SPORTS PULLOUT: BASKETBALL PREVIEW
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The Independent Student Newspaper Volume LXXII, Number 12
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B r a n d e is U n i v e r sit y S i n c e 1 9 4 9
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
STUDENT UNION
the community to apologize and explain the next steps in the special election process. By GILDA GEIST JUSTICE EDITOR
Student Union Secretary Taylor Fu ’21 and Class of 2022 Senator Joseph Coles sent an email to the Brandeis community on Nov. 19 apologizing on behalf of the Union for its failure to fill the open racial minority senator seat. In a Nov. 24 email to the Justice, Fu announced that the election for the seat will be held on Dec. 10. There will be an information session for prospective candidates on Dec. 2. Former Union Vice President Guillermo Caballero ’20 dismissed Rajan Vohra ’21 from the seat of racial minority senator at the Oct. 6 Senate meeting for missing multiple sessions. The seat has yet to be filled, despite the fact that the Union Constitution mandates that
a special election be held within 15 days after a Senate seat is vacated. “This was an all-around failure on our part, and one that we take full responsibility for,” the email said. “This was a miscommunication between branches as well as a constitutionally invalid decision, and one that we are deeply sorry for.” Fu told the Justice in a Nov. 21 interview that the Senate had an “informal discussion” about the open seat at the Oct. 6 Senate meeting, at which she was not present. She said that at that discussion, the Senate decided not to hold a special election for the seat. Fu provided the meeting minutes to the Justice, which said, “Vice President Caballero officially dismisses Senator Rajan Vohra,” and on the next line, “No special election,” with no further notes. Her Nov. 19 email said, “The decision not to include the racial minority senator in this special election was one reached in an informal discussion in the Senate, and should have occurred in full session.” In a Nov. 21 email to the Justice,
See UNION, 7 ☛
Waltham, Mass.
‘FAMILIAS SEPARADAS’
Union explains delay in racial minority senator election ■ The Union sent an email to
Waltham, Mass.
NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice
Artist and immigrant rights activist Michelle Angela Ortiz discussed her "Familias Separadas" project on Tuesday, which consists of several public art installations that portray the impacts of family separation and detention. Read more about the event on Page 3.
HOUSING
Deroy, Village residents report mold, Eduroam WiFi fixed DCL inspections find no evidence after connectivity issues
TECHNOLOGY
■ Several residents of Deroy
■ The problems lasted for a
week, the latest in a string of issues with the network over the past semester. By SAMANTHA GOLDMAN JUSTICE EDITOR
The eduroam WiFi network has been fixed after there were a number of connectivity issues across the Brandeis campus, which began on Nov. 12 and continued through Nov. 19, according to the Brandeis Status website. Over this past summer, there were reconfigurations done to the wireless network that ended up faltering. Reconfigurations were also done the week of Nov. 11; however, there were issues with the reconfiguration that left people unable to connect to Eduroam. Before the campus wireless network issues began on Nov. 12, there was maintenance to the wireless network scheduled for Nov. 4 through Nov. 12 at 7:00 a.m., according to the Brandeis Status website.
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Problems with the campus WiFi began at 8:15 a.m. on Nov. 12 and were marked as resolved at 2:48 p.m. that day, but the website also noted that Brandeis Information Technology Services would continue to monitor the issues. At 3:00 p.m. on Nov. 13, Brandeis Status updated to say that ITS was continuing to investigate the connectivity issues. In a joint interview with The Brandeis Hoot and the Justice, Chief Information Security Officer David Albrecht said that the maintenance that was finished on Nov. 12 was for both a separate issue with the network as well as proactive maintenance, and had nothing to do with the wireless network issues that occurred later that day. The Brandeis Status website updated on Nov. 19 at 10:35 p.m. to say that “the previously reported issue with the campus wireless network has been resolved.” This was followed by a campus-wide email sent out on Nov. 19 from Chief Information Officer Jim La Creta which said “Information Technology Services (ITS) has been actively work-
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residence hall reported contracting sinus infections due to mold in their dorms. By LEEZA BARSTEIN JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
After several Deroy Hall residents noticed a disproportionate number of students who lived in the building sick with sinus infections, they notified the Department of Community Living to take care of what appeared to be a mold issue in the residence hall. Although DCL did not find any mold in Deroy, many residents were unhappy with DCL’s response to the issue. Massell Quad Area Coordinator Maira Pantoja wrote in a Nov. 15 email to the Justice that DCL was first notified of mold concerns on Oct. 31 when several students visited her office. Custodial staff members were sent to inspect the residence hall after five rooms submitted work orders, she said. According to Pantoja, after a follow-up inspection on Nov. 5, Environmental Manager Andy Finn noted that DCL observed no potential
mold growth and checked humidity throughout the building. One resident voiced their concern to the Justice in a Nov. 14 interview, saying they were surprised that DCL did not immediately set up spore tests, because mold has the potential to become very dangerous. Sam Ferguson ’23 was one of the first students to contact DCL. In a Nov. 14 interview with the Justice, he said he first became concerned about potential mold after a visit to the Health Center. “I told [the nurse] about the pungent, fruity smell in my room, the stuffy air quality and the nastiness that we had felt we had been breathing in,” he said. “She said all of those things were characteristic of a sinus infection caused by bacteria.” The Health Center did not respond to the Justice's request for an interview. Ferguson explained that there are two main types of sinus infections — viral and bacterial — with mold resulting in the bacterial form of the infection. According to the Cleveland Clinic, practitioners cannot make a distinction between viral and bacterial sinus infections after just one patient visit. Instead, they follow symptom duration, noting
that bacterial sinus infections typically last more than 10 days. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that people express varying signs and symptoms to mold. Some individuals experience eye irritation, respiratory illness and skin irritation, while others show no signs or symptoms at all. Although there are always mold spores in the air, extensive mold contamination has potential for severe health impacts, according to the New York State Department of Health. Ferguson noted that most residents who were sick had colds, but around three or four students had sinus infections, and one student contracted pink eye. Although many students speculated their illness was due to the mold, there was no medical opinion to confirm the correlation. “The people who had sinus infections have gotten them over and over again,” he said. “I know one of the girls has had a sinus infection three times in a row. I had two infections. It has just been ridiculous.” Ferguson also pointed out that his repeated illness has affected more than just his health. “I had a meet-
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Brandeis alum Walt Mossberg spoke about the dangers of advertising technology.
The Justice talked to director Pascale Florestal about "We are Proud to Present."
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AAAS statement on student protest policy By AAAS DEPARTMENT FACULTY
FORUM 12
Krav Maga teaches self defense
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SPORTS 16
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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019
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NEWS
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THE JUSTICE
NEWS GLOBAL BAZAAR
WALTHAM BRIEF
POLICE LOG
Finalist for Waltham school superintendent withdraws One of the finalists for the role of Waltham superintendent of schools has unexpectedly withdrawn, according to a Nov. 22 Waltham Patch article. Waltham Patch reported on Oct. 15 that 19 people had applied for the job of superintendent and that the intended timeline was to choose the finalists by Oct. 27. The article reported that the school committee intended to vote on the superintendent on Dec. 18. The timeline has been altered due to the withdrawal of a finalist, with the application reopening until Dec. 20, and with the vote now intended for early February, according to the Nov. 22 article. Waltham Patch reported on Apr. 26 that George Frost would serve as interim superintendent after previous Superintendent of Schools Drew Echelson stepped down. Frost had previously served as administrator of human resources for Waltham Public Schools. The search committee for the new superintendent includes “three school committee members, two administrators, three faculty members, three parents, two community members, and representative of the special education team and of an English language learner,” according to a June 6 Waltham Patch article. The new superintendent will oversee the district, as well as the building of the new Waltham High School, which is projected to cost $374 million — the most expensive high school plan in the state — according to a Sept. 10 Waltham Wicked Local article. —Jason Frank
The Justice will not be printing next week due to the Thanksgiving holiday. The next issue will be on Dec. 10.
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Students enjoyed a global bazaar on Thursday evening in the Shapiro Campus Center. The event, part of the University’s annual “I Am Global Week,” featured food from several campus cultural clubs and a performance from African drumming and dance ensemble Fafali.
BRIEF Prominent philanthropist Barbara Mandel dies at 93 Barbara Mandel P’73, H’19, one of the University’s most generous benefactors and a Board of Trustees vicechair, has died. In his Nov. 22 email to the Brandeis community announcing the loss, University President Ron Liebowitz described Barbara Mandel as “a remarkable woman … who gave of her time and resources to improve the lives of others” and who was “committed to our faculty, staff, and students.” A Trustee since 2005, Barbara Mandel served on the Board’s Executive and Nominating and Governance Committees and co-chaired the Institutional Advancement Committee. Independent of Brandeis, she led the National Council of Jewish Women, directing the 100,000-member-strong organization, per a Nov. 22 Cleveland Jewish News article. Barbara Mandel was married to Morton Mandel for seven decades, up until his recent death in October. Her husband helped found the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation, which has donated $45 million to the University, per a Nov. 22 BrandeisNOW article. A $22.5 mil-
lion Foundation gift made possible the creation of the Mandel Center for the Humanities, the auditorium of which bears Barbara Mandel’s name. In 2019, Barbara Mandel was one of seven honorary degree recipients at the 68th Commencement exercises, receiving a Doctor of Humane Letters. She also received an honorary degree from Hebrew University, per the CJN article. The Cleveland native was inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame in 1985 in the Religion and Community Service category, according to its website. Two of the Mandel Foundation’s gifts to Brandeis carry Barbara Mandel’s namesake: The Barbara and Morton Mandel Graduate Fellowships in the Humanities and the Barbara and Morton Mandel Graduate Fellowships in English and American Literature, according to an Oct. 17 BrandeisNOW article. She is survived by her three children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. “We will forever be grateful,” Liebowitz wrote in his email. —Jocelyn Gould
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n The masthead incorrectly listed Hannah O’Koon as Interim Copy Editor. It was should have listed her position as Acting Copy Editor. n A pro sports brief incorrectly spelled Kawhi Leonard’s last name. (Nov. 19, Page 15). The Justice welcomes submissions for errors that warrant correction or clarification. Send an email to editor@thejustice.org.
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LARCENY Nov. 19 — There was attempted larceny of personal information in Farber Library by a cell phone caller. The victim did not give the caller any personal information, and University Police compiled a report on the incident. Nov. 23 — A party in the Usdan Student Center stated his coat was taken, which contained his wallet. University Police compiled a report on the incident and the party alerted his credit/bank card lenders. VANDALISM Nov. 22 — A party in the Gosman Sports Complex reported that his motor vehicle was damaged. University Police compiled a report on the incident. Nov. 22 — In the North Quad parking lot, a party reported their car was damaged while parked in the lot. University Police compiled a report on the incident. DISTURBANCE Nov. 24 — University Police advised a loud party in the Foster Mods listening to music to quiet down. The party complied without incident. Nov. 24 — Loud music caused a disturbance in the Charles River Apartments. The residents were advised to lower the volume, which they did without incident. —Compiled by Jen Geller
CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS
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MEDICAL EMERGENCY Nov. 19 — A party in Skyline Residence Hall fainted and regained consciousness but was lightheaded. BEMCo staff treated the party who was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital via Cataldo Ambulance for further care. Nov. 19 — BEMCo staff responded to a party in Usdan Student Center with a partial throat obstruction. The party was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital via Cataldo Ambulance for further care. The Area Coordinator on call was notified. Nov. 19 — BEMCo staff treated a party who hit his head in Goldman-Schwartz Hall with a signed refusal for further care. Nov. 20 — A party with lock jaw in the 567 South Street parking lot was treated by BEMCo staff with a signed refusal for further care. Nov. 20 — In Gordon Hall, BEMCo staff treated a party with an ankle injury with a signed refusal for further care. Nov. 20 — A party in the basement of Deroy hall was reported to have fainted. BEMCo staff responded to the scene and the party was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital via Cataldo Ambulance for further care. The Area Coordinator on call was notified. Nov. 22 — An intoxicated party in Deroy Hall was found in the basement bathroom. BEMCo staff responded to the scene and the party was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital via Cataldo Ambulance for further care. The Area Coordinator on call was notified and a Community Standards Report was filed. Nov. 23 — BEMCo staff responded to a call in Gordon Hall for alcohol intoxication. The party was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital via Cataldo Ambulance for further care. University Police submitted a Community Standards Report on the incident.
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THE JUSTICE
‘WE ARE HUMAN BEINGS’
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NEWS
By GILDA GEIST JUSTICE EDITOR
NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice
STORYTELLING THROUGH ART: Immigration rights activist and artist Michelle Angela Ortiz came to Brandeis on Nov. 19 and 20 to discuss her recent project, “Familias Separadas.” Her project involves installing large-scale artwork in her hometown of Philadelphia that conveys both the strengths and struggles of immigrants.
Activist discusses her new art installations on immigration shared her most recent project focusing on immigration rights with the community. By JACKIE TOKAYER JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
Artist and immigrant rights activist Michelle Angela Ortiz spoke to the Brandeis community on Nov. 19 about her “Familias Separadas” project, a series of public art installations highlighting the plight of families affected by detention and deportation in the United States. Works from the project are currently on display at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston as part of the exhibit “When Home Won’t Let You Stay: Migration through Contemporary Art.” Ortiz began her talk by sharing that she is the daughter of Colombian and Puerto Rican immigrants, and that she still resides in the heavily immigrant-populated neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pa. where she was born and raised. Ortiz shared that she created “Familias Separadas” in response to the increase in deportations in 2013 — an issue “so overwhelming,” she said, “the only way I thought to start was in my own city.” Partnering with the Philadelphia-based immigrant rights organization Juntos, Ortiz began interviewing and collecting stories from local undocumented families. “I always start my work with conversation,” she said. The main goal of Ortiz’s project is to shift the conversation about deportation from numbers and statistics
Meeting: Mondays at 7 p.m.
their images to be so large that they cannot be ignored,” she said. In 2018, Ortiz unveiled what she called “phase two” of Familias Separadas: a series of billboards and murals in Harrisburg, Pa. featuring images and direct messages of mothers formerly detained at Berks County Family Detention Center. Berks, a family prison outside Philadelphia, is where children as young as two weeks old are detained, Ortiz said. She spoke about the many alleged human rights abuses Berks has been charged with, and about efforts still being made to shut down the facility. Ortiz based each of the eight Harrisburg installations on interviews she conducted with mothers detained at Berks with their young children. She shared details of a number of these womens’ stories and struggles, including that of Karen, who together with her six-year-old son spent 651 days at Berks before being deported back to El Salvador. An 88-foot-long image of them installed on the Harrisburg Capitol Steps stared powerful Pennsylvania policymakers in the face every day. Although “Familias Separadas” provides a platform for the voices of these women to be amplified, Ortiz explained that, “I’m not giving the mothers a voice. They already have a voice. I’m not giving them power. I’m helping energize that existing individual and collective power that they have.” Saul Goldstein ’23, who had read about and went to the ICA to see “Familias Separadas” as part of Prof. Toni Shapiro-Phim’s (CAST) Creativity, Arts and Social Transformation class, said the experience of hearing from Ortiz “brought to life” the issues of immigration and deportation addressed in her work.
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Club consultant bylaw garners controversy that all chartered clubs have a consultant, which is already required for secured clubs.
to the reality and humanity “of the mother, the father, husband, child … that has been torn apart from their families,” she said. The personal stories Ortiz gathered served as the driving force behind five large-scale artworks installed in 2015 at different public locations in Philadelphia. One, which was sprawled on the concrete outside City Hall, featured an 18-foot image of a woman named Maria and her young daughter. Maria’s husband was detained for three years before ultimately being deported back to Mexico. She and her five children continue to live in Philadelphia without him. In the background of the image are words from letters Maria’s husband sent her while he awaited deportation. His words “Eres Mi Todo,” “you are my everything,” are bolded. “What happens when what is everything to you is taken away?” Ortiz asked the audience. Other locations of Ortiz’s works included the street outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building. It was there that she and a group of volunteers installed the 90-footlong stenciled words, “WE ARE HUMAN BEINGS, RISKING OUR LIVES FOR OUR FAMILIES AND OUR FUTURE,” which were spoken to Ortiz by an undocumented mother named Ana. Many of Ortiz’s volunteers were, themselves, undocumented, so to create this installation together with them “in front of a building that represents so much fear” was very powerful, she said. To Ortiz, making a public and prominent spectacle of what would otherwise remain private stories of undocumented families was of primary importance. “My intention is for
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019
STUDENT UNION
■ The bylaw would mandate
■ Michelle Angela Ortiz
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Contact River Hayes and Hannah O’Koon at copy@thejustice.org
Club Support Committee Chair Joseph Coles ’22 is working on an expansion of the club consultant bylaw which would mandate all chartered clubs to have faculty or staff consultants. The Senate passed the original club consultant bylaw on March 31, according to an April 2 Justice article. The bylaw says that secured clubs must have a University faculty or staff member in an advisory role. There would also be changes to Section E of the bylaw, which “calls for a formal contract” between the consultant and the club members, Coles said in an interview with the Justice last Tuesday. Under Coles’ proposal, this contract would be reevaluated each year. Coles said that this change to Section E was in response to “a lot of negative feedback” about the bylaw he received from club members. He maintained that the bylaw was “misunderstood.” “There’s data on the popularity of this and it’s not good,” Coles said. “It’s very clear that the student body doesn’t want it right now, so I’m going to respect that and not propose it.” In hopes of increasing approval of the bylaw, Coles said he is working to “change the perception and help people understand it better.” He invited students to attend his office hours on Nov. 18 through 21 to discuss the bylaw. Coles also said that he was working on setting up a joint forum on the subject with the Club Support Committee and Student Activities
and speaking with club members at other events. Coles said he hopes that he can get the bylaw passed in the Senate before the end of the spring semester so that it can go into effect by the next academic year. He clarified that he would not try to pass the amendment if it continued to generate largely negative feedback. “If I don’t see a change in the popularity of the bylaw between now and the end of the semester, then I won’t introduce it until February,” Coles said. “I don’t want to force this down people’s throats.” Coles explained the requirements for clubs under the bylaw. He said club treasurers would be required to meet with their consultant twice a year, saying that “the purpose of this [bylaw] is around financial mismanagement.” He elaborated that the consultant was meant to serve as a “second voice” in clubs. “Getting overall advice about events, how to recruit more members, how to book space and just having somebody who knows the ins and outs of the University is just something that … any club can benefit from,” he said. Coles emphasized that the club consultant would not be able to make any decisions for the club. “The club advisor doesn’t approve anything. They have no authority or power over the club,” he said. Coles said that one benefit of the bylaw was that clubs would be able to discuss their event ideas with their consultants to avoid issues. He said that he learned from talking to Student Activities that they have encountered several scenarios where club members did not know that they had to book custodians to clean up after their events. He also said that Student Activities has had to tell clubs that their events were too big and needed to be scaled down. Club consultants would make clubs conscious of “little things like that,” Coles said.
