The Justice - April 28, 2009

AA lookPAST ROSE DISPUTE at the 1991 sale of Rose pieces, PAGE 7

SPORTS Golf team officially back 20 ARTS Inside Springfest 24 THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER

the

OF

BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY SINCE 1949

Justice www.theJusticeOnline.com

Volume LX, Number 28

Waltham, Mass.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

COMMENCEMENT

Mayor of Newark to speak at graduation ■ Newark, N.J. mayor Cory

Booker will give the keynote address at the University’s 58th commencement.

By MIKE PRADA JUSTICE EDITOR

Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, N.J. since 2006, will be the keynote speaker at the University’s 58th commencement ceremony May 17, accord-

ing to an April 27 University press release.

Booker was elected mayor of Newark in 2006. He inherited a city that had nearly one-third of its residents living below the poverty line, according to Booker’s Web site. Since the beginning of his term, Newark’s murder rate dropped 40 percent in 2008, according to the University press release. “[Booker] is an excellent role model for students both in terms of civic activism [and] social justice,” said John Hose, executive assistant to

University President Jehuda Reinharz. “Particularly, his commitment to public service and social justice are values Brandeis prizes.”

Booker is a Rhodes Scholar and graduate of Yale University Law School who elected to return to Newark, a city that has struggled since the 1967’s riots, a five-day uprising that killed 26 people. He became the youngest-ever member of the Newark municipal council when he was elected in 1998 at age 29, according to the press release.

Upon moving back to Newark and being elected a member of the Newark municipal council, Booker decided to live in the Brick Towers public housing projects in an attempt to Booker bring attention to the lack of services available to tenants. He lived there until 2006, when the Newark Housing

Rose family: Univ violated donor will Edward Rose’s will states that the Rose must remain open as a public museum.

By ALANA ABRAMSON JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

A portion of the will of Edward Rose, a benefactor of the Rose Art Museum, expresses his wish for the Rose to remain open as the only public art museum at Brandeis, a relative of the Rose family told the Justice.

The part of the will concerning the Rose Art Museum, which Fred Hopengarten, a lawyer related to Edward Rose, read verbatim over the phone to the Justice, states, “Brandeis; has agreed that the Rose Art Museum will be maintained in perpetuity as the only art museum at Brandeis and that Brandeis’ permanent collection of works of art by major artists will be housed and exhibited in the Rose Art Museum.”

Meryl Rose, a relative of the Rose

family and a member of the Rose Art Museum Board of Overseers, said in a phone interview with the Justice that she found out about the will in February. She added that the Rose family had publicized the will in its statement against the administrations’ actions towards the museum that was read out on March 16.

Judith Sizer, the University’s general counsel, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that Brandeis was aware of the will and that she believed the University had complied with it.

“None of the conditions set forth in Mr. Rose’s will, specifically that the art museum be maintained under their name as the sole art museum on the Brandeis campus and that the museum’s permanent collection be kept and exhibited there, is in any way a limitation on the ability of Brandeis to manage the daily operations of the Rose Art Museum within those parameters.

Subject to these conditions, Mr. and Mrs. Rose left it to the University to make decisions about the nature, mission, and activities of the

See WILL, 5 ☛

See COMMENCEMENT, 5 ☛

SUMMER SONG

ROSE ART MUSEUM

■ Rose family members say

Authority bulldozed the worn-down facility as part of a move by the NHA to rebuild the city’s high-rise projects as town house-style developments, according to a 2006 article in The New York Times.

Booker then moved into a new $1,200-a-month development in a stretch of Newark’s South Ward that features boarded-up homes and prevalent drug trade, according to the article.

In 1999, as a member of the munici-

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

Decemberists in spring Lead singer Colin Meloy of the Decemberists (above) performed at Super Springfest last Sunday. Other performances included Deerhunter, Asher Roth, RJD2 and the Brandeis student musical group Mochila. Super Springfest was held on Chapels Field this year.

ACADEMICS

INSIDE

Faculty pass a resolution against CARS proposals

■ The campus reacts to

■ The faculty voted in favor

the proposals, NEWS, p.

10-11

By MIRANDA NEUBAUER

of a resolution to oppose the CARS committee’s recent recommendations to convert three departments into interdisciplinary programs.

JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER

The faculty passed a resolution last Thursday against the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee’s recommendations to reorganize the African and Afro-American Studies

department, the American Studies department and the Classical Studies department as interdepartmental programs, according to faculty and administrators who attended the meeting.

The faculty also rejected a proposal that would have enabled students to design their own general educa-

tion requirements and voted to have an additional faculty meeting to discuss other parts of the CARS proposals this week before Provost Marty Krauss makes initial decisions on the report May 4.

The faculty meeting was closed to

■ Reps from AAAS,

Classics and AMST respond, FORUM, p. 14.

See FACULTY, 10 ☛

New complications

Brandeis alum in MLB

UJ makes decision

■ The announcement of the reopening of the Rose has only heightened controversy.

■ Nelson Figueora ’96 discusses his recent re-emergence in Major League Baseball.

■ The Student Union Judiciary handed down a pluralist decision against Klionsky and McElhaney.

NEWS ANALYSIS 5 For tips or info call Let your voice be heard!

Submit letters to the editor online (781) 736-6397 at www.thejusticeonline.com

INDEX

SPORTS 18 ARTS

21

EDITORIAL FEATURES

12 7

OPINION POLICE LOG

13 2

SPORTS LETTERS

NEWS 3 20 13

COPYRIGHT 2009 FREE AT BRANDEIS. Call for home delivery.

2

TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2009

●

THE JUSTICE

NEWS POLICE LOG

BRIEF Financial aid for Class of 2013 TYP students to be based on need The Transitional Year Program will be applied to the Class of 2013 as a conditional admit program, meaning that TYP students will no longer have to reapply to enroll at the University if they demonstrate academic merit and will no longer be automatically provided with a full scholarship, according to the program’s director.

TYP Director Erika Smith wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that the University will no longer be obligated to provide TYP students with a full scholarship because “