much cheaper than traditional voting. A Sept. 4 Pew analysis of Colorado’s transition to the vote by mail system found that “counties spent an average of $9.56 per vote in 2014, down from $15.96 in 2008,” in large part due to discarding the need for rental and staffing costs of traditional polling locations.

Some believe vote by mail increases the risk of voter fraud, but these fears are abstract enough that they do not outweigh the many benefits of the system. While researchers disagree as to whether or not vote by mail marginally increases the risk for fraud, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Election Lab reports that “as with all forms of voter fraud, documented instances of fraud related to VBM are rare.” Since 2000, Oregon has had about 100 million mailed in ballots, and has had just a dozen cases of voter fraud, per a May 24 Vox article.

Any sort of transition to new methods of voting will be slow; it is to be expected that leaders elected under one system will be reluctant to take the gamble of expanding their constituencies. But if you believe that greater voter participation leads to a stronger democracy, and that voting should be a painless and straightforward process, the choice is clear: On election day, we should all stay home.

CHAPLAINS’ CORNER Politics is spirituality, demonstrated

By MATTHEW CARRIKER PROTESTANT CHAPLAIN

The Chaplains’ Corner explores the intersections of campus and world events, student life, social justice, and spirituality.

The “Conversations with God” books by Neale Donald Walsch say that our politics is our spirituality, demonstrated. This might appear to contradict popular wisdom. After all, shouldn’t we avoid religion and politics at the dinner table?

When I was in college, my good friend and college roommate, a liberal, was dating a girl whom he was enjoying getting to know. As soon as my roommate found out that this girl was Republican, he called it off. The negative associations with the Republican Party were so strong that my roommate could not see past them.

We are living in a politically divided and polarized United States. Conservative-minded students often complain that their views are marginalized at our liberal campus. In conservative regions, I know liberals who are afraid to make their political views known for fear of pushback and retaliation.

When I went to college, I was very active in social justice, traveling to protest the School of the Americas in Georgia, co-founding an antisweatshop group and leading the Hunger and Homelessness Awareness month organized through the Chaplaincy. One of my biggest self-realizations came after I realized how deeply interconnected spirituality was with social justice work.

Prior to this realization, I identified primarily as a social justice activist. Now,

I identify with my spirituality first. That identity gives me energy, passion and commitment to continue the social justice work that I am engaged in.

This realization I am speaking of was actually a bit of disillusionment. At the time, I was doing a lot of front line work for peace and justice. As I began exploring the spiritual side of my identity, I realized that the social justice activists I knew working for outer peace had very little inner peace.

What I’ve come to realize since is that there are many dimensions of peace. Working for outer peace alone is difficult and often leads to isolation and burnout; to work for inner peace alone can be isolating and lead to a contractive consciousness.

When we make a commitment to the spiritual part of our identity, no matter our religious background, we commit to both the contemplative and the active side of the spiritual journey.

My spirituality is rooted in my connection to a Higher Power that loves me unconditionally.

The contemplative dimension of the spiritual path involves practices that “fill my cup” and allow me to receive the unconditional love that is my birthright. The active dimension of the spiritual path is the calling to go and spread the love that I’ve received with others.

If the Higher Power I know as God loves me unconditionally, then my job is to love others unconditionally — not only interpersonally, but to make the love manifest at structural and institutional levels as well. Am I going to fall short? Most definitely. But that doesn’t negate the invitation.

To be spiritually rooted is to dive into a love

that is expansive. The opposite of this is a love that becomes increasingly contractive. For example, if I love only my family, what good is that? Everyone loves their family, or at least hopefully some people within it. If I love only my country, that may be a good starting point, but, spiritually speaking, it is not enough. To be expansive in our consciousness is to seek to love everyone. To use language from my tradition, every person is a “child of God.” That doesn’t mean we need to personally know everyone, but rather to simply act from a place of interconnectedness with all people and with the earth.

“

When we do not recognize our own failures, our default is to point the finger at others to avoid our responsibility.

Moving into a consciousness of expansive love is simple, but not easy. In our politics, it means we are called not to demonize people on the other side of the aisle. I admit this is very hard for me in our current culture and administration. Now, please don’t get me wrong: This does not mean we shouldn’t hold our elected officials accountable. Part of our spiritual commitment is to hold all our elected officials accountable to their moral

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

promises, Democrats and Republicans both.

To be political does not necessarily mean to be partisan.

One piece of being spiritual that is missing from our current political scene is the ability to take responsibility for our own things first.

The Christian scriptures share, “Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but don’t notice the log in your own eye?” While both parties struggle with taking responsibility for their own failings, this is one of the many serious moral failures of the Trump administration. When we do not recognize our own failures, our default is to point the finger at others to avoid our responsibility.

This is a dangerous tactic, which is why it is so important for us voters to hold all our elected officials accountable to a higher standard of truth, responsibility and integrity.

Lastly, to allow spirituality to inform our politics means to approach our beliefs and points of view from a mindset of humility. Just as I do not have all the answers about faith, I also don’t have all the solutions to fixing our country. When we have a “humility theology” or “humility politics,” then we are not so attached to our truth that we speak it without love.

Realizing that a world of love and compassion is what we are striving for, we realize that we must “be the change,” as Gandhi so famously said. A spiritual grounding invites us to be not so fiercely attached to our own truths that we neglect to express them with love and compassion. This is the tip of the iceberg, offering some initial reflections on the intersectionality of faith and politics. I welcome your thoughtful responses.