BRIEF ’Deis IMPACT! postponed to later in spring semester due to delays around new hire ’Deis IMPACT!, the University’s annual celebration of social justice and activism, will take place later than usual next semester to allow the Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion to hire a program administrator to manage its educational programs. The scheduling shift occurred because the ODEI only recently acquired the funding for this hire, which is a new position. According to a Friday email to the Justice from Director of the ODEI Allyson Livingstone, the hiring process will be completed within the next four weeks. This is a change from previous years, where a 2019 ’deis IMPACT! coordinator was employed on a short-term contract. The week-long festival normally happens each February, but will instead take place during the week of March 23, 2020, Livingstone wrote in a Monday email to students and staff affiliated with ’deis IMPACT!. “Moving the date back will allow our staff to deliver a quality experience with the highest likelihood of increasing engagement. Our hope is to honor the vision of [’deis IMPACT!] while remaining flexible, realistic, and open to change,” she wrote. The ODEI will also be considering “programmatic shifts … to make the program more impactful,” Livingstone added. Drawing from feedback received about 2019’s ’deis IMPACT! — including concerns about low attendance and an oversaturation of programming — the ODEI is considering holding the 2020 iteration of the festival over the course of two or three days instead of
seven days as in previous years. Livingstone wrote that ’deis IMPACT! 2020 “will likely center around a keynote speaker and 1-2 days of engagement about the themes the keynote event presents.” These changes come after the ODEI’s review of the program throughout the spring and summer of 2019, which aimed to “assess and ultimately enhance the opportunity for impact,” according to the festival’s website. ’Deis IMPACT! came under the direction of the ODEI in the fall of 2018, which shifted programming to include more graduate student programs and “increased collaborations on programming opportunities,” according to the festival’s website. “The transition to the ODEI was intentional and strategic, as it offered the potential to position the mission and goals [of ’deis IMPACT!] centrally within the institution,” Livingstone wrote in the Monday email. For the first time last year, the program featured a theme — “What is Social Justice?: Consciously Exploring Oppression, Power, and Privilege” — to facilitate “a unifying thread” among the programs. The ODEI also began providing stipends to ’deis IMPACT!’s student coordinators, known as “Impacters,” and conducting workshops to improve leadership skills. The festival was previously facilitated by the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life from its creation in 2012 until its transition to the ODEI in 2018. —Emily Blumenthal
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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019
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NEWS
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THE JUSTICE
NEWS ‘WHERE IS OMAN HEADED?’
SENATE LOG Senators debate how to increase attendance at Senate meetings During a brief Senate meeting on Sunday, Student Union Vice President Kendal Chapman ’22 directed a discussion regarding incentives for senators to attend more Senate meetings. One senator proposed paying senators as an incentive for accountability. Chapman acknowledged the balance between Senate positions being viewed as jobs opposed to passions, and questioned whether or not making positions paid would take away from the passion aspect. Chapman also proposed a brainstorming session between the Student Union Executive Board and the Senate to promote clearer communication between the two branches. She reported that the E-Board is working on improving meeting attendance and setting guidelines for excused absences. Additionally, Chapman said the E-Board is seeking to improve outreach and increase diversity in order to represent the whole Brandeis community. Chapman first announced that a “take your professor to coffee” program is underway, but she said there are a few minor challenges in relation to Conference and Event Services. NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice
HEARING FROM AN EXPERT: Gary Grappo served as U.S. Ambassador to Oman from 2006 to 2009 and has over four decades of foreign policy experience, according to the Brandeis events website. He gave a talk about diplomacy, leadership and more in Oman as a part of Brandeis’ “I Am Global Week.”
Former diplomat delivers lecture on politics in Oman ■ Former U.S. Ambassador
to Oman Gary Grappo talked about leadership, economics and politics in Oman. By ELLA RUSSELL JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
The Crown Center for Middle East Studies on Wednesday hosted Gary Grappo, a former diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Oman between 2006 and 2009. Grappo discussed Oman’s leader, Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who was instrumental in modernizing the country, and he analyzed current and upcoming challenges that Oman faces looking forward. Grappo explained that Oman is ruled by the Al Said dynasty, which was established in the mid-18th century, making it one of the oldest surviving dynasties in the Middle East. Oman fell under British influence beginning in the 19th century, Grappo said. According to Grappo, the country particularly stagnated under the last Britain controlled Sultan: Said bin Taimur, who ruled from 1932 to 1970. Said’s rule ended in a bloodless coup instigated by his son Qaboos bin Said, after which Taimur spent his remaining days in London. Qaboos was educated in a boarding school in Britain, according to Grappo. He then spent several years in the British military, serving in a North Atlantic Treaty Organization unit in Germany. Grappo explained that Qaboos’s father put him under house arrest because he feared the influence of Western thought on his son. Nevertheless, Qaboos continued his education and developed an extensive knowledge of Islam. According to Grappo, Qaboos overthrew his father because he agreed with the dissatisfaction surrounding Said’s rule, which had led to a rebellion in the region of Dhofar. Once Qaboos became Sultan, he was able to quell this rebellion by bringing a number of former rebels into his parliament, Grappo said. Grappo emphasized Qaboos’s accomplishments. According to Grappo, Qaboos is responsible for
Oman’s transition from a developing to a developed country, taking Oman from a per capita GDP of $320, one of the lowest in the world at the time, to around $24,000 today. He has also spent more on health and education than on the military. As a result, he has created a number of universities, and Oman now faces only the health problems of developed countries, such as Type II diabetes from an unhealthy Western diet. With Oman’s diplomacy, Qaboos practices a policy of being a “friend of all [and an] enemy of none,” according to Grappo. Oman has a strong relationship with the United States but remains on good terms with all its neighbors in the Middle East including Iran, with which Oman frequently performs joint military exercises. According to Grappo, this policy has led to Oman serving as a useful intermediary between the U.S. and Iran during several past U.S. administrations. This policy also holds in the domestic sphere. Qaboos is careful to avoid sectarian violence. He keeps all places of worship open to everyone and, in 1993, sent away 100 teachers who were suspected to have been proselytizing Wahhabism, the ultraconservative Islamic sect common in Saudi Arabia. Though Qaboos has been successful in making Oman a comfortable, well-off society, Grappo said that Oman faces several important challenges. One is an overreliance on oil and gas. Grappo explained that this reliance can especially be seen from Oman’s GDP peaking around the same time as world oil prices. According to Grappo, Oman had taken steps to counter this problem by turning back to its historical seafaring roots, namely by building major ports in the cities of Salalah and Dukam. There is also talk of an oil pipeline from Saudi Arabia to Dukam, which is projected to bring in high revenue, Grappo said. A second outlet for replacing oil revenue, according to Grappo, is tourism. He expressed his support of this strategy, saying, “If you’re only going to visit one country in the Middle East, make it Oman,” but expressed doubt that this would be enough to fully replace declining oil revenues. The second major challenge, that
Grappo discussed, is the question of succession. Oman in its current state is essentially “tailormade” for Sultan Qaboos because “his hand is everywhere in that country,” Grappo said. He explained that Qaboos is not helping the transition process because he is becoming out-of-touch. Qaboos used to conduct a “meet-thepeople” tour, where he would travel around the country and talk with Omani citizens about what they wanted from the government, but he discontinued this practice because of his long battle with colon cancer. According to Grappo, the succession process for the Al Said dynasty is rather vague. Upon Qaboos’ death, the royal family will gather to choose a successor. If they are not able to decide on a successor within three days, they must consult a sealed envelope containing the person Qaboos finds fit to be his successor. According to Grappo, Qaboos’s second cousin, Sayyid Taimur, is the most likely candidate for his successor due to his friendly personality, government experience and close relationship with Qaboos. To aid in a peaceful transition, Qaboos’ successor will have to take care to reassure both the parliament and the young Omani populace, a large percentage of whom are 25 years or younger. The successor will also have to decide how to handle the many roles Qaboos filled in Oman, including foreign minister, finance minister, head of the central bank and prime minister. Due to the immense amount of responsibility it puts on the new leader, Grappo argued that “delegation is going to be the order of the day,” which he hoped would lead to a more democratic Oman. One of Qaboos’ main shortcomings is his maintenance of authoritarianism, however subtle it may be, Grappo said. The parliament is “defanged” of any real influence, as one audience member concluded, and non-governmental organizations exist entirely based on government approval. Grappo concluded his talk by emphasizing Qaboos’s popularity among the people of Oman. Unfortunately, he said, they are going to have to “confront the reality of not having an extraordinary human being running the country.”
COMMITTEE CHAIR REPORTS
Facilities and Housing Committee Chair Trevor Filseth ’20 reported on a meeting with Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Tim Touchette regarding access to bathrooms in East Quad. Accord-
ing to Filseth, many students who do not live in East Quad have been using the residence hall’s bathrooms because they are close to the main campus. After the meeting, the two decided to require key cards to access the Quad’s bathrooms. Club Support Committee Chair Joseph Coles ’22 reported that he held office hours last week to discuss his proposed expansion to the club consultant bylaw, which would mandate that chartered clubs have a faculty or staff consultant. Coles acknowledged that the bylaw is unpopular, but said he is still working on gathering more input from students. Rules Committee Chair Scott Halper ’20 reported that he met with the Department of Community Living about the alleged mold outbreak in Deroy Residence Hall. Halper said that there is no definitive proof of mold, but acknowledged that students are still concerned. Additionally, Halper reported that he decided to investigate the allegations himself, and said he saw “potentially mold growth.” According to Halper, Touchette referred to this wave of student concern as an issue that does not pertain to mold, rather to students being unhappy with their living conditions. —Leeza Barstein —Editor’s Note: Jocelyn Gould is an editor on the Justice and works at Conferences and Events Services.
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THE JUSTICE
‘SCIENCE IS ALL ABOUT FAILURE’
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NEWS
By ARI ALBERTSON JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
LAUREN BERK/the Justice
IMPARTING WISDOM: Prof. Kene Piasta (BIOL) was the featured speaker at a Nov. 21 event called “How I Succeed in Science: Science Majors Share Stories of Facing and Overcoming Challenges.” He explained to the audience that making mistakes is okay because “college is supposed to be about learning.”
Science majors share their academic challenges, advice talked to students about how they overcame setbacks in their educations. By HANNAH TAYLOR JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
A panel of science majors spoke at a Nov. 21 event titled “How I Succeed in Science: Science Majors Share Stories of Facing and Overcoming Challenges.” The featured panelists were Neuroscience and Philosophy major Gabe Trevino ’20, biology and Health: Science, Society, and Policy major and Chemistry minor Herlyne Das ’18 and Psychology major and Education Studies minor Allison Lawsky ’16, as well as featured speaker Prof. Kene Piasta (BIOL). There was also a representative from each of the organizations sponsoring the event: Associate Director of Academic Services Julia Mani, Assistant Director of Career Programs at the Hiatt Career Center Jackie Blesso and Program Manager of Health and Wellness Promotion Leah Berkenwald. Mani spoke first by defining resilience, which was a major theme of the event, as “an adaptive response to hardship or challenge.” Piasta then shared his own experience with challenges he faced as a science major. He said, “It wasn’t easy and I had to struggle a lot to get here.” He said he was depressed after losing his emotional support networks when he moved away for college, but after seeking help, he said he ended up transferring so that he could be closer to home. Piasta added that upon graduating, he did not have all A’s on his transcript. He said he noticed that students think that is the expectation, but it is not. Piasta said the current college climate is an “Instagramification” of college, meaning everyone only shows “the good stuff.” He explained that it is okay for students to have more going on in their lives outside of their academics and recommended going to different campus resources for help. “Going to use these [campus resources] is not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength,” he said, adding that he wished he had used his campus’ resources earlier in his own college career.
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Educator discusses indigenous perspectives on climate change Terisa Siagatonu gave a talk on how indigenous communities frame the climate justice movement.
Piasta said that “college is supposed to be about learning,” and that making mistakes is okay, especially given the support network of resources on campus. As for science specifically, Piasta said, “science is all about failure … every failure teaches you something, you just have to look for it.” The other panelists followed Piasta by talking about challenges they faced while at Brandeis. Trevino said his biggest setback was failing an Anthropology class during his sophomore year. He was dealing with anxiety at the time and said that failing that class “destroyed [his] sense of self worth.” After being put on academic probation, Trevino said his academic advisor reached out to him to help, suggesting group therapy for anxiety through the Brandeis Counseling Center. He said, “Being with that group, it really changed my mindset on a lot of things.” Trevino explained that he built a support network by learning to openly talk to his professors about his anxiety and by reaching out to his family. Trevino said science is “very competitive” at Brandeis and “you can’t compare yourself to others,” even though it is hard not to. Trevino said that when reaching a setback, students need to find ways to move through it. He advised students to reach out for help, especially when dealing with anxiety and depression. “Everyone here wants you to thrive,” he said. Das said her biggest setback was needing time accommodations on exams due to being partially blind in one eye. She said it was hard when classmates were not understanding of her disability, and that she did not do well on the Medical College Admission Test because she was not allowed extra time to take it. Having planned on going directly to medical school after college, Das said she felt particularly upset by this setback, which caused her to take a gap year before applying. In this time, however, she said she is gaining more experience in her field by doing a medical program at Tufts. Das said her faith in God was important in overcoming her challenges because this helped her “understand that … what [she was] going through [was] not the end all, be all.” Das also found her support network to be helpful, explaining that when people are dealing with
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019
CAMPUS SPEAKER
■ Poet, artist and educator
■ A panel of science majors
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anxiety and depression, having people there to say “you’re on the right path” is important. She also said she was involved with extracurriculars on campus, which helped her relieve stress and connect with more people so “the science didn’t feel overbearing.” Das advised having a mentor. Piasta added that “faculty here want to be that person,” but that students need to come to office hours in order to make that connection. Lawsky said her difficulties started during the second semester of her first year, because her courses were harder than she expected. She sought help and decided to take delayed finals, but, due to anxiety and stress, was only able to take one of her finals by the end of the summer. Facing a similar issue the next year, Lawsky said she decided to take a semester-long medical leave during her junior year. She said, “It was a huge, depressing setback, but it was what I needed.” She said she learned that “it’s never going to be perfect [and] it’s never going to be the straight line that you imagine.” Lawsky noted that it is difficult to both enjoy college and plan for the future. She advised “taking it day by day, even hour by hour if you have to.” She also said that “passion will get you further than you think,” adding that it is important to “give yourself credit and not sell yourself short.” Berkenwald then gave a presentation on resilience skill development, describing four categories of resilience. “Social connectedness” is about identifying a support system and getting involved, whether that be on the Brandeis campus or in the Waltham community. “Self awareness and self care,” she said, is about having a growth mindset. She said, “even if you fail, if you learned something, you actually succeeded.” She added that “attention and focus” is about time management and recommended getting help from resources on campus if needed, as well as practicing mindfulness. Berkenwald explained that “let[ting] purpose be your guide” is about finding a larger purpose in life and that one should let that purpose guide them instead of their goals. This is because goals do not always work out as planned, she said, but one can still accomplish their purpose through a different goal.
Terisa Siagatonu, an award-winning poet, teaching artist and mental health educator, spoke Tuesday about Indigenous perspectives on climate change. Her lecture focused on the Mauna Kea protests in Hawaii and redefining the climate justice movement through artistic contributions and Indigenous ways of knowing. Siagatonu performed two spokenword poems that she wrote for her appearance at the 2015 Paris Climate Summit. She didn’t initially understand why she had been invited to the Summit, she said, but she soon realized that artists played an important role in translating climate change into something that is “captivating” to ordinary people, for whom climate change can often be an issue that is too remote or too overwhelming to contend with. Siagatonu emphasized the role of artists in making social change. “Culture changes faster than policy,” she said, so artists have enormous power through things like social media and trends to shift narratives surrounding societal issues. Artists can also wield the power of imagination, and according to Siagatonu, “we are in dire need of a radical re-imagination of a world different and better than this one.” As part of her role as an artist, Siagatonu uses language to “shift narratives” to focus on marginalized people, especially when it comes to climate change. “It’s Indigenous, Black and brown folks who are affected first and most,” Siagatonu said. Indigenous ways of knowing — or ways of thinking about relationships, learning and the world informed by Indigenous cultures — can also provide important perspectives on climate justice, according to Siagatonu, such as the understanding that one does not own the earth, but instead is a part of it. Siagatonu referred to the Native Hawaiian notion of kuleana, or responsibility to the land, as an example of an Indigenous perspective on climate justice. Siagatonu showed the audience a
video produced by Hawaiian actor Jason Momoa that depicted Native Hawaiian activists’ efforts to prevent the construction of an 18-story telescope on Mauna Kea, one of the most sacred Indigenous sites on the Hawaiian Islands. The activists are not opposed to science, but are opposed to “irresponsible decision-making in science” that would destroy sacred land, said Pualani Case, who spoke in the video. “If you take the most sacred,” Case said, “what would we have left?” Native Hawaiian elders, called Kupuna, have called upon younger generations to protect Mauna Kea from desecration, Siagatonu said. The activists have blocked the single access road to the site since July, according to an Oct. 29 article by the Harvard Crimson. In addition to fulfilling their kuleana, Siagatonu said, they are also modelling a “post-capitalist, post-revolution society.” At the protest sites, there is free childcare, free elder care, free education and a prioritization of local Native sovereignty, Siagatonu said. There were also interactive portions of the presentation, including two free-write opportunities. The first prompt asked students to write for about five minutes about a time when they were protecting something or someone. Students said they wrote about friends, values and their heritage, among other topics. Toward the end of the presentation, a second prompt asked students to imagine “what life would be like if everything was treated as sacred. If everyone fulfilled their kuleana.” Siagatonu holds a Bachelor of Arts in Community Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a Master of Arts in Marriage/Family Therapy from the University of Southern California. In addition to performing in slam poetry competitions, she facilitates workshops, leads artistic and professional development trainings and provides mental health clinical support, according to her website. Her identity as a queer Samoan woman and activist is integral to her work in the fields of youth advocacy, Indigenous rights, climate change and LGBTQ+ rights, also per her website. The event was organized by the Brandeis Asian American Task Force, a group dedicated to promoting Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies at Brandeis. Siagatonu also performed her poetry on Wednesday in Bethlehem Chapel.
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UNION: Racial minority seat to be filled after nearly two months vacancy CONTINUED FROM 1 Coles, who was present when the discussion happened, wrote that the Senate “said that we shouldn’t hold a special election for this seat alone, but that it should be included in the next available election.” This would have been the Nov. 14 vice presidential special election. “It was the Senate’s … decision not to hold an election,” Fu said, adding that she had also “neglect[ed] … to review the Constitution,” referring to the fact that she and many members of the Union were not aware of the 15-day rule. Fu clarified, “It’s not really in [the Senate’s] jurisdiction, it’s in mine, but I was told from the Senate … and through their minutes that … I didn’t have to hold an election, which now in hindsight, I should have.” Fu explained that she talked to several Union members, including Union President Simran Tatuskar ’21 and the other Racial Minority Senator Joyce Huang ’22, prior to making her decision. “We decided that it made the most coherent sense to put the Senate seat with the next Senate election because … E-board and Senate elections are structured differently, with E-board having a more intense campaign than senators,” she said. She pointed out that Executive Board elections involve candidate debates, endorsements and more. “I think that it’s necessary to fill the seat and I intended to fill it in January,” Fu said. “However, I just wanted the focus to be on the vice president … seat.” She added that she had not anticipated that current Union Vice President Kendal Chapman ’22 would be the only candidate in the election. According to Fu, Coles expressed concerns to her about the racial mi-
nority senator seat not being filled. “It wasn’t brought to my attention that [the Senate] wanted this on the ballot until two days after I already structured the election and sent out the email to the school, and then it was brought to my attention four days after … the election by Joseph Coles,” Fu said. Fu said that she and Coles were unable to come to a resolution on their own, so they met with Chief Justice of the Judiciary Rachel Sterling ’21 for mediation. Sterling informed them both about the 15-day rule in the constitution, Fu said. Coles told the Justice in a Nov. 19 interview that he thought both Fu and the Union were responsible for the error. “She has jurisdiction over what goes into the elections. She made that decision [to postpone the election] and I disagree with that decision,” Coles said. “I’m not a huge fan of how the Student Union handled this,” he continued. Coles raised the issue in the Nov. 17 Senate meeting. He brought up a write-in vote from the special election, in which a student wrote, “Why isn’t the racial minority seat part of this election? Excluding it makes no sense, and just makes the Union seem racist. This is very problematic, [Chapman] is running unopposed — nothing is ‘distracting’ from the election.” Coles read a resolution at the same Senate meeting saying that Fu should hold an election for the racial minority senator seat as soon as possible. The vote passed by roll call. Coles said he also took his concerns to the E-board at its meeting that Sunday. He wrote the apology on behalf of the Union, which E-Board members edited, that appeared in the Nov. 19 email signed by Fu and Coles.
