ARTS Page 19
FORUM Criticize sentencing leniency 11
ALUNAGEORGE
SPORTS Men's tennis debuts at invitational 16 The Independent Student Newspaper
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Justice
Volume LXIX, Number 4
www.thejustice.org
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
FALL CONCERT
Administration
Third CDO finalist meets with students ■ The third CDO finalist
stressed community engagement during her visit to campus on Thursday. By Max Moran JUSTICE editor
MORGAN BRILL/the Justice
Aluna, half of electronic-pop duo AlunaGeorge, radiated energy on the stage on Saturday at the 2016 Brandeis Fall Concert, which was sponsored by Student Events.
STUDENT LIFE
Coalition moves to change the name of Columbus Day
■ Students have made a
petition for the University to rename "Columbus Day" to "Indigenous Peoples Day." By Max Moran JUSTICE editor
A new student coalition is calling for the University to change “Columbus Day” to “Indigenous Peoples Day” on the University’s academic calendar, ahead of the holiday on Oct. 10. Their Change.org petition had over 280 signatures by Monday night of faculty, alumni and students. The activists and Student Union representatives spearheading the campaign hope to recognize Native Americans within the University community. They also hope their campaign will “acknowledge the reality that Columbus is not a figure to be celebrated, but one who enacted genocide on Indigenous Peoples/Native Americans,” according to the petition. Changing the holiday’s name is the only policy initiative thus far announced by this collective. Changing the holiday’s name will require a vote by the University Advisory Council, a board within the Office of the Provost composed of faculty
and administrators who advise the provost and deans on academic policies, among other topics. In an email to the Justice, Provost Lisa Lynch wrote that changing the holiday’s name was added to her agenda for this Thursday’s UAC meeting only yesterday, after she was forwarded a resolution on Indigenous People’s Day from Student Union Senator at Large Lorenzo Finamore ’18. Lynch wrote to the Justice, “Changes to the academic calendar are approved by the UAC but, depending on the nature of the proposed changes, the UAC might also ask for input from the faculty at large. I would anticipate that the faculty at large would like to weigh in on this issue,” Lynch wrote. In the Student Union resolution, provided by Finamore to the Justice, the Union “strongly recommends” that the administration change the name of the holiday, explaining that “the legacy of Christopher Columbus is one of imperialism, genocide, torture, enslavement, and long-term systematic injustices which conflict with Brandeis University’s core principles of social justice.” Finamore and the Union became active in the issue last Spring after Finamore was approached by Sophia Warren ’18. Warren told the Justice in
a phone interview that she’d wanted to see the University change the name of Columbus Day from her first year at Brandeis. After the Ford Hall 2015 protest last year, among other student activism, Warren felt empowered to advocate for change. “This feels so much like something so intrinsically in line with Brandeis University and what I think about when I think about Brandeis University,” Warren said. “I honestly haven’t really met a student that’s not in support of this proposition.” Finamore wrote to the Justice in an email, “When Sophie came to us the resolution had to be presented to the Senate, which discussed the merits of the change and ultimately ratified it. I believe the Executive board also made an effort to speak with the administrators they had access to in order to see how they could help. All in all pretty much everyone in the Union at that time put at least some attention into the resolution. You could definitely say it was a collective effort, which has always been an important component to the process of creating this change.” Several UAC members reached by email yesterday confessed to being unaware of the movement and
See COLUMBUS, 7 ☛
The third finalist for the new Chief Diversity Officer position spoke in an open forum with students on Thursday about how she sees her role and her experience as a current CDO at a university of around 7,000 undergraduates. The University is gathering student feedback on the four finalists — two of whom spoke on campus last week — through these open forums, with the final forum scheduled for next week. Community members can access video footage of the previous panels
at the Office of the Provost’s website, but the footage is protected behind a Unet log-in to ensure that only Brandeis community members can see the identities of the candidates. To protect the third candidate’s current employment and respect the integrity of the search process, the Justice is not publishing the candidate’s name or identifying information. The candidate said that she grew up in Puerto Rico in a “very multicultural space” in a diverse neighborhood, which inspired her professional and personal interest in “ethnic studies.” In her current job, she oversees a department focused on cultural engagement with minority groups and works closely with international students in particular. She also engages frequently with student clubs and organizations, in-
See CDO, 7 ☛
Board of trustees
Liebowitz promotes Board transparency ■ In an email to students
and staff on Friday, Liebowitz announced a new series of meetings and updates. By ABBY PATKIN JUSTICE EDITOR
The University has launched a new series of meetings and updates to promote transparency regarding the Board of Trustees and the University finances, University President Ron Liebowitz announced in a Friday email to students, faculty and staff. In his email, Liebowitz wrote that he will be sharing with the community a summary of topics discussed and resolutions passed following each meeting of the Board of Trustees. He added that he will also periodically propose open meetings with students
and staff to share specific information and engage in dialogue on issues related to Board actions. In their most recent meetings last Tuesday and Wednesday, the Board’s Executive Committee and the Board of Trustees as a whole examined the University’s financial health and structure. According to Liebowitz’s email, economist and former Vice President for Financial Strategy at the University of Chicago Kermit Daniel has been collecting and compiling financial data on campus since April. Liebowitz wrote that Daniel used the data — collected from over 40 staff members and administrators — to explain the historical and ongoing challenges the University faces as both a research university and a liberal arts college. Daniel’s report highlighted the Uni-
See BoT, 7 ☛
Indian Newsroom
No “I” in Team
New Genes
On Tuesday, Naresh Fernandes, the editor of Scroll.in, discussed how computers changed the Indian newsroom.
The women's soccer team defended their win streak and won two consecutive games over the weekend.
Dr. Ruha Benjamin discussed the complicated relationship between genetics and race on Tuesday.
FEATURES 8
For tips or info email editor@thejustice.org
Waltham, Mass.
Let your voice be heard! Submit letters to the editor online at www.thejustice.org
INDEX
SPORTS 16
ARTS SPORTS
17 13
EDITORIAL FEATURES
10 OPINION 8 POLICE LOG
10 2
News 5
COPYRIGHT 2016 FREE AT BRANDEIS.
2
TUESDAY, September 20, 2016
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the justice
NEWS SENATE LOG
Senators vote to derecognize and decharter clubs in weekly meeting The Senate convened to discuss general student club and committee affairs and the creation of a new Senate Health and Safety Committee on Sunday. After taking attendance, the Senate voted on chartering Common Ground, the first and only Muslim-Jewish dialogue group at the University. Common Ground leads dialogue to educate and promote unity between Jewish and Muslim communities on campus and in the greater world. Chartering was approved in an unanimous vote, as Senate members commented on the University’s diverse community and the club’s intentions to use funding for community engagement programs. In a block vote, the Senate then unanimously moved to decharter and derecognize student clubs that have failed to submit an anti-hazing agreement. Clubs that have asked for derecognition were included in the vote. The Senators also voted on and passed a constitutional amendment for student club Global Brigades, which called for a change in the club’s structure and operation. Executive Senator Hannah Brown ’19 announced an open Senate representative position for the Community Enhancement and Emergency Fund. CEEF board members will oversee distribution of the Senate’s unspent rollover funds. A Senate member will be voted into the position at next week’s meeting. Brown encouraged all Senate members to accept University President Ron Liebowitz’s invitation to a series of open Board of Trustees meetings regarding the University’s finances, beginning Thursday. Open to all Brandeis students, the meetings will be hosted by Leibowitz, Executive Vice President Stew Uretsky and Provost Lisa Lynch. Moving into Senate committee chair reports, Class of 2019 Senator Kate Kesselman, the Dining Committee chair, spoke on current committee dialogue with Sodexo regarding issues about the recent cutback of Lower Usdan’s hours of operation. Sodexo will soon send out a survey to gauge student perspective on dining at Brandeis, she noted. Senator at Large Nathan Grees ’19 discussed standardizing a format for bylaws to ensure clarity and organization of Senate procedures. Class of 2017 Senator Ryan Tracy, Club Support Committee chair, announced the implementation of mandated bystander training for all club leaders starting in October, in collaboration with the Office of Prevention Services. East Quad Senator Elijah Sinclair ’19, chairman of the Sustainability Committee, discussed current campus initiatives to diminish paper cup usage. A survey for student opinions on campus sustainability will soon be issued, he added. Brown, the Services and Outreach Committee chair, announced that all Student Union committees open to non-Senate members will be posted through the Student Union’s weekly emails. The Senators also voted on the Senate representative to the Allocations Board, selecting Kesselman, who was the only contender and previously held the position. Brown then introduced a vote of endorsement on S.2471 Massachusetts Legislature, a bill calling for a task force to create a survey on sexual assault occurring in state colleges and universities. In a move for solidarity, the Senate unanimously voted to endorse the bill to help garner attention of local Massachusetts legislators. A bylaw amendment for the creation of a Health and Safety Committee — written by Brown and Student Union Vice President Paul Sindberg ’18 — was proposed and passed. The committee serves to advocate awareness and information to students regarding sexual health, alcohol and drugs, mental and emotional health, physical health and the safety of students on and off campus. The Senate voted to suspend the rules requiring a waiting period after the introduction of such a committee proposal and proceeded to pass the bylaw in unanimous vote. In individual senator reports, senators reported on recent comments and concerns from their constituents. Grees and Foster Mods Senator Ari Matz ’17 both mentioned continued student questions regarding the number of citations issued to students during social events on campus. From this meeting on, the Union has also begun having a Student Union Judiciary member attend all Senate meetings to improve the relationship and cross-communication among Student Union branches. —Michelle Dang
CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS n There were no corrections to report this week. The Justice welcomes submissions for errors that warrant correction or clarification. Email editor@ thejustice.org.
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POLICE LOG Medical Emergency
Sept. 13—A party was injured while participating in an event on the athletic fields. They received BEMCo treatment on the scene. Cataldo Ambulance then transported the party to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further treatment. Sept. 14—University Police received a report of a student falling in and out of consciousness in Renfield Hall. BEMCo staff responded and treated the party, who was then transported to NewtonWellesley Hospital for further care. Sept. 15—Psychological Counseling Center staff called for an assist in transporting a party for further care. University Police and Cataldo Ambulance arrived on the scene and transported the party without incident. Sept. 16—University Police received a report of an ill party in the Linsey Pool area of the
Gosman Sports and Convocation Center. BEMCo staff treated the party, who was then transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care. Sept. 17—A party in Ziv 127 reported that they were feeling faint. BEMCo responded to the scene and the party refused treatment. Sept. 17—University Police received a report of an intoxicated party in a vehicle at the main gate. 911 was called and Cataldo Ambulance transported the party — a Bentley University undergraduate student — to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care. University Police contacted Bentley Police with the party’s information.
Larceny
Sept. 15—University Police received a report of a gift card stolen from Usdan Student
Center. University Police compiled a report. Sept. 16—A staff member from the Feldberg Computer Center reported that a number of Apple products were missing. University Police compiled a report, with an investigation to follow.
Disturbance
Sept. 12—University Police received a report of a 20-yearold male walking around the Shapiro Campus Center and shouting. University Police checked the area and did not find anyone. Sept. 13—University Police received a report of people talking loudly at the Charles River apartments. The responding officer spoke with a few students who were playing cards, and the students quieted down without incident. Sept. 14—University Police
DESI-FEST
received a noise complaint regarding loud music playing in the Foster Mods. University Police advised the party to turn the music down. Sept. 15—University Police received a noise complaint for Charles River Road. An officer nearby investigated the scene and found the area quiet.
Other
Sept. 17—A party in the Shapiro Admissions Center reported that they did not like the interactions of an unknown male party. University Police located the male and checked him for outstanding warrants before issuing him a verbal trespassing warning, with a written warning to follow. The tresspassing party departed University property without incident. — Compiled by Abby Patkin.
BRIEF Waltham ranked one of the safest college towns in the United States
YDALIA COLON/the Justice
Students dined on free samosas and other South Asian delicacies at the South Asian Students Association’s Desi-Fest in the Intercultural Center Swig Lounge on Wednesday evening.
The City of Waltham is the 23rd safest college town in the country, according to a Sept. 7 SafeWise ranking of the top 30 safest college towns nationwide. “As an early epicenter of the labor movement, this safe college city has always been fiercely protective of its citizens,” the list said of Waltham. The list also cited Bentley University’s campus drone policy, which requires community members to get unmanned aerial vehicles approved by the University before they can be used. According to SafeWise, the survey used FBI crime statistics and identified safety-related programs and initiatives in college towns and cities across the country in order to compile the list. The list also cited a 2014 FBI United States crime statistics spreadsheet, which included data on violent crime, murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, property crime, burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft on a state-by-state basis. The City of Waltham is safer than 53 percent of all cities in the United States, with an average of 124 violent crimes and 823 property crimes per year, according to data from NeighborhoodScout, an online real estate profiling resource. According to the website, there are 1.97 violent crimes and 13.06 property crimes per 1,000 residents per year in Waltham, lower than the national averages of 3.8 violent crimes and 26 property crimes per 1,000 residents per year. The City of Waltham, which is home to Brandeis, Bentley and the Center for Digital Imaging Arts for Boston University, edged out Northfield, Minnesota — home to Carleton College and St. Olaf College — in the ranking. Waltham ranked 27th on the 2015 list. —Abby Patkin
ANNOUNCEMENTS How to Talk to Professionals
Anxious about networking with professionals? They’ve got you covered. This participatory workshop will cover networking, elevator pitches and more. This event is great for all students, especially those planning to attend Hiatt’s Business, Consulting, Finance and Marketing Industry Night on Sept. 22. Today from 3 to 4 p.m. in the Usdan International Lounge.
Malaysia Day
The Southeast Asia Club invites you to celebrate Malaysia’s Independence Day with them. They will be learning about Malaysia’s rich history, diving into traditional ways to celebrate this colorful holiday and exploring it the best way they know how — with food. Today from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Intercultural Center Lounge.
Spotlight Table
Considering graduate school and making
an impact? Stop by the Shapiro Campus Center and speak to a representative from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. NYU Wagner offers advanced programs leading to the professional degrees of Master of Public Administration in Public & Nonprofit Management & Policy, MPA in Health Policy & Management, Master of Science in Public Policy and Master of Urban Planning. Tomorrow from 11 to 2 p.m. in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium.
