The Justice, May 3, 2022

Major administrators, dept. heads leave Univ.

■ Over a dozen administrators and department heads have left or planned to leave the University over the course of the academic year.

By ARIELLA WEISS JUSTICE EDITOR

Over the past academic year, at least 15 administrators and department heads have left their positions or have announced that they will be leaving soon to pursue work elsewhere.

Vice President of Student Affairs Raymond Ou announced in an email on April 2, 2021 that Dean of Students Jamele Adams would be leaving the University after 15 years at Brandeis and eight years as dean. Adams now serves as the first Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Scituate School District in Scituate, Massachusetts.

On May 3, 2021, students received an email from President Ron Leibowitz that Brandeis’ first Officer of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Mark Brimhall-Vargas would be leaving his position to accept a job at Fenway Health, an LGBTQIA+ healthcare provider and research center, as the organization’s first Executive Vice President for Racial Equity and Social Justice.

In a June 3, 2021 letter, Brandeis community members were notified that Dean of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management David Weil would be leaving his post at Brandeis to accept President Joe Biden’s nomination of Weil to resume his post as the administrator of the Wage and Hour Division in the U.S. Department of Labor, a role he served under President Obama.

The latest announcement came from Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Carol Fierke on April 13, 2022. Fierke announced that the Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Dorothy Hodgson would not be renewing her appointment as dean after the coming academic year. Fierke wrote that Hodgson would be staying with Brandeis for AY 2022-2023 to “ensure a smooth transition” for her successor, followed by a sabbatical leave in AY 2023-2024.

Though not officially communicated to the entire student body via email, other Brandeis staff have been leaving as well.

In early October, former Director of Student Activities Dennis Hicks left his position and was

Tuesday, May 3, 2022

EARTH

DAY CELEBRATIONS

replaced by Matt Galewski in Jan. 2022. Though she stayed for fall 2021 orientation, former Director of orientation Jenny Abdou vacated her position in the Division of Student Affairs Office. On their website, the position is still listed as “vacant.”

On the same webpage, it lists Scott Berozi as the associate director of community living and orientation. In spring 2022, Berozi left the University to be the program director of the Dynamy Internship Year at YOU, Inc. Melody Smith, the former associate director of community living alongside Berozi worked for four years at Bentley University before joining Brandeis in Feb. 2020. She has left Brandeis to work at Bentley again as an academic advisor. Former Assistant Director of Community Living Maira Pantoja had already left in fall 2021 to work as the new director of residence life at her alma mater, Elms College.

The Division of Student Affairs also oversees the Prevention, Advocacy, and Resource Center. PARC’s former director, Sarah Berg, came to Brandeis in 2018 and left this year to work at TJX, the parent organization of retailer TJMaxx. In a Dec. 8 email to a Justice editor, Julie Le, the department coordinator for the Gender and Sexuality Center and the Intercultural Center, said she had resigned at the GSC the week prior and would be working at the ICC until the end of the fall semester, and resigning from the University after that.

Sonia Jurado, Brandeis’ inaugural director of the Office of Equal Opportunity, came to Brandeis in March 2019 and will leave the University to begin working as the vice president for access and equity and Title IX coordinator for Emerson College beginning May 9.

Sebastian Chai-Onn, the budget analyst in the Dean of Students Office, who approves budgets and spending for clubs on campus, will also leave as the semester’s classes come to a close.

Waltham Group coordinators received word from Director of Community Service Lucas Malo on April 29 that he will be leaving to work in the non-profit arm of “Life is Good” apparel company on May 20. He has worked for Brandeis’ Waltham Group since 2008.

Further, Colby Sim, who joined the University’s Department of Community Service in spring 2019, will be leaving May 5 to work in Boston University’s Center for Career Development and Educational Resource Center, according to an April 29 email she sent to Waltham Group coordinators.

Brandeis hosts Earth Week

■ The week-long event included a variety of activies and events across campus, aiming to educate students and celebrate the earth.

Brandeis Earth Week, presented by the Office of Sustainability and the Center for Spiritual Life, was part of an international effort to focus on environmental issues. Earth Week is an extension of Earth Day, which occurs every year on April 22. According to the Earth Day website, the event was founded in 1970 by Sen. Gaylord Nelson (D-WI) who wanted “to infuse the

energy of student anti-war protests with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution.”

In conjunction with Davis Hayes, a young activist at the time, Nelson and Hayes organized a teach-in on college campuses on April 22, 1970. The movement grew until 1990 when Earth Day went international, with 200 million people in 141 countries participating. On Monday, the week started off with a continuation of Meatless Monday in Sherman and a clothing and book swap in the SCC Atrium. Tuesday featured environmental justice jeopardy along with a screening of Fast Fashion: The Real Cost of LowCost Fashion. Prof. Sally Warner (ENVS) led a conversation in OlinSang discussing “the science of why we need to reduce carbon emissions”

as well as “the most impactful actions (both personal and systemic)” according to the Brandeis Earth Week schedule. On Thursday students were encouraged to make their own pot and plant a seed to grow plants in their rooms. At the close of Earth Week, Larry Spotted Crow Mann, an “award winning writer, poet, Native American Culture educator, Traditional Story Teller, Tribal Drummer/ Dancer, and Motivational Speaker,” according to the Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness, hosted “When the Land Speaks: A Journey into the Stories, Songs and Culture of the Living Presence of Nipmuc People'' in the Shapiro Campus Center. Additionally, Brandeis Dining featured Future 50 Foods at Sher-

Harvest Table chosen as new dining vendor

■ The newest Brandeis dining vendor is highly anticipated, but with an air of caution.

selecting the new vendor were, according to the same email, “food excellence, hospitality, collaboration, and sustainability.” After an extensive seven-month decision-making process, the Dining Services RFP Committee has unanimously selected Harvest Table as the candidate that they believe will most align with these values.

This timeline included stakeholder interviews during the fall semester, extensive vendor materials posted online, a student portal through which students could share comments regarding the decision, and presentations from each potential vendor that included food served to the “hundreds of students, faculty, and staff” that attended, according to the same email.

Though the unanimous decision was ultimately that of the RFP committee members, other organizations on

See DINING, 5 ☛

By ISABEL ROSETH

Justice

Festival of the Arts

 Over the weekend, the Bernstein Festival of Arts took over the whole campus.

By MINA ROWLAND

ARTS AND CULTURE 19

Univ. partakes in Holocaust Rememberance Day

By LEAH BREAKSTONE

NEWS

Board calls for clarity from University about registration

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

The New York Yankees deal with various injuries

GELLER

MEGAN

‘Friends’ creator and alum speaks to Justice

 Marta Kauffman '78, speaks about how her time at Brandeis helped shape her and her career.

See

GREEN THUMBS : Students came together on the roof of the Gerstenzang Science Library, potting and planting seeds.

Photo Courtesy of CREATIVE COMMONS

Harvest Table Culinary Group was unanimously voted in by the Dining Services Request for Proposals Committee to become Brandeis’ new food vendor, according to an April 14 email from Vice President of Campus Planning and Operations Lois Stanley. The new contract will begin in July 2022, and Harvest Table’s arrival on campus is eagerly anticipated by students, who have become disenchanted with the current vendor and catering giant, Sodexo. Brandeis’ major considerations and values when

SENATE LOG

Student Union Senate meets for the last time this year, votes on chartering new clubs, financing the Midday Buffet

The Student Union Senate discussed three clubs and passed a Senate Money Resolution for items related to the Midday Buffet event at its April 24 meeting, the last of the year.

The Midday Buffet, this semester’s replacement for the midnight buffet, will be held on May 3 in conjunction with the State of the Union address. The Senate passed a SMR to fund the food and decorations for the event, which cost about $5,000.

Tamara Rubin ’24, the president of the Poker Power Brandeis club, presented her club’s purpose and plans. Rubin said that the club will create a “feminist community of allies through the teaching and learning of poker,” which she said has traditionally been a male-dominated sport.

Poker Power is a national organization which Rubin said she wants to bring to Brandeis.

POLICE LOG

MEDICAL EMERGENCY

Apr. 25—There was a medical emergency at 567 South Street. The party was treated by BEMCo staff and transported to a local hospital via ambulance.

Apr. 26—There was a medical emergency in Massell Quad. The party was treated by BEMCo staff and transported to a local hospital via ambulance.

Apr. 28—There was a medical emergency in the Shapiro Science Center. The party was treated by BEMCo staff and refused further care.

Apr. 28—There was a medical emergency in the Usdan Student Center. The party was treated by BEMCo staff and refused further care.

Apr. 29—There was a medical emergency in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center. The party was treated by BEMCo staff and transported to a local hospital via ambulance.

Apr. 29—There was a medical emergency in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center. The party was treated by BEMCo staff and transported to a local hospital via ambulance.

Apr. 30—There was a medical emergency

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS

The Senate chartered her club by acclamation.

Marco Qin ’24 asked the Senate to charter the Brandeis Blockchain club. Qin said that the club would give students opportunities to work with professionals in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry.

Qin also said that the club provides opportunities for people in a variety of fields, not just computer science or business. This, he said, would help to prepare students for jobs which do not yet exist. “[We] want to educate people because this is the future,” Qin said.

Sen. Audrey Sequeira ’24 expressed concern that the club was not being actively inclusive enough to people other than men. Though Qin said that the club was open to all and planned on having a “female” speaker, Sequeira said that the club “should

in Massell Quad. The party was treated by BEMCo staff and refused further care.

HARASSMENT

Apr. 24—A community member reported that an individual attempted a money scam on Instagram.

Apr. 25—A community member reported harassment via email. A report of the incident was composed.

MISCELLANEOUS

Apr. 28—Community members reported a loud argument in progress. Officers spoke with the involved parties and a report was composed.

Apr. 30—A community member reported that their vehicle may have been struck while parked at Brandeis. A report was composed.

Compiled by Leah Breakstone

be more actively inclusive [and] not just passively say they don’t discriminate.”