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NEWS
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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019
DEROY CONTROVERSY
SARAH KATZ/the Justice
A PUNGENT, FRUITY SMELL: Multiple residents of Deroy residence hall reported becoming ill due to mold growths in their dorms. DCL claimed after inspecting the rooms that no mold was found.
MOLD: Students, DCL staff conflict on mold allegations CONTINUED FROM 1 ing with my academic advisor yesterday,” he said, “because this has really been sort of disallowing me from doing school work.” Another Deroy resident, Emily Zieff ’23, noted in an interview with the Justice that following the commotion regarding mold, she and other students identified what appeared to be mold covering their bathroom heaters. Zieff was one of the students who contracted a cold, but said, “I wasn’t sure if it was related [to the mold] or not, because that’s what happens when people are sick, regardless of mold.” Class of 2020 Senator Scott Halper told the Justice on Nov. 20 that Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Tim Touchette had told him during a
meeting that DCL had the building tested for mold and none was found. “I think they are taking the issue seriously, as they have issued prompt responses,” Halper said. “However, a number of students I am in contact with are still concerned about the potential of mold in their room.” Deroy residents, however, are not the only students to report this issue. One Village resident alleged that several of the rooms have what appears to be mold. “There is one that’s really bad,” the resident said. “It’s all over the ceiling.” Although the student mentioned residents of the Village are not repeatedly getting sick like those in Deroy, they are not happy with DCL’s reaction to the complaint.
After the student filed a complaint, DCL allegedly did not follow up with their concerns. “If this continues, then yes,” the student said, “there is a possibility that I get sick and I would be concerned, but currently, I don’t feel like it is a huge threat to my safety.” Ferguson clarified in a Nov. 19 interview that DCL eventually moved all students who filed complaints into Shapiro residence hall for 24 hours and used an ozone machine to clear potential allergens from the air. Ferguson was unsure if the treatment was effective, but said that Pantoja followed up with him to offer one final room inspection. “I wish they could expedite the process,” he said, “but I understand that some hoops need to be jumped through.”
WIFI: ITS brings in outside support to resolve connectivity issues with eduroam network CONTINUED FROM 1
ing to address reported issues of intermittent connectivity issues with the campus wireless network.” Albrecht said that the recent wireless network issues “were more of a degraded state where users would continue to work fine and all of a sudden would stop working and it would come back.” To fix this issue, ITS brought in two manufacturers of the wireless network gear and worked with a team from Aruba Networks, which is the manufacturer of the University’s hardware. Albrecht said that his team worked for 16 hours on Saturday Nov. 16, and 12 hours on Sunday Nov. 17 to try and resolve the issue while working on the phone with people from Aruba Networks. Albrecht said that on Nov. 18, Aruba Networks flew out one of their people, who was the “one they send out for triage for the biggest clients that have essentially a network-wide
outage, so it wasn’t a run-of-themill engineer,” to try to resolve the wireless network issue. Arista Networks, another company Brandeis works with, flew a representative out on Tuesday Nov. 19 to provide additional support in resolving the issue. Albrecht reported on the morning of Nov. 19 that the source of the issue was isolated and within two hours of identifying the issue, the wireless network connectivity issues were fixed. Figuring out the issue was the longest part of the process of fixing the WiFi. The issue they identified was one that the companies had never seen before, Albrecht added. Albrecht said that between 30 and 40 people reported having WiFi issues within the span of a week, which is not unusual for a normal week. Albrecht’s team restarted access points to ensure that the wireless network would work. Although there have been other incidents during the fall semester,
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the recent WiFi issue lasted the longest. Brandeis Status reported “intermittent connectivity to the campus wireless network” on Sept. 5. This was marked as resolved on Sept. 7. “I would rather more complaints or issues that arise to my level so we know what is going on. If no one tells us there's an issue, we don’t know there’s an issue,” Albrecht said. To report an issue, users can either use the ITS Help Desk’s website, contact the Help Desk by phone (ext. 6-HELP) or email help@ brandeis.edu. Between the spring 2019 and fall 2019 semesters, there have been several changes to the wireless network. Over the summer, for example, ITS replaced all 400 switches on campus. Switches are access points for computers and other devices to connect to the internet. They vary in size relative to the number of users who are normally in the build-
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ing. Many of the switches were upwards of eight years old. Most switches should be replaced after three to four years to stay in good condition, La Creta said in the joint interview. La Creta also said that replacing all of the switches over this past summer was a $2 million project, which was part of a “capital ask that we put forth a few years ago. It was part of a multi-year plan to get us to a point with our infrastructure to basically catch up on a lot of end-oflife systems and to make it a more secure environment, a more stable environment for the whole campus. … We’re actually going in a really positive direction and there are going to be hiccups unfortunately sometimes.” Albrecht said that in addition to adding more switches, ITS “reconfigured the wireless network to streamline connectivity and allow for a greater network availability while roaming from buildings.” Al-
brecht explained that as a device moves from one building to another, depending on which buildings the device travels to and from, the reconfiguration would allow a user to not notice a change in wireless network speed. Additionally, the reconfiguration allows the user to keep the same IP address and not have to re-log on. Albrecht also said that there used to be an issue where there weren’t enough IP addresses. Another change Albrecht mentioned is that ITS is starting to install access points in each dorm room. This would allow a device to connect to the wireless network in each room. Albrecht said they started with Skyline residence hall and the Foster Mods, causing coverage to nearly triple. ITS is “looking to do across all the residence halls as well,” Albrecht said. Long term, ITS plans to partner with AT&T and Verizon to provide better cellular service across campus, Albrecht added. Image Courtesy of CREATIVE COMMONS
Contact Emily Blumenthal and Gilda Geist at news@thejustice.org
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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019 | THE JUSTICE
just
features
VERBATIM | WAMSUTTA JAMES What has happened in the last 300 years? History gives us facts and there were atrocities; there were broken promises.
FUN FACT
ON THIS DAY… In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln declared Nov. 26 would be a national Thanksgiving day.
Historians estimate that 75% of New England’s indigenous population died of an epidemic from 1616 to 1619.
Photo Courtesy of WALT MOSSBERG
TECH GENIUSES: Walt Mossberg and Steve Jobs share remarks and chuckles.
Yes, you’re being tracked online
Walt Mossberg ’69 spoke to the Justice on the decay of internet privacy. By VICTOR FELDMAN JUSTICE PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
“Think really long and hard, and if by the end you’re still comfortable with giving over your data to all these companies, then fine. But chances are you aren’t okay with this theft that is taking place.” Walt Mossberg ’69, considered by many to be the father of technology-review journalism, is deeply troubled by what he calls the “theft” of consumer information by internet giants including Facebook, Amazon and Google. On Oct. 22, Mossberg delivered a lecture at Brandeis, his alma mater, on how the “ad tech,” or advertising technology industry, is destroying the internet. He warned that internet users have opted into a grand bargain, and that we are all being ripped off.
Design: Yael Hanadari-Levy/the Justice
In May 2004, Wired Magazine called Mossberg “The Kingmaker,” and for good reason. The son of a salesman and a stay-at-home mother, Mossberg was the first in his family to attend higher education. He chose Brandeis over Brown University, telling the New Yorker that Brandeis was “less stuffy,” and graduated in 1969 with a degree in Politics. Almost immediately after graduating, he took an investigative reporting position at the Detroit bureau of The Wall Street Journal. After 18 years of writing about labor, energy, trade and foreign policy, he turned to covering a new interest: personal computers. At the time, personal computers were still fresh on the market, and their commercial success was far from guaranteed. Mossberg recently told Brandeis Magazine he believed at the
time that personal computers would change the world. Mossberg’s new beat would come to define his career. In 1991, he debuted a WSJ tech column aptly titled “Personal Technology,” written to help make tech gadgets accessible to the average consumer. The column, which ran every week on the front page of the WSJ’s Thursday Marketplace section for 22 years, was one of the first columns of its kind written by a journalist who lacked a background in engineering or computer programming. “Personal Technology” was an instant success. Instead of focusing on all the features of a new product, many of which Mossberg said consumers rarely used, Mossberg explained how devices were designed and what it felt like to use them during the course
of daily life. Positioning himself as a champion for the average consumer, Mossberg’s reviews were predicated on the belief that regular people don’t struggle to use new products because they are stupid — sometimes, tech gadgets are just clumsy and poorly designed. Over two decades, his column rewarded products which were simple and intuitive to use over bulky products that required tech know-how to operate. This included his praise of products like America Online over Prodigy, helping to put AOL on the map. In contrast, a negative review from Mossberg could send a company’s stock into freefall. While Mossberg’s days as the tech journalist “kingmaker” might be behind him, the veteran journalist’s opinion still carries weight in the tech world. These days, Mossberg’s
attention is focused on what he sees as an existential threat to online privacy — “ad tech.” Mossberg’s history with “ad tech” began in 2001, with his scathing review of Smart Tags — a feature in Windows XP that was capable of turning any word on a website into a hyperlink that could lead to another website owned by Microsoft or sponsored by them — without the consumer knowing. Mossberg’s review was so damning that in response, executives at Microsoft discontinued the feature within the month. Smart Tags were just the beginning. In an interview with the Justice, Mossberg said, “Everywhere you go online, you’re being tracked.” Today, nearly every website, from subscription services like the New
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THE TUESDAY, NOVEMBER FEBRUARY 12, THEJUSTICE JUSTICE || TUESDAY, 26, 2019 2019 York Times to free platforms like Facebook, load lines of code onto their webpages that can identify users’ IP addresses and metadata, he said. Most times, these websites load dozens if not hundreds of trackers, which can include well-known companies like Amazon and Google, as well as more obscure services like BlueKhai or Chartbeat. He explained that both of these lesserknown companies are part of a growing industry that has operated with virtually no government oversight, tracking users online in an effort to gather and sell the information they collect to other internet publishers worldwide. These publishers then use this data to target ads to users based on information such as user location, browser history and online behavioral patterns. According to the search engine Duckduckgo, the Times’ website loads 43 distinct trackers. Even Brandeis’ website, brandeis. edu, allows Google Analytics to track people who visit the site. As of press time, Brandeis Information and Technology Services did not respond to a request for comment on their website policy regarding trackers. Mossberg pointed out that websites have used cookies, lines of code that store account data, for years to remember passwords and credit card numbers, streamlining user experience on their platforms. “The stuff we are seeing today is more than cookies,” he said. “Unlike with cookies, websites are sharing your data with so many other companies, and you’re not signing off on this — it’s not even in the fine print.” He explained that users can be tracked even once they have logged off of a website. Facebook infamously tracks its users through a variety of methods, but the company is far from alone in these practices. After Mark Zuckerberg was hauled before Congress last year to face questions from senators on the company’s role in spreading disinformation and surreptitiously collecting user data, reports about Facebook’s tactics were met with alarm from internet privacy advocates and tech reporters alike. Reporting in Wired and Buzzfeed revealed that Facebook was able to track users once they had logged off the website by enabling Facebook “like” buttons on third party websites to send information back to the company. During his lecture at Brandeis last month, Mossberg told a room full of roughly 75 students about “something even more invasive”— Facebook pixel, a piece of code which the company allows advertisers to conceal on their websites by embedding onto a single pixel, usually hidden within an image. When an action is taken on a website, the encoded pixel is triggered to send information about the action back to Facebook. Through tracking, Facebook is able to build a profile on every user, and even on people without Facebook accounts. These profiles can be many pages long, as artificial intelligence is used to analyze even the smallest details of user actions on — and off — the platform. Mossberg pointed out that this data collection is also used on Instagram and WhatsApp, which share the same back-end system as their parent company, Facebook. In an April 11, 2018 article, the Times reported that Facebook was collecting biometric facial data without consumers’ consent. The same article pointed out that even the Times’ website “mine[s] information about users for marketing purposes.” Mossberg used the term “ad tech” throughout the interview, saying that the “ad tech” industry’s efforts to collect and compile as much data on internet users as possible is in service of a simple goal: targeting ads. “Everyone has a horror story about mentioning a product to a friend or searching for it online only to be bombarded with ads for it moments later,” he said, affirming that this is no accident. Despite all of the data collection, Mossberg argues that the ads we receive aren’t getting any better. He chuckled, “If I buy an expensive winter jacket today, Facebook or Amazon are gonna give me ads for similar jackets tomorrow. Frankly, this is stupid. I’m not at all likely to keep buying winter jackets again and again and again.” Mossberg’s main argument is that “ad tech” is making our ads “suck,” destroying internet privacy and contributing to the spread of disinformation online. But he says there are a few ways consumers can protect their data. He recommends deleting Facebook, Instagram and Google and surfing the internet using the private bowser Duckduckgo, which, unlike Google or Bing, blocks trackers. “It works almost as fast as Google Chrome and in places of poor connectivity, it’s easy to load a website because you aren’t also loading dozens of trackers with it”, he explained. While these are some simple steps people can take, Mossberg admits that it’s nearly impossible to remain com-
pletely private online. Even if a user deletes all social media apps, iPhone and Android phones can be tracked using a mobile advertising identification system, known as MAIDs. While their use is downplayed by phone companies, MAIDs are a string of digits assigned to every smartphone to identify which users are using which apps. Now retired from writing tech reviews, Mossberg sits on the board of the News Literacy Project, a nonprofit focused on educating a new generation of students to distinguish between facts and false information online. “It’s become very hard to tell what is real and what is fake news online,” he said. Ultimately, Mossberg thinks “ad tech” is the main culprit in eroding everything that makes the internet good. As a solution, he proposes that Congress pass a “real internet law” laying out the principles of privacy that everyone can expect online. In the same bill, he says Congress should create a “nonpartisan and independent commission or court” to resolve internet disputes in a way that the FCC and FTC have not shown they are capable of. Mossberg is purposely vague about the details of such a statute, but says that in an era when a handful of tech companies control all the online ads at the cost of consumer privacy, it’s time for a twenty-first century internet law.
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Photo Courtesy of WALT MOSSBERG
THE KINGMAKER: “Personal Technology,” Mossberg’s tech column, ran every week on the front page of the Wall Street Journal for 22 years.
SOFIA GONZALEZ/the Justice Photo Courtesy of CREATIVE COMMONS
’DEIS LEGEND: Walt Mossberg graduated from Brandeis in 1969 with a degree in Politics.
Design: Yael Hanadari-Levy/the Justice
10 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019 ● FORUM ● THE JUSTICE
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EDITORIALS
University protest regulations endanger activists This year’s Student Rights and Responsibilities handbook laid out new and more restrictive guidelines on student protests. The 2018-19 handbook had mandated that students notify the Dean of Students Office of upcoming protests — but for the first time this year, students must also gain pre-approval for protests with DOSO. Per a Nov. 15 email between University Director of Media Relations Julie Jette and the Justice, in which Jette cited Assistant Dean of Students Alexandra Rossett, students who fail to speak with DOSO would be liable for disciplinary consequences determined on a case-by-case basis. This board finds this restriction problematic ideologically and practically. It both contradicts the University’s social justice-oriented ideology and endangers vulnerable students seeking to make change or have their voices heard. This board calls on the University to revoke or clarify the policy, to remove case-by-case opportunities for subjectivity and bias and to reify their alleged belief in the importance of student action for change. The DOSO website does not contain any mention of student protest policies, nor are they posted anywhere else on the Brandeis website. Without carefully reading the Rights and Responsibilities handbook, students would have little or no indication that DOSO should be involved. For students looking to hold a protest, lack of clearlyposted policies might imply a lack of policies. This oversight should be corrected, so that students can act as fully informed members of the Brandeis community. There are easy solutions for this! DOSO could hold an information campaign as the University did when implementing Workday; they posted signs about the new system, sent numerous emails and held trainings. This provoked students to pay attention and, even if students did not read the emails or attend a training, the majority of the student body was aware a change had been made. Here, there has been little attempt to publicize the new rules. DOSO should also correct their oversight by creating written forms and policies and linking them on their website. There are many protest guidelines listed in the student handbook; by posting them on the more accessible DOSO website, students will learn about them before breaking them — not afterward. Students could also easily find and fill out the registration forms on the website, and then be contacted by DOSO for a follow-up within a standard timeframe. Should a protest be time-sensitive — if it corresponds to a nationwide event or demonstration, for instance — students could check a box indicating they need the process expedited, and state when they must have approval by. None of these forms should ask about the content of the protest: by restricting that, the University would put itself in the position to police student speech. Rather, each form should solely ask about logistics, location, nonviolence, etc. The University should clarify and standardize the punishment process as well as the approval one. Right now, there are no rules about what is or is not allowed. Lack of specific and consistent guidelines means that biased punishment could occur. This endangers students who may already be more vulnerable within the school and who have more to fight for — low-income students fighting for new means of dispersing aid, for instance, or another Ford Hall. The University says it values these populations as an essential part of Brandeis, and their voices should be protected. Such groups tend to be punished more severely, may have fewer resources and backup options and face a history of institutional marginalization. It should not be up to administrative or the Student Conduct Board’s whims to decide whose speech merits which consequences.
There will always be situations that fall outside of clearly-defined rules, but the administration must remain cognizant of the fact that case-by-case policies grant them discretionary power which can be used to punish different groups of students disproportionately, often exacerbating power imbalances and histories of oppression. The policy worsens this dynamic by increasing administrative discretionary power, rather than reducing it, and it should be reformed to minimize this potential for harm. One way to help alleviate this harm — if the University insists on maintaining prior approval — would be to have a transparent, independent appeals process. This concern could also be somewhat alleviated by clear policies about what is or is not allowed. These should also be listed as a publically available document. Moreover, speech and content should be out-of-bounds for punishment: the punitive process could focus only on the form of the protest, noting if it was disruptive in areas not allowed or during a certain category of event. Each misdemeanor would have a standard consequence. In addition to posting forms and policies online, this board calls on the University to make registration optional. The new University policy was inspired by Princeton University’s, per a Nov. 19 Justice article, but Princeton does not mandate pre-approval in its protest guidelines, section 1.2.3 of their handbook. In response to a Justice query, Michael Hotchkiss, Princeton’s deputy spokesperson, affirmed in a Nov. 14 email that they “encourage, not require, students to register such events in advance.” Moreover, Hotchkiss noted that Princeton’s policies were not “adopted by the University administration,” saying, “They were approved by a vote of … a governing body with representatives from all constituencies on campus.” Brandeis would do well to follow Princeton’s example in these regards. Giving students an equal say in University conduct policies and rendering approval optional would provide students opportunities to connect with administration willingly and to choose whether to seek University support for their movement. Beyond practical concerns, this board believes the 2019-20 protest policy violates Brandeis’ core — or alleged — ideology. The University’s mission statement claims it is a “center of open inquiry and teaching, cherishing its independence from any doctrine or government.” It goes on to say that it “considers social justice central to its mission” and “honors freedom of expression.” In September 2018, the University adopted a set of Principles and Free Speech and Free Expression. Protest is a form of free expression and is a tactic used by justice movements on campuses, in the U.S. and worldwide. Does Brandeis stand by these stated values, or does this new policy take precedence? Student protest has also been vital in shaping our school’s legacy. In 1969, a coalition of Black students and allies occupied Brandeis buildings in a movement known as Ford Hall. Their demands — which included adding an African Studies department and recruiting Black students and professors — have shaped Brandeis. In 2015, a student movement calling itself Concerned Students 2015 followed in Ford Hall’s footsteps with demands such as increased diversity and inclusion workshops, increasing the minimum wage for University employees and adding more nonwhite counseling staff. Would anyone argue that these changes have not been beneficial to the University, helping it move in a more equitable direction? Helping it embody its stated social justice ideals? By restricting students’ ability to protest, the University is sending the message that it regrets this legacy.