Thursday from 12:30 to 2 p.m. on the Epstein Liberman-Miller Lecture Hall.
How Is This Still a Thing?
Chuseok is known as Korean Thanksgiving. It is a three-day festival in Korea that brings families together to celebrate, be thankful and express their respect for their ancestors. The festival is a time of happiness with traditional plays, dancing, games and an abundance of food. Come celebrate with the Brandeis Korean Students Association. Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Ridgewood Common Rooom.
Part of the work of second-wave feminism has been to recover a wide range of music by women composers from all eras of music history. This realm retains its near-exclusive devotion to male composers, much as it did in 1950, 1900 or even 1850. Dr. Liane Curtis will examine some reasons why this is so and will ask what can be done to level the playing field.
WOCA’s Stories That’ll Turn Your Leaves
The Women of Color Alliance is continuing their annual fall storytelling event. Absolutely anyone is welcome to share their story or have a friend (or a WOCA member) share their story if they’re not comfortable on stage. Thursday from 8:30 to 10 p.m. in Cholmondeley’s Coffee House.
Chuseok
the justice
CAMPUS EVENT
Williams (AAAS) reflected on incidences of racial violence from summer 2016. By PERI MEYERS JUSTICE Contributing writer
Prof. Chad Williams (AAAS) facilitated a discussion on racial violence in both its American and global contexts in a talk on Monday night at the Intercultural Center Swig Lounge. The event involved two components: Williams speaking on the uniqueness — or lack thereof — of the past summer’s violent incidences and students posing their own questions on how to move forward. Williams stated that the rise of social media has added another layer to what he described as “racial violence as public spectacle,” though he said that the scale of violence witnessed during the summer of 2016 is nothing new. Rather, it is “reflective of America itself,” a “country that is steeped in violence,” to the extent that it becomes a staple of people’s lives. For all the political value of spreading these images and rallying people to action, he explained, they still come with psychological fallout — in Williams’ words, a “mental fatigue.” According to Williams, one of the factors that made the summer unique was that a “bright light [was] shown on the issue of police violence,” illustrating a crisis boiling to the surface. While the police have been given extraordinary powers to use deadly force, he says, that force is mainly deployed
against black people. In contrast, he added, “whiteness can be afforded the privilege of de-escalation.” On a similar note, Williams cited the rise of Donald Trump as indicative of “white rage [having] reached a boiling point,” largely as backlash to the Black Lives Matter movement and Barack Obama’s presidency. Without either, he said, “you don’t have a Donald Trump.” Commenting on critiques of safe spaces, he said that they have long existed for white people and their rage. As students joined the discussion, the focus shifted toward individual and collective action at universities — particularly the value of collective action, given the need for a movement to involve a massive number of people working behind the scenes. Near the end of the event, the attendees discussed the Syrian refugee crisis. One attendee asked how individuals are supposed to discuss such heated topics, especially with family members who might have opposing viewpoints. “Part of it,” Williams answered, lies in that “there is a deep logic to racism,” given how it grants select people clear benefits, if at the expense of others. Racism also serves a “masking” purpose, he argued, explaining that it hides anxieties that are not so immediately obvious. Williams is an associate professor of African and Afro-American Studies at the University. His recent works include the “Charleston Syllabus: Readings on Race, Racism, and Racial Violence” — which he facilitated as co-editor — and “Torchbearers of Democracy: African American Soldiers in the World War I Era.”
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TUESDAY, September 20, 2016
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TALYA GUENZBURGER/the Justice
BREAKING THE FRAMEWORK: During the discussion, panelists Naghmeh Sohrabi (L), David Patel (C) and Serra Hakyemez (R) discussed ways to view the United States’ foreign policy outside of the current Islamic State-centric framework.
Scholars discuss central concerns in United States Middle East foreign policies ■ Scholars from the Crown
Center addressed Middle Eastern current events outside of insurgency. By PERI MEYERS JUSTICE Contributing writer
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BEYOND ISIS
Prof. Williams speaks on the ‘Summer of Violence’ ■ In a discussion, Prof. Chad
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What if there had been no Egyptian revolution? How has life changed — or not changed — in Iran since the nuclear deal? Why did the Turkish coup d’état attempt fall short? Five years later, what has become of the Arab Spring? All of these questions are linked by a central concern: what should the next U.S. president know about the Middle East? This question was the focus of the Crown Center for Middle East Studies’ kick-off event on Wednesday, during which a panel of five discussed current events outside the topic of religious insurgency — hence the title, “Beyond ISIS.” The panel, moderated by Prof. Eva Bellin (POL), included Renée and Lester Crown Professor of Modern Middle East Studies Pascal Menoret (ANTH); Crown Center Junior Research Fellow Ahmad Shokr; Charles “Corky” Goodman Professor of Modern Middle East History Naghmeh Sohrabi (HIST); Crown Center Senior Research Fellow David Patel; and Crown Center Neubauer Junior Research Fellow Serra Hakyemez. After Prof. Shai Feldman (POL) introduced the panel, Menoret began the discussion by addressing the recent leadership change in the United States’ oldest ally in the region: Saudi Arabia. In January 2015, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud’s death brought his half brother, Salman, to the throne. According to Menoret, while Abdullah’s reign brought about some “cosmetic and very limited reforms” such as municipal elections and modernization of schools, with Salman, “politics are not on the agenda anymore.”
The panelists also discussed Saudi intervention in Yemen’s ongoing civil war. Menoret described the war as “a way for Saudi leadership to basically solve domestic problems, and Yemen is in many ways a domestic issue in Saudi Arabia,” owing to their intertwined economies. Next, Ahmad Shokr analyzed the aftermath of Egypt’s 2011 uprising. Since the military seized power in July 2013, the regime has jailed “unprecedented numbers” of journalists, students and humanitarian workers, he noted. “The possibility of political pluralism in Egypt has not looked bleaker over the past five years than it does today,” Shokr said. “Nothing was inevitable about the trajectory that Egypt followed,” he continued, explaining that the country has steered away from the path to democracy and pluralism as the Muslim Brotherhood and the military sought power. The topic then shifted to Iran, focusing on the 2015 nuclear deal. “The domestic ramifications have been quite a lot and also nothing at all, simultaneously,” Sohrabi said. As she explained, President of Iran Hassan Rouhani had argued that foreign sanctions threatened the survival of the regime — and the region. Beyond the sanctions, though, Iran struggles with corruption and high unemployment. “It’s almost like the nuclear issue became a very convenient way of not talking about a problem that requires long-term solutions,” Sohrabi said. Sohrabi described how Iran’s economic problems have been highlighted by the Financial Action Task Force — an intergovernmental organization — which blacklisted it in 2015 for money laundering and terrorist financing. In June 2016, the organization announced that it had “suspended countermeasures” for twelve months to monitor the republic. Corruption is also rampant in neighboring Iraq, as Patel discussed. Sectarian violence and fac-
tionalism have broken up the country, oil prices have collapsed and its government is facing a budget crisis. Everyone with ties to the political parties, Patel said, “had budgeted and created patronage networks based on a certain amount of oil.” As oil revenue has fallen, government coffers have emptied, signaling a “reckoning” down the road when state employees lose their income. Lastly, Hakyemez spoke about the recent coup attempt in Turkey. Hakyemez argued that the coup had failed in part because it had little to no military backing. In the coup’s early hours, much of the military was in support; by the end, it had sided with the ruling party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP). The party also contacted imams en masse, urging them and their congregations to take to the streets in defense of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — and, by extension, the country. “The AKP government made a very strategic move, saying that this is the second war of independence the Turkish people are waging against the infidels,” said Hakyemez. There was a recurring theme throughout the event, emphasized particularly by Feldman and Shokr: Though the White House continues to wield significant influence in the Middle East, it cannot unilaterally solve the crises rippling through Iraq, Syria or Yemen. As Shokr put it, the region is in the midst of a “transformative moment … the likes of which we haven’t seen, perhaps, since the end of the first world war.” “Imagine what’s going to happen after ISIS is defeated,” Feldman said at the end of the event. Regional powers will compete for their interests with greater fervor than before, whether it is Turkey in Syria or Iran in Iraq. To craft a strong foreign policy in the Middle East, he concluded, the next president must be prepared to look at the region outside an ISIS-focused framework.
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JOIN THE JUSTICE! FORUM NEWS ARTS ADS LAYOUT For more information, contact Carmi Rothberg at editor@thejustice.org.
THE JUSTICE
Campus Speaker
Scholar speaks on relationship between race and genetics
■ In her talk on Tuesday, Dr.
Ruha Benjamin discussed how blind faith in genetics may oversimplify race. By Spencer taft JUSTICE STaff writer
As biotechnology improves, genetics have been instrumental in advancements in criminology, sociology and medicine. However, warned Princeton University professor Ruha Benjamin in a lecture last Tuesday, genetics may also oversimplify race and ethnicity. In reality, she argued, race is much more complicated than mere genetics, and race data must be treated with care and consideration for the social conditions behind it. The lecture, titled “The Emperor’s New Genes: Science, Public Policy and the Allure of Objectivity,” began with Benjamin’s explanation of the origin of science’s tendency to strive toward absolute objectivity, sometimes to a fault. She claimed that, when it comes to ethnic groups, there is “as much homogeneity between groups [as] there is within them,” and for that reason, race is a social construct made up of a series of environmental, subjective factors. She then went on to explain that the public approaches biology with a certain sense of “fetishization,” viewing it as a “deterministic process” that results in concrete conclusions. In reality, she explained, it is a much more fluid field, subject to human error and bias, and, as a result, “For some researchers, the best science is ahistorical and asocial.” As Benjamin explained, this disconnect between life and social science can create issues when it allows scientific findings to be used in manners for which they were not intended. As an example, Benjamin cited the United Kingdom’s controversial border control policy, which allows border agents to use genetic sequenc-
ing to test the truth of immigrants’ countries of origin and to deport them if it is discovered that they lied about where they are from. This policy uses science for an unintended purpose, she argued, thereby oversimplifying the issue at hand. However, Benjamin continued, the practice of using genetics to determine race has also been used against various groups in South Africa and India, where such data is also used to justify citizenship. She then transitioned to discussing the concept of genomic sovereignty — the notion that each nation has its own genetic signature, resulting in a difference between Mexican genomes and Indian genomes, for example. While this idea at first appears to be a powerful force of inclusiveness for various underrepresented groups within a population, it carries with it a threat of nationalistic tendencies and can feed into pre-existing ideas of national hierarchy, where “dominance becomes euphemized as mere difference,” she explained. From there, Benjamin put her research into a medical context, demonstrating that some diseases thought to be more common among specific racial groups are, in fact, more affected by national lines than racial ones. Because of this, Benjamin argued, some diseases can go misdiagnosed because the lens through which doctors view a patient’s condition is too narrow. The talk concluded with a lengthy question-and-answer session, during which students engaged with Benjamin, voicing their concerns and receiving feedback. As Benjamin stressed to one student, the intention of her research is not to claim that race has no place in studies — thereby enforcing some sort of “color-blind science” — but rather to argue that race must be reframed. “The take-home is not to ignore racial differences,” she said, “but to take it in a social rather than biological context.”
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News
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TUESDAY, September 20, 2016
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ROCK ’N ROLL ALL NIGHT
YDALIA COLON/the Justice
Several students performed musical acts at the Stein during the second event in the Stein Night series. The Department of Student Activities sponsored the event.
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CDO: Candidate applauds Ford Hall movement and outcome CONTINUED FROM 1
cluding groups focused on black and Afro-American identity, Caribbean cultures and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. She explained that, in her experience, student groups dividing to focus more specifically on individual communities can cause trouble with resources being divided among similar organizations. While she said that groups wanting to preserve their own identity is important, it’s also important to find “values and places where we say, ‘Yes, we’re all going to come together on certain challenges or issues or topics.’” She said the CDO role involves engaging all parts of the University with diversity and integrating it into coursework and faculty thinking for all majors and minors. She pointed to science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields and pre-med tracks as posing a particular challenge, but noted that she’s worked to integrate new paths and structures into faculty thinking. The candidate acknowledged that being a CDO doesn’t mean automatically earning the trust of student groups, and she described often “hanging out” with students to gradually earn their respect. She said that a central part of her job will include getting to understand the specific issues at Brandeis. The candidate applauded the Ford Hall 2015 movement, which demanded the University create a CDO position and led to the current administrative search in the first place. “The way the community cared for you and reached out to you really said a lot about Brandeis,” she said. She added that her current school lacks Brandeis’ cultural emphasis on social justice and described Brandeis as “ahead of the game” for not putting Greek life on campus, explaining that public services is specifically oriented around Greek life at her current school. She said that her understanding of last year’s events were that “there was confrontation even within the
black community,” and that some students felt that their groups were “not part of that circle of conversation.” these, she said, are “real concerns.” She explained that part of her work involves bringing dissenting opinions to a place of understanding, even if dissenting parties never fully agree. When asked about the programs she would implement to reach out to the Waltham community and high school students of color, the CDO candidate said that she’d first need to hear what students on campus want more or less of, adding that the Brandeis campus already has a great deal of programming and student events on campus. She also said that Brandeis has done more than her home university to advocate for the transgender community. She said that she is not an expert on Title IX, since her own role currently is not directly involved in her home university’s Title IX process, but that she has done what she can to educate the community on sexual assault through her position. She said that she wants to work more closely on the issue at Brandeis and criticized that administrative roles “sometimes work in silos.” When asked how she’d set precedent for her new role at Brandeis as a CDO, the candidate said that her priorities have shifted even since that morning. She said that what administrative leaders told her was “you need to create some healing” on campus, and that there’s still discontent and distrust among the community on the issue of diversity on campus. She pointed out that CDOs only have as much power as higherlevel administrators permit them to have and that her job balances sitting at the table next to University decision-makers with keeping student groups’ interests in mind. She said that it was clear that students were saying, “We want more students that look different,” and that she would have to develop long-term metrics to work on these requests.