THE JUSTICE ● SPORTS ● TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018

PRO SPORTS: Many suprises and injuries in the first half of season in the NFL CONTINUED FROM 16 defense and a receiving core lacking a true star, Drew Brees is playing MVPcaliber football and has New Orleans on the edge of their seats. Now open your eyes. You haven’t just been sent back to 2009; this is happening right in front of us. The dynamic duo of Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara is still among the NFL’s best and could propel the Saints to win a Super Bowl in their rivals’ building. The Carolina Panthers will likely make it to the playoffs as a wildcard.

13

TAKE IT TO THE HOOP

NFC West: The Saints’ only real challenge lies in the West, and their offense has proven its ability to keep up. The Los Angeles Rams may have lost by 10 in a shootout, but if these two teams met in January, it would be the stuff of legends. Goff and Gurley have proven themselves a 1–2 punch that could keep the Rams contenders for the next five years or more, and based on the divisions’ performance this year, L.A. fans can sleep easy at night knowing their playoff bye is theirs to lose.

WSOCCER: Judges lose in the NCAA Championship MBBALL: Team wins first

ANDREW BAXTER/The Justice

BALLIN: Brandeis Latye Workman '18 dunks the ball past a UMass Dartmouth defensive player in their game on Nov. 10.

CONTINUED FROM 16 of the games and outshot the Rams in both the first and second halves.

In fact, during the second half, the Rams were not able to take any shots. Thus, the Judges did have many opportunities to make up for the goal when the second half arrived. Even in the final minute of play, the team had two attempts at shots. In addition to their massive shooting advantage, the Judges had six corner kicks and the Rams would only have three.

The Judges did have a relatively strong defensive game, on the whole, as Dana would make two saves in the first half, although the Rams did score with her in the goal.

Victoria Richardson ’20 would be in the goalbox for the second half of the game and there was no need to make any saves, mostly because Brandeis played an offensive game in the second half. Mastandrea led the Judges in shots taken as she

took three. What ended up securing the win for Farmingdale State though, were the six saves made by Ford.

The NCAA tournament did not end with the success that the Judges had seen four years prior when the Judges had made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

In 2017, the Judges fell to Williams College in the second round after conquering Stevens Institute of Technology. In 2016, the Judges would not be defeated until the National Semifinals, when they fell to Washington University in Saint Louis in the final four. In 2015, the Judges fell to William Smith College in the sweet sixteen, and in 2014 the Judges fell in the second round of the NCAA tournament against Misericordia University. However, the Judges fought hard in this game and have had a very successful season. Their final record of 12–5 is proof of the many victories that they did have in 2018.

official game of the season CONTINUED FROM 16 in favor of the Judges. Brandeis had a 50 percent shot record, while UMass Dartmouth had a record of only 46.7 percent.

The first part of the second half was fairly uneventful. Four minutes went by before the first basket was made. Finally, Lawrence Sabir ’21 made a layup to continue the scoring momentum.

UMass Dartmouth then upped their game bringing the score to 39–31. UMass Dartmouth crept up and eventually overcame the Judges temporarily with a score of 54–53. The Judges fought back, gaining six more points in under three minutes. Sabir made a steal

and Latye Workman ’18 made his own rebound. Jones knocked down a 3-point shot and placed Brandeis back on top. The game ended with a score of 63–56 in favor of the Judges.

During this game, the Judges had a free throw percentage of 90 percent — far ahead of UMass Dartmouth who had a percentage of 70 percent. The Judges had only 18 turnovers throughout the game, while UMass Dartmouth had 24.

The largest lead in the game was when the Judges were up by 13 points. The Judges had a threepoint percentage of 21.1 percent, higher than UMass Dartmouth at

7.1 percent.

Currently, the Judges have an average of 63.0 points per game, as well as a 3-pointer percentage of 21.1 percent. In addition, the Judges have an average of 31.0 rebounds and 17.0 assists per game. With two games down and 24 to go, the men’s team certainly has the potential for a successful season. The next games that the Judges will play will be Wednesday, Nov. 14 against Suffolk University, Saturday, Nov. 17 against Bates College, Monday, Nov. 19 against Lasell College.

Under their amazing leadership, we look forward to another great season from this team.

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Images: CHELSEA MADERA/the Justice, HEATHER SCHILLER/the Justice, LUCY FRENKEL/the Justice, MORGAN BRILL/the Justice, NATALIA WIATER/the Justice, YDALIA COLON/the Justice, ANDREW BAXTER/the Justice

THE JUSTICE

JUDGES BY THE NUMBERS

● SPORTS ●

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13 , 2018

15

SWIM AND DIVE

MEN’S BASKETBALL UAA STANDINGS

TEAM STATS

Points Per Game

Corey Sherman ’19 leads the team with 15.0 points per game.

UAA Conf. Overall

W L D W L D Pct. Player PPG JUDGES 0 0 0 1 0 0 1.000 Corey Sherman 15.0 Case 0 0 0 1 0 0 1.000 Chandler Jones 13.0 Emory 0 0 0 1 0 0 1.000 Eric D’Aguanno 9.0 NYU 0 0 0 1 0 0 1.000 Collin Sawyer 7.0 WashU 0 0 0 1 0 0 1.000 Carnegie 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Rebounds Per Game Rochester 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Corey Sherman ’19 leads the team Emory 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000 with 10.0 rebounds per game.