NOAH ZEITLIN/ the Justice
Views the News on
In a speech delivered before the 2019 meeting of the Democracy Conference, former United States President Barack Obama argued for a more moderate approach to left-wing politics. Obama stated, “Voters, including Democrats, are not driven by the same views that are reflected on certain left-leaning Twitter feeds, or the activist wing of our party. And that’s not a criticism to the activist wing. Their job is to poke and prod and text and inspire and motivate. But the candidate’s job, whoever that ends up being, is to get elected.” The remarks were interpreted by many to be an attack on the party’s left flank, particularly Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Do you agree or disagree with Obama’s remarks? What approach do you think the Democratic Party needs to take to defeat President Trump in 2020?
Prof. Gordon Fellman (SOC)
The 2020 presidential campaign features two gigantic splits. First, of course, the Republicans/Democrats split. Second, that between centrist Democrats accepting Bill Clinton’s leading the Democratic Party away from its working class base to align with corporations and banks, and the further left orientation of Sanders, Warren, the Squad and others to renew and extend the FDR New Deal vision of government serving work, health, education, and other social needs of all the population. Barack Obama, whatever his merits and accomplishments as President, continued the Clinton alliance with the upper .01%. Polls show the public leaning much to the left of the Clinton-Obama establishment in whose candidacy of Joe Biden the centrist Democrats would renew their alliance with the super-rich at the expense of the other 99% of the population. Are the Democrats bold enough to renounce placating the super-rich and supporting humane policies to benefit the entire population?
Gordon Fellman is a Professor of Sociology specializing in the sociology of empowerment, masculinities, psychoanalytic sociology and public sociology.
Daniel Blair
I didn’t take Obama’s remarks to be a criticism of a particular candidate so much as a reflection of a larger feeling among establishment Democratic politicians that the discourse around the direction of the party is being dictated to an unhealthy degree by a small group of younger, more progressive online activists. Obama believes that there is necessarily a tension between catering to these activists and appealing to the more moderate electorate as a whole. There is certainly a divide between these groups, however the evidence suggests that the vast majority of Democrats and many independents are aligned on economic issues, while many of the Rust Belt Democrats and white working-class voters that Obama won and Hillary Clinton lost felt alienated from the Democratic Party on cultural issues instead. It is unclear, then, how Obama would like to placate this ‘moderate’ center without sacrificing hardearned advances on areas dealing with race and gender. Daniel Blair is a graduate student in the Politics department at Brandeis specializing in political theory.
Prof. Lucy Goodhart (IGS) One thing one can learn from this prompt is that President Obama’s remains the consummate communicator. Mr. Obama clothes his criticisms in compliments. He anticipates the opposition and seeks to circumvent it. His rhetoric is a lightly held but pointed weapon. An obvious question is why Obama spoke publicly — especially when he can be accused of putting his thumb on the scale for former Vice President Joe Biden. Yet, for President Obama, securing the Democrats in the White House, particularly after Trump’s victory, is an important goal. The important question is whether we should listen. And, here, one has to think, “This is a former President. He understands what it is to campaign, knows the daily work of reaching out to voters, and gets how important it is to listen to their wants and needs.” Do I think his remarks warrant attention? You betcha. Lucy Goodhart is a lecturer in the International and Global Studies and Politics departments, specializing in the global economy and elections.
Jeremy Cynamon I find it rather amusing that President Obama now speaks derisively about the ‘activist wing’ of the Democratic Party, when it was the wing with which he aligned himself during his first presidential campaign. More to the point, as I see it, the notion that the American electorate can be understood using a simple left-right spectrum has been disproved time and time again. Yet it is precisely upon this mistaken notion that Obama bases the implicature of his view, namely that candidates too far to the left cannot be elected. But if the American electorate cannot be understood on this reductive spectrum, then it does not follow that a more ‘centrist’ candidate is necessarily more electable. This folk wisdom is wrong. If anything, moderate candidates seem to be less effective at motivating significant swaths of the electorate, especially those in younger age cohorts. Recent history certainly suggests as much. Jeremy Cynamon is a Ph.D candidate in the Politics department at Brandeis specializing in political theory and public policy. Photos: Jeremy Cynamon, Noah Zeitlin/the Justice, Noah Zeitlin/Justice file photo
THE JUSTICE ● FORUM ● TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019
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Universities need to clarify their role in social movements By ABIGAIL CUMBERBATCH JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
A few weeks ago, I was sitting in a lecture when a professor suddenly asked us,“Why are you here?” The first answer that crossed my mind was the very generic “to get an education so that I can find a job” type of response. However, it wasn’t until intensely thinking about this question that I began to realize that going to college is much more than a means to an end. In the chaos of confirming whether or not one has all the necessary credits in order to graduate, I believe college students (myself included) sometimes forget that the world is bigger than the campus they walk on, and the issues that seem to only affect the outside world continue to leak into campus life. Although a university symbolizes higher education, it is not immune to the many issues American society faces. The issues that affect the American people are also experienced by students on college campuses. Systemic problems such as prejudice, discrimination and unfair treatment of marginalized individuals continue to prevail despite the progression of society and permeate nearly all aspects of life. What’s even more shocking to me is that each year, as universities welcome a new group of students on campus, these issues still remain. I initially wanted to focus on how the university itself plays a role in social movements, but in truth, it’s the students’ act of challenging universities’ protocols that has contributed to raising awareness of social issues, not only on college campuses but also in American society as a whole. A more recent example is the ongoing student protests at Syracuse University. Students are fearing for their lives after encountering racist and anti-Semitic sentiments in the form of graffiti and vandalism. Activities and even classes have been halted as the students staged sit-ins and protests demanding the following actions be taken by the administrators: any student involved in the hate crimes be expelled, staff and faculty undergo mandatory diversity training, the anti-harassment policy be revised, as well as providing one with the option to have same-race roommates when filling out housing applications. As I read about the incidents at Syracuse University, I wondered if attention would have been given to such racist incidents if it had not become public. Now, not only are students fearing for their safety on campus, but the administrators at the university have to issue a response to the students’ demands while trying
JEN GELLER/the Justice
to preserve the dignity of the university. However, student protests against injustices committed towards those of marginalized groups are not isolated incidents. Brandeis itself has a history of students protesting for the opportunity to be heard. This is clear from Ford Hall 1969, Ford Hall 2015 and last year, when a group of students protested to demand changes to the Department of Community Living and Public Safety policing policies. We also see protests concerning the safety of marginalized individuals in universities such as Johns Hopkins and Yale. With so many students voicing their concerns for their safety, this clearly illustrates not only an issue with the administration of these schools but also issues deeply rooted in American society that continue to instill fear in minority groups, while also trying to keep the social order of American society the way it has been decade after decade. If students don’t voice their concerns regarding the injustices they are facing at universities all over the country, then they will be no better than the perpetrators themselves.
Why is it that students of color continue to face issues regarding their safety, while others claim that America has come so far? 2019 is almost over, but issues of race and gender continue to prevail nonetheless. The areas one lives in change, fashion, music and technology that people consume change, but institutional bigotry and sexism still remain. These are issues of the past that continue to haunt the present and will continue to exist in the future unless people continue to speak out against them. As college students, our hope is to graduate in a timely fashion and find a job that supports our future desires. But we should be asking ourselves what it would mean for us as future professionals if we continue to live in a society that refuses to shake off the racist and sexist sentiments of the past. I know that this is not the type of world I want to live in. While attending college gives us the opportunity to become educated individuals in whatever discipline we choose, we should also be aware that our college years are the prime time to question existing beliefs in society,
challenge establishments that have been created long before our existence and ask ourselves whether what we are seeing is morally right. After one accepts that there are injustices that American society continues to perpetuate, the question then becomes whether individuals, in this case students, are willing to take a risk in order to work towards a more just society. It is easy to feel apathetic about the struggles many marginalized individuals face if one has not experienced them. For many students, their very existence on college campuses like Brandeis, Syracuse, Johns Hopkins and Yale would not have been possible without the dedication of other marginalized individuals who came before them. When the quality of one’s education and safety is threatened, the risk is worth the reward if the demands one is protesting for are met. However, even for those who are not affected by prejudices, voicing concern is an absolute necessity if American society is going to live up to the “change” many claim has occurred.
This Thanksgiving, have a conversation about gun safety By BRANDEIS #NeverAgain SPECIAL TO THE JUSTICE
As the holidays are approaching and we prepare to gather together with family members who have varying opinions on our current political climate, it’s important to be informed on issues we care about. We all have points of contention within our families, but discussing important issues, such as gun violence prevention, at your Thanksgiving table can help contribute to the national discussion and encourage support of common sense gun legislation. While this topic may seem scary and daunting, here are some tips and points to bring up in your conversations. The following pieces of legislation are all widely supported across the country and will help maintain the safety of every citizen, gun owners and non-gun owners alike. This article will highlight three legislative actions that will decrease gun violence across the country. These policies are widely supported by people across the country, and they are most frequent the areas where gun violence prevention advocates can find common ground. This article will provide you with the information you need to effectively convey the purpose and importance of these policies. ERPO Laws: HR 1236 One of the main laws in the House is the ERPO, or Red Flag laws. The Extreme Risk Protection Order is a law that is intended to increase safety for all civilians and benefits everyone, including gun owners. Essentially, it authorizes family members, those living in the house or law enforcement to petition the court to take away a firearm if they think a person presents a danger to themselves or others. In addition, it will prohibit the person from buying, selling or
possessing firearms for a certain amount of time. Many instances of gun violence could be prevented with this law because often the person who commits such an act shows signs of being a danger before following their intentions. This law could prevent tragedies before they occur and empower family members to protect their loved ones from harming themselves or others. The NRA does not like this bill because they think it violates the 2nd Amendment and does not follow due process. However, the courts must conduct a full legal trial before deeming the person unsafe. When an ERPO is enacted on an individual, a judge can issue an emergency order to immediately remove guns from the person’s home until a hearing happens a few weeks later. At the hearing, the judge will determine whether the individual is a danger to themselves or others, and can then issue an order to remove the firearms from their possession for a year. In about 30% of cases, the judge will not issue this order if they determine that the person is no longer a danger, and the firearms will be returned to the individual in question. High Capacity Magazine Ban: HR 1186 A High Capacity Magazine Ban is a legislative measure that would be very effective in preventing deaths from gun violence in this country. High capacity magazines are defined as magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. When shooters are able to fire this many rounds without having to reload, the body count increases dramatically. In Dayton, Ohio, a shooting took place earlier this year where the shooter was able to fire 41 rounds in 32 seconds, killing nine people and injuring 27 more, because of his high capacity magazine. High capacity magazines have been used in all of the top 10 deadliest mass shootings in the
last decade. It has been shown that the more times a shooter has to reload, the more people can escape harm. In cases like the shooting in Sandy Hook Elementary School, the seconds in which the shooter reloaded his gun meant that students were able to escape and run out of the classroom door. Similarly, in the shooting in Parkland, Florida, students were able to escape down a stairwell in the seconds of time between rounds when the shooter was reloading. A high capacity magazine ban would prohibit the sale and possession of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, and would make a big difference in preventing deaths from gun violence. Universal Background Checks: HR 8 Background checks are another wellsupported measure that would go a long way in preventing further gun violence. Over 90% of Americans support imposing universal background checks, which would mean that all gun sales, including those between private individuals and at gun shows, would be subject to a background check. Twenty-one states and Washington DC have extended this requirement to at least some private gun transactions, yet the federal government has not taken sufficient action to address this loophole. All background checks do is ensure that people who are already prohibited from owning a gun — including those convicted of felonies, for example — are less likely to be able to obtain a gun through some private loopholes. This policy is an easy way to ensure simply that our laws are being followed. Lawful gun owners wouldn’t be impacted by this policy, except by possibly having to wait some time before purchasing a gun. In states where this policy is passed, it has already been proven to be an effective measure for keeping guns out of
the hands of high-risk individuals. Universal background checks can be implemented in many forms, but it is imperative that we pass such a meaningful reform now. These policies would make an enormous difference in preventing gun violence in this country, and the more support they have, the more likely they are to get passed into law. Having conversations about this issue with friends and family who disagree with you is no easy task, but this information should help you have an effective discussion. When you’re having these conversations, it is important to understand where your family is coming from and meet them at their level. If they don’t agree with you, raising your voice and getting heated will prevent them from engaging further. Make sure to listen, and acknowledge when they say things that you may agree or find common ground with. Many times, they may have knowledge about sides of this issue that you may not have heard before, and you can use that to strengthen your own arguments in the future. Additionally, you may learn something that can help modify a policy to make it work more efficiently, and appeal to more of the population. And remember, more often than not, we are all working towards the same goal of safety and most of these bills are measures that will help everyone. On that same note, you may not convince them of everything, but even changing someone’s mind on one issue is progress towards your goal. Try using terms such as ‘gun violence prevention’ or ‘gun safety’ as opposed to ‘gun control’ or ‘anti-gun.’ These terms make the conversation more open to discussion rather than shutting down anything they are about to say. And remember, at the end of the day, they are still your family, even if you disagree.
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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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019● FORUM ● THE JUSTICE
FORUM
Fifth Democratic primary debate: candidate ratings and analysis By MEHMET ZORLUOGLU JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
The Democratic Party seems to be scrambling to find an alternative to Biden before the imminent implosion of his campaign. Both former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and businessman Michael Bloomberg have entered the race at an unprecedentedly late juncture. While uncertainty and apprehension are gripping elements of the party, the debates seem to have bored the public, as the viewership has been trending steadily downwards since the first pair of debates in June. The lack of excitement and even disinterest or rejection of the party that this may represent is a worrying sign for the Democratic party, who will need to drive up turnout in November of 2020 to secure the White House and even win a majority of seats in the Senate (although the odds do not appear to be in their favor for the latter). I hold the belief that Democrats ought to whittle the field down considerably, both for a chance at greater interest and viewership and in order to maintain more focused and substantive debates. I will be rating the candidates based on their performances and how much they have helped their respective campaigns during the debate. In the interest of concision and in order to focus mainly on the viable “top contenders” I have left out some of the candidates from my rankings. I hesitate to give any candidate a positive rating because of the abysmal viewership numbers (apparently only around six million watched nationally), but my sliding scale will take that as a given that is equally true for each individual on the stage and judge how much each candidate may have helped themselves among those who tuned in. The Rankings: Bernie Sanders: ASenator Sanders emerged among the crowded pack of candidates as a force to be reckoned with. In a race with much uncertainty, Sanders has proved to be a steady hand. He is consistently raising funds at a clip second to none and travels the country making his case, often introduced by notable guest speakers. Sanders largely remained above the fray in terms of direct attacks at other candidates, and did not see many coming in his direction either. His attacks were mostly landed on miscellany not on the debate stage, such as saying that oil executives who knowingly misled the public about the environmental impact of their enterprise might be criminally liable and should be prosecuted, and saying that the current healthcare system in the United States is “dysfunctional and cruel.” Other notable moments include his rejection of the oft-repeated notion that we are fundamentally a nation divided, suggesting that his platform, like raising the minimum wage and addressing wealth and income inequality, is one that unites us across party lines. He stuck to his main line of attack against former Vice President Biden in contrasting their votes on the Authorization for Use of Military Force in the most recent Iraq War. Overall, it was a good debate for the senator, who appeared pretty energetic and driven on the night.