The Senate voted not to charter the Blockchain club.

Sydney Schur ’24, president of the Pottery Club, requested that the Senate approve a change to her club’s constitution which would clarify positions on the club’s e-board. The Senate approved the change by acclamation.

Sen. Sahil Muthuswami ’24 told the Senate that repairs have started on the main stairwell leading down to East Quad, which should be completed over the summer.

— Max Feigelson

The Justice is the independent student newspaper of Brandeis University. The Justice is published every Tuesday of the academic year with the exception of examination and vacation periods.

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Peace Scholarship Fund launched at International Business School

■ The scholarship will fund education for refugees fleeing Ukraine and other countries experiencing war.

By DALYA KOLLER JUSTICE EDITOR

In response to the war in Ukraine, the Brandeis International Business School has launched a new $1 million scholarship called the “Peace Scholarship Fund.” The fund will grant a full scholarship for up to 10 graduate students to complete their education at IBS. The current plan is to award the first scholarships to graduate students this coming fall semester.

The goal of the scholarship, according to their homepage, is to support students who were “displaced from and forced to leave their country due to violent conflict or persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, or membership of a particular social group or political opinion.”

Brian Messenger, Senior Associate Director of Communications at the Business School, commented on how IBS is working to find students in need of scholarships in an April 29 email to the Justice. He stated that since the announcement of the fund on April 7, the Admissions team at IBS has been in contact with many international partner organizations, including EducationUSA Ukraine and the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Messenger said that IBS is also in contact with numerous organizations working to assist refugees from Ukraine.

Two members of IBS’s Board of Advisors, Barbara Clark M.A. ’91, and Alan Hassenfeld H’20, board co-chair, have pledged to donate $250,000 each towards the establishment of

the Peace Scholarship, according to a BrandeisNow article. Clark holds a master’s degree in international economics and finance from Brandeis, and Hassenfeld received an honorary degree from the University in 2020. The remainder of the scholarship money will be raised through matching funds, and the scholarship fund has stated on its homepage that additional donations are welcomed and appreciated.

Clark and Hassenfeld both discussed the establishment of the Peace Scholarship in the same BrandeisNow article, focusing on what propelled IBS to create the scholarship.

Clark stated that providing students from all over the world with a foundational education for how to be “good global citizens” is a core value of IBS. Clark said in the article, “to live those values, we must act in times of crisis. The Peace Scholarship Fund will extend an extraordinary opportunity to those students who need it most and ensure we live up to Brandeis’ founding mission of repairing the world.” Hassenfeld spoke on similar lines, stating that to hold themselves up to their highest ideals, the University and IBS must do all they can to be a “beacon of hope in times of despair.”

University President Ron Liebowitz made a statement in the same article regarding the establishment of the Peace Scholarship Fund as well, explaining that the war in Ukraine has already driven more than four million people out of their country, and those in a position to help are required to do what they can. “Brandeis was founded by the American Jewish Community, many of whom had either fled Europe or lost whole families in World War II. Helping those who face similar threats to their lives is something we feel a strong obligation to do,” President Liebowitz said.

April 2022 Board of Trustees meeting report

On April 26, University President Ron Liebowitz sent an email to the Brandeis community reporting on highlights from the April Board of Trustees meeting.

First, it was announced that Lisa Kranc ’75 and Dan Rueven ’09 were both elected to the Board. A proposal was accepted regarding the budget to construct Science Phase 2A, which would “replace inadequate chemistry research space with facilities that will enable teaching and research in applied science and emerging areas of collaboration, such as chemical biology, biological data science, and the study of active matter,” as stated in the Framework for the Future final report. The project will be funded by up to $150 million in taxexempt debt, and construction is set to begin in 2024. “This vote marks a formative step toward realizing Brandeis’ vision for investing in the physical infrastructure that supports the quality of the university’s interdisciplinary research in the sciences,” the email states.

President Liebowitz offered the Board an update on the progress of the series of conversations on “contemporizing Brandeis’ Jewish identity and founding values.” Additionally, the launch of Brandeis’ Initiative Against Antisemitism was brought up while discussing the University’s commitment to strengthening the Jewish values Brandeis was founded on.

Liebowitz emphasized the importance of fostering and strengthening the relationship between Brandeis and the greater Waltham community. One way in which this will be executed is via the celebration for the 75th anniversary of Brandeis’ founding, which will take place during the 2023-2024 academic year. “The celebration, still in its planning stages, will include a variety

of communications, events, activities, seminars, and installations that will engage all members of the Brandeis community, including alumni, faculty, staff, students, parents and friends, and members of the Waltham community,” according to Liebowitz.

Another topic discussed was continuing student and faculty representation and contributions to the Board. Bylaw amendments that will ensure this continuation of participation were approved by the Board. The presence of faculty and students within the Board is important because it “enhance[s] communication between stakeholders and maximize[s] effectiveness of Board decision-making,” the email said.

Finally, eight professors were granted tenure: Profs. Charles Golden (ANTH), Alice Hsiaw (BUS), Alexander Kaye (NEJS), Jean-Paul L’Huillier (ECON), Siri Suh (SOC), Benjamin R. Shiller (ECON), Brian Swingle (PHYS), and Ilana Szobel (NEJS).

The Academy Committee; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee; Institutional Advancement Committee; Nominating and Governance Committee; Resources Committee; Risk Management and Audit Committee; and the Student Life Committee all met respectively and discussed their own relevant matters.

Liebowitz concluded the email with words of gratitude for the Board. “These meetings provide us with the opportunity to benefit from the trustees’ collective expertise, wisdom, and stewardship of Brandeis, and I am pleased to be able to continue to rely on their guidance,” he wrote.

— Leah Breakstone

Univ. commemorates Yom HaShoah

of the Shapiro Campus Center.

By LEAH BREAKSTONE JUSTICE EDITOR

As the last generation of Holocaust survivors continues to shrink, many students such as Aimee Schwartz ’22 understand the importance of keeping survivors’ stories alive and continuing to educate others on the atrocity.

Schwartz is a leader of the Holocaust Remembrance Committee at Brandeis, a Hillel affiliate group, which was founded in 2021 and has since “spearheaded an array of events including speakers, film showings, and symbolic art activities,” according to their website.

Thursday, April 28 marked Yom HaShoah, also known as Holocaust Remembrance Day.

To commemorate, the committee held multiple different programs and events throughout the week. Up first was an art-making event with the Butterfly Project where participants decorated butterflies to honor the 1.5 million children killed in the Holocaust. The butterflies will be turned into an art installation to commemorate these lives. Another event featured a discussion with Prof. Irina Dubinina (RUS) about Soviet Jewry during WWII.

The committee also hosted the tradition of hearing the names of those who perished. Students had the opportunity to sign up for a slot to read names in the blue booths outside

On Thursday, the committee hosted Holocaust survivor and grandfather of Leila Small ’22, Abe Foxman to tell his story. The chance to hear Foxman’s story, as well as participate in the other programing throughout the week, supports an idea that Schwartz feels is integral, that “every single student at Brandeis should be aware of and get involved in learning about [the Holocaust],” she said.

Schwartz’s grandparents are also Holocaust survivors, and she explained that “as a third generation offspring I think it’s our generation’s [responsibility] — college students — to now be in charge of commemorating.”

College campuses are particularly strong environments to get more people involved in and educated about the Holocaust, Schwartz explained. When tabling the different events, she realized that “a lot of people [did not] even know that it’s Yom HaShoah or the week of it,” but then they saw the events in the blue booths or in the Shapiro Campus Center, they wanted to get involved and participate. “That’s why it’s so important to have it in many different spaces across campus,” she said.

Schwartz re-emphasized the importance of education about the Holocaust among college students and their responsibility to keep the stories alive for generations to come. “It falls on us, and it begins with a small event or a large event…there’s no sort of rules, it’s just however you feel is the right way to commemorate and I encourage every single person to be involved,” Schwartz said.

Photo Courtesy of CREATIVE COMMONS

GLOBAL: The International Business School is decorated with dozens of flags from across the world.

HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY

DINING: Student groups played a role in the decsion making process

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campus shaped the process as well – and were not credited in Stanley’s email. On April 29, the Justice spoke over Zoom with Josh Benson ’23, a member of Brandeis Leftist Union, who works closely with unionized workers across campus. Benson explained that BLU is not officially recognized by the University, but that BLU made itself a seat at the table when it came to the selection process. “While we were not officially a part of the process, we made ourselves a part of the process because the University was no longer able to ignore us,” Benson said. “That was something we struggled for, not something that was granted to us.”

Months prior to the RFP’s series of vendor presentations to the community, BLU, in partnership with the Brandeis Labor Coalition and the Nordic Skiing Team, created a “Petition to Support Union Dining Workers.” Here, petitioners made demands to retain unionized dining staff should the University switch vendors, and that these workers should retain their current contracts even if the University were to switch food service providers. They also demanded that the University not hire outside catering staff for events and instead give the hours to the unionized staff, many of whom are signed up to work 40 hours a week and need the pay.

Despite being signed by over 400 students and stemming from concerns voiced directly by unionized dining staff, the petition was largely ignored by the administration. It was not until BLU’s March 11 rally and sit-in in front of University administration buildings the same day that they were able to effect change. Benson said, “It’s been instructive to people that we spent months raising awareness and signing petitions, and the University wouldn’t even give us the light of day, and we were able to accomplish in a number of weeks far more than in a number of months.”

The University agreed to the demands to retain unionized workers and their contracts. BLU’s work ensured that from the start of the vendor selection process, “all vendors sign onto union recognition, and wage and employment retention,” they explained. This means that any vendor the University considered to be part of the final five that presented had to sign onto the BLU’s demands as a prerequisite to being in the running.