Player REB/G EDITOR’S NOTE: Corey Sherman 10.0 Latye Workman 5.0 Nov. 14 vs. Suffolk College.

Eric D’Aguanno 4.0 Nov. 17 at. Bates College.

Chandler Jones 4.0 Nov. 19 vs. Lasell College.

WOMEN’S SOCCER UAA STANDINGS

TEAM STATS Goals

UAA Conf.

W L D WashU 7 0 0 NYU 5 1 1 Emory 4 2 1 Chicago 4 3 0 JUDGES 4 3 0 Rochester 2 5 0 Carnegie 1 6 0 Case 0 7 0

Overall W L D Pct. 19 0 0 1.000 10 6 3 .605 14 5 1 .725 13 5 1 .711 12 5 0 .706 9 8 1 .528 8 8 1 .500 7 10 0 .412

EDITOR’S NOTE: Season has concluded.

Katie Hayes ’20 leads the team with six goals.

Player Goals Katie Hayes 6 Daria Bakhtiari 5 Sasha Sunday 4 Sam Volpe 3

Assists Lauren Mastandrea ’22 leads the team with three assists.

Player Assists Laura Mastandrea 4 Emma Spector 3 Becca Buchman 2 Juliette Carreiro 2

SWIMMING AND DIVING Results from at WPI on Nov. 2.

TOP FINISHERS (Men’s)

TOP FINISHERS (Women’s)

400-yard IM

SWIMMER TIME Richie Selznick 4:20.41 Brendon Lu 4:20.91 Alex Wang 4:29.36

100-yard Backstroke

SWIMMER TIME Claire Xu 1:02.60 Uajda Musaku 1:06.09 Pippa Zheku 1:10.35

EDITOR’S NOTE: Nov. 16 vs. Bentley Nov. 30 at Gompei Invitational Dec. 1 at Gompei Invitational

CROSS COUNTRY Results from the New England Division III Championships on Nov. 10

TOP FINISHERS (Men’s)

TOP FINISHERS (Women’s)

8-Kilometer Run

6-Kilometer Run

RUNNER TIME Josh Lombardo 27:03.4 Dan Curley 27:05.2 Mathew Driben 27:30.3

RUNNER TIME Emily Bryson 21:03.8 Julia Bryson 22:09.2 Niamh Kenny 22:29.3

EDITOR’S NOTE: Nov. 17 at NCAA Division III Championships.

YVETTE SEI/Justice File Photo

INTENSE FOCUS: Swimmers dove into an intense season against Clark University on Feb. 3.

Team dives headfirst into an exciting season ■ The Judges have been successful in both individual and relay races so far this season.

By ZACH KAUFMAN JUSTICE EDITOR

The Brandeis University swimming and diving team has had a great season so far. For the past month and a half, they have been travelling and competing against teams from across the country and have shined as a team. Here is how their season has gone so far.

Most recently, both the women’s and men’s teams competed in a meet at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

The Judges beat Babson, 201-69, and later Smith College, 203.5-92.5. But they failed to beat host school WPI, losing 197-96, and were narrowly defeated by Simmons 159.5-134.5, bringing their overall record to 2-5.

The Brandeis men fell to WPI, 163-116, and Babson, 139.5-122.5, leaving them with an overall record of 2-3. Richard Selznick ’21 continued his dominant season by remaining undefeated in distance freestyle events. The Judges also picked up two more wins on the women’s side. Gazelle Umbay ’22 won the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:18.01. Claire Xu ’22 barely edged her runner up in the 400-yard individual medley. She won by only 0.04 seconds with a time of 4:53.28.

The men’s and women’s squads played in a team match against Wheaton College. This game had an extra special feeling of importance, as Wheaton is both the alma mater and the last coaching destination

of current Brandeis swimming and diving’s head coach Nicole Carter. In the end, it was a split decision, with the men winning 9 out of 11 events in their 128-77 victory and the women losing 10 of 11 events in a 134–69 defeat.

This improved the men’s record to 2–1 on the season, while the women fell to 0–3. The men’s team had five different athletes take wins, including three swimmers who won two races apiece. Selznick won the 1000 and 500 freestyle with flying colors, leaving multiple seconds between him and his opponents. Daniel Wohl ’21 also won twice, in the 50 freestyle and 100 breaststroke. Chase Chen ’21 continued the sophomore salvo with freestyle wins in the 100 and the 200. Brandon Lu ’22 and Matthew Acemont ’20 picked up the other two wins for the Judges. The women’s team had their only individual win when Kylie Herman ’19 won the 500 freestyle by an astounding 26 seconds.

The men’s and women’s teams picked up a split decision versus Vassar College as part of a larger dual meet with Vassar College and Hartwick College. The men were victorious over Vassar, winning 169–93, while the women’s woes worsened in their 168–98 loss. The men’s victory was the first for new head coach Carter. Wohl had three individual wins, including one that was a record for the Vassar pool.

Selznick picked up two of his own in a weekend sweep of the freestyle events. Benjamin Francis ’21 won the 100-yard backstroke, his first collegiate win. Chen won the 50 free with a time of 22.56 seconds, and Lu won the 200 breaststroke with a mark of 2:16.40. The Judges also took the 200 medley and 400 free, proving their strength in relays. The women did

not fare as well, having no individual wins, but Xu, Herman, and Umbay had multiple top five performances each.