Cory Booker: B+ By this point in the campaign, Senator Booker has a slew of debate performances ranging from solid to great under his belt, and this one might have been his best yet. He was firm, unflinching and assertive, but knew how to take the edge off by intermittently interjecting some humor into the conversation. Perhaps the most important and funny moment of the night was when he attacked Biden for saying that marijuana was a “gateway drug,” to which he said that he thought Vice President Biden might have been high when he said it. He followed the comment up by saying that “marijuana is already legal for privileged people.” The crowd seemed to love it. He was also strong on racial issues, on which he still somehow managed to lighten the mood, before saying that he wanted to “return to the issues of Black voters” because he has “a lifetime of experience with Black voters,” having been one since he was 18, to a lot of applause. He continued by saying that Black voters are pissed off because the only time their main issues seem to get any attention is when a candidate wants their votes. Booker had a pretty attention grabbing, commanding and humorous performance with considerable substance and policy interspersed throughout. Unfortunately for Booker, if this debate does not get him a bump in the polls and fundraising, he may not qualify for the one in December and his campaign might be all but over. Elizabeth Warren: B Senator Warren’s rise, which was the topic of interest heading into last month’s debate, seems to have been overtaken as a talking point by Mayor Buttigieg due to a few polls with favorable numbers for him released out of Iowa and New Hampshire. Overall, Warren looked a bit more anxious and eager to please voters than at previous debates. This manifested in her saying that her wealth tax of 2 cents on the dollar kicked in “for everyone with over 50 billion in assets” three times in succession, followed by saying that “when you hit a billion you have to pitch in a few pennies more. Obviously, she meant 50 million and 1 billion respectively, but she struggled to shake off the jitters deep into the night. Additionally, the release of her healthcare plan, which seeks first to expand the Affordable Care Act with the eventual goal of passing a true “Medicare for All” three years into her first term seems to have confused activists and potential supporters of hers alike. Whether it is realistic to expect two proverbial legislative “cracks” at the issue of healthcare within one term is dubious to begin with, and has some questioning her commitment to Medicare for All in principle. She had a really good answer on student debt, citing a study that 20 years after college, “94% of whites who borrowed money had paid off their student loan debt, whereas only 5% of Blacks had,” which, she argued, is why all the other candidates should support student loan debt forgiveness to help close the racial wealth gap. She closed the debate by focusing on her anti-corruption plan, which she labelled the “biggest anti-corruption plan since Watergate,” and became emotional while expressing her gratitude for the American Dream that allowed
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her, the daughter of a janitor, the chance to rise through the education system all the way to candidate for president. It was a good, but not great, debate for Senator Warren, who has certainly had more memorable performances. Kamala Harris: B Senator Harris had an improved performance in comparison to her last debate. She was more firm and forceful in her delivery, and was onmessage all night long. It seemed to be a point of emphasis for her to highlight the importance of rebuilding the “Obama coalition,” which she mentioned several times and described as “women, people of color, our LGBTQ community, working people, our labor unions,” arguing that she is the best-equipped candidate to do so. It was a curious choice on her part, however, to avoid engaging Mayor Buttigieg when basically prompted to do so by one of the moderators. When asked what prompted her to criticize Mayor Buttigieg, she said, “Well, I was asked a question that related to a stock photograph that his campaign published. But, listen, I think that it really speaks to a larger issue, and I’ll speak to the larger issue. I believe that the mayor has made apologies for that.” It was a good night for Harris, but some think that her initial surge earlier in the summer may have come and gone too early, making it difficult to rebuild all the momentum from the first debate anew. Pete Buttigieg: BIf the polls are to be believed, Mayor Buttigieg seems to have broken through with segments of the Iowa and New Hampshire Democratic Primary voters, receiving more attention as a result. Thus far, Buttigieg’s strategy and method appears to be presenting himself as bland, inoffensive and unchallenging a candidate as possible, so as to not offend or unnerve any potential voters. Perhaps it is a reasonable and pragmatic enough strategy, but it leaves the audience with vapid one-liners such as “I’m running to be the president for that day the sun comes up and the Trump presidency is behind us, which will be a tender moment in the life of
this country.” Of course, every single candidate still running, both on stage and off — I’m looking at you, John Delaney — is running to be the president for the day the sun comes up after Trump’s presidency. He also tiptoed around Representative Gabbard’s critique of his mention that he is willing to send troops to Mexico to fight the cartels, to which he responded, albeit disingenuously, twisting Gabbard’s words, “Do you seriously think anybody on this stage is proposing invading Mexico?” Buttigieg, as always, was quite an effective and eloquent communicator on the night, but the problem is that he is often not saying a whole lot, something voters are sure to pick up on sooner or later. Joe Biden: C Former Vice President Biden had a difficult night. His best moment was likely his closing statement, which bodes well for him, with the notable quote that the U.S. has led “not by the example of our power, but the power of our example.” He did, however, have the customary notable gaffe, saying that he had the endorsement of the only African-American woman elected to the Senate, to which Senators Booker and Harris, as well as the audience, responded in the negative, accompanied by laughter. His call for continually “punching at” the issue of domestic violence was another awkward moment in the debate for Biden, which drew a reaction from the crowd and watch parties all across the country. Biden is largely employing the electability argument. He argued that Trump and Putin clearly do not want him to be the nominee, citing Trump’s targeting of Hunter Biden with the Ukraine Scandal as evidence that Trump does not want to run against him. Evidence contradicting his argument of electability is Michael Bloomberg and Deval Patrick, two figures more in line with the Biden wing of the party, announcing their unprecedentedly late entrances into the race. Biden’s debate performances are not getting any better; he seems to trip over his words often, cuts himself off in the middle of sentences and offers up the occasional long-winded answer which goes all over the place.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: AAAS STATEMENT ON STUDENT PROTEST POLICY The faculty of the Department of African and African American Studies write to express our concern about the new changes to the student handbook regarding campus protests and demonstrations. As announced by Provost Lisa Lynch in an Aug. 29, 2019 email to the Brandeis community, student groups and individuals must now “seek prior approval for schedule and location” of any campus protest. We commend the Justice for bringing attention to this important policy change that, perhaps due to the timing of its announcement at the beginning of the academic year, seems to have escaped critical attention and for reporting additional details about how this policy will be implemented. AAAS was established as a result of the Ford Hall student protest in January 1969. Approximately 70 Black and Latino/a students occupied Ford Hall for 11 days, demanding that the university commit to a AAAS department, risking their futures and safety in the process. Needless to say, they did not seek “prior approval for schedule and location.” 50 years later, AAAS stands as a testament to their courage, sacrifice and foresight. The work that we do and the impact that we have is rooted in a proud history of protest that gave rise to black studies at Brandeis, as well as dozens of other colleges and universities across the country. The new policy on student protests runs counter to our history as a department, as well as Brandeis’s larger history of student activism. As we know from the history of campus protest movements at Brandeis, the objectives of student activists and the institutional interests of the university are often not aligned. Students have been and remain the vanguard of change. We also know that in Brandeis’ history, whether it be increasing aid for disadvantaged students, divestment from apartheid South Africa, developing an
Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion or the creation of the AAAS Department, student protest has been essential to structural transformation and holding the university accountable to its purported values of openness, democracy and justice. The new policy on student protests calls these values into question. The policy has been imposed without sufficient student input, particularly from #StillConcernedStudents or the Brandeis Student Union. The policy also does not appear to align with Brandeis’ “Principles of Free Speech and Expression,” especially, as the Justice notes, how the introduction of prior restraint will unquestionably have a “chilling effect on speech and exchange of views on campus.” Furthermore, the lack of specificity regarding punishment for violating this policy, and that sanctions would be meted out on a “case by case basis,” is deeply unsettling and raises concerns about how justice will be fairly administered, especially when a history exists of disparate treatment of and reaction towards various types of student protest groups. Indeed, we are left to wonder if through this policy Brandeis is valuing order and tranquility more than justice. While Brandeis celebrates the fact that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., visited the university in 1957 and 1963, we must also take his words seriously. In his April 16, 1963 “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” King cautioned against purported allies who were “more devoted to “order” than to justice” and who preferred “a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.” It is the presence, as King also writes, of “a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth,” that the university, whether deliberately or inadvertently, is now regulating and, ostestensibly, controlling. The University administration appears determined to impose
The opinions expressed on this page are those of each article’s respective author and do not reflect the viewpoint of the Justice.
a definition of what it deems as “reasonable” protest that emanates, fundamentally, from the institutional interests of the university itself. Assistant Dean of Student Rights and Community Standards Alexandra Rossett’s mention of “behavioral expectations” reflects a desire to shape student protest according to restrictive modes of respectability and to dictate both the method and manner in which students decide to exercise their rights to freedom of speech and expression. What does this reveal about Brandeis? What does it say about how we choose to invoke the history of the university, where we are today, and what type of university we want to become? The language of the new policy was apparently sourced from Princeton University’s student handbook. But Brandeis is not Princeton. It is a university whose birthright entailed a unique responsibility to justice and fairness. The fact that Brandeis is applying a stricter standard than Princeton, who only encourages approval of student protests, makes the decision even more disappointing. In light of the recent Campus Climate Report, and in a moment when marginalized students across the country, such as those at Syracuse University, are threatened and made to feel unwelcome, Brandeis must remain true to its founding, its history and sense of moral responsibility. We therefore call upon the University administration to revisit its decision regarding student protests and initiate a constructive dialogue with the campus community about the University’s history of student protest and its importance today.
— Faculty of the Department of African and African American Studies
THE JUSTICE ● SPORTS ● TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019
RUGBY: Judges succeeded in home games CONTINUED FROM 16 an hour or even half an hour, but the team is happy to have players for whatever time commitment they can spare. The team bonds during practices, team dinners at Sherman and socials that can include games, movies, dancing and face mask evenings. Team bonding also occurs during the van rides to games. The rugby team is very proud to tell everyone that their head coach Benzan-Daniel just earned her level-300 certification in coaching rugby. She was flown out to England to complete her
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THE INCREDIBLES
certification, and team is very impressed by her. In the past, the team has had players get placed on the league All-Star list. As a team, Brandeis rugby placed third in the regional competition and won a plate. This was a proud moment for Brandeis club sports. The sport of rugby is very unique. There are many stereotypes about the sport, but here at Brandeis, the members are trying to create an inclusive environment that empowers women through sports and body positivity. All players need are cleats, but the team can even help with those and socks if needed. The team provides everything else.
Meeting: Wednesdays at 6 p.m.
Photo Courtesy of THE BRANDIES ROWING TEAM
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HANGING WITH THE CREW: The Brandeis crew team competed in costume at their annual Halloween Regatta on Oct. 26.
CREW: Judges work hard to build teamwork skills CONTINUED FROM 16 having issues with time. According to Anna Cowett ’21, a member of the team, “The coaches and captains are a great resource for help with sorting out time management and other ways to fit both rowing and school into already busy lives. They were both student-athletes as well so they know the process first hand.” All rowers must pass a swim test before the beginning of the season, even if they passed the previous year. The swim test is administered by a certified lifeguard and organized by the board members or safety officer. Members must swim two lengths and tread water for eight minutes, and then put on a personal flotation device that is tossed to them while in the water. The purpose of the swim test is for members to demonstrate that they can save themselves in the event that they end up in the water. An athlete who is unable to
successfully pass the swim test must wear a personal floatation device when rowing. Fundraising is important for all club members — it helps offset the cost and dues of the club. Therefore, members are required to complete at least two fundraisers each semester. Some fundraisers that they participate in are selling concessions for Brandeis events as well as Rent-A-Rowers. RentA-Rowers are opportunities for members of the local community and Brandeis students to pay members of the rowing team for various tasks, usually moving students into and out of dorms at the beginning and end of the school year, respectively, or in some cases shoveling or raking leaves. The team has strict guidelines for which jobs Rent-A-Rowers will and will not get approved to do, in the interest of maintaining the safety of the team members. Rowing is the ultimate team sport and that is one reason that the club
has so many bonding events. They have breakfast every morning after practice and team movie nights and members participate in fun activities such as tie-dying or slime making. The captains spend a lot of time making sure the team gets to know and has fun with one another. During the fall season, they competed in several regattas. The first regatta was the Textile River Regatta on Oct. 7, another was the varsity women’s boat on the Head of the Charles on Oct. 20, and Brandeis hosted the Halloween Regatta at the Stoller Boathouse. Various Brandeis boats have medalled in races this season and the team is hoping to continue their winning ways during the spring season. Presently, the club only competes locally and does not compete in regionals or nationals. —Editor's Note: Luke Liu is a member of the rowing team, an editor of the Justice and did not edit or contribute to this article.
KRAV MAGA: Team welcomes Brandeis students of all experience to learn self-defense CONTINUED FROM 16 time and can jump right in to start learning techniques. On average, every September the club starts with about 15-25 people at each practice, but by the middle of the semester the practices average about 10 people per practice. Because Krav Maga is a selfdefense system, there are no
competitions. The goal of the club is to teach techniques of personal selfdefense, and it is never used outside of practice. That being said, , the team members can test for belts. In fact, if a student consistently attends practice, they will have learned enough to be able to test for their yellow belt certificate by the end of their first year in the club. There are seven belt colors that an individual can earn in Krav Maga. All members
start as a white belt and have to test to progress to higher levels. The highest and most advanced level is black. The club practices every Monday and Thursday from 8 to 9 p.m. in the Linsey mat room, above the pool in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center. Attendance is not required, but it is highly encouraged. The more practices that members attend, the more skills members learn.
The sport of Krav Maga involves a lot of physical contact, so members bond during practice, because they get up close and physical with their partners, practicing ground fighting positions on the mat or holding pads for them to practice strikes. Members also get time to chat before and after practice. The club’s supplies are owned by the club (tombstone pads, boxing gloves and focus mitts), and sometimes the instructors bring
foam sticks or rubber guns for practicing weapon defenses. When practicing, it is extremely important to listen to both the coach and partner. Most importantly, you must stop if your coach says “stop” or “time” — even if you’re in the middle of a drill. Finally, if your partner taps out or says to go easier, you must respect that. Safety comes first, and you must trust your partner to speak up.
Meeting: Sundays at 3:30 p.m.
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THE JUSTICE
● SPORTS ●
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26 , 2019
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PRO SPORTS BRIEF
JUDGES BY THE NUMBERS MEN’S BASKETBALL UAA STANDINGS Rochester Emory WashU JUDGES Carnegie Case NYU Chicago
UAA Conf. W L D 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
TEAM STATS
Points Per Game
Collin Sawyer ’20 leads the team with 16.8 points per game. Pct. Player PPG 1.000 Collin Sawyer 16.8 1.000 Chandler Jones 12.0 .800 Eric D’Aguanno 11.6 .600 Lawrence Sabir 9.2 .500 Rebounds Per Game .400 Chandler Jones ’21 leads the .400 team with 8.6 rebounds per game. .250 Player REB/G Chandler Jones 8.6 Noah Hagerty 4.8 Eric D’Aguanno 4.6 Lawrence Sabir 3.2
Overall W L D 5 0 0 4 0 0 4 1 0 3 2 0 2 2 0 2 3 0 2 3 0 1 3 0
UPCOMING GAMES:E Dec. 3 at Lasell College Dec. 7 vs. Tufts University
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL UAA STANDINGS UAA Conf. W L D Emory 0 0 0 Carnegie 0 0 0 JUDGES 0 0 0 WashU 0 0 0 Chicago 0 0 0 Carnegie 0 0 0 Rochester 0 0 0 Case 0 0 0
TEAM STATS
Points Per Game
Overall W L D Pct. 4 1 0 .800 4 1 0 .800 3 1 0 .750 2 1 0 .667 3 2 0 .600 3 3 0 .500 2 3 0 .500 1 5 0 .286
UPCOMING GAMES: Dec. 3 vs. Babson College Dec. 5 at Clark University
Camila Casaneuva ’21 leads the team with 17.3 points per game. Player Camila Casaneuva Jillian Petrie Courtney Thrun Emma Reavis
PPG 17.3 10.5 8.3 7.8
PREPARATION: Miami Heat’s Antoine Walker dribbles the ballin their home court and prepare for a game last season.
Hannah Nicholson ’20 leads with 8.8 rebounds per game. Player REB/G Hannah Nicholson 8.8 Courtney Thrun 7.0 Camila Casanueva 5.0 Samira Abdelrehim 4.3
The Suns bring the Heat to the 2019 season
SWIMMING AND DIVING Results from meet against Tufts University on Sunday.
TOP FINISHERS (Men’s)
TOP FINISHERS (Women’s)
200-yard Freestyle
200-yard Freestyle
SWIMMER TIME Daniel Wohl 1:47.71 Marcelo Ohno-Machado 1:50.47 James Barno 1:48.68
SWIMMER TIME Uajda Musaku 2:07.42 Christina McPhillips 2:05.16 Sophia Chevez 2:05.35
UPCOMING GAMES: Dec. 6 at Gompei Invitational Jan. 11 at Trinity College
CROSS COUNTRY Results from the Keene State lnvitational on Oct. 3.
TOP FINISHERS (Women’s)
TOP FINISHERS (Men’s)
5-Kilometer Run
5-Mile Run
RUNNER TIME Danielle Bertaux 18:38.0 Erin Magill 18:44.4 Andrea Bolduc 19:09.6
RUNNER TIME Mark Murdy 26:04.4 Mathew Dribben 26:08.3 Dan Curley 26:52.1
EDITOR’S NOTE: Season has Concluded
Photo Courtesy of CREATIVE COMMONS
Rebounds Per Game
Data Courtesy of THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS ASSOCIATION and the BRANDEIS ATHLETICS WEBSITE; Images Courtesy of CREATIVE COMMONS.
■ One month into the season, here’s some teams you might want to put your money bets on. By LUKE LIU JUSTICE EDITOR
After a summer of trading, resigning and unfortunate injuries, no one had a clear idea what the NBA league would look like during this upcoming season. Would last season’s playoff teams offer another year of competitive performances, and would young players would be ready to lift their team to a new level? Did the Phoenix Suns finally collect enough pieces to move up on the standing? It’s been a few years since the league has been this unpredictable and exciting to watch. A month into the regular season, some teams are doing surprisingly well, and some are disappointing in the same manner. Here’s one team in each conference that you might want to put your bets on. East: Heat: Who would have thought, five years after Lebron James left the team, the Miami Heats would return to be one of the most competitive teams in the Eastern
Conference, leading the league in effective field goal percentage? Impressively, the team is also doing an incredible job on the defensive side, ranking No. 2 on opponent turnover percentage and No. 6 on defensive rebound percentage. It might be disappointing to be traded from the 76ers during the summer, but Jimmy Butler had no trouble thrilling in the new system of the Heats, contributing 18 points and seven assists per game. However, the real surprise is the addition of 24-year-old first-year player Kendrick Nunn. Although he offered a rather impressive season in the G League last year, no one expected an “elderly” rookie to become the second most consistent scorer of the team while contributing 1.6 steals per game. If he keeps up the performance, Nunn might be a strong contender for Rookie of the Year. West: Suns: If, at the end of last summer, someone told me that the Golden State Warriors would drop straight to the bottom of the Western Conference and the Phoenix Suns would fight its way to the eighth seat, with the Minnesota Timberwolves, San Antonio Spurs and Portland Trail Blazers trailing behind, I would
have chuckled out of amusement because of their performance in the past four years. Even more impressive, in the past month, the Suns have already played against some of the most competitive teams in the leagues, including the Los Angeles Clippers, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers, and it is clear that they are not going to throw in the towel again this year. Compared to last year, the Suns are doing significantly better on both the offensive and defensive sides. The team saw great improvement in their three-point attempts, consistently putting out more three-point shots than their opponents, with a decent field goal percentage. More players are involved in the offense, as one can tell from the distribution of the field goal attempts and assists, thanks to the addition of Ricky Rubio this season. At the same time, this young team also ranks third at opponent turnover percentage and eighth at defensive rebound percentage. Devin Booker is still one of the best offensive players in the league and is improving every game. Thank you for checking out my amateur analysis. Next time, we will be talking about those who are doing surprisingly poorly, and, boy oh boy, there are a lot of them.
PRO SPORTS BRIEF
Houston Astros accused of sign stealing during 2017 championship season Earlier this month, news broke that the Houston Astros reportedly stole signs during their 2017 championship season. The news broke after a conflictfilled end of the season for the team, during which they lost the World Series to the Washington Nationals amidst a conflict involving former Assistant General Manager Brandon Taubman. Taubman was fired in October after directing comments towards female reporters in the clubhouse regarding pitcher Roberto Osuna, who was previously embroiled in a domestic violence case. Major League Baseball is currently investigating the Astros for this incident. Now that the 2019 season has come to a close, the Astros are involved in conflict again. This time, however, the team is accused of stealing signs from the opposing teams, a severe accusation that will be followed by another MLB investigation. Sign stealing, where a team observes
the signs between the opposing pitcher and catcher, has been a controversial subject for quite some time. By stealing signs, teams aim to give their hitters an advantage, often using hand signals or similar methods to relay the opposing teams’ signs to the hitter. However, the sign stealing scandal involving the Astros involves the use of technology to steal signs from the opposing team, which is illegal. Fueling an already complex issue, The Athletic published a story reporting that the Astros used technology to steal signs throughout the 2017 season. The article, citing four sources, quotes pitcher Mike Fiers, who pitched for the Astros during the 2017 season. According to Fiers, the Astros stole signs from the opposing team using an outfield camera. Sources detailing the Astros’ method for signstealing say individuals working for the team were positioned in a hallway
in the dugout. Then, watching the feed from the outfield camera, individuals would bang on a trash can to alert the Astros hitters. Some opposing pitchers also seemed to notice the banging coming from the Astros dugout, with the article confirming their suspicions. Danny Farquhar, a former Chicago White Sox pitcher, noted that he recalled hearing banging noises coming from the Astros dugout when pitching in Houston. Similarly, unnamed sources also came forward, stating that the Astros continued to steal signs throughout the 2017 postseason. In light of these severe allegations, MLB launched an investigation into league-wide sign stealing, specifically focusing on the Astros. Commissioner of Major League Baseball Rob Manfred commented that after The Athletic released news of the Astros stealing signs, MLB reacted by launching an
investigation. At first, the investigation focused on the 2017 season, but has since been expanded to include the last three seasons. According to Manfred, many organizations are concerned with other teams stealing signs, though Manfred is currently focused on the Astros, given the information that is available. With the investigation just getting underway, there is no timetable for when Manfred and the league will have the investigation completed and report their findings. Manfred suggested he seeks a conclusion by Opening Day in 2020. If the Astros are found guilty, severe fines, the loss of Draft picks or even suspensions could be in play. Notably, although The Athletic detailed allegations of sign stealing during the 2017 season, controversy has not subsided in the seasons since. Earlier this year, teams continued to accuse the Astros of sign stealing,
reporting that they heard the team whistling and banging on trash cans to steal opposing signs. Accusations coming from this season show that the Astros stealing signs in 2017 may not have been an isolated incident, and has likely continued in the following seasons. The Houston Astros released a statement following The Athletic published the article, refusing to comment on any of the accusations. Despite the conflict surrounding the Astros, the MLB offseason is in full swing. Throughout the next few months, baseball fans await the recordbreaking contract of former Astros pitcher Gerritt Cole, along with the signings of World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg and World Series champion Anthony Rendon, who headline this year’s free agent class. —Hannah O’Koon
just Sports Page 16
SUNS BRING THE HEAT Descriptions of the best teams per conference in the National Basketball Association in the upcoming season, p. 15. Waltham, Mass.