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NEWS
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TUESDAY, September 20, 2016
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RESEARCH INNOVATION GRANTS
CANDICE JI/the Justice
Provost’s research innovation grant recipients presented their projects on Thursday.
COLUMBUS: Admins to talk name change on Thursday
CONTINUED FROM 1
proposal; it only entered the community consciousness yesterday when students found flyers posted across campus and all along the Rabb steps in the morning, along with a massive banner that reads “sign the petition to change ‘Columbus Day’ to ‘Indigenous People’s Day’.” The student coalition advocating for the measure signed their flyers across campus as simply “Brandeis University Students” and organized on Facebook as a group called “Vote to Change Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day at Brandeis.” The group writes on their flyers that adding one’s name to the petition supporting the measure supports “expressing the need for opportunities to increase visibility and education of Native Americans and recognition of Native Americans at Brandeis” along with “celebrating the contributions of indigenous communities and cultures” and “acknowledging the legacy of imperialism, colonialism, enslavement, and white supremacy which has displaced and oppressed Indigenous People/Native Americans.” Warren told the Justice that if the University does change the name to Indigenous People’s Day, she hopes it is only the first step in increasing conversation about Native American and indigenous groups at Brandeis. Warren said that there are early plans for Indigenous People’s Day to include
educational programming but that it is still in planning stages. “There is a serious urgency to changing this day now, and as well to holding ourselves accountable to be educating each other and be part of a community that is truly pushing for social justice,” she said. “I see Indigenous People’s Day as an important foundational move for establishing some infrastructure for future conversations about policy initiatives that can start on campus and ultimately bring positive change to Indigenous communities,” Finamore wrote to the Justice. The Cambridge City Council voted unanimously to officially rename its Columbus Day celebrations to “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” on June 6. Columbus Day, or Indigenous Peoples’ Day, is traditionally celebrated on the second Monday of each October. Other universities which celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day rather than Columbus Day include Brown University, Cornell University and the University of California, Berkeley. At least 16 states have passed similar measures, including Hawaii, Alabama and South Dakota. Critics of Indigenous Peoples’ Day often point to the pride which some Italian-Americans feel for Christopher Columbus; he was born in Genoa, Italy, even though he discovered the New World on a voyage for the
Spanish empire. Warren said that she discussed this with Finamore, who has Italian heritage, while planning their amendment. “This was something he had been told, and [which] had been communicated to him,” Warren said. But she added that, when thinking about the positive Columbus Day celebrations she saw growing up, “I have to think about there being so much richness and being so much vibrance to at least the Italian-Americans that I know that I don’t feel like the legacy of Columbus himself is the portrayal and is the connection that I see, feel and think of when I think about Italian heritage. It’s a difficult conversation to have, and it’s not one for me to shrug off.” “It's ridiculous to hold heroes in the Italian American community to such a low standard as Christopher Columbus,” Finamore wrote to the Justice. “I think it's important that Indigenous People's Day be celebrated over Columbus Day given the very ethos of equality that all immigrants to America have always wanted and often had to fight for. Continuing to celebrate a simplistic understanding of Columbus as an explorer, without any attention paid to the people already living in the Americas when he first arrived, only serves to foster division and stall progress in the communities that are still effected [sic] by the legacy of colonialism.”
BoT: Liebowitz stresses importance of understanding University finances CONTINUED FROM 1 versity’s strength in meeting its dual educational research mission, yet it also noted the perpetual financial stresses that result from the University’s aspirations and its disproportionate resource base, Liebowitz wrote. He added that these findings are a step toward better informing administrators and community members about the University’s current financial situation. “We, as a community, need to better understand how the university is financed and then begin a process for addressing, over time, the financial stresses we have faced if we are to ensure the long-term health of the institution,” he wrote. “Brandeis is not alone in recognizing the financial challenges within the higher education ‘business model,’” Liebowitz added, citing competing priorities for investments in people and programs across the University, including staff compensation, financial aid, inclusive environments, upto-date infrastructure and internship opportunities. Liebowitz also announced in his
email that he, Executive Vice President Stew Uretsky and Provost Lisa Lynch will be hosting three open meetings in the coming weeks to discuss the University’s finances. During this meeting, he added, Daniel will present his findings, and he and the three administrators will field questions. The first meeting will take place on Thursday. Liebowitz also touched on the Board’s other topics of discussion. He wrote that he relayed his first impressions of the University to the Board, explaining that he “felt confident in describing what I have experienced thus far: a vibrant campus, with, as advertised, a faculty who is fully committed to excellent undergraduate and graduate teaching, and to producing high-level research and artistic work.” The trustees also heard a report from the special task force on Board governance that was appointed in June by Board Chair Larry Kanarek ’76. The Board members discussed and voted on proposed changes to the Board’s committee structure and composition, which will allow trustees
to best address the challenges facing higher education, according to Liebowitz’s email. The Board also heard an update from consultant Mark Neustadt, who has been meeting with and interviewing internal and external University constituencies, as well as conducting surveys of alumni and potential students. Neustadt just conducted his last three focus groups last week, but he provided the Board with the major themes he has heard from the groups he has met with. “Mark explained the importance and challenge of creating a unifying and clear narrative for Brandeis that both recognizes its unique founding by the American Jewish community and contemporizes the values embedded in the university’s founding given the changes in the world and our environment since then,” Liebowitz explained. Emily Conrad ’17 and Will Jones ’18, the student representatives to the Board of Trustees, did not return requests for comment as of press time.
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features
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2016 ● Features ● The Justice
just
VERBATIM | WINSTON CHURCHILL To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.
ON THIS DAY…
FUN FACT
In 2013, Apple released the new iPhone 5s.
Apple has refused to repair damages caused to their computers by smoking.
NATALIA WIATER/the Justice
DOWN THE AISLE: Naresh Fernandes addresses a room of students as he paints a vivid picture of the Indian Newsroom in the 1990s.
Shaping the Newsroom
Naresh Fernandes discusses tech and news in ’90s India By DAISY CHEN justice Staff writer
A newsroom, an office with a group of reporters, is a spot that records the shifts of a society. One of the most recent shifts society has seen came with the rise of digital technology, which has come to permeate the daily lives of most people. Yet even as news reporters chronicle shifts in society, they themselves can be affected by them. This was the takeaway from Naresh Fernandes’ talk on Tuesday in the Mandel Reading Room, titled “Journalism flows from the barrel of a typewriter: How computers changed the Indian newsroom.” In an Indian newsroom in the 1990s, Fernandes and his colleagues were confronted with a technological evolution which influenced news reporters in India and the ordinary people across the country. Fernandes — the editor of Scroll In, a digital news and culture publication — told his story to the Brandeis community of being a newsman witnessing the change of Indian society and its news reporting system. Back in the early 1990s, the Indian newsroom was surrounded with an unusual aura. Readers of the
newspaper swirled the newsroom while “clutching raggedy cardboard files filled with evidence of malfeasance in the body politic or some personal success they wanted to share with the world,” said Fernandes. Fernandes explained that “often, the petitioners were trade union members or representatives of one of the sweaty activist groups with which the city was brimming.” And in the 1990s, there were a lot of things to “keep the activists and journalists concerned,” Fernandes said. Even though the Berlin Wall collapsed in 1989, the wind of freedom, peace and equality did not blow to India. Upper-class students in Delhi were protesting, not to promote equality among different classes, but instead to defend their own privileges as members of the upper class. These activists felt threatened by the idea of sharing educational opportunities with students from lower classes, and Fernandes claimed that “upperclass students in Delhi were setting themselves on fire to protest the government commission’s recommendations that affirmative action quotas for members of the lower class be increased.” These dramatic self-immolations — parts
NATALIA WIATER/the Justice
DISCUSSING DEVELOPMENT: Fernandes tells tales of immolations and politicians blazing across the early Indian newsroom.
of protests against the Mandal Commission in the 1990s — left Fernandes and his colleagues with plenty to write about. The movement against equality erupted not only in class conflicts but also in religious conflicts. The right wing, which was opposed to the decisions made by the government, was a part of the chaos as well. A politician belonging to a right wing party “was leaving a trail of violence in his wake as he drove across north India in a commuter van.” His violence was motivated by the intention of placing a mosque in the town “at the exact same place as God.” While the rest of the world embraced and looked forward to a bright future, people in India were facing a time of chaos in politics, religion and employment. The introduction of digital technology only factored into this confusion. While digital technology seemed to be welcomed in Western society, the opposite was true in India. Technology was marked with controversy. Fernandes said that “for decades, economists had been arguing about whether a labor-rich country like India could actually benefit from capital-intensive technology. Creating well-paying
jobs was thought to be the more efficient path to progress.” The key item of discussion was the computer. Although it is now uncommon to see people deny the advantages brought by the computer, some deemed that computer technology would not benefit a country with India’s dense population. The thinking followed that computers “would result in jobless growth [and] would cause havoc in a country whose most abundant resources were human.” Nevertheless, computers made their way into society — and into the newsroom. “Journalists in Bombay knew that it was only a matter of time before computers would unsettle their work, too. That was evident to anyone that was keeping track of global newspaper trends,” Fernandes commented. The introduction of computers brought higher productivity, but along with it came the decline of job categories, as aspects of the newspaper production process were automated. Fernandes claimed that “thousands of workers were made redundant” across India’s job markets, and the news workers in India were forced into a similar situation. Newsrooms weren’t how we picture them in the West; they were closer to a scene
from the Charlie Chaplin film “Modern Times,” which depicts characters struggling to survive in a rapidly industrializing world. Fernandes said that “members of all of the departments — the printers, the typesetters … and the advertising executives — all sat shoulder-to-shoulder on long tables in the canteen on the top floor to eat our subsidized rice plates. Many employees would return to work with the shared grumble of disquiet. It was rumored that the canteen contractor kept his costs low by spiking the rice with soda bicarbonate, an additive that left diners feeling satiated but would cause tummies across the building to growl malodorous through the afternoon.” With society in the midst of a rapid, industrial change, many news reporters were writing about how common people were adapting and struggling to deal with their new world. Yet at the same time, the people who reported the change became a proof of the change in society as well. What is the similarity between workers in a textile factory and reporters sitting in their office writing the news? According to Fernandes, they are both marks of India in the 1990s.
NATALIA WIATER/the Justice
NEW IN THE NEWSROOM: Fernandes laments the adoption of the computer into the Indian journalism industry in the 1990s.
the justice ● Features ● TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2016
ANNA SHERMAN/the Justice
GLOBAL ISSUE: Prof. Jutta Lindert discussed violence faced by refugess in her talk.
Violence Against Women
Prof. Lindert discussed the importance of research in combatting violence
By RACHEL BLAU JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
With the welcoming of Prof. Jutta Lindert to the Women’s Studies Research Center on Tuesday Sept. 13 came a renewed conversation about violence against women globally to campus. Lindert, a professor of public health at the Protestant University of Ludwigsburg, Germany and WSRC scholar, has spent much of her career researching health impacts on interpersonal and domestic violence and the longterm impacts of violence against women. She has travelled to six European countries collecting data and doing field work on the determinants and consequences of violence against women and now looks to cover new territory in her research: violence against women refugees. Lindert began her talk by discussing some of the research she has done along with presenting data from a recent European survey related to violence against women. She explained the various forms of violence and how they manifest throughout girlhood and womanhood. Lindert cited examples of female infanticide and sex-specific abortions, saying, “A high number of baby girls in India and China are simply missing.” Furthermore, she noted that girls are often fed less frequently as infants because “there is a preference for sons. Sons are simply better cared for.” Childhood violence takes many forms, she says, including female genital mutilation, rape, child marriage or even sex slavery, the last being more likely in poverty-stricken areas. The WSRC Scholar continued by discussing many contributing factors to the influx of violence against refugee women, including the “breakdown of social structure, collapse of family support and lack of security in camps.” Furthermore, she broke down travel-related exposure into four phases: exposure prior to departure, during the flight, in the country of asylum and during reintegration. The experience for women in the country of asylum is one that “centers around survival,” Lindert expressed. Inadequate language skills as well as mistrust of western aid workers contributes greatly to the effects of violence. The most at- risk, Lindert said,
are the women travelling alone and those without personal documents. In terms of next steps, Lindert believes that a major setback to finding a solution is the lack of data available surrounding the issue of violence against women in refugee camps. “We need to overcome the reasons for underreporting. “We need to encourage women in general — and especially refugee women — to speak out,” she said. “This is the only way to prevent health consequences.” One audience member had an alternative opinion, saying, “I feel that as much as we need the tools and technology to collect data, we need even more the personal narratives.” Lindert agreed, saying, “It’s not the only answer, but it’s very important, [because] at the end of the day,
the main aim is to improve data to counteract the health consequences.” In collecting data, Lindert says, it is necessary to be precise in defining terminology. Lindert preferred to use the term “violence against women” throughout her speech rather that the term “gender based violence,” saying the latter does not “accurately reflect the problem.” Similarly, Lindert was careful to refute the notion that the definition of violence against women changes from culture to culture. “I would say that that’s wrong,” she said, “because violence against women is clearly defined.” Lindert also recognizes that collecting data on issues that come with many cultural stigmas of varying severity can be extremely challenging and often danger-
ous unto itself, and in fact, we don’t even know “how accurate existing data really is.” But regardless, she persists in her assertion that more must be done to obtain statistics, because “without data, we do not have a clue how many are exposed.” Lindert’s original plan for her talk was to discuss her research exclusively, but she decided last-minute to additionally discuss violence against women refugees to shed light on the critical importance of this issue. “I would hope,” she told the Justice, “that it would be possible to get the opportunity to do research on refugee mental health because we have a huge amount of refugees [in Europe], but there isn’t any concrete research on their mental health: only on their diseases. So this talk is a call for action.”
ANNA SHERMAN/the Justice
PRODUCTIVE DIALOGUE: Prof. Jutta Lindert sits back and listens to an audience member reflect on her talk about violence against women.