The men’s and women’s teams won 12 out of the 32 events at Hartwick College, but unfortunately, each lost the overall team scores. The women picked up four wins. Xu had three individual wins: the 50 backstroke, 100 backstroke and 200 individual medley. Herman also won the 200 women’s free. On the men’s side, Tamir Zeitley ’20 won the 100 butterfly and 100 back. Selznick had two wins as well, the 500 and 1000 freestyle races. Wohl joined the twowin party himself, capturing the 100 and 200 freestyles. Acemont won the 50 butterfly and Lu won the 200 IM. The Brandeis University swim and dive team kicked off their season with a unique pentathlon meet at Roger Williams University. As explained by brandeisjudges.com, “The unique event sees each swimmer on each team swim 100 yards each of all four strokes: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle, as well as a 100-yard individual medley. The swimmer with the fastest cumulative time is crowned the winner.” Xu was the overall winner for the women with a cumulative time of 5:32.76.

Herman finished fourth. On the men’s side, Zeitely won the event after placing second his freshman and sophomore years, winning four out of the five races.

This swimming and diving season will be worth watching. Both teams are poised to continue the success they have had in their meets thus far.

Make sure to see them next when they take on Bentley on Friday at home.

PRO SPORTS BRIEF Potential standings for the National Basketball Association are set to change in the coming weeks Professional basketball has raged on in the season, and each conference has had its share of action.

Atlantic Division The Toronto Raptors are 6–1 in the Eastern Conference and 3–0 for the Atlantic Division, with the most overall wins in the division at 12. Most recently, they conquered the New York Knicks in a game where Pascal Siakam scored a career-high 23 points for the team.

The Philadelphia 76ers have won a total of eight games this season so far. Close behind, though, are the Boston Celtics, with seven wins this seasons. The Brooklyn Nets have won six games and the Knicks only four.

Southeast Division

The Central Division is much closer in terms of the number of wins each respective team has than the Atlantic Division. The Charlotte Hornets have a lead with seven wins. They have an overall record of 7–5 in the Eastern Conference and are 4–0 in the division. Most recently, the Hornets conquered the Detroit Pistons with a score of 113–103. It was during this game that Tony Parker scored 24 points in 28 minutes of play time. The Orlando Magic are not far behind, though, as they have won six games this season and the Miami Heat has five wins. The Washington Wizards and Atlanta Hawks have won three games each.

Central Division The final division of the Eastern Conference is the Central Division

and the leading team so far is the Milwaukee Bucks with 10 wins and only three losses. They are 6–1 in the Eastern Conference and 1–0 in the Central Division. Brook Lopez had a career-high eight 3-point baskets and 28 points in their most recent game to beat the Denver Nuggets with a score of 121–114. The Indiana Pacers have the next highest amount of wins in the division with eight, followed by the Detroit Pistons with six wins, Chicago Bulls with four wins and Cleveland Cavaliers with only one win.

Northwest Division This division has been full of talent. Leading the division are the Portland Trail Blazers with 10 wins.

Most recently, they beat the Boston Celtics with a score of 100–94. This game was notable for the late 3-point

shots made by Al-Farouq Aminu made late in the game. Damian Lillard had 19 points and 12 assists, and Jusuf Nurkic contributed 18 points and 17 rebounds. Denver follows close behind as the Nuggets have won nine games this season in the division. Following are the Oklahoma City Thunder with seven wins, the Utah Jazz with six wins and the Minnesota Timberwolves with only four wins.

Pacific Division The Pacific Division is led incredibly by the Golden State Warriors with 11 wins. They are now 6–1 in the Western Conference and 1–0 in the division. Most recently, the team conquered the Brooklyn Nets with a score of 116–100. Kevin Durant was a force to be reckoned with scoring 28 points for the team

and contributing 11 assists. The Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento KIngs all are ties with only seven wins each.

The Phoenix Suns trail with only two wins.

Southwest Division The final division is the Southwest Division, and the teams are relatively close in the number of games won. The San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies are tied for the lead in the division with seven wins each. The New Orleans Pelicans follow close behind, having won six games and lost six games.

The Houston Rockets have won five games and the Dallas Mavericks have won only four games.

– Jen Geller

just Sports Page 16

NBA CONTINUES TO RAGE Atlantic, Southeast, Central, Northwest, Pacific, and Southwest Divisions play on, p. 15.

Waltham, Mass.

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

MEN’S BASKETBALL

FIERY FOCUS

Judges start the season off strong ■ The men’s basketball team started their season with a win against University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

By MEGAN GELLER JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

This season, the men’s basketball team started the season on Nov. 3, playing the University of Saint Joseph. Although this game ended in a loss of 63–76 for the team, the Judges have a long season to come. The squad came back in the second game, conquering the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth with a score of 63–56. The Judges are 1–1 for the season so far.

University of St. Joseph The game against the University of St. Joseph Blue Jays was an exhibition. The first half of the game resulted in a score of 29–23,in favor of the Blue Jays. The game began with a turnover by a St. Joseph’s player followed by a foul

by Chandler Jones ’21, followed by a turnover by Jones. After that, the Blue Jays made the first shot of the game, a three-point shot. In the

second half of the game, the Judges scored a total of 40 points and the Blue Jays 47 points. However, the game ended with a score of 76–63 and the Blue Jays dominated the Judges. The Judges had a free throw percentage of 62.5 percent while St. Joseph had a percentage of 62.1 percent. The Judges had 17 turnovers throughout the course of the game, while the Blue Jays had 22. The biggest lead in the game was when University of St. Joseph was ahead by 15 points.