Benson also explained that after the sit-in, BLU was in coordination with the Student Union to create a public forum within the RFP selection, where people could raise concerns about specific vendors and dining at Brandeis more generally. Stanley stated in the email that the decision the RFP Committee came to was “directly shaped by the significant amount of feedback received throughout the process,” and that the student portal received close to 400 comments from students. But the University didn't initially have a place for students to voice their opinions at all – “until we [BLU] forced it, hence why we hosted the public forum,” Benson said. Prior to BLU’s demands for it, the forum was not a planned step in the selection process.

Another student group that was heavily involved, though not an official part of the RFP selection process, was the Brandeis Sustainability Ambassadors, a paid team of students that work closely with Mary Fischer, the head of the Department of Sustainability.

Sustainability Ambassadors were involved in getting the word out about the public aspects of the selection process. BSA publicized the dining presentations that were open to all, and “ma[de] sure students know about the impact vendors can have on sustainability,” said BSA Lotem Sagi ’24 in a Zoom interview with the Justice on April 30. She explained that, for example, “If we want a more sustainable

company than Dunkin Donuts, something that’s more locally run, that allows us to use reusable materials rather than their branding … the decision is in the hands of the vendor.”

Sagi said that BSA had representatives attend the vendor presentations that took place from Feb. 28 to March 2 and as a group made their own recommendation to the confidential selection committee – that recommendation was Harvest Table. “All the other vendors emphasized customer satisfaction,” Sagi said. “That sounds good, but what it means is that once the vendor sees demand for things like sustainability or allergens, then they’ll make the shift. We don’t have the sustainability labor [at Brandeis] to be proactive about this all the time. We needed to see a company where sustainability is inherent to what they do.”

Out of the five vendors that were chosen to present – Nexdine, AVI Foodsystems, Bon Apetit, Sodexo, and Harvest Table – Sagi explained that BSA preferred Harvest Table by a long shot.

Sagi said that, for example, at Nexdine, the head of sustainability is also the head chef, which poses problems because sustainability is lumped in with the rest of the work they have to do. If sustainability is a part of their position, rather than it being a position in and of itself, she said, “it’s not really going to get accounted for.” Harvest Table states that their ingredients are both as clean as possible – no artificial ingredients, additives, or synthetic chemicals – as well as locally sourced, which they define as ensuring that up to 65% of the ingredients are grown, harvested, or produced within 150 miles of campus. “Everyone else was not even remotely close to this,” Sagi said, giving Bon Apetit as an example – they only source 20% of food locally.

Additionally, Harvest Table states that their ingredients will vary based on the season, ensuring that the recipes will feature “the absolute best produce the region is growing.” With Sodexo, Brandeis students are served out-of-season pineapple and melon year-round.

Sagi said another important consideration was Harvest Table’s “realtime feedback, which is important in terms of allergens. It’s important to have real accommodations being made as things are happening.”

Harvest Table’s website outlines their major commitments under their “Our Promise” page, which they have categorized as “nutritionally balanced, additive-free, responsibly sourced, locally procured, and made from scratch.”

The website elaborates on each of these values. Harvest Table writes that they prepare their recipes inhouse, in the smallest batches they can, to ensure that food is as fresh as possible when being served. They emphasize that much of their food is made from scratch, from “salad dressings to doughs, pasta sauces and globally inspired dishes.”

The vendor also says they work with registered dietitians and wellness managers to guarantee that the food they bring to campuses can work for “a variety of nutritional needs to nourish every student’s body and mind.”

Eitan Marks ’24, a student who keeps Kosher, explained that the food Sodexo served was “frozen, low quality, and often not edible for those with other [additional] dietary restrictions such as gluten-free or other allergies.” He is enthusiastic about the fact that Harvest Table has already shown a commitment to Kosher dining.

“Even from the outset, the commitment they’ve made to ensure Kosher dining is a priority and not an afterthought will set them up for success at Brandeis,” he said. “I can’t wait to try [Sherman] dining hall and Louis’ again in the fall.”

When asked what BLU thought of Harvest Table specifically, Benson said that BLU “did not offer an endorsement of any company. We

offered a disendorsement of AVI, the vendor at Wellesley, where there’s been ongoing campaigning [against the vendor]. We showed up at [AVI’s] presentation to castigate them.” They said that BLU and unionized workers are “never enthusiastic to deal with any boss. No one is happy that Harvest Table is gonna be at the school, but we’re not bummed about it either.”

Sagi said that while BSA made their best educated decision while endorsing Harvest Table, “none of this is indicative of how they’ll actually be when they come in.” She also lamented the fact that Harvest Table is a subsidiary of Aramark, one of the “big three” vendors, including Sodexo and Compass Group, all of which have ties to the prison-industrial complex.

In reality, though the vendor is its own entity, it is also at the mercy of the university that is paying them. Benson explained Brandeis “has a lot of power over the vendor. Pressuring the University is how you pressure the vendor. The University says ‘jump,’ and the vendor says ‘how high?’”

Sagi also said that though Harvest Table is under Aramark, out of the options, Harvest Table would have a “local sustainability” impact on Brandeis and the surrounding community because of where it sources its food from, and that it was the most “just,” particularly with regards to sustainability. “I am excited to try something new, and it seems like they care about being just in their company,” she said, “but I am a little skeptical.”

In addition to the work BLU and BSAs have done already, they plan on continuing to work with Harvest Table in the upcoming academic year. Despite negotiating contracts with vendors prior to their arrival on campus for presentations, Benson said that “does not mean things are set in stone.” They explained that BLU met with union representatives from Local 26, which represents dining workers on campus, and “sick hours and drug testing are things on the horizon.”

Many dining workers have over 1000 hours of sick leave that they have accumulated over the years working at Brandeis under Sodexo, and the process of how those hours will roll over to Harvest Table has to be negotiated. Benson said “there’s going to be a need for continued support as the bureaucratic side of turnover [from Sodexo to Harvest Table] happens,” but that these things are not issues as of yet, and “hopefully will not become issues.”

Sagi said that currently, BSA has bi-monthly meetings with Sodexo, as part of the Sustainability Dining Committee, and that presumably, there will be a similar system with Harvest Table. She hopes that as a result of these meetings they will “be receptive and get things done if something doesn’t seem right.”

The end of Stanley’s email included a warm thank-you from Brandeis to Sodexo, stating, “lastly, but very importantly, we thank Sodexo for their participation in the RFP process, for their service to the university for the past nine years, and for their partnership – especially for their support of our students throughout the pandemic."

It’s an understatement to say students are relieved Sodexo will be leaving campus. But the process of selecting a vendor had a ripple effect beyond just the food itself, in large part due to the student organizations not officially included in the RFP committee. The work done by BLU to ensure job security for dining workers regardless of the vendor sets a precedent should the University choose to switch vendors again in the future. BSA’s work in asking questions about sustainability, and the public forum BLU spearheaded, incorporated student feedback into the process in a legitimate way. In a process where only few were offered an official seat at the table, organizations like BLU and BSA were able to make themselves and their concerns heard anyway.

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man and Lower Usdan throughout the week.

The Future 50 Foods come from a report done by the World Wide Fund for Nature and Knorr, a large German food and beverage brand. The report examined a “collection of diverse plant-based foods from around the world that can boost the nutritional value of our meals whilst reducing the environmental impact of our food supply.” The report highlights some well known foods such as lentils, wild rice, and kale, as well as lesser known foods such as fonio, pumpkin flowers, and cactus. This week, the dining team focused on lentils, black turtle beans, amaranth, quinoa, as well as okra and broccoli rabe, along with other types of beans and green vegetables.

Michael Reilly, the Resident District Manager of Sodexo at Brandeis, said in an email to the Justice that the dining team worked with Nolan Reese, the campus dietitian, to create the menu during Earth Week. In the email, Reilly said that their “goal was to feature ingredients from the list with the most versatility and would be widely enjoyed by students.” He added that “many, if not all of these ingredients are used on a regular basis and are part of our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint.”

Another part of this week’s activities was Weeding with Herbicide Free Brandeis, a group that is part of a larger campaign, Herbicide Free Campus, which currently has chapters in seven universities, including Brandeis. Brandeis’ group, along with the larger campaign, aim to “eliminate the use of toxic herbicides and to transition to organic land care at Brandeis University,” according to the Herbicide Free

Brandeis’ Instagram. Their Earth Week event took students to the lawn next to the Brandeis Library, where they were encouraged to pick dandelions and garlic mustard, which were then turned into dandelion flower tea and garlic mustard pesto.

One of the event organizers, Gabo Torres ’23, who is from Ecuador, said that growing up he was “exposed to a lot of nature and biodiversity” which gave him a perspective on nature that made him want to “try and protect it.”

In regard to Herbicide Free Brandeis and the event that was part of Earth Week, Torres said he was “always somewhat interested in agriculture and sustainable agriculture.” While weeding is not the only thing the group does, they have organized multiple “Weeding Days” together with the grounds crew within the past year to try and reduce the need for herbicides on campus.

Charlene Duong ’23, another one of the event’s organizers, said that joining Herbicide Free Brandeis has “changed [her] perspective on what weeds are and what they represent.” Duong said that for her, the event aimed to “rethink the way we interact with weeds on campus and … to educate people on what we can do with weeds.”

Lily McCarthy ’24, an attendee of the event and an Environmental Studies major, said that for her, “Earth Week is a time to take advantage of the fact that we can be outside and we can take care of the Earth while we have the time.”

Earth Week at Brandeis ended with Earthfest, “a celebration of the spectacular Earth to which we belong” according to Brandeis’ Earth Week 2022 website, which included handson activities such as rooftop planting and revitalization on the roof of the Gerstenzang Science Library.

features

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.

ON THIS DAY…

In 1960, the Anne Frank House museum opened in Amsterdam in the building where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis.

FUN FACT

While people under 25 rarely report dreaming in black and white, those over 55 report having black and white dreams around 25% of the time. About 12% of people say that they exclusively dream in black and white.

