the
Justice www.thejustice.org
The Independent Student Newspaper Volume LXXII, Number 18
of
B r a n d e is U n i v e r sit y S i n c e 1 9 4 9
Tuesday, March 3, 2020
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
jumpstart the University’s ‘‘strategic vision’’ for the future. By EMILY BLUMENTHAL JUSTICE EDITOR
The Brandeis Board of Trustees has approved the Framework for the Future, University President Ron Liebowitz announced in an email to the community on Feb. 18, cementing the plan’s “strategic vision for Brandeis” with changes to residence hall communities, building renovations and academic programs. The Framework, which has been in the works for 16 months, seeks to “chart the future of our university” as it grapples with its founding social justice identity and connectivity within and between academic programs, and student life on the Brandeis campus. Before the plan was approved in January, the Board listened to presentations by members of the Framework’s 11 task forces and gave each feedback. The Board’s main concern, Liebowitz said in a joint interview with the Justice and The Brandeis
Hoot on Wednesday, was how to fund the initiatives. “Their concern really is how we’re gonna fund this, and whether or not it retains what makes Brandeis, Brandeis. And I like to say that this plan, you know, makes Brandeis more like Brandeis,” Liebowitz said. The approval of the Framework comes at the same time as the University prepares for its upcoming capital campaign, a fundraising initiative which will eventually finance 10 of the projects described in the report. The University has been using its Springboard funding to prepare for this campaign, along with heightened spending of endowment funds. The University’s policy is to use 5% of its endowment each year, but it has allowed itself to overspend with the implementation of Springboard. This year, it will spend 5.5% of its endowment. Several of the Framework’s projects that will be financed by this spending are part of a larger proposed plan within the Framework of moving towards a residential college model, similar to that at Yale University, Harvard University and Rice University. The focus would be on
Waltham, Mass.
CONVERSATIONS ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE
Board of Trustees approves Framework for the Future ■ The plan’s approval will
Waltham, Mass.
VERA SHANG/the Justice
CLIMATE ACTION PLAN: At an open forum last Monday, community members discussed the University's responsibility in the face of the climate crisis and brainstormed ways that the University could become more sustainable.
Working group talks sustainability Union and PARC roll out with Brandeis students and faculty See FRAMEWORK, 7 ☛
HEALTH AND SAFETY
SipChip drug test kits ■ The SipChip devices
will be able to test for six common date-rape drugs in cold beverages. By JEN CRYSTAL JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
SipChips, devices that test for date rape drugs, will be available to students at no cost from March 4–11. Brandeis will be the first school to have these devices available at an institutional capacity, according to organizers Ricki Levitus ’20, Director of the Prevention, Advocacy, & Resource Center Sarah Berg and Student Union President Simran Tatuskar ’21. SipChips are single-use "date-rape" drug testing devices. Currently, SipChips test for Flunitrazepam (“Roofies”), Alprazolam (Xanax), Diazepam (Valium), Midazolam (Versed), Oxazepam (Serax) and Temazepam (Restoril), according to the PARC website. They can test any cold beverage — alcoholic and non-alcoholic. All SipChips are recyclable, and Brandeisissued devices in their package will expire in March 2021. Devices out of their packaging are usable for 90 days before they should be discarded. Users should put one drop of their drink on the device, and in 30 seconds, one
or two lines will appear on the device; two lines means that a drug has been detected. The devices are 99.3% accurate and will only give false positives, Tatuskar said. Levitus started this project after seeing a social media post from the SipChip company, Undercover Colors, asking how they could better market their product. She started a conversation with their director of marketing and suggested they market to college campuses, leading her to reach out to PARC. They originally planned to fundraise $500, and they contacted the Union for its buy-in. “Realizing that it was something that affects all students, I looked through Union resources,” Tatuskar said, which led her to petition to get funding from the Community Emergency and Enhancement Fund for the project. The CEEF board allotted $7,000 of their $150,000 emergency funds to the SipChip initiative, fully funding it. Funding for this project is “nuanced,” Tatuskar said. “Theoretically, the Union can continue to fund this; it does, however, depend on who the next Union president is, the CEEF board and how they choose to vote on it,” she said. Tatuskar explained that CEEF emergency funding will always be available as an option, but funding after this year is not guaranteed.