The Judges had a three-point percentage of 30.0 percent, lower than University of St. Joseph, who had 35.3 percent.

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth The first official game of the season was played at Brandeis against The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Following the first seven points of the game, the Judges were able to maintain the lead for almost the entire game. The first points were scored by Jones and Akim Sanni ’21. The Judges upped their score to 17–4 and, by halftime, the score had crept all the way up to 37–31

See MBBALL, 13

☛

PRO SPORTS

Midseason update and review on the NFL

■ Following Monday’s game,

the National Football League is now through its first 10 weeks of play.

By ZACH KAUFMAN JUSTICE EDITOR

AFC North: Despite a lot of drama surrounding two of the team’s biggest offensive stars, the Steelers are on top of the American Football Conference North Division and their offense has been nothing but potent. Despite Le'veon Bell holding out, rookie running back James Conner has been electric, and the offense hasn’t skipped a beat. Big Ben is playing with veteran prowess, and it's hard to look bad when you’re throwing to Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster most of the time. The Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals have shown promise, but both teams are riddled with inconsistency.

While the Bengals currently hold the better record, the Ravens have a higher ceiling and would be a more dangerous team in the playoffs.

AFC East: The New England Patriots are the division leaders. With a highpowered offense and a defense that always does enough, they face no real challenger within their division.

The Miami Dolphins sit at .500 and with a late season surge they could capture a wildcard, but that would be surprising. The Buffalo Bills and New York Jets are in the rebuilding stages, each grooming their rookie quarterbacks into franchise stars for years to come.

AFC South: The AFC South is home to the hottest team in the NFL right now.

The Houston Texans started off with a 0–3 record, and many doubted the ability of Deshaun Watson to bounce back from his rookie year injury, but as of this issue’s publishing, the team

has won six games in a row and leads the division. The Tennessee Titans and the Indianapolis Colts are middleof-the-road teams that will eventually compete for the second wild card slot.

AFC West: The AFC West contains the top two teams in the AFC. Led by their phenomenal sophomore quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the Kansas City Chiefs have been consistently heralded as one of the top teams in the NFL and a shoe-in for a first-round playoff bye. Their offense has been potent and their defense has been stifling. With only one loss, they stand unrivaled as the top seed in the AFC. However, at 7–2, the Los Angeles Chargers are not far behind. This race will likely decide the first and fifth seeds come playoff time, so the AFC West is a division to watch closely.

NFC North: This is one of the most talented divisions in the NFL. Strengthened by the early season acquisition of Khalil Mack, the Chicago Bears currently have the division lead. However, that could be very temporary, as the Vikings and Green Bay Packers have the offensive potential to top them. This division will come down to the wire and be great television in the process.

NFC East: On the other hand, the NFC East looks a lot more impressive on paper than in actuality. With a 6–3 record, the Washington Redskins currently lead the division, but only because of a power vacuum created by the poor play of the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys. If the defending Super Bowl champions start playing like it, Philadelphia could make some noise in the NFC, but for now it seems that the Redskins lack a challenger.

NFC South: Close your eyes and picture this: Despite a mediocre

See PRO SPORTS, 13 ☛

CHARLIE CATINO/Justice File Photo

KICKIN IT: Defender Emily Thiem ’19 kicks the ball during their game against Rochester during their game on Oct. 14.

Women lose the final game of the season ■ The women’s soccer

team ends their strong season with a loss at The College of New Jersey.

By JEN GELLER JUSTICE EDITOR

On Saturday, the season officially ended for the women’s soccer team, as the Judges were defeated by Farmingdale State College in the first round of the NCAA Division III tournament. With this close to their season, the 19th-ranked Judges achieved a season record 12–5, and the 25th-ranked Rams improved to 17–3–3 and went on to to play at the College of New Jersey on Sunday, according to the Brandeis Athletics website.

Ultimately, the results of this game came down to one shot from the Rams and led to a score of 1–0 for the game that took place at the College of New Jersey.

The game was off to a quick start when Framingham State’s Alyssa Parrotta took a shot only one minute into the game. This effort was saved

by Sierra Dana ’20, and the game continued without any shots for

over four minutes. Soon, Lauren Mastandrea ’22 would take two shots in an attempt to put the Judges on the scoreboard, but one was blocked

by Farmingdale State and the other was wide. At 10:49 Sam Volpe ’19 would take a shot in an another attempt at scoring for the Judges, but this was saved by Farmingdale State’s Daniella Ford. After another shot from Parrotta was saved by Dana, substitutions began to be made for both teams and at 18:00 there was a yellow card on Farmingdale State’s Julissa Martinez. No further attempted shots were made until 32:01, with one by Julia Jaffe ’19 that was blocked, and 35:57, during which another shot by Mastandrea was also blocked. Ford saved another shot, this time by Jaffe at 35:59, and a header by Daria Bakhtiari ’21 went wide.

Up to this point, the Judges led in shots, but neither team was able to muster up any points. However this changed at 42:53. Farmingdale State’s Tara Lyons was able to make her way to a ball that was loose in the Judges defensive zone. After dribbling the ball to around 25-yards out, she shot.