’Cause you’re there for me too: a conversation with ‘Friends’ co-creator Marta Kauffman

By ISABEL ROSETH JUSTICE EDITOR

When Marta Kauffman ’78 H’20 enrolled as a student at Brandeis, there was no way for her to know where her four years at the University would take her. Since her time at Brandeis, she has amassed Emmy nominations and critical acclaim, but before she was the co-creator of the hit television series “Friends” and “Grace and Frankie,” among others, she was a student, figuring out who she was and what she wanted to do with her life.

During her search for the right college, Kauffman knew that Brandeis had much to offer her. First and foremost, it was a place where she could feel secure in her Judaism. “I grew up in a neighborhood that was pretty antisemitic,” she told the Justice during an April 20 Zoom interview, describing an incident where her AP French teacher told Kauffman that she “made French ugly and guttural like Hebrew.” Kauffman’s desire to find a more accepting community was reaffirmed when she attended Jewish summer camp, as it was the first time she was in a place where she felt it was okay to be Jewish. She remembers thinking during her time at camp, “People aren’t asking me, ‘Where are [your] horns?’”

While searching for colleges to apply to, she heard about Brandeis and said she was drawn to the idea of being at a school where she would not be discriminated against or made to feel like an outsider for being Jewish. “[It was] a place where I could be comfortable … and not deal with the kind of antisemitism that I grew up with,” Kauffman said.

While finding a Jewish community was a large part of why Kauffman decided to attend the University, she was also attracted to the liberal arts approach. She was looking for a place where she could study theater and she said that she wanted a broader, more interdisciplinary education, both of which she felt Brandeis could offer. Looking back, Kauffman said she is confident that this was the right decision. “Those were the best four years of my life at that point. I think back on them so fondly,” she said. “I’m so grateful that’s the school I ended up at. It was the right place for me.”

Kauffman majored in theater, but to her surprise, some of her favorite courses were not in that department. Kauffman was quick to mention one of them, a seminar entitled Women in Literature. “It was the most eye-opening experience of my life,” she said of the course, which examined feminism in written works.

Despite the fact that Kauffman was focused on the arts, another favorite course of hers was a course in the Biology department taught by a former professor named Herman Epstein. She said that the most memorable part of that class was the way the professor taught his students. “He would give us lab reports, and our job was to circle every single thing we didn’t understand, and then he would walk us through it,” Kauffman recalled. “His work as an educator was so impressive and made me want to learn about something I could’ve cared less about.”

Kauffman described how when she began to run a writers’ room for a television show, she found herself utilizing certain strategies and techniques that she had seen her professors use during her time at Brandeis. The support

and encouragement her professors gave their students has stuck with her through her own work and informs her approach to leadership and creativity as a television writer and producer. Kauffman noted that while she typically has the final say in the writers’ rooms she runs, the environment she creates is a democratic one. She says her professors taught her that if “you have enough people who feel passionately about something, you have to try it.” Encouraging people to push themselves and go beyond their own expectations is something she said she learned to do at Brandeis.

Attending Brandeis had a major impact on Kauffman’s career. Namely, it’s where she met David Crane ’79, with whom she created “Friends.” “That was huge,” Kauffman said. The two met as part of the cast of a production “Camino Real,” a play by Tennessee Williams. “I played a hooker, [Crane] was a street urchin, and that’s actually how we met,” she recalled. Later, when she was asked to direct an undergraduate performance of the play “Bad Spell,” she asked Crane if he would be part of the cast. “He said, ‘No, but I’ll direct it with you,’” she recalled. “And that was that.”

She and Crane went on to write a couple of plays together while attending the University, one of which ended up in the American College Theater Festival. The theater department at Brandeis was mostly geared toward graduate students at the time, so Kauffman was very grateful that they were given the opportunity by the University to write and perform as undergraduates. “That was probably one of the greatest gifts Brandeis gave me,” she said. “Not only did I get to start working with David, I got to start writing with David.”

In addition to meeting Crane, her involvement in theater helped shape her skills as a writer. Notably, she learned about scene structure from a theater professor, which she says was one of the most useful things she learned during her time attending the University. Kauffman spoke about how she was able to translate this knowledge to her work as a television writer, explaining that the architecture of a scene in a play and the architecture of a scene in a television show are similar in that they both require a specific shape.

Theater was Kauffman’s main extracurricular, as it did not leave much time for anything else — “You were there day and night,” Kauffman said — but she was also involved in the Student Sexuality Information Service, which still has a presence at Brandeis today.

Kauffman said emphatically, “to a large extent, Brandeis taught me how to be a human being.” Activism was a large aspect of her four years at Brandeis. The first sit-in she participated in was during college, protesting the University’s termination of a summer program for underserved youth. “I’m particularly grateful not only for the theater education that I got, but the activist education that I got, which has been a big part of my life,” Kauffman said.

Kauffman made it clear that she would not have become who she is today if she had not attended Brandeis. “I learned to be comfortable with myself and [to] trust myself,” she said, “and that’s pretty big.”

Many writers incorporate their life experiences in their work, and while aspects of “Friends” were certainly inspired by Kauffman’s time at Brandeis, the campus urban legend that the iconic Central Perk from the show was inspired by Brandeis’ Cholmondeley’s Coffee House, or Chum’s, is just that — a legend. The famous fictional coffee house was actually inspired by an establishment in Los Angeles. While the Chum’s rumor may be false, Kauffman explained that many aspects of her time at Brandeis did make it onto her hit show: “I met my best friends at Brandeis, who are to this day my best friends. And we’d been through a lot, all of us together, and a bunch of it ended up on ‘Friends.’”

Kauffman is returning to campus this May to address the classes of 2020 and 2021 at their joint recommencement ceremony. Kauffman noted that she is not a fan of writing speeches as it’s “not her wheelhouse,” but says that she agreed to speak at the ceremony because of how grateful

she is for her time at Brandeis and what it provided her. “Brandeis was life-changing for me, and because of that I feel like I owe Brandeis something and want to be part of honoring it,” she said. At the time of her interview with the Justice, Kauffman was not entirely certain yet what she planned to say in her address, but she knew that she wanted to share with the graduates one of the most important things she learned from the University. What she learned, she said, was that life does not move in a linear trajectory, but if one remains driven, things will work out.

Her career certainly was not linear, she explained: she faced many moments of doubt and fear along the way, but she stayed motivated and worked hard and found herself in what she considers to be the right place for her — a place that she is very happy to be in. “Honestly, my best advice is: stay open,” she said. “The paths we take are very interesting and they’re not always in a direct line, but if you remain open and passionate about what you’re doing, then you’ll end up where you’re supposed to be.”

Marta Kauffman ’79 H’20 co-created the 90s smash hit show “Friends” with David Crane ’79. The two first met and collaborated while attending Brandeis.

Design: Yuan Jiang/the Justice

Are the Kiwibots out for blood?

By CAYENN LANDAU JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

On April 26, Leah Timpson ’22 was walking past Upper Usdan when she felt a sharp, jabbing pain on her heel. A Kiwibot — one of a fleet of at least 15 food delivery robots brought to Brandeis by Sodexo — had driven into her foot from behind her. “I was wearing flats, so when it hit my foot it pulled my shoe down,” Timpson told the Justice on April 30. “I kept walking, and I got to the SCC and looked at my foot and it was bleeding a little bit. My foot was red, and I have a bruise now.”

Kiwibots are semi-autonomous and are able to navigate through a system of camera-related path planning, object detection, and, in certain situations, remote control by human supervisors, many of whom operate out of Kiwibot’s Colombian office in Medellín.

“The robots are able to detect traffic lights, people, vehicles, or even other Kiwibots; based on that, they make decisions in the path planning and the obstacle avoidance process,” reads a statement on Brandeis’ Kiwibot FAQ page. “Among the things that they take into account are the structure features, the roads, the estimated trajectories, and where the dynamic or static objects are located.”

While there is no reported record of serious injury resulting from the Kiwibots, Timpson’s story is not unique, with other students reporting similar incidents. Rachel Landis ’23, who describes herself as “pro-Kiwibot,” had a nearly identical, although not as bloody, experience as Timpson. While walking by the library, Landis attempted to move to the side of the sidewalk to make way for a line of Kiwibots behind her when she felt a sharp poke on her heel. “And there it was, a Kiwibot making an angry face at me!” Landis told the Justice in a May 1 text correspondence. “I was like, ‘I moved over to avoid this happening!’”

Evan Israel ’24 also described an instance where she moved to make way for a Kiwibot but was still bumped. “I was standing on the left, and the Kiwibot was next to me … the Kiwibot was driving at an angle, so it kind of pushed us off the sidewalk,” she said in an April 29 text correspondence with the Justice.

On one mid-March day, Hailey Osborne ’23 decided to test the robots’ “high-tech sensors” and “obstacle avoidance process” touted on the Brandeis Kiwibot FAQ page. She intentionally stepped in front of a Kiwibot as it made its way down the main path through campus. “I wanted to see if it would stop,” Osborne told the Justice on April 29. The Ki-

wibot proceeded to plow into Osborne’s legs, nearly flipping itself over in the process. “It ran over my feet!” she said.

While Osborne’s experience wasn’t necessarily the Kiwibot’s fault, the encounter — along with Timpson’s, Israel’s, and Landis’s — calls into question the FAQ page’s statement that the bots are “capable of performing an incredible driving function under different outdoor or indoor conditions.” And with the robots coming in at an estimated 22 inches tall and 45 pounds, getting hit by a Kiwibot doesn’t exactly feel like a tickle.

“As humans, we need to be careful,” said John Betancourt, the head of AI and robotics at Kiwibot, in a May 2 Zoom interview with the Justice. “If you step in front of the robot suddenly, there is a high probability that the robot will not stop in time. Like every system in the world, it can fail.”