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10 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2016 ● forum ● THE JUSTICE
the
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Brandeis University
Carmi Rothberg, Editor in Chief Mihir Khanna, Managing Editor Max Moran, Senior Editor Morgan Brill, Deputy Editor Jessica Goldstein and Noah Hessdorf, Associate Editors Abby Patkin, News Editor, Kirby Kochanowski, Features Editor Amber Miles, Forum Editor, Jerry Miller, Sports Editor Lizzie Grossman, Arts Editor Morgan Brill, Acting Photography Editor Mira Mellman, Layout Editor, Pamela Klahr and Robbie Lurie, Ads Editors Rachel Sharer, Online Editor, Sabrina Sung, Copy Editor
EDITORIALS
Reject freeze on adjunct faculty’s wages and benefits This month, the University will embark on its fourth round of collective bargaining with the newly instituted adjunct and contract-faculty union. The negotiations delve into job security, intellectual property rights and a transparent evaluation system for promotions, to name but a few topics of discussion. Amid these negotiations arose a situation in which a number of adjunct faculty reported that the University had frozen them out of wage raises and benefit changes while department heads await a decision on the negotiations. As Prof. Christopher Abrams (FA) put it in a Sept. 13 email to the Justice, these actions are a “mischaracterization” of the protocol. As a board, we are disappointed in the actions of the University which have caused disrespect for the adjunct faculty. The University, a bastion of social justice and progressive reform, has prevented the very rights and privileges which it so often calls to uphold for employees bargaining with their employer. The University states that they are under obligation not to make across-theboard alterations to union employees’ contracts due to the ongoing negotiations, calling this section of time the “status quo” period. This is accurate but evades the issue at hand; while the University should not institute across-the-board changes to contingent faculty contracts, individual contingent faculty who are up for reappointment are perfectly welcome to bargain for and receive new privileges for themselves during this period — especially if they were promised better contracts before the union formed. The union is negotiating for a basic package for all contingent faculty, but if individual faculty negotiate better terms for
Uphold faculty rights themselves, the union won’t object. They have communicated this to the University repeatedly throughout the process, yet the University has not acknowledged it. Contract faculty are having muchneeded benefits withheld from them without any just explanation. The union’s claim that the University is indeed allowed to extend wage raises and benefits to individual faculty — indeed, individual faculty who had sometimes been promised these changes before — is supported by this board as fair reasoning. While we understand the need of the University to protect itself and its interests, we feel that it has gone about doing so in a sub-optimal way. The adjunct faculty are those who are underappreciated as it stands, which is why they are bargaining in the first place. Adjunct faculty are vital to the student body and our education, yet the University seems to ignore their full value. While the negotiations may prove fruitful for the adjunct faculty, the University is diminishing their efficacy. Faculty Forward, the organizing wing of the adjunct faculty union, calls for the University to “define equity” and establish “equal value of teaching for all faculty.” These basic rights are those which the University continually impresses upon each class, yet is something that seems to have evaded the administration itself. If Brandeis is to be an upholder of justice as they so claim to be, department heads freezing these wages and benefits must reevaluate their decision. We call upon them to reconsider their actions and give the adjunct faculty the respect they so rightly deserve.
Change name of ‘Columbus Day’
In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue, “discovered” America and enslaved and tortured its inhabitants. On Sunday, members of the Brandeis community organized a petition calling on the University Advisory Council to “Vote to Change Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day” during their upcoming Oct. 10 meeting. The petition encourages faculty to support a name change from “Columbus Day” to “Indigenous People’s Day” on the academic calendar in an effort to disregard the misplaced honor of a figure who persecuted Native Americans. Should the UAC vote yes, the measure would likely go before a broader faculty vote. This board applauds the dedication of student activists in pursuit of the name change — a strong reflection of the University’s core values and commitment to social justice — and urges greater student and eventual University support. The petition, circulated today on change. org, has already gathered well over 200 signatures, and this number will likely continue to grow. The broader campus community must acknowledge the abuse and challenges the Native American community has faced, and even mostly symbolic efforts, such as changing the name of a holiday, serve to reframe historical narratives around marginalized groups and force the University to think critically about historical figures. Columbus’s horrific effect on indigenous populations had long-term implications. He killed and enslaved many people during his quest to conquer the “New World.” Columbus and his men attempted to convert Native Americans to Christianity,
Support student activism often against their will, and subjected women and young girls to sexual assault. Additionally, he exposed the Native Americans to horrible diseases that they had no ability to fight. This issue in particular haunted the people of the “New World” for many years to come. This board urges members of the Brandeis faculty to carefully consider the values of the University and vote in support of the proposed name change. Functionally, the proposal will not change any policy about how the holiday occurs on campus, but proponents are hoping that the day may include educational programming about the plight of Native Americans and indigenous populations. This can only be celebrated; greater education and information about a marginalized community falls directly in line with both the mission of a University and of Brandeis in particular. The only real negative point to this change would be a break from tradition, and tradition shouldn’t outweigh doing the right thing. Goals of the proposal also include educating the larger campus community about the Native Americans and admiring the contributions of the community and “acknowledging the legacy of imperialism, colonialism, enslavement and white supremacy which has displaced and oppressed indigenous People/Native Americans,” according to the group’s Facebook event page. This board hopes this student initiative, if successful, will achieve these goals, and we encourage the faculty body to vote yes on this measure.
JULIANNA SCIONTI/the Justice
Views the News on
In Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Uber began to test its new self-driving cars. As a precaution, a safety engineer sits in the driver’s seat of each car in order to take control if necessary. Many people have met this new technology with curiosity, but some — especially current Uber drivers — worry about its effect on job security. According to a Sept. 4 Washington Post article, Pittsburgh mayor William Peduto claims drivers should not worry because “it’s not a question of whether there will be a change in jobs.” What do you think of Uber’s self-driving cars, and how do you think such technology, if successful, will affect society?
Prof. Sharon Thomas (IBS) I think self-driving cars are inevitable, and Uber is not the only company investing in this technology. Uber could argue that anyone with a smartphone can create a ride-sharing app and that that market is not defensible. They are a company looking to make a profit, and they don’t owe the drivers long-term job security. The impact on society may be all positive: they will meet unmet demand (they will come in 60 seconds versus the 5-10 minutes a car or cab may take), they are safer than cars with drivers and they will reduce traffic (when the system is guided solely by navigation and new routes are taken). Less traffic means less auto emissions and cleaner air. I think that in the foreseeable future, the market for driverless cars is for ride-sharing users only. As the ultimate “ego-expressive” purchase, won’t consumers be reluctant to adopt this new type of car? Is your car still a reflection of your personality and status if you aren’t driving it? I know driverless cars are coming but I think it will be a slow adoption and may end up feeling like a perfectly normal technological evolution. Prof. Sharon Thomas (IBS) is an Adjunct Professor in the Brandeis International Business School.
Prof. Dan Tortorice (ECON) Since the Industrial Revolution, machines have been displacing workers. Uber’s new self-driving cars are a current example of this continual process. Fortunately, since this type of change is not new, we can be confident of its effects. First, living standards go up. Uber now produces rides with fewer resources (no driver!). This efficiency gain leads to lower prices for Uber rides and benefits all Uber customers. Second, displaced workers find new jobs eventually. No jobs are lost – but relocated. Drivers will find new jobs in new industries. To induce hiring, wages will fall in these sectors. Current Uber drivers and workers in these sectors may get paid less than before. But society as a whole benefits, as will these drivers too benefit from other technological advancements. And it is this cumulative effect of technological progress that has been the greatest poverty reduction program the world has ever known. Prof. Dan Tortorice (ECON) is an Assistant Professor of Economics.
Lori Shapiro ’17 While self-driving cars are “smart” in the sense that they adhere to all driving regulations, at the end of the day, they are not humans. They do not have the ability to “think on their feet,” which could make driving around highly populated cities (where Uber is most popular) quite difficult or even dangerous. Also, even though the Pittsburgh mayor believes self-driving cars will not have an effect on jobs, I do not concur; as the technology becomes more advanced, the need for the safety engineer will be eliminated. Drivers will be required to look elsewhere for work, a scary thought, especially considering the current economic climate. However, these cars could drastically reduce the risk of car accidents, a positive which supersedes many of the negatives. Thus, the mass adoption of this revolutionary technology will rely on many factors, and while many obstacles stand in the way, it could ultimately have a massive impact on society. Lori Shapiro ’17 is a Business Undergraduate Departmental Representative.
Rosa Azene ’18 Like most dramatic technological innovations, the whole idea of riding in a driverless automobile illuminates both excitement and skepticism. My main concern pertains to its potential adverse impact on the labor market of this industry. Unlike the recent statements of Pittsburgh mayor William Peduto, I believe the potential expansion of Uber’s self-driving cars will leave some current drivers structurally unemployed, at least in the short run. There is also a high chance of it forever changing our basic notion of owning and driving cars. However, looking forward, I see brighter long run results. If successful, this technology will open up more job opportunities with the development of new skills and industries, somewhat like what the growth of the internet is currently doing to our economy. There clearly is a tradeoff in this new technology. Thus, I believe Uber — and other companies for that matter — should invest more on research and development to create a system where humans and machines can work more as complements instead of substitutes so as to bring about a net positive effect. Roza Azene ’18 is an Economics Undergraduate Departmental Representative and a Brandeis Undergraduate Group Study tutor for Economics 80a, 82b and 83a.
THE JUSTICE ● fORUM ● TUESDAY, September 20, 2016
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Reject Massachusetts ballot measure to increase charter schools Aaron
Dvorkin The Plight of Reason This coming November, Massachusetts residents voting in the general election will face many significant choices — even ones that extend beyond one of the most contentious presidential elections in our nation’s history. State voters will also decide the fate of four ballot measures, potential laws which bypass normal legislative procedure and are instead approved or rejected by ordinary citizens. One of the reasons why this election is significant is that one of those measures will play a large role in determining the future complexion of our state’s public school system. If approved, Question 2 on this year’s ballot will increase the cap on charter schools, allowing the state to authorize up to 12 new charters or expansions for existing charters every year with priority being given to underperforming districts. Charter schools are publicly funded but run independently of the state government. Although seemingly innocuous, this new ballot measure has pitted wealthy philanthropists against teachers’ unions, equality of education advocates against racial equality groups and low-income charter families against low-income district school families. The result has been one of the most contentious, cash-filled ballot questions in the state’s history, one which crudely mirrors the other important political battle which will be settled on Nov. 8. While charter advocates have made some salient arguments on issues that exist within traditional public schools, a more long-term analysis of the issue suggests that separating the public school system into two arenas competing for the same funds is a bad policy. Charters were originally brought to Massachusetts by state officials who wanted to test out new ideas for how to best educate students free from the constraints of standard district and union practice, according to a piece in this month’s issue of Boston Magazine. They have since evolved into alternatives to traditional public schools which naturally attract families frustrated with their district schools. Thus, the role of charters has evolved from innovation to providing a “right to choose” for as many families as possible. Numerous studies, including a Feb. 28, 2013 report by Stanford University, have backed up this new raison d’etre; Massachusetts charters,
on average, have better standardized test scores than district schools. It would be easy to begin and end discussions about the issue there — and many charter school advocates have tried to do just that. After all, is there any more pertinent issue relating to education than the performance of students? The answer is probably not, but the success of charter schools often comes at a price for other students in the state. Funding for charter schools comes from the same coffers used to fund traditional public schools. When a student moves from a traditional public school to a charter school, the state automatically diverts funds for each student’s tuition from their old school to their new school, according to a Jan. 28 Boston.com article. Many charter school advocates have tried to stop the story there and claim that there is no budgeting issue. However, since 2011, the state has not been able to fully reimburse district schools for the lost funds. This year, Boston Public Schools were refunded for less than half of students who departed for charter schools. According to a document detailing Boston Public Schools’ 2017 finances, the state’s inability to adequately offset their losses is largely to blame for a $50 billion budget gap for this upcoming year. Although tuition is a per-student cost, the sum of tuition payments also goes toward certain fixed costs that the school has. Take the example of a class which starts out with 15 students and one teacher. That teacher’s salary has already been determined and is not supposed to fluctuate over time as students enter or leave the class. So if five students leave for charters and the district is not fully reimbursed, the district school may not be able to satisfy the agreed-upon wage of the teacher, among other things. The scope of the issue and the reasons behind the contention become even clearer when considering that only 4 percent of elementary and secondary school students in Massachusetts currently attend charter schools, according to a Sept. 13 WBUR article. The law would only increase this proportion by less than 1 percent each year. So while charter schools continue to get the full amount of each student’s tuition, the system which serves the vast majority of students suffers. Beyond state budgeting issues, there certainly are problems inherent to Massachusetts charter schools which render Question 2 a bad policy. One of the perks of being free of union rules is that charter schools can get away with paying their teachers far less than district schools. According to a Feb. 25 Boston Globe opinion piece, average district school teacher salaries were $91,800 in 2014, compared to only $67,000 for teachers in charter schools. Charter school advocates will
JULIANNA SCIONTI/the Justice
often counter with this fact when confronted with the issue of unsatisfied budgets for district schools. They claim that the main culprit for draining traditional public school funds are not charters, but teachers’ unions who demand exorbitant salaries. While there are legitimate concerns about teachers’ unions demanding too much money, charter schools could very well face the same issue in the future. According to the same piece in Boston Magazine, charters tend to hire teachers in their 20s, who, in general, demand less money. As charter schools expand, however, they may exhaust the field of teachers willing to work for less. At a certain point, charter schools may have to choose between paying their teachers more or limiting their expansion. As a result, one of charter schools’ unique advantages over traditional schools will disappear. Other more current issues must also be considered when Massachusetts voters decide how to vote on this ballot measure. Despite 603 CMR 1.05, a 2010 regulation which required state charters to recruit and retain more Special Education and English Language Learner (ELL) students, there is still a discrepancy in the number of these students who attend charter schools and those who attend district schools. According to the WBUR moderator for last week’s 2016 Massachusetts Ballot Debate, just 8 percent of Boston Charter School students are ELL, as opposed to 30 percent for Boston District Schools.