This shot would deflect off a defender and hit the underside of the crossbar before a referee decided that it had

crossed the line, giving the Rams a point. After this, the Rams led 1–0, a lead that would be maintained the rest of the game. The first period would end not long after that shot.

In the second half of play, the Judges attempted to make up for that point the Rams gained at the end of the first. Sasha Sunday ’19 would attempt a header shot that was saved

by Ford at 53:05, but neither team would be able to shoot until 69:02, and during that time the Rams and the Judges both had fouls. When Emily Thiem ’19 attempted a shot, it was too wide. Katie Hayes ’20 would come back quickly at 70:03 with an attempted header, but this was saved

by Ford. There was another lull in shooting until 79:22, and during this time the Rams had two fouls against them and the Judges had one. A shot

by Juliette Carriero ’22 saved by Ford would proceed yet another foul on the Judges. The game would conclude in the final minute with two final attempted shots for the Judges. One from Becca Buchman ’19 was too high and the other from Thiem was saved

by Ford.

The Judges were in possession of the ball in the offensive zone for most

See WSOCCER, 13

☛

Vol. LXXI #10

November 13, 2018

Vol. LXX #2

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Waltham, Mass.

September 12, 2017

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Artwork: Kwesi Jones. Images: Creative Commons, Yvette Sei/the Justice. Design: Thu Le/the Justice.

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TUESDAY, THE JUSTICE NOVEMBER | ARTS 13,| 2018 TUESDAY, I ARTS JANUARY I THE JUSTICE 31, 2017

IMPROV REVIEW

TBA teams up with Bad Grammer YVETTE SEI/Justice File Photo

THROWBACK: Caroline Kriesen ’20 advises Seneca Scott ’20 to internalize all of his problems in a skit from last year’s showcase in Ridgewood A Commons.

By KENT DINLENC JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

YVETTE SEI/Justice File Photo

WOMEN IN COMEDY: Abby LeRoy ’20 and Lena Burdick ’21 showed off their respective comedic abilities at TBA’s show last semester.

I never thought there would be bubbly energy in my biochemistry classroom.

Everyone sitting in the audience was ready to have a good time as members of Brandeis’ improv troupe, To Be Announced, walked in along with the members of Bad Grammer in their joint show “Brains vs. Brawn.” While I wouldn’t normally agree to being in a science building more than I have to, I’m glad I did last Saturday. In all my time at Brandeis I’ve never attended an improv show, so I was anticipating something fun and new.

The evening began with a game called “Radio Show.” For this game, four members of the group went onstage and acted like different radio stations as suggested by the audience. The host, Evan Moloney ’20, then orchestrated the performers at random, sometimes in unison. Conor Amrien ’19 made for an entertaining gay agenda station. His exaggerated flamboyance and jabs at Rush Limbaugh hogged the spotlight from the other preformers.

Up next came “Beatnik Poet.” This game pokes fun at slam poets. The audience gave them the words “pickle” and “mother” to include in their powerful monologues. The best poet on stage was Mitchell Redfield ’20, whose sarcastic attitude left the room in uproarious laughter. Maya Satin ’19 also had some fun at the expense of the Department of

Community Living, an easy target, to extract laughs from Brandeis students.

What followed was one of the better games of the evening: “Weekend at Bernie’s.” Four members perform a scene four times, and with each subsequent attempt, a performer goes limp for the entirety of the scene. The remaining members must drag them onstage and deliver their lines — an obvious nod to the game’s namesake film. These four acted out a dispute between a lesbian couple in the Midwest who felt their relationship could not survive due to their shortage of corn. As funny as all four players were on stage, Monica Chen ’19 got the most laughs. Even while dragging her fellow performers across the floor, Chen still managed to make us laugh with her out-of-breath renditions of their lines.

Next came “Good, Bad, Evil, Yeet Advice,” during which four members go onstage and give advice to audience members who shout out their problems. The wild card, Yeet, was designated the “hype man” by audience request. As the four members rotated through each role once, it was clear Sam Gelberg ’22 was most consistently able to stir the audience into an uproar. The other three had no chance of beating Gelberg’s first go as the hype man.

I was mostly looking forward to his take on problems like, “I don’t know my ABC’s.”

Afterwards, there were two-person scenes: “Invisible Man” and “Inventomatic.” In the former, Lauren Stark ’20

and Caroline Kriesen ’20 portrayed two midwives with alternative approaches to childbirth for an invisible mother. Both were goofy and fun, relying primarily on physical comedy. Oliver Leeb ’21 and Redfield performed the latter. Their goal in “Inventomatic” was to spontaneously create the rules of a game that would be called “Skipping Nickels” a name suggested by the audience. Every time the phrase “skipping nickels,” was used, Leeb decided to alter his voice and create a funny, new persona. Leeb transitioned from a 5-year-old to a 40-year-old lecturing his toddler brother.

The best scene of the night may have been “Ding Cube,” in which four members rotate at the random ding of a bell.

Only two members perform at a time, rapidly changing scenes between four different misadventures. The four performers onstage were Amrien, Cole Peterson ’22, Chen and Anna Cass ’21. They switched between an arguing pair of dog walkers, a couple exploring the Big Apple for the first time (though hilariously spinning it as two worms in an apple) and just two nuts.