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
CLUB SPORT
CAPTIVATING CONCENTRATION
Rowing club is a dedicated team and welcoming to all ■ Brandeis’ crew team welcomes all University students, faculty and staff and is the ultimate team sport. By MEGAN GELLER JUSTICE EDITOR
The Brandeis Rowing Team was established in 1986 and is based out of Stoller Boathouse in Newton, MA. The team shares the boathouse with Lasell College and Community Rowing Inc. This year’s captains are Viking Mayor ’20 and Ethan Miller ’22, and the coaches are former team member Alex Gavriel and former Justice Editor in Chief Abby Patkin ’18. The team is committed to upholding the academic integrity of Brandeis while striving to achieve success in the competitive world of collegiate rowing. The Brandeis team competes as a co-ed organization in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Club Sports. The team welcomes all students, faculty and staff who attend or work for Brandeis, and no prior experience is required to become a part of the rowing family. Many of the members are novices — new
to the sport of rowing — but others come to the club with more advanced skills. Regardless of the member’s skill level, the captains and coaches are happy to teach anyone who joins to row. Everyone starts out on the novice team, but moves up to varsity after two years (or when their skills are at the varsity level). The difference between the rowing team and most other Brandeis club sports is that the rowing team practices five days a week in the fall and spring before the sun rises from 5-7 a.m. In the winter, they only practice three days a week in the mornings, and the team has workouts on the off days. This year’s team has 25 active members, and everyone has the opportunity to compete in races. Not everyone will compete in every race though, because if they do not have enough people to fill a whole boat (four rowers and a coxswain) they cannot send a boat out. A good amount of commitment is expected from the athletes. As with any sport, practice is key, and it is hard to practice in full boats if people are missing practices. However, the coaches and captains are happy to help anyone who is
See CREW, 13
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CLUB SPORT
Krav Maga teaches self-defense, prepares students for potentially dangerous situations ■ Krav Maga, the art of self-defense, was developed for the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli security forces. By MEGAN GELLER JUSTICE EDITOR
The Brandeis Krav Maga Club is a student-run club that teaches self-defense using realistic training and real-world scenarios in order to make students accustomed to the stresses of situations where selfdefense is necessary. Krav Maga is a military self-defense and fighting system developed for the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli security forces. Students are taught verbal and physical methods to avoid potential threats, in addition to defensive and offensive maneuvers in cases when avoidance fails. It is a combination of boxing, wrestling, aikido, judo and karate along with realistic fight training. According to the Krav Maga Boston Club ,“The principles of Krav Maga are simple: 1) Address an immediate danger, 2) Attack simultaneously, 3)
Eliminate the threat, 4) Disengage.” This year’s captains are Elyse Hahn ’20 and Rose O’Keefe-Hoeck ’20, and the two main coaches are Karen Armato and Jordan Howard. The team’s coaches are well qualified and come from the Alpha Krav Maga Boston club. Coach Amato holds a black belt in Premier Martial Arts and also a black belt in Krav Maga. In fact, she is one of the highest-ranking female instructors on the East Coast. All students are welcome to join Krav Maga and no experience is necessary. At the start of the school year, the club starts all new members with what are called the basics. The basics include the fighting stance, movement and striking from different ranges. As the year progresses, more advanced training begins, so those who start at the beginning of the year have a smoother learning curve than those who join in the middle of the year. However, newcomers who have no previous Krav Maga experience are still welcome to join at any
See KRAV MAGA, 13 ☛
NOAH ZEITLIN/Justice File Photo
JUMP: Brandeis’ Emma Black ’22 runs down the field with the quanco, the diamond shaped ball, in a game on Oct. 12.
Women’s Rugby team places third at regionals ■ Brandeis’ women’s rugby compete and has fun working hard in the sport they love. By MEGAN GELLER JUSTICE EDITOR
The Brandeis Women’s Rugby Team is a student-run club where the team trains college rugby players, many of whom graduate and move on to continue their rugby careers at the senior level. There is no experience required or expected to join rugby, and in fact, most new members of the team have never played or seen a rugby game. This year’s captains are Diana Epstein ’22 and Sarah Pechet ’21. There are three rugby coaches this year for the Judges. Head Coach Olivia Benzan-Daniel, nicknamed OBD, also plays for Beantown Rugby, Boston’s premier women’s rugby team. Sometimes team members go and watch the games to cheer for Benzan-Daniel. The rugby team has two assistant coaches: Cam Fear, who still plays rugby,
and Ahuva Hanau ’16, called Huvs, pronounced like Hooves. Hanau is now a graduate student at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management here at Brandeis. The rugby team has approximately 30 players. Every member competes in games and tournaments, if they wish. How much a player plays in a game or tournament is up to the comfort levels of the players and the coaches. During the fall season, the team competes in the New England Wide Collegiate Rugby Conference and plays 15s. 15s means that there are 15 players on the field for each team. Officially there are two 40-minute halves, however, since the Brandeis team is in a developmental league, they sometimes only play three 20-minute thirds. This fall, the team participated in six games, and of those six games, Brandeis hosted two. The games Brandeis hosted were Oct. 12 and Oct. 19. Both games were played on Brandeis’ turf field, and the Judges were victorious. In the spring season, the team will play in the New England Collegiate 7s Circuit and participate in three or four tournaments. In this league
the team plays 7s, which means there are seven players on the field. This game quick as it is two sevenminute halves and a lot of fastmoving fun! Practices for the rugby team are held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 7-9 p.m. and Fridays from 5:307 p.m. Practice is on the club sport’s field, located near the track and the Commuter Rail train station. However, the team occasionally will practice on the turf field and, during the winter and early spring, inside the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center until the weather improves. Though the members are encouraged to come to all practices, it is understood that academics come first. The time commitment of team members is individual and based on the member. However, in order to make sure that all members know the skills necessary to compete — especially how to tackle — players are encouraged to attend two practices weekly. Since many players have intense academic schedules, some can only come for
See RUGBY, 13
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BASKETBALL PREVIEW SPECIAL
Waltham, Mass.
November 26, 2019
Images: Yuran Shi/Justice File Photo, Thu Le/Justice File Photo, Zoe Brodsky/Justice File Photo, Natalia Wiater/Justice File Photo, Andrew Baxter/Justice File Photo, Yvette Sei/Justice File Photo, Jen Geller/Justice File Photo, Megan Geller/Justice File Photo, Creative Commons. Design: Noah Zeitlin/the Justice.
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NOVEMBER 26, 2019 ● SPORTS ● THE JUSTICE
Judges rol WOMEN’S TEAM
Judges hustle into 2019 season By JEN GELLER JUSTICE EDITOR
The Judges split their most recent games, defeating the Roger Williams University Hawks and losing to the Tufts University Jumbos. The Judges are currently at a record of 3–1 for the season and have yet to play any University Athletic Association Conference games. So far, the team is off to a decent start, and even their loss to the Jumbos was a very close contest. According to the Judges’ Samira Abdelrehim ’21, the team is focusing on their communication on the court to increase their cohesion. She told the Justice, “Last season, we unfortunately suffered from a lot of injuries, and that affected our cohesiveness on the court.” She said that so far, the team has been improving in that regard this season. She said that communication can still be improved on the court because when everyone is on the same page on the court and on the sidelines, “we look really good, and if we can do this consistently, we’ll be hard to stop.”
JEN GELLER/the Justice
REACH FOR THE STARS: Brandeis’ Camila Casanueva ’21 gets great height over her opponents in a game against Framingham State University on Nov. 16.
Judges 83, Hawks 63 After the first quarter in which both teams came out firing and ended in a tie at 16, the Judges demolished their opponent in the last three quarters. Headed into the second quarter, the Judges proved that they would not back down. In fact, the team scored the game’s next six points. Emma Reaves ’23 made a layup with 9:14 on the clock that brought the score to 18–16 assisted by Camila Casanueva ’21. About a minute later, Jullian Petrie ’21 made one of her two free throws on a foul by the Hawks’ Gabby Jerahian. The game was then uneventful until there was 7:32 left in the quarter when Reaves scored from behind the three-point line bringing the score to 22–16. With these six points, the Judges did not trail again the rest of the game. The Judges ended the half with a three-point shot by Francesca Marchese ’23, assisted by Casanueva in the very last second. In the game’s second half, the Judges maintained their stable lead to bring the victory home. Right out of the gate, Casanueva made a jump shot that put the Judges ahead 43–27. Neither side scored for over a minute before Jerahian made a layup of her own. 30 seconds later, Reaves made a three-point shot. The Hawks did not score again until 6:50 left in the half with a shot made from behind the three-point line, by the Hawk’s Lizzy Stevenson. That said, the Judges maintained a comfortable lead throughout the third quarter, ending it with just under a 20-point lead, with a score of 65–47. The Judges spent the last quarter mostly ensuring that the
Hawks did not take away their sizable lead. In the end, they did just that, as the game concluded with the Judges bringing home the win by twenty points. This game marked the first time since the 2015–2016 season where the Judges began their season on a three-game winning streak. Three players tied for most points scored during this game. Hannah Nicholson ’20, Casanueva and Reavis all provided the Judges with 13 points. Petrie provided an additional 11 points. Jumbos 81, Judges 77 The Judges dropped their first game of the season in their matchup against the Tufts University Jumbos. That said, the team did fairly well against the number two ranked Jumbos and improved upon their last year’s game against them that resulted in the Jumbos scoring in the triple digits, 110–63. Much of this game’s close score can be attributed to a career-high game for Casanueva who scored 32 points, 15 of which were in the fourth quarter. Nicholson scored the next highest number of points at 10. The Judges led the game after the first quarter 23–20 — with nine points, scored by Casanueva. In the second quarter, the Jumbos came back swinging, but the Judges still maintained a decent lead. The Jumbos scored the quarter’s first four points then scored seven of the first nine points of the quarter. The Judges’ first points of the quarter was a layup by Courtney Thrun ’21, followed shortly by Nicholson. The Judges ended the half with an eight-point lead and a score of 40–48. In the third quarter, Tufts came back swinging. They outscored the Judges 17–10, but because the Judges had an eight-point lead to begin with, they still ended the quarter up by one single point. Entering the final quarter, the Judges still were holding a 58–57 lead over the Jumbos, but the Judges’ efforts were ultimately not enough to bring in a game win. After a valiant comeback, the Jumbos won the game by a score of 81–77. Looking ahead, the Judges will take on Salem State University at 6 p.m. “Our team goals this season are to make the most of every practice and every game and continue to improve as a team. We want to continue to develop the skills necessary to lead and motivate each other while competing at a high level. Everyone has been working really hard so far to improve both their basketball and character skills day by day, and are working hard to help those around them do the same. With everyone working hard to get better every day, we can continue to grow as players and as people,” Abdelrahim reflected.
YOUR GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION:
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Brandeis University 2018-19 record: 7-17 (3-11 vs. University Athletic Association) What to watch for: This year, watch returning player Camila Casanueva ’21 to explode again on the court. The Judges are hoping that along with Casanueva, the maturing of the returning players and the addition of four extremely talented first-year’s the Brandeis team will be a tough competitor in the UAA this year. Key statistics: Casanueva led the team as first year in points scoring 356 points in the season, followed by Sarah Jaromin wth 228 points. Overall, Casanueva led the Judges scoring in with an average of 14.8 points and 3.6 assists per game and ranking sixth and fifth in the conference, respectively. She also was second on the squad in rebounding with 6.0 rebounds per game and led the team with 35 steals. Casanueva’s 85.5 percent shooting from the free-throw line led the conference and ranked 18th in Division III. New York University 2018-19 record: 17-10 (6-8 vs. UAA) What to watch for: Meg Barber returns for her second year as head coach of NYU. The Violets are coming off of a strong season and are only losing one senior, Olivia Linebarger, so the squad will be coming back almost completely intact. Key returners are Janean Cuffee, Katie Foos and Annie Barrett. Nine freshmen are joining the team next season. Key statistics: Cuffee led the Violets last season with 18.1 ppg and scored a careerhigh 39 points in the game against Cabrini University. Foos led the team with 72 three-pointers last season and Barrett was the only player to start all 27 games and led in minutes, rebounds and assists. Emory University 2018-19 record: 19-7 (10-4 vs. UAA) What to watch for: Emory will face six teams that competed in last year’s NCAA D-III Tournament, four non-conference opponents and two from the UAA. Emory was one of three conference programs to earn a spot in the postseason and will be travelling to the West Coast for the first time in the program’s history. Five new firsttime opponents are on the docket this year and they include: Mary Hardin-Baylor, Lynchburg, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Pomona-Pitzer and Bates. Key statistics: Emory finished the season with a UAA second-place tie and they were one of three conference programs to earn a spot in the postseason.
JEN GELLER/the Justice
LOOKING OUT: The Judges’ Jillian Petrie ’21 looks to pass the ball to a teammate in a game against Framingham State University on Nov. 16.
University of Chicago 2018-19 record: 19-7 (10-4 vs. UAA) What to watch for: Head Coach Carissa Sain returns for her eighth season and is excited for this season with her talented squad of seniors. Key players to watch are Taylor Lake, Mia Farrel, Miranda Burt and Nireet Dhillon. In addition, there are also six highly talented freshmen on the team. Key statistics: Taylor Lake led the team with an average 14.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.7 steals per game. Lake was honored during the 11th annual UAA conference awards as a 2018-19 UAA President’s Council Scholar-Athlete. These athletes must earn a 3.5 or greater cumulative grade point average during the playing season and earn first team All-Association honors.
Washington University in St. Louis 2018-19 record: 22-7 (13-1 vs. UAA) What to watch for: Key returners for the Bears are Kristina Schmelter, Isabelle Hren, Samantha Weaver and Hayley Semple. With these talented players returning to the lineup, the Bears are posed for a successful season. Coach Randi Henderson returns for her third season at the helm of the team with a record of 41-15. Key statistics: Madeline Homoly led the team with 492 points followed by Rachael Sondag with 274. Homoly was honored during the 11th annual UAA conference awards as a 2018-19 UAA President’s Council Scholar-Athlete and was the Bears’ sixth leading scorer with a career 1,362 points. Carnegie Mellon University 2018-19 record: 12-13 (3-11 vs. UAA) What to watch for: Two players to watch after their amazing seasons last year are Makayla Filiere and Leah Weslock. These two players were standouts on last year’s team. Other players to watch are Caityn Clendenin and Laurel Pereira. This team only lost two seniors so they are coming back with a fairly solid and experienced squad. Key statistics: Makayla Filiere’s led the Tartans by scoring 10.0 points per game and 250 points in the season, while shooting 41.1% from the floor. She was second on the team in assists per game with 2.1. Defensively, Filiere picked up 72 steals which led the UAA and was good for 2.9 a game. Leah Weslock was second on the team in scoring with 242 points and 9.7 a game. The first-year player led the Tartans with 11.1 points per game in UAA play while shooting 38.3% from behind the arc. Weslock was second on the team in rebounding with 6.0 a game and finished her rookie year with 1.4 assists and 1.2 steals a game in 29.2 minutes a game. University of Rochester 2018-19 record: 10-15 (4-10 vs. UAA) What to watch for: Head Coach Jim Scheible returns for his 21st season in charge of the program with a 378-170 career record at the University of Rochester. A major portion of the UR team will be returning this year and the team is looking forward to a successful and competitive season. Key statistics: Julianna Okoniewski led the team with 312 points this season, followed by Lena Ethington with 271. Case Western Reserve University 2018-19 record: 15-10 (7-7 vs. UAA) What to watch for: This team will have a whole new look this year after the graduation of Hilary Hellman and Kara Hageman, the teams leading scorers. However, the team does have eight returning players, three with starting experience, so all is not bleak for the Spartans. New players to watch are Alicia Marie Gonzales, Kendall McConico, and Emma Cain. Also watch for graduate student Melissa Heath, who played for three years at Brown, to make an impact on the team. Key statistics: Hillary Hellman led the team in points scored with 437, followed by Kara Hageman. McConico, a returning player, averaged 7.2 points per game on 41.8% shooting overall, in addition to 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. —Megan Geller
THE JUSTICE
● SPORTS ●
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019
ll the ’Deis YOUR GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION:
MEN’S BASKETBALL NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice
WE WANT THREE: The Judges’ Chandler Jones ’21 passes his Emerson University defensive opponent in a game on Nov. 14.
Washington University in St. Louis 2018-19 record: 17-8 (10-4 vs. UAA) What to watch for: Washington University in St. Louis signed five very talented freshmen to the squad from five different states. A player to watch is Justin Hardy, who was named to the 2019-2020 Street & Smith’s Preseason All-American Team and was a UAA Rookie of the Year a year ago. Key statistics: Jack Nolan led the team with 403 points, followed by Justin Hardy with 365. Nolan was honored during the 11th annual UAA conference awards as a 2018-19 UAA President’s Council Scholar-Athlete. Five student-athletes named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches Honors Court, recognizing those student-athletes who excelled in academics during the past season, were Jonathan Arenas, Hank Hunter, Marcus Meyer, Matt Nester and Louis Reinmiller. Carnegie Mellon University 2018-19 record: 11-14 (6-8 vs. UAA) What to watch for: Coach Tony Wingen starts his 30th season as the coach of the Carnegie Mellon Tartans. The team gained four talented freshman this season. Key statistics: Seth Henry led the Tartans in rebounding averaging 8.2 boards per game while ranking second on the team, averaging 16.1 points per game. Henry also shot 59.9% from the floor, which ranked fourth best in a single season in Tartan history. His field goal percentage ranked third in the UAA and 37th nationally. Finally, Henry ranks third in the UAA in rebounding and sixth in scoring.
Brandeis University 2018-19 record: 18-11 (7-7 vs. University Athletic Association) What to watch for: Captains Eric D’Aguanno ’20, Chandler Jones ’21 and Collin Sawyer ’20 are players to watch on this year’s team. They are seasoned players who know the game and are ready to show the UAA that the Judges will be real contenders this year. D’Aguanno, Jones and Sawyer will be guide the four new first-years players on the team. Key statistics: Leading the Judges in points last year were Corey Sherman with 401, Chandler Jones with 364 and Eric D’Aguanno with 341. New York University 2018-19 record: 8-17 (2-12 vs. UAA) What to watch for: The Violets only lost one senior last year so they expect to be much stronger in the UAA. Key returners Dom Cristiano, Jimmy Martinelli and Bobby Hawkinson are expected to play important roles this season. Also, Ethan Feldman, who was lost last year due to an injury, is back in the lineup. Feldman set the NYU one-season record for three-points shooting percentage in 2017-2018. Key statistics: Cristiano led the Violets in scoring with 16.3 ppg, 9.4rpg and 67 free throws made. Martinelli led NYU with an average 9.3 ppg. Hawkins was one of two players to play in all 25 games and led in shooting percentage (.590) and averaged 9.0 ppg.