Even the claims of better education in charter schools may not be bulletproof. According to Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson, only 44 percent of charter school graduates from the city completed college in a six-year period, compared to 50 percent of district school students. It should be questioned whether charters overemphasize standardized test-taking in order to flaunt statistics which suggest success instead of educating students in a more effective way. While charter school advocates correctly diagnose certain issues with traditional public schools in Massachusetts, expanding their resources through an unfunded mandate will only make it harder for district schools to improve their track records. Given the myriad issues that can arise when government separates public education into competing spheres, it would be helpful to step back and consider how we got to this point in the first place. Charters were founded to collaborate with district schools in finding better ways to educate. The fact that the issue has become so contentious is not only a testament to the inherent problems that charter schools pose to equality of opportunity but also a sign that charters have moved away from their original purpose. Competition among students is a desirable trait of a healthy education system, but that same type of competition should not exist between the schools that serve them.
Condemn leniency of sentencing in recent cases of sexual assault By nia Lyn JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
For the average college student, three months is the duration of a summer internship — but for Brock Turner, three months in prison is apparently all the time needed to serve after assaulting a young woman. Turner was released from prison on Sept. 2 after only three months. On Jan. 18, 2015, after a college party organized by the Kappa Alpha fraternity, two graduate students found Brock Turner making sexual advances on a young woman that was clearly unconscious. According to the court document published in the Los Angeles Times on June 10, a witness stated that Turner was “on top of her aggressively thrusting his hips into her,” as observed when the witness got closer to the scene. The unconscious survivor was stripped from the waist down and assaulted. This image is gruesome, but it is the harsh reality of what happened. According to the court document, Turner, just as many other college freshmen, had received multiple lectures on the importance of consent, especially when drugs and alcohol are involved — so it is reasonable to assume he understood the severity of his actions. Though, according to the court document, Turner himself had been drinking and was reported to have a blood alcohol content of .016, alcohol does not cloud the basic knowledge of what is and what is not consent. Turner, just as any other individual, cannot use intoxication as an excuse, because he is still accountable for his actions regardless of the circumstance. It should also be noted
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that, according to the same court document, Turner had tried to kiss several other young women that evening, one of whom was the survivor’s younger sister. This goes to show that he was not interested in getting to know this one young woman in particular; Turner was looking for any type of sexual interaction. Since other women at the party had turned him down, he apparently deemed it appropriate to pursue a woman who could not give clear verbal consent.
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Why do society and the justice system place more importance on the comfort of young men than on the security of young women? Turner claims that the interaction was consensual and that the survivor had agreed to dancing and kissing, among other acts. Even if she had previously consented, however, he should have stopped his actions once she could no longer verbalize her consent. According to a July 8 Huffington Post article, Turner justified being behind a dumpster because he “naively assumed that it was accepted to be intimate with someone in a place that wasn’t my room.” This, in itself, does not excuse the fact that the young woman was unable to make any decisions
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The opinions stated in the editorial(s) under the masthead on the opposing page represent the opinion of a majority of the voting members of the editorial board; all other articles, columns, comics and advertisements do not necessarily. For the Brandeis Talks Back feature on the last page of the newspaper, staff interview four randomly selected students each week and print only those four answers. The Justice is the independent student newspaper of Brandeis University. Operated, written, produced and published entirely by students, the Justice includes news, features, arts, opinion and sports articles of interest to approximately 3,500 undergraduates, 900 graduate students, 500 faculty and 1,000 administrative staff. The Justice is published every Tuesday of the academic year with the exception of examination and vacation periods. Advertising deadlines: All insertion orders and advertising copy must be received by the Justice no later than 5 p.m. on the Thursday preceding the date of publication. All advertising copy is subject to approval of the editor in chief and the managing and advertising editors.
regarding her body and with whom she chose to be intimate. On Thursday, June 2, Judge Aaron Persky sentenced Brock Turner to six months in county jail for his act. According to a June 7 CNN article, Persky felt that “Turner’s age and lack of criminal history made [Persky] feel that imposing a six-month jail sentence with probation was appropriate.” Persky also stated that “a prison sentence would have a severe impact on him.” Why is the judge more concerned about the impact that prison might have on a man who committed a crime as opposed to the impact that the crime had on the survivor? The survivor, who has chosen to remain nameless, deserves more than knowing that Turner’s crime was only worthy of 6 months jail time. To make this even worse, Turner only served three months in jail before being released. According to the Criminal Justice Realignment of 2011, conduct credits, or half time credits, can accumulate for those who exhibit good behavior, essentially allowing inmates to only serve half of the original sentence. I can understand this working for a first-time offender committing petty theft, but for something as serious as rape, there is not enough “good behavior” to excuse it. The truth is, Turner is not the only person to have received such leniency for a sexual offense. David Becker, an 18-year-old Massachusetts native, was charged with two counts of rape and one of indecent assault, but according to an Aug. 30 CNN article, Becker only received two years’ probation. If he successfully completes the two years, the charges will not wind up on his record. Yet another college-aged criminal is John
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Enochs. According to a June 28 Huffington Post article, a young woman filed a police report on April 25, 2015, claiming that she was assaulted on April 11 in the Delta Tau Delta fraternity house at Indiana University. She later identified John Enochs, someone who already had a criminal past, as her attacker. On Oct. 21, 2013, another woman had come forward about Enochs assaulting her earlier in the month, but she opted against a lawsuit until 2015 in light of the second case. Then there is Austin James Wilkerson, who received two years in jail under a work-release program along with 20 years of probation. According to an Aug. 12 CNN article, Wilkerson took a young woman he knew from high school to his off-campus home under the pretense of ensuring her safety after she became intoxicated at a party. Then, once the two were alone, he sexually assaulted her. He even claimed that the act was consensual because of her alleged pleasure when he touched her. Again and again, we see people who cannot differentiate between consent and rape, yet they are pitied enough to evade adequate punishment. Why do society and the justice system place more importance on the comfort of young men than on the security of young women? Young men who commit crimes of this nature should not be given plea deals and shortened sentences because a judge does not want to strip them of their freedom and youth; judges should instead think about the young women who have to deal with the subsequent trauma. Until we, collectively, place an equal value on the lives of women as well, this sick trend will most likely continue to occur on and off of campuses everywhere.
Editorial Assistants
Photography: Aaron Birnbaum, Ydalia Colon,
Arts: Audrey Fein
Talya Guenzburger, Morgan Mayback, Yashaspriya Rathi,
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Heather Schiller, Yue Shen, Joyce Yu Copy: Jen Geller, Hannah Kressel, Angela Li,
Staff
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Arianna Unger Features: Rachel Lederer, Mira McMahon, Pichya Nimit Forum: Aaron Dvorkin, Ben Feshbach, Mark Gimelstein, Andrew Jacobson, Nia Lyn, Kat Semerau, Ravi Simon Sports: Gabriel Goldstein Arts: Brooke Granovsky
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TUESDAY, September 20, 2016 ● forum ● THE JUSTICE
FORUM
Urge University recognition of Brandeis Greek life By Chaiel schaffel JUSTICE contributing WRITER
Seven lines. A paragraph. Precisely 80 words. In the Brandeis Rights and Responsibilities Handbook, a document of 75 pages, the mention of fraternities and sororities measures roughly the same length as a research paper footnote. For the casual reader, it would appear as if Greek life plays a middling role in student life at Brandeis, if any role at all. This is the point of those 80 words; they act as a blindfold to cover our eyes, to pretend. Regardless of the good they do, the existence of these influential but officially unrecognized organizations creates a sea of liability and potential for abuse. Brandeis only regulates student-to-student conduct. As a group, fraternities and sororities are not beholden to the school in any way. There are no means for the school to discourage unacceptable conduct by way of collective punishment and culpability. This lack of accountability, lack of reporting structure and laughable dearth of communication produces the awkward, and often dangerous, situation present today. The lack of an official relationship between Brandeis and its Greek life is useful for both parties. A childish, “You don’t know me, and I don’t know you” stance helps both dodge accountability. Recognition, and therefore regulation, is a must. Short of violating laws or University policy and being caught doing so, the Greek life at Brandeis is under no obligation to share internal information or maintain any accountability to the University. Greek institutions at the University have insisted that their own self-regulation is sufficient. However, the inclination of some Greek life at Brandeis has shown otherwise. For example, after a member of Zeta Beta Tau was accused of sexual assault in 2013, an officer of the Greek Awareness Council — preoccupied with the reputation of the implicated fraternity — urged Greek members not to discuss the situation, according to a Feb. 1, 2013 Brandeis Hoot article. The GAC officer placed little emphasis on finding the truth, despite stating that one of his top priorities was “to show that the trust the administration and student body have put in our self-regulation is well-deserved.” Well deserved? Trusting an organization that had just fielded allegations of sexual assault is convenient, not well deserved. It is convenient for Greek life to have no accountability. Without the threat of administrative moderation, it would be easy for these legally ambiguous organizations
BEN JARRETT/the Justice
to violate many University policies, not to mention State and Federal Laws. It is convenient for the University Administration to stick their fingers in their ears, howl loudly and officially pretend that the fraternities and sororities don’t exist, despite their obvious existence. Like a “Swim at Your Own Risk” sign at a public lake, doing so eliminates most of the effort and responsibility on the part of the University to inquire into what happens at off-campus fraternities and sororities. In a Sept. 14 email to the Justice, Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel noted that, though the University tracks off-campus incidents with Waltham Police, “the university does not have any formal tracking system for unrecognized groups or organizations.” The problem extends outside of campus. A lack of University oversight can damage the school’s relationship with the City of Waltham. Noise complaints are a frequent irritation to the people of Waltham and to the Waltham Police Department, who spend countless nights diverting their energies and resources to deal with off-campus parties. This is a source of much needless paperwork, time, money and effort that could better be spent elsewhere. In 2013, Waltham Police sent a letter to local college students, listing common complaints of the community of Waltham against students here. One of the key listed complaints was “loud and disruptive parties.” This time last year, according to a Sept. 11 Hoot article, the Waltham Police Department sent a uniformed officer to warn students of the consequences if they held parties at their
residences. A former Brandeis student and member of Phi Kappa Psi is quoted saying that the officer “made it very clear that should we engage in any external social behaviors at that house, they ... would immediately come to our house” and that anyone present should be prepared to be charged with “disturbing the peace, distributing to minors if you’re 21 and older, possession of alcohol if you’re under 21.” The police should be left to do more urgent work. The jurisdiction of the more studentfriendly Brandeis Police ends at the edge of campus, leaving Waltham Police to clean up the messes of what should be a strictly oncampus problem. In the same Sept. 14 email to the Justice, Flagel confirmed that the University does “work with Waltham Police to track incidents at off campus addresses.” Whether this help is significant enough to counteract the additional paperwork for Waltham Police remains to be seen. Another point, mentioned by Gabriel Del Carmen in a March 21 piece for the Odyssey Online, is that the resources that Brandeis has on campus are far more geared toward student use in case of emergency. Off campus, Brandeis Medical Corps and Brandeis Police have no jurisdiction. In a Sept. 17 email to the Justice, BEMCo Director Carolyn Sabini said, “BEMCo only responds to calls on Brandeis property.” This has enormous implications. If a student at an off-campus party needs medical attention, it can cost them hundreds of dollars, if not more, to receive many of the same services that BEMCo will cover for free. However, if recognized, Greek life could
officially host events on campus, allowing better access to BEMCo and other services. Rather than pay fines or hundreds of dollars for an unnecessary ambulance ride, students at on-campus parties would interact with BranPo and BEMCo. These are just a few of the benefits of recognizing Greek life. Recognition could also include many advantages for Greek life itself. Potentially having money from the school, spaces to hold events and the use of the Brandeis name could be just a few of the upsides to official recognition by the University. Where does Brandeis go from here in terms of recognizing Greek life? According to Flagel’s email, “any such consideration would have to start with our Greek organizations undertaking the kind of fundamental changes that would bring them into alignment with Brandeis student organization values of openness on the basis of competency or interests.” This official trope about Greek life being selective and therefore not in line with Brandeis values is somewhat misleading. For example, most performance-based groups on campus are also quite selective in terms of membership yet still are recognized by the University. Even if the University’s ideological argument for not recognizing Greek life were not so hypocritical, a significant clash of values still exists. Either the school can cling to its abstract system of ethics, or it can adequately protect its student body. Those dismissive seven lines do neither.
