ARTS Page 19
SPORTS Women’s soccer wins two games 16 FORUM Condemn shady government officials 12 The Independent Student Newspaper
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KNIZNICK GALLERY of
B r a n d e is U n i v e r sit y S i n c e 1 9 4 9
Justice
Volume LXX, Number 4
www.thejustice.org
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
NOBEL HONOREES
CAMPUS LIFE
University calendars display student info ■ University Gmail calendars
containing sensitive and personal student information were insecure and exposed. By AVRAHAM PENSO and CHAIEL SCHAFFEL JUSTICE EDITOR AND contributing WRITER
Until yesterday, anyone with a Brandeis email account had access to the private information of students, faculty and administrators through the University’s Google Calendar network. Administrative calendars publicly displayed full names and phone numbers of some students and parents, as well as detailed family financial situations and student disability accommodation needs. While faculty and staff have since received directions for locking their calendars, students had not been informed of this issue as
of press time. The greatest quantity of unsecured data appeared in calendars for Student Accessibility Support and the Office of Student Financial Services, where students’ personal information could be found on open staff calendars dating back to 2012. “Having trouble paying for books, potential for more aid,” read one meeting description in the calendar of an SFS employee. Another meeting noted: “Father of [student name redacted] job loss. Discussion of further aid possibilities.” Sensitive student information was also accessible on a Student Accessibility Support employee’s calendar, which contained meeting descriptions such as “Figure out executive function challenges” and “Mother of [Student name redacted] - re: disability services for
See CALENDAR, 7 ☛
ADMINISTRATION
Task Force on Free Expression share draft with the community ■ The Presidential Task
Force on Free Expression welcomed community members to an open forum. By MICHELLE DANG JUSTICE EDITOR
The Presidential Task Force on Free Expression reconvened in open forum last week, following the committee’s release of their draft of working principles. University President Ron Liebowitz, Provost Lisa Lynch and Committee Chair Prof. George Hall (ECON) met with community members on Wednesday to ask for critique and questions about the proposals. In response to the growing national debate regarding free speech policies and political expression on college campuses, Liebowitz assembled the task force in November 2016, composed of members of the Board of
Trustees, faculty, staff and students, with a mission “to come together to reflect on and re-examine our University’s policies and practices related to academic freedom and free expression.” In March, shortly after violence broke out at Middlebury College regarding a controversial speaker, the task force held its first open community meeting, during which they asked Brandeis’ community members for aid in crafting a set of principles. The task force also “studied Brandeis’s history regarding free expression and academic freedom, reviewed other universities’ statements and practices, and engaged in conversations with a wide range of campus constituencies,” according to the draft. The first principle, “Maximizing Free Speech in a Diverse Community,” highlights the need for free speech in connection with a diverse and inclusive community, as well as
See FREE SPEECH, 7 ☛
YVETTE SEI/the Justice
NOBEL LAUREATE: Prof. Michael Rosbash at the University's press conference on Monday morning in Rapaporte Treasure Hall.
Profs. Rosbash and Hall receive the Nobel Prize ■ Rosbash and Hall were
honored for their work in understanding the molecular mechanism of the body clock. By MICHELLE DANG and LIAT SHAPIRO JUSTICE EDITOR AND STAFF WRITER
“The phone call at 5:10 this morning destroyed my circadian rhythms,” Prof. Michael Rosbash (BIOL) joked of the phone call telling him he had won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. It was a fitting statement from Rosbash, one of three joint Nobel recipients awarded for their pioneering discoveries in circadian rhythm. The prize was awarded yesterday morning by the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute. Rosbash, the Peter Gruber Endowed Chair in Neuroscience, was lauded alongside colleague and Prof. Emeritus Jeffrey C. Hall (BIOL) for their four key publications on the circadian rhythm, published between 1984 and 1992. The assembly also awarded Dr. Michael Young, a faculty member at Rockerfeller University in New
York, for his three foundational publications on the subject between 1984 and 1998. The three scientists successfully isolated the period gene that controls the circadian rhythm. The Nobel Assembly wrote in a press release that thanks to “the seminal discoveries by the three laureates, circadian biology has developed into a vast and highly dynamic research field, with implications for our health and wellbeing.” The science all started with fruit flies, Rosbash explained in a phone interview with the Justice. “We spent a long time trying to figure out how biological timing takes place and how circadian rhythms are orchestrated directly. We found these key genes that work in the fruit fly and discovered a feedback loop — a transcriptional feedback loop — which is really the center of the timing mechanism [of how] the gene controls its own expression,” he said. “It turns out that the same mechanism is in humans … these proteins really govern a large fraction of the structure of the genome.” During a University press conference honoring Rosbash on Monday,
Provost Lisa Lynch lauded Rosbash for his “willingness to think about problems in a different way, for being unconventional in [his] scientific thought to make these kinds of breakthroughs.” Lynch asserted that the awarding of this Nobel Prize “celebrate[s] scientific knowledge through its most basic proponents.” Prof. Leslie Griffith (BIOL), a colleague and friend of both Hall and Rosbash, added, “Jeff has actually been a larger-than-life presence. His partnership with Michael made them an unbeatable team. This partnership is also a great illustration of the value of basic science.” The press conference also gave a glimpse into the professor’s humanity and humility: As University President Ronald Liebowitz remarked during the event, “In addition to being a Nobel Laureate, Michael is the number one fan of our basketball team.” Liebowitz added that “Michael represents the essence of what makes Brandeis special and unique — a world class curiosity, a desire to solve real-world challenges, and creating a community of scientists
See NOBEL, 7 ☛
Hey Siri!
Total Domination
Pro-Procrastination
The co-founder of Siri talked about the future of artficial intelligence.
The men’s soccer team crushed their opponents by scores of 5-1 and 1-0 this past week.
Jorge Cham, author of comic "Piled Higher and Deeper," gave a humorous lecture to grad students.
FEATURES 8 For tips or info email editor@thejustice.org
Waltham, Mass.
Let your voice be heard! Submit letters to the editor online at www.thejustice.org
INDEX
SPORTS 16 ARTS SPORTS
17 13
EDITORIAL FEATURES
10 OPINION 8 POLICE LOG
10 2
News 3
COPYRIGHT 2017 FREE AT BRANDEIS.
2
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2017
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NEWS SENATE LOG
Senate debates general education proposals in weekly meeting On behalf of the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, Dean of Arts and Sciences Susan Birren, Senior Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences for Undergraduate Education Elaine Wong, Profs. Tory Fair (FA) and Bulbul Chakraborty (PHYS) and Alona Weimer ’18 presented the draft of the new General Education Requirements to the Senate and took questions from Union members. The University last revised the requirements 24 years ago. A student questionnaire was sent out in the spring of 2016 and got over 1,400 responses and 360 pages of comments about the current requirements. The proposals added First Year Experience requirements, including attending two talks called “Critical Conversations” during the semester of their UWS. The requirements also include the Schools of Thought (one class in the humanities, creative arts, social sciences and sciences), Foundational Literacies (quantitative reasoning, one writing intensive, one oral communication and a new digital literacy course) and one physical education class in each of the three modules (navigating health and safety, mind and body balance, and life skills). The Global Engagement section would include the “World Language and Culture” requirement (three semesters of a foreign language), the “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Studies in the U.S.” requirement and the “Difference and Justice in the World” requirement. The new requirements, if passed, would take effect for students entering in the fall of 2019. North Quad Senator Josh Hoffman ’21 expressed concern over the higher number of course requirements, saying he feels that each semester students must sacrifice a class that they want to do for one that is required. Chakraborty answered that the classes are part of the majors and curricula will be revised to accommodate them. Senator-at-Large Shaquan McDowell ’18 and Chief Justice Lilly Hecht ’18 both expressed concern about the replacement of the non-Western and Comparative Studies by the DJW requirement, stating that the point of the non-Western requirement was to explore topics outside of the western world and consider the perspectives of people of color. Wong replied that the DJW requirement will better explore current issues and will be social justice-oriented, and that while some students would not go outside of their comfort zones, the courses would be focusing on global issues, whether or not individual courses focus on the Western world. In the standard portion of the Senate meeting, Asia Hollinger ’18 and Keturah Walker ’18, founders of the majorette dance club TOXIC, approached the Senate for probationary club accreditation. The Senate voted unanimously to issue a probationary accreditation. The Senate then discussed providing Sharsheret, a club supporting Jewish women with breast cancer, with a charter and access to funding. Senators brought up concerns that Sharsheret may be exclusive and therefore ineligible for funding because it focuses solely on supporting Jewish women. Racial Minority Senator Hangil Ryu ’20 made a point that there are many clubs that are exclusive in their mission but are not exclusive to membership. A revision was made to the Club Support bylaws concerning the definition of exclusivity as it relates to a club’s mission and membership. The Senate voted unanimously to charter Sharsheret. The Senate also voted unanimously to allow the arts and literary magazine “Where the Children Play” to change its name to “Blacklist.” Additionally, the Senate voted to confirm Hecht to the Union’s Executive Board. In executive officer reports, Brown took the opportunity to discuss an issue related to the Department of Community Living conducting fire drills and then checking rooms and issuing fire safety write-ups without advance warning. She stated that the fire drills are required by the City of Waltham and said that she talked to DCL about student complaints. Brown and Student Union President Jacob Edelman ’18 also met with University President Ron Liebowitz and announced that Liebowitz would be creating a suggestion box for students to write in complaints about the University and problems they want fixed.
POLICE LOG
Medical Emergency
Sept. 18—A party in Gosman Sports and Convocation Center suffered an ankle injury. The party was treated by BEMCo with a signed refusal for further care. Sept. 18—University Police received a report of a party in Ziv Quad who was experiencing back pain and vomiting. BEMCo staff treated the party, who was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital. Sept. 19—University Police received a report of an intoxicated party in Shapiro Quad who fell down, cut their lip and was covered in vomit. BEMCo staff treated the party, who was transported to the hospital via Cataldo Ambulance. Sept. 20—A party in East Quad reported that they had
a rash on their face. BEMCo staff treated the party with a signed refusal for further care. Sept. 22—A party in Sherman Dining Hall reported that they were experiencing severe stomach pain. BEMCo staff treated the party, who was transported to the University Health Center for further care. Sept. 22—A party in Reitman Hall reported that they were not feeling well after taking medication. BEMCo staff and Cataldo Ambulance staff treated the party with a signed refusal for further care. Sept. 23—State Police and Waltham Police received a call from a student asking for assistance for an intoxicated party. The party was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care, and University
KOREAN THANKSGIVING
n The Justice has no corrections or clarifications to report this week. The Justice welcomes submissions for errors that warrant correction or clarification. Email editor@ thejustice.org.
Justice
www.thejustice.org
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. Editor News Forum Features Sports Arts Ads Photos Managing Copy Layout
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See POLOG, 3 ☛
BRIEF
CHELSEA MADERA/the Justice
Einstein Bros. Bagels pulled a uniform shirt off of its website last month in response to complaints that the shirt’s design perpetuated ageism. In a Sept. 20 email that she cc’ed the Justice on, Women’s Studies Research Center resident scholar Margaret Morganroth Gullette wrote that the shirt, which read, “Fresh never gets old,” carried an ageist message. “I am glad that Einstein’s food is supposed to be ever fresh, ripe, and juicy; and I am supposed to be glad that it is never ‘old’ — rotten, decayed, moldy, musty, stinky, ready to be thrown in the garbage,” she wrote in the email to Provost Lisa Lynch, Dean of Students Jamele Adams and Sodexo General Manager Andy Allen. “Life is the basis of language. Metaphors cling to life. Metaphors transfer to human life,” Gullette added. Gullette, the author of the 2017 book, “Ending Ageism, or How Not to Shoot Old People,” asked that the shirt be pulled. “We will all grow old, if we live long enough, have a little luck, a lot of medical care, and good environmental conditions from birth, and if no one blows up the Earth we live on,” she wrote. “Isn’t it time for all of us to retire the dismissive expression, ‘That’s gettin’ old,’ along with its ableist companion, ‘That’s lame?’” Einstein’s responded with an email from Senior Marketing Manager Tim Newsom on Sept. 22. Newsom wrote that the chain will be pulling the shirt off of its approved uniform ordering website and will have completely new uniform tops available to order in two weeks.
Students played games and ate food in celebration of Korean Thanksgiving with the Korean Student Association on Friday evening.
—Abby Patkin
ANNOUNCEMENTS The Dean of Students and Student affairs presents a community open forum and panel discussion with Prof. Carina Ray (AAAS), Prof. Bernadette Brooten (NEJS) and Rabbi Seth Windberg (Hillel). Topics of discussion include community response to recent current events of natural disaster, symbolic protest and hate speech/symbols. Today from 7 to 9 p.m. at Rapaporte Treasure Hall.
Dialogues/Comfort Zone + Your Workplace
the
ed an elderly party who was feeling ill. Cataldo Ambulance staff transported the party to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital for further care. Sept. 25—Brandeis Counseling Center staff requested an ambulance to transport a party for an involuntary psychological transport. The party was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital without incident. Sept. 26—A party in Village Quad reported that they were suffering from a knee injury. The party was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care. Sept. 26—A party reported that they were not feeling well. The party was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care.
Einstein Bros. Bagels removes shirt in response to WSRC Scholar’s allegations of ageism
Response to Disasters and Hate Speech
CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS
Police ended the unregistered party in Rosenthal Quad. Sept. 23—An employee in Usdan Student Center suffered a steam burn on their forearm. BEMCo staff treated the party with a signed refusal for further care. Sept. 23—University Police requested Cataldo Ambulance assistance for a party in Village Quad who was experiencing psychological issues. The party was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care. Sept. 23—A party in the Charles River Apartments reported that they were suffering from a past ankle injury. BEMCo staff treated the party with a signed refusal for further care. Sept. 25—BEMCo staff treat-
This panel will feature Dr. Andy Molinsky, expert on helping people develop the insights and courage necessary to act outside their personal and cultural comfort zones in the workplace and in life. This interactive program will allow attendees to explore conversations about identities (gender, race, place of origin, sexual orientation, ability, legal status, religion and more) as it relates to the workplace. Wednesday from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room, Shapiro Campus Center.
Eva-Sabine Zehelein: The German Family
This talk aims to provide an overview of the variety of family formations and the socio-cultural as well as political and legal contexts that characterize German family
life today. It will also offer some selected case analyses. Topics are e.g., marriage, divorce law and rates, single parenthood, abortion, “Ehe fuer alle” (marriage for all), assisted reproductive technologies and new families and globalism. Wednesday from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Mandel Center for Humanities Reading Room 303.
Taste of China
Test your skills using chopsticks and practice writing calligraphy to your friends. Come to this event hosted by the Brandeis Chinese Cultural Connection and enjoy Chinese desserts and play games with your friends. Wednesday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Swig Lounge of the Intercultural Center.
Workshop with an Anthropologist
Join the Workshop for Critical Inquiry and Education for a presentation by Michael D. Jackson from Harvard University. Jackson is an anthropologist and creative writer who has published over thirty books of ethnography, poetry and memoir, embracing innovative approaches to fiction and non-fiction alike. Since 1969 he has conducted research among the Kuranko of Sierra Leone, the Warlpiri and Kuku-Yalanji of Australia, and African migrants in Europe. His theoretical contributions involve the application
of pragmatist and critical approaches to ethnographic understandings of the human experience, including the development of existential anthropology. For our workshop, Professor Jackson will share and discuss with the Brandeis community an upcoming manuscript, titled “Words and Deeds,” concerning the various actions that words and silence can take. Friday from 2 to 4 p.m. at Mandel Center for Humanities, Room G12.