@Brandeis_kiwibot_conspiracy, a semi-ironic, mostly-satirical Instagram account that first started posting in late March, feels strongly that the Kiwibots have no place on Brandeis’ campus. “The kiwibots are cute… too cute. They must be up to something,” reads part of the account’s bio. Most of their content consists of student-submitted footage of Kiwibots moving in militaristic lines, glowing ominously, and generally acting odd.

“The Kiwibots are absolutely out for blood,” an anonymous representative of the account told the Justice in a May 2 Instagram correspondence, employing the dramatic and satirical tone of the account’s posts. “Once we learned their true purpose, we felt the need to collect all the evidence we could and share it with any potential victims.”

While it’s not clear what the owners of this account believes this “true purpose” to be, Sodexo appears confident that the Kiwibots were a great addition to the Brandeis campus. “This campus [Brandeis] was the right fit … We are the first university in New England that has Kiwibots,” Sodexo resident district manager Mike Reilly said in an article on WickedLocal.com.

“I feel like the campus is divided,” said Timpson. “Half the students say the Kiwibots are the perfect height for kicking, and the other half are like ‘Don’t kick them! They’re babies!’”

Betancourt stressed that students are encouraged to report any instances of Kiwibot issues and said that the team has only received word of one negative incident on Brandeis campus since the bots made their first appearance. “Our on-site team

is always willing to help, you can always reach out to them,” Betancourt said, referring to the vested Kiwibot team members that can be seen outside of upper Usdan. “This helps us to look into things.”

Overall, students’ feelings towards the Kiwibots seem to range from alarm to affection to suspicion.

“They’re Out To Get Us,” reads the first line of @ Brandeis_kiwibot_conspiracy’s bio in bold font. However, even some students who have been hit by a Kiwibot are still fans of the emotive robots. Landis, for example, remains cheered by the Kiwibots’ presence despite her recent run-in with a member of the fleet. “I love the Kiwibots,” she said. “I think they’re adorable.”

Kiwibot-related questions, comments and concerns can be directed to the team at customer.service@kiwibot.com, or by calling 831-292-5135.

The Kiwibot team says no, but some students — including those who have had run-ins with the robots on campus — feel differently.

JACK YUANWEI CHENG/the Justice ON THE PROWL: This angry Kiwibot is one of the over 15 robots that has been delivering food to students across campus since March.

Sofia Gonzalez Rodriguez, Editor in Chief Jane Flautt, Managing Editor

Gilda Geist, Cameron Cushing, Senior Editors

River Hayes, Jen Crystal, Deputy Editors

Leeza Barstein, Gabriel Frank, Megan Geller, Juliana Giacone, Hannah O’Koon, Hannah Taylor, Noah Zeitlin, and Lynn Han, Associate Editors

Board calls for clarity from Univ. about registration week

This week, course registration for the upcoming fall 2022 semester began, and this board would li ke to bring attention to the University’s lack of communication re garding certain aspects of the registration process. While many rising juniors and seniors have gone through the registration process in the past, there is still confusion amongst them, as well as rising sophomores. To counteract these issues, this board calls for the University to explain in greater detail how the registration system works and to be more proactive in solving the problems that ar ise during registration week.

Course registration for current students takes place in rounds. There are three rounds during registration before it opens back up later in the summer, each with separate credit limits that restrict the number of courses students can sign up for during each round.

On April 21, an email listing the times of each round was sent to students, but aspects of the email were unclear. Sophomores and juniors are grouped together, as are first years and seniors, for each round of registration, but the email did not specify whether these terms referred to current students or what year students will be this upcoming semester.

This issue was exacerbated by Workday, where some students were classified as the incorrect class year, including multiple members of this board. For example, some current first years were cl assified as sophomores and had to register at the times listed for sophomores and juniors.

Additionally, some current juniors were unable to register for any classes, as Workday had them listed as graduating seniors. We understand that this confusion in the system is affected by the number of credits students have earned, but we ask that the University inform students of this possibility before registration begins, rather than force students to reach out to the University when they are unable to register. The University should find a way to sidestep the problem so that students are able to take the courses they need or want to.

Furthermore, there was no explanation in the April 21 email ab out the credit limits for each round. Round 1 of registration has a limit of 6 credits, meaning that students can sign up for a maximum of one full class worth 4 credits and one half class worth 2 credits; round 2 has a limit of 12 credits; and round 3 has a limit of 22.

The email does not explain whether, for round 2 or 3, students are able to sign up for 12 new cr edits or if they are only able to register for a total of 12 credits in addition to their round 1 credits. Students that do not know the answer may have to rearrange their pl ans when they go to register and find that they are unable to reg-

ister for as many courses as they exp ected, which can cause further stress as some classes may fill up before students are able to register. This board calls on the University to better communicate to st udents how the registration process works regardless of year so as to m ake the process as smooth for students as possible.

This board also questions the University’s decision to transition from Sage to Workday for all academic matters. In an April 2021 email to the University, Carol Fierke, provost and EVP for Academic Af fairs, Stew Uretsky, EVP for Finance and Administration, and Jim La Creta, chief information officer, stated that the transition would put Brandeis at the “forefront of innovation by providing the community access at any time and from anywhere to manage your student tasks.”

From the start, however, the transition has been plagued by difficulties and frustrations. Workday’s layout, although more aesthetically pleasing, is complicated and inconvenient, requiring st udents to click on a ridiculous amount of tabs before getting the output they desire. While the University has made an effort to aid st udents and faculty in the transition by providing support in the form of informational videos, this has not been sufficient to quench the stress and exasperation felt by both groups, particularly as the interface seen in these videos does not often match the interface students see in front of them.

On t op of the stress brought on by class registration, many rising juniors and seniors had to worry about housing selection between April 26 and 28. Having both of these events in the same week created an unnecessary amount of anxiety for st udents, particularly upperclassmen. Not to mention, all of this to ok place the week after Passover break, which also happened to be the last full week of classes, and many students had final presentations, projects, tests, and numerous other assignments due.

Th is board calls on the appropriate University departments to c ommunicate and coordinate to ensure that important events do not overlap with one another.

More importantly, we ask these departments to select dates for these events that do not coincide with particularly busy and stressful times for students.

As t he end of the semester approaches, we would like to congratulate all students for completing another academic year under le ss than ideal circumstances.

We wish you all the best of luck during finals week and a restful summer break.

Dalya Koller, Leah Breakstone,

Acting

Natalie Kahn, Features Editor

Lauryn Williams, Forum Editor

Taku Hagiwara, Sports Editor

Megan liao, Arts & Culture Editor

News Editors

Jack Yuanwei Cheng, Photography Editor

Thea Rose, Acting Photography Editor

Ariella Weiss, Isabel roseth, Copy Editors

Samantha Goldman, Devon Sandler, Online Editors

Now more than ever, University must support Graduate Programs

By BRANDEIS GRADUATE WORKERS UNION JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

On March 14, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Af fairs Carol Fierke sent an email to University faculty announcing that, in order to strategically us e the University’s resources, she and University President Ron Liebowitz had begun a review of Brandeis doctoral programs. In that email, Fierke mentioned the gathering and sharing of information, which the administration expects will result in “some PhD programs… be[ing] enlarged [with] ot hers be[ing] put on hiatus.”

Though this has been the only official, written communication from the University regarding this process, more information including the fact that this plan has been in development for quite some time has been disseminated through other channels.

Brandeis has entered into a contract to employ the services of an outside limited liability company called Academic Analytics to gather specific data about all of the gr aduate programs.

This company has been used in the past at other institutions of higher learning for similar purposes, which has been protested by t he faculty at these institutions both for its cost and the skewed results that it generates. Numerous Br andeis peer institutions that employed this company’s services have mentioned that the lack of opportunities for professors and departments to correct any issues identified by the company has been detrimental to the stated goal of improving the University itself.

The American Association of University Professors has even issued an advisory statement regarding the use of this organization’s metrics, urging universities who seek to employ them to “exercise extreme caution.”

One of the many things we learn as gradu- ate students is that ev idence is not always as objective as it appears; how it is collected, curated, and presented matters.

We know that this kind of data only tells one kind of story: that a profit/loss statement based entirely in financial logic does not and cannot take into account the ways in which our many different disciplines provide immense value. This data will be collected and

an alyzed to make decisions about funding and program cuts without being fully or fairly informed.

Additionally, in the broader context of academia, it is important to r emember that while COVID-19 has exacerbated these challenges, they are also, in some ways, endemic to the university system.

Those of us in academia have internalized the critique that higher education is too disconnected from the economic needs of our time, to the point that it has guided market-driven strategies to evaluate, def und, and reshape academic programs and their purpose.

More than ever, statistics on alumni outcomes, “productivity,” and degree completion timelines have been adopted as part of an “evidence-based strategy” to evaluate and determine the future of ma ny graduate programs as economic, political, and social forces converge upon our institutions.

Federal and state governments, as well as private institutions, have been behind this push to develop metrics for evaluating the fi nancial condition and future of colleges and universities.

The wave of college closures and mergers that swept Massachusetts, and the country at large, in r ecent years are just one of the consequences of this turn towards measuring “financial responsibility.” While this may appear as sound business logic, these efforts to quantify the worth of and return on investment feel all too familiar.

These issues all converge on the decades-long shift towards private and soft funding that have long placed our educational institutions in a precarious position, both economically and socially.

This is especially problematic for private institutions like Brandeis that largely rely on non-federal or state sources of revenue such as research grants, private and alumni donations, endowments, as well as tuition and board.

To uphold these universities, it is now on us, the students and future graduates and alumni, to become rational, economic humans as we pursue our studies and goals.

This issue predates the global pandemic that has changed so many elements of our lives for the past few years, but the University’s plan does not take the impact of t he pandemic into account in any meaningful way. Meanwhile, the pandemic rages on with conse -

quences on the University too numerous to mention.

The repercussions of the pandemic are reflected throughout the system of higher education. None of these factors include the effect of illness or the trauma of living through a global pandemic on the student body.