Recognize effect of religion on American society and politics By andrew jacobson JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
For many Americans, especially millennials, government and politics are replacing religion. Instead of attending to the dusty Bible on their bookshelves, frustrated voters are increasingly idolizing our political leaders as agents for great revolution and, perhaps, revelation. The problem is that politicians are not almighty, and yielding to them with such deference can result in great disillusion. Let’s take a step back. The United States was intended to be an areligious nation since the beginning. Article 6, Clause 3 of the Constitution which states, “No religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States,” was the first constitutional demonstration of this reality. While this clause necessarily forbade the formal intermingling of religion and politics on the national level, it was the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses of the First Amendment, effective since 1789, that “buil[t] a wall of separation between Church & State,” according to a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptists in 1802. Upon initial examination, it may seem as simple as that. The two salient clauses are compelling, and despite engendering much debate since their inscription, it is not unreasonable to assume their abiding authority. But insofar as they imply the areligious nature of their authors, the clauses are misleading. In fact, a close examination of the lives and written works of the four men typically regarded to be America’s main Founding Fathers — John Adams, Ben Franklin, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson — reveals their devotion, in varying sects and degrees, to religion. What’s additionally fascinating is the extent to which some of them “recognized the significance of man’s spiritual nature,” according to Louis D. Brandeis, and viewed religion as the chief medium by which individuals could cultivate virtuousness. Today, a very different view prevails — but first let’s understand the religious views of our second and third presidents, John Adams and
Thomas Jefferson, respectively. Born and raised a Congregationalist, Adams was “both a devout Christian and an independent thinker, and he saw no conflict in that,” according to biographer David McCullough. Notwithstanding the occasional skepticism of formal religious institutions, Adams had full faith in a sovereign God and the utilitarian value of religious belief, writing once in an 1813 letter to Thomas Jefferson, “Those general Principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the Existence and Attributes of God.” Adams envisioned the new democracy as a nation to champion not only religious tolerance but also religious liberty. He expected the new nation’s secular nature to encourage religious belief rather than deter it. In a speech to the military in 1798, Adams declared, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion … Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Adams suggested that to live under a government which protects each individual’s liberty requires each person’s temperament to be characterized, to a certain degree, by self-restraint, which he believed could be best acquired by religion. For that reason and others, Adams encouraged religious belief among early Americans and almost became a minister himself. Ostensibly an Anglican, Thomas Jefferson’s beliefs were somewhat more complex than Adams’. Jefferson was suspicious of organized faith and the Christian clergy, whom he believed had corrupted the original meaning of the Bible. In his book “The Faiths of Our Fathers,” historian Alf J. Mapp writes about the complexity of the statesman’s faith: “If Jefferson had ever been a youthful atheist, he had soon moved on to agnosticism, then to a faith grounded in classical and Biblical sources, and finally to an unorthodox Christianity.” Jefferson’s critical view of Christianity was influenced heavily by the Enlightenment, but as historian Eugene R. Sheridan writes, Jefferson was unique in that his “rationalism led him
ultimately to an affirmation of faith rather than a rejection of religious belief.” It is therefore unsurprising that by the middle of his life, Jefferson valued religion principally for its moral instruction because, to Jefferson, its “purpose in life was the improvement of man and society in this world rather than the next,” according to the same historian. Regardless of whichever faith tradition Jefferson genuinely followed, it is clear that his writings reveal some conviction in a transcendent God. Take one of the most revolutionary clauses of the Declaration of Independence as an example: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” Jefferson’s notion of divinely inspired natural rights was also influenced by Locke, who wrote that people are “by nature, free, equal and independent.” While philosophers further to the left generally view rights as social constructs, those such as Jefferson and Locke believed that rights and morality must be grounded in the sovereign to be universal. Since then, the religious landscape of the United States has shifted dramatically. According to a Nov. 23, 2015 Pew Research Center report, fewer Millennials consider religion “very important,” and accordingly, fewer believe in God than do those of older generations. What does this suggest? Is rationality replacing religious observance in the one country that has long defied the close link between a nation’s wealth and religious belief? Is the true Enlightenment finally upon us? The answer is not in this election cycle, at least. If Americans once deferred to the Divine for inspiration and moral guidance, they now largely yield to government and politics. Today’s politicians propagate grandiose ideas that instill a false sense of hope in the American populace. Just consider President Obama’s 2008 campaign slogans: “Hope,” “Change” and “Progress.” As a politician, Obama pioneered the use of divinityinvoking rhetoric as a strategic campaign asset, declaring many times his will to “change the world,” a line that resonated with many of his party’s followers. In a March 4, 2012 New Yorker piece, Ryan
Lizza sheds some light on the omnipotent character of Obama’s campaign slogans: “If there was a single unifying argument that defined Obamaism from his earliest days in politics to his Presidential campaign, it was the idea of post-partisanship.” The parallel is clear: Just as the divine transcends the constraints of the material world, Obama believed that he, too, could transcend the limits of operating within a divergent two-party political establishment. Sociologist Max Weber’s conception of a “charismatic authority” can afford us some clarity on this dangerous type of veneration. Weber was known to enunciate three types of authority: traditional, legal and charismatic. According to sociologist Lisa Wade, “Traditional authority derives its power from custom, legal from bureaucracy, and charismatic from cult of personality.” A “charismatic leader” is characterized by the degree to which his or her constituents afford a “specific and exceptional sanctity, heroism” and trust to their beloved. Hitler and Mussolini have fit this category of authority historically, and I would contend that Trump, in the present political context, does as well. This parallel is specific to the notion of charismatic authority only. “Believe me,” the futile phrase he seems to employ constantly, is all he needs to galvanize the applause and electrify this spirit of his enormous crowds. The long-term effects of a total submission to politicians like Trump can unquestionably be devastating. We need not look beyond the last century to realize that. The Founders would be deeply disappointed with the sort of glorification and reverence granted to politicians today. They were deeply skeptical of government and encouraged Americans to cultivate virtue through belief in something transcendental, not fellow mortals. As author and poet David Foster Wallace once said, “There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.” Exalting the divine has long been grounding, providing moral direction and the opportunity to cultivate virtue. Such reverence for politicians does no such thing. It just confuses, disillusions and disappoints.
THE JUSTICE
WSOCCER: Team preserves streak with weekend wins CONTINUED FROM 16 an emphasis to defend against McDaniel as tightly as possible due to her stellar talents, and this allowed the opportunity for other teammates to attack on offense. With the extra attention McDaniel received on defense, she realized that her teammates would have several easy opportunities to score, and the whole team took advantage of this opportunity. In the second half, the Judges seemed to pick up the pace of play and, soon enough, they were leading the game 2-1. The team went on to maintain their lead, proving that the team knew how to persevere. As Dallamora described the outcome of the game, “We’re hard workers, and we have heart.” Brandeis now looks ahead to a lengthy four game road stretch, as they prepare to first play a talented Babson College team, followed by
the undefeated Tufts University. The Judges handled Babson well last year, beating the squad 3-0 in a blowout win. McDaniel bashed in a goal and dished an assist of her own in the win. The team narrowly edged out Tufts for a 1-0 victory, extending their winning streak to nine games before a deflating tie to topranked Wellesley College. Going forward, the team knows that they must maintain the teamwork that has led them to such a strong start. Even with the impressive individual talent on the team, everybody has managed to contribute over this excellent start to the season. As Dallomora mentioned the game against WIT, “That is the ultimate teamwork.” If McDaniel can continue to lead the team in the way that she has, and the Judges make sure to play as one unit, the future for this season looks only positive from here on out.
●
Sports ● SEPTEMBER 20, 2016
13
SWAT AND SERVE
AARON BIRNBAUM/Justice File Photo
TOP-SPIN WINNER: Brian Granoff ’17 flicks the tennis ball for a clean shot down the line against Bowdoin College last April.
TENNIS: Men poised for XC: Squads look to quality regular season continue fast pace at next invitational CONTINUED FROM 16 respectable times of 27:15.17 and 27:35.57, respectively. Also at the invitational was a sub-varsity race, in which six Judges’ competitors came in 3rd out of 14 teams. The best finish in the sub-varsity race for the team
came from Dan Curley ’20, who finished in fourth with a time of 27:01.59. The team will next be in action Oct. 8 at the James Early Invitational hosted by Westfield State University. The Judges will face fresh competition, as they will compete for the first time in the Westfield event.
CONTINUED FROM 16
As Reinharz explains, “This year is all about mental toughness,” which is an ethos that comes not just from the losses themselves last year, but in the nature of some of their losses, particularly 4-5 defeats. The Judges begin anew at the Middlebury Invitational, which functions as a warmup to the season that gives the team an idea of how they stack up against other nationally ranked teams. The Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s most recent rankings, from June 2nd, have the
team ranked 30th nationally and 11th in the Northeast region. The Judges struggled in the top tiers of the tournament but were able to pull it together for the lower brackets. In the C flight, Ostrovsky blew past the competition but ultimately fell in the semifinals of the tough competition, 2-6, 6-4, 10-6. In the D flight, Aizenberg lit up the court for a standout gold performance. Aizenberg handily beat freshman Jason Scanlon from Tufts 7-5, 6-3 in the final round. Scanlon defeated Zach Cihlar ’20 in the semifinal round to prevent an all-Brandeis final matchup. The doubles matches veered the
same way for the Judges with the top duos unable to get past the first rounds of their respective brackets. Tyler Ng ’19 and Aizenberg ate up the competition in the B bracket, advancing all the way to the finals. The duo missed out on a gold by a slim margin, losing 8-6 to the host doubles team. With standout performances in the invitational from Aizenberg and Ng, there is much to look forward to in the long march through the season. Although the more experienced seniors struggled to compete, albeit against tougher competition, the first-years look ready to take the league and the court by storm.
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THE JUSTICE
jUDGES BY THE NUMBERS
● Sports ●
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
15
VOLLEYBALL
Men’s Soccer UAA STANDINGS
TEAM STATS Goals
Josh Ocel ’17 led the team with three goals. UAA Conf. Overall W L D W L D Pct. Player Goals Chicago 0 0 0 6 0 0 1.000 Josh Ocel 3 Carnegie 0 0 0 5 0 0 1.000 Patrick Flahive 1 Rochester 0 0 0 5 0 0 1.000 Brandon Miskin 1 Washington 0 0 0 3 0 0 1.000 Andrew Allen 1 JUDGES 0 0 0 3 1 1 .750 Emory 0 0 0 4 2 0 .667 Assists NYU 0 0 0 3 2 1 .600 Josh Ocel ’17 led the team with Case 0 0 0 2 3 1 .400 two assists. Player Assists EDITOR’S NOTE: Josh Ocel 2 Andrew Allen 2 Sat. at Tufts Zach Vieira 1 Sept. 27 at Wheaton Patrick Flahive 0 Oct. 1 at Carnegie Mellon
WOMen’s Soccer UAA STANDINGS
TEAM STATS Goals
JUDGES Chicago WashU NYU Carnegie Case Emory Rochester
UAA Conf. W L D 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Overall W L D 7 0 0 5 0 0 5 1 0 4 1 0 4 2 0 3 2 1 3 3 0 0 3 2
Pct. 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 .500 .500 .000
EDITOR’S NOTE: Today at Babson Sat. at Tufts Sept. 27 at Wellesley
Lea McDaniel ’17 led the team with eight goals. Player Goals Lea McDaniel 8 Samantha Schwartz 4 Hannah Maatallah 3 Jessica Morana 2
Assists Sam Volpe ’19 led the team with three assists. Player Assists Sam Volpe 3 Haliana Burhans 3 Lea McDaniel 2
VOLLEYBALL
CANDICE JIANG/the Justice
TEAM REGROUPING: The volleyball team took a quick team huddle to assess their game plan in a win over Bates College.
Squad claws back to victory in tough battle ■ Outside hitter Jessie Moore ’18 had a career game with 21 digs to help the Judges overcome Bates. By Ben Katcher
UAA STANDINGS
TEAM STATS Kills
UAA Conf. Overall W L W L Case 0 0 12 1 Carnegie 0 0 11 2 NYU 0 0 9 3 Emory 0 0 8 3 Rochester 0 0 8 4 WashU 0 0 8 6 Chiacago 0 0 5 4 JUDGES 0 0 4 5
Pct. .923 .846 .750 .727 .667 .533 .555 .444
EDITOR’S NOTE: Thu. vs. Emerson Sat. at UMass-Dartmouth Sat. at Southern Maine
Emma Bartlett ’20 led the team with 65 kills. Player Kills Emma Bartlett 65 Shea Decker-Jacoby 58 Zara Platt 44 Grace Krumpack 31
Digs Yvette Cho ’19 led the team with 124 digs. Player Digs Yvette Cho 124 Grace Krumpack 88 Leah Pearlman 57 Marlee Nork 43
cross cOuntry Results from the Fens Classic hosted by Emmanuel University.
TOP FINISHERS (Men’s)
TOP FINISHERS (Women’s)
8-Kilometer Run RUNNER TIME Liam Garvey 25:36.20 Quinton Hoey 26:16.80 Brian Sheppard 26:20.43
5-Kilometer Run RUNNER TIME Emily Bryson 17:50.83 Kate Farrell 18:28.66 Julia Bryson 18:30.74
EDITOR’S NOTE: Oct. 8 at James Early Invitational Oct. 15 at Connecticut College Invitational
CORNER TO HEADER
Justice Contributing writer
The women’s volleyball team split two games this week to put their record at 4-5 for the year. The Judges had a tough day at the Clark Athletic Gym on Wednesday, as University of MassachusettsBoston had no trouble winning the match in straight sets, 3-0. However, the squad came back with a strong performance on Friday and defeated Bates College 3-1. Judges 3, Bates 1 Brandeis struggled in the first set against Bates to go down 1-0 in the match, but they never backed down. They won the next three sets, and the match, by scores of 21-25, 25-23, 28-26 and 25-23. Outside hitter Jessie Moore ’18 had a career game for the Judges. She shattered her previous best of 10 digs in a match by way of 21 for the day and registered her first-ever doubledouble by adding 11 kills. Outside hitter Shea Decker-Jacoby ’19 and middle hitter Emma Bartlett ’20 each
Men hold out for a tie in second double overtime ■ Forward Andrew Allen
’19 sent the only shot on goal in the 19th minute of an overtime tie at WPI. JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
The men’s soccer team stumbled for a second straight game this weekend, following their crushing double-overtime loss to Babson College with a scoreless draw against regional rival Worcester Polytechnic Institute on Wednesday in yet another double-overtime thriller.
YDALIA COLON/Justice File Photo
flag in a win against John Carroll on Sept. 3.
Judges 0, UMass-Boston 3 Brandeis bounced back against Bates but were crushed by UMassBoston earlier in the week by scores of 8-25, 10-25 and 11-25. The Judges struggled mightily with a kill percentage of .131 for the match, compared to the astounding number put up by UMass-Boston of .437. However, Cho led either team with 12 digs, and setter Marlee Nork ’19 led the Judges with seven assists. This was not the kind of performance the Judges were looking for in trying to break out of their three-game losing streak, but it presented an opportunity for the
squad to pick themselves up, display their toughness and prove to be a competitive team not to be taken lightly. Avid fans have every reason to be optimistic for the upcoming stretch of games, as the team showed what they were made of just two days later against Bates. Furthermore, the Judges are leaps and bounds ahead of where they were last year. Through nine matches, the squad already has a higher average of kills, assists, blocks, service aces and digs per set, as well as a higher season hitting percentage. Additionally, the Judges, again in just nine matches, are only one win away from their 2015 total of 5 (through 32 matches). Brandeis has shown drastic improvement from last season. They are an incredibly talented team that just needs to show consistency. Coming into this week, the Judges were in a slump. Entering next week, they will be coming off a proud victory, filled with careerbest performances from numerous players. It will be interesting to see whether they can build off this momentum and become the dominant squad they absolutely have the potential to be moving forward. Brandeis’ regular season continues on Thursday at 7 p.m. against Emerson College.