Linsey Athletic Hall of Fame Ceremony
Five individuals and one team will join the Brandeis Athletics Hall of Fame: John B. Fobia ’73, men’s soccer; Greg Steelman ’91, men’s track and field; Mike Mayer ’94, men’s fencing; Marshall Goldman ’03, men’s swimming and diving; Sara Albert ’04, softball and the 1988 to 89 men’s tennis team. Registration is required. Saturday from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the Faculty Club.
Night Market
Take a walk through the streets of Taiwan and taste the delicious cuisine throughout the Intercultural Center community. We will have food and activities throughout the evening. Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. at Fellows Garden.
the justice
STUDENT UNION
Rights and Advocacy opened to students for conflict resolution peer guidance. By Mack SCHOENFELD Justice CoNTRIBUTING WRITER
As the Student Union and the Brandeis community evolve, the Office of Student Rights and Advocacy is ready to return to the forefront of Brandeis student resources. Due to the Student Union’s efforts to bring back the OSRA — particularly those of Student Union Vice President Hannah Brown ’19 and OSRA Director Zosia Buse ’20 — University students will have a peer resource to go to if academic or campus-related problems ever arise. Years ago, there existed a resource on campus through which students could theoretically have academic or other problems on campus resolved by coming to their peers for assistance. However, due to the relative lack of internal structure in the Student Union at the time, it was impossible for this department to flourish to the extent that its creators had hoped for. Now, with its return, Buse stated, “The OSRA serves as a liaison between students and administration to eliminate barriers to student success and offer consultation and advocacy services in order to take care of student concerns in the most efficient way.” Essentially, the OSRA is an effective resource for students to go to when they have an issue on campus that they do not know how to resolve on their own. A member of the advocacy team there would then serve as a mediator, with the best interest of the student as their top priority. Buse
went on to elaborate, “The OSRA fills a large student need. It really helps create a smooth transition from conflict to resolution.” Students can use this resource if they need help with navigating the different routes to take when solving a problem at Brandeis. Naturally, because the OSRA is promoting itself as a student resource, its primary goal is to get students to utilize it as a means for conflict resolution. According to Buse, in order to achieve this goal, “[the advocacy team] wants to not only make students aware of their rights to expedite the conflict resolution process but they also want to extend their accessibility to students to further develop the OSRA as a favorable resource on campus.” Additionally, Buse added that the OSRA is still in the process of establishing its online presence, but she does acknowledge that “the extent of our online presence would be our affiliation with the Brandeis Student Union website, but we do have plans to start our own social media presence so we can be more accessible as our own organ of the Student Union.” Furthermore, Buse claimed that “the OSRA is going to get its own part of the [Student Union] website once the advocacy team is [officially] built, which I’m in the process of interviewing for now.” “The OSRA functions for and because of the student body, and the goal is to maintain student integrity while solving [students’] grievances and concerns in the most efficient way, [so as] to not impede their academic, personal, or emotional success in any way, shape or form,” Buse said. The OSRA was established for and is fueled by the students of Brandeis, so its doors are open if a conflict needs resolution, she added.
PANEL
Comic author reflects on procrastination ■ Jorge Cham, author of “Piled Higher and Deeper,” spoke to graduate students about his comic and new book. By GWENDOLYN HARRIS Justice CoNTRIBUTING WRITER
Author of the popular web comic, “Piled Higher and Deeper,” Jorge Cham, armed with a PowerPoint and a stock of well-timed one-liners, provided an hour of laughter, authenticity and empathy to a hall of Brandeis graduate students last Thursday. The public speaker and Stanford Ph.D. alum came to campus as part of a physics colloquium to present a new book he co-authored with physicist Daniel Whiteson, titled “We Have No Idea,” which is intended to make the most complicated scientific mysteries accessible to all. After several opening jokes, his presentation began with a brief history of his comic strip, which he started writing during his own graduate school years. “It’s become clear to me,” Cham pointed out, “that a little bit more popular than the research that I spent years working on as part of my actual career has been what I was doing when I should have been doing research,” or, “Piled Higher and Deeper.” The audience laughed, but Cham continued to point out the real merits of procrastination, referencing several psychological studies. “If you focus on your problems too hard, you can actually suppress what is important,” said Cham. He also noted that many successful individuals, including the author Isaac Asimov and the founders of Google, began their most famous accomplishments beneath their “day jobs.” Mirroring the minds of many la-
boring grad students, Cham brought up the negative aspects of procrastination and the reputation it has acquired. “Why can’t we just do the things we’re supposed to do, instead of doing other things, and then you feel guilty and depressed about them to the point where you don’t even enjoy those things that you used to enjoy?” he asked. “It might have something to do with the fact that we just don’t want to do these things.” To answer, Cham brought up a former professor of his, Bernie Roth, who had a habit of stunning his stressed out graduate classes with the simple statement: “In life, there’s nothing you have to do. Nobody’s making you do anything. Everything you do, you do because you want to do it.” Beyond procrastination, Cham’s talk explored the ironic qualities of various aspects of graduate school life, such as his own version of the physics equation F=ma: “Your age of graduation is proportional to your motivation and inversely proportional to the flexibility of your adviser,” and Cham’s lighthearted reminder that, contrary to students’ anxieties, their professors do not think they are idiots, — mostly because they don’t think about them at all. While the majority of the presentation poked fun at academia, Cham sobered briefly to comfort his audience about the importance of their graduate years, in spite of their difficulty. “In grad school you learn the ability to teach yourself. … You become a self-learner. You have to think analytically … and you learn to keep in mind the big picture of things and communicate that to other people.” He ended with a final quip: “The most important thing I learned in grad school was how to give a one hour presentation in any topic — including procrastination.”
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2017
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BAGELS AND SCHMEAR
Student Union re-instates OSRA
■ The Office of Student
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YDALIA COLON/the Justice
Community members met together for a large feast under a giant tent on the Great Lawn to celebrate the end of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur on Saturday evening.
PANEL
Scholars discuss issues surrounding historical statues and monuments ■ University professors and
guest scholar Grace Hale spoke about the protests of confederate statues. By Eliana padwa Justice CoNTRIBUTING WRITER
The United States is in the middle of a debate about memorialization: whether a monument is art or history, and how the way a society honors its past affects it in the present, a panel of scholars asserted at an event on Sept. 19. To discuss this issue, Profs. Carina Ray (AAAS), Nancy Scott (FA), and Professor Grace Hale of the University of Virginia and Anne Thomas, a collaborator on a Holocaust memorialization project came together to consider various aspects of memorialization. Hale began with a slideshow on protests in Charlottesville, Virginia. August’s demonstrations, she said, were a culmination of a movement that began in March: NeoNazi and neo-Confederate groups had been rallying around statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson since then. However, she said the statues must be removed “not because of the present, but because of the events of the 1910s and 1920s.” She explained that they were erected as part of a “New South” movement. This effort to rewrite Southern history and prepare it for a segregationist present claimed that the Civil War was about states’ rights and secession, not slavery, that slaves were loyal to their masters and the Confederate cause, and that Confederate soldiers were heroic and saintly. Hale explained that statuebuilding became more popular than lynching during this period because it helped sanitize the past. Statues were a more civilized way to assert white supremacy in public and to posit revisionist history as legitimate. She added that when she points out to her students that there are “statues to traitors in the middle of [their] parks,” stu-
dents are shocked — the revisionist version of the South is deeply ingrained. Ray corroborated Hale’s narrative of white supremacy, saying that “forms of violence are always mutating.” She pointed out that honor and violence have always been intertwined, and that honoring past violence through monuments is a form of violence in and of itself. She cautioned that even monuments to victims must be done carefully, as there’s a risk of erasing some victims in an attempt to spotlight others, a disservice to those victims and to the historical record. Ray discussed the “Rhodes Must Fall” movement as an example of how ingrained some forms of violence and erasure are. It began as a student protest against a statue of British imperialist Cecil Rhodes at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. As the movement grew, it created a larger conversation about decolonizing education while a statue honoring colonial violence loomed over campus. The movement sparked a similar conversation around a statue of Rhodes at Oxford University and illuminated the need to decolonize not only colonial education systems, but metropolitan ones too, Ray asserted. She added that she believes that similar conversations are happening globally, and so the Confederate statues in the United States are part of a discussion which “iterates itself differently, but no less crucially, in other parts of the world.” Scott pointed out that, while Confederate statues are ubiquitous in the South, many of the Confederate monuments are not great works of art. During the wave of monument building, Northern factories massproduced statues for sale as Confederate memorials. She said that many of these monuments “become eyesores.” They are propaganda, but the process of removing them is often a convoluted legal battle because it is often unclear who owns a statue or who has the right to re-
move it, she said. Scott discussed the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial in Boston, a memorial to the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts, the first organized Black regiment in the Civil War. During construction of the memorial, there was contention over whether it would focus on Shaw or on his troops. As a compromise, it depicts Shaw and his men, with all their names carved on the back, according to Scott. Standing on the Boston Common, it faces the statehouse to remind legislators of the regiment’s sacrifice. The Shaw Memorial is on the Black History Trail in Boston, a trail that intersects with the historic Freedom Trail only once, said Scott. Though national conversation centers on existing monuments, Thomas’s presentation showed that memorialization is an ongoing process. Thomas spoke on artist Gunter Demnig and his continuing project, “Stolpersteine.” Stolpersteine, stumbling stones, are small brass plates set in the ground. Placed in front of buildings whose former residents were killed by the Nazis, the Stolpersteine say “here lived…” and serve not as tombstones but “life stones.” Thomas explained that the plaques are meant to be unobtrusive, but once one notices them, it is difficult to stop seeing them. There are 65,000 of them now, all over Europe. Thomas says that Demnig believes that, while numbers like “6 million” can be hard to process, individual stories have power. According to Thomas, Demnig wants residents to remember what went on in their homes, in their towns, in their country; as long as people keep stumbling upon history, it will be hard for them to forget. Stolpersteine are meant to make one feel a bit unsettled, Thomas added. As she closed the panel, moderator Prof. Sabine von Mering (GRALL) beseeched attendees to leave feeling unsettled as well. She urged them not to swallow the conversation, but to take it somewhere new.
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POLICE LOG CONTINUED FROM 2 Sept. 26—University Police received a report of a party in the Mandel Center for the Humanities who was experiencing an allergic reaction. The party used an EpiPen and was transported to NewtonWellesley Hospital for further care. Sept. 27—University Police received a report of a party in Rosenthal Quad with an elevated heart rate. BEMCo staff treated the party with a signed refusal for further care. Sept. 27—A party in Usen Hall reported that they were not feeling well. BEMCo staff treated the party with a signed refusal for further care. Sept. 27—A party in the Athletics Lot reported that they had injured their leg while playing sports. BEMCo staff treated the party with a signed refusal for further care. Sept. 27—A party reported that they were not feeling well. BEMCo staff treated the party, who was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care. Sept. 28—A party in the Feldberg Computer Center reported that they were experiencing blurred vision, disorientation and numbness in one arm. Cataldo Ambulance staff transported the party to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care. Sept. 28—A party in Usdan Stu-
dent Center reported that they were having difficulty breathing. Cataldo Ambulance staff transported the party to Newton-Wellesley Hospital. Sept. 29—A party in Ziv Quad reported that they had fallen and were bleeding from the head. BEMCo staff treated the party, who was transported to an Urgent Care facility. Sept. 29—A party in Deroy Hall tripped and fell down the stairs, injuring their ankle. BEMCo staff treated the party with a signed refusal for further care. Oct. 1—University Police received a report that a party in Shapiro Hall was lying on the floor vomiting due to alcohol intoxication. BEMCo staff treated the party, who was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care. Oct. 1—University Police received a report of a party in Cable Hall who was lying on the floor vomiting due to alcohol intoxication. The party was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care. Oct. 1—University Police received a report of an intoxicated party in Reitman Hall. The party was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care. Oct. 1—Cataldo Ambulance staff transported an intoxicated party to Newton-Wellesley Hospital. Oct. 1—University Police received a report of a party in Cable Hall who
was passed out in a toilet stall. The party was treated for alcohol intoxication, and Cataldo Ambulance staff treated them with a signed refusal for further care.
Larcency
it was all quiet upon arrival. Sept. 28—University Police received a noise complaint about loud video games in the Charles River Apartments. The residents lowered the noise without incident.
Harassment
Sept. 25—A party in Bethlehem Chapel reported that their guitar and bible were stolen after they were left unattended. University Police compiled a report on the incident.
Sept. 18—A party in Village Quad reported that they had received a threatening text message. The Department of Community Living will follow up with a no contact order.
Drugs
Assault
Sept. 25—The Department of Community Living discovered drug contraband while doing fire alarm safety checks in the Charles River Apartments. University Police confiscated the contraband, and DCL will compile a Community Rights and Standards Report.
Disturbance
Sept. 20—University Police received a noise complaint for the Foster Mods. The parties were advised to lower the noise level. Sept. 21—University Police received a noise complaint for the Foster Mods. The party was dispersed without further incident. Sept. 22—University Police received a complaint from a Waltham resident regarding loud music in the Charles River Apartments. University Police checked the area, and
Sept. 29—University Police received a report of a party who was shot with a BB gun while walking between the Charles River Apartments. BEMCo staff treated the victim, and the alleged shooter, a Brandeis student, was placed under arrest by University Police and transported to the Waltham Police station, where they were booked for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
Other
Sept. 19—University Police received a report of a strange individual in dark clothing who was wandering around Hassenfeld Lot and asking questions of dining services workers. University Police escorted the individual off campus and gave them a trespass warning.
Sept. 22—A party reported a suspicious non-college aged individual in Pearlman Hall. The individual left the area when asked by staff for his reason for being there. University Police checked the building and surrounding areas but did not find the individual. Sept. 26—University Police received a report of vandalism to administrative property in the Sachar International Center. Sept. 27—University Police received a report of a suspicious note left in the Shapiro Life Sciences building. University Police compiled a report on the incident. Sept. 29—University Police received a report of a backpack with a hard hat left on top of it outside Schwartz Hall. The bag belonged to a worker who was working in Schwartz, and the items were returned. Sept. 29—DCL requested University Police assistance for vandalism to a window in the Charles River Apartments. The window had structural damage and was about to fall in. Suburban Glass will address the damage to the window. Oct. 1—BEMCo staff reported that there was a naked party running through Cable Hall. University Police was unable to locate the individual. —Compiled by Abby Patkin
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and German Consul General Ralf Horlemann held a debate on electoral democracy. By Jiyin Chen JUSTICE Contributng writer
In an effort to get closer to a reallife, practical case in the field of comparative politics, two political scholars met to contrast the efficiencies of German versus American electoral systems. Two days after the federal election was held in Germany, German Consul General for New England Ralf Horlemann met for a discussion with Prof. Lucy Goodhart (POL) last Tuesday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union Party won the greatest number of votes and remains both the largest majority in German parliament and the party with the largest electoral support after 12 years. Based on ongoing concerns in past years regarding European and U.S. politics, Goodhart and Horlemann compared and contrasted the characteristics of the two very different electoral systems. “It is, of course, relative, because countries are different, but I will make a very strong point … to argue that Germany has one of the fairest and the most democratic elections in the world,” said Horlemann. He examined different aspects of the entire electoral system, from Parliament to the design of electoral districts across the country. “Germans have a number of obsessions ... the number one, equality; the other one, stability; and the third one, perfection,” he said, though he added that, ironically, these values can make the German election system “a bit complicated.” Goodhart suggested that a more objective and less competitive view would be to focus on the difference between democratic systems: “proportional representation” versus “winner-takes-all.” In the proportional electoral system, “the entire nation is one electoral district … parties get seats in proportion to the percentage of the votes that they get.” In this manner, small par-
ties have the ability to earn a representation, and the nation’s minority interest, such as the environmental interests of Germany’s Green Party, can get into the national political sphere, she added. More importantly, votes are not ever considered “wasted,” as in the alternative “winner-takes-all” electoral system, Goodhart said. “[This] is the system in which there is only one candidate elected for the whole district,” she said. “In that district, voters have to decide, ‘Who am I going to vote for? I kind of believe I care about the environment — but I’m not going to vote for the environmental party, because I don’t think they have a chance of winning this particular race.’” If one is not voting for the top two major political parties, then voters may believe they are ‘throwing away’ their vote, Goodhart noted. “In a majoritarian system, often two major political parties, such as in the U.S., dominate the election. And maybe, if you have a particular interest … [such as] being ‘green,’ you are not going to be represented,” she said. However, Goodhart pointed out the advantage this system brings to the U.S., because although voters aren’t represented proportionally, whenever one of the two major parties is in power, one can clearly identify who is making the executive decisions. “The U.S. really wants to have a decisive government,” she said. “But now in Germany, it may take a year to make a coalition … and until the end of the year, there is the question: who is the executive?” However, it remains that the U.S. political system cannot completely represent its popular vote through the electoral college, excluding some of the nation’s voices. “Those rules are imperfect, but I think it suits the U.S., because I think we need a strong executive. … For the system in America, it makes parties unify American people, but it may do less good for representing those minorities,” Goodhart said. Putting the debate into a larger context relative to the rise of populism in the past couple of years — and drawing upon Brexit and President Donald Trump — Goodhart concluded with a question: “How then does the electoral system affect that kind of change in popular sentiments worldwide?”