Emory University 2018-19 record: 20-6 (11-3 vs. UAA) What to watch for: Emory faces a tough group of opponents this season. Eight of 10 of the teams and are on the schedule are coming off a winning season last year and four of those opponents advanced to the National Collegiate Athletic Association D-III Tournament. Emory makes its home debut on Nov. 20 when the Eagles host the University of the South, winners of the Southern Athletic Association Tournament Championship and NCAA Tournament participant last season. Key statistics: Emory won its third UAA crown in five years and earned their seventh straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, tying the UAA record for the most consecutive postseason berths by a member institution. University of Chicago 2018-19 record: 15-10 (8-6 vs. UAA) What to watch for: Head Coach Mike McGrath is returning for his 21st season at the University of Chicago with an overall record of 298-209, including a 175-107 in the UAA. The Maroons have one goal in sight for this year: a 2019-20 UAA championship. Key statistics: Jordan Baum was honored during the 11th annual UAA conference awards as a 2018-19 UAA President’s Council Scholar-Athlete. These athletes must earn a 3.5 or greater cumulative grade point average during the playing season and earn first team All-Association honors.
University of Rochester 2018-19 record: 21-6 (10-4 vs. UAA) What to watch for: Head Coach Luke Flockerzi returns for his 10th season in charge of the program with a 159-77 career record at the University of Rochester. Highlights to watch out for this season are a run of home tournaments, a chance to play the defending national runner-up, a competitive UAA schedule. Key statistics: The Yellowjackets posted an average attendance of 417 fans per home game. Ryan Clamage lead the scoring with a season total of 432 points. Case Western Reserve University 2018-19 record: 9-16 (2-12 vs. UAA) What to watch for: Michael Hollis will be a player to watch as a senior this year after he led the team last year in minutes played and points scored. Two other players to watch are Sam Hansen and Monty Khela. This was a young team last year, with no seniors, but expect this team to bounce back after a year of growth and maturity. Four of the five main starters and seven of the eight players with the most minutes will be returning to the squad. Key statistics: Michael Hollis led CWRU with 139 points and 414 minutes played. He averaged 9.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 9.4 points per game. Monty Khela averaged 6.8 points per game and played in 20 of 25 games. —Megan Geller
MEN’S TEAM
Judges split recent games By JONAH WHITE JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
The Judges’ men’s basketball team took two out of three games last week, winning a pair of close games at home on either side of a blowout loss at Suffolk University. The Judges are now 3–2 on the season and have exciting prospects going forward with impressive depth on their bench. Judges 74, Emerson 70 Monday night at Red Auerbach Arena, the Judges defeated the Emerson College Lions in a game that went down to the wire. Collin Sawyer ’20 paced the team in scoring with 21 points including the game winning shot, while Lawrence Sabir ’21, Chandler Jones ’21 and Eric D’Aguanno ’20 each scored 13. The Judges shot an impressive 12 for 25 from three point range, led by 4 for 7 for Sawyer. Nolan Hagerty ’22 led the team with nine rebounds, while he and Sabir each had six assists. Brandeis started off with an incredible shooting display, connecting on 10 of their first 11 shots including several three pointers to lead 23–10. The lead expanded to 42–21 as the Judges’ continued to shoot the ball well in the first half. Emerson got back into the game, cutting the Judges’ lead to 46-38 by halftime. The home team started brightly in the second half, leading at one moment by 57–40. Emerson responded with another huge run, scoring 20 of the next 25 points to cut the Brandeis lead to 62–60 with six and a half minutes left in the game. The Judges led by four with 90 seconds to go in regulation before the Lions’ Jack O’Connor connected from behind the arc to make the score 73–72. The next minute would
feature plenty of drama but no points, as Jones missed a layup following an Emerson turnover, giving the visitors the ball back with 27 seconds remaining and a chance to take the lead. Jones responded immediately with the play of the game, drawing an offensive foul from O’Connor. This forced the Lions to foul D’Aguanno, who only made 1 of 2 free throws for a two point lead. O’Connor hit a pair of free throws after being fouled on the next possession, setting up the Judges for a chance to win the game with the final play of regulation time. After a kicked ball violation, Sabir found Sawyer underneath the basket in the dying seconds, and the senior converted. With no timeouts left, Emerson could only manage a desperation shot at the buzzer, which airballed, as the Judges escaped the comeback to win their home opener. Suffolk 72, Judges 57 Sawyer hit four three-pointers on his way to 19 points and D’Aguanno made his 200th career three, but the Judges were frustrated in a loss to the Suffolk University Rams. Brandeis trailed for the entire first half after going down 8–0, but hung around to go into halftime down just 32–29. The visitors scored the first six points of the second half, taking their first lead of the game on a jumper by Sawyer just over a minute in. It would be their only lead of the game, as Suffolk went on a 10–0 run a few minutes later to lead 49–38. The Judges could not find a way back down the stretch, and scored only 57 points on a tough night shooting from the field. Judges 81, Rhode Island 75 At home again on Saturday, the Judges took down the Rhode Island College Anchormen in an exciting game.
Sawyer, D’Aguanno, Sabir and Hagerty all scored double digits. Jones had six rebounds while Hagerty led the team with five assists. As a team, the Judges shot 55% from the floor while receiving 29 points from their bench. The Judges gradually built a sizable lead in the first half against previously undefeated Rhode Island, going into the break up 45–31. Brandeis led 62–40 several minutes into the period, and it looked as though they were in for a comfortable victory. However, the Anchormen had other ideas, cutting the lead down to 75–65 with 2:25 left. A pair of important free throws by Sabir made it a twelve point game, but the visitors’ Keyshaun Jacobs and Shion Darby hit three pointers to make it a six point game against the odds, with still over a minute remaining. The teams traded free throws before Jones missed a pair from the line to give the Anchormen the ball back in a two possession game. Darby missed a difficult shot, giving the Judges another chance to seal the game from the line. This time it was Sawyer missing two free throws, and the result was still in doubt with 20 seconds left before Jacobs missed a crucial three. Sawyer finally put the game away with 10 seconds left, and the Judges avoided an embarrassing collapse to hand Rhode Island their first loss of the season. With the win, the Judges improved to 3–2 ,and will next play at home over winter break on Jan. 7.
NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice
TAKE IT TO THE HOOP: Brandeis University’s Lawrence Sabir ’21 dribbles the ball down the court in a game against Emerson University on Nov. 14.
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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019 ● SPORTS
● THE
JUSTICE
Brandeis’ Olympic fencer, Tim Morehouse By MEGAN GELLER JUSTICE EDITOR
Timothy (Tim) Frank Morehouse ’00 is a Brandeis alum and the Olympic athlete to graduate from Brandeis University. Morehouse was a silver medalist on the United States fencing team, competing in the men’s sabre division at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, and also a member of the 2004 and 2012 Olympic teams. In addition, he was a two-time individual United States National Champion in 2010 and 2011. A native of the Bronx in New York City, Morehouse decided to take up the sport of fencing in order to get excused from gym class at Riverdale High School. In addition to being captain of the fencing team, he was a four-year member of the Riverdale Country School’s baseball team and a one-year member of the cross-country team. Morehouse’s maternal grandmother was a Jewish immigrant, and she and her two sisters escaped from Germany in the mid-1930s, settling in the U.S. He credits much of his drive to his grandmother’s determination. After settling in the U.S., Morehouse’s grandmother joined the Quakers because of their relief work after World War II, but she raised her family with a mixture of traditions. Morehouse enrolled at Brandeis University in 1996 after being recruited by Brandeis for the school’s fencing team. By the time Morehouse got to his sophomore year, he was ranked in the top 10 of the National Collegiate Athletic As-
sociation’s Division I men’s sabre and stayed there during his last years of college, surprising many of the schools who never gave him a look coming out of high school. In fact, Morehouse was ranked in the NCAA tenth in 1998, sixth in 1999 and fourth in 2000. As a senior, he was voted by coaches and athletes as NCAA men’s sabre Fencer of the Year, and he led Brandeis to the rank of tenth among all Division I schools in 2000. In 2000, Morehouse received a bachelor’s degree in history from Brandeis, and in 2003 a master’s degree in teaching from Pace University. In 2009 Morehouse was inducted into the Brandeis Athletics Hall of Fame and was the youngest recipient of Brandeis University’s Alumni Achievement Award in 2010 for his achievements as an athlete and his work with Teach For America according to TimMorehouse.com. After graduating from Brandeis, Morehouse taught underprivileged students with Teach For America, teaching seventh grade in Washington Heights, New York City. During this time, he also coached the fencing team at his alma mater, Riverdale Country School. After three years of teaching, Morehouse felt that if he was telling his students not to stop reaching for their dreams, he should be a role model and do the same. Morehouse stayed involved with Teach For America while he trained for the 2004 Olympics, his dream. Morehouse lost every match for the first two and a half years, traveling to over 20 matches all over the world, until year three when he won his first World Cup match. The
following year, Morehouse perserved and won enough matches to make his first Olympic team in 2004, surprising everyone. Two years following the games, he started losing matches, because he tried to change his awkward moves. By year three, Morehouse went back to his old style and started winning again. Morehouse made the 2008 Olympics and his team won a silver medal for Team USA, the first fencing medal since 1948. That moment was when Morehouse realized you have to embrace your style and dreams to be successful, not someone else’s. After the 2008 Olympics, Morehouse began to promote fencing throughout the United States. He became a motivational speaker to tens of thousands of children and Fortune 100 and 500 companies on his path to become an Olympic athlete and the drive to set yourself a goal and not to give up. In 2009, he even taught President Obama to fence on the White House lawn when Chicago, Illinois was making a bid for the Summer 2016 Olympics. In 2012, Morehouse founded Fencing in the Schools, a non-profit program to bring the sport of fencing to under-served communities throughout the country. Morehouse met President Obama again when he was honored in 2012 as one of the President’s “Champions of Change” at the White House for his service to the country through Teach For America and AmeriCorps. Because of his heritage, Morehouse was able to participate in the 2013 Maccabiah Games. The Maccabiah Games is
an international Jewish athletic event held every four years in Israel. In November 2014, Morehouse received the Athletes in Excellence Award from the Foundation for Global Sports Development, in recognition of his community service efforts and work with youth. In 2015, Morehouse founded the Morehouse Fencing School in New York City. The club specializes in beginner fencers in youth and adults. Morehouse’s goal is to create a sense of interest for the sport of fencing and perhaps an Olympic athlete, who may never have an Olympic dream. Otherwise the club has been recognized as one of the fastest rising fencing clubs in the U.S. and now has five locations. In 2019, the club has several nationally ranked members in Youth-10 girls and Youth-10 boys. Besides the Morehouse Fencing Club, Morehouse is working on developing new technology to improve the sport of fencing. The prototypes for the foil have a goal to make the sport wire-free, without wired jackets. Morehouse is also the author of an autobiography, “American Fencer: Modern Lessons from an Ancient Sport.” The book recounts his experiences growing up in one of New York City’s rough neighborhoods in the 1980s and his journey of becoming an Olympic athlete and teacher. Morehouse has built a career as an athlete, author, lecturer, entertainer and philanthropist, which all started a high school student who tried a sport to get out of gym class and ended up making it the core of his life’s work and passion.
Vol. LXXII #12
LITTLE
Vol. LXX #2
November 26, 2019
WOMEN
September 12, 2017
>>pg. 23
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Arts & Culture Waltham, Mass.
Images: Zach Katz/the Justice, Creative Commons. Design: Ivy Dall/the Justice.
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TUESDAY, THE JUSTICE NOVEMBER | ARTS 26, | TUESDAY, 2019 I ARTS JANUARY & CULTURE 31, 2017 I THE JUSTICE
CULTURE SHOW
Once upon a time at ‘Mela’
By JEN GELLER JUSTICE EDITOR
The Brandeis South Asian Student Association hosted their 18th annual “Mela,” a show that has brought members of the Brandeis community together since 2001. “Mela” was the finale to Brandeis’ “I am Global” week, a week-long event sponsored by the United States Department of Education to celebrate learning, cultural exchange and global awareness. At Brandeis, the week celebrates the global efforts and achievements that are taking place across campus to integrate students from outside the United States. The tickets for “Mela” were sold out before this widely anticipated event, which took place in Levin Ballroom on Saturday evening. This year, the show’s theme was “Kahani: Once Upon a Time.” Kahani means ‘story,’ and this theme was seen throughout the various performances within the show. “Mela” gave the Brandeis community the chance to highlight some of those backgrounds and histories through singing, dancing, fashion and more. In an email to the Justice, SASA President Sravya Shankara ’20 said, “This year’s show celebrates the diverse stories (“kahani”) that each of us brings to Brandeis’ campus, and the coming together of our unique backgrounds. We feel that each person carries a history and tale that makes them unique, and we hope to highlight a few of them through this show!” From the beginning of the show, a video listed the different countries represented by performers and languages spoken in those countries that included Bangladesh (official language: Bengali), Afghanistan (official language: Dari and Pashto), India (No official language) and Maldives (official language: Dhivehi), among many others. These various countries and languages represented the diversity of both the community and the performers who shared their stories through the performances of the show. Shankara added in her email, “The theme is seen throughout the show through the stories our MCs share, the theme of Chak De[,] the Bollywood Fusion act that concludes our first act, the emotions shared through our singing performances, the messages shared during the show, and through the very fact that all of our stories have united us through SASA, uniting us in the journey of ‘Mela’.” she added that this year, specifically, SASA tried to tie the theme into more of the show than in prior years. The first performance of the evening was slam poetry by the Dean of Students Jamele Adams. Consistent with the theme of the night, Adams began with a call and response from the audience of the phrase “Once Upon a Time.” Adams went on to use the concept of “Once Upon a Time” to look at the past, present and future. He said, “Once upon a time there was life before us, not as good as life with us, there will be more once upon a times that could be better than us if we once upon a time ourselves together.” He then touched on the ideas of love, race and hunger, among several other factors
TV SHOW
that we face in the present. For example, he mentioned that the term ‘aliens’ once referred to those that do not exist, but now the term is used to negatively refer to humans. He said borders used to not exist, but they are now the “new world order.” He concluded, “Once upon a time this evening, let us return to love.” Following Adams was the Classical Indian Ensemble. Performed by SASA presidents Sravya Shankara, Pramoda Bapatla ’20, Spandana Shankara ’23 and Malavika Nair ’23, the students used their dances to promote the unique and ancient styles of Indian classical dance, including Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Kathakali, Sattriya, Manipuri and Mohiniyattam. This performance specifically featured Kathak and Bharatanatyam. Additionally, as part of the tradition at “Mela”, members of each class year choreographed and performed separate grade-year-specific dances in between the other acts, in order from first-years to seniors. After the Classical Indian Ensemble came the first-year dance,
over the course of their middle-school years. Through this storyline, the performance highlighted the theme of “Kahani.” After a ten-minute intermission, the second act continued the energy that began in the first act. The first performance of the second act was the Berklee Indian Ensemble from Berklee College of Music. The group brought traditional classic music of South Asia using instruments like the sitar and drums. Following the Berklee performance was a presentation of the charity that “Mela” supported this year. Every year, SASA collects donations for a certain charity, and this year, the group supported the Society to Help Education in Bangladesh International. SHEBI is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1985 with the goal of both providing and improving education for the people of Bangladesh. They support the common disabilities in Bangladesh that include, but are not limited to, Autism, Down Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy. The organization has raised over $210,000 and sponsored over 50 projects in support of Bangladesh education, including
the Urdu song “Tera Woh Pyaar.” The purpose of this piece was to celebrate the unity of Bangladeshi and Pakistani cultures and to also celebrate the power of one love. Although the countries are different, the singers show how similar the backgrounds are through music. After the president’s speech, where Sravya Shankara and Bapatla thanked the many people who helped the show take place and the SASA executive board thanked Shankara and Bapatla for their work over the years by giving them flowers, the final two acts performed. Choreographed by Bapatla, Sravya Shankara and Nair, Brandeis Bhangra won over the audience and stirred up constant applause from the audience. Bhangra is a folk dance from Punjab, and the group mixes Western hip hop with Eastern dhol rhythms to celebrate the Bhangra style. Finally, the senior dance brought the event to a close in a routine choreographed by Bapatla, Sravya Shankara, Zenith Rai ’20, Yashaspriya Rathi ’20 and Priya Koundinya ’20. Following the show, dinner was served with food from Dosa Temple. JEN GELLER/the Justice
DANCE OF THE CLASS: As part of the tradition, each class year presents a dance. For many of the dancers, this is not their first time participating.
JEN GELLER/the Justice
A SHOW FOR EVERYONE: The fashion show is open for anyone who wants to participate and showcase South Asian fashion. choreographed by Sandra Charalel ’23, Ayush Tacker ’23, Nair and Spandana Shankara. Following the first-year students was an act in which five students sang a Rendition of Penn Masala’s 4Chord Medley. This Medley featured Bollywood and American hits, all of which were performed in the same four chords. Songs that they sang included “Someone Like You” by Adele, “Castle on the Hill” by Ed Sheeran and “Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus, among many others.The performers were Anisha Purohit ’21, Aarthi Sivasankar ’22, Rachna Raghavan ’22, Mahima Devanahalli ’21 and Ritika Saxena ’20. Following the singing, the Class of 2022 performed the sophomore dance. The routine was choreographed by Nirupa Abraham ’22, Meghana Kanthan ’22, Simran Regmi ’22 and Charisma Chauhan ’22, and featured a wide variety of songs and dance styles. The first act of “Mela” concluded by a performance by Chak De!, Brandeis’ premier Bollywood Fusion dance team. Their routine was choreographed by Akhila Penumarthy ’21 and Aria Pradhan ’21 and includes numerous dance styles from across India and the United States. The performance followed two girls and their friendship as they discovered themselves and their identities
reconstructing over 100 schools. Sravya Shankara highlighted SHEBI in her email to the Justice, writing, “This year, we supported SHEBI, the Society to Help Education in Bangladesh International. For us, ‘Mela’ is not only an opportunity to celebrate our culture and heritage, but it is also a chance to give back to our community and help others. To fulfill this responsibility, we actually organized two fundraisers, Chai and Samosa fundraisers, leading up to ‘Mela’. This was a new initiative that we started, so we can raise as many donations as we can for SHEBI.” Next up was the annual fashion show, coordinated by Nitya Talreja ’21 and Supriya Jain ’22. In this portion, SASA members brought South Asian fashion to Levin Ballroom. With the various outfits full of colors and designs, the group portrayed how South Asian fashion and art has shaped the lives of the participants. Following the fashion show was the junior dance, choreographed by Devanahalli and Penumarthy. Immediately following the class of 2021’s performance was another singing act. In this act, performers Nabeeha Haq ’22, Tayaba Hamayum ’22 and Sabreen Huq ’22 sang a mix of the Bengali song “Abar Elo Je Shondha” and
Every year, the Brandeis community waits for “Mela” to experience the performances. This year, SASA delivered just this while maintaining the theme of “Kahani” throughout to show that despite everyone’s different backgrounds, everyone has a story to tell and share for the betterment of the community as a whole. Sravya Shankara concluded her email by highlighting what makes “Mela” so rewarding. “The most rewarding aspect of helping to run an event such as this is that this event gives South Asians on campus the occasion to come together and celebrate each other and South Asia,” she said. “We have a fairly small South Asian community at Brandeis, but ‘Mela’ is one of the few times during the year that we get to make our presence known and celebrate with the rest of the Brandeis community. The excitement and enjoyment we see among SASA members during preparations and the show itself are also incredibly rewarding. From spending four hours every week painting our backgrounds and rehearsing our performances to working together till 4 am the night before the show, ‘Mela’ is a time that we can all get to know each other better and make close connections that will be cherished.”