Men’s Soccer
By GABRIEL GOLDSTIEN
SWEET SPOT SHOT: Defender Dylan Hennessey ’20 booted the ball from the
had 11 kills, as well. Libero Yvette Cho ’19 was a leader on the court and showed why she is team captain. Cho led the match with 23 digs and registered four service aces to bring her season total up to 13 over nine matches. Setter Leah Pearlman ’19 also had a terrific performance with a career-best 32 assists for the match. Every set of this match was extremely close in margin and hard fought by both teams. However, the Judges put their tenacity on display once again and came out on top. This resilient squad should not be overlooked down the stretch, as the Judges made a forceful statement with this win.
Judges 0, WPI 0 Although neither team found the back of the net throughout the whopping 110 minutes of play, the match was not devoid of excitement. Brandeis had a solid opportunity to capture the lead in the 19th minute when forward Andrew Allen ’19 nearly snuck a goal past WPI junior backstop Connor Hoeckele,
who came up with an impressive save to keep the game knotted at 0. WPI responded to Brandeis’ attack with an aggressive one of their own, nearly striking a fireball past Judges goalie Ben Woodhouse ’18 with 10 minutes remaining in the first half. Woodhouse was able to bat the ball away, narrowly saving the squad from what could have been a decisive goal. The Judges responded with another attack, failing to convert on a high-percentage opportunity when Dylan Hennessey ’20 failed to best Hoeckele in the 82nd minute. In the overtime, Hennessey again found himself with an opportunity to play hero for the Judges but failed to convert a free kick due to Hoeckele’s heroics. Hoeckele was the star for Worcester, finishing the game with four critical and impressively athletic saves. Neither team was able to muster a goal in the overtime periods. A closer look at the box score sheds light on just how evenly
matched the two squads were on Wednesday. The Judges ended the game with six total shots, four of which were on goal. WPI finished with five total shots, with three on goal. Both teams had plenty of opportunities to set up a potential game-winning goal, with nine corner kicks each. However, neither squad could convert on any of the combined 18 opportunities. The draw drops the Judges to 3-11 on the season and will almost assuredly result in a slip in national rankings. The draw drops Worcester to 4-0-1 on the season. Though the Judges came out of the gates firing on all cylinders to start the season, it seems problems from the past are coming back to haunt the squad. Just as the team struggled to score consistently and effectively last season, the team is faced yet again with offensive woes. Looking ahead, the Judges will square off against longtime crosstown rival Tufts University on Saturday at home.
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HARD COURT WOES The women’s volleyball team split two games over the weekend to improve to 4-5, p. 15.
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Tennis
DYNAMIC DUO
First-years carry team to victory ■ David Aizenberg ’20 beat Tufts to take home a gold medal in the men’s singles D bracket. By EVAN ROBINS JUSTICE contributing writer
After finishing the 2015 regular season ranked No. 28 in Division III, the men’s tennis team looks to have another successful campaign as their season kicked off this weekend at the Middlebury College Invitational. As much of last year’s team returns, along with the additions of first-years David Aizenberg ’20, Pedro Bobrow ’20, Mitchell Ostrovsky ’20 and Benjamin Wolfe ’20, the program’s continuity puts them in a great position to take the league by storm. Expectations are high for the team, as the combination of the team’s four seniors, Michael Arguello ’17, Ryan Bunis ’17, Jeff Cherkin ’17 and Brian Granoff ’17, together with experienced juniors and sophomores, add to a total package of leadership and depth. This package has many excited about the potential
Waltham, Mass.
for this team, perhaps even for a respectable top-15 ranking. For David Reinharz ’19, “The goal is to be healthy and consistent.” These two aims are in direct response to the team’s season last year, which was in part defined by the team’s streakiness, as the Judges went on runs of a three-match losing streak, followed by a seven-match winning streak, immediately followed by a five-match losing streak. All elements of the 2015 season are being used to form the new season, as the joy and frustration of winning and losing brought with them important experiences which have helped them mature. After their initial losing streak, the team’s seven-match explosion found them in a state of mind where, according to Reinharz, they “took every match one match at a time. We had a game plan for each one and we just executed. It was an in the moment type thing.” The team knows what it takes to have success, having experienced the so often sought but seldom achieved nexus of practice, mentality and outcome, and it’s a feeling and level of morale to which they aim to return.
See TENNIS, 13 ☛
CROSS COUNTRY
Teams pull out top finishes at invitational ■ Emily Bryson ’19 led the
team with a third-place finish to vault the Judges into first place. By NOAH HESSDORF JUSTICE EDITOR
The men and women’s cross country teams ran at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Invitational on Saturday, with the women taking home the gold title, while the men came in fifth out of 33 competitors. The Judges took home the gold for the second consecutive season, outpacing their opponents for a first-place finish. The victory for the women’s side was its second straight to start the season. Similar to the first win, Emily Bryson ’19 paced the squad. She was able to finish in an impressive third place, improving upon her fifth-place finish at the same meet a year ago. Bryson ran the 5K race in an incredible 17:50.83, 19 seconds faster than her time last year. Other Judges besides Bryson performed admirably. Kate Farell ’17 captured an eighth-place finish in a time of 18:28.66, which, much like Bryson, was a significant improvement on her time from a year ago. Also placing in the top-10 of the invitation was Julia Bryson ’19, whose time of 18:30.74 was good enough for ninth place. In 29th place was Danielle Bertaux ’20 who ran a time of 19:11.96 in only her second collegiate competition. The fifth competitor of the race for the squad was Meaghan Barry ’19 who finished in 50th with a time of 19:27.87. The final runner for the Judges was Christine Minor ’19 who finished the 5k in 20:05.56,
which qualified her for 82nd place. On average, the team finished with a time of 18:42.02, which was 14 seconds faster than the runner- ups from Stonehill College. The Judges won the invitational out of a highly competitive field featuring 37 teams and 275 individual runners. For the men, impressive showings by many of the team’s runners were not enough to recapture last season’s UMassDartmouth title. A big reason the squad was unable to replicate its 2015 result was due to the absence of dominant runner, Ryan Stender ’18. The Judges dropped an astounding four whole places to a respectable, but disappointing, fifth-place finish. However, the Judges have kept a solid pace, coming in third place during their 2014-15 campaign. Pacing the Judges, for the first time in his collegiate career, was Liam Garvey ’18. Garvey finished the 8k competition in an impressive time of 25:36.20. He finished in 12th place overall, but 7th among only Division III competitors. Garvey’s time was a good 50 seconds quicker than his previous finish at UMassDartmouth in 2014. The second best time on the day for the Judges came from Quinton Hoey ’17. Hoey, who missed the 2015 race at UMass-Dartmouth, earned a 33rd-place finish by crossing the line at 26:16.80. Three spots behind Hoey was Brian Sheppard ’18 who finished in a time of 26:20.43. Russel Santos ’18 also ran admirably, finishing with a time of 27:04.08 for 60th place. The fifth competitor for the squad was Eli Waxler ’19 who placed in 65th with a time of 27:09.15. The final two runners for the Judges were Brady Payne ’17 and Sam Reich ’20. The two finished in 74th and 88th place, with
See XC, 13 ☛
AARON BIRNBAUM/the Justice
GIVE AND GO: Defender Julia McDermott ’17 looks for the assist from midfielder Alexa Steele-Weintraub ’19 in a 5-0 win.
Squad nears record win streak as week closes ■ Midfielder Haliana
Burhans ’18 contributed two assists in a rout of Eastern Conn. St. By LEV BROWN JUSTICE Contributing writer
After what seemed to be a record setting start to the women’s season, the Judges have further proven this week that they are not a team to mess with. After an excellent 5-0 start to the first two weeks of the season, the Judges have continued their pattern of dominance, bringing the hammer to Eastern Connecticut State University on Tuesday and coming from behind to beat Wentworth Institute of Technology 2-1 on Thursday. A phenomenally coached team led by forward Lea McDaniel ’17 and keeper Alexis Grossman ’17, the Judges seem to be on their way to a historic season. Judges 5, Eastern Conn. 0 On Tuesday, the team took care of business in what has come to
seem like routine fashion as they shut out Eastern Connecticut 5-0. Brandeis started out attacking aggressively on the offensive end, scoring all three of their first goals on offensive rebounds. The first goal of the contest came from McDaniel as she slammed home a missed shot by forward Haliana Burhans ’18. The team did not look back from there, as they continued to execute a dominant offensive game plan. Grossman had four saves as she continued her perfect season. This game marked the 15th shutout of Grossman’s tremendous career, and it continued the team’s incredible shutout streak to 540 straight minutes of play. Judges 2, Wentworth 1 On Thursday, the Judges hosted an also unbeaten team, the Wentworth Institute of Technology Leopards, for a match that seemed to be Brandeis’ most challenging of the season so far. In the 14th minute of play, the Leopards’ senior back Mary Pastorelli scored the first point of the game and Brandeis’ first allowed goal all season. This
snapped the Judges’ remarkable streak of 553 scoreless minutes allowed by an opponent. The rest of the half went scoreless by both sides, and despite the scoreboard’s single point difference, the Judges were not happy. The team knew there would be lots of work to do come game time to start the second half of the battle. After the game, Coach Denise Dallamora revealed that at halftime, the team decided to “pick up the pace and start playing our own game.” Sure enough, this plan was executed perfectly. In the final period, the game immediately turned to the favor of Brandeis. The Judges managed to come out of the gate with a completely different mindset than they did the first half, as forward Samantha Schwartz ’18 scored their first goal in just two minutes and nine seconds. This goal came from an assist by McDaniel, the recipient the University Athletic Association Offensive Player of the Week award for the previous two straight weeks. The Leopards’ defense made
See WSOCCER, 13 ☛
Vol. LXIX #4
September 20, 2016
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ARTS Waltham, MA.
Images: Morgan Brill/the Justice . Design: Natalia Wiater/the Justice.
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THE JUSTICE | Arts i TUESDAY, September 20, 2016
Music
JOYCE YU/the Justice
READY TO ROCK: The Vaughns, an indie band from New Jersey, prepare to perform their show in Chum’s on Saturday night.
Young band brings unique sound to stage By Zara hoffman
The Brandeis Association for Music/Concert Organizing (BAMCO) hosted its first performance of the semester on Saturday night at Cholmondeley’s Coffee House (more affectionately known as “Chum’s” on campus). The main attraction was the Vaughns, an indie rock/pop band from Springfield, New Jersey — two of the band members lightly debated whether their hometown was classified as North or Central Jersey, illustrating their camaraderie and humor. With an opening act by Lady Bones, a local band from Boston, the night started off with a bang — and the volume didn’t drop until after the Vaughns’ final song. Nominated for three 2015 Asbury Park Music Awards, this band has been gaining recognition since its formation in 2014 and recent decision to expand beyond its home state’s borders. Before the Vaughns went on stage to perform their sound check, they granted the Justice an justice contributing writer
interview, offering a little more insight to the band’s background. Before starting their sound check, lead guitarist and vocalist David
JOYCE YU/the Justice
SUPER STRINGS: Lead guitarist and vocalist David Cacciatore rocks out during the Vaughns’ performance. Cacciatore mentioned that the band’s first gig was in early 2014. Anna Lies, the songwriter, lead singer and
backup guitarist, added, “We had all gone to high school together, but we didn’t really know each other until college.” When asked about their introductions to music, each of them had a parent to thank. Drummer Ryan Kenter had a story that had the whole band laughing: “My dad bought a drum set, and when I was ten, I beat him at playing the drums, so he gave it up. That’s when I gave up on guitar lessons.” Cacciatore said that his introduction was “the reverse of Ryan’s:” he tried learning drums, but dropped it in seventh grade to pick up the guitar. Ryan quipped, “That’s why we work perfectly!” The band listed Courtney Barnett, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix and John Bonham as some of their influences. When asked what they hope audiences take away from their performances, Lies said, “We just want them to have fun. We hope we can put on a fun show [with] fun, uplifting music. But not hopelessly happy, realistically happy. Not fake, pop happy.” Once they started playing people
poured into Chum’s, staying still until the tempo picked up, then started grooving to the music’s beat. Lies greeted everyone by asking who’s ever been to or was from New Jersey, their home state, and announced that “our goal is to get a Jersey chant tonight.” She got her wish later in the evening, when the people from New Jersey started chanting “Jersey” at the top of their lungs. She continued to check in with the audience between songs, and everyone always cheered and clapped after each song, which created the happy and fun environment the Vaughns hoped for. For many of the songs, bassist Tom Losito and Cacciatore shared a microphone, which brought their faces centimeters away from each other — so close that Lies at one point playfully asked, “Did you guys kiss yet?” earning laughs from the audience. Tom took it in stride and replied, “We’ve been close.” The band played twelve songs in total. All of them were loud and energetic, even during the intervals when the instruments would soften to emphasize the vocals. The sixth
song, “Phase Me” (for which the music video was posted in late May 2016), had people crowding toward the front in a group near the platform. This was an empowering song (with a few expletives) about not being affected by life’s rough patches. “Roses,” the ninth song, was a mix between soft, alternative vocals with some hardcore guitar and drums that had people dancing from start to finish. Their new EP “Tomfoolery,” is available on Spotify, iTunes, Soundcloud, BandsInTown, BandCamp, YouTube and GooglePlay. The event was a fun, intimate gathering with all the energy of a large stadium concert. Their music is perfect if you want to chill out or if you want a good beat to dance to on a night out. The songs fit into anyone’s library that includes indie rock, alternative or pop. Their next performance is on Sept. 25 in Westfield, New Jersey at the Westfield Festifall, which Ryan described as “street fair with cotton candy.” After that, their next show will be on Nov. 27 at New York City’s Webster Hall.