Students have lost immeasurable time, resources, and opportunities to illness and death around them and have continued to be asked to work at the same pace as if nothing were happening. Even now, many students continue to suffer from the effects of COVID-19. This is detrimental to the pro ductive output from members of the academic community, especially when measured according to standards which negate this experience. Evaluations that fail to consider the impacts of COVID-19 on all facets of life send the message that people who suffer from ch ronic illness or disability are not seen as viable members of the academic community.

Our University purports to pride itself on its commitments to truth, critical inquiry, and justice.

These are the values that led us to invest our lives, our labor, our money and debt into our Brandeis education. These values motivate our study, our research, and our teaching. How is hiring an outside firm to gut certain departments in the name of a limited definition of “data,” anything but an utter betrayal of these values?

A re cent Brandeis task force recommended that the University further connections and collaborations across departments to advance the study of social justice in order to “honor our founding values.”

In what way is this encouraged by pitting programs against one another to determine which are deemed important or viable enough to continue? We know that cuts will not only affect PhD students — these decisions will reverberate throughout the Brandeis community. Those of us whose positions are at risk are invaluable mentors and instructors to undergraduates.

We support our professors’ cutting-edge research – and we are the futures of our disciplines. We have invested so much in Brandeis. To realize its values, our University must invest in us as it promised to do when we entered.

By FOX BAUDELAIRE, ANNA HENKIN, RABIA ANJUM, AND ESHA RAKESH JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Dear President Ron Liebowitz, Provost

C arol Fierke, Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration Stewart

Uretsky, Vice President Raymond

Ou, Assistant Vice President Shelby Harris, Chair of the Board of Trustees

Lisa Kranc:

Why are we still here? Why, after nearly two years of talk about meaningful change and progress in anti-racism do we still find this progress minimal or highly variable across our departments? Why, as an institution, do we tell our students to wait and hesitate to forge even the simplest of diversity, equity, and inclusion oriented changes?

We are a coalition of former and current students working to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion at Brandeis and in the Division of Science in particular. In the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd and others, we saw a reckoning in higher education that, as in every other sector of American life, forced many to confront structural racism. While this awakening has led to some gains among some of our departments, many issues go woefully unaddressed, despite the concerns about them being far from new.

The latest update to the University’s anti-racism plans, dated December 2021, represents the time and collected efforts of faculty, staff, and students, our own organization included. We contributed in earnest to this work, believing that any small victories on our part mattered, and we are proud of what small gains have thus far been made. However, we hope that your office and your administration understand that, in the absence of more significant change, our institution’s commitment to social justice remains more performative than transformative. What exactly have we learned from the promise of Ford Hall 2015 or the 2018 campus climate reports? We see the same problems and demands surface again and again without resolution. We use the vocabulary of genuine surprise upon realizing that we are mired in a stagnation that has thrived on the turnover of our student body and that of key administrative positions: to name a capable few who left too soon, we remember Dr. Scott Lapinski, former interim Director for Student Accessibility Support; Dr. Mark Brimhall-Vargas, former Chief Diversity Officer; Dr. Aretina Hamilton and Dr. Allyson Livingstone, the two

most recent individuals to have served as Director of DEI Programming and Education.

We came to learn through our collective experiences that our problems define an institution with no qualms about projecting the image of a university that values social justice while lacking in substantive resources, capital, or leadership to live up to this mission. To some extent, the inertia is not unique to Brandeis, but we are resolute in our belief that at a place such as Brandeis, we really ought to be doing better. We are aware that other Brandeisians ranging from undergraduate students to tenured faculty have voiced similar thoughts, and that we likely will not be the last.

We have seen the impact of this structural apathy play out with appalling effect in the Division of Science where, by and large, social justice and inclusion continue to be treated as a “pet project” that is not a priority deserving of expertise. Minority representation and equity are still regarded as a zero-sum game; these ideals are still widely considered incompatible with academic excellence. Several in the Division have, rightly, become frustrated by these attitudes.

We sincerely appreciate the work of those on DEI committees and Division leadership who have produced actionable plans and motioned toward progress among our departments. We also commend the Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Wendy Cadge, and others who have advocated for changes to the wording of graduate student handbooks and for increases in graduate student stipends, which we hope will alleviate two stressors of graduate student life: the cost of living and relationships with faculty. But the disparate efforts of the few can only make our progress fitful at best. In the years that have marked our rise to prominence as a research-intensive institution, we have encountered the same pitfalls that beleaguer institutions elsewhere: Brandeis has glossed over matters such as academic abuse, the exploitation of graduate student workers, and the maladaptive effects of academic hierarchy.

Are we truly so devoid of imagination and compassion that we cannot bring ourselves to innovate our teaching and research, to recognize that science is inherently political, and to challenge old notions of merit to improve the experiences of undergraduate and graduate students alike?

By now, we had hoped that Brandeis would follow in the footsteps of other institutions like Bryn Mawr College

and Haverford College, where studentled strikes in solidarity with BIPOC students brought momentous change to the culture in STEM departments at both colleges. In the case of Amherst College, student protests in 2015 led to the design of a distinctive special topics course to explore the theme of diversity in the STEM student experience at Amherst and beyond, using a model that has since been replicated at many other schools We ask again: why not Brandeis? With the understanding that there is the same educational benefit in productive struggle in STEM as there is in other fields, we would like to remind certain faculty that abuse is not a mentoring style. Unfortunately, when a student finds themself in a workplace or classroom that is unwelcoming or abusive, it is commonly seen as a personal problem rather than the result of a larger systemic dysfunction that it so often is. Our University leadership has done virtually nothing to counter this tendency, a missed opportunity in a time when even our nation’s presidential science advisor was unable to treat his colleagues with respect.

We argue in no uncertain terms that better campus climate and DEI infrastructure cannot be achieved for free. It is embarrassing that our administration compelled faculty to list a set of five objectives – devised more than a year ago – that would improve conditions and advance DEIrelated change, only to prevent our departments from listing more than two items associated with monetary cost. In other words, these same departments have had their hands tied by an administration that refuses to make logistical or financial resources available even when it is so clearly needed. In some cases, students of color have shouldered the misplaced burden of contributing formal DEI-related expertise to our predominantly white faculty – roles that should be fulfilled by resources made available through our institution. Similar obstacles have prevented Brandeis from meeting basic standards of accessibility, as many other students have pointed out.

Beyond that, calls for greater financial transparency – including a demand from the Black Action Plan – have gone almost totally ignored by your office and the Board of Trustees. Student activists as well as individual professors and administrators who care deeply about Brandeis can only exert so much influence.

We need you and your administration to meet us halfway, now. For anyone as concerned as our administration

is about money, it would be worth considering, for example, the thousands upon thousands of dollars in fellowship and grant funding that are lost in failed mentoring relationships between students and faculty advisors.

Perhaps our most troubling problem is our collective, institutional amnesia. We have attended countless meetings with working groups, administrators, and students, having to explain our problems ad nauseam. With each conversation and with few exceptions, we have had to reiterate from scratch the vast history of complaints, the hours invested, and the substance of documents reviewed. Without any robust means of institutional memory, issues pertinent to our cause have been relegated to discussion in whisper networks. All of this has happened under your watch. The longer we wait to take action, the more likely members of our community are to think of inequity, underrepresentation, faculty misconduct, and other problems as something normal or something to be made normal. The current state of affairs, as many others have pointed out, is not sustainable.

We are not entries in a spreadsheet for your convenient tabulation, nor a set of hands to submit under the will of thoughtless research faculty. We are living and breathing students with lives, aspirations, and affections of our own. The choice before you now is whether to enable the status quo or to recognize our humanity the way we had always hoped Brandeis would. We must commit to a Brandeis that isn’t ashamed of acknowledging its faults and that does not react defensively when they are pointed out. Brandeis can only evolve when we recognize and lay bare the many challenges before us.

Our motto of “truth unto its innermost parts” obliges us to engage in selfcriticism that will enable us to see the internal clockwork of our institution – defects and all – not in denial and obscurity, but in the light as a unified and whole Brandeis community.

We urge you, your colleagues, and all concerned members of the Brandeis community to put students first and to take concrete, decisive action on campus climate and the state of DEI, anti-racism, and accessibility at all levels within our institution.

We repeat that we are living, breathing students suffering from very real problems to address. Let’s do something about them.

– The Anti-Racism Alliance in the Sciences at Brandeis University

JUDGES BY THE NUMBERS

BASEBALL

SOFTBALL

STUDENT ATHLETE MENTAL HEALTH

TRACK AND

TENNIS

TOP PERFORMERS (MEN’S)

Batted In Innings Pitched

Frey M.S. leads the team with 47 runs batted in.

RBI

Frey 47

Newman M.S. leads all pitchers with 53.2 innings pitched.

IP

Newman 53.2

Kaplan 44.1

Musto 25.0

TOP PERFORMERS (WOMEN’S)

By JACKSON WU JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

On April 30, a charity basketball 3 on 3 tournament was held in Shapiro Gymnasium of the Gosman Sports Center. The tournament raised funds for the Doc Wayne Foundation, a local organization promoting mental health awareness through participation in sports. 17 teams of Brandeis students were divided into coed varsity, mens, and womens divisions to compete and play for the cause.

The Doc Wayne Foundation is a non-profit organization that aims to reimagine therapy through the lens of sports. With its innovative approach of sport-infused therapy, the organization has helped improve

mental health of the students in the greater Boston area since 2002 and has been awarded grants in recent years from the NBC network in support of their contribution. The Doc Wayne Foundation works with the Brandeis Rotaract Club and varsity basketball player Collin Sawyer M’ 22, who is also the president of the Rotaract Club. In his address at the event, Sawyer emphasized the importance of mental health awareness and shared his own experience as a sixyear student athlete. Mental health includes emotional, psychological, and social well-being, and affects our everyday life. While there have been improvements in the public discourse of mental health in recent decades, a lot can still be done in the future. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during the pandemic, about three out of four Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 have reported poor mental health. In addition, data shows that student athletes are 2% more likely to experience severe mental illness than their

non-athlete counterparts due to a variety of reasons.