See SIPCHIP, 7 ☛
■ The Community
Engagement group discussed the current climate situation and plans for the future. By HANNAH TAYLOR JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
The Community Engagement Working Group of the President’s Task Force on Campus Sustainability hosted a community forum about climate change last Monday with the goal of garnering the recommendations and opinions of both students and faculty on sustainability at Brandeis, and providing context of the University’s current situation. Currently, Brandeis is in the process of renewing its Climate Action Plan, which was last updated in 2015. In reference to this latest version, the Manager of Sustainability Programs on Campus Mary Fischer said, “It doesn’t quite go deep enough and we didn’t quite hit our goals.” She said the hope is that the renewed Climate Action Plan will “go deeper” and “talk about the bigger question of ‘what Brandeis should be doing in the face of this climate crisis.’” The task force will be including the community's ideas from the forum in its recommendations to the administration in order to better revise the plan. Before opening the forum up to discussion, Fischer explained the breakdown of the University’s car-
bon footprint from the past year. About 70% of carbon use, she said, comes from the electricity and natural gas used in campus buildings, along with smaller amounts of gas used in campus vehicles and oil. Other notable sources of carbon use –– about 28.2% in total –– are commutes, solid waste, paper products and food. Focusing on food, which takes up at least 7% of the total carbon footprint, Fischer said that the carbon footprint of the major food categories Sodexo purchased in the 20172018 school year was 2,540 tonnes, with a physical weight of 361 tonnes. About half of this carbon footprint was due to beef alone. “It’s just an interesting way to think about what we actually purchase and consume and what the footprint of that is,” she said. To guide the discussion, Fischer proposed a few questions: “What should Brandeis’ role and responsibility be in the face of the climate crisis?”; “What do you see as within Brandeis’ power to do to act on climate change and climate justice”; and “What recommendations would you make to the president and the administration about climate change and climate justice?” Prof. Ben Gomes-Casseres (IBS) answered, saying, “To me it’s about our core mission, which is education.” He explained that because climate change affects everyone, the International Business School is including references to climate change in many of its courses, even
See FORUM, 7 ☛
Hey, Beautiful!
My Home, Formosa
Claims about ceiling cave-in found to be false
The Justice spoke to the organizers of the new Brandeis Body Positive program.
Last weekend, TSA hosted its annual culture show.
By EMILY BLUMENTHAL
By VICKY WANG
NEWS 3
The screw up at the DNC By REENA ZUCKERMAN
By SOFIA GONZALEZ
NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice
opening some up to the campus community to celebrate Brandeis’ Climate Change Week, which will occur from March 30 to April 3. Every discipline should be dealing with climate change and empowering students “to do something about it using the skills [they] came here to learn,” Gomes-Casseres said. “I think Brandeis’ role is basically to have that infuse in our learning and our teaching.” Prof. James Ji (ENVS, ECON), a Florence Levy Kay Fellow in Environmental Economics, answered next, saying that Brandeis should be researching more and “pushing the frontiers of what we know about climate change.” He also further emphasized the impact of climate change, explaining that it affects everything from emergency rooms to test scores. Ji said that the Brandeis community has a “social responsibility” when it comes to the climate crisis. “We have a role to play, either by knowing our own carbon footprint or by pushing for changes around the area, whether its policy changes, activism or other types of changes. We can do this,” he said. Prof. Sabine von Mering (GRALL, WGS, ENVS) asked the audience for ideas to improve sustainability. One audience member emphasized the importance of education on climate change. “Why we have gone through two major transformations of the curriculum in the last twelve years and
FORUM 11
12 Fencers awarded UAA recognition
FEATURES 8 For tips or info email editor@thejustice.org
EMILY BLUMENTHAL/the Justice
Make your voice heard! Submit letters to the editor to letters@thejustice.org
ARTS 18
By MEGAN GELLER
COPYRIGHT 2020 FREE AT BRANDEIS.
SPORTS 16