Artist Exhibit
BLSO showcases iconic artist Frida Kahlo By hannah kressel
The meeting started with Latino board, one of its members, Angel snacks and music, invoking the Dël Amour ’19, gave a presentation tropical climates of Kahlo’s native on Frida Kahlo’s life and works. Mexico, despite the currently The presentation gave an easily Frida Kahlo’s work is not dreary Massachusetts weather; I digestible overview on Kahlo’s life, for the light-hearted; after all, found the mango nectar and dulche studded with pictures illustrative bleeding hearts and self-portraits de leche wafers particularly of her personality. While many do not make for stately dining welcome reprieves after a week of know Kahlo as the artist with rooms and school buildings. Even monotonous dining hall grub. the flowers in her hair and a so, Kahlo drew fame from her After introducing the club’s plethora of draping dresses, the willingness to bare her deepest emotions on canvas — everything from the depression stemming from a miscarriage to the fiery passion she felt for various affairs during her marriage — and for her untraditionally liberal aesthetic; a unibrow and suit was not exactly the typical garb of her female contemporaries. This image has kept Kahlo in the public eye; she is still considered one of the most ardent of feminist figures in popular culture, over 60 years after her death. However, while her politics and dress kept her relevant in the art world of the time, Kahlo always felt she struggled to be taken seriously due to her Mexican heritage — something she was extremely proud of. This is why the Brandeis Latino Student Organization, chose to spotlight Kahlo to kick YDALIA COLON/the Justice off its National Hispanic Heritage SEEING DOUBLE: Angel Dël Amour ’19 presents “The Two Fridas,” a Month. painting that represents how she has changed since her divorce with Diego Rivera. justice contributing writer
presentation included a picture of a younger Kahlo — a family portrait including her before she became engulfed in the art world. In this image, Kahlo is dressed in a suit, hair tied back like that of a man. She is in stark contrast with her sisters and mother who are dressed in the traditional frilled dresses women were expected to fashion during Kahlo’s time. This image is representative of Frida Kahlo’s personality — a woman who could find humor in anything and could easily dance to the beat of her own drum, despite various critics and gender stereotypes. The presentation continued, following Kahlo’s life, noting her time spent in America and her tempestuous relationship with fellow artist Diego Rivera, who met Kahlo while she was his student. Rivera, although married to Kahlo, retained his affinity for women — namely the nude models he painted, a fact that fueled much of the inner turmoil Kahlo’s work displays. As noted in the presentation, Rivera even had an affair with Kahlo’s sister, Cristina, a situation for which Kahlo never truly forgave either one. The slideshow also incorporated an image of Frida Kahlo with Leon Trotsky, with whom Frida
Kahlo had a brief affair while he hid in her home (aptly named La Casa Azul for its azure hue) while escaping Stalin. The slideshow was brief yet effective in educating those at the event about Frida Kahlo, perhaps on a deeper level than the mere fact that she was a famous artist with eye-catching eyebrows. After the presentation, one board member passed out canvasses, giving those at the event a chance to express their own feelings in a way possibly evocative of Frida Kahlo’s own colorful, preternatural style. Kahlo’s work is characterized by bright colors and vibrant hues, which the club made easy to recreate with a vast supply of paints. One attendee, Rachel Snyderman ’20, crafted a strong-lined, radiant image of a woman, inspired by Kahlo’s affinity for portrait painting. However, the paintings as a whole ranged from depicting the evening sky to a yin-yang. But one thing was constant throughout the paintings: everyone was inspired by the eclectic, colorful work of such an artistic visionary. Overall, the night was relaxed and enjoyable, an easy way to enjoy Latin culture as well as paint a bit to destress from the tiring week.
THE JUSTICE i arts i TUESDAY, September 20, 2016
Music LADIES, WHO’S IN CONTROL?: After a long wait, Aluna finally enters the stage, much to the delight of the audience. PHOTOS BY MORGAN BRILL/the Justice
t r e c n o c l l a F t a d w o r c s w o w e g r o e G a n Alu By isabelle truong justice Contributing writer
Aluna strutted onstage and had just one question for the crowd at a packed-full Levin Ballroom Saturday night: “Ladies, who’s in control?” The female half of electronic-pop duo AlunaGeorge, Aluna was met with screaming delight as she charmed her way into the University’s musical hearts. A favorite vocalist among major EDM artists like Flume, DJ Snake, Jack Ü and more, Aluna performed all her popular hits, opening with “Attracting Flies” off of her 2015 most-renowned album “Body Music.” She played a few tracks from her new album “I Remember” as well, which had just been released the day before. Aluna and George, both 24-yearold London-based artists, have collaborated together since 2012. Their success has since skyrocketed, with them receiving a nomination in 2013 for the Critics Choice at the Brit Awards. Unfortunately, while they are still creating music, George did not perform alongside Aluna. The two have stopped touring and performing onstage together recently. However, Aluna still radiated as a solo act with only an additional drummer and a DJ. AlunaGeorge’s music is so successful because of their unique sound — Aluna’s sugar sweet, “almost childlike” (as the Edge Magazine accurately describes it) vocals juxtaposed with heavy electric bass and dubstep somehow create an upbeat and happy atmosphere, yet at the same time add a chill, dance-inducing vibe that isn’t really emulated in any other musical act. While categorized as electronic dance music, their music also isn’t as heavy and intense as Skrillex or drenched in bland pop. Compared to any other similar-sounding DJ, AlunaGeorge’s music can perhaps be described as soothing and effortless but simultaneously futuristic and trippy. The event was run by Brandeis Student Events for the 2016 Brandeis Fall Concert, an annual event welcoming the new school year. This year’s turnout was impressive, and the show proved itself to be worth all the sweaty
pushing and shoving for student events to prepare in the morning. Many students, who may have really only known one or two of her songs like “You Know You Like it,” extended their stay and were surprised by the vibrant and energetic vibe Aluna emitted. From the moment she arrived on stage, clad in a 90s-Aaliyah-esque all-white ensemble, the goddess almost immediately enthralled the crowd with addictive energy. After “Attracting Flies,” Aluna followed with the techno, saxophonic “Automatic,” another song that listeners might have recognized. She performed while banging an electronic cowbell and jumping up and down: the cowbell was practically another major player in her set. Aluna’s eclectic dancing drew the responsive crowd and inspired everyone to just keep moving — not once during the show did she seem to tire out or even break for water. Her dance moves and short, funny anecdotes in between songs revealed an unapologetic sass and dynamic spirit that was quite on a whole other level. Aluna performed her originals and also “To Ü” and “White Noise,” two of her other collaborations with DJs Diplo and Skrillex and DJ duo Disclosure respectively that are more wellknown. In terms of interaction with the crowd, Aluna didn’t say or talk too much except for briefly discussing her Flume collaboration: the two would always run into each other in the studio, until one day they finally decided to work together. “I Remember” from the album of the same name came out of that partnership. At the end, she sang the crowd-pleaser “You Know You Like It” to close the show, pointing the microphone to the crowd and exclaiming, “Thank you, Boston! Yeah, Boston!” Everyone shouted the lyrics while jumping to the beat. Aluna bid the audience adieu with a “Good Night, I love you, Mwah” and closed strongly and bittersweetly, the magnetic rush still apparent even after it was over. I only wish the set could have been longer — and maybe also had more cowbell. AlunaGeorge was the perfect performer to begin the new year.
PERCUSSION KING: Rapper/Percussionist KING J, who is a student at Boston University, opened up the 2016 Fall concert.
ENERGETIC ALUNA: Aluna pumps up the crowd during her opening song, “Attracting Flies.”
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2016 | Arts | THE JUSTIce
Brandeis TALKS
INTERVIEW
With Asia Wok closed, what’s your favorite late night snack?
Connor Wahrman ’17
Shaquan McDowell ’18 “My favorite late-night snack is probably just a Snicker’s from the C-Store — more like four Snickers from the C-Store, because Asia Wok is a substantial meal and you gotta make up for the things you’re missing. Just a Snickers and probably a large Sprite.”
MAX MORAN/the Justice
This week, JustArts sat down with Connor Wahrman ’17, who plays Peter in the forthcoming production of “At Home/ At The Zoo,” which opens this week. justArts: For those who don’t know anything about “At Home/At the Zoo,” can you just tell me a little bit about the play and its structure?
TZIPORAH THOMPSON/Justice File Cartoon
Dylan Hoffman ’18
“Asia Wok closing is a tremendous tragedy. I cried. We’re having a vigil for [them] in my Ziv. There’s like this new place that sweeped in called Dragon Chef. There’s conspiracies that [they] burned down Asia Wok, and I’m partial to those conspiracies.”
Doyeon Kim ’20 “The Stein.”
Zephry Wright ’17 “Probably chewy Chips Ahoy. That’s what I go to.” —Compiled and photographed by Natalia Wiater/the Justice.
STAFF’S Top Ten
TV Shows to Binge-Watch By MIRA MELLMAN justice EDITOR
People say you have a lot of free time in college, but I don’t know what they’re talking about. Being a full-time student and binge-watcher doesn’t leave me with a lot of extra time. Here are a few of my alltime favorite television shows to watch. 1. The West Wing 2. Gilmore Girls 3. Breaking Bad 4. Unreal 5. Empire 6. Friends 7. Friday Night Lights 8. Mad Men 9. Casual 10. Jane the Virgin
CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Humanities alternative, for short 5 Hillary’s hubby 9 Less healthy looking 14 Prefix with -dynamic 15 See 8-Down 16 Common martini adornment 17 Element discovered by Winkler and named for his country 19 Chieng of The Daily Show 20 Panache 21 Acting like 23 Book flap feature, often 26 With 67-Down: “Another, por favor!” 27 Consume, as food or chemicals 30 Like an easy job or a good significant other 34 Star Wars Episode VII antagonist 35 Green Party candidate Jill 36 “The Duplex” character 37 Got off one’s feet 38 Take apart 43 Type of rally 46 Good buddy 47 One can be found in a fireplace 51 “_____ the ramparts we watched...” 52 Ginormous or fantabulous, for example 55 Mulligan 57 A tree in “The Lord of the Rings”, perhaps 58 Word after Op or Pop 59 Youtube offering 61 See 22-Down 63 “Not for all the tea in ______!” 65 Someone to cut out of a deal ... or a feature of 17-, 30-, 38- and 52-Across 70 Weighed down heavily, as a mule 71 Fencing sword 72 Spreadable food in fine cuisine 73 Opposite of 27-Across 74 Agrees nonverbally 75 Norway’s capital
Connor Wahrman: What we’re doing is a one-act version of [the play]. It’s the original version, which is called “The Zoo Story.” Later on, Edward Albee — may he rest in peace as of a few days ago — decided to tack on another segment in Peter’s home, making it “At Home/At The Zoo.” So in “Zoo Story,” it’s just two characters. Me, for the most part on a bench, and Jerry, played by Dan Souza ’19, for the most part off the bench. I don’t want to spoil reveals at the end, but a lot of it goes into the nature of theater, the double role of the actor and the character, theater both as representation and performance at the same time. JA: How are you guys playing with the material and the structure of the show?
9 Studying intently, with “over” 10 “Get ____, you two!” 11 Doesn’t leave, as an odor 12 Not odd: abbr. 13 Star Wars Episode VII protagonist 18 College admissions officers, often 22 It may be Grigio or 61-Across 23 Vehicle in the movie “Speed” 24 Smarts, for short 25 Keats work 28 One is Red; another is Dead 29 “Rizzoli & Isles” netwk. 31 _____ al-Adha (Muslim holiday) 32 Distributed, as cards 33 Place to stay for a night 39 Fungal product 40 Scar permanently 41 Legume featured in soup 42 Ambulance worker, for short 43 Orca group 44 Fair-hiring abbr. 45 Put meals on the table, say 48 Arthur of “The Golden Girls” 49 Corn unit 50 Dull place to be stuck 52 Condescending type 53 Fixed up 54 Positively charged electrodes 56 Places to find swingers? DOWN 60 Bad sign 1 Droop down 62 “_____! The Genetic Opera” (Paris 2 Annoy, with “off” Hilton movie) 3 Make a mistake 63 One half of a Browns vs. Falcons 4 “All mimsy were the scoreboard borogroves, and the _____ raths 64 What the Evil Queen transforms outgrabe” (Jabberwocky line) into in “Snow White” 5 One may serve as a gun during 66 Facebook had one in 2012, for short playtime 67 See 26-Across 6 Knows about, as a joke 68 The other half of a Browns vs. 7 Lucy of “Charlie’s Angels” Falcons scoreboard 8 Religious figure from 69 Prefix with -liberal or 15-Across -conservative
CROSSWORD COURTESY OF EVAN MAHNKEN
CW: Albee was notorious for making things always his way. If he found out that you were deviating in blocking or lines or anything, legend has it that he would shut you down. So despite that, we have gone ahead and changed some things to get across the directorial vision of Raphael [Stigliano ’18]. We had the idea of incorporating lines from the “At Home” part into the scenery. We toyed with the idea of, in different performances, the actors switching roles — decided to scrap [those ideas]. But those were the kinds of things that inform the direction of the way that we’re taking it. With those ideas in the background, it helps in observing the performance. JA: What’s it like working with such a small cast and crew? CW: At rehearsals, it’s usually just me, Dan, Raph and our stage manager Delaney Palma ’19. And it’s very familiar. Usually when you come to rehearsals [for other shows], you’re in a scene with a few people. There’s a large cast, but most scenes are one-on-one or three people carrying on activities, so it’s not that different [at these rehearsals] — except for it’s always just me and the one person. And you just get to know everybody a little bit better. JA: Edward Albee passed away very recently. Are you planning to memorialize him in any way in the performances?
SUDOKU
CW: There will probably be an aftershow thing. [W]e’re not changing the show itself at all in result of his death. But there will be mention in the playbill and post-show “Thanks for coming.’”We dedicate this show in memory of Edward Albee, although he probably wouldn’t appreciate it.
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.
JA: Can you tell me a little about your character — to what extent you’re comfortable with without giving away anything?
SOLUTION COURTESY OF EVAN MAHNKEN
Solution to last issue’s sudoku
CW: It’s hard to find the line between lower-upper middle class and upperupper middle class, but [Peter’s] somewhere around there. He’s a family man in his forties but dresses a little younger because he wants to. He’s a smoker, but with a pipe, so he keeps it classy. And he’s at the park. You’ll learn a little more about him as the show goes on, some of which is just lines and some of which has meaning later on. So you’ll just have to see it.
Sudoku Copyright 2014 Tribune News Service, Inc.
—Max Moran