In the field of competitive sports, there remains a stigma about mental health being a sign of weakness. Student athletes spend their college life with athletic competition central to their experiences. They have to balance classes, practices, conditionings, games, and socializing on a day-today basis. On top of that, injuries, wins and losses, homesickness, and their individual performances pose challenges to their mental health. As student athletes are expected to be “mentally tough,” the mental health struggles they face are often overlooked and masked under their outward “success.”

As we enter Mental Health Awareness month, we are and should all be encouraged to speak up about mental health and share our struggles when comfortable. Mental health is an inherent aspect of all of our lives. It is a priority to be aware and take care of the mental wellbeing of every individual, including ourselves.

■ A 3 on 3 Tournament held on Saturday raises funds and awareness for Student Athletes’ Mental Health.

Photo Courtesy of BRANDEIS ATHLETICS

MENTAL HEALTH : Student athletes are more prone to suffering from mental health problems.

Sports just

ATHLETES AND MENTAL HEALTH

Brandeis mens' basketball player Collin Sawyer hosted a 3 on 3 tournament to advocate for mental health, p. 11.

Tuesday, May 3, 2022

Waltham, Mass.

New York Yankees injury recap for 2022 season

start minor league rehab games.

By MEGAN GELLER JUSTICE EDITOR

Now that the MLB regular season has been going on for some time, it seems time to look over some of the injuries that the New York Yankee’s athletes have faced thus far in 2022.

In Sept. 2021, Yankees reliever Zack Britton underwent Tommy John surgery, also known as ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction, according to a March 2022 FanNation Article. The

UCL is a body tissue that connects bone to bone, specifically the radius and the ulna. The purpose of this surgery is to repair the UCL and is done through the use of harvesting a ligament from another part of the individual's body. The new ligament replaces the torn one and acts as the ulnar collateral ligament. As of March 14, Britton was “limited to flat ground, but he hopes to get back on a mound soon.” Britton hopes to return to the field before the end of the 2022 season, according to ESPN injury information.

In March 2022, Yankees catcher Ben Rortvedt was sidelined for a grade one oblique strain. The obliques are the set of muscles that extend from the pelvis up to the ribs. According to a March 19 article from the New York Post, Rortvedt did not play in any spring training games, but according to an April 10 NJ.com article, Rortvedt may be ready to

In April 2022, Joey Gallo left Saturday night’s game in Kansas City with left groin tightness. During the fourth inning, in an attempt to break for second base, Gallo felt it tighten. The next morning, Gallo tested out the tightness and ran, explaining that he felt “good” and described the feeling as “tender” after Sunday's game, according to a May 1 article from The Morning Call.

In the world of professional sports, injuries are not an uncommon occurrence. In 2018 and 2020, the rate of injuries in the MLB per season were 7.35 and 7.58 respectively, according to an April 2021 article from Fangraphs. Like Britton’s injury, the most common MLB injury is damage or a tear to the ulnar collateral ligament since it is commonly caused by pitchers throwing too much, according to StopSportsInjuries.com.

■ Professional sports can be dangerous and cause strain to the body, and New York Yankee players are no exception.

Photos: Owen Chan/the Justice. Design: Noah Zeitlin/the Justice.

Waltham, Mass.

Welcome Home: Threads of Therapeutic Theater

By NOAH ZEITLIN JUSTICE ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Amber Bartlett ’22 wanted to incorporate her life experiences into her senior thesis – and she did just that.

The show that she created and performed in, “Welcome Home: Threads of Therapeutic Theater,” was shown as part of the Brandeis Department of Theater Arts’ Senior Festival. The festival, which lasted from April 29 until May 1, also included performances by Rosie Sentman ’22, who had a performance of “The Opposite of People,” an adaptation of “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” by Tom Stoppard, and Elizabeth Hilliard ’22, who created an original musical called “The Pocket Girls.”

According to Bartlett’s note in the program, she learned of the power that theater can have for healing at a young age after she witnessed it herself during a youth production of Stephen Schwartz’s “Children of Eden.” She also wrote that the theme of the show was “home” because of the different meanings that the concept can have, but that “we are all searching for home through constant change,” and quoted Maya Angelou, saying “The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.”

Bartlett spoke to the Justice about the meat of the thesis, which she said incorporates drama therapy, psychodrama, psolodrama, The Rainbow of Desire, playback theatre, self-revelatory theatre, play therapy, and immersive theater. When audience members entered The Spingold Theater Center’s Laurie Theater for the performance, they were told that audience participation was completely optional, and she emphasized that

the aspect of fear should not exist in theater. The structure of the show included audience volunteers sharing experiences that they had with the people on the stage, and that would be the basis for what was happening on stage. Bartlett mentioned that one form of audience participation was people acknowledging and empathizing with their fellow audience members.

To prepare, Bartlett made sure that everyone in her cast was trained in body language, and she also had training sessions with industry professionals to better understand what they were going to be doing during the show. The list of people who came to speak to Bartlett and her cast included Joel Gluck, the inventor of the psolodrama, Will “Will C” Chalmus ’07, one of the founders of Playback Theatre; Dr. Laura Wood, a registered Drama Therapist; and Rebcca Coates-Finke. During the interview, Bartlett stated that she would not have been able to put out this production without the help of her guest mentors. The advisors for Bartlett’s thesis were Prof. Adrianne Krstansky (THA) and Prof. Jennifer Cleary (THA).

The cast of the show consisted of Bartlett, as well as Felicity Hyams ’24, Clay Napurano ’24, Morgan Silcox ’22, and Eran Zelixon ’23. Gavriella Troper-Hochenstein ’23 and Juebin Roh ’23 worked with Bartlett on the technical aspects of the piece, helping out with the audience interaction and stage managing, respectively.

In the back of the program that each audience member received upon entry, there was a list of both on-campus and national mental health resources, as well as a place for audience reflections for those who did not wish to vocalize in front of the larger audience.

Design: Megan Liao/the Justice

Photos by NOAH ZEITLIN/the Justice

Racial and environmental: interconnected justices

also pointed out that while the United States had re-ratified the Paris Agreement, the abstract guidelines of the statement hindered more aggressive steps to improve situations for the Native American communities and climate justice. In fact, in the latest U.N. Conventions, the majority of the Indigenous delegates were not allowed to enter the conference due to their vaccination status, “leaving the room to be filled with white, fossil-fuel lobbyists.”

By MEGAN LIAO JUSTICE EDITOR

One of the highlighted events in the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Arts — Community Talk & Art Build for Indigenous Futures — took place Saturday, April 20 and was hosted by Brandeis Climate Justice. The panel that started the event featured guest speakers Prof. Evangelina Macias (WGS) and Jean-Luc Pierite, the president of the Board of the North American Indian Center of Boston. The panel was facilitated by Marissa Small ’22, a student of Art History. Pierite introduced the North American Indian Center of Boston and its founding mission to the group, which is “to empower the Native American community with the goal of improving the quality of life of Indigenous peoples.” The members of the center are dedicated to educating the Greater Boston area about the Indigenous community, assisting members of the Indigenous communities in career-related training, and advocating for environmental justice. He

According to Pierite, the exclusion of the Indigenous population from environmental conversations is problematic, as it imposes not only a threat to racial justice, but also ecological justice. “Many tribes are not recognized by the Federal or local governments,” he continued. “But they are often at the frontline of global climate change.” While the growing awareness of the issue is leading to more prevalent initiatives for land acknowledgement across the country, it is also clear that we must contemplate on “how to go beyond the platitude and put things in actions.”

Considering the question “in what types of creative expressions?” Macias also jumped in to discuss the importance of creative expression. She recounted her experience speculating archived photos and discovered one of people dressing up for the Sun Dance when the practice was still illegal in 1883. Seemingly a celebration for the Fourth of July, the participants of the photos were in fact taking advantage of the occasion to practice the ceremonious dance.

She stated sentimentally, “The dance never ceased. Bodies are containers that remember the traditions.”

On the subject of education for Indigenous youth, Macias expressed her concerns for students from Indigenous communities who are leaving home for school for the first time.

Speaking from her experiences mentoring Indigenous students, she pointed out that New England universities, while not short on talks about inclusiveness, may still appear cold or distant.

Many of the Indigenous students come from out of state or out of New England; thus, losing the connection with their community may be extremely stressful for them. In comparison to New England, Macias described that for its geographical proximity to tribe-concentrated regions, her alma mater University of California, Riverside is one of the few schools in the nation that has strong connections to Indigenous communities, which leads to their extremely developed Native American Student Program.

“The ultimate problem,” Macias asserted, “is that there are no indigenous communities on campus” in which they could seek support or with which they could connect, and “an Indian connection for them may make all the difference.” Building on Macias’s concerns for Indigenous students, Pierite asserts that the challenge for Indigenous students seeking higher education stems from their anxieties about “needing to help out at home with work” or “how much work they could do rather than going to schools in New England.”

The panel also spent some time discussing the lack of resources in funding Native American studies at the University. Priding itself as a university advocating for racial justice and equality, Brandeis has not put in enough effort in starting a department dedicated to Indigenous studies. In President Liebowitz’s letter to the Brandeis Community in April 2021, he announced the formation of a “university wide Indigenous Land Statement Committee which will be tasked with developing an accurate and informative statement that acknowledges indigenous land on which Brandeis University resides.” While this was an important step for the University to honor the indigenous presence and ownership of the land, there are very few further actions takenIby

the University. The panel had a thought-provoking discussion about how the University can support its indigenous students. Pierite suggested that there is a necessity in contemporizing ecological knowledge taught in institutions, and the establishment of Indigenous studies programs that are multidisciplinaryare a step in that direction. Prof. Thomas King (ENG), an attendee of the panel, addressed the difficulties for white faculty, who are required by the University to teach such subjects in class; faculty are limited to teaching the subject through academic and cold methods, despite their support for the Indigenous communities. He also highlighted the importance of employing more instructors from Indigenous communities.