From there, the troupes dropped the ball. Jokes dragged on and very rarely landed toward the end. Still, though their “Brains vs. Brawn” show didn’t end on a particularly good note, I would happily return to see more. TBA and Bad Grammer were great groups with two pretty funny casts, particularly Amrien and Chen, who gave me a reason to smile in a room at Leonard Gerstenzang Science Building.

ART EXHIBIT

Kniznick Gallery set in motion

By LEAH SAMANTHA CHANEN JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Artists Anne Lilly and Karin Rosenthal unveiled their new collaborative exhibit, comprised of Rosenthal’s stunning photographs and Lilly’s impactful sculptures, at Brandeis’ Women’s Studies Research Center on Thursday. The photographs focused on the naked human body — often in extreme closeups — incorporating water to obscure certain body parts. Two of the four stainless steel sculptures also dealt with the human body and obscuring vision, interacting with the viewer and their body.

A small enclave of the exhibit spotlights Lilly’s kinetic sculpture: two chairs facing each other as mirrors move between them. Two gallery-goers sit opposite each other and sustain eye contact until the two sliding mirrors join together, showing each participant’s own reflection. These mirrors moved very slowly, allowing the audience to see the reflection slowly fade back into to the person on the other side. Without someone on the other side, it looks like the viewer gets erased from the exhibit, and the white chair is all that is on the other side as the mirrors slide away.

Another similar sculpture in the enclave also uses mirrors as its medium, but this time the two mirrors rotate around each other in front of the chair, showing the viewer, then erasing the viewer and instead reflect-

ing everything around them. Both sculptures — although slightly similar — are incredibly impactful and interesting. They fill the gallery not only with white noise from the motors but also with exciting energy.

The other two sculptures were interactive and mesmerising pieces consisting of stainless steel that patrons could gently push to start moving in a loop. These both moved so smoothly that the slightest push would set them in motion for a very long time. Even though the gallery was empty, one of the sculptures had been set off by a previous visitor and continued through most of my visit without any additional prompting. It seemed to be powered by motors similar to the ones powering the mirrors. In fact, it ran simply on perfect engineering.

These compelling sculptures were surrounded by Rosenthal’s photography, which complimented Lilly’s mirrors wonderfully. Water played a huge role in the photographs, as the reflections in the surface of the water obscured parts of the body and even disoriented the viewer. It was hard to tell what exactly was in some of the photos — Rosenthal isolated many parts and also used various natural surroundings such as sand and water. While the photos were stunning and played so well with the themes set by the kinetic sculptures, they were not as exciting, new or engaging as the sculptures. The art forms complemented each other well, but the sculptures needed no complement to begin with and didn’t benefit much from the slightly too-contrived photography.

Photos by YVETTE SEI/the Justice

MOVING PICTURES: The new exhibition features both intriguing photographs and mesmerizing interactive scultures.

THE JUSTICE I ARTS I TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018

Photos by YVETTE SEI/the Justice

The Rwanda dancers performed a traditional dance. The women in the dance swayed elegantly from side to side, integrating their garments into the dance, using the fabric to accentuate their movements. The men, in contrast, performed in a more energetic style, alternating between jumping into the air and dancing in a squatting position.

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Night for Africa: ‘Sankofa’

By YVETTE SEI JUSTICE EDITOR

The dancers of Rebelle performed a fusion of Caribbean and modern dance styles, lighting up the stage. The group transitioned smoothly between complex formations throughout the piece, entertaining the crowd with a variety of patterns along with their choreography.

The Afro Diamonds from Africano Waltham faced off on stage, each pulling out more elaborate moves in turn before coming together and dancing as a whole. They were joined by young members of the Waltham community, passing on their energetic choreography and traditions to a younger generation.

Toxic Majorette Dance Line were incredibly synchronized; they kicked and jumped with precision. The group varied their energy throughout their piece, switching between up-beat spirited choreography and more fluid calmer sections, making frequent use of ripples.

Imani Islam, a member of the Poetic Justice slam poetry team, performed an original piece that was met with much applause.

The Cocoa Dancers from Tufts were one of two invited groups for the night along with BC PATU. The inclusion of these groups created a sense of unity, not only among the different African and AfroLatin cultures but also across the Boston college communities.

The Platinum Step Team was one of the last Brandeis acts of the night, doing a routine inspired

by Toy Story that pitted new toys against a group of old favorites. The competition-style piece featured complex rhythms, with both groups of toys coming together to finish the piece dancing as a whole.

—Editor’s note: Nia Lyn ’19 performed in Night for Africa. She did not take part in editing this article.

One of the hosts greeted the crowd with energy, drumming up the crowd between acts. Coming out first in this cerulean gown, the host changed at intermission, carrying the second half of the show in a pink floor length dress.

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018 | ARTS | THE JUSTICE

INTERVIEW

Brandeis TALKS

What is your favorite breed of dog and why?

Rachel Moore ’19 and Akshiti Todi ’19

ANDREW BAXTER/the Justice

Aaron Pins ’21

This week, justArts spoke with Rachel

“Huskies are the best breed of dog because I’ve always wanted to be a professional dog sledder.”

Moore ’19 and Akshiti Todi ’19, co-presidents of the Adagio Dance Company.

JustArts: Where does the name Adagio come from?

Rachel Moore: We don’t know what the original founders’ intentions were, but “adagio” is a part of a ballet class.

MARA KHAYTER/the Justice

Devon Crittenden ’20 “I love basset hounds because when they run they go ‘flop flop flop.’”