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German Consul and Prof reflect on elections ■ Prof. Lucy Goodhart (POL)
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Students battled it out in many games of bingo at the Stein on Thursday evening.
Campus SPEAKER
Alumna artist presents career’s works at WSRC ■ Sachiko Akiyama ’00
spoke about her solo gallery on display on campus at the Kniznick Gallery. By JOceyln gould Justice CoNTRIBUTING WRITER
At first glance, the faces of Sachiko Akiyama’s statues stare blankly, their compositions simple — but that illusion vanishes as one realizes the emotional and symbolic power coursing beneath her statues’ surfaces. University alumna Akiyama gave listeners a glimpse into those depths when she returned to her alma mater on Wednesday to present a lecture on her journey as an artist and the process of creating her current exhibition of sculptures and prints, “Long Hand Poetry.” On display in the Kniznick Gallery of the Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center, Akiyama’s sculptures combine human figures with animals and landscapes, echoed by her prints, which show a variety of birds flying, as if migrating. The works in the show were drawn from 13 years of Akiyama’s career, highlighting her exploration of different sculpting styles and her own identity. A constant throughout her artwork is her pairing of animals and landscapes with internal, meditative figures. “A lot of my work is about me … trying to understand that internal space,” Akiyama said when asked about the presence of her figures in her artwork. “The way I’m trying to find my answers is by looking at nature and the natural world.” In “Long Hand Poetry,” her appreciation of nature focuses specifically on birds. Since her early works, Akiyama explained in the lecture, she has seen birds as powerful symbolic tools, able to present the ambiguous symbolism she loves to weave throughout her artwork.
Using the example of owls, she explained that the bird carries both the positive connotation of wisdom for Western cultures as well as negative connotations for cultures that distrust and fear the bird. Ancient Christians, for example, believed them to be bad omens. “I like this idea that it could be a good thing, it could be bad,” she said, “but there’s ambiguity to how you can read it.” Through her lecture, Akiyama also gave listeners insight into the diverse historical and cultural influences behind her work. Her figures’ poses, she explained, are heavily influenced by “sculptural traditions with religious or spiritual roots,” such as medieval Christian depictions of saints and Egyptian funerary statues. The rigidity of her figures and their symbolic gestures are a result of her interest in that artwork, especially the “small little gestures” found in Egyptian sculptures. Two relief carvings in the exhibition take these historical influences further, combining the styles of Renaissance relief carvings with those of Chinese and Japanese landscape paintings. In other works, Akiyama’s approach to her technique and her artwork’s content was influenced by everyone from medieval German artists to 20th century artists like Marisol Escobar. In “Between Dream and Memory” (2004), a sculpture of a girl stoically holding a heron in her arms, Akiyama’s Japanese heritage fused personal experience and artistic inspiration. Discussing her motivation for creating the piece, Akiyama explained that she was inspired by a Pablo Picasso sculpture, “Man with a Lamb” (1943 to 1944), in which a man calmly holds a massive lamb in his arms. Searching for an animal for her own sculpture that would have the same unwieldy quality but with personal
significance, Akiyama considered a crane, “a very ubiquitous symbol in Japan.” However, she explained, “I wanted to find an American version of that symbol,” which became the heron she saw every week while jogging along a river. Drawing on the installation styles of modern artists like Kiki Smith, Akiyama chose to break from her sculpture roots and explore her passion for drawing in “Long Hand Poetry.” Using the University Print Studio, she made woodblock prints of migrating birds to attach to the walls framing the three-dimensional works. What she originally intended to be a massive swarm of birds became a sparse scattering of birds when the exhibition was finally put together, a change indicative of Akiyama’s artistic process. “I would call myself a flailer,” Akiyama said when asked about her process. “I think that’s how artists work — you start with a seed of an idea, but the whole joy of being an artist is trying different roots or experimenting with different ideas.” Akiyama also showed evolution in her style, experimenting with resin and gold leaf between “On Finding Home” (2013) and “Origins” (2014). She has also started to play with more visible carving marks, the effect height and scale have on a piece’s presence, the ideas of weight and lightness and the interplay between two- and three-dimensional images. Additionally, she explained that she has stopped pressuring herself to only create pieces destined for exhibits and shows, and has grown conformable making smaller experimental works. For example, “Mountain Studies” (2017) began as experiments that Akiyama then decided to include in the final show. “Long Hand Poetry” will be open at the Kniznick Gallery through Oct. 27.
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OPEN FORUM: President Ron Liebowitz sat on a panel with Provost Lisa Lynch and Comittee Chair Prof. George Hall (ECON).
FREE SPEECH: Community forum discusses working draft principles the fact that “the university has a responsibility to encourage the airing of the widest range of political and scholarly opinions and to prevent shut down conversations.” The second principle, “Developing Skills to Engage in Difficult Conversations,” speaks of the University’s responsibility to encourage students to “risk discomfort” in controversial debate, while the third principle, “Sharing Responsibility,” calls for community members to respect one another, even in times of disagreement. In the fourth principle, “Rejecting Physical Violence,” the task force notes that peaceful protest is an acceptable mode of action, but physical violence and prevention of speech by any means is unacceptable and a barrier to free expression. Finally, the fifth principle, “Distinguishing between Invited Speakers and University Honorees,” explains that the University “should provide space for campus organizations of all sorts, including invitations to outside speakers.” However, the task force maintains, “openness does not constitute a university endorsement of the organizations or the speakers.” The University does stand to endorse a portion of a recipient’s life or work in the event of an honorary degree. In the open forum, a Heller School for Social Policy and Management student noted that it is very hard to define hate speech, calling for the University to encourage and teach members “to think before they speak.” Lynch responded that the Provost’s Office, with the Center for Teaching and Learning, is working with faculty on how to engage discussions in the classroom and help students understand the nature of how they think. There are ways in which “a faculty
member manages a conversation by both what they say and what they don’t say,” creating either an “active learning environment or an environment where learning is shut down,” Lynch said. Another student questioned why the principles had “no clear line drawn” for what is discussing the idea of violence versus promoting violence. Hall responded, “first of all, what is illegal is illegal; we don’t change anything that is harassment [or] threats.” Hall added that the principles are intend not to draw a line. “We would like to the University to be a place where the statutory bounds of speech are broad,” he said. However, he also noted, “Along with those wide bounds, we also have a call for personal responsibility. This is a minimalist document with a call for broad bounds coupled with responsibility.” A staff member from the Heller School asked whether there will be a more transparent process for honorary degree recipients. Liebowitz responded that honorary degrees will continue to follow a formal procedure in which nominations go through the President’s Office, are thoroughly background checked and further reviewed through the Board of Trustees. He noted his own frustration with the concept of honorary degrees: “It’s difficult to find people who could not evoke any reaction by anybody. … If someone has done something noteworthy, they’ve probably also done something noteworthy that you probably don’t want to note.” However, with “honorary degrees, if you stick to the issue what message you want to leave your graduates, you’re probably not going to run foul with that particular issue.”
Student Union President Jacob Edelman ’18 asked for clarification on the use of the terms “members of Brandeis” and “Brandeis community,” asking how the principles delineate who is a member or not. Hall responded, “We wanted to make it clear that these principles apply not only to faculty and students but also staff … We’re a big family and should be a big family and these principles should apply to everyone.” Hall mentioned that, because Brandeis is a private university, a person must be invited in order to step onto campus, and to be invited, that person is a guest of the Brandeis community. A student asked, “What happens if there’s a club that invites a speaker that the administration feels shouldn’t be on campus?” Hall highlighted section one: "The University has a responsibility to encourage the airing of the widest range of political and scholarly opinions and to prevent attempts to shut down conversations, no matter what their topic." He further clarified, “Being controversial is not a reason to not invite someone.” A Heller School student noted the recent event of swastikas written on dormitory white boards and questioned whether there exists differences of visual versus written statements. Hall responded that those specific instances constituted a threat to somebody and that “no one should feel threatened in their home.” Liebowitz added that there is an additional distinction to be made between attacks on an individual versus attacks on a group or ideology. The drafted principles are available online for view. The last open forum to discuss the draft principles will occur on Oct. 30.
NOBEL: Professors receive prize for their circadian rhythm studies CONTINUED FROM 1 that brings tenured professors together with students in a highly interactive and rigorous community.” In his own remarks to the University audience, Rosbash thanked several communities that he believes played a role in his success. He first credited his career to the National Institutes of Health and later to the “social contract which underlies everything in this country” to advance humanity. Rosbash also took time to thank not only his colleagues, but also the numerous Brandeis students over the years who “made this all possible.” He added, “It’s impossible to name them all at this point.” When the Justice asked Rosbash how the University played a role in his discovery, Rosbash replied, “A big part — the school’s been very supportive. It really nourishes its researchers. It encourages collaborations between different laboratories, it’s a real incubator, a special place.”
Echoing that sentiment, Rosbash explained during the press conference that “[Brandeis] has always been traditionally resource-poor and human capital rich. The place is small … [with] a tremendous cast of characters. … Brandeis is a remarkable jewel, which is why I’ve been here for 43 years and never moved.” An undergraduate student asked him what advice he could offer students who wish to follow in his footsteps, and Rosbash joked, “I’m not sure my footsteps are a path I would recommend for anyone.” He added, “Find your star — find something you love — and go for it. Whatever it is. You got to go for what you love and not look back 30 or 40 years later and say ‘I never tried.’ You have to try.” When asked how the hallmark day had left him feeling, Rosbash told the Justice, “It’s sort of midway between awesome and shocking … in other words, terrific, but you know, I’m still a bit incredulous.” At the end of his interview with the Justice, Rosbash spoke of what
TUESDAY, October 3, 2017
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CALENDAR: Google schedules reveal private information
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the award will mean to him moving forward. “I’m 73 years old, you know? I think my life won’t change very much. I think it’s very good for the field, it’s good for fruit flies, it’s good for the circadian field. It’s in some ways something that I share with the entire community — the entire community that studies biological rhythms and people who work with fruit flies. It’s a shared prize in many ways.” As for his plans for his future at Brandeis? “I’m stunned by this news and will remain, I hope, your colleague and friend and ne’er-dowell human being for the next decade or so,” he said, concluding his remarks at the press conference. Rosbash and Hall join a family of University faculty to have won the Nobel Prize, including Saul Bellow in Literature 1976 and John Nash in Economic Sciences 1995. Rod MacKinnon ’78, H’05, became the first alumnus to receive the Nobel for studies in ion channels in 2003. —Mihir Khanna contributed reporting.
Aspergers… Please Call [phone number redacted].” Dozens of similar entries containing some combination of students’ full names, phone numbers and class years were visible on calendars in both departments. “It’s a total violation of everyone’s privacy. ... The fact that they keep these records open for everyone is terrifying. It’s disgusting,” said Danielle Lebowitz ’19, who mentioned in an interview with the Justice that she had received academic accommodations in the past. A Justice review of employee calendars across University administrative departments revealed that at least 26 staff members kept their calendars on the default setting, which shared the calendar with everyone in the Brandeis network. Most senior administrators had locked calendars which prompted users to request access, while other staff enabled a security feature that marks time slots as “busy” without showing the nature of the event. In addition to the student data displayed on administrative staff calendars, an assortment of workrelated and personal information was visible on faculty members’ calendars. Faculty members’ schedules frequently contained various academic and professional obligations, often including the purposes of specific meetings with students and staff. Flight numbers, doctor’s appointments, vacation plans and other private events were also left public in some calendars. The Justice requested comment from Student Accessibility Support shortly after 9 a.m. on Monday. Less than an hour later, Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration Stewart Uretsky sent an email to all faculty and staff with instructions on how to change Google Calendar security settings. “It has come to our attention that some individuals are not aware their calendars are publicly available to the Brandeis community. Please check your Google Calendar settings now to be sure your calendar is available only to those individuals you choose to have access,” Uretsky wrote. In another email on Monday night, Uretsky informed faculty and staff that Information Technology Services would reset all
public calendars to the “busy” privacy setting — hiding all personal information — and that this would be the default for all University calendars in the future. He did not specify when the change would occur. He also mentioned that “in order to be in compliance with various regulatory requirements,” no personal identifiable information, including names, can be publicly available without student permission. As of press time, calendars for SAS and SFS staff had been locked to ensure that student information was no longer viewable. “We have conducted a review of all calendars in the Student Accessibility Support office, and what you described was isolated to one calendar,” Director of Student Accessibility Support Beth Rodgers-Kay wrote in an email to the Justice. “The settings for that calendar were immediately updated to private, and all calendars in the office are now set to private.” In a separate email to the Justice, Executive Director of Student Financial Services Sherri Avery wrote that SFS “has reviewed all of our calendars and have made adjustments to ensure that all are set to private.” In addition to SFS and SAS, several employees in the International Business School, The Health Center, Undergraduate Admissions, The Division of Business and Finance and the Heller School for Social Policy and Management had open calendars that did not reveal private student information but listed staff meetings or personal plans. According to Maryam Chishti ’20, one of the students whose personal data appeared on the calendars, the incident should spark community-wide dialogue about privacy. “I think we as a University should figure out what we want our general consensus around calendars to be and what we want our privacy settings to be,” Chishti said in an interview with the Justice. “We should come together as a collective community and say, ‘What do we want to do about this? Were we aware that all of our calendars are open to the public? And if we don’t want that, how should we change it?’” Students, faculty and staff wishing to change their sharing settings can do so by logging into Google Calendar with their University emails and changing their default settings.
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TUESDAY, october 3, 2017 ● Features ● The Justice
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VERBATIM | PABLO PICASSO I’d like to live like a poor man — only with lots of money.
ON THIS DAY…
FUN FACT
In 1932, Iraq joined the League of Nations and gained independance from Britain.
There are more English speakers in China than in the United States.
Hey Siri, Tell Us About Your Creator Adam Cheyer ’88 created the original Siri prototype used by Apple PHOTO COURTESY OF MIKE LOVETT
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: Cheyer ’88 explained that he is not concerned about the direction of AI.