‘The Great Pottery Throwdown’

By JASON

I am thrilled to announce that we as a society no longer have a need for “The Great British Bake Off.” Instead, we can focus all of our energy on the vastly superior “Great Pottery Throwdown.”

When “The Great British Bake Off” first debuted on American Netflix, it felt like a breath of fresh air. A quaint show, without animosity, that was just competitive enough to hold interest without ever lapsing into the intense competition of American reality shows. At the end, all they got was flowers and a cake stand! Lovely!

As the seasons went on, there have been high points in the series’ run, like Nadiya Hussain’s win in 2015 or the tale of three twinks that culminated in David’s surprise win in 2019. Yet, by 2022, the show has had continually diminishing returns.

The hosts of “Bake Off” are currently Matt Lucas and Noel Fielding, and it isn’t working. Fielding was a competent enough host when his partner was Sandi Toksvig, but Lucas and Fielding are simply too similar, too naturally biting in their humor

to work as hosts.

What’s worse is the evercreeping sense that this show is no longer quite as quaint as it once was. Yes, the bakers still only win a cake stand, but they have much higher sights than that now. Nadiya has become a shining beacon of hope for the contestants, with her own show and cookbooks. The bakers’ competitiveness seems to be at an all-time high these days.

It’s not that they are mean, but the quaintness is feeling forced in ways it didn’t previously.

Instead of a casual show that is a good thing to do, these bakers see this as a life-changing career move, and the “Bake Off” cannot accommodate that tonally.

The biggest problem, however, is the current judges. Paul Hollywood, especially, has an air of self-importance to him that throws the dynamic of “Bake Off” way off. The way he smirks before giving his patented “Paul Hollywood handshake” is not only aggravating, but feels out of line with the kind aesthetic of the show.

The judging continues to feel off when faced with other cultures’ cuisines as well. Season 10 of the show included a Bread

Week challenge in which two contestants chose Indian spices in line with their cultural heritage, and both of their respective narratives for the episode included making sure they had the “right” amount of spice for their white, British judges. This constant catering to the palettes of only white judges makes the judging feel more sinister than it should. I don’t leave “Bake Off” happy anymore.

Luckily, my hunger for quaint, British reality TV has been satiated by “The Great Pottery Throwdown.” “Throwdown” has five seasons currently on HBO Max, the last of which was added on March 16 of this year. It has an extremely similar format to “Bake Off” — they are made by the same production company — but manages to feel fresh and fun in a way that “Bake Off” never seems to live up to anymore. For one, the judges are, simply put, much better television personalities than any “Bake Off” has produced, despite having less flashy names than “Paul Hollywood” and “Mary Berry.” Keith Brymer Jones is the current de facto head judge, having judged the show for all five seasons, and he is an actual

delight. Jones is a great bear of man, not unlike Hollywood, but his highest praise is not a selfsatisfied descent from on high like Hollywood’s handshake, but instead to cry. Which he does. Regularly.

The crying can, and did for me when I began the show, come off cloying. Too quaint for its own good. And then it just kept happening. Jones just cried and cried at the beautiful pieces of pottery in front of him — as well as the truly valiant efforts that didn’t pan out — and eventually I was smitten.

The crying feels perhaps less saccharine because of the level of critique given. Jones, as well as his current partner in crime Richard Miller, are always polite but stern in their critique. As experts, their observations allow me to see both pros and cons in the work that I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to discern, which is the express goal of their positions.

It also helps that the stakes feel correctly high on this show.

Perhaps because “Throwdown” has nowhere near the success of “Bake Off,” the quaintness feels in line with the situation being played out. The eliminated

contestants often remark that they are disappointed with their eliminations specifically because they were learning a lot, and they’d like to remain in pottery to continue that work. On “Throwdown,” being on the show is its own reward, which can no longer be said for “Bake Off.”

Ultimately, though, what matters most is the sense of genuineness that emanates from “Throwdown.” The most recent season featured Miller, who rarely cries, get emotional at the work of one contestant who made the fairy in a fairytale themed work of hers a person of color. Both the contestant and Miller are non-white, and their moment of connection, as Miller spoke about wanting his young daughter to see images like the pottery in front of him, felt unique to “Throwdown.”

For the first time, I welled up too, a remarkable thing for a show primarily about pots. In that moment, I understood that what makes “The Great Pottery Throwdown” special is not the quaint tone, but the connection shared by the judges and contestants over artistry. Maybe “Bake Off” needs to remember why it loves baking.

Design: Megan Liao/the Justice

FRANK JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

MEGAN LIAO/the Justice

CLIMATE JUSTICE: Marissa Small ’22 facilitated the event.

PANEL: Brandeis students learned about ways to create a safer learning environment for Indigenous students.

MEGAN LIAO/the Justice

STAFF’S Top Ten

Justice

By JACK YUANWEI CHENG JUSTICE EDITOR

Top 10 places to “get drugs” on campus

We are not condoning the sale or the purchase of any drugs here, but here are some places that are definitely creepy enough for it.

SUDOKU

LXXIV #24

Photos: Jack Yuanwei Cheng/the Justice, Owen Chan/the Justice, Thomas Tiancheng Zheng/the Justice,

Photo Coursey of Zhen Quan’22, graphic courtesy of Brandeis University

Waltham, Mass.

Vol.

THE ARTS WILL LIFT

LEONARD BERNSTEIN FESTIVAL OF THE CREATIVE ARTS

By MINA

The Festival of the Creative Arts was founded in 1952 by Leonard Bernstein, who not only was a member of the Brandeis faculty, but also a renowned musician. He was a composer, pianist, educator, author, and humanitarian. He is probably best known for his work in musical theater, particularly in “West Side Story.” However, more so than his knowledge and great achievements, he strived to make the arts visible and accessible to all, hence the Festival of the Creative Arts. He called it “a moment of inquiry for the whole world when civilization looks at itself, seeking a key to the future.”

Ingrid Schorr, who is the director of Brandeis Arts Engagement, lent a few words about the impact having the festival back in person has had;

“We are so happy to bring the Festival of the Arts back to campus after one entirely virtual year (2020) and one hybrid year (2021). We’re not 100% back to normal.” While it is often taken for granted, the arts have a place in society, and if anything has been learned from the last two years, it is about not taking spaces and forms of expression for granted. She continued, “But the campus community has been

enjoying theater and music and dance in real time, in person, in our actual performance spaces and outdoors as well.”

Schorr also mentioned that there is typically an event called Super Sunday, which allows for people outside of the Brandeis community to present their explorations of various forms of art, whether that is performances or exhibitions. However, that event is currently on hold.

The Festival runs from April 26 through May 4th. This year, the festival’s theme is “buoyancy.” The idea behind it was to look at how art impacts us and how art can cultivate a sense of resilience, resistance, and renewal, especially in the wake of so much violence surrounding our world today. Schorr added “In framing this year’s festival around the theme of buoyancy, we acknowledge the ability of the arts to frame powerful ideas and to mark important times in history.” Honoring the community’s resilience and the signs of growth perfectly parallel spring, as new growth is visible across campus. Schorr included some other words and phrases that were considered such as hope, renewal, and reclaiming. She said the word buoyancy was chosen because it gave the artists freedom to express themselves in a way other words couldn’t.

ROWLAND JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

OWEN CHAN/the Justice

SLAYYTER: One week after her performance at Coachella, Slayyter is slaying yet another gig at Brandeis Spring Fest 2022.

OWEN CHAN/the Justice

MASK-OFF: Cancelled in 2020 and online in 2021, Spring Fest is brought back in 2022 by the Brandeis Campus Activities Board.

MEGAN LIAO/the Justice

HEADLINER: Flo Milli hyped up the festival with her popular hits at the end.

OWEN CHAN/the Justice

KASH DOLL: Another featured songstress was Kash Doll, who is known for the popular single “Ice Me Out.”

LIFT US HIGHER

Participation from students, faculty, staff, and audience members is vital to the festival, as it thrives off the diverse experiences on campus. Participation this year has been phenomenal, with over sixty vendors selling at the Create@ Brandeis Craft Market and several performances including the Senior Theater Thesis pieces.

A few students to note are Mellow Wilsted ’22, who addressed buoyancy literally. Her design using a custommade silicone monofin allowed her to swim like a mermaid.

Several students contributed prose and poetry, like Ash Friedman ’21 who performed poems from their poetry chapbook “Last Car on the Rollercoaster but This Time It’s My Body.” They wrote in their proposal: “I find the theme of buoyancy for this year’s festival both phenomenal and fundamental, and it’s what my chapbook is truly about: drowning in a sea of struggles, and

learning how to swim, how to float, how to choose myself.” Logan Shanks ’24 is performing a piece titled “Death to the Black Superwoman” which started as a visual art piece and became a performance. That performance will be Tuesday, May 3 at 7p.m. held in Harlan Chapel. Angela Sun ’23 actually coordinated a lot of the visual art work and produced several custom laser cut plaques to identify the art and tell more about each artist.

There are several events still scheduled until the last official day of the festival. Fine art exhibitions, several music performances, and a sustainability tour which included an audio recording of specially crafted poems and resources will be featured in the coming days. The festival will continue to highlight the importance of art and artists and will exist at Brandeis for years to come. Afterall, like Bernstein said, art is the key to the future.

OWEN CHAN/the Justice

CUTE: Students dressed up in summer clothing, enjoyed the sun, and posed for pictures at the music festival.

OWEN CHAN/the Justice

SUN-KISSED: The perfectly sunny weather encouraged a large crowd to the event.

OWEN CHAN/the Justice

MAY: It was impossible for the students to resist the musical, warm afternoon.

OWEN CHAN/the Justice

YOUNG M.A.: Known for her hit single “OOOUUU,” Young M.A. was one of the unmissable performers at Spring Fest.