Emma Rivellese ’22 “My favorite breed of dog would be a golden retriever because my two best friends growing up both had [one].”

Gabi Benisti ’20 “I don’t know dogs that well, so I just like the cute ones that look like little teddy bears but I don’t know what breed that is.”

—Compiled and photographed by Yvette Sei/the Justice.

STAFF’S Top Ten

YVETTE SEI/ the Justice

Top 10 Words That Can Be Made from the Letters in “Top Ten”

By Zach Kaufman JUSTICE EDITOR

It was way easier in third grade when the words we used were “Maryland School Assessment” instead of “Top Ten.”

Akshiti Todi: Adagio is different because it’s catered around the person participating. It’s catered to the individual needs of all of our members — they get to choose the level, style and time commitment that they want, so it’s very individualized and it can be modified according to the needs of every single person in our dance company. We don’t have dancer auditions, we have dancer placements.

People come and they do a routine, and we place them into different levels. Everybody gets a chance to do what they want and I think that’s what makes us different.

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Suffix with water or bridge 5 “Okey-____!”

9 Problems with Plan A 14 News piece 15 Julie who hosts Big Brother 16 San Diego baseballer 17 “Understood, over.”

19 Part of most fast-food orders 20 Character whose lover has been kidnapped many times 21 What CTRL+T creates 23 Tax pro 24 A.L. or N.L. East: Abbr.

25 “Are not!” retort 27 Indolent 30 Submachine gun variety 31 Cash, as opposed to property 33 Actress Campbell 35 Cheats in line 36 Junkies 37 Rock formation 39 String after Q 41 Memo medium, typically 44 Junior _____, linebacker who suffered from CTE 46 Eliza Doolittle’s creator 50 Convincing that reality isn’t real 53 Before, poetically 54 Defeat like Joey Chestnut 55 Pirate’s sound 56 B&O and others: Abbr.

57 _____ Kanata, orange-skinned character in “Star Wars” 58 “Mais ____!”

60 Feet, in poetry 62 The Heirophant, e.g.

64 Sports bar sights 67 Act as a servant, in slang 68 Start to commute?

69 “You ____ what you sow” 70 “Save me ______!”

71 Minecart contents 72 ___ fide (in bad faith) DOWN 1 Fighting uniforms or fighters in uniforms 2 Shoot with a ray gun, perhaps 3 City home to a U.S. Embassy until 2018 4 Arab ruler 5 Superhero franchise with a name akin to “ATM machine” 6 “Well, well, well” 7 Denied access 8 “Orinoco Flow” artist 9 Letters on a Coppertone bottle 10 Self-lover of myth 11 Fatty tissue 12 One with a switchblade comb 13 French possessive 18 Soap brand 22 Physique, slangily 24 Dark, to Shakespeare 26 Racket sport 28 Stretched near the breaking point 29 Aliens

JA: What makes Adagio different from other dance and performance groups on campus?

JA: What about your group allows for participants to choose their time commitments?

Crossword Courtesy of EVAN MAHNKEN

32 3-Down based carrier 34 Author who said “I came to live out loud” 38 Director Kazan 40 Beautiful sights in the morning 41 Id’s counterpart 42 Intimidates, as in a Tom Wolfe piece 43 Ancient fertility goddess 45 Online seller 47 Drink that helps with the common cold 48 Sci-fi movie starring Amy Adams 49 Director Anderson 51 60s muscle car 52 Approximate weight of a paperclip 59 Until 61 Teacher, old-style 62 Schedule placeholder 63 Offensive word?

65 Bar offering 66 Place to get a mud bath

RM: The structure of our company is that when you join, you join a dance piece. The piece is run by the choreographer, they hold rehearsals. It’s a weekly rehearsal for one hour, so you can choose to be in one dance piece, or you can choose to be in seven. That’s where you get to control your level of commitment to Adagio.

JA: Do most people who audition already have dance backgrounds?

AT: It depends ... I have a friend who never danced before Brandeis, and then she joined Adagio and now she choreographs very regularly. I feel like it really gives you that platform to explore, and then actually do something because of that, and grow.

JA: What’s your favorite moment in the play?

EK: I really like the [scenes] where there is someone on the upper level [talking to] someone on the lower level. I think it looks really cool and is really funny.

Solution Courtesy of EVAN MAHNKEN

SUDOKU INSTRUCTIONS: Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each small 9-box square contains all of the numbers from one to nine.

1. Pot 2. Pen

JA: What are your responsibilities as copresidents?

RM: Our main objective is first to set up the semester. We organize placements … we make sure that all the choreographers have the information and the rooms that they need to rehearse. There’s just so many logistical things that go on. Once everyone’s set up for the semester, we work on organizing and producing our semester show. But fortunately, we have six other people on our e-board and they all have their own tasks that they do.

JA: What other kinds of preparation do you have to do for the semester show itself?

AT: We begin with finding a theme for the show. Every semester our show will have a different theme. This year, it’s “Take a chance on dance,” which is a casino theme. We are encouraging people to let go and take a chance on what they love to do.

3. Top

JA: Anything else you would like to add?

4. Ten 5. Neo

AT: Come see the Adagio show, there are going to be free cookies and free food.

It’s gonna be fun!

6. Open 7. Pet 8. Toe 9. Net 10. Poe

Solution to last issue’s sudoku

Puzzle courtesy of www.sudokuoftheday.com

—Maya Zanger-Nadis