By emily rae foreman JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
Next time you ask Siri a question, you can thank the Brandeis Alumnus who helped create it. Adam Cheyer ’88 is the creator of the original Siri prototype. Cheyer currently holds the title of co-founder and vice president of engineering at Viv Labs, an Artificial Intelligence company that was recently acquired by Samsung Group. He is also currently a vice president of research and Development at Samsung. Cheyer graduated from Brandeis with a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science. In an interview with the Justice, he spoke fondly about his college years and the multiple paths a liberal arts degree allowed him to pursue following graduation. He explained, “My interests were really understanding the miracle that is the human mind and how we do what we do. It’s so subtle and brilliant, and at Brandeis I could take not only computer science classes but philosophy classes, psychology classes, linguistics classes and sociology classes… I think if I had gone to just a technical school I wouldn’t have gotten such a well-rounded view during my exploration.” One class in particular captured his interest and imagination: a logic programming course taught by Prof. Tim Hickey (COSI). At a time when Cheyer felt as though he had already learned most of the computer science material and when he was certain there was nothing new to discover in the world of computer science, Hickey’s class become a source of amazement and helped rebuild his passion for programming. Cheyer said, Hickey “would take the most mundane subject I thought I knew inside and out … and then using his techniques which were so different to anything I had seen before he turned it into a magic
trick … He basically kickstarted or re-kickstarted my love and interest in computer science. To this day I’m still seeking more of those miracles that he would show us every day.” In 1993, five years after leaving Brandeis, Cheyer was working at SRI International — formerly named the Stanford Research Institute — where he and fellow researcher Tom Gruber began working towards a new goal for the technology industry. In a time before web browsers such as Google Chrome and Safari, the idea behind Cheyer’s work was to create a virtual assistant to help manage personal computer systems and act as a user interface. He described his
vision, saying, “The assistant would help coordinate interactions with all the different computers around the world.” To this day, Cheyer is striving toward what he described as an “essentially Siri-run internet.” Cheyer and his co-founders received a phone call from Steve Jobs only a few weeks after they launched Siri as an app available in the Apple App Store. Cheyer and Gruber met with Jobs at his house to speak about the general future of their product and technology. Cheyer recalled, “[He] really, really had a desire. It was like a burning fire… You know, you think he’s a multi-billionaire, one of the best companies in the world, you think he
could just relax a little. But he was not relaxed at all. He was driven, driven to succeed.” At their first meeting Jobs offered to buy Siri, but Cheyer and his team declined the offer. A month later, Jobs returned with another offer, demonstrating further interest. Eventually an agreement was made regarding not only the selling price of Siri but also how Siri would be implemented into Apple products. Siri would be at the forefront of devices and a part of users’ everyday interaction with their technology. Siri was officially launched a year later on Oct. 4, 2011, a day before Steve Jobs died of pancreatic cancer. After Siri was adapted by PHOTO COURTESY OF CREATIVE COMMONS
WORK AT APPLE: Siri was official launched on the Apple App Store a day before Steve Jobs passed away.
Apple, Cheyer worked for Apple for two and a half years, acting as the company’s director of engineering. Cheyer spoke fondly of his time at Apple. He recalled, “I learned so much about the engineering process and kinds of iterative design. They’re obsessive about looking at every pixel from the conception of a project to fulfillment, they have an incredible process for caring about what the consumers are going to see and experience.” After an exhaustive five years, during which his projects ranged from cofounding the Siri Company along with another AI company called Sentient and also working as a founding member for Change.org (one of the world’s largest petition websites), Cheyer was ready to leave his position at Apple and take time off to rest and explore other projects. In today’s world of conspiracy theories and caution toward technological advances, Cheyer said he was not all that concerned about the direction or future potential of AI. He explained that the current direction of AI is geared toward specific problem solving. Examples of such advances can be seen in selfdriving cars or computers that play chess and diagnose cancer from medical images. All these functions require specific programing, but, as Cheyer said, “We have made almost no advance in general intelligence. A chess-playing program has no idea how to play checkers.” Although the world of AI continues to be of increasing interest, with more federal funding toward AI research than ever before, Cheyer asserts that there has been no real progression towards this sort of artificial consciousness or ‘intelligence’ that science-fiction makes us fear. Cheyer continues working today to discover more technological miracles in the future of AI.
the justice ● Features ● TUESDAY, october 3, 2017
Climate Change is in the Air
Students and faculty discussed how to make Brandeis more sustainable YVETTE SEI/the Justice
A CLEANER FUTURE: Sustainability Program Manager Mary Fischer told students that change doesn’t happen overnight.
By Leigh salomon justice Staff writer
Half a dozen professors, several faculty and 70-something students walk into a room. This is either the setup to a very convoluted joke or it’s the annual State of Sustainability Forum at Brandeis. Last Monday, students, staff and faculty gathered in the Usdan International Lounge to meet and engage with all environmental groups on campus while learning about Brandeis’ latest sustainability efforts. Senate Sustainability Committee Co-Chair Benedikt Reynolds ’19 opened SoS with a revelation. During the preparation meetings for SoS, he realized practically none of the club members knew their fellow clubs’ members or their goals. He felt embarrassed. “If we are all fighting for the exact same thing — if we are all fighting to make [a] positive impact on our school and environment — why don’t we know each other?” That is why they moved SoS
from the end of the school year to the start: to inspire collaboration. Sustainability Programs Manager Mary Fischer spoke next, bringing the audience up to speed on all things green at Brandeis. To meet the promises of “We Are Still In” (the pact President Liebowitz and 2,300 other U.S. university presidents, governors and mayors signed to commit to the Paris climate agreement), Brandeis has already taken steps to reduce energy, carbon, water and trash output while increasing clean energy use, composting and recycling. For example, Fischer explained the residence hall being built to replace the Usen Castle won’t have even “one iota of natural gas for its heating.” Instead, forty five-hundred-foot geothermal wells will make the new building thirty percent more efficient than if it were built to regular building code. All of the old furniture from the Usen Castle has already been donated to a low-income city in Honduras — over 600 pieces of furniture, which amounted to 50,000 pounds of wood that avoid-
ed incineration, or 2 percent of Brandeis’ waste stream in 2016. Fischer also mentioned sustainability measures like the upcoming installation of solar panels on Goldfarb Library, Shapiro Campus Center and Linsey Pool, which will produce nearly 600,000 kilowatt-hours of solar energy and save 200 tons of CO2 every year. She also spoke on matters regarding renewable fuel oil made from fryer grease, which will replace 10 percent of Brandeis’ natural gas use and an all-campus climate activism competition starting during Global Climate Change Week. The winning team in the competition will receive Patagonia gear. Despite the progress made, Fischer reiterated that change doesn’t happen overnight. “I can’t press a button and make this happen. I need broad community buy-in. I need you.” Such examples of areas in need of improvement included turning off the lights in buildings at night, raising the recycling rate and reducing bottled water usage. Prof. Laura Goldin (ENVS)
spoke next, reflecting on the history of sustainability at Brandeis and how it brought her to the University in the first place. She practiced environmental law for 25 years, “fighting the good battles and writing great laws,” before Brandeis invited her to be a fellow and teach the environmental law class. Though she fell in love with Brandeis students and their dedication to social justice, the lack of environmental justice around campus appalled Goldin. In response, she and other environmentally-conscious faculty and members of Students for Environmental Action created an ad hoc committee called the Brandeis Environmental Sustainability Team. Before this, there was no Brandeis Sustainability Fund Committee, Manager or equivalent. There were only people who cared about environmental issues. Slowly, those people gained a voice on campus. Goldin said she ultimately “Decided to stick [her] foot in the door and never leave.” She would go on to resurrect the En-
vironmental Research Workshop course, now called Greening the Ivory Tower, from which many student projects still exist, such as DeisBikes, the Brandeis Rooftop Farm and TapBrandeis. The Brandeis clubs and groups chatted next. They summarized who they were and what they do to make a difference. Prof. Sabine von Mering (GRALL) was the last speaker. She summarized her work with FACT, the Faculty Against the Climate Threat, joking that it is made up “of the troublemakers of the faculty on campus.” They are currently pushing both for fossil fuel divestment and to secure an environmental literacy requirement in the upcoming changes to Brandeis’ general University requirements. She closed SoS by encouraging the audience, once more, to think about the ways in which they, individually, have the power to help stop climate change, from talking to non-environmental clubs, to becoming a vegetarian and everything in-between.
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Abby Patkin, Editor in Chief Amber Miles, Managing Editor Carmi Rothberg, Senior Editor Michelle Banayan, Abby Grinberg, Lizzie Grossman, Noah Hessdorf, Mihir Khanna, Mira Mellman, Jerry Miller and Sabrina Sung, Associate Editors Michelle Dang, News Editor, Victor Feldman, Acting Features Editor, Kirby Kochanowski, Features Editor Nia Lyn, Forum Editor, Ben Katcher, Sports Editor Hannah Kressel, Arts Editor, Natalia Wiater, Photography Editor Morgan Mayback, Acting Layout Editor, Pamela Klahr and Robbie Lurie, Ads Editors Jen Geller and Avraham Penso, Copy Editors MORGAN MAYBACK/the Justice
EDITORIALS Condemn oversights in Brandeis’ online security Students, faculty and staff have an email account through the University and, by extension, a Google calendar. For these calendars, the default settings allow anyone with a University email address to view other Brandeis calendars, unless users manually disable public access. This means that many students’ calendars have been publicly visible without their knowledge, and worse, the Justice found that select calendars within Academic Services and Student Financial Services were visible to Brandeis users until yesterday when reporters reached out for comment. Academic Services and Student Financial Services have since changed their settings to make all of their calendars private. Even so, this board denounces these departments’ carelessness. Students’ sensitive information never should have been visible to the public in the first place, and the University must ensure that an error of this magnitude never happens again. This oversight revealed individuals’ personal information that they may not have wanted announced to the greater University population. In particular, one advisor in Academic Services had a list of their upcoming appointments on their public calendar. The descriptions for these appointments included information such as what disabilities people received advising for and what sorts of accommodations they might need. The
Maintain confidentiality locations of meetings were also visible. In addition, personal information was listed, including the phone numbers of those who scheduled the meetings. Consequently, anyone with a University email address was able to see why an individual used either resource, what sort of help they might receive, where they had their appointment and how to contact them. An individual’s personal calendar should be private. For many, meetings and appointments are personal, and it is not the entire University’s business as to what they are doing, where they are going and why. Beyond that, Brandeis employees must be more careful with their students’ information, especially within departments like Academic Services and SFS, where trust and confidentiality are vital. As such, the University’s negligence in this situation is appalling. Moving forward, this board urges the University to better protect the privacy of individuals using University accounts, and we recommend that Brandeis make the default settings private for all students. Additionally, we urge students to evaluate the privacy settings of their University email calendar. This board encourages students to think about whether they want the entire University community to be able to see their personal appointments and other commitments.
Criticize University’s general education requirements The Justice Editorial Board has received newly proposed changes to the general education requirements created by the Task Force on General Education. Dean of Arts and Sciences Susan Birren announced in a Jan. 27 email that the Task Force would be reworking the requirements for an undergraduate degree. All proposed changes will not impact current Brandeis students but will be first adopted by the class entering in Fall 2019. Although this board commends the University for initiating this review and attempting to improve the core curriculum — which has not been changed in 23 years — we believe many of the proposed changes are restrictive and unnecessary. This board supports the proposed changes to writing intensive and oral communication requirements as well as the addition of a digital literacy requirement. These three requirements will be completed by students within their major department. The board believes this will encourage departments to rethink their internal curriculum and update courses to reflect the realities of modern industry, particularly in regards to technology. The creation of the “Health, Wellness, and Life Skills” requirements and the expansion of the University Writing Seminar into the new “First Year Experience,” however, is misguided. The “Health, Wellness, and Life Skills” requirement forces students to complete three non-credit courses or modules. This board believes the additional
Preserve academic flexibility time spent completing these requirements will frustrate alreadybusy students and create a vicious cycle of disinterest in learning potentially valuable life skills. Similarly, for first-year students eager to take interesting elective courses which have the potential to guide their next three years, the “First Year Experience” requirement adds more work which unnecessarily restricts students from pursuing areas of learning they are genuinely curious about. Included in the proposal is the statistic that over half of all Brandeis students double or triple major. This board believes that by adding two additional credit requirements and one additional non-credit requirement, the University is compromising the ability of its students to take charge of their own academic career. This board expressed similar concerns in Feb. 7 editorial in which we foreshadowed that “proposed amendments will likely hold back students more than help them.” It seems that our predictions will soon be reality. While this board recognizes these new requirements are intended to be positive changes meant to help students grow as individuals, we believe many are shortsighted and paternalistic. They will limit students’ academic exploration, and they fail to strike a healthy balance of flexibility and interdisciplinary learning.
Views the News on
On Sept. 26, Saudi Arabia announced that it would give women the right to drive, making it the last country in the world to do so. According to a Sept. 26 New York Times article, the change will be implemented in June 2018 and Saudi ambassador, Prince Khalid bin Salman even suggested that women will be able to obtain licenses without permission from a guardian. How do you feel about this decision and do you feel that it is a sign of further change to come?
Prof. Suleyman Dost (NEJS) This is obviously a most welcome and long overdue decision and it is especially important for the working women of Saudi Arabia, as they are spending much of their earnings on Uber or personal chauffeurs to get to work. This change comes as part of a general spirit of social reform initiated after the announcement of a young Crown Prince last June. It appears that the Saudi administration wants to improve the image of their country regarding human rights issues. Also, plummeting oil prices and effects of unstable regional politics on their economy possibly made Saudis reconsider their priorities. They must have realized that having more women in the workforce is more crucial than appeasing religious clerics who have long defended the ban on religious grounds. Reactions of the Saudi society and religious authorities to this important attempt of reform will decide whether we will see more change to come, including the loosening of the notorious male guardianship system. Prof. Suleyman Dost (NEJS) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies.
Prof. Kristen Lucken (IGS) The driving ban, along with male guardianship laws, have for decades created barriers to women’s fuller participation in the Saudi economy. Notoriously underemployed, women constitute over half the university graduates in Saudi Arabia, yet represent only a small fraction of the nation’s labor force. When the 31-year old Muhammad bin Salman (MBS) was elevated to the position of Crown Prince, he proposed sweeping economic reforms to diversify the Saudi economy and just overturned the decades-long driving ban for women. Some view this gesture as a sign of progress in a nation where women are considered second-class citizens. Others more cynically see it as a ploy meant to distract attention from recent crackdowns on Saudi clerics and political dissenters. Prof. Kristen Lucken (IGS) is a lecturer in International and Global Studies, Religious Studies and Sociology.
Prof. David Ellenson (NEJS) I am delighted that Saudi Arabia will grant women permission to drive. I believe freedom is a positive value and Saudi Arabia should be saluted for extending this right to its female citizens. It is an act of basic justice, and I hope it will be the first of many steps that this nation will take in advancing the basic rights of women. At the same time, I am aware that change often occurs at a glacial pace. While I applaud this decision as a positive step in the direction of granting equal rights to women, I simply do not know whether Saudi Arabia — with its particular tradition of patriarchal dominance and guardianship for women — will grant additional equality to its female citizens in the near future. I hope it does. Prof. David Ellenson (NEJS) is Director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies.
Ravi Simon ’19 Passing the driving test and getting a license was a pivotal moment of high school for me. The freedom to escape the home, to see friends and to go wherever I liked was incredible. It makes me happy to think that millions of Saudi women will now know the same sense of freedom and euphoria, magnified manyfold by the difficulty of achieving this right. This decision has inspired the world that even the most staunch opponents of feminism will cave to pressure eventually. Furthermore, it is a good omen for the upcoming rule of the current heir, Mohammed bin Salman, who appears cautiously willing to accept reform. Yet the news is also a reminder of the direness and absurdity of the situation for women in Saudi Arabia. Until the right to purchase and sell property, the right to work and get a proper education, get elected, or testify in court are fully acknowledged, Saudi Arabia will remain a system of gender apartheid. Ravi Simon ’19 is a member of the Brandeis Academic Debate and Speech Society. He also writes for the Brandeis International Journal.
THE JUSTICE ● fORUM ● TUESDAY, october 3, 2017
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Encourage feeling of safety among undocumented students By SANTIAGO MONTOYA JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Perhaps the day of the termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program was a silent day for those who have benefited from Barack Obama’s policy to work and study in the United States and avoid deportation. The silence is attributed to the fear and uncertainty, that old feeling that Dreamers experienced in a pre-DACA era — a time spent mostly in “the shadows,” a time that seems to prevail once again. University President Ronald Liebowitz responded to the DACA termination with an email to the entire Brandeis community, claiming that the decision from the Trump administration “is very upsetting” and that it “undermines the academic endeavors of our own students and is contrary to our basic values.” Liebowitz also assured that Brandeis is consulting with other universities and immigration attorneys to make sure that Brandeis students stay safe in school. Liebowitz responded not only to the entire Brandeis community but also to the Trump administration. In a letter addressed to the White House, he wrote that, at Brandeis, “we value our DACA students, who enrich our campus in many ways and are integral to our community.” In the history of social movements, it is the people directly affected by the lack of change that need to say, “I am here” in order for the movement’s agenda to move forward. More storytelling needs to be involved. For the Dreamers, their story is the story of yearning to live the promised “American Dream” — to study, work and establish a life in the land where the impossible is possible. Around the same time that the Trump administration announced plans to terminate DACA, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) spoke in front of Congress about three exceptional undocumented students from Massachusetts, including Elias Rosenfeld ’20. According to Warren’s website, on Sept. 6, she told Rosenfeld’s heartfelt story about being undocumented, speaking on his academic accomplishments and extolling his persona. Rosenfeld’s story was first publicly told by a reporter from CNN on March 13 of this year. His mother transferred to a company in Miami to keep her children safe from the violence occurring in Venezuela. She arrived on a visa that allows executives and managers from other countries to work in the U.S. and then to apply for a green card. Rosenfeld’s mother never got the chance to apply for a permanent residence because, when he was eleven, she died of cancer. Once his mother was gone, so was his protective status. Despite the implications of being publicly open about one’s immigration status,
MARA KHAYTER/the Justice
Rosenfeld felt he needed to come out of the shadows and tell his story. He’s done it in many forms: writing opinion pieces for the Justice, creating events related to immigration policy on campus, doing interviews and working with politicians — like Warren — to mention a few. He is the definition of an activist who desires to give the DREAM movement a positive face.
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Dreamers have shown that the are resilient, hardworking contributing members of society. It is necessary to shape any movement with stories from everywhere. The more stories from insiders, the less abstract it is for outsiders. People often underestimate the power of storytellers, but they can touch others, even the least cognizant on the topic,
by bringing understanding through universal human experience. With the burden lying on the dysfunctional Congress with a six-month moratorium and with Congress having loads of work ahead of them, having failed to pass any major piece of legislation during the first six months of Trump’s presidency, the pressure is heavier. They will have to deal with tax reform, passing a spending plan, raising the debt limit, writing a defense bill and — with this latest update on DACA — passing the DREAM Act or comparable legislation. The DREAM Act has been in queue for years already, occasionally passing the House but not the Senate, and other times passing the Senate but not the House, according to a Sept. 5 New York Times article. If it passes, the DREAM Act could grant a pathway to citizenship for approximately 800,000 Dreamers and current DACA recipients, according to a Sept. 14 article in the New York Post. Yet the way things are being run in Capitol Hill, there is no guarantee that a DREAM Act — a polarizing issue among Republicans in the past — will pass very soon. But what does it take to convince Congressmen? Dreamers have shown that
they are resilient, hard-working contributing members of American society. Is there a need to increase the storytelling? In the past, many of the dreamers have protected their identities, to avoid deportation or other repercussions, when speaking for their own cause. In fact, here at Brandeis, three years ago, there was a campaign by the club Brandeis Immigration Education Initiative that involved anonymous silhouettes that contained information about immigrants in the U.S. Those silhouettes were vandalized, with ugly remarks written on them, and some were even destroyed, according to an Oct. 2, 2014 article in the Brandeis Hoot. After the incident, no other cohesive intent was attempted. As the Oct. 5 deadline for DACA recipients to renew their status approaches, it ushers the end of an era of false comfort. Rosenfeld’s actions demonstrate bravery and inspiration at a time when most people would decide to just hide. By being publicly open as an undocumented individual, Rosenfeld maintains transparency so that one day everyone can feel comfortable to come out of the shadows, tell their story and keep sculpting the face of the Dreamers movement.
Criticize McDonald’s failed attempts to redesign their brand By EMMA FECKO JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING writer
The shamelessly underpaying, obesityencouraging establishment Americans know and love, McDonald’s is known for many things: low prices, quick food and unmatched elegance — or that is what the people behind the Big Mac want us to think at least. Mickey D’s latest business venture is not finding more somewhat-edible parts of a chicken to put into its nuggets but rather, updating its brand. Crazy as it seems, the homespun land of fries and McFlurries is trying to reinvent itself as a “modern progressive burger company,” according to a May 4, 2015 NPR article. Quite possibly the first time progressive has ever existed in a sentence about a company still churning out products bursting with transfat and cholesterol, this facelift is not only bizarre but also woefully desperate. Beginning in 1940, the fast food joint has made its mark on the country as the premier location for an instantaneous package of grease and only upped its popularity a few decades later with its drive-thru accessibility. With such established success stemming from doling out cheap, processed food, it is wildly confusing that McDonald’s is attempting to redefine itself. Yes, people in the 21st century are realizing that, mind bogglingly, eating healthily might
benefit them, but the entrenched entity of McDonald’s is not the place to participate in the trend. According to a Nov. 4, 2015 article in Business Insider, McDonald’s UK’s food development director, Duncan Cruttenden, stated, “[Our customers] told us they wanted thicker beef patties and high quality ingredients, freshly prepared.” Essentially, this means that consumers have decided it might be a good idea to put food designed for humans in their bodies. Because of Cruttenden’s findings, the new plan posed by the restaurant is thick burgers served on brioche buns, ideally made with actual ingredients. But due to the difference in quality, customers will now have to wait for their food rather than simply ordering a number nine and paying their two dollars. While the CEOs of McDonald’s are understandably trying to get with the times, the idea of waiting is foreign to fast food fanatics, and this causes the company to lose one of its most identifiable characteristics. According to a June 21 article in the Huffington Post, some customers in the drivethru window report being instructed to pull into a parking space and wait for their burgers. This is a direct result of McDonald’s decision to sell made-to-order sandwiches. One such patron, Tracy Moore, said, “If it’s going to be that long every time, I won’t order it. I’d go elsewhere.”
The latest strategy of “high-end burgers” is only one of the corporation’s recent attempts at revamping its brand. In 2004, McDonald’s introduced the incredibly short-lived “Go Active!” Adult Happy Meals featuring a salad, bottled water and a pedometer, according to a May 11, 2004 CNN article. When this campaign was not received well by adults, the company attempted to reintroduce pedometers in 2016 by including them in children’s Happy Meals, only to have to pull the pedometers after complaints of skin irritations. According to an Aug. 19, 2016 CNN article, a young boy was burned by his pedometer within eight minutes of wearing it, causing McDonald’s to once again terminate their campaign.
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McDonald’s should stick to what it knows best, and actual high-end restaurants should do the same. McDonald’s efforts at modernization have not only isolated its customers but also distanced the franchise from what made it itself.
Despite its effect on its workers and the ever-increasing national weight of America, McDonald’s is a unique staple in our country, and it would be hard to imagine life without it. By transforming itself to better fit in with the slew of more progressive companies, McDonald’s has attempted to bury what propelled it to fame, instead pushing the notion that it, too, can be modern. The company is trying to emerge from the dead with some relatively health-conscious decisions and layout renovations, but in the process, it is only confusing and frustrating its longtime customers. McDonald’s should stick to what it knows best, and actual high-end restaurants should do the same. Even if a significant portion of people today are deciding to consume food that will not give them diabetes, there will always be that one group who keeps coming back for more greasy grub. Although McDonald’s popularity may be decreasing, there are still almost 37,000 locations worldwide according to a Jan. 23 Inc. article. America’s number-one fast food locale has had a long history of ups and downs, but ultimately, if McDonald’s keeps churning out McRibs and maybe even some McSalads, we will continue to pull up in our cars, stick our hands in the drive-thru window and eat more food that is surely McKilling us.
The opinions expressed on this page are those of each article’s respective author and do not reflect the viewpoint of the Justice.
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Fine Print
The opinions stated in the editorial(s) under the masthead on the opposing page represent the opinion of a majority of the voting members of the editorial board; all other articles, columns, comics and advertisements do not necessarily. For the Brandeis Talks Back feature on the last page of the newspaper, staff interview four randomly selected students each week and print only those four answers. The Justice is the independent student newspaper of Brandeis University. Operated, written, produced and published entirely by students, the Justice includes news, features, arts, opinion and sports articles of interest to approximately 3,500 undergraduates, 900 graduate students, 500 faculty and 1,000 administrative staff. The Justice is published every Tuesday of the academic year with the exception of examination and vacation periods. Advertising deadlines: All insertion orders and advertising copy must be received by the Justice no later than 5 p.m. on the Thursday preceding the date of publication. All advertising copy is subject to approval of the editor in chief and the managing and advertising editors.
The Staff
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Editorial Assistants
Gwen Harris, Chelsea Madera, Adam Pann, Heather
Photography: Yvette Sei
Schiller*, Anna Sherman
Staff
Copy: Erica Breyman, Sarah Fine, Sara Fulton, Klarissa
News: Junsheng He, Liat Shapiro, Spencer Taft,
Hollander, Rachel Moore, Billy Wilson*
Arianna Unger*, Maurice Windley
Layout: Mayaan Rose
Features: Christine Kim, Leah Leybzon, Leigh Salomon
Illustrations: Ben Jarrett, Roman Loper, Aaron Marks,
Forum: Ben Feshbach*, Tafara Gava, Somar Hadid,
Julianna Scionti
Andrew Jacobson*, Maddox Kay*, Shubhan Nagendra, Elias Rosenfeld*, Ravi Simon, Judah Weinerman Sports: Gabriel Goldstein*, Samantha Proctor, Evan Robins Arts: Emily Blumenthal, Kent Dinlenc, Brooke Granovsky, Emily See, Anna Stern, Isabelle Truong Photography: Ydalia Colon, Talya Guenzburger,
* denotes a senior staff member.
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TUESDAY, october 3, 2017 ● forum ● THE JUSTICE
FORUM
Condemn untrustworthy actions of government officials By natalia wiater JUSTICE editor
While some may call President Donald Trump a misogynist, he is anything but that. He has appointed a woman to one of the most powerful positions in the White House: senior advisor to the president. She has authority over many important policy areas, such as Middle East peace, government reform, opioid crisis management and criminal justice reform. She is also the liaison to China, Mexico and the Muslim Community. Her name? Jared Kushner. In November 2009, Jared Kushner registered to vote in his home state, New York, and his gender is listed as “female,” according to a Sept. 28 BBC article. This mistake likely cannot be classified as voter fraud, which requires deliberately giving false information. While this seemingly benign mistake does not endanger national security, there is no shortage of other problems Kushner has been involved in that might. It is easy to get caught up in attentiongrabbing headlines — such as the ones revealing that Kushner is registered to vote as a female — but it is necessary to focus on the bigger issues at hand, the ones that make the American people doubt the trustworthiness and reliability of White House officials. Every White House official is required to complete a national security questionnaire, the SF-86, which discloses one’s foreign contacts. According to a July 17 article in the Washington Post, Kushner submitted his in January this year, yet has amended it three times since. Providing false information on the SF-86 can lead to the revocation of one’s security clearance, and can lead to prosecution if found to be done intentionally. In the same Washington Post article, legal analysts said “it was not uncommon for people to forget information” and Kushner immediately submitted an addendum the day after submitting the original, promising to submit a list of the overlooked contacts as soon as possible. While failure to disclose information may seem to be a simple oversight that was easily rectified, it became clear that Kushner did not include his attendance at a meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. When first asked about this, Kushner and his team did not respond to reporters’ questions regarding this issue and chose to stay silent, according to a July 14 article in New York magazine. Only later did he claim that he forgot to do so, but it is too much of a coincidence that he conveniently forgot to mention that Russian lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin was also present at the meeting, according to a July 14 article in the Washington Post. Per a July 10 New York Times article, the meeting was held under the guise of discussing American adoptions of Russian orphans, a practice banned by the Magnitsky Act. However, the meeting was actually about sanctions imposed on Russia, a revelation which ignites more talk of possible collusion between the Trump team and Russia. Mistakes can be made, but this does not seem like a mistake. Rather, it seems to be an intentional omission, something that must be taken seriously. If the omission was intentional,
JULIANNA SCIONTI/the Justice
Kushner must have had a reason; namely, he was trying to not draw attention to an event that bears close resemblance to collusion with a foreign government to sway a presidential election. Kushner also failed to disclose hundreds of millions of assets and financial holdings, a requirement under the law. Since his first filing in March, Kushner has amended the financial disclosure document 39 times as of July 21, according to a July 21 article in the Washington Post.
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In this day and age, information is priceless and a highly values commodity. Forgetting something once — that can be classified as an oversight. However, 39 times indicates a high level of incompetency for not being able to properly complete a task 38 times.
In a Sept. 25 article, The New York Times reported that Jared Kushner and five other officials — Stephen Bannon, Reince Priebus, Gary Cohn, Stephen Miller and Ivanka Trump — used a private email account in order to plan events and speak with White House officials as well as outside advisors. The article also stated that while it is not illegal for officials to use private emails, it is under the condition that they do not delete any work-related emails. This would not be a news story if not for the hypocrisy of this situation; Hillary Clinton, Trump’s opponent during the 2016 election, was berated for her use of a private server during her time as Secretary of State. Though Kushner neither leaked classified information nor posed a threat to the nation’s security, it is important to recognize the hypocrisy of Kushner and the five other officials using private emails, especially as the related controversy surrounded Clinton’s emails was blown out of proportion, possibly costing her the presidency. What does it say about officials if they cannot take responsibility for their actions and refrain from committing actions they criticized others for? It is easy to continue claiming that all of Kushner’s mistakes were simple oversights, but how many of these is the public supposed
to dismiss? There has to be a point at which the public recognizes malfeasance for what it is and decides that White House officials should not be let off the hook for failing to meet the expectations of their position. Careless people should not be running the government; this will translate into bad decisions that do not benefit the country. In this day and age, information is priceless and a highly valued commodity. The public has a right to know who their representatives in government are, what their motivations consist of and what sort of biases they might have. Kushner thinks he can draw away attention from his constant problems by focusing on Middle East peace, but the public has a responsibility to remember his mistakes and hold him accountable for them. Instead of focusing on trivialities such as Kushner’s gender according to New York State’s registration information, the public should use this as another example of Kushner’s nature. The public should not condone having a careless hypocrite in the White House, and it should not gloss over Kushner’s faults, but rather recognize them and pay close attention to his actions. Focusing on attention-grabbing headlines detracts from the real issue at hand: The public should not trust Jared Kushner.
Acknowledge new improvements being made by Student Union By JACOB EDELMAN SPECIAL TO THE JUSTICE
Since my transition into the Student Union presidency this spring, the Union team and I have spent dozens of hours per week on the question of what can be done to make Brandeis University — and the Student Union — better serve the student community. The team we have assembled refuses to settle for talk without action. This year, our efforts are being directed toward hitting meaningful goals in many directions, such as increasing student engagement, diversity of Union programs, sustainability, campus events and many more. These goals are meant to reap lasting benefits for Brandeis students now and in the future. Transitioning into the new year has seen some quick successes, such as new partnerships with student groups, staff and administrators that the Union has formed across the University, yielding many quiet yet tangible results. We have also seen an impressive amount of productivity by members on our Senate committees who are determined to make a difference and equipped with the resources they need to follow through. Still, the new year has left us aware of the recurring stumbling blocks we know we must address. Despite the hiccups, we are meeting problems as they arise and proactively addressing the very real underlying issues which exist. Last week, a Justice editorial highlighted improvements which needed to be made to the Union website to increase usability and access. The Union’s communications team agreed with
many of the points that were raised, so we took action. The Union’s website has long been a work in progress, and getting the site up to speed each year can prove a challenge. This is not due to lack of motivation by the site manager but rather because of an old technical quirk which prevented the manager from adding information to individual member profiles. The continual addition and subtraction of members over the course of the year can complicate the matter of keeping it entirely up to date. We confronted this challenge last week, switching to a system that allows the site manager full and uninhibited capacity to edit member profiles listed on the site. In the same area of website improvements, we also plan to add two virtual contact forms: The first will allow anyone to send a question to the Union and receive a response, and the second will allow anyone to submit feedback and ideas on what we can improve upon, with the option to request a follow-up conversation with a Union member. We are continuing to maintain the public “Petitions” page on the website for anyone who wishes to submit a public request. Finally, fall 2017 office hours for nearly all members are now live on the website. Waiting for students to reach out directly, however, is not enough, and we are planning ways to better our outreach efforts. Engaging with the community does not happen in our office on the third floor of the Shapiro Campus Center; it needs to happen everywhere, every day. The Union plans to hold a “Meet the Union” event in mid-October, packed with information about how students can talk with members
from each part of the Union beyond the office, opportunities to submit feedback, fun giveaways, helpful information and a fundraiser to benefit hurricane relief efforts. This semester, I will nominate a committee to review and propose revisions to the Student Union Constitution and Bylaws. This is a process that takes place every four years; this is one of them. Over the course of the review process, I will advocate heavily for constitutional changes that will cement openness and equity as integral parts of the Union’s functions. We will be accountable not only through individual initiatives that come and go year-to-year but also in our own book of rules.
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The team we have assembled refuses to settle for talk without action.
I will also begin holding open office hours across campus in the coming weeks, much like I did during my campaign for Union president. Traditionally, Union members spend their office hours in the Union office. While ensuring a member presence in the office during each weekday is important for many reasons, putting ourselves out and around campus —
The opinions expressed on this page are those of each article’s respective author and do not reflect the viewpoint of the Justice.
in an easily identifiable way — is critical. Not everyone knows a Union member off the top of their head or thinks to take the time to visit our office. One of the most important duties I carry out on a daily basis is to bring the student voice to members of the Brandeis staff and administration. Communicating in person — with students and non-students alike — is the best way to carry an idea. And our ideas and words have the power to spur the change we hope to make real. Brandeis students deserve a Student Union that’s personal. Responsiveness, outreach and transparency are qualities that deserve to be an expectation of representatives and should always be a standard. While not perfect, our Union has power to make change and strives to be representative of who we are. Our efforts to bring about change are continuous. We are starting to see progress on the larger issues we hope to accomplish this year, and I can’t wait to share a long series of updates in a forthcoming email to all students. On a personal note, I ask that if there is any feedback about the Union, about Brandeis or about my performance, please get in touch. Reach out. Speak up. We can only do as much as we know needs to be done. Talk to any member, and feel free to reach out directly. I’d love to speak with you. The Student Union is not just meant to be a group of elected and appointed undergraduates — it is all Brandeis undergraduate students, united. It is together that we work for change. It is together that we improve ourselves. It is together that we are at our best.
2017
10 THE JUSTICE ● Sports ● Tuesday, OCTOBER 3, 2017
WSOCCER: Club shows it should earn a higher ranking CONTINUED FROM 16 Willa Molho’s ’21 first career assist, fellow midfielder Katie Hayes ’20 hammered in her first goal of the season. A flurry of unsuccessful shots in the beginning minutes of the second half finally was rewarded, as the Judges reclaimed the lead on a goal by forward Haliana Burhans ’18. Schwartz established a new career high with 10 shot attempts, highlighted by a 45 second stretch toward the end of the game when she got off four shots in rapid succession without scoring. Her tremendous effort was rewarded 13 minutes later when
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HEADS-UP PLAY
she scored on her final attempt of the game, giving Brandeis the 3-1 lead that would take them the distance and give them the win. Next week promises a challenge for the Judges, who first play on Tuesday at Lesley University and then on Saturday against No. 13 Carnegie Mellon University in the Brandeis homecoming game. With the Judges looking up at conference foe Carnegie Mellon University in the National Collegiate Athletic Association standings, this will be a critical midseason match. Fans should look forward to an exciting showdown with national rankings on the line.
XC: Fans will wait to see if runners can MSOCCER: Squad will try maintain current to keep up its winning ways pace at Oct. 14 meet
YDALIA COLON/Justice File Photo
LOCKED IN: Forward Jake Warren ’20 scans the turf with laser focus in a home match against Babson College on Sept. 9.
CONTINUED FROM 16
CONTINUED FROM 16 “race at Keene State was a great step forward for the Brandeis XC team despite the horrid weather conditions. Several members of the team opened up with great performances and we are looking forward to improving in the next upcoming weeks.” The team’s first-place finish followed strong performances at the UMass-Dartmouth Invitational and Wellesley College Invitational. At UMass, the squad finished in
second out of 40 teams, while they took home the top overall title at Wellesley College. The Judges will next be in action on Oct. 14 at the Connecticut College Invitational. At the same meet last year, the women’s team finished fifth out of 21 teams, while the men also earned a fifth-place finish. After traveling to Connecticut College, both squads will be going to the University Athletic Association Championships on Oct. 28 in Woodland Park, New Jersey.
top of the box to give the Lyons a 1-0 lead. The Judges responded quickly, however, when forward Andrew Allen ’19 scored the equalizer off a Flahive assist just two minutes after Wheaton drew first blood. The Judges never looked back from there, scoring a barrage of goals throughout the rest of the match. The team took the lead in the 15th minute when forward Mike Lynch ’18 took advantage of a fortunate rebound, blasting home the putback for a 2-1 lead. Midfielder Bernardo Ponte ’18 added to the Judges’ lead in the 26th minute, netting a beautiful
goal off an assist from Breiter. The Judges were not finished after Ponte’s goal, tacking on another in the 59th minute in the form of a breakaway goal orchestrated by midfielder Dylan Hennessy ’20. The Judges scored their fifth and final goal of the match just one minute later when Allen took a similar breakaway to the house. Allen was assisted by star forward Josh Ocel ’18, whose 39 career assists has him second in program history. Though the match proved underwhelming in competitiveness, the coaching matchup was notable for several reasons. The Judges faced off against Mike Coven, the
squad’s longtime coach and respected coaching legend, who came out of retirement to coach the Lyons when his friend and former Wheaton coach Matt Cushing passed away unexpectedly before the start of the regular season. What’s more, Judges coach Gabe Margolis, who was Coven’s assistant and associate head coach for 11 seasons, returned to his alma mater from which he graduated in 2005. The victory brings the Judges to 6-2-0 on the season. The loss drops Wheaton to 3-4-2 on the year. Looking ahead, the Judges host the Massachusetts Institute of Technology tonight at 7 p.m.
SOCCER VOLLEYBALL TENNIS TRACK
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jUDGES BY THE NUMBERS
● Sports ●
Tuesday, OCTOBER 3, 2017
15
VOLLEYBALL
Men’s Soccer UAA STANDINGS Chicago Carnegie JUDGES Emory WashU Rochester NYU Case
UAA Conf. W L D 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0
TEAM STATS Goals
Overall W L D 10 0 0 7 1 1 7 2 0 7 2 0 6 2 1 6 2 2 5 2 1 4 5 1
Patrick Flahive ’18 is tied for the team lead with four goals. Pct. Player Goals 1.000 Patrick Flahive 4 .875 Mike Lynch 4 .778 Andrew Allen 3 .778 Joshua Handler 2 .750 .750 Assists .714 Josh Ocel ’18 leads the team .444 with six assists. Player Assists Josh Ocel 6 Max Breiter 4 Noah Gans 2 Jake Warren 2
EDITOR’S NOTE: Today vs. MIT Saturday vs. Carnegie Mellon Oct. 13 at University of Rochester
WOMen’s Soccer UAA STANDINGS
TEAM STATS Goals
Chicago WashU JUDGES Carnegie Emory NYU Rochester Case
UAA Conf. W L D 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0
Overall W L D Pct. 10 0 0 1.000 9 0 1 1.000 8 1 1 .889 7 1 1 .875 6 3 0 .667 5 3 1 .625 5 3 1 .625 4 6 0 .400
EDITOR’S NOTE: Today at Lesley University Saturday vs. Carnegie Mellon Oct. 13 at University of Rochester
Samantha Schwartz ’18 leads the team with six goals. Player Goals Samantha Schwartz 6 Sasha Sunday 5 Haliana Burhans 3 Julia Matson 3
Assists Sasha Sunday ’19 leads the team with six assists. Player Assists Sasha Sunday 6 Haliana Burhans 3 Katie Hayes 2 Hannah Maatallah 2
VOLLEYBALL UAA STANDINGS
TEAM STATS Kills
Chicago Carnegie Emory Case WashU Rochester JUDGES NYU
UAA Conf. W L 3 0 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 0 3 0 3
Overall W L 15 3 18 1 14 2 13 7 10 6 11 7 7 6 3 15
Pct. .833 .947 .875 .650 .625 .611 .538 .167
EDITOR’S NOTE: Thursday vs. WPI Saturday vs. Gordon College Saturday vs. UMass-Dartmouth
Emma Bartlett ’20 leads the team with 93 kills. Player Kills Emma Bartlett 93 Shea Decker-Jacoby 91 Marissa Borgert 85 Belle Scott 61
Digs Yvette Cho ’19 leads the team with 223 digs. Player Digs Yvette Cho 223 Shea Decker-Jacoby 98 Marissa Borgert 87 Jillian Haberli 73
cross cOuntry Results from the Keene State College Invitational on Sept. 30.
TOP FINISHERS (Men’s)
TOP FINISHERS (Women’s)
5-Mile Run RUNNER TIME Ryan Stender 25:46 Mitchell Hutton 26:03 Luke Ostrander 26:31
5-Kilometer Run RUNNER TIME Emily Bryson 17:38 Julia Bryson 18:51 Niamh Kenney 19:16
EDITOR’S NOTE: Oct. 14 at Connecticut College Invitational Oct. 28 at UAA Championships (New Jersey)
GWEN HARRIS/Justice File Photo
ACES FOR ’DEIS: Team captain libero Yvette Cho ’19 readies her serve at home against Bowdoin College on Sept. 8.
Team cannot come out on top within division ■ Libero Yvette Cho ’19 had 17 digs against the University of Rochester, bringing her season total up to 223. By SAMANTHA PROCTOR JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
The women’s volleyball team has struggled over its last four matches. While the team won on Sept. 21 against Emerson College, it has since lost three consecutive matches. Furthermore, all three losses came at the hands of University Athletic Association division opponents. Judges 1, Rochester 3 On Sunday, in Cleveland, Ohio, the Judges fought hard but were not able to win the match, as they lost 1-3 by scores of 18-25, 25-21, 2426 and 17-25 against the University of Rochester. The Judges kept the match interesting during the middle, as their loss in the first set only added fuel to their fire to eventually beat Rochester in the second set. They fell only two points behind in the third set to give their opponents a fright, but were unable to come out on top in the last set. The Judges still came away with some amazing play on the court
despite the loss. In terms of kill percentages, middle hitters Emma Bartlett ’20 and Kirsten Frauens ’19 posted solid .346 and .250 marks throughout the match. Right side hitter Marissa Borgert ’21 had a total of 19 assists followed by setter Leah Pearlman ’19 with 18. Libero Yvette Cho ’19 continued to add to her outstanding amount of digs with the most throughout the match. She had a total of 17 for the match, and now has a total of 223 digs across the first 13 matches of the year. Judges 0, Emory 3 On Saturday the Judges again were unable to come out on top with an 0-3 loss against Emory University by scores of 21-25, 16-25 and 10-25. At the second game of the day, the Judges fought diligently and stayed resilient right to the very end. Despite the loss, the Judges were still able to make great plays. Four people were able to come out with positive kill percentages, including Borgert with .333, outside hitter Shea Decker-Jacoby ’19 with .100, Pearlman with 1.000 and Frauens with .062. Again, Cho singlehandedly carried the team with 12 digs. Pearlman had the most assists with 15 and Borgert led the team with 11 points for the match. Borgert has been a superstar for the Judges in her
rookie campaign. Judges 0, Chicago 3 Earlier that day, the Judges could not come out with a win in the first of two matches. They were shut out by the University of Chicago by scores of 18-25, 12-25 and 21-25. The Judges still showed flashes of potential throughout the match. More than half of the team was able to obtain positive kill percentages, including Decker-Jacoby with .154, Borgert with .188, Bartlett with .111, middle hitter Belle Scott ’21 with .062, Pearlman with 1.000 and right side hitter Zara Platt ’19 with .115. Borgert also added 20 assists and nine digs, while Cho recorded 16 digs. Bartlett, Platt, Borgert and Decker-Jacoby were able to come out with great performances, contributing the most points in the match with eight, eight, five and five, respectively. Judges 3, Emerson 0 On Thursday, Sept. 21 at Emerson College, the Judges shut out their opponents 3-0 by scores of 25-22, 25-18 and 25-19. The team pulled off some great hitting percentages throughout the match with .075, .242 and .161 marks for the three sets, with Decker-Jacoby coming away with an outstanding individual mark of 462. Cho again had the most digs with 21.
PRO SPORTS BRIEF Boston Red Sox clinch division title for second straight season, head to October with high hopes On a cold and wet Saturday afternoon, Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel took the mound for the 67th time this season, with a four-run lead and an opportunity to clinch the American League East in backto-back seasons — the first time in club history. He struck out leadoff batting infielder Yuli Gurriel, allowed a home run to former teammate catcher Brian McCann, then let up a double to outfielder Cameron Maybin. However, he regrouped and finally struck out pinch hitting outfielder Tony Kemp and outfielder George Springer to seal a 6-3 win over the Houston Astros, beating out the New York Yankees for the AL East title. The outing was reminiscent of the team’s week: the Sox had several opportunities to shut the
door on the second-place Yankees, but lost four of five games before finally clinching the division. The final few weeks of September highlighted several concerns heading into the postseason, as an underperforming pitching staff and a streaky offense continued to prevent the team from looking like World Series contenders. In a preview of their first round matchup against Houston, the Sox closed out the season by dropping three out of four, as the AL West champions finished the season by leading Major League Baseball in both batting average and on-base percentage. It’s a tough draw for the third-seeded Red Sox, but the newly crowned division champs have proven more than anything this season that they are resilient.
They have more extra-inning wins than any team in baseball and the second-lowest bullpen ERA. As Sox outfielder Mookie Betts put it, “Once you’re in the postseason, anything can happen” — so don’t be surprised if this team pulls off a first round upset. There are several bright spots on this roster, starting with last season’s AL MVP runnerup in Betts. While the rest of the team struggled offensively, Betts slugged .583 with a .281 batting average in the month of September, after a slightly disappointing followup campaign to his MVP-caliber season. The absence of David Ortiz has been felt all year, and the Sox are in desperate need of a leader in October who can spark their often sluggish offense. Betts has emerged
as a front-runner for this role, and the team’s playoff chances rest largely on his shoulders — along with another member of the young Boston outfield. Rookie outfielder Andrew Benintendi has impressed at the plate and in the field, hitting both for power and average in the middle of the lineup. Benintendi has the potential to have a breakout postseason, after an impressive playoff debut last year in which he went 3-for-9 and cracked both a home run and a double. Despite finishing the regular season with a team ERA of 3.70, (the fourth best in baseball) the Red Sox rotation remains the biggest question mark as they head to Houston. Even with pitchers as dominant as Chris Sale and a surprisingly phenomenal pitcher
in Drew Pomeranz going in games 1 and 2, respectively, the Sox have little to look forward to afterward. Reigning Cy Young award-winning pitcher Rick Porcello added over a full run to his ERA this year, while pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez has had minimal success since his knee injury in June. Another possible candidate for a start in Game 3 is pitcher Doug Fister, who showed flashes of potential in September but ultimately ended the season with an ERA of nearly 5. Boston starters will bear a heavy load this postseason, especially if the offense continues to struggle, but a few quality starts and continuing dominance from the bullpen can make for a real postseason run. —Donnie Weisse
just
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LOVE THAT DIRTY WATER The Boston Red Sox clinched the American League East title yet again and will begin their playoff run on Thursday, p. 15.
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Men’S SOCCER
PUSHING PAST
Judges cruise to victory on the road ■ Forward Patrick Flahive ’18
netted his fourth goal in a 1-0 win over divisional foe Case Western Reserve University. By GABRIEL GOLDSTEIN JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER
The men’s soccer team had a solid bounce-back week after dropping a gut-wrenching 1-0 match against longtime rival and defending national champion Tufts University last weekend. Judges 1, Case Western 0 The Judges finished their week with a matchup against the Case Western Reserve University Spartans. The squad hit the pitch primed for a tenacious match with its conference foes, coming out of the gates strong with a quick goal in the 4th minute. In a typically impressive offensive attack, midfielder Max Breiter ’20 delivered a silky smooth pass to star forward Patrick Flahive ’18, who proceeded to blast home a goal to draw first blood for the Judges. The goal is Flahive’s fourth in a season that is shaping up to be an impressive senior campaign for
Waltham, Mass.
the veteran. Case Western was unable to break through the Judges’ stifling defense throughout the match, managing just one shot on-goal throughout the entirety of the game. The Spartans’ weak offensive showing allowed Judges coach Gabe Margolis to split time with his goalkeepers, with Ben Woodhouse ’18 and Greg Irwin ’20 each spending 45 minutes in-net. Though the Judges punched in a goal early, they were unable to add to their lead during the rest of the match. The squad managed nine shots on goal to give Spartans senior goalkeeper Calvin Boyle a busy afternoon, but were unable to net any attempts after Flahive’s strike. The victory brings the Judges to 7-2-0 and gives the squad its first conference win of the season. The loss drops the Spartans to 4-5-1 on the year and 0-1-0 in conference play. Judges 5, Wheaton 1 The Judges opened their week with a 5-1 shellacking of the Wheaton College Lyons. Wheaton struck first in the third minute when senior captain forward Amara Sessay converted on a free kick from the
See MSOCCER, 13 ☛
CROSS COUNTRY
Athletes bring home the gold once again ■ The Brandeis cross country
teams continued their strong seasons with respective firstplace wins this past weekend. By NOAH HESSDORF JUSTICE EDITOR
The men’s and women’s cross country teams both captured first place overall finishes in the Keene State Cross Country Invitational. In addition to the team titles, both squads had key individuals pace the field. The women's team was led once again by Emily Bryson ’19, who took home the top individual spot in the meet. Trailing a few places behind her was Julia Bryson ’19, who finished in fourth with a time of 18:51, which was one minute and 13 seconds behind Emily. The Bryson sisters have been true leaders for this incredibly talented squad. They are consistently dependable and have showed no signs of slowing down this season. After the Bryson sisters, Niahm Kenney ’21 and Danielle Bertaux ’20 placed sixth and seventh, with stellar times of 19:16 and 19:19, respectively. Rounding out the top 10 for the Judges was Kyra Shreeve ’18 whose time of 19:48 was good for 10th place. While the team has proven runners leading the charge, it is clearly in good shape moving forward, given its immense depth of talent. The last two runners in the top seven for the team were Doyin Ogundiran ’19 and Christine Minor ’19. Ogundiran and Minor recorded 11th and 18th places with times of 19:55 and 20:15. The team’s overall first-place finish was 24 points better than second place Colby College. Third place went to Clark University, closely followed by the fourth-place hosts, Keene
State College. Rounding out the top five for the overall team event was Southern Vermont College. The squad has had an excellent run so far in this early campaign. The team finished in third place out of 40 teams at the University o f Massachusetts-Dartmouth Invitational on Sept. 16. That was preceded by a first place overall finish at the Wellesley College Invitational on Sept. 1. This team simply cannot be stopped. Like their female counterparts, the men’s squad performed exceptionally well at the meet. Leading them to a first place overall finish was Ryan Stender ’18 who completed the race in 25:46, which gave him the individual title. Stender had previously captured four secondplace finishes and two third-place finishes, but this was his first-ever solo victory. As a veteran, Stender has been a dependable force over the years and this season has been no exception. Also representing the senior class was Mitchell Hutton ’18 who finished just 17 seconds behind Stender as he finished in second place. Behind Hutton for the Judges were first-years Luke Ostrander ’21 and Mark Murdy ’21. Ostrander finished in fifth place after a time of 26:31, and Murdy’s time of 26:40 gave him a seventhplace finish. After the first-years were two seniors in Liam Garvey ’18 and Max Whitmore ’18. Garvey, in his first race of the season, earned a ninth-place finish with a time of 26:45, while Whitmore’s time of 26:58 gave him the 11th place finish. Brian Gao ’20 came in at 17th place with a time of 27:23. Veteran Christ Castro ’18 remarked that while the conditions of the meet were difficult, the
See XC, 13 ☛
YDALIA COLON/the Justice
FAST FEET: Forward Sasha Sunday ’19 cruises past her defender during a match against Wellesley College on Sept.26.
Team looks especially sharp after eighth win ■ The Judges continued their
impressive run this season after a pair of commanding victories this past week. By EVAN ROBINS JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
The women’s soccer team kept its season rolling in the right direction with impressive wins this week against Wellesley College on Tuesday and Case Western Reserve University on Sunday. Now with an 8-1-1 record, the Judges look to move up in the Division III rankings after starting the week ranked No. 24 by the United Soccer Coaches. Judges 3, Case Western 0 The Judges won their first conference match of the season, shutting out Case Western in a commanding performance. As has become the norm this season, the team had its way on the offensive end, generating 20 shots to Case Western’s six. Midfielder Becca Buchman ’19 had a day to remember, scoring her first career goal at the 30:31-minute mark to get the Judges
on the board first. Forward Sasha Sunday ’19 assisted on the play, which would be her first of two big assists on the day. After 30 minutes of game time without scoring from either team, Sunday chipped a pass to forward Samantha Schwartz ’18, which Schwartz knocked in for her team-leading sixth goal of the season. Only one minute and four seconds later, defender Emily Thiem ’19 scored unassisted from an estimated 30 yards out to put the Judges up 3-0, good for her second goal of the season. Case Western managed only one more shot the rest of the way, which was skillfully handled by goalkeeper Sierra Dana ’20 for only her second save of the hard-fought match. Schwartz’s and Sunday’s big games continue this outstanding season for the veterans. Schwartz has taken on a larger offensive role following the graduation of last season’s leading scorer, forward Lea McDaniel ’17. With six goals in 10 games, Schwartz is on pace to best her career-high 11 goals last year. This has come with an all-around increase in volume for the senior, as with 46 shots already she is primed to soon surpass
the 54 shots she took a year ago. Sunday, too, has stepped up in a big way this season. After coming off the bench last year, the junior has started nine of her 10 games in this campaign, and has been one of the team’s primary playmakers. Despite not recording any assists in her first two seasons, Sunday’s six assists this season leads the team and has her knocking on the door of the NCAA Division III assist leaders. Add to this her own five goals and it’s clear that she has emerged as a star on this team. Judges 3, Wellesley 1 The Judges started their week with their seventh win of the season in a commanding performance over the Wellesley Blue. While not scoring until the 40-minute mark, the Judges overwhelmingly outshot the Blue, evenly distributing their 28 total shots over the two halves in comparison to Wellesley’s game total of five. Despite their few shots, the Blue took the game’s first lead on a goal by sophomore forward Deyanira Ibarra, and held this lead until the closing moments of the first half. Following midfielder
See WSOCCER, 13 ☛
Vol. LXX #4 Vol. LXX #2
October 3, 2017 September 12, 2017
just just
>>pg. 19
Arts
Waltham, Mass.
Artwork: Sachiko Akiyama. Images: Chelsea Madera/the Justice. Design: Yvette Sei/the Justice.
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THETUESDAY, JUSTICE October | Arts | TUESDAY, 3, 2017 iJanuary Arts i THE 31,JUSTICE 2017
movie review
‘mother!’ will make you cry for mommy By mendel weintraub justice contributing writer
“mother!” is one of those good movies that is simply impossible to like. Ironically, this is due to a quality that would, in most situations, make a movie beloved — that quality being superb direction. The trouble is that when you allow a director with as twisted a mind as Darren Aronofsky, a man who has such a distinct ability to realize his visions, to go out and direct his own screenplay about the relationship between a young wife and a poet as insane as the auteur director himself, the result will inevitably be a terrifying film that is barely worthy of a first viewing. Paramount Pictures was evidently willing to take a leap of faith in distributing this movie, a move which is from one perspective commendable, considering the lack of willingness major studios have demonstrated with regard to producing films based on original screenplays in recent years. On the other hand, it is also a choice that has — predictably — been criticized, since it has in turn allowed for images to be committed to film that should never have been permitted in the first place. Never in my life have I been so disturbed by a movie, which is saying a lot, because I saw Luc Besson’s “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” this past summer, a film which is disturbing in its own right by virtue of the fact that it even exists in the first place. Aronofsky’s biblical and environmentalist allegory of a film begins in flames. Its opening moments present us with the burning face of a nameless
woman, who is then engulfed by a fire which proceeds to die down. All we see next is the remains of a burnt-down house, which begins to rebuild itself after another nameless character places a crystal on one of the remaining shelves of the home. The camera follows this rebirth from the entrance of the house into the bedroom of a couple played by Academy Award winners Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem, whose characters, like the burning woman in the first frame, are nameless for the entirety of the story. However, Lawrence and Bardem are billed in the credits as Mother and Him. Lawrence brings her usual 150 percent to her performance, which is hands-down the most interesting of her career, and at the same time, her most bizarre career choice, considering she accepted her role before even seeing a script. Lawrence confessed in promotionals for the film that before working on “mother!” she was yearning to work with Aronofsky, whom she is now in a relationship with. Evidently, she harbors a deep admiration for more than just his work, which is concerning when one takes into account how severely twisted Darren Aronofsky’s mind is. (But then again, it is not up to the public to determine who Jennifer Lawrence dates. She is free to frolic with the art world’s insane to her heart’s content). If one thing can be said, it is that she makes a meal out of her role, and as always, is captivating to watch. Bardem’s performance is fine. He doesn’t do much of anything we haven’t seen from him before. This film is just another showcase of his affinity for playing menacing charac-
ters, building on his “disturbing character” resume, which includes “Skyfall” and “No Country for Old Men.” With the exception of the opening shot, “mother!” seems fairly pedestrian in its first act, until the arrival of Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer, who portray yet another nameless couple (are you starting to sense a trend here?). At that point, the film slowly descends into complete madness, a madness that violently flourishes under Aronofsky’s direction but also serves to make the stomach churn. What ensues in the third act is Aronofsky’s take on the cinematic trope of the Vietnam War nightmare, complete with raining bullets and beastly human behavior, which he spices up with an overdose of narrative cocaine, a recipe — and major spoilers here — which somehow yields imagery of Kristen Wiig wielding a handgun, the death-by-necksnapping of a crowd-surfing newborn infant at the butterfingered hands of a subsequently cannibalistic crowd (yes, they eat the baby), and a lightly toasted Jennifer Lawrence allowing Javier Bardem to pull out her heart. If any of what I just mentioned is to your personal taste, I cannot recommend this movie enough; congratulations on finding something as accommodating to your neural particularities as Darren Aronofsky’s “mother!” And while “mother!” has flopped at the box office since its opening on Sept. 15, if people who like this film exist it is bound to find its audience, just as every other one of Aronofsky’s films has. However, that by no means implies that I think it will ever fall into the popular category of “beloved.”
Photo Courtesy of Creative Commons
MOTHER AND HIM: Lawrence and Bardem pictured in a promotion for the film. The crack running between them foreshadows dark events to come.
exhibition review
Contemporary galleries invite contemplation By hannah kressel justice editor
Art rooted in the political is not a new trope. Even in the time of the Old Masters, it seems like the political climate of the time seeped into each painting. Whether it requires the decoding of colors (a martyr in a painting, for example, clothed in the colors of the governing power — think Francisco Goya’s “The Third of May 1808”) or a figure’s striking resemblance to a monarch, art is latent with political opinions, some more obvious than others. There is nothing inherently negative about political art. However, what is negative is using politics as a crutch to make art relevant and reassert the importance of art — the ‘political explanation.’ With the Museum of Fine Art, Boston’s new installations,
Entering the first gallery, we are ensconced in a world of ritual and religion. In front of us is “Confessional,” a wooden and wire mesh sculpture by Martin Puryear, and to the right is one of the mannerist masterpieces from the Museum’s permanent collection, Rosso Fiorentino’s “Dead Christ with Angels.” Two early John Cage compositions play throughout the gallery, reinforcing an air of religious presence and veneration. Puryear’s cradle is a violent interruption on the floor of the gallery, obstructive and dark, evoking the sins of body and mind one may utter in a Catholic confessional. This sits in satisfying juxtaposition to the makeshift walls that create an altar, of sorts, to the romantic, soft Fiorentino — a physical space to experience and contemplate. This gallery is deliciously seductive, playing with the pres-
Photo Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts
MOUNTAIN ABSTRACTION: Joan Mitchell’s “Chamoix” is visceral and emulative of mountains, juxtaposing the sculptures of mountains also in the gallery. “Seeking Stillness” and “Mark Rothko: Reflection,” which spans the Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art, the Museum falls prey to the ‘political explanation,’ weighing on the wonderful works shown.
ence of drama in the religious space. Continuing to the next space of the Wing, we are welcomed to a delightfully open gallery focusing on the meditative practice the creation of art allows. Korean artist
Ha Chong-Hyun thrusts us into her space of creation in “Conjunction 15-214” as we follow each scrape of oil paint down the hemp burlap. We see where the oil from the paint has bled into the burlap, feel the force of her practice as she pushed the white paint through the burlap and pulled it down the canvas. Across the way is a Mayan shell paint container, which is curved to the shape of an artist’s hand. Both works present us with an artist’s most intimate moment — their moment of contemplation and meditation as they created their work. We can feel the clutch of the Mayan artist as they held the paint vessel as they worked. Our backs ache imagining the pressure of pushing oil paint through the stitching of burlap as Ha’s must have. Walking into the final section of “Seeking Stillness” with the phantom feelings of the meditative, visceral process, we are drawn out into the broader world of creation and contemplation in nature as presented in art. Centered in the gallery is Zhan Wang’s “Artificial Rock #85,” a chrome plated, stainless steel megalith. Wang’s piece speaks to the tradition of the scholar’s rock in China, in which rocks were valued for their resemblance to mountains, places of meditation and heightened spiritual connection. Walking around this masterpiece, the craft is as lulling and magnanimous as the spirit it references. A Joan Mitchell on the wall, “Chamonix,” visually reinforces the idea of the mountain while beautiful Edward Weston photographs of Carmel, California pull this spirituality out to a wider landscape. However, as “Seeking Stillness” ends, the final room of the Wing is occupied by a Mark Rothko retrospective, much of which is on loan from the National Gallery of Art, titled, “Mark Rothko: Reflection.” The art itself is as seductive and portal-like as we can hope from a Rothko show. Especially inviting are a few rarely seen pieces, including the sweet melon and cream canvas, “Untitled” from 1955. However, no matter how lovely each Rothko
Photo Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts
DARK PORTALS: Rothko’s “No. 8” is a dark lifesize canvas that seems to engulf viewers, acting as a portal into a mental space. experience is, should it really be the title exhibition in a contemporary gallery for current artists? Mark Rothko has been dead since 1970 — surely he is not a practicing, contemporary artist. Rather, the Museum of Fine Arts has patted itself on the back for this decision — placing an oft-acclaimed artist’s work in the contemporary gallery instead of a current artist under the trite explanation that these works are ever more important given our “current political climate” (as Ann and Graham Gund Director, Matthew Teitelbaum explained in a press preview on Tuesday Sept. 19). First of all, Mark Rothko had no idea of the political climate in 2017 when he was creating his transcendent work. Secondly, it is unnecessary to bog down Rothko’s work with such a trite, prosaic
analysis. His work, as he once remarked, is “not a picture of an experience; it is an experience.” Rothko’s paintings find glory in what they grant as a viewer stands in their presence, and to limit their wonder to “politically relevant in 2017” is obnoxiously reductive. This being said, the work currently exhibited in the contemporary galleries (until July 1, 2018) is a treat. Each piece is mesmerizing, and the gallery space is beautifully laid out, allowing for space to contemplate, meditate and reflect. However, while perusing the galleries, perhaps visitors should note today’s political climate and how it is important now more than ever to support contemporary artists, and maybe save the Rothkos for another time (no disrespect intended of course, Mr. Rothko).
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THE JUSTICE i TUESDAY, January 31, 2017 THE JUSTICE i artsi iarts Tuesday, October 3, 2017
exhibition review BUST IN BLUE: Akiyama’s wooden bust appears dipped in navy paint, splitting up the visual plane of the piece.
Photos by CHELSEA MADERA/the Justice
SCULPTURE OF A GIRL: Much of Akiyama’s work shows figures obstructed by or melded with images of the natural world.
Kniznick exhibits elusive wooden sculpture By lizzie grossman justice editor
This past Wednesday, the Kniznick Gallery in Epstein had the privilege of hosting a very compelling speaker: Sachiko Akiyama post-bacc ’00, a New Hampshire-based artist whose solo exhibition “Long Hand Poem” is currently displayed in the gallery. The exhibit was curated by Susan Metrican, the Rosalie and Jim Shane Curator & Director of the Arts at the Kniznick Gallery. The talk began with Metrican introducing Prof. Karen Hansen (WMGS) as the new director of the Women’s Studies Research Center. Afterward, she introduced Akiyama. Akiyama’s work has been displayed in the United States and abroad, including at the Akino Fuku Museum in Hamamatsu, Japan. She is currently a professor of sculpture at the University of New Hampshire and was previously an assistant professor of sculpture at Boston University. Akiyama presented the unique ideas of her artwork, which mainly consists of wooden sculptures and other pieces that incorporate different forms of three-dimensional art. She said that much of her work explores how different qualities of art relate to each other. She enjoys making pieces that combine prints and sculptures, and creating an interaction between two-dimensional and three-dimensional art in a single sculpture. Akiyama used a PowerPoint presentation to showcase pictures of her work as she described her motives behind her pieces. As evident in the presentation, many of her pieces are life-size figures of women made of wood. Akiyama explained that she wants her figures to represent internal
portraits, or the internal life of a person. She also explained that weight and lightness are important metaphors within her work. Akiyama’s work is heavily influenced by religious and spiritual sculptural traditions. She explained that some of her inspiration comes from Giovanni Bellini,
those of her family members, each of them holding different birds representative of their personalities. Birds are a common theme within her work. Another significant work of hers was a piece of her holding a blue heron, which she explained was inspired both by a Pablo Picasso painting of a blue
features her holding an American version of a Japanese crane. The most interesting and ambiguous part of the sculpture is the slight movement in the crane’s legs. She explained that she often chooses symbols of ambiguity to display in her work, as she likes her art to be open to interpretation.
PERUSING PIECES: Two people study the small bust, the face of which has been replaced by a painting of a landscape.
her favorite Renaissance painter, as well as the art of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. One of my favorite pieces of hers was a series of sculptures inspired by those at Notre Dame. In this piece, she replaced sculptures of saints with
heron and by a blue heron she used to see while running in Brookline, Massachusetts during the time she lived there. Akiyama’s parents are Japanese, and the crane is an important symbol in Japanese culture. One of her sculptures
Another unexpected aspect of her art that Akiyama mentioned was the scale she likes to use when creating her sculptures. She said that she likes her sculptures to be big enough to take up space, but small enough to represent a
world that feels different from the viewer’s own. She does not like to make life-sized sculptures, because she wants her viewers to feel like they are looking into a separate world when they view each work. Akiyama has also found interesting ways to combine landscape and figure in her sculptures. Many pieces feature the body of a human, but with the head replaced by mountains or other landscape visuals. One of the most interesting techniques she used in her works was sawing off the very front of the face of sculptures — so that the front of the face is completely flat and blank — and painting a landscape onto that plane. After the presentation, Akiyama opened the room to questions, which allowed the audience to gain even deeper insight into her work. One person asked why she prefers to work with wood. Akiyama explained that when she uses wood, she feels as though she is searching for something within the block of wood like an archaeologist, digging into the wood until it becomes a full form. When using wood, she feels a sense of slowness and discovery while creating her work, something she finds meditative. When asked about how her move from Massachusetts to New Hampshire has changed her, she explained that she is now much closer to nature and has consequently incorporated more of the natural world into her work. She ended the question-and-answer by reiterating that the goal of her work is not to understand but rather to invoke ambiguity. Akiyama’s exhibition will be on display in the Kniznick Gallery until Oct. 27, a sure feast for the viewer, evoking question and mystery one must experience in person.
Editor’s pick
Editor’s Pick: Broadway Shows ‘The Play that Goes Wrong’
‘Dear Evan Hansen’
By Sabrina Sung
By Lizzie grossman
justice editor
justice editor
justice editorial assistant
A theater student’s nightmare but a theatergoer’s delight — join the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society in their disastrous production of “The Murder at Haversham Manor,” a whodunit set in the 1920s in which the biggest mystery is how you didn’t die laughing in your seat. Since its Broadway debut in just April of this year, “The Play that Goes Wrong” has captivated American audiences with the power of schadenfreude and pure unadulterated fun. Watch actors fumble through a series of mishaps — missed cues, misplaced props, mishandled people and more — as they struggle to salvage their chaotic performance. The play’s set is a veritable character in its own right, as charmingly inept as the rest of the cast, and received the 2017 Tony Award for Best Scenic Design. “The Play that Goes Wrong” is winner of the 2015 Olivier Award, Broadway’s 2017 Audience’s Choice for Favorite New Play and a production to remember. Jetlagged? Sleep-deprived? Go watch a play go wrong.
If you watched the Tony’s, you probably noticed a musical that won a significant number of awards — six, to be exact. “Dear Evan Hansen,” written by Steven Levenson with music and lyrics by Benji Pasek and Justin Paul, premiered in the Music Box theater on Broadway last December and has won over the hearts of its audiences ever since. The plot is so complex and unique in a way you can only experience and understand by watching it yourself. In simpler terms, it is about a boy named Evan Hansen, portrayed by Ben Platt, who struggles with social anxiety and gets caught up in a lie that temporarily turns him into a hero. The compelling story, raw emotion of the entire cast and captivating music all make for an unforgettable musical that was more than deserving of every Tony award it earned. Although you have probably already heard it several times, I am going to say it again — go see it when you get the chance; it is a work of art that had me in tears by the end.
Every Broadway musical is incredible in one way or another. “Cinderella’s” costume changes left me breathless, “Phantom of the Opera’s” vocals left me speechless, while the dancing in “Newsies” left my feet tapping. The plot of “Les Miserables’” emotionally destroyed me, “Book of Mormon” cheered me up and the ingenuity of “Hamilton” left me in absolute awe. So when it comes to picking a favorite show, I couldn’t be more reluctant to choose. At the end of the day however, one show keeps circling back into consideration: “Chicago.” When all’s said and done, “Chicago” is the ultimate Broadway show, and as the second longest running musical of all time, clearly many agree. With a complex and emotionally enrapturing plot, balanced by fun, flare and excess, not to mention a plethora of iconic song and dance numbers, “Chicago” has the perfect combination to flourish on stage. It really does have all that jazz.
‘Chicago’ By yvette sei
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TUESDAY, October 3, 2017 | Arts | THE JUSTIce
Brandeis TALKS
INTERVIEW
wf
If you could be any body of water, which would you be?
Olivia Nichols ’20
YVETTE SEI/Justice File Photo
Dana Blackman Brown ’20
This week, justArts spoke with Olivia Nichols ’20 who is a member of Poetic Justice and a prominent poet on campus.
“I would want to be the body of water in my lake that I used to grow up on. It was this weird lake with chemicals, it was a gross lake, and it made my hair turn green. I don’t know how it works, but it was my childhood and so much fun, and there were so many memories there.”
justArts: Can you give me some background on your poetry?
RACHEL KLINGENSTEIN/the Justice
CROSSWORD Brandon Stanaway ’19
“The Hudson River but really far up north, because then it is in the mountains, and it is colder, and that is more majestic than the river in New York and less contaminated.”
Shinji Rho ’21
“I would be the Dead Sea, because I am dead inside.”
Jae Seung Lee ’18
“I guess I would be the Pacific Ocean, because it is very calm. I like feeling special, but because the ocean is very big and huge, I would be one of many.” --Compiled by Jen Geller/the Justice and photographed by Natalia Wiater/the Justice.
STAFF’S Top Ten
Top 10 Random Beautiful Discoveries By Michelle Banayan justice EDITOR
When going about the routines of everyday life, it’s easy to miss the accidental beauty that surrounds us. Some of the world’s most useful contributions have been discovered unintentionally, and I’m here to share a few with you. Here are my top ten favorite accidental discoveries — in no particular order. 1. Post-It notes 2. Silly Putty 3. Chocolate-chip cookies 4. Slinky 5. Pacemaker 6. Fireworks 7. Corn Flakes 8. Microwave 9. Teflon 10. Penicillin
ACROSS 1 “Cry _____, and let slip the dogs of war!” 6 Nick name? 10 Hockey legend Gordie 14 Defense lawyer’s boon 15 He was lost at sea? 16 Like some exams 17 “Uh-uh!” 19 Trompe l’_____ 20 Pericles’ rival 21 Put down 22 2009 pandemic disease 26 Short preview 27 “... and the _____ raths outgrabe” 28 Stuck up 30 Angsty teens 31 Whiskey measure 32 Free spot 35 Henri Toulouse-_______ 39 Use Grubhub, say 41 “Falling Skies” channel 42 Son of model Maye Musk 44 “_____, Paggliaccio” (Paggliacci aria) 45 Like flowers in spring 47 Iowa city 48 Goes for a dive 51 Expected 54 Who sings 44-Across 55 Prefix with magnetic 56 “The Thin Man” dog 57 Farts ... or what this puzzle does 33 Where “I Am the 4 times? Walrus” can be found 62 Not leaning 34 Licorice flavoring 63 Fidel’s brother 36 Concrete support 64 Lets up 37 90-degree turns 65 Actor Armisen 38 Baby noise 66 Treater’s words 40 Part of QED 67 Email provider 43 Small pest 45 On deck 46 It may need a boost DOWN 48 Employees 1 4-Down ally 49 Award won by “My Life as a 2 Spanish phone greeting Zucchini” 3 Word on either side of “à” 50 Let free, perhaps 4 _____-wan 33 Where “I Am the 52 Sitcom planet Walrus” can be found 53 Overly inquisitive 34 Licorice flavoring 55 Actress Drescher 36 Concrete support 57 Dude 37 90-degree turns 58 Baby noise 38 Baby noise 59 “Sorta” 40 Part of QED 60 “The Matrix” hero 43 Small pest 61 British mil. honor 45 On deck 46 It may need a boost 48 Employees 49 Award won by “My Life as a Zucchini” 50 Let free, perhaps 52 Sitcom planet 53 Overly inquisitive 55 Actress Drescher 57 Dude 58 Baby noise 59 “Sorta” 60 “The Matrix” hero 61 British mil. honor line)
Olivia Nichols: I started writing poetry once I came to Brandeis last year and discovered various coffeehouses. ... I had never seriously considered self-expression through writing before then, but now it is one of the forms of expression that I value the most. I write about the parts of myself that I am still growing into, and I write to preserve memories of those who are most important to me. JA: What do you do on campus related to poetry? ON: I am a member of Poetic Justice, the University’s slam team, so I perform slam poetry with the team. I also enjoy signing up to perform at coffeehouse events around campus like those hosted by Jaded and VSA [Vietnamese Student Association]. JA: Can you give background on Poetic Justice? ON: Poetic Justice was formed at the beginning of last semester through an open poetry slam. For the past few years prior to last year, there had been no slam team at Brandeis, so the formation of Poetic Justice was the revival of having a slam team to represent our University. Currently, the team consists of five members: Nia Duncan ’20, Liv Perozo ’20, Jack Rubinstein ’20, Victoria Richardson ’20 and myself. Dean of Students Jamele Adams helps guide us as our coach.
CROSSWORD COURTESY OF EVAN MAHNKEN
JA: What was it like going to Chicago last Spring with Poetic Justice? ON: Last spring, we were fortunate enough to compete at CUPSI [College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational], which is a national poetry slam invitational. With three of our five members completely new to slam and due to the national scale of the tournament, we were all very nervous. Despite the nerves, it was beyond inspirational to witness so many talented poets performing and the entire experience in Chicago really brought the team closer together. JA: What is advice you can give on writing poetry?
SOLUTION COURTESY OF EVAN MAHNKEN
ON: ... I get it down on paper first before turning to a computer, because it forces you to be more deliberate with the words that you choose. Then through working on it, you can actually physically see the changes that you make as your piece forms. JA: What are exciting upcoming poetry-related events on campus?
SUDOKU INSTRUCTIONS: Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each small 9-box square contains all of the numbers from one to nine.
ON: ... Poetic Justice has started hosting a weekly poetry night at the Stein every Wednesday from 6 to 9 p.m. These nights will have an open-mic portion and end with an opportunity to compete in a slam. Open to anyone and everyone, we hope that this weekly series will help foster a poetry community here and that it will provide a space and time for students to express themselves through their creative work. JA: Anything else you want to mention that hasn’t been covered?
Solution to last issue’s sudoku
Puzzle courtesy of www.sudokuoftheday.com
ON: Just that I am extremely appreciative of all those who continue to do emotional labor through such mediums as poetry and writing, because it really does connect people in a time when one can easily feel so disconnected. —Hannah Kressel