Behind the scenes of ‘Shtisel’
By MAYA ZANGER-NADIS JUSTICE EDITOR
On Oct. 29, I received a Branda notification that said some of the actors from “Shtisel” would be coming to Brandeis on Nov. 21. I practically jumped out of my chair and immediately got tickets. I haven’t even seen both seasons of “Shtisel,” an Israeli television drama available on Netflix, but I have seen enough to recognize its brilliance. For three weeks all I could talk about was this event, this small opportunity to be in the same room as Giti (Shira Haas), Ruchami (Neta Riskin) and Libbi (Hadas Yaron). The Wasserman Cinematheque was filled with excited students, parents and faculty members. Chair of the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department Prof. Eugene Sheppard (NEJS) introduced the event, saying that “Shtisel” takes audiences inside a community that tends to be caricatured and is so widely beloved for this and many other reasons. He then introduced Prof. Alice Kelikian (HIST) who, with sponsorship from The Edie and Lew Wasserman Fund and support
from the Office of the President, was the driving force that brought the women of “Shtisel” to campus. She ushered the actresses onstage and mediated their conversation interspersed with clips from the show to demonstrate various talking points. Neta Riskin, a veteran of “Shtisel” panel discussions and the most vocal of the three, was quick to point out that the Nov. 21 event was the first ever all-female “Shtisel” panel in the United States. She tied this into the fact that the stories of our Euro-centric cultural heritage tend to focus on “the man” — the Odysseus type who leaves his family at home and has exciting adventures. She acknowledged that lately more of our media has flipped the trope, allowing a “woman to play the man,” but the story of the spouse who stays at home (regardless of gender) is still untold. Riskin’s character, Giti, is the one who stays at home while her husband has crazy adventures— “we follow [her] ‘boring’ role.” The life of a housewife (or a house-spouse) can be dramatic and interesting and fit for TV.
Design: Grace Sun/the Justice, Sara Fulton/the Justice
Hadas Yaron, who joined the cast in the second season as Libbi, a new love interest for the central character, Akiva, had some profound insights about the expressions of love and longing in the show. All the characters are ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Jews and do not show intimacy the way we would expect them to. Men and women cannot be alone together or touch each other at all unless they are married or related. Marriages are arranged after a handful of dates and most people are married
with children by the age of 23. As a result, Yaron explained, so much isn’t said aloud and is instead said other ways. There is a lot of tension in every scene, which she described as “so beautiful to see somebody want something” and not immediately get it. Shira Haas, the youngest member of the panel, was 16 and a half years old when she auditioned for the role of Ruchami, Giti’s daughter, on “Shtisel.” She and Riskin discussed their troubled mother-daughter dynamic, noting
ZACH KATZ/the Justice
THREE STARS ON STAGE: Neta Riskin (center) was the most vocal of the three actresses during their conversation on Thursday night.
that Ruchami just wants a stable home and instead is forced into the “husband” role in her own home when her father leaves in the first season. This leads to a deep resentment toward her mother and is eventually what drives her to leave home and get married in the second season. Haas did not speak as much as Riskin, but she had an energetic presence and added some humor to the conversation. I cannot do justice in one article to all the eye-opening insights given by these women who have spent so much time embodying Giti, Ruchami and Libbi. They talked about their experiences as secular women playing ultrareligious roles and taking control of a narrative often limited to men. Riskin even explained that the costume department had a competition to find Giti the ugliest outfit (the winner was a black robe with pink roses in episode 12 of the first season). Overall, I am grateful to the Film, Television and Interactive Media Program and Professor Kelikian for bringing these amazing women to Brandeis and hope to see more events like this in the future!
THE JUSTICE I ARTS & CULTURE I TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019
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THEATER INTERVIEW
What we talk about when we talk about history: A conversation with Pascale Florestal By LUKE LIU JUSTICE EDITOR
This week, justArts&Culture spoke with Pascale Florestal, the director of “We Are Proud to Present a Presentation about the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915.” The show tells the story of a group of six students trying to tell the story of the Herero and Namaqua genocide, which happened between 1904 and 1908 under the occupation of the German Empire. During the interview, Florestal talked about her relationship with this production, the historical meaning behind the script, the challenge of discussing such a sensitive topic through theater and what it was like to work with college students the past month and half.
JustArts&Culture: Tell me a bit about yourself and how you got involved with this project. Pascale Florestal: I am a director, educator and arts administrator in the city. I moved here about five, six years ago and I’ve been directing and teaching theater in Boston for the last five years. I started working at the Huntington Theatre Company as educator apprentice ... [And then] I moved to work with Company One as their education program manager. And then I started working freelance as a director, and now I work for Boston Center for the Arts and direct on the side. I actually got the gig through Adrianne Krstansky (THA and FILM), who’s one of the professors here at Brandeis. I worked with her on a reading of a new play at MIT ... and she emailed me in the summertime, probably late May, early June, being like ‘Hey, we have this play. I am not
NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice
FORGOTTEN HISTORY: The Herero and Namaqua genocide is considered the first genocide of the twentieth century, but it is rarely mentioned in history classes.
sure if you’re interested in directing but I think you would be great.’ and I was like ‘Yes please! I would love to work at Brandeis.’ I always wanted to direct at Brandeis and a lot of colleges in Boston, and I really do love this place. It was just perfect timing. JAC: The show is centered around this historical event that is largely forgotten, but it does so by focusing on the perspectives of the contemporary people on this event. Can you talk a bit about that part of the show? PF: Jackie Sibblies Drury, who’s this amazing playwright, …. wanted to write about this specific time in history that we all don’t really know about, but what she ended up writing was these young actors trying to figure out how to tell the story. And they end up really failing because they don’t really tell the entire story. They give you a good overview, a quick Wikipedia summary, probably five sentences, but not the in-depth details of that moment in time and history that we may know in comparison to World War I, World War II, very important events that happened in our history, the cornerstone of our culture and our society. … It’s not just about history too. It’s about how we relate to history, how we believe it should be told, who gets the right to tell it, what is defined as history and what is defined as important in history. … It also reminds us of what happens when we bring our two different perspectives on different walks of life to those conversations. Jackie is very deliberate in the way the play is casted, that it is six young people, two are young Black man, two are young white men and one is a white woman, and a young Black woman. … There’s no names, no
NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice
CHARACTER STUDIES: Besides the historical approach, the show also discusses how the perspectives of individual actors affect their interpretations of the art of storytelling. nothing. And I think she does that to set up a kind of experiment for us to understand what happens when you put those kinds of people in a room to talk about something that is very problematic and also very challenging to understand and talk about. So the play really grapples with that from the moment we start to the end. JAC: Besides the historical element, the show also tries to tackle the idea of theater as an art form. Can you talk a little bit about that? PF: I think it is very telling of the time. ... I think people are really challenging the way we experience art a lot now. We’re seeing a lot of different kinds of storytelling and I think this is Jackie’s way of trying to figure out how we think about these different conversations. I think what’s so great about using the device of theater is, a lot of times, people forget that we’ve
learned so much about history and we learned so much of the world through this performative aspect. I have learned so much as a theater artist because of what I do. I have learned so much about history, so much about culture and art because I’m an artist. That itself is such a grand thing. There’s a moment in the play when the actors talk about what does it mean to do something in a theater even if it’s not theatrical. You can be in a theater and you can be doing things that aren’t considered dramatic or considered storytelling but it’s still in a theater space, so you still have that veil of performance. That’s the biggest question she asks us in the play. I think the ending also talks about that too. What happens when we take different parts of what we expect theater to be and take it away or you change it? See INTERVIEW, 24 ☛
THEATER REVIEW
‘Little Women’: delightful and astonishing By SHOSHI FINKEL JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
This past weekend the Undergraduate Theater Collective put on “Little Women.” The musical is adapted from Louisa May Alcott’s eponymous 1868 novel. As someone who grew up in a family of many sisters, I have loved and related to this story since I first encountered the book in elementary school. This novel has touched the lives of so many young women, and I’m not alone in identifying with the four March sisters in different ways. At times I’m the hopeful Beth, the indignant Amy, the romantic Meg or the headstrong Jo. Watching the actresses play these archetypal American sisters was cathartic, breathtaking and sometimes humorous and surprising. I was blown away by the cast’s ability to bring this timeless story to life in the Carl J. Shapiro Campus
Seufert ’22), held their own as well. The romantic interests of the sisters — Laurie (Seth Wulf ’21), Mr. Brooks (Alex Ross ’22), and Professor Bhaer (Harrison Paek ’22) — were adequately charming and bumbling, capturing the hearts of the audience as they did the hearts of the sisters. I was particularly impressed by Adina Jacobson’s ’20 transformation into Marmie March, the matriarch of the family. We have seen Jacobson embody many different characters in her theater career at Brandeis, but the wise, rock-solid and, at times, humorous mother to the wild March sisters is perhaps my favorite role I’ve seen her play. One challenge in student theater is having actors between the ages of 18 and 22 play characters well out of their age range. Going into this play, I didn’t know what to expect of the elderly Mr. Lawrence and Aunt March, two crotchety and ZACH KATZ/the Justice
COZY HOUSE: Thanks to the hard work from the production team, the set of ‘Little Women’ created a small but comfortable house filled with a loving family.
Center theater. Elizabeth Hilliard ’22, who played the protagonist Jo March, is a powerhouse onstage. She carried the ensemble through the tragedies and triumphs of the March family. Her sisters, orbiting around her with their own dramas and character developments, Meg (Caroline Kriesen ’20), Beth (Sophie Lee ’21) and Amy (Sophia
sometimes terrifying older figures in the girls’ lives. Max LeBlanc ’22 and Emma Johnston ’22 both did a terrific job of becoming these elderly characters, who represent the old world of proper etiquette and restrictive gender roles that the March girls rage against. Overall, this was a very cohesive cast, filling out the many personalities of
Alcott’s world. This show couldn’t have felt as cohesive as it did without a strong and involved production staff. This production was surely a big undertaking for director Rose Freudberg ’20, stage manager Liam Gladding ’21, music director David Girardin ’22 and choreographer Liora Lilienthal ’20, as it runs about two and a half hours long with 23 musical numbers and several dance numbers. I could tell this was a labor of love for Freudberg, since all the actors seemed to just be having the time of their lives onstage. The result of everyone’s hard work was a show that ran smoothly and visually was stunning. The movement, transitions and music felt organic, yet transcendent. I loved all the waltzes and oldfashioned dances Lilienthal led the actors through, and Girardin’s music direction resulted in the feeling of a modern musical telling an enduring story, with wellbalanced and excellent vocals and blend. The eight-piece orchestra — the biggest I’ve ever seen in a UTC production — helped fill the theater with the song. I especially enjoyed Aaron Newitt’s ’21 contributions on the piano. I must also mention costume designer Rosie Sentman ’22, whose pieces were believable and, as it happens, adorable, with a quaint New England style and color scheme for all the sisters. I can tell many hours of love went into those hoop dresses! Set designer and master carpenter Micah Alexander ’22 clearly put hours into the elaborate set, complete with multi-level platforms, an attic and an office. The effect of this somehow made the stage look both bigger, and still reminiscent of the cramped March house. There was one element of the production that I left the theater feeling lukewarm about, which was a blending of historic and contemporary dress. The show included an additional ensemble of four women, dressed as contemporary elementary or middle school students. These “characters” wandered on and
off stage reading copies of Little Women, and, at times, mimicking what the characters were doing onstage, like dancing or ice skating. This was a sweet touch, reminding the audience that this story remains exciting to today’s youth, perhaps even implying that the whole musical was happening in these girls’ heads. This would have been enough of an added modern touch for me, but Jo and Professor Bhaer also wore modern dress in the scenes taking place after Jo has moved to New York. This decision confused me. It may have been to show that Jo was living a more modern life in New York, but all it did was take me out of the story. Directors nowadays often feel that historical pieces will not be relatable to the modern audience, and feel compelled to change something in the production, like putting Macbeth in military fatigues or having Carmen ride onstage on a motorcycle. All this accomplishes is taking the audience out of the world of the story. People still want to see historical stories because they are timeless and relatable human stories. There is no need to modernize them, because if we still want to see them in 2019, we are clearly not uncomfortable with the old-fashionedness of them. The UTC has had a strained relationship at times with period
pieces in recent years. Perhaps the memories of the contentious 2018 production of “And Then There Were None,” though its issues weren’t related to this show, left some nervousness around producing another adaptation of a classic novel. The decision to include these characters in “Little Women” in modern dresses may have felt like a fresh idea, but it reminded me of recent productions on this campus of “Into the Woods” and “Godspell,” which also included narrators or characters in modern clothing. We have some incredibly talented student actors on campus, and I think they can hold their own and carry a production without the crutch of a modern twist. Overall, “Little Women” went on without a hitch and the audience was engaged and, if they felt like I did, I’m sure had a great time. As for me, I cried twice: once while Hilliard and Lee were singing “Some Things Are Meant to Be” and again while Jacobson sang “Days of Plenty.” “Little Women” is a powerful story and this production brought that power to our campus. It was a very good choice of musical for the UTC, and I can’t imagine a better production staff and cast. — Editor’s Note: Staff cartonist Harrison Paek is a member of the cast.
ZACH KATZ/the Justice
TIMELESS STORY: While mostly following the original story, the show experimented with the costumes by mixing modern attire with oldfashioned clothing. Design: Sara Fulton/the Justice, Grace Sun/the Justice
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THE JUSTICE I ARTS & CULTURE I TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019
INTERVIEW
JUSTARTS SPOTLIGHT ON THE FACULTY/STAFF ART EXHIBITION 2019
By Luke Liu JUSTICE EDITOR
Flowers are one of the most ubiquitous gifts across cultures. In many different places, flowers represent unique messages. When struggling with choosing something to bring, a flower bouquet is typically a good idea. However, as anyone who has received the gift would know, one of the downsides of having a bunch of beautiful flowers is their inevitable death when they finally run out of stored energy and gradually fall apart. While you can certainly delay the sadness by actually taking care of the beauties, if you are skilled in painting like Aina Lagor, program coordinator of the Women’s Studies Research Center, then you can preserve your ephemeral gift in painting. As the title “Utah Bride and Baby” suggests, the painting includes bouquets from two important events of Lagor’s life, her wedding and her baby’s baptism. When I first saw the piece, I was amazed by how realistic the flowers look. I don’t mean how bright and lively the petals look, but how naturalistic the painting is. Although there are some light yellow and red highlights, most of the color palette of the painting is relatively darker. A lot of the roses have slashes of pale or dark light, showing the dehydration of these organic objects after weeks of display. The white flowers are small and scarce, like drips of snow melting too soon as they fall to the ground. All the leaves are yellow and brown, matching the background of the work. Instead of the blossoming spring season, this painting captures the essence of fall. Remember the feeling when you see an old photo from decades ago? The color is off and the paper is yellow, but it is the imperfection that makes it perfect because of the memories it carries. We may not be young forever, but it’s the memory that we cherish until the very end. The bouquet in “Utah Bride and Baby” is not at its prime, but carries marks of time. It’s not only about the beginnings of new chapters of life, but also how far we have come and what a beautiful journey it has been.
Pascale Florestal NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice
CONTINUED FROM 23
Aina Lagor, Utah Bride and Baby Photo Courtesy of LUKE LIU
JAC: In the play, the attempt to present the history eventually falls apart because it is such a challenging topic. Have you experienced this kind of situation in real life? PF: That’s such a hard question. I don’t think I have experienced it yet. I think there are certain subjects that are just very difficult for us to talk about because of the way we as a society have been instructed and conditioned to be around those subjects. I think the other aspect of that is there’s certain things that are easy to talk about because they are universal. Love, happiness. I think when you start talking about race, when you start talking about history, for some people it is very black and white. … There are certain people who are very purist in certain ways about those things and so I think it’s just inevitable for there to be friction. ... There’s a line in the play where Actor Six says, ‘I don’t want you to be comfortable. I want you to do it.’ And that’s what I am interested. I don’t want to get people to be comfortable. I want us to do it, understand why this is the thing and why we’re here. That’s the hardest thing to confront, and I think when art does that, it’s controversial, it’s rebellious, it’s not producible, it’s not palatable. That makes it hard to swallow. And that’s what happens in this play too.
VICENTE CAYUELA/the Justice
JAC: What do you want the audience to take away after seeing the show? PF: I have been thinking about that question since the moment I started doing the play. … I think a lot of times when I create this kind of work, I want people to understand what their relationship is to it. Especially with race. Most of the work I’ve done has been either social-justice focused or about lifting up people of color and representation because, as an artist of color, that is my calling and what I do. … I always want people to question their relationship to race and how they interact in the world. The unconscious biases they may have that they may never really confront because they don’t have to. We are very lucky sometimes now that we can put up a wall and be like, ‘That’s not who I am. I’m not that kind of person.’ And there are many, many times in the play where the actors say that, ... but you never really know who you are until you’re put in that situation. … You may think you are one kind of person but you have no idea the kind of decisions you would make if push came to shove. That sometimes means that we’re bad people. I think the play gets to a dangerous place because we have been there. We continue to go there. And until we confront that we can go there and we are always going to go there, we’re never going to change or never understand how to break that status quo. … It’s scary and people think that that’s not the answer but sometimes it is, unfortunately.
STAFF’S Top Ten To be continued... EMILY RIORDAN/the Justice
JAC: The story has to do with race, genocide and other complicated topics. How’s it like to work with college students on this play? PF: It has been so much fun! I honestly think this play is meant for college students. I think it is meant for college students to be performing in it, or at least it is much more suited for young people. There’s a line in the breakdown of the play where it says, [something along] on the line of like, all of these people are young. They’re not as experienced or seasoned but they’re very committed and they want to be there. They want to try their hardest and they’re all good intentioned. … College as a learning institution set up that hope that you can come here and be your best self, and learn how to be your best self. And I think that’s what’s so great about it is being able to explore these themes with people who want to learn ... which is so freeing sometimes. Because so much of the time as an actor, you’re trying to be somebody else. You’re trying to understand that character, where they came from. And these characters are just their identities.
SUDOKU NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice
Top 10 Objects that Macaulay Culkin has pointed at By Emily Blumenthal JUSTICE EDITOR
When he’s not busy changing his middle name to “Macaulay Culkin,” Macaulay Culkin likes to film himself pointing at things, including in my home city of Milwaukee. 1. Random man drinking wine 2. A poorly-done statue of Jack Sparrow 3. A flock of pigeons 4. The Eiffel Tower 5. The Summerfest grounds 6. The World’s Largest Golden Nugget 7. The Bronze Fonz 8. A Stars and Stripes cowboy hat 9. The Harley Davidson Museum 10. A donut frosted like his face
JAC: Anything else you would like to tell the readers? PF: Come to see the play. If you can’t, read it! It’s a really great play to read. … It’s been such a great time working here and working on this play. The actors have been so great and I’m so lucky to be able to uplift this work and talk about this really important conversation. Sudoku Courtesy of OPENSKY SUDOKU GENERATOR
Solution Courtesy of OPENSKY SUDOKU GENERATOR
— Luke Liu