The Justice, March 21, 2017

ARTS Page 19

SPORTS Fencing teams finish with mixed results 16 FORUM Acknowledge expanding vegetarian options 11 The Independent Student Newspaper

the

‘MIRRORS’ of

B r a n d e is U n i v e r sit y S i n c e 1 9 4 9

Justice

Volume LXIX, Number 21

www.thejustice.org

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

ADMINISTRATION

EDEL-IN FOR EDELMAN

Error accounts for incorrect housing numbers, says DCL ■ Housing lottery

numbers were reissued to upperclassmen following oversights in the system.

By Morgan brill JUSTICE editor

When the Department of Community Living announced housing lottery numbers to students via email on Wednesday, March 15, many students reacted with confusion and frustration, posting on social media and reaching out to DCL to express their disappointment.

DCL sent out two emails to the student body on Wednesday. The first stated that all upperclassmen had received priority and had been assigned numbers between 1 and

1,322, while rising sophomores had received numbers between 1,383 and 2,400. Contrary to the email however, rising seniors had in fact been given priority over rising juniors.

DCL sent out a second email, eight hours after the first, which apologized for an “unintended error in coding [their] automated number assignment process.” This error, the email stated, had created a system which separated rising juniors and seniors into different priority pools. With Usen Castle slated for demolition, resulting in less available housing, most juniors had been given numbers that would have effectively prohibited them from obtaining housing in many of the residential areas juniors have typically inhabited in past years.

See DCL, 7 ☛

CONSTRUCTION

Castle replacement will be eco-friendly ■ Campus Operations finalized new dormitory plans to replace Castle sophomore residency.

By JUNSHENG HE and Abby patkin JUSTICE staff writer and editor

With its new residence hall — set to be completed in summer 2018 — the University will be emphasizing aesthetics and eco-friendly features, according to Vice President for Campus Operations Jim Gray.

Set to cost an estimated $38,000,000, the new housing will notably feature a 30- to 40-well geothermal heating and cooling system, which will use energy from the earth to offset the use of fossil fuels. “The heat and cooling system of the building will largely be driven by the geothermal well system, which uses the constant temperature in the ground to heat the building in the winter and cool

the temperature in the summer,” Gray said in a joint meeting with the Brandeis Hoot and the Justice.

Gray added that the geothermal system will be the first of its kind on campus. Many other residence halls on campus rely on steam heating, while the Foster Mods and Charles River Apartments use electrical heating appliances, according to the Housing Rights and Responsibilities Handbook.

In addition to the more ecofriendly heating and cooling, the new residence hall will have solar panels on its roof, which Gray said will partially power the building, in addition to slightly cutting the University’s carbon consumption.

The University will also be focusing on aesthetics as the new building is designed and constructed; according to Gray, the new building will feature a more open main stairway, with larger windows around the building that will allow students to better appreciate

See CASTLE, 7 ☛

NATALIA WIATER/the Justice

ELECTION: Student Union Vice President-elect Hannah Brown ’19 and President-elect Jacob Edelman ’18 during Tuesday's debate.

Edelman wins Union election by wide margin ■ The student body elected

Jacob Edelman '18 to become the next Student Union President.

By ABBY PATKIN JUSTICE EDITOR

Voter turnout was high, with several close races, in the first round of Student Union elections on Thursday.

In the race for the Student Union presidency, Jacob Edelman ’18 — the Union’s Director of Communications — won 680 of the 1,243 votes cast, walking away with 54.71 percent of the vote.

In a pre-election debate moderated by the Brandeis Hoot and the Justice last Tuesday, Edelman emphasized the importance of Union transparency, diversity and inclusion. “So many of us feel the need for a more transparent Student Union, so that people don’t have to ask the question, ‘What is it the Union does?’” Edelman said. “We should be putting ourselves out

there, putting the budget online and creating a very easy way that people can analyze what it is that we do and go to us for help.”

Student Union Vice President Paul Sindberg ’18, who came in second in the race for the presidency, garnered 275 votes, or 22.12 percent of votes cast. Shaquan McDowell ’18 earned 228 votes, or 18.34 percent.

The abstain option got 51 votes — 4.1 percent of the total — while “other” received nine votes.

In the race for Student Union vice president, Hannah Brown ’19 walked away with 60.02 percent, or 713 votes cast.

In the debate, Brown said that the Union Senate should focus on teamwork and productivity. “By being more hands-on with senators and committee initiatives and lending my experience as a mentor — and even a manager, if needed — we will be able to accomplish great things right from the start,” she said.

Brown’s opponent, Nakeita Henry ’19, received 312 of the 1,188 votes cast, or 26.26 percent. Students cast 14 votes for “other” — one of these votes went to the late Harambe —

and 149 votes for Abstain.

Lian Chen ’19 won the race for Union secretary, with 387 of the 1,160 votes cast, or 33.36 percent.

While Chen’s opponent, AmyClaire Dauphin ’19, garnered 49.31 percent, Dauphin dropped out of the race and conceded to Chen before the results were announced, according to an email to campus media members from Student Union President David Herbstritt ’17.

In her remarks at the debate, Chen stressed the importance of open communication with the student body and transparency regarding the Union Executive Board’s functions. “We have made many things happen in the E-board that people may not know how they actually happened, and people who gave some suggestions [regarding initiatives] may not go through with us for the whole process,” she said.

Emily Levine ’18, who ran unopposed from abroad, won the race for Student Union treasurer with 80.83 percent — 936 — of the 1,158 votes

See SU, 7 ☛

Coming to Crew

Tennis Turmoil

#1Gift1Vote

 The Brandeis Crew Team prepares for its upcoming spring season.

 The tennis teams were unable to defeat Middlebury College this past week.

 Provost Lynch started a new fundraising campaign calling for student donorship and participation.

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

Waltham, Mass.

Let your voice be heard!

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INDEX

SPORTS 16 ARTS SPORTS

17 13

EDITORIAL FEATURES

10 OPINION 8 POLICE LOG

10 2

READER COMMENTARY

News 3

11

COPYRIGHT 2017 FREE AT BRANDEIS.

2

TUESDAY, March 21, 2017

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news

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the justice

NEWS SENATE LOG Senate discusses “meatless Monday” and bylaw amendments The Senate convened on Sunday to recognize several new clubs and discuss amendments to the Union’s constitution and reports on issues raised by constituents this past week.

The first club up for recognition was Fencing Club, a club that previously existed but had been disbanded.

Citing the lack of opportunity for non-varsity fencers to enjoy the sport and having already found a Brandeis alumnus to help coach, the club was recognized by the Senate after some discussion on the club’s long-term plan for obtaining funding. Next came Brandeis Veg Club, which promotes a vegetarian or vegan diet as a part of their mission to spread awareness of animal cruelty in factory farms, with financial backing from the Humane League. The Senate voted to recognize the club.

Brandeis Chak De! then stood before the Senate to request chartering. The club’s mission is to perform and encourage the Brandeis community to participate in Bollywood fusion dance. In spite of some concerns of the club’s inclusivity, the Senate unanimously voted to charter.

In executive officer reports, Student Union PresidentElect Jacob Edelman ’18 spoke about increasing “Interbranch cooperation” and expressed his excitement about his ability to return to the Student Union next year. Executive Senator Hannah Brown ’19 reported on behalf of Student Union Vice President Paul Sindberg ’18. Brown addressed last week’s confusion about the housing lottery and stated that the upcoming elections for the Senate and the Judiciary will take place on March 27.

Student Union President David Herbstritt ’17 then gave news regarding the technical difficulties affecting the ratification of a constitutional amendment to add a senator for international students. He stated that the amendment did indeed pass and will go into effect in spite of the problem.

In committee reports, the Club Support Committee reported on an upcoming public relations workshop and discussed improvements to the club recognition process, making the recognition and chartering process more difficult for clubs. Then, the Campus Operations Working Group chair, Massell Quad Senator Aaron Finkel ’20 announced that the committee is working with Student Sexuality Information Service to distribute menstrual products to students and is in the process of applying for a Senate Money Request to follow through on that.

The Dining Committee reported its commitment toward “meatless Monday” and mentioned a survey of students, asking for vegetarian and vegan recipes that students would want to see in the dining halls. The Sustainability Committee met with University President Ronald Liebowitz last Friday, and Senator At-Large Matt Smetana ’17 reported that Liebowitz re-committed to hiring more climate and environmental studies professors and expressed the financial constraints that the University currently faces. Brown then discussed potential improvements to the Student Union midnight buffet, including reducing food lines and providing ingredient and allergen lists.

Next came the Senate bylaw amendment clarifying the terms “late,” “absent” and “leaving early” with regard to Senate meetings. Debating semantics back and forth, many senators expressed concerns about attendance as an obligation and offered different perspectives on the time commitment required of senators.

This led to the issue being tabled to allow for revision to the amendment.

An SMR to establish April break shuttles to Logan Airport and South Station was discussed and confirmed as having passed. Another SMR from the Sustainability Committee requesting funding for the State of Sustainability, a gathering of environmental organizations on campus occurring on April 4, was unanimously passed.

POLICE LOG Medical Emergency March 13—Waltham Police reported a 911 call to University Police regarding a party who fell outside Rosenthal Quad.

University Police responded with BEMCo staff, and the party was treated with a signed refusal for further care.

March 13—University Police received a report of a party in Slosberg Music Center with a possible case of food poisoning. BEMCo staff treated the party, who was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care.

March 15—A party in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center reported a head injury.

BEMCo staff treated the party with a signed refusal for any further care.

March 15—BEMCo staff responding to an earlier call found an intoxicated party vomiting in a stairwell in East Quad. BEMCo staff treated the party, who was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care.

March 15—A party reported that they had fallen on ice near

Kutz Hall. BEMCo staff treated the party, who was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care.

March 15—University Police received a report of a party who had fallen and struck their head outside Schwartz Hall. BEMCo staff and University Police responded, and the party was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care.

March 15—University Police received a report of a nonstudent party in Theater Lot who was concerned for their safety. University Police spoke with the party and both parties agreed upon a voluntary psychiatric evaluation. The party was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care.

March 16—University Police received a report of a party with flu-like symptoms in Gordon Hall. The party was treated on scene with a signed refusal for further care.

March 18—An Uber driver was pulled over at the Main Entrance due to an intoxicated party getting sick in the vehicle.

University Police identified the

party as a student and ensured that the party was with a sober friend who could assist them back to their residence.

March 18—A party in Ziv Quad reported that they scraped their knee. The party was treated by BEMCo staff with a signed refusal for further care.

March 18—A party in the Foster Mods reported items missing from their unlocked room.

University Police compiled a report on the incident.

Drugs

Other

March 13—Department of Community Living staff found a class D substance in the Charles River Apartments while performing room inspections. University Police confiscated the contraband, with a report and a Community Standards Report follow-up to come.

March 16—DCL staff in Deroy Hall reported discovering marijuana. University Police confiscated the contraband and compiled a report, with a CSR follow-up to come, March 17—DCL staff found a class D substance in the Foster Mods. University Police confiscated the contraband and compiled a report, with a CSR follow-up to come.

March 17—DCL staff found a

The Justice welcomes submissions for errors that warrant correction or clarification. Email editor@ thejustice.org.

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

March 16—University Police received a report of a strange letter delivered to a staff member in the Bernstein-Marcus Administration Center, with a report on the incident to follow.

March 17—University Police compiled a report on a computer scam in North Quad.

March 19—A manager at the Stein reported that four parties were in the Sherman Dining Hall lower level after hours. The parties fled after the manager’s arrival, and University Police were unable to locate them.

University Police observed no apparent forced access to the area and compiled a report on the incident.

—Compiled by Abby Patkin

MBTA budget cuts may shut down weekend commuter rail services

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS

n A Views on the News response for Bidushi Adhikari ’17 accidentally left out the word “that.” (Mar. 14, pg.

10).

Larceny

BRIEF

RELAY FOR LIFE

—Spencer Taft

n A News article stated that Dr. Mei-Mei Akwai Ellerman’s biological father married several wives. It was actually her biological maternal grandfather who was married several times. The article also stated that Ellerman’s mother had four adoptive British children in the U.S. during the war. She actually had three. (Mar. 7, pg. 5).

class D substance and drug paraphernalia in the Foster Mods.

YVETTE SEI/the Justice

Community member cancer survivors led the parade for Relay For Life, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, on Saturday evening.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s proposal to scrap commuter rail service on weekends could affect many University students and faculty. There could also be reduced service for people with disabilities, according to a March 13 article from the Boston Globe.

Faced with a $42 million budget gap, MBTA officials have put a range of options on the table, including privatization, restructuring, fare hikes and budget cuts.

The MBTA would save $10 million from scrapping weekend commuter rail service and $7.4 million from reducing trips on a program for people with disabilities, said officials cited in the Globe article.

“We need to ask questions about what we want to run,” said Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack, as quoted in the Globe article.

A break in weekend service would also make it easier for construction workers to install new safety measures. However, the proposed cuts triggered a quick backlash.

“I know it’s a tempting target, but [service] is as necessary on the weekends as it is during the day,” said Paul Regan, the MBTA Advisory Board’s executive director, as quoted in the Globe article. “There are people who rely on it.”

Though the MBTA has struggled financially, the proposal raises concerns for those who depend on public transportation.

According to an March 13 email from the Office of the Provost, Provost Lisa Lynch sent a survey last week “to various members of the Brandeis community,” to gauge the necessity of the weekend rail to the community.

The cuts could affect University faculty, staff and students, particularly those living off-campus. Losing the commuter rail could make transportation more expensive for those who need to get to campus on the weekends, also limiting the range of students’ travel on weekends.

—Peri Meyers

ANNOUNCEMENTS Helène Aylon Artist’s Lecture

Internationally-acclaimed Jewish feminist artist Helène Aylon presents her conclusion to The G-d Project: Nine Houses Without Women, her 20-year series highlighting the dismissal of women in Jewish traditions and text. A reception will follow the artist talk, and there will be a brief performance by the artist in the gallery.

Today from 5 to 8 p.m. in Kniznick Gallery, Epstein.

Restorative Justice Panel

Come hear what is being done around work with forgiveness, reconciliation and restorative justice in Boston and on the Brandeis campus, and see how you can be a part of it. Rev. Matt Carriker will be moderating a panel with Rev. Jeffrey Brown, Rodney Petersen (Director of Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries), Robert Lewis (President of the Values over

Violence Institute) and Sheila McMahon (Director of Sexual Assault Services and Prevention at Brandeis).

Today at 7 p.m. in Lurias, Hassenfeld Conference Center.

artists who interpret the conflict between human caused climate change and natural ecosystems.

Wednesday from 3:30 to 4:50 p.m. in Pollack Auditorium.

Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award Lecture

Black Lives Matter Symposium

The remarkable scientific life of Susan Lindquist will be honored. In 1971, the Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Research was established at Brandeis University as an expression of the conviction that educational institutions have an important role to play in the encouragement and development of basic science as it applies to medicine.

Wednesday from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in Gerstenzeng 123.

Lisa Reindorf Lecture

Contemporary artist and architect Lisa Reindorf will present the work of several

A two day symposium featuring leading scholars, artists and activists. Khalil Gibran Muhammad, professor of history, race and public policy at the Harvard University Kennedy School, will deliver the March 23 keynote address.

“Black Lives Matter: Local Movements, Global Futures” aims to connect the local struggles of Brandeis students and other scholar-activists in the Boston area to broader national and global issues that have animated the Black Lives Matter movement.

Thursday from 12 to 7 p.m. and Friday from 12 to 7 p.m. in Rapaporte Treasure Hall, Goldfarb Library.

the justice

ADMInIstration

program to encourage student donorship and community investment.

By ABBY PATKIN JUSTICE editor

With its new #1Gift1Vote fundraising initiative, the University is now bringing student voices — and student donations — into the fold.

Unrolled on March 13, the campaign, made possible through a $10,000 donation from Provost Lisa Lynch, allows students who make a minimum $5 donation to the University to vote for how the $10,000 is apportioned around campus.

Students who donate can vote to give money to six categories: ’DEIS Impact, general scholarships, the Intercultural Center, the Green Fund, Brandeis Libraries and the Waltham Group. The $10,000 will then be divided based on the number of votes each category receives.

“On behalf of the University, I want to thank Provost Lisa Lynch for her generous gift to Brandeis,” Nancy Winship, senior vice president of institutional advancement, said in an emailed statement to the Justice. “Not only will her gift directly benefit Brandeis, but the #1Gift1Vote Challenge will help educate our students about the significance of donor support in the continued success of the University.”

The campaign was announced last Monday in an email to students, and the Annual Giving staff is already working hard to spread the word across campus.

Ben Niles, the assistant director of Annual Giving, said in an interview with the Justice that he approached the project with the hope of “trying to spread that feeling of giving back to the place you spent your four years of college.”

“Brandeis is itself a worthy cause,” he said. “I think a lot of students have the causes that they want to support while they’re students and when they become alumni, and I think often people sort of forget that their college is what allowed them to pursue those philanthropic causes.”

While the University’s donor outreach is typically focused on alumni and graduating seniors, the emphasis is transitioning more toward “every gift counts” with this new initiative.

“We see all the names on the buildings and think that that’s the only philanthropy that really mat-

ters, but our office is very, very dedicated and focused to every gift mattering, no matter the size,” Aaron Louison ’11 MA ’16, the interim director of Annual Giving, said in the interview.

Over the course of the year, he said, the University relies on smaller-sized gifts from a broader base of constituents when it comes to providing scholarships and operating support programs on campus.

With this initiative, the University is also trying to get students involved in a tradition of giving back to the community early on, Louison explained.

“In order to give back, one needs to be educated as to why it’s important, and really get into the habit early,” he said. “So starting programs like this gives students — freshman through seniors — the opportunity to give and support the causes at Brandeis that they care about.”

As Louison and Niles explained, this campaign allows students to support areas of campus that matter to them and that directly affect them. “We know that Brandeisians are some of the most community service-oriented people out there … It means that this campus is very engaged in supporting communities, whatever that community may be. But the most immediate community is sometimes the one that gets forgotten,” Louison said.

But while the #1Gift1Vote campaign brings some new ideas to the table, the central theme of giving back is nothing new, Louison said, adding that Brandeis was built on a tradition of donations.

In recent years, he said, former University President Frederick Lawrence had a similar challenge — that he would give $10,000 to the University if the graduating class of seniors could set a new class donation record.

The giving trend is one that Louison said he hopes will continue, especially as the Brandeis alumni base grows every year.

“The next few decades are going to be so important for what Brandeis can accomplish,” he said, “and we can’t rely on the same donors that we relied on 50 years ago, and there’s no way we should rely on tuition, because once you start relying on tuition, you can’t accept the best students like we always have. So private support is just going to become more important.”

In the end, though, community ties reign supreme, Louison said.

“You’re really a Brandeisian for life.”

news

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TUESDAY, march 21, 2017

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GLOBAL HEALTH

Univ. unrolls #1Gift1Vote fundraiser ■ Provost Lynch began a new

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YVETTE SEI/the Justice

HEALTH: Student panelists Megan Rose ’18 (left) and Ariel Lee ’‘18 (right) share experiences from their medical relief trips abroad.

Panel discusses cultural ethics of global medicine ■ Students and faculty

convened to share their perspectives on international medical relief.

By Michelle Dang JUSTICE editor

Evaluating the cultural differences in how people perceive health and medicine, a panel of students and faculty spoke about the ethics of international medicine in a panel hosted by the Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children on Wednesday.

Student panelists shared their experiences from abroad, discussing the challenges they faced as healthcare providers in foreign countries.

“It’s more about targeting the populations that don’t seek healthcare or feel the need to see it,” said Vineet Vishwanath ’18, who participated in two FIMRC trips to El Salvador and Peru, aiding health campaigns in rural areas to educate and assess people’s health with basic, vital checkups.

FIMRC’s objective is to provide access, education and participation in healthcare to global communities, with a focus on preventative care. Students had the opportunity to shadow clinicians and run education campaigns with children to teach “things that we take for granted, … such as washing your hands, brushing your teeth, … knowing what foods are healthy and unhealthy,” said Vishwanath.

However, Vishwanath emphasized the idea of cultural sensitivity, making it clear that their service

made sure not to impose “Western healthcare” but instead to simply provide exposure for individuals to become aware of treatable ailments.

Vishwanath particularly cited instances of treating individuals with high blood pressure and diabetic blood glucose levels, who were then referred to professionals that could provide further help.

Ariel Lee ’18, president of FIMRC, attended the same trips and said her main takeaway was that “change isn’t going to happen overnight. …

Education isn’t instantaneous and often takes investment.” Lee said the organization seeks to empower the communities and create a sustainable model by teaching communities how to value and take their health into their own hands.

Michelle Yan ’19, who volunteered in Haiti for YourStory International, agreed, adding that a lot of the time just teaching people and showing them that there are easy changes in diet and hygiene can promote healthiness.

However, while education is very important, Megan Rose ’18, who participated in a Global Brigades trip to Honduras, emphasized the assessment of cultural differences.

“It’s really easy to think that you may be helping and actually be hurting, … because who’s to assume that we’re right?” she asked.

According to all four student panelists, it was evident in the communities they visited that Western healthcare was stigmatized and often only seen as a last resort due to lack of accessibility and exposure.

Prof. Anita Hannig (ANTH, HSSP) and Prof. Cristina Espinoza (Heller) followed up on the issue,

highlighting the importance of respecting medical interpretations while abroad in other countries, especially nations whose experiences with colonialism and postcolonialism may give them a negative impression of adopting Western ideals of medicine and practice.

“Cultural difference is a big barrier, not only for the practical interaction between patient and provider but [for] the whole of what is medicine, what is illness, who is healing,” said Espinoza, highlighting that health, diagnosis and medical treatment can easily become lost in translation among different cultures.

“The perceptions of health and healing aren’t universal,” Hannig added, emphasizing that traveling providers sometimes have blinders on during intercultural interactions and must be careful of perpetuating the notion that all Western medicine needs to be adopted.

Individuals may have their own set practices of medicine in place, or may not be interested in health care at all, and it is important to be cognizant and humble enough to think that one’s way of practice may not hold all the answers, said Hannig.

“We sometimes tend to see culture as kind of an obstacle in the way of proper medicine or proper education. ... We should actually see culture as something that illuminates how people think about their health [and] how people think about their bodies, rather than an obstacle overcome with education,” Hannig said.

Espinoza added, “Use culture not as a problem but as a doorway.”

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By Michelle DaNG JUSTICE EDITOR

MICHELLE BANAYAN/the Justice

Professor Dipesh Chakrabarty of the University of Chicago gave a three-lecture series on postcolonial criticism for the fifth annual Mandel Lectures in the Humanities.

CAMPUS SPEAKER

Holocaust survivors share their memoirs Michael Kraus met with community members to discuss their stories.

By SABRINA SUNG JUSTICE EDITOR

Last Thursday evening, members of the campus community gathered for a memoir reading with Michael Gruenbaum and Michael Kraus, who shared their respective stories as Holocaust survivors. The event was hosted by the Center for German and European Studies and took place in the Mandel Reading Room.

Gruenbaum’s memoir, “Somewhere There Is Still a Sun,” details his experience during the Holocaust in Czechoslovakia, opening with his childhood in Prague and the events that led up to his internment and eventual liberation from the Theresienstadt concentration camp, also known as Terezin. He first recorded his account at 85 years old.

Kraus’ memoir was first published in Czech under the title “Deník,” meaning diary, and in the U.S. is known as “Drawing the Holocaust: A Teenager’s Memory of Terezin.” It has also been translated into German and, as of this month, Hebrew. As its original namesake, Kraus’ memoir started out as a diary, which he wrote as a 15-year-old immediately following the

5

Report calls upon universities to lead renewable energy leaders urged support of action toward 100 percent renewable energy in Mass.

war. It details his account of his experiences in Terezin, Auschwitz and the death march to Mauthausen.

Although the event was advertised as a memoir reading, neither Gruenbaum nor Kraus read from the books themselves, instead reading off of pages of notes. Gruenbaum spoke first, briefly describing his family’s life of hardship and discrimination in Prague during the German occupation. “We had to turn in our car, ... jewelry, oriental rugs, artwork, radios; ... Anything of any value had to be turned in under the threat of death,” he said.

Following his father’s murder in 1942, Gruenbaum, his mother and his aunt were sent to Terezin. Of his and his mother’s survival, he said, “In spite of my mother’s amazing perseverance, we still needed also a stroke of luck.”

Kraus opened his story in counterpoint to Gruenbaum’s. Unlike Gruenbaum’s childhood in Prague, Kraus grew up in a small town on the German border of Czechoslovakia, where there were fewer Jewish people in the community. As such, the segregating decrees of the German occupation and the resulting isolation were “probably much more oppressive, especially to a young boy,” Kraus said. Even in Terezin, he lived in a small children’s home, whereas “[Gruenbaum] belonged to the Harvard University of Terezin,” he said, a remark received with audience laughter.

TUESDAY, march 21, 2017

CAMPUS SPEAKER

■ Community environment

■ Michael Gruenbaum and

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Though Kraus was separated from his mother months before he, at 14teen years old, was forced onto a death march, he, too, ascribed his survival to his mother. “I had the firm conviction that [my mother] would survive, and what was driving me on to survive was the thought that ... if she survived and I didn’t, it would be heartbreaking for Mother,” he said. “So I kept going.

It was very important that I had some kind of a driving force that kept me alive, especially on the death march.”

Following their stories, Gruenbaum and Kraus answered questions from the audience. One individual asked Kraus when and how he decided to tell his children about his experiences in the Holocaust. Kraus’ wife, who had accompanied him to the event, replied that he didn’t. Kraus further elaborated his feelings toward his memories and his experiences and, in the end, said, “I have never found a language that would be understandable between me and someone who had not been in Mauthausen or Auschwitz as a prisoner.”

When asked how he came up with the title of his book, Gruenbaum responded that it came from the first letter his mother wrote after her liberation from Terezin and read the passage from the introduction of his book: “We do not yet know how the future will shape up for us, ... but somewhere in the world, there is still a sun, ... and perhaps again the rebuilding of a new life.”

A press release from the Environment Massachusetts Research and Policy Center published on March 8 calls for America’s colleges and universities to lead an initiative toward 100 percent renewable energy and state-wide carbon emission reduction goals. University and local environment leaders gathered to discuss the University’s role in the campaign on Wednesday.

“We’re here today to stress the urgent need for rapid transition to clean energy, and to highlight the role that colleges and universities specifically can play,” said Rachel Gerber ’19, campus coordinator for the Center on Wednesday.

In advocacy of the 100% Renewable Energy Act, co-sponsored by 55 representatives of the Massachusetts Legislature, the Center calls upon universities as “well-suited” to lead the initiative. As high-energy consumers and owners of large physical surface area for hosting clean energy technology, such as solar panels and wind turbines, universities are particularly appropriate. Additionally, the report seeks to rely on higher institutions as “leaders of innovation and training” in educating students who are the future leaders of environmental policy and advocacy, said Gerber.

“There’s obviously the ability to protect the planet, but also, at the same time, the reason this works is there’s the ability to protect your pocket,” said guest speaker Michael Logan, the director of operations at Waltham-based Sunlight Solar Energy, Inc. Logan emphasized that there are major financial incentives for universities to adopt renewable energy infrastructures.

In 2012, his company installed a 50-kilowatt system at Brown University in Rhode Island that annually produces 70,000 kilowatt-hours, cutting $13,000 dollars off of their utility bill and returning $17,000 in renewable energy credits.

“A lot of times, it’s educating people on finances behind it to really give them that push to go solar,” said Logan, who added that his commercial customer sees a return on their investment in three to four years. “So many people have misconceptions of solar energy. … They can’t believe that they’re going to be getting electricity for free after four or five years and that they’re no longer going to have utility bills.

It sounds too good to be true.”

Regarding the Environmental Massachusetts report, Logan said

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that he believes students are the push and demand behind universities becoming sustainability leaders in the 100 percent renewable energy initiative.

He also agreed that university landscapes relieve the pushback regarding aesthetic concerns of solar panels. However, it is a sight that people need to get used to, said Logan. “That’s what [the future] is going to look like –– it’s going to look like solar panels in your yards, solar panels on your roof and wind turbines, possibly on the coasts and in the marshes.”

“Even if we covered every inch of available roof space with solar canopies, we still would only get a few percent of our electricity through solar,” said Mary Fischer, the University’s manager of Sustainability Programs, who spoke of the University’s current initiatives and objectives.

In terms of renewable energy, the University has recently signed an agreement to purchase electricity from a solar installation company in Somerville, Massachusetts.

“We’re actively working to add more solar to campus rooftop and parking lots,” said Fischer. However, she noted that the University’s physical attributes, compared to other colleges, are not as lending toward the physical space necessary for mass renewable technology.

The team is also investigating the use of renewable fuels in the central heating plant, said Fischer. Of the University’s current progress in carbon reduction, Fischer said that since signing the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment in 2007, the University has made great progress in 2016, reducing its carbon footprint for the first time.

During fiscal year 2016, the University used 10 percent less energy, reduced its carbon footprint by 8 percent and increased food waste composting from 2 percent to 10 percent, compared to fiscal year 2015, said Fischer.

Other advancements on behalf of the Sustainability Programs include the Commuter Green platform for closed community carpooling, initiated earlier this year, which aims to reduce the number of single-occupant vehicles on the road. Further, the Sustainability Programs hope to reduce carbon emissions by 10 percent by 2017 and 15 percent by 2020.

In regards to reaching 100 percent for the state of Massachusetts, Logan said, “I believe it’s going to happen, but it will take a lot of work.” He added that he could feasibly see it as reality by 2050, but not without a lot of work from the future generation of policy leaders and the demand from communities to support the required infrastructure.

THE JUSTICE

SU: First spring election yields a close race CONTINUED FROM 1

cast in her race.

In this election’s closest race, Christian Nunez ’19 beat Alex Feldman ’19 and Kate Kesselman ’19 for the position of junior representative to the Board of Trustees.

Nunez won with 398 votes, 33.19 percent of the 1,199 cast. Feldman, the runner up, earned 370 votes, while Kesselman finished third with 351 votes.

At Tuesday’s debate, Nunez reflected on his involvement with Ford Hall 2015, which brought him into conversations with Board of Trustees members like Ron Kaiserman ’63. “Even though he was completely from somewhere else, ... we were able to come up with real, productive conversation. Instead of being protester to … higher-up, it quickly turned into pro-Brandeis with pro-Brandeis and us trying to find ways of working together,” Nunez said. “Because of my time there, I believe that I am prepared to … voice the concerns of all stu-

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TUESDAY, March 21, 2017

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NEW CASTLE

dents, because I did it in extremely tough times, and I believe I can do it now.”

Tiana Murrieta ’19 ran unopposed and won the race for representative to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. Murrieta received 904 votes, or 79.72 percent of the 1,134 votes cast. Students cast 208 votes for abstain in this race, also writing in 22 votes for “other.”

Finally, in the race for representative to the Brandeis Sustainability Fund, voter turnout dropped to 761 votes in the absence of any candidates, with 443 choosing abstain and 318 writing in candidates for “other.”

Also on the ballot in this cycle of elections was an amendment to add the position of Senator for International Students to the Union Senate.

The amendment passed with above 90 percent of the vote, according to Herbstritt, despite some concerns regarding the constitutionality of the vote.

DCL: Touchette apologizes for CASTLE: New dormitory set for housing mistake completion in summer 2018 COURTESY OF CAMPUS OPERATIONS

RESIDENCE: The new residence hall will feature more rooms, modern aesthetics and new common area spaces.

CONTINUED FROM 1 The second email promised that DCL would release new numbers by noon on Thursday. However, numbers were not released until hours after that time had come and gone.

Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Tim Touchette apologized for mistakes made in this process in another email to the student body on Thursday, explaining that the error was due to a miscommunication between the University and Adirondack Solutions, the technology vendor the University employs to run the housing lottery.

“I take full responsibility for the error and the distress it has caused, as well as the confusion and misperceptions that followed our message last evening,” Touchette wrote, later adding, “There was never any intention by me or any member of the Department of Community Living to change the process, or to mislead you in any way.”

Touchette went on to explain that unlike most other colleges and universities, Brandeis combines rising juniors and seniors into a mixed pool instead of prioritizing housing by class year. The vendor implemented the code with their typical prioritization, which is also why the MyHousing instruction website was updated with the incorrect information, according to the email.

According to Touchette, DCL did not check the numbers or the instructions before sending them out, a mistake for which Touchette took responsibility.

“We should have caught this when we shared the manual, and again when we distributed numbers, but we didn’t,” Touchette wrote.

“I am deeply sorry that this happened, and can only assure you again that there was no intent to change the process. Students have been clear about their wishes for how numbers should be distributed, and there is no interest from our Department that conflicts with this.”

According to Touchette’s email, DCL maintained the integrity of the original order of the first batch of numbers, alternating numbers between rising juniors and seniors.

This method “removes any weighting in the process, but keeps the fairness of the initial distribution,” he wrote.

Sheryl Sousa ’90, Vice President of Student Affairs, expressed regret in an email to the Justice for the events of this week, noting that the administration is “deeply sorry for the problems with the execution of the distribution of housing numbers this year and with all the stress it must have caused to students.”

Sousa has pledged to review the process by which housing lottery numbers are chosen and the systems utilized in this process in order to “assure it doesn’t happen again.”

— Editor's note: Abby Patkin contributed reporting.

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CONTINUED FROM 1 the view.

Gray pointed to the slanted hallways as visually interesting, explaining that they should avoid the long-hallway effect found in some dorms on campus. “There is a nice feature on each of the floors, overlooking the courtyard,” he added.

The new courtyard, which will feature open space and relatively minimal decorations, will be accessible to all community members, not just residents of the new housing.

“When you do that, it certainly becomes a place [to] play frisbee and do some other things you want to do in an open space,” Gray said, adding that there might be some plants, bushes and small trees in the area.

The building will also include study areas and four common area lounges with accommodation for eight to 12 people, two with televi-

sions, one with a kitchen and an open courtyard. “We’ve got a lot of great common space in this building,” Gray said, adding that an area called the “upper campus commons” can hold up to 100 people for lectures, presentations and club events.

In addition to elevators, the new housing will also add approximately 60 more beds from the previous residence hall, bringing the total up to 164. These beds will be divided up into double and single rooms, Gray said.

While scaffolding and fencing went up around the Castle in January, the University will wait to start demolition until after finals in May. Renovations of the Castle’s A and B Towers will follow, with the University renovating Cholmondeley’s Coffee House over the summer with input from students, according to Gray.

“It is going to be a time that is relatively noisy and disruptive, prob-

ably mostly [to] the people in East [Quad],” Gray admitted, though he said the noise would be relatively contained and kept to a minimum.

William Rawn Associates will head the architectural side of the project, with Leggat McCall Properties covering project management and Shawmut Design and Construction working in tandem.

The residence hall, which will utilize stonework in its design, will also be a more pedestrian-friendly area than the Castle, Gray said. He explained that the new quad will focus more on landscaping and common areas than on parking spaces.

Though the new dorm is yet to be named, Gray said the University is still keeping an eye out for any donors looking for naming opportunities.

Regarding the effect the Castle’s closure has on this year’s housing system, Gray remarked, “One step back is what it takes to [go] two steps forward.”

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TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017 ● Features ● The Justice

just

VERBATIM | HANS HOFMANN Through a painting we can see the world.

ON THIS DAY…

FUN FACT

In 1906, two fatalities lead Ohio to pass a law banning hazing at fraternities.

Movie trailers used to be shown at the end of the movie.

KIRBY KOCHANOWSKI/the Justice

PHILOSOPHICAL SCHOLAR: Natalia Washington discussed her studies in implicit bias.

The Bias in Philosophers’ Beards

The Brandeis Philosophy Department hosted a conference

By LEV BROWN JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Imagine the notion that not all philosophers have beards! This seems simple, right? Philosophy would disagree. Such an assumption is an example of implicit bias (in this case, that men are more academic than women). Natalia Washington of Washington University in St. Louis discussed issues like this at the Brandeis Philosophy Department‘s Sixth Annual Spring Conference, for which scholars from all over the country came to discuss this concept.

The conference was called “Implicit Bias and Social Justice,” and it featured three lecturers, including on by Washington, who teaches and studies the cognition of implicit bias. Washington is a postdoctoral fellow in the PhilosophyNeuroscience-Psychology program at Washington University in St. Louis. She studies “theoretic and conceptual foundations of psychiatry” and “projects in implicit bias and implicit cognition.” Her talk was called “Implicit Cognition and Practical Reason” and focused on how actions that individuals take are influenced by factors other than strict reason and thus tend to be a product of irrational thought.

Washington began by explaining the modern definition of implicit bias: that when making decisions, “many, if not most times, we’re influenced by factors we don’t enforce with reasons.” She then explained, “that’s a problem if we are motivated to prove ourselves as practical.” With this established as a major problem, she focused her talk on teaching what implicit bias is and explaining what to do about it.

Specifically, Washington discussed the underrepresentation

of women in philosophy, pointing out the common misconception that being “a real genius in philosophy is a thing for people with beards.” She explained that this creates modern problems regarding the status of women in the field. For example, an admissions officer who reads entrance essays to a philosophy graduate program may have a certain degree of implicit bias while performing this task, often without even realizing it. Despite being “committed to doing this task fairly … due to the influence of an association between maleness and academic achievement, she chooses more male applicants.”

Additionally, Washington discussed a study in which participants had to press one

button when an African American’s face and a “good” word appeared, and a different button when a Caucasian face and a “bad” word were displayed. Participants were scored on speed and accuracy.

This first task yielded lower scores than when African American faces were associated with bad words and Caucasians with good words, showing that people have a internal, unexplainable bias for associating African Americans with negativity and Caucasians with positivity. Such a result in a study is “where that implicit association score comes from.”

Lastly, Washington discussed a study in which one Caucasian and one African American face were each displayed on separate screens,

each of identical brightness, and participants were asked which of the two seemed darker. Despite screen brightness being the exact same, most of the participants selected the screen with the African American as darker than the screen with the Caucasian. Even after hearing that the screens were the same brightness, participants still had trouble seeing them as equal.

After introducing these examples of implicit bias, Washington went on to discuss the importance of mindset when trying to solve these problems: “We shouldn’t think of implicit bias as a part of our psychology like the way a carburetor is a part of an engine. It’s not something that can be neatly taken out.”

Washington then went on to KIRBY KOCHANOWSKI/the Justice

TEACHING TOOLS: Washington discussed methods to prevent our internalized biases.

introduce potential solutions to this issue. There were several strategies that applied to various types of implicit bias.

Washington’s first proposal was to completely remove names, or “triggers,” from applications, assignments or anything that requires unbiased evaluation, which she suggested would make the evaluator only assess said assignments based exclusively on its quality. This would reduce gender or race differences, “and therefore, [the evaluator’s] implicit association would not be able to be triggered.”

Another way to mitigate implicit bias, Washington proposed, is to “use implementation intentions.” She explained that an implementation intention is “an if then plan that you can rehearse.” By this, she means that if someone sees something that may trigger an implicit bias influenced response, they should force themselves to think of the practical behavior as opposed to a biased one. Washington believes that “practicing this intention will help you automatize the behavior that you’re interested in.”

Another strategy, Washington suggested, was goal priming, which is the use of repeated affirmations that a bias or stereotype influencing a bias doesn’t exist. As an example, she discussed the writing of women in philosophy entrance essays: “There’s evidence to believe that [if] before you sit down to grade papers, you think ‘I’m egalitarian and women are just as good at philosophy as men,’ your bias will decease over time.”

These skills, Washington claims, are crucially important to people who struggle with implicit bias. She believes that in order to overcome bias, people ought “to practice, to routinize it, to put these movements into what we might call muscle memory.”

the justice ● Features ● TUESDAY, March 21, 2017

PHOTO COURTESY OF CAROLINE KAYE

ROW LIKE THE WIND: The Brandeis Rowing Team is preparing for the Dad Vail Regatta.

Ready, Set, Row! The Brandeis Rowing team traveled to South Carolina for spring training PHOTO COURTESY OF CAROLINE KAYE

TRAINED FOR THIS: The team practiced rowing for an entire week this February break.

By Kirby KOCHANOWSKI JUSTICE EDITOR

PHOTO COURTESY OF CAROLINE KAYE

A TEAM TOGETHER: Caroline Kaye ’18 talked about team bonding during spring training.

“We’re hoping to get on the water next week,” Caroline Kaye ’18 said in an interview with the Justice. The Psychology major is the captain of the Brandeis Rowing Team.

According to Kaye, the only thing stopping them may be the weather. “Fingers crossed, because it’s supposed to snow,” she laughed.

This snowy Massachusetts weather is certainly a stark contrast to the balmy climate of South Carolina. Over February break, nine of the fifteen team members traveled south for training. While the week served as a period of intense training resulting in aching muscles and blistered hands, it also proved a valuable team bonding experience. “I think it’s a lot of people’s favorite part of the year. The team gets a lot closer; we drive down to South Carolina and back.

You spend the whole week together in kind of the middle of nowhere,” Kaye explained.

The team was accompanied on the trip by two coaches. The Rowing Team is currently in between coaches, so this was a welcomed break from the status quo. “Over spring training — having a coach — I realized I missed having a coach so much. I was just like ‘This is so great,’” Kaye said.

Alumni have come to help the team train, but mostly the rowers have been on their own.

They’ve had to learn how to drive a launch (a small motor boat meant for the coach) and

take turns watching each other row. “We’re trying to plan a meeting with the University president,” Kaye said. “So hopefully we’ll get more support and it’ll attract the coach. This is a sport that’s pretty hard to do without a coach, just because there’s a lot of technique to it, and that can lead to injury.

And, for safety purposes, you need to have someone in a boat out there with people.”

During the winter, the team is “grounded” and trains indoors. However, during the early fall and spring, they utilize Lasell College’s boathouse, which is only a short drive away. Every weekend in April except for one, the team will be racing. It all leads to the Dad Vail Regatta, the biggest intercollegiate regatta in the country.

“We mostly row in boats of four people.

And those boats have a coxswain, which is like the person who is steering and shouting things and encouraging. There’s a lot of misconceptions that they’re just cheering, but they’re really important to steer the boat, too,” Kaye said. The team also competes with two person boats.

Coming back from training, Kaye reflected that “it took a lot out of us. We all took a day to recover.” Yet, the extra practice and team bonding made it all worth it. The last night there, the entire team jumped into the water, though Kaye wryly mentioned that some were pushed in.

“It was like we were kids again,” she said.

—Editor’s Note: Abby Patkin is a member of the crew team and a Justice editor.

9

10 TUESDAY, march 21, 2017 ● forum ● THE JUSTICE

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Brandeis University

Carmi Rothberg, Editor in Chief Mihir Khanna, Managing Editor Morgan Brill and Abby Patkin, Deputy Editors Michelle Banayan, Jessica Goldstein, Noah Hessdorf, Jerry Miller and Sabrina Sung, Associate Editors Michelle Dang, Acting News Editor, Kirby Kochanowski, Features Editor Amber Miles, Forum Editor, Ben Katcher, Acting Sports Editor Hannah Kressel, Arts Editor Natalia Wiater, Photography Editor Mira Mellman, Layout Editor, Pamela Klahr and Robbie Lurie, Ads Editors Rachel Sharer, Online Editor, Jen Geller and Avraham Penso, Copy Editors

EDITORIALS

Encourage DCL to aid in finding off-campus housing Midterms, BranVans, housing — these are the things that stress Brandeis students out from year to year. However, this year’s housing lottery was especially stressful for upperclassmen students, as a programming error resulted in rising seniors receiving lower numbers than rising juniors, thereby necessitating the reissuance of numbers, according to a March 16 email from Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Tim Touchette.

Yet, this year’s housing lottery was practically set up to fail: with Usen Castle removed from the housing lottery and no new residence hall set to take its place until fall 2018, rising sophomores have spilled over into traditionally upperclassmen living areas like the Charles River Apartments. With limited on-campus options for upperclassmen who receive a high number and cannot be pulled into roommate groups, there is high potential that the strain on off-campus housing in Waltham will become even greater. This could also open up the opportunity for landlords to take advantage of students desperate to finalize their housing plans.

Already, students are entering lease agreements without the proper knowledge or support to make mutually beneficial decisions. In an interview with the Justice, Rebecca Ruben ’18 explained that, as she negotiates a lease for next year, she has run into several issues with communication between her roommates and her landlord.

“I guess the main issue I’ve encountered is … having never lived off-campus before, or lived in an apartment where I was the one responsible for doing the renting, not knowing ... if we were being taken advantage of or if that’s just how the process usually worked,” Ruben said. This is one of several such stories from current and former students.

The University offers little support now for students looking to live off campus. The Department of Community Living website offers search tips and things to consider

Provide additional resources when looking to lease an apartment, also linking to jumpoffcampus.com, which allows landlords to post listings targeted directly at Brandeis students.

The DCL website also links a six page PDF guide to off campus housing, though the information in this document is only updated periodically and the University accepts no responsibility for the reliability of the information provided, according to a disclaimer listed on the first page.

Moreover, the PDF explicitly states that the University will not be involved in lease negotiations.

As far as legal protections for the University go, this last part seems fair.

However, when it comes to educating students on how best to understand their leases, the University instead hands students off to the Law Office of A. Joseph Ross, J.D. a Newton attorney who published the guide, “How to be a Tenant in Massachusetts and Avoid Getting Ripped Off.” Though this guide is certainly extensive, college students cannot be expected to be well-versed in legal jargon based off of a PDF. This board urges the administration to consider hiring or appointing a fulltime staff member to assist students in the off-campus housing search, as a way of helping students parse through leases that could easily be stacked against them.

Moreover, the University should strongly consider adding an online platform so that students may trade information regarding landlords and properties. These changes will better prepare students for living off campus, in addition to protecting students from unfair lease terms, sudden eviction and hidden fees and charges. The annual room selection is an ever-evolving process, and the Brandeis administration must think two steps ahead regarding the changing landscape of undergraduate housing.

Appreciate Lynch’s fundraising effort On Monday, March 13, the Brandeis community received an email announcing the #1Gift1Vote Challenge, a fundraising campaign that gives members of the community an opportunity to show their “passion for a program that is the most meaningful” to them. Provost Lisa M. Lynch has made an unrestricted gift of $10,000 that students can choose how to apportion.

This board commends the University for its initiative and Lynch for her commitment to this institution.

Every student who donates a minimum of $5 will receive one vote that can be cast for any of the six causes the University has chosen: ’DEIS Impact, General Scholarships, the Intercultural Center, the Green Fund (for Campus Sustainability), Brandeis Libraries and the Waltham Group. Lynch’s gift will be divided among these causes based on the number of votes each cause receives. The donations themselves can be delegated to any cause one chooses, such as any of the six previously stated causes, The Brandeis Fund, financial aid, an academic program, clubs or teams, among others. Anyone who has already donated to either the Senior Class Gift or any other Brandeis program this year will be sent a link to cast a vote.

This initiative is important to the Brandeis community for a number of

Support the clubs on campus reasons. This is the first fundraising initiative not targeted at only alumni and seniors but the entire student body, allowing students of different class years to participate. This creates a culture of giving back to the community.

The #1Gift1Vote Challenge also gives students a voice in the allocation of money, allowing them to show where their priorities lie. This will show the administration what the student body is interested in and what projects should receive more attention. It also increases student participation in University affairs; determining where money goes will provide an incentive for students to contribute to the causes they care about.

This board also applauds Lynch for her generous gift as well as the opportunity for students to choose where said money is allocated. The six causes provided are all worthy of extra funding, as they cover a variety of interests, including community service through the Waltham Group, financial aid through general scholarships and efforts to increase campus sustainability through The Green Fund. Allowing students to choose where the money is apportioned shows which initiatives are the most important and deemed most necessary for students.

BEN JARRETT/the Justice

Views the News on

On March 6, the Republican Party revealed their new plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. Under this new bill, the American Health Care Act, premiums are proposed to decrease 10 percent by the year 2026. However, this would also result in a 25 percent decrease in Medicaid funding and the lack of coverage for 52 million Americans, according to a March 13 New York Times article. What do you think of this new proposal and how does it compare to the Affordable Care Act?

Prof. Sarah Curi (HSSP) Under the ACA, the uninsured rate dropped to a historic low of 9.5% with 20M more covered. Also, we are guaranteed a set of “minimum essential benefits” and cannot be denied insurance because of a pre-existing condition.Trump recently declared, “We’re going to have insurance for everybody … There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can’t pay for it, you don’t get it. That’s not going to happen with us, … [you] can expect to have great health care … Much less expensive and much better.” But Trump’s bill dramatically cuts funding for the poorest, while providing billions in tax relief for the wealthiest. The nonpartisan CBO estimates that 14M would lose their insurance next year and that the uninsured rate would nearly double by 2026. Companies could again sell policies that cover fewer services with higher deductibles and charge those without “continuous coverage” more. Many healthy and wealthy may benefit, but the older and poorer would be disproportionality negatively impacted. The CBO estimates that his bill would reduce the federal deficit, but at what cost to our health and our lives, particularly of those of us who are most vulnerable?

Prof. Sarah Curi (HSSP) is a lecturer in Health: Science, Society and Policy as well as Legal Studies.

Samina Aktar ’17 The Affordable Care Act does not come without faults. It has caused some insurance companies to drop some of their plans, because the plans did not follow the 10 essential benefits listed under the act. According to the Congressional Budget Office (2009), because more individuals were covered under the plan, the costs were initially increased. On the other hand, The Affordable Care Act allowed more individuals to be covered by insurance companies and even made it so that insurance companies could not deny coverage to individuals due to pre-existing health conditions or deny them access to their insurance if they were to get sick. The newly proposed replacement for this act is expected to be able to cut the federal deficit by $337 billion over a decade but is also expected to deprive millions of health coverage.

Samina Aktar ’17 is the President of March of Dimes and the Health Education Chair for Global Brigades.

Taminder Singh ’20 The American Health Care Act should be said as it is, a tax break on wealthy insurance executives and rich, healthy people. Under the AHCA, a 64-year-old making around $25,000 will have to pay $14,000 in insurance premiums compared to pays only $1700 under Obamacare, aka the Affordable Care Act. It is disapproved by an overwhelming number of Americans and is clearly not feasible, because even moderate Republicans like Rand Paul have publicly come out against it. President Obama was proud of Obamacare and willingly put his name on it, but Trump does not want this failure on sight to be called Trumpcare.

Obamacare helps most low income minorities and changes the political conversation to “does everyone deserve health insurance” to “at what price can everyone pay for health insurance, because everyone deserves it.” All in all, this bill takes as many steps back from the progress we made as a nation, and reveals the selfishness and lengths GOP populists are willing to go to, to save a little more money in taxes.

Taminder Singh ’20 is majoring in Economics and Computer Science with a minor in Politics.

Apoorva Polavarapu ’17 The United States’ health care expenditures are ‘yuge,’ and the newly proposed AHCA could only worsen our plight. By empowering 20 million Americans with insurance, the ACA promotes preventative care, a direct route to reducing healthcare costs. More Americans receive basic checkups and screenings that detect disease early on and allow patients to manage illness before their health worsens and treatment becomes unaffordable. The AHCA boasts its own budget-savings by lowering premiums and regulating tax credits, notably preventing tax credits for plans that cover abortion. As defenders of social justice, Brandeisians may instinctively oppose the AHCA, but it is important to acknowledge many Americans’ frustrations with the ACA. Doctors feel overextended by patient volume and Americans want more insurance options, but the AHCA is not the best solution. The AHCA marginalizes poor and elderly populations, amassing greater healthcare costs and a sicker American public.

Apoorva Polavarapu ’17 is an Undergraduate Departmental Representative for Health: Science, Society and Policy. She is also vicepresident of the Pre-Dental Society and a Global Brigades volunteer.

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, march 21, 2017

Acknowledge the expanding options in vegetarian food choices Jessica

Goldstein ubuntu

I have not eaten meat in 10 years — that is nearly half of my life. This is a choice I share with 3.2 percent of Americans ― or 7.3 million people ― according to Vegetarian Times. Vegetarians make up 2.7 percent of this statistic and the other 0.5 percent ― 1 million Americans ― are vegan. Among these individuals are those who diligently follow People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals or environmental activist groups. Those in these categories may consume Morningstar Farms and Boca Burgers like they are going out of style. However, for the larger percent of Americans ― omnivores ― these groups and perhaps these food choices fail to appeal to them in place of meat products. With new products like the Impossible Burger, crueltyfree living and environmental preservation no longer have to be tied to vegan and vegetarian diets.

According to a March 17 Washington Post article, Impossible Foods will open a largescale factory in Oakland next week. Founded with sustainability in mind, the company markets its burger as follows: “Because we use 0% cows, the Impossible Burger uses a fraction of the Earth’s natural resources.

Compared to cows, the Impossible Burger uses 95% less land, 74% less water, and creates 87% less greenhouse gas emissions. And it’s 100% free of hormones, antibiotics, and artificial ingredients.”

The burger is comprised of wheat, coconut oil and protein. Food scientists have also added

heme, so the burger’s taste will more closely of meat, according to a Jan. 13 New York Times article. Oh, and it is 100 percent vegan.

In the voice layover, the reporter said, “The key ingredient is heme, the iron-rich molecule found in blood. Heme is that special something that makes a burger taste like a burger.” Hailing from Silicon Valley, the food tech company got creative and found that they could extract the molecule from plants instead of animals. While those interviewed were skeptical about whether the burger in fact tasted like a burger, they all attested to its meaty quality and flavor.

Patrick Brown, founder of the Impossible Burger, believes that 230 million omnivores may take a liking to his product and turn away from the traditional burger, according to the March 17 Washington Post article. So, why should you make the switch?

According to PETA, 27 billion animals are slaughtered annually for meat. The cruelty imposed upon animals produced for consumption is atrocious. They are bred quickly and pumped with drugs in order to grow as large as possible, as quickly as possible. The treatment for slaughter is oftentimes extremely cruel and painful.

Those produced for the consumption of dairy products and eggs face awful conditions in factory farms as well. In order to ensure the constant production of milk, dairy cows are continuously impregnated through invasive artificial insemination and many calves are taken away from their mothers the day they are born. The egg industry is no better.

These conditions would be mitigated with a more plant-based diet. According to a March 22, 2016 study by the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford, “A global switch to diets that rely less on meat and more on fruit and vegetables could save 8 million lives, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by two thirds, and lead to healthcare-related savings. It could also avoid climate-related changes by $1.5 trillion.”

JULIANNA SCIONTI/the Justice

The study estimated that 5.1 million human deaths could be prevented by a simple reduction in red meat consumption and an increase in fruit and vegetable consumption. According to the same study, by 2050, emissions could be cut 29 percent by a reduction in consumption, 63 percent by vegetarian diets and 70 percent by vegan diets. If not for the environment or for animal welfare, perhaps it would be important to make the change to a less meat-filled diet for health reasons. In fact, these diet alterations can save an estimated $700 to $1,000 billion in healthcare annually.

While making the switch to vegetarianism or veganism is not easy, adopting a vegetarian or vegan diet is not a one-step process. It certainly is not all or nothing either. Perhaps your first taste of vegetarianism can come with a bite of the Impossible Burger. Maybe it can come with joining Meat-Free Monday, a non-

Recognize the importance of sleep Nia

lyn purpose

For college students, it is often difficult to get a good night’s rest; with assignments, extracurricular activities and other time consuming commitments, some students often opt to forgo an extra hour of sleep to ensure that they meet a deadline. Though one’s dedication to work should be commended, it should also be remembered that sleep is vital for one’s well-being.

According to the National Institute of Health, a good night’s rest helps improve learning and problem solving skills in addition to enhancing one’s productivity, all of which are important in the competitive college environment.

According to a study conducted by Jawbone, the company behind a popular brand of fitness monitor, college students receive an average of 7.38 hours of sleep a weeknight. This number, however, varies by gender; women receive an average of 23 more minutes of sleep per night than male students. While the reason for this gender disparity is unknown, there is scientific evidence to support the practice of women getting more sleep. According to a March 10, 2008 EurekAlert! report, researchers at Duke University studied middle-aged men and women and found that women who are sleep deprived are more likely to suffer the effects of heart disease than men.

In addition to heart disease, sleep deficiency is linked to kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and stroke.

Though sleep deprivation may be common across college campuses, it has been shown that there is an inverse correlation between a school’s rigor and the amount of sleep its students get.

In the same study from Jawbone, Columbia University had the latest average bedtime — 1:30 a.m. — while the University of Nevada had the earliest bedtime — close to midnight.

According to a study led by Adam Knowlden of the University of Cincinnati, the most common reasons that students attribute to their lack of sleep are time, stress and finances. Though it is valid that some students lose sleep due to their

demanding work schedule, it is recommended that they try to make the time to get the eight hours of sleep required for their age group. Selfcare is something so often forgotten, yet so vital.

Students often neglect their well-being in order to finish work and engage in the competitive culture that exists on college campuses, though the long-term effects are only counterproductive.

An article in the Journal of American College Health titled “Sleep Habits and Patterns of College Students: A Preliminary Study” revealed that academic performance is linked to sleep.

The article states that “sleep deprived students performed significantly worse than students who had a normal night’s sleep.” However, when the students studied were asked about their performance, they inaccurately stated that they performed better.

College culture perpetuates this glamorization of sleep deprivation; students falsely think that avoiding sleep and studying makes them more prepared. This problematic ideal encourages students to harm themselves in an attempt to get ahead. The way to combat this is to educate students on the importance of sleep or provide them with the resources to do so themselves.

Getting a good night’s rest is not a difficult thing to do; it is just a matter of getting into a routine and not over-committing. The National Institute of Health advises individuals who suffer from sleep deprivation to create and maintain a sleep schedule to follow on weeknights and weekends, as well as setting aside an hour before bed to relax in a quiet, cool and dark environment.

Though naps are beneficial in improving shortterm performance and alertness, they are no substitute for actual sleep. In fact, it is suggested that adults aged 18 and above avoid naps longer than 20 minutes.

I understand that a task as simple as getting more sleep is something difficult for many students, myself included. I am known to jokingly boast about the 30 minutes of sleep that I received before class, and while I say this in jest, it does not excuse the fact that I am only ruining my chances of functioning properly throughout the day.

That last show on Netflix or another 100 words added to an essay are not worth dozing off in an early-morning class or possibly oversleeping — something that I am also guilty of. Regardless of the reason, this self-imposed sleep deprivation needs to end if students wish to better themselves and their quality of living.

profit organization founded with the purpose of having one day a week without meat.

However, it is important to recognize that vegetarianism and veganism are not for everyone. Maybe all you will do is eat the Impossible Burger ― instead of a hamburger ― or look for more ethically sourced meat and animal products. This can be done by looking for products with the “Certified Humane” stamp on them or by buying locally. You should also look out for labels that read “free-range” and “grass-fed.” Any step you take can have an impact on your health, the environment and animal welfare.

The taste of flesh will never feel good between my teeth, so I suppose I will stick to my lentils.

However, I am happy to read that the folks in Silicon Valley have possibly found a solution for those who both love the taste of a good beef burger and also have some semblance of ethics.

READER COMMENTARY Reconsider journalistic conduct at sensitive events I was very troubled to see the Justice article titled “Task force engages talk on campus free speech” on the front page of the March 14, 2017 edition of The Justice.

For those who did not see the article, it featured a photograph of a person of color, speaking on the lack of diversity at an open meeting of the Presidential Task Force on Free Expression. The speaker kindly asked not to be photographed. In response, the paper brandished her photo across its front page. Perhaps your paper can publish what it wishes, but the tone and disrespect shown to other Brandeis students is unbecoming of a student newspaper, and makes me wonder if your staff has any inkling that not everyone lives the same lives that they do.

There’s a lot of responsibility that comes with holding a camera. You’re there to document what happens, and, ultimately, to tell a story. Indeed, what your article does is tell a story. I have a strong suspicion that it is not the story the Editors thought they were telling. You, the Editors, reporter, and photographer may have thought the story was showing the contentious nature of the meeting. You may have thought your story’s headline, emblazoned over a highly disrespectful photo, was saying that freedom of expression means we can say whatever we want, however we want, to whomever we want. Maybe you can — regardless, that’s not the story, at least not to me.

What I see is ignorance, disrespect, and a lack of civility. By taking that picture of Ms. Kikeri, and writing “A Justice press camera snapped” immediately after the quote of her asking not to be photographed, you have made your newspaper the story. Instead of letting your writing

illustrate how the meeting proceeded, you have documented your staff’s failure to engage in empathy. Your failure to engage in empathy and subsequent failure to look beyond the self led your staff to not only highly disrespect a fellow student, but to commit violence that rebukes the anti-racist and anti-misogynist, humanizing message of the speaker.

Such behavior perpetuates a colorblind perspective that is, ultimately, racist.

If your Editors have an opinion on how free speech should look on campus, they should write an opinion piece, instead of imbuing “reporting” with such opinions.

I cannot fathom being in this paper’s position and writing such an article.

When I was editor of a student publication, I saw myself as a co-author of that community’s story. Your paper’s behavior at that meeting, and this story, show that you are not embracing the diversity of individualities on this campus. Rather, you have unconsciously chosen to make a self-righteous and not-so-covertly pretentious mockery of members of our community. Taking a picture of someone who explicitly asked not to be photographed, putting “FREEDOM OF SPEECH” over that photograph — of someone who was honestly remarking on the lack of diversity of those at the table — is innately oppressive. I hope those who contribute to the Justice learn how to take a more unbiased, empathetic, and inclusive position in the future. In the meantime, I think you owe someone an apology.

—Nicholas Croce ’17 is an MPP Candidate with the Heller School for Social Policy and Management.

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

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Editorial Assistants

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12

TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017 ● forum ● THE JUSTICE

FORUM

Address issues surrounding free speech on campuses By alex friedman JUSTICE contributing WRITER

I have some bad news, fellow liberals — this is going to be another one of those pieces about free speech on college campuses. I know, I know; you have heard it all before, that college students are fragile and scream until what they do not like goes away. What snowflakes. While this will not be a glowing review of the current status of free speech on college campuses, it will not be another one of those articles. However, with recent events at Middlebury and the Task Force on Free Expression, something needed to be said.

The marketplace of ideas — the concept that truth can most effectively come from the free exchange of ideas — has been labeled a tool of oppression, used to further marginalize the marginalized and privilege the privileged.

For who in society is most often censored?

Oppressed persons. Who in our society is often more able to take advantage of the right to speak? Privileged persons. As a result, we have tried to do away with the free marketplace of ideas, building tariffs to hold back or silence the speech of the powerful or the bigoted.

Some believe this will allow the voices of the marginalized to finally break through.

This plan is not only wrong but dangerous.

The harm that comes from enforcing an ideological orthodoxy far outweighs that of any free speech. Of course, the exception is speech that encourages individuals to commit acts of physical harm. However, no matter how hard we may try to twist that which we find offensive and wrong into such “violent speech,” such an exercise amounts to nothing more than an act of creative outrage. When we overwhelm a speaker with insults, chants and calls to violence — even if what they believe is offensive — we do not convince anyone to stand with us. In a democracy, the only way for us to win elections, to change hearts and minds, is to be accessible to the majority of people. We need not water down or pull back on issues of human rights and dignity, but we need to give people the chance to join us. We do ourselves a disservice when we become the party of shouting and intimidation, of name-calling and self-censorship, even if for righteous causes.

I understand that the work of explaining ourselves is exhausting. I want to be a Rabbi in a tradition that, until just ten years ago, would have prevented me due to my sexuality. I will need to become an expert in Jewish law regarding sexuality to properly advocate for myself and, frankly, I hate this fact. It frustrates and saddens me, so I can only try to imagine what it is like for those whose identities have not yet found strong footholds or are not as easily hidden as my own sexuality. That said, the work of calmly explaining ourselves, our views and our lives is of the utmost importance if we want to change people. Marches, sit-ins, posters and chants — these are all hallmarks of successful campaigns to raise social awareness and change policy, and I would not advocate their disuse. However, we must not forget the

AARON MARKS/the Justice

power that comes with calmly explaining our perspective, which has been found to have long-term positive effects on tolerance and advocacy, according to an April 8, 2016 article in Science Magazine.

While we have refused to open our ideological communities to a wider world, we have saved our most vicious discourse for each other, turning our debates inward and fighting among ourselves. To give one simplified example, this is often done while advocating for intersectionality. Obviously, it is important to advocate for the rights of all people, but playing the “no true Texan” game of advocacy has led to fracturing and isolation.

There is no learning curve here! Either you advocate for everyone in a way that satisfies everyone — a near-impossibility — or you are a bigot.

It is difficult to argue with persons with whom you almost entirely agree, so we move ever-leftward, becoming ever-more publicly infeasible and politically untenable. When we put ourselves in this bubble, we create an army of people who can fight their fellows, not those who need to be fought. I have not heard of a homophobe who became less homophobic because someone called him one. Monikers are only useful when people have already committed to becoming less bigoted. Our ideologically exclusive brand of progressivism has given birth to masters in the art of fighting against liberals, not for them.

We may also become the victims of this ideology’s success. Should we succeed in making speech that we find reprehensible either taboo or illegal, such techniques can easily be turned against us. As the American Civil Liberties Union says in its brief titled “Hate Speech on Campus,” “Restricting the speech of one group or individual jeopardizes everyone’s rights because the same laws or regulations used to silence bigots can be used to silence you.” Let’s build spaces in which our peers can and are encouraged to speak, but do not for a moment think that speech is a finite resource, one that must be regulated and distributed based on class. If we make speech we find hateful worthy of physical violence or intense censorship, we place ourselves at risk of finding the tables turned on us.

We will only begin to win the power to bring forth our progressive agenda when we can anticipate the arguments of our ideological adversaries and speak to the unsure middle.

I have found that through discussions with people who are pro-life, I discovered reasons why I believe what I do; I became more prochoice from talking to people who were not. I have found that when speaking to people who were on the fence, I was much more effective at bringing them to my side when I knew what they had heard. This should not be a new idea to anyone, yet we tend to demonize rather than educate. When we drive bigotry underground, we only serve to make it harder to fight.

Pulling fire alarms, injuring professors and jumping on cars, as was done at Middlebury, according to a March 3 New York Times article, is not the kind of protest that advances our cause.

I want to go to a university where students civilly attend the speeches of people they despise, where students ask incisive questions about the speaker’s positions that pull back the curtain on their bigotry. I want to go to a university where Trisk, the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, Hillel and the Men of Color Alliance hold fundraisers outside the door when backwards bigots come to speak, where Brandeis Democrats use Twitter to live fact-check a lecture from Ted Cruz. I want to go to a university where conservative students are engaged so that we do not drive potential allies into isolation with our beliefs that conservatives cannot fight for social justice. I want to go to a university where identities are celebrated and explored, not used as weapons.

Justice Louis D. Brandeis put it well in his 1927 concurring opinion in Whitney v.

California: “No danger flowing from speech can be deemed clear and present, unless the incidence of the evil apprehended is so imminent that it may befall before there is opportunity for full discussion. If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence.”

Recognize the growing importance of environmental conservation

By Maddox Kay JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Coral reefs epitomize the beauty and fragility of the world’s ecosystems, but increased ocean temperatures due to carbon emissions mean that even small, local temperature spikes threaten to wipe out swaths of corals already pushed to their limits. This week, as President Donald Trump’s cabinet pulled the wraps off a budget that denies the importance of climate change, researchers at James Cook University in Australia found that the Great Barrier Reef is dying thirty years ahead of schedule due to — you guessed it — rising ocean temperatures.

According to a March 15 New York Times article, Professor Terry Hughes of James Cook University stated, “Climate change is not a future threat. On the Great Barrier Reef, it’s been happening for 18 years.” We must protect coral reefs not only for their beauty but also because they are hubs of biodiversity. They are the source of many necessary nutrients in the marine food chain and they also protect coastlines from storms by acting as a natural barrier.

This year, scientists observed “huge sections of the Great Barrier Reef, stretching across hundreds of miles of its most pristine northern sector,” to be dead or bleached according to the same March 15 New York Times article. This most recent bleaching event was the third mass bleaching of coral reefs since 1998, but reportedly the worst by

far in terms of scale and damage. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, coral bleaching is a fastmoving process that occurs due to spikes in local oceanic temperatures.

“

“Human interaction with the environment is causing these destructive events.”

These spikes are thought to be caused by human-induced climate change. The NOAA explains that “when water is too warm, corals will expel the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues causing the coral to turn completely white.” Not all bleached corals are dead, but they are much more vulnerable and likely to die. When corals bleach, the populations of reef fish and invertebrates that depend on them face starvation.

In 2005, a similar mass bleaching event debilitated large areas of coral reefs in the Caribbean. A March 2007 study conducted at Princeton University evaluated the role of human-caused climate change in the

bleaching. According to the study, “coral bleaching is commonly observed when the [sea surface temperatures] exceed the maximum monthly mean — the climatological mean temperature during the warmest month of the year — by 1°C or more for one month or more.” This happened in the case of the 2005 bleaching.

The researchers concluded that the thermal conditions found in the Caribbean in 2005 are expected to occur, at most, once every thousand years without human intervention.

However, just five years later, similar conditions and another bleaching event happened near the island of Tobago. One anomaly is unlikely, but two is essentially impossible. Human interaction with the environment is causing these destructive events.

No successful cure for coral bleaching has been found, but according to a June 2015 article in One Green Planet, there have been cases of near-full recovery after temperature-induced bleaching events in the isolated Phoenix Islands. Greg Stone, Executive Vice President at Conservation International, contextualized this encouraging sign, saying “in the Phoenix Islands, there’s nothing else going on except heating. There’s no overfishing; there’s virtually no one living there — so it’s really quite an interesting experiment as a sort of control,” according to a June 5, 2015 piece in Human Nature. The case of the Phoenix Islands illustrates that while coral bleaching is caused by temperature spikes, corals can

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

still recover as long as there is no human intervention.

The American government responded to the 2005 bleaching of the Caribbean with an array of research efforts. According to a NOAA report, scientists from both NOAA and the Department of the Interior documented the event in hopes of better understanding how to prevent future bleaching while NASA conducted infrared imaging flyovers in order to map the destruction of the reefs.

While these efforts cannot directly restore compromised reefs, they provide knowledge of how the bleaching event occurred and how to limit the damage.

Under Trump’s administration and his plan to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency, it is unclear how the government would respond to any sort of environmental catastrophe, including another bleaching event.

“We’re not spending money on that anymore.

We consider that to be a waste of your money to go out and do that,” said White House budget director Mick Mulvaney in reference to climate change during a press briefing on March 16, according to a CNN article that same day. It is difficult to understand how anyone can come to that conclusion when confronted with conclusive evidence from the entire scientific community. The current perils of the Great Barrier Reef were set in motion long ago. However, as environmental concerns fall off the political agenda, it is on us to save it.

2017

10 THE JUSTICE ● Sports ● Tuesday, MARCH 21, 2017

FENCING: Teams want to improve for next season CONTINUED FROM 16 to the championship. Grazian and Litle finished the tournament in 17th and 19th place, respectively.

The last semifinalist from the men’s team was epeeist Hunter Stusnick ’18. Stusnick started off the meet strong, recording a score of 4-2 in the opening round. One of those victories came against an epeeist from Columbia, who was able to snag a fifth-place finish in the championship round. Stusnick, who was seeded 27th overall, finished in 17th place.

This meet will be the last one of the season for almost all of the

13

HIGH HOPS

squad. It will say goodbye to a handful of high impact seniors but will look to improve upon its performance this season with a better 2017 to 2018 campaign.

Looking back upon the year, the team’s best performance might have come a few weeks ago at the New England Collegiate Championships on March 4. With the men and women overall, the team was able to stun their competition and capture a first place championship at the meet.

The women placed first on their side of the event, narrowly passing the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 171-169.

PRO SPORTS: Fans have much to say TENNIS: Players hope to find when superstars success against Amherst take the night off

TALYA GUENZBURGER/Justice File Photo

REACHING UP: Olivia Leavitt ’19 puts her athleticism on display with a high leap against St. Lawrence University on March 11.

CONTINUED FROM 16

CONTINUED FROM 16 money to watch these top players, it is rather disrespectful for stars to not show up to a game because of the likelihood that their team might win regardless.

There is something to be said, though, for the rudeness of the accusations made by fans towards Isaiah Thomas because of his lack of appearance. However, this controversy nevertheless points out a very important issue in the NBA, which is the appearance

of top players in less important games during the season.

Fans want to watch their teams’ stars out on the court each and every night. Many coaches and owners want to keep their players well-rested and healthy as their squads move closer to the playoffs, creating the current discrepancies.

Do top players owe all teams an appearance? The answer is clearly controversial, and, as of now, there is no clear solution to this problem that is plaguing the league.

Judges 2, Middlebury 7 The Judges evened their record to 4-4 on the season with a loss against Middlebury, marking their second consecutive loss this season.

The team fell in each of its doubles matches, with David Aizenberg ’20 and Tyler Ng ’19 losing 8-3 on the number one court. Michael Arguello ’17 paired with Jeff Cherkin ’17 on the number two court, only to lose 8-5 to a tough Middlebury squad. Arguello was recently named UAA Athlete of the Week as of March 6, clinching two tight wins to boost the Judges over Stevens Institute of Technology.

Arguello’s 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-6 (8-6) match on the number one court propelled the Judges to a very solid 8-1 win.

Zach Cihlar ’19 and Eric Goldberg ’18 combined for one game against senior Allen Jackson and junior Timo van der Geest.

On the singles side, the Judges were able to regain some mojo, firing back with two wins on the day.

Arguello fell 6-3, 6-1 to sophomore Lubomir Cuba on the number one court. Aizenberg was able to come away with a win after a well-fought battle against van der Geest. Van der Geest took the first set 6-3, but Aizenberg forced a tie break with a 6-4 second-set victory. In the tiebreak,

Aizenberg edged out van der Geest an 11-9 nailbiter to take home a victory for the Judges. The next win of the day came in similar fashion from Benjamin Wolfe ’20. Wolfe broke down against Jackson in the first set of the match, but was able to quickly come back with a 6-2 win in the second set. Wolfe closed out the match with a decisive 10-6 tiebreak win.

The Judges will continue their season against Amherst College this coming Saturday. The two squads have not crossed paths in the past five seasons, making this Amherst team a fresh opponent for the slipping Judges. They will look to bounce back from their recent struggles.

BASEBALL SOFTBALL TRACK TENNIS

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BASEBALL TEAM STATS Runs Batted In

UAA Conference

W L Emory

0 0 NYU 0 0 WashU 0 0 Chicago 0 0 Case 0 0 JUDGES 0 0

W 17 8 9 3 6 1

Overall L Pct. 4 .810 3 .727 5 .643 2 .600 9 .400 4 .200

UPCOMING GAMES: Tuesday vs. Western New England Wednesday at Rhode Island College Thursday vs. WPI

Kyle Lussier ’19 leads the team with 3 runs batted in.

Player RBI Kyle Lussier 3 Ryan Tettemer 3 Dan O’Leary 2 Marvic Gomez 1

Strikeouts Sean O’Neill ’18 leads all pitchers with 13 strikeouts.

Player Ks Sean O’Neill 13 Brandon Musto 5 Liam Coughlin 3 Tim Lopez 3

SOFTBALL UAA STANDINGS

TEAM STATS Runs Batted In

UAA Conference

W L W NYU

0 0 6 Chicago 0 0 3 Emory 0 0 13 WashU 0 0 7 Case 0 0 5 JUDGES 0 0 3

Overall L Pct. 2 .750 1 .750 7 .650 4 .636 5 .500 4 .429

UPCOMING GAMES: Friday at Smith College double-header March 28 at Suffolk double-header March 29 vs. Lesley University

Marissa DeLaurentis ’19 has a team-high five runs batted in.

Player RBI Marissa DeLaurentis 5 Allison Hecht 3 Madison Hunter 3 Marysa Massoia 2

Strikeouts Scottie Todd ’20 has a teamhigh 19 strikeouts on the hill.

Player Ks Scottie Todd 19 Callie MacDonald 4 Sadie-Rose Apfel 3 Melissa Soleimani 1

TRACK AND FIELD Results from the Tufts Last Chance Meet on March 4.

TOP FINISHERS (Men’s)

TOP FINISHERS (Women’s)

200-meter dash

RUNNER Irie Gourde

TIME 22.80

800-meter run

RUNNER TIME Doyin Ogundiran 2:16.03

UPCOMING MEETS: March 25 at BSU Bears Invitational April 1 at Tufts Snowflake Classic

Updated season results.

TOP PERFORMERS (Men’s)

TOP PERFORMERS (Women’s)

MEN’S SINGLES Michael Arguello

RECORD 11-8

WOMEN’S SINGLES RECORD Sabrina Neergaard 11-6

MEN’S DOUBLES Aizenberg/Ng

RECORD 9-8

WOMEN’S DOUBLES RECORD Khromchenko/Lehat 8-7

UPCOMING MEETS:

Men, Friday vs. Amherst College (in Cambridge, Mass.)

Men, March 31 at Bowdoin College Women, March 29 at Tufts University

STRIKEOUT MACHINE

MICHELLE BANAYAN/Justice File Photo

Nomakeo ’17 begins his stride off the mound in a game at home on March 31, 2016.

15

Gasol, Jokic among top big-man playmakers ■ Centers Marc Gasol and Nikola Jokic have been putting in work as elite playmakers for their teams.

By Evan robins Justice sTAFF WRITER

The least common of all National Basketball Association centers is the playmaker. Only a handful of these mystical beings exist, but when they do it’s a sight to behold. These players possess the unholy combination of big-man size, the skills of a sixfooter and a knack for the creative.

With shockingly solid handles, unexpectedly smooth jumpers and eyes in the back of their heads, the offense runs through these gods among men. Instead of looking to score when they get the ball in a halfcourt set, they look to facilitate the action, often getting the ball with pinpoint precision to teammates curling on the wing or cutting to the rim. In a lineage that goes back to Bill Walton and Arvydas Sabonis, the torch of the playmaking center has been carried proudly for the past half decade by Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol. While other excellent players like Al Horford, Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol are also models of this kind of center, only Marc Gasol has finished in the top four of all centers in both assist percentage and assistto-turnover ratio in every one of the past five seasons. Statistically, the younger Gasol is putting up a career year, but his reign as the gold standard of playmaking centers is facing an unprecedented challenge.

The challenger? NBA twitter and hipster darling Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic.

Jokic has emerged this season as one of the NBA’s best young players.

Entering the league last season as an unheralded prospect from Serbia, Jokic rose from the 41st pick in the draft to the All-Rookie first team.

Still largely unknown entering this season, Jokic and the Nuggets had a

rough start to the season, culminating in the 22-year old being moved to the second unit in mid-November.

Since rejoining the starting lineup in mid-December, Jokic has averaged an outstanding 19.1 points, 10.6 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game.

With these gaudy stats, Jokic has joined Russell Westbrook and James Harden on the NBA’s absurd nightly triple-double watch. Jokic passes the eye test too. The big man weaves between defenders on fast breaks, flips up shots near the rim that have no business going in and, with his back to the basket, routinely throws the ball over his head to teammates that he couldn’t possibly have known were there. He is, very simply, a joy to watch. In only his second year, Jokic is a contender for the playmaking center crown.

Comparing the facilitating ability of both he and Gasol is one way to figure out who has it.

Effective passing is a requirement for the playmaking center. Just like a point guard, these players can be judged based on how well they create opportunities for other players.

While Jokic gets style points for his no-look passes, results matter too.

Here, things get close. Jokic and Gasol currently possess the second and third best assist percentages of all centers, behind only DeMarcus Cousins, with 26.3 percent and 24.7 percent, respectively. However, Jokic assists on a larger number of made field goals while he’s in the game, but he also turns the ball over more than Gasol. Here, Gasol’s 2.13 assistto-turnover ratio is slightly better than Jokic’s 2.07. While this slight difference may seem insignificant, Gasol plays over seven more minutesper-game. This indicates that Gasol has far more opportunities than Jokic to turn the ball over and yet he doesn’t, suggesting that Gasol is a more controlled ball-handler than the young Jokic.

Another wrinkle to this comparison is in the assists themselves. By definition, assists are dependent on the ball going in the basket. This, in turn, is in part

dependent on the quality of the shooters who are being passed the ball. As a team, the Nuggets have a 46.7 percent field goal percentage, seventh in the NBA, while the Grizzlies are dead last with a 43.5 percent field goal percentage. This suggests that it would be more likely that a pass from Jokic to a shooter would go in the basket than a pass from Gasol to a shooter on his own team. This is reflected in the percentage of potential assists (passes that lead to a shot) that are converted into actual assists. Here, Jokic has a far higher percentage of potential assists that become actual assists than Gasol, with 59 percent vs.

49 percent, respectively. This likely accounts for the difference between the two players in assist percentage.

If Gasol were with better shooters, would his assist percentage be higher because the shots would actually be made? It’s definitely possible, but we can’t know for sure. However, the fact that Gasol is producing similar assist percentage numbers without a massive difference in pure volume of passes per game is noteworthy.

At 51.8 for Gasol, compared to 48.1 for Jokic, and on a much worse shooting team, it seems like Gasol is perhaps doing more to put his team in position to score than Jokic.

Right now, I think the facilitating edge in the great center playmaking debate stays with the vet, Gasol.

Though his passes might not seem like they were thrown by Neo after he figured out the matrix, Gasol is a more controlled ball-handler and is doing just as much with a lot less around him than Jokic. The Grizzlies big-man has not allowed his younger competitor to best him yet, as he has continued his many years of dominance on the court.

With NBA rosters and style of play evolving however, Jokic is looking to change that status. The 22-year old Serbian is on the rise, and as soon as he figures out how to stay on the court longer and cut down on turnovers, he will surpass Gasol as the very best playmaking center in the league.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL BRIEF

TENNIS

DEALING IT: Judges pitcher Anthony

Tuesday, MARCH 21, 2017

PRO SPORTS ANALYTICS

jUDGES BY THE NUMBERS UAA STANDINGS

● Sports ●

March Madness filled with early surprises Thursday and Friday were days full of promise for many.

On Thursday, everything went according to plan, as the only upsets were from 12th-seeded Middle Tennessee State University and 11th-seeded Xavier University knocking out the University of Minnesota and the University of Maryland, respectively. On Friday, highly favored Southern Methodist University was upset by the University of Southern California in the last seconds of the game.

In the first round, Middle Tennessee did it again. Once again testing the power of the higher ranked seeds, 12th-seeded Middle Tennessee pulled ahead of fifthseeded Minnesota, just one year after they knocked out secondseeded Michigan State University as a 15 seed. Even as Minnesota began their comeback in the second half, Middle Tennessee held out and finished with an astounding nine-point lead with the final score being 81-72, creating one of many bracket-busters to come in this tournament.

After decades, Northwestern University finally reached the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament.

In an exciting game against the heavily favored ninth-seeded Vanderbilt University, eighth-

seeded Northwestern sealed the deal with its first ever tournament win. A close game by the half turned into a 15-point lead for Northwestern, only to be closed again as Vanderbilt came back in the middle of the second half.

Vanderbilt, ahead by one with 14.6 seconds left, seemed destined to win. However, Vanderbilt fouled Northwestern’s Bryant McIntosh, and he pulled through to make both foul shots to seal the deal for his school’s first victory. This was definitely an emotional day for many Northwestern fans as they won by a score of 81-72.

On Friday, the USC Trojans advancing over SMU was a game that had many people on the edge of their seats. Ahead at the half, sixth-seeded SMU was confident in its abilities to win the game over 11th-seeded USC. It was not until USC snatched the lead with Elijah Stewart making a perfect 3-pointer with just seconds left in the second half that SMU began to worry.

Although SMU had the ball in the final 10 seconds of the game, it was not enough. Shake Milton shot the ball, but it only touched the rim as time ran out, finalizing the score 66-65 as USC took the win.

This past weekend was not as consistent as the previous days had been. Instead, upsets became the norm. The top-seeded

Villanova University fell short to eighth-seeded Wisconsin in an epic game played Saturday afternoon.

Another upset occurred when 11th-seeded Xavier beat thirdseeded Florida State University.

The current national champion holder and top overall seed in the tournament, Villanova had been expected by many to be backto-back champions. The dream was crushed by Wisconsin as it played a groundbreaking game on Saturday afternoon. Tied again in the second half with 11.4 seconds remaining, Nigel Hayes made a nice lay-up and put Wisconsin in the lead. With 3.4 seconds left, Villanova still had a chance to tie the game, but the Wildcats’ Jalen Brunson’s final sprint down the court came up short as time ran out with a final score of 65-62.

To add to the heartbreak for fans and players alike, first-seeded Gonzaga University survived its battle against Northwestern.

Northwestern gave its all Saturday night as its first debut in the NCAA tournament was cut short in the second round. At the half, Gonzaga pulled ahead with an 18-point lead. In the second half, however, Northwestern closed the gap but eventually fell just short of the win 79-73.

—Samantha Proctor

just

Sports

Page 16

UPSETS GALORE March Madness has certainly lived up to its name with several nail-biters and shocking upsets already in the tournament, p. 15.

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

TENNIS

HITTING HIS MARK

Teams struggle mightily in losses ■ Both the men’s and

women’s tennis teams suffered blowout losses against Middlebury College.

By JERRY MILLER JUSTICE EDITOR

The Brandeis Judges men’s and women’s tennis teams had a rough outing this past week against Middlebury College. The men lost in a 2-7 battle, while the women managed only one win in a difficult 8-1 thrashing.

Judges 1, Middlebury 8 The Judges started the day with Ariana Ishaq ’19 and Haley Cohen ’18 facing off in the doubles court, but could not hold on in an 8-1 loss.

Sabrina Ross Neergaard ’20 and Olivia Leavitt ’19 were up next, but were unable to turn things around, falling 8-4. Neergaard came into the match fresh off a University Athletic Association Athlete of the Week award after posting a 4-0 record in her past two matchups. Neergaard won two doubles events with help from Leavitt and posted her own two wins in two singles matches.

Waltham, Mass.

The Judges were undeterred, with Michele Lehat ’19 and Keren Khromchenko ’19 taking the Judges’ lone win in an 8-5 battle.

In the singles bracket, Leavitt opened the day with a tough 6-1, 6-1 loss. Neergaard followed suit with a 6-1, 6-2 defeat against Middlebury sophomore Christina Puccinelli.

Cohen continued the domino effect, falling 6-1 in the first set against freshman Heather Boehm. Though Cohen was able to scrape together three games in the second set, her effort was not enough, as she fell 6-3.

Khromchenko was unable to carry her momentum from her 8-5 victory, falling to sophomore Molly Paradies, 6-3, 6-1. Ishaq and Lehat took the court in the fifth and sixth spots, respectively, but were only able to come away with two games total.

Freshman Skylar Schossberger double-bageled Lehat, while Ishaq fell in successive sets, 6-2, 6-0.

The team will continue against a Tufts University squad that beat the Judges 9-0 in their 2015 to 2016 campaign. The Judges drop to 8-2 on the year, marking their first loss since Feb. 21 in what has been an impressive season.

See TENNIS, 13 ☛

PRO SPORTS COLUMN

Resting has become contested issue in NBA ■ Despite a full season of

dominance, Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas came under heat for sitting out.

By LEV BROWN JUSTICE staff writer

This season in the NBA, Isaiah Thomas and the Boston Celtics have made a great name for themselves.

The team has had a very strong presence on the floor, often leaving opposing players stunned by its impressive teamwork. Thomas, the 5’ 9” last pick of the second round in the 2011 draft, is now an All-Star and leading one of the best sports cities in the country to a second place seed in the Eastern Conference, behind Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. He has a fantastic story and is now a truly exciting player to watch.

Isaiah Thomas is a very talented player whose quickness, agility and ability to finish at the rim make him an elite performer.

Because of his huge improvement throughout his NBA career and the underdog story he has created for himself, many fans come to Celtics games in large part to see him play.

While this is a gift for ticket sales, it can also be a curse for his reputation, as it was last week.

During the Celtics’ trip to take on the Brooklyn Nets, Isaiah Thomas decided he would stay in Boston and receive treatment for what he claimed to be a serious injury. He had not been injured until a few days before this, so fans did not know that he would be unable to play when they purchased their tickets. Furthermore, his injury was not even confirmed in any official manner, making the whole situation rather unclear.

Come game-time, Thomas did not play, nor did he even take the

trip with the team up to Brooklyn.

Unfortunately, as several Nets fans bought tickets in large part to see him, their night took a disappointing turn, particularly after the Nets finished with a loss.

For example, one father who decided to take his son to this game was beyond upset when he found out that Thomas would not be attending. On Twitter, he posted a message directed toward Thomas, saying that his son ripped up the poster he had made in preparation to see him play: “My son waited all season to see his fav ‪@Isaiah_ Thomas‬ take on ‪@BrooklynNets‬ - made posters. Ripped them up after hearing he’ll be a no show.”

In response, Thomas claimed that he had tried his hardest to come and that he would never miss a game unless it was absolutely necessary, but social media would not have it. The fans gave him more trouble, claiming that he was lying about being injured. One user suggested “MVPs take nights off,” suggesting that Thomas was being dishonest.

This controversy highlighted one important aspect of stars playing in the NBA. Players like James, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry are often the reasons fans go to see top teams play. In other words, good teams are interesting because of their stars, and that is why no one was happy when Thomas did not play in the Brooklyn game. If it was purely due to injury, then Thomas would have been forgiven, but the unclarity surrounding the situation angered impassioned fans immensely.

This might pertain to the fact that the NBA portrays the success of individual players more highly than that of its teams. However, it also suggests that because the NBA is a business and people pay

See PRO SPORTS, 13 ☛

TALYA GUENZBURGER/Justice File Photo

SABER STRIKE: Saberist Leon Rotenstein ’20 lunges toward his opponent in a match against Brown University on Dec. 4.

Women place foilists into final round ■ Foilists Joanne

Carminucci ’19 and Jessica Gets ’20 performed admirably last weekend.

By NOAH HESSDORF JUSTICE EDITOR

On Sunday, March 12, the men’s and women’s fencing teams competed at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Northeast Regional, hosted by Yale University. The women’s side was able to place two competitors into the final round of competition, foilists Joanne Carminucci ’19 and Jessica Gets ’20. The men’s team was unable to match the women’s excellence, but it did still manage to advance three saberists, two foilists and one epeeist to the semifinals of the meet.

The women’s team as a whole performed admirably at the tournament, but the squad was clearly led by Carminucci and Gets. Both competitors dominated the first round, with records of 5-1 and 4-2 for Carminucci and Gets, respectively. The semifinals

presented more of a challenge for the young fencers, as both women sported even records of 3-3.

However, the scores in the round were good enough to advance them to the final round, as they took the last two available spots.

Their success came to a skid in the championship round, as Carminucci and Gets struggled to get past the elite competition. Gets did not pick up a victory, as she finished in 12th place. Carminucci, on the other hand, recorded a score of 3-8, which earned her a 10th place overall finish. On Tuesday, Carminucci and Gets will find out if they have qualified for the National Collegiate Championships. There are nine bids for the Northeast region, as well as two at-large bids.

Also competing admirably for the women was saberist Nina Sayles ’17. While Sayles went 3-3 in the first round, she came up one victory short in the semifinals from advancing to the final round.

However, her list of victories was impressive, with wins against fencers from New York University, Cornell University and Sacred Heart University, as well as the third place finish from Columbia

University. Sayles has a lot to be proud of from her collegiate career.

For the men’s team, the saber squad was the leader on the day.

Leon Rotenstein ’20 had the best performance for the Judges in the opening round, compiling a record of 4-2. Kyle Berney ’18 picked up a 3-3 record during the round, while Curtis Wilson ’18 had a losing score of 2-4. Representing the saber squad, all three of the team’s participants managed to advance to the semifinals of the meet.

During the semifinals, all three of the fencers were able to pick up two victories each. Wilson, in particular, won an impressive bout against a fencer from Columbia, the defending national champions.

Both Wilson and Rotenstein finished higher than their initial tournament seedings with their solid performances.

The men’s team continued its impressive play with its foil squad. From foil, Len Grazian ’17 and Elishua Litle ’18 were able to advance to the semifinals. Each went 3-3 in their opening round but were unable to get the third victory needed in the semifinals to move on

See FENCING, 13 ☛

Vol. LXIX #21

March 21, 2017

>> pg. 18

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Waltham, Mass.

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Images: Ydalia Colon/the Justice. Design: Natalia Wiater/the Justice.

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THE TUESDAY, JUSTICE march | Arts 21,| TUESDAY, 2017 | Arts January i THE JUSTICE 31, 2017

THEATER

MONOLOGUING MAVENS: Alina Shirley ’19 monologues in the final event of the evening.

POP CULTURE

YDALIA COLON/the Justice

‘The Vagina Monologues’ spreads awareness By eMILY SEE

justice cONTRIBUTING writer

Walking into Merrick Theater, there was a feeling of intimacy, as each performer was so close to the audience.

The Vagina Monologues ran for four days, Thursday through Sunday, in the auxiliary room of Spingold Theater, giving people what can only be explained as a very powerful and moving performance with an important message for everyone. The event started with a performance done by Shira Harary ’17 talking about the priorities one should have and who has the biggest say over someone’s vagina. The answer, according to the monologue: the person’s vagina itself. People of all ages have had different experiences with their own vaginas, and if women are asked, they will talk about them. Performances were inspired by stories of various people in different stages of life. The Monologues are also composed of stories with different backgrounds, all leading to different experiences. The stories were all equally important and yet, sometimes hard to hear. Each performer had to take someone else’s story and convey it with enough feeling and meaning as if it were theirs.

To start, the message of being able to talk about your vagina turned into how to respect it and appreciate it. You learn about how the vagina has been abused and forgotten. The vagina has a voice, and it is loud.

Specifically, in one powerful performance, people were asked, “If your vagina could talk, what would it say?”

Various answers were given, however the ultimate message was that your vagina would say, “Slow down;” it needed to be recognized and appreciated, not dressed up and spoken for. Another very moving performance acted by Viola Dean ’18, Mariel Guzman ’19 and Sydney Sahasrabudhe ’17 retraced how people felt about their vaginas in different stages in their lives. The way the three actresses conveyed the message as one evoked emotion throughout the room. This particular performance retraced what women can remember thinking but also what they haven’t thought about yet.

In this piece, a focus on “memory,” the performers started with the age and then an important story of how

YDALIA COLON/the Justice

POWERFUL PERFORMANCE: Jessie Gedallovich ’20 presents a powerful monologue.

they changed in that year. From the young age of five, the perspectives of each speaker’s monologue varied in what the performers were trying to teach people.

Another strong and beautifully delivered performance was when Salena Deane ’19 brought the audience into the world of someone who had been raped. While hard to listen to, the monologue was important to learn not only about the common experiences, but also the hard ones. Another hard truth to hear about was that people don’t completely understand their own vaginas and therefore their vaginas start to lose meaning. In a performance done by Emma Cyr ’20 and Lily Feinson ’19, the audience witnessed how hard living with a vagina can be for someone in a position of uncertainty and how not having all the answers about the vagina can be unsettling. In another twist closer to the end of the performance, Jessie Gedallovich ’20 spoke of things that even though we think, we don’t say; for example, why we wear thongs versus underwear designed out of cotton that is comfortable to wear. This broke down stigmas about vaginas and was a powerful dialogue about female genitalia in general. Gedallovich’s passionate performance really emphasized how society does not match up with what a vagina would want: Society would want the thong, while the vagina would want the cotton.

The show was topped off by a big finish performed by an extremely evocative Alina Shirley ’19, whose monologue took the audience on a rollercoaster ride through the adventures of a woman who found her true self. The entire Brandeis Vagina Club joined her onstage. This turned into a powerful message to everyone in the room, recapping the main points spoken about in the night. If you did not get the chance to see this powerful event, ask someone who did or try to see it next year. It was insightful, inspiring and imparted an important message to hear. Our world is always changing, and we think we are moving forward. This performance goes to show that we need to talk to each other to make true progress. Just by attending the show, alone, or now feeling comfortable talking about vaginas, we are pushing society forward.

‘Julie’s Greenroom’ exemplifies importance of the arts

By Anna Stern justice Staff writer

This week, Netflix premiered a new children’s show titled “Julie’s Greenroom.” The show revolves around Julie Andrews and a cast of puppet children learning about the different elements that go into putting on a musical. Each week, Andrews brings out a different guest from the theater world to teach viewers about the unique skills required to put on an original musical. In the pilot, Idina Menzel takes the group of kids into the backstage of the musical “Wicked” to see how a show can come together. In another episode, Sara Bareilles teaches the children about how to write music for a show, and famed violinist Joshua Bell inspires the children to learn an instrument. “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’s” Ellie Kemper helps the kids explore the world of improv and Titus Burgess teaches the kids about the importance of costumes. More episodes include guest stars such as Carol Burnett, Alec Baldwin, and even a circus clown! When Andrews and her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton announced that they would be creating this show, it was their hope that young children would have an opportunity to be exposed to the arts at an early age (as has been proven to be a tool in successful child development).

On Wednesday, March 15, however, President Trump proposed to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as other venues that expose art to the general public. Organizations such as National Public Radio and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (which sponsors television programs such as Sesame Street and other shows that defined my childhood) are also on the list to lose funding.

President Trump does not see that the arts are a prime source of a child’s improvement in school, development of social and cognitive skills, and, of course, a reason for a child to have fun and be happy!

I cannot imagine my life without the arts. In fact, I remember every moment in my life through various musicals. I associate my car ride to the hospital as I got tubes put in my ears at age three with the cassette tape of “Annie.” I picture singing “Day

By Day” from “Godspell” with my mom in the car as she dropped me off for preschool. Playdates with friends were scored by “Wicked” and “Hairspray” sing-alongs. As recent as last December break, I drove with my parents to San Francisco listening to the entire cast album of “Hamilton” from my phone.

When I set foot on my first stage in an after-school program production of “The Wizard of Oz” at age six, I learned how to sing in front of an audience without being shy. I learned how to sing three-part harmony in “Bye Bye Birdie” at age 11. However, the arts are not just limited to what goes on in front of the stage.

Visual arts are also highly important to children’s development. Though I will never pursue it as a profession, art classes have improved my skills in painting and drawing. I learned how to see things from another perspective and in a different light. I learned how I can find art out of the most mundane of things and that our entire body is geometric in shape and design. People like Trump feel that there is more value in science, technology, engineering and math that is separate from the arts. From participating in numerous Brandeis Undergraduate Theater Collective productions, I can honestly say that without those who know how to build, configure and compute, there will be no show. Computers are being utilized more and more on stages every day creating innovating projections and even being crucial aspects to storylines, as with the current Broadway hit “Dear Evan Hansen.”

The arts combine every aspect of creativity that there ever is and ever could be. By eliminating funding from these crucial programs, children are deprived of potential opportunities that could lead to confidence boosts, a developed mind, and a mode of expression. In my humble opinion, art and theater are better than therapy. So please, Mr. President, think twice before you take away the ability for children to get creative and express themselves. Maybe you should get creative yourself and pick up a book once in awhile. I guarantee you that in the coming years, those of us who have pursued the arts will have made the world a better place just by using both our right and left brains.

19

THE JUSTICE i TUESDAY, January 31, 2017 THE JUSTICE i artsi arts i TUESDAY, March 21, 2017

Theater review

‘Mirrors’ reflects confused direction

By Perry Letourneau justice Staff writer

The Brandeis Players welcomed a small audience into the Shapiro Campus Center theater this past Thursday night for the debut of John O’Brien’s “Mirrors,” directed by Otis Fuqua ’19.

“Mirrors” follows protagonist Fred (Abram Foster ’19) through the world within his mind in the wake of losing his family in a fire. Tackling themes of grief and mental illness and questioning reality itself, the play proved an ambitious choice for the Brandeis Players. But with ambition comes risk, and in “Mirrors,” at times stunning high points were spoiled by moments of confused direction.

The show’s opening scene was nothing short of riveting. Behind a screen, the cast of five stood in front of a bright light that transformed their bodies into shadow puppets.

They danced and wove between one another, their shadows hypnotically expanding and contracting. This opening sequence effectively suspended reality, as the shadowy figures fluctuated between human and giant. But as the characters emerged, their backlighting dimmed — along with my expectations.

Foster, in his role as Fred, took a seat in front of the stage, gulped down enough whiskey to put a frat boy to shame and did not flinch or grimace in the slightest. His lack of reaction,

coupled with the coherence of his speech, made me wonder briefly if this was a conscious performance decision. But a drunken stumble confirmed either an inconsistency or unawareness on the part of the actor, removing me a bit from the drama of the scene.

The rest of the cast introduced themselves in a sitcom-esque simulation within Fred’s mind.

We meet Fred’s family, including wide-eyed dreamer Freddy (Josh Rubenstein ’19), young, romantic Chip (Riely Allen ’18), snide teen Marita (Halley Geringer ’19) and Fred’s doting, unnamed wife (Sivan Spector ’18).

For anyone who has ever seen a 90’s sitcom, these portrayals of old comedy clichés had a ring of authenticity. And to his credit, Foster played Fred with the kind of raw humanity needed to juxtapose these less-than-realistic tropes, clarifying his role as a real person inside a simulation.

Technically, “Mirrors” was a mixed bag. The sitcom parody sequence was punctuated by a laugh track, a touch which could have elevated the stiff surreality of the scene had the cues landed.

However, almost every use of the laugh track seemed to start a beat too late and end a beat too soon.

Although sound mistakes recurred throughout the show, the lighting was among “Mirrors”’ strongest points. In several instances, characters summoned spotlights with a clap of their hands; these

lighting cues, among others, landed with the clean precision required to uphold the illusion.

But “Mirrors”’ greatest obstacle lay in that the fact that the show’s most dramatic moments evoked discomfort when sympathy and awe were due. As the show progressed, it grew more and more tonally discordant.

When Fred remembers his family member’s deaths he wears a shiny silver fedora and is joined onstage by a witch with a glowing rainbow staff. The director was likely aiming to make this scene jarring, but the audience seemed to be holding back laughter, which I have to assume was not the intention for a scene with such dramatic content. And on top of this tonal confusion, issues of time management on the actors’ parts led to a host of awkward moments. Straining to remember his wife’s name, Fred sits in a chair and stutters over the letter “s” for nearly five minutes (which felt more like 20). Without visual interest or any variety in this scene, the audience, again, seemed unsure of how to react.

With a mind-bending premise like something out of a “Black Mirror” episode, “Mirrors” did succeed in presenting a warped, surreal mindscape on-stage.

That said, technical and tonal inconsistencies weighed the play down, making it, ultimately, a too-often confused and uncomfortable theater experience.

MEN OF MIRRORS: Fred (Abram Foster ’19) discusses his emotions while his family stands behind him.

YDALIA COLON/the Justice

culture

Fashion show focuses on minority designers

By Emily Rae Foreman justice Staff writer

The Levin Ballroom has never looked nicer than it did on Saturday at the annual “Skin” fashion show, a ticketed event hosted by the Brandeis Asian American Student Association. The room was filled with chairs and people gathered around all sides of a makeshift runway lined with string lights. The theme of this year’s show was “Wear Your Story,” emphasizing the idea of fashion as a means of self-expression and trying to highlight the way in which each designer’s background and identity had shaped their work.

This theme was apparent throughout the night as the background of each designer was clearly portrayed in each person’s unique style. The first designer of the night, Ella Tang, focused on high fashion, well-made clothes for everyday life. A diverse array of Brandeis students, spanning all years, participated as models. The other designers of the female clothing lines in the first half of the show included: Eunice Bruno, whose designs are inspired by her Haitian background, Gabi Delson, whose restrictive school uniform in her childhood caused her to seek eclectic and fun designs as an adult, and Emily Keller, whose designs were each completely reversible.

The male articles of clothing shown in the first half of the night were by well-known brands Uniqlo and Forever 21. While at first it seemed that the inclusion of such large namebrand designs was simply an offhand way of including collections for the male models to wear, the emcees justified this inclusion by pointing out that both of these giants in the fashion industry were founded by people of color. Uniqlo was originally a smaller division of a larger Japanese clothing company and Forever 21 was founded by a Korean American, Do Won Chang.

During the intermission, BAASA set up a space for people to take photos in front of a staged background and enter into the “best dressed” competition

for the chance to win $50. Before the second half of the show began the emcees had the top 12 contestants come on stage to walk the runway. Although not all of the contestants won the prize money, everyone, including the audience, enjoyed themselves as the contestants had the chance to model.

After the “Best Dressed” title had been awarded, the audience settled down and the fashion show started up again. The first designer in the second half, Jamie Fortier, designed a line of bridal gowns inspired by the garb of French royalty. Although this was not the line of style that would realistically be worn by college students in their daily lives, the models and audience enjoyed seeing the beautifully designed hoop skirts and ballgowns. The only male collection in the second half was by Sharisse Scott-Rawlins, featuring shirts with distinctive hand-crafted patterns that everyone, including the women in the audience, would have put on and worn out of the show right there and then. The last two designers of the night were Genesis Kira Batanes, who created a line of dresses with the intention of allowing women to feel elegant, and Taneasha Prunty, who put together a collection of clothing made to easily work from day to night.

While the students definitely had fun watching their friends walk the catwalk and while it may have been a fun occasion to see some quality clothing, the theme of the night, “Wear Your Story,” carried a larger significance. The clothes we wear say something about how we wish to present ourselves to the world, and especially for people of color, it’s important to have creative and artistic ways to portray one’s identity. At the end of the night, after the models took their final bow, the Skin coordinator, Claire Pocius ’19, introduced the BAASA Executive Board.

Each member of the board walked down the runway to receive well-deserved thanks and time in the spotlight for all they do to support the voices of Asian Americans on campus and the Brandeis community as a whole.

HEATHER SCHILLER/the Justice

PURPLE PALETTES: Two students model chic styles on the runway.

HEATHER SCHILLER/the Justice

FRENCH FROCKS: A model styles a golden gown on the runway.

20

TUESDAY, March 21, 2017 | Arts | THE JUSTIce

Brandeis TALKS

INTERVIEW

wf

What class are you most looking forward to taking this fall?

Asisa Isack ’17

Ben Astrachan ’19 “Chinese 30. I’m really excited for Chinese 30.”

NATALIA WIATER/the Justice

This week, justArts spoke with Asisa Isack ’17, who directed this year’s production of “The Vagina Monologues.” justArts: Can you give me some background on “The Vagina Monologues”?

Brandon Less ’19 “I am looking forward to Developmental Psychology with [Prof.] Hannah Snyder, because I have heard great things about her. I am excited to learn more about psychology and what happens as you develop from infant through child and forward.”

Felicia Lee ’18 “The Neuro class Developmental, with Paradis.

I heard the professor is really nice and really sweet.”

Madalyn Gibson-Williams ’18

“I guess for me, Human Reproduction and Embryology, or something like that.”

—Compiled by Jen Geller/the Justice and photographed by Natalia Wiater/the Justice.

STAFF’S Top Ten

Top 10 Worst Movie Sequels

By Victor Feldman

justice editorial Assistant

Almost all my friends know I’m a huge movie buff, but this addiction doesn’t come without its downsides. Sometimes, I can’t help but watch the sequel to a movie I loved no matter how terrible the second installment is.

1. Grown-Ups 2 2. Zoolander 2 3. Dumb and Dumber 4. Caddy shack 2 5. Terminator 2 6. Cheaper by the Dozen 2 7. Rambo 2 8. Hangover Part 2 9. Rush Hour 2 10. Pink Panther 2

ROMAN LOPER/the Justice

CROSSWORD

ACROSS 1 Fiery enthusiasm 5 Deep-set dirt 10 With 13-Down, it was decided in ‘73 14 Et _____ 15 Have in one’s sights 16 For some ships, it’s a mermaid 17 Hard-to-predict scenario, or a hint to the first set of shaded letters 19 “A substitute for _____” (how a laminate got its name) 20 Chinatown, e.g.

21 Sent a txt 22 Like a baby that needs burping 26 4G _____ 28 Halogen suffix 29 Tony’s cousin 30 Starting point, or a hint to the second set of shaded letters 34 Vogue rival 35 Brynner of “Westworld” 36 “That’s so relatable,” in a txt 37 Depend (on) 38 _____ Youth 40 Owner of Toontown in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” 44 Charter airline since 1983, for 12 Era that saw the first mammals short 13 See 10-Across 46 Great pilot 18 Partner of Dreyer 47 Chicken, e.g.

48 Type of ticket, or a hint to the 21 Ones who stand to inherit a lot, per a saying third set of shaded letters 22 Suffix with movie or concert 51 Fellow 23 Fit 52 ____ Pot 24 Where a pie may be found, in 53 U.K. mil. award cartoons 54 Comedian Leary 25 “Later!”

55 Wee young man (alt.)

27 Arm muscle, informally 57 “_____ were the days” 30 Computer serial numbers, for 61 Football channel short 62 Villain in many children’s 31 Status ____ tales, or a hint to the last set of 32 ______ nerve (it’s called the shaded letters funny bone, although it’s not a 67 Gillette razor bone) 68 Fistfight 33 Color of half the portals in 69 Chicken _____ “Portal” 70 General _____ Chicken 39 “Viens ____!”

71 One’s daily work schedule, 41 Name behind “True Grit” with “the” 42 “I Am a Fugitive from a Chain 72 Snake eyes Gang” star DOWN 1 He’ll star alongside Dwayne 43 Tolkien creatures 45 Crooner Williams in 2017’s “Baywatch” 2 “Mr. Blue Sky” band, briefly 48 Comedy events 49 Seasoned vet 3 Sky 4 Type of “party”, for gamers 50 Walk (off), as if drunk 5 Oscar-winning actress who 52 Fold guest-starred in an episode of 54 Agcy. responsible for busts 56 Geneticist’s samples “Star Trek” 58 Prefix with pad or port 6 The “rich” in a country 59 Status often advertised by whose name means “Rich neon lights Coast” 60 Did 80 in a 70 zone, say 7 Mosque figure 62 Tommy gun, for short 8 Chicken tikka ______ 63 Studio responsible for 1933’s 9 Warm temps?

“King Kong” 10 Tachometer readings, for 64 “Ich bin _____ Berliner” short 65 Name-dropper’s word?

11 EA gaming platform 66 Best Buy purchases nickname)

Asisa Isack: So, Eve Ensler is the person who started the original script, and she came up with the idea ... [through] interviewing a lot of women regarding what their experience with having a vagina is, essentially. And through that, she came to compile them together and created “The Vagina Monologues.” It’s been [a] celebrated production [at Brandeis] every year.

JA: How is the Brandeis production different from the base script?

CROSSWORD COURTESY OF EVAN MAHNKEN

AI: So, we made a few changes, just because the script is a little outdated, especially with current political things going on. And also, just, like, forward movement and education regarding gender and sexuality and so forth. … A lot of the things in the original script no longer apply to today. So, we included one of our cast member’s personal monologue about their own experience with that, being trans-masculine and so forth, and then we also chose not to have cast members do the “beat” monologue, which is [about] transgender woman experiences, because none of the cast members identify as transgender.

Transgender women also are not acknowledged and are not considered to be an important part of society because of their identity, so it was really important that we didn’t undermine their space and identity.

Other than that, we took away a few parts. In one of the monologues, it was like, “I love vaginas and I love women, and I don’t see them as different things.” But, not all who have a vagina identify as a woman, so we took out that line, and so forth. It was just a lot of discussion with the cast and crew making sure that everyone was comfortable and that this production reflected the current time.”

JA: Why do you feel it is important to have “The Vagina Monologues” and to present it?

SOLUTION COURTESY OF EVAN MAHNKEN

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

Solution to last issue’s sudoku

Puzzle courtesy of www.sudokuoftheday.com

AI: I say this a lot, but I think the space that “The Vagina Monologues” creates is super essential, and it’s a very, very safe and inclusive space on this campus, … not just for [women] but all individuals of all race, gender, physical and mental ability, and so forth. In my four years here, it’s the only place that I’ve felt that, regardless of who you are, what your background or experience was, that you’d be a part of this production and a part of the cast; and there would be no sort of exclusivity. ... So, it was a lot of dialogue in the space, and whatever choices were made, I always spoke to the cast about all the decisions made.

JA: How did you choose what to present and how to present it?

AI: I focused a lot on resistance this year, because I felt that individuals that identify with vaginas are facing a lot of anxiety and even some danger.

So I incorporated a slideshow at the end that had current headlines and things that were going on. And then we had “revolution” in which we all came out in our sweaters to show respect for who we are and all these experiences. The other monologues, depending on the context, were performed accordingly.

—Hannah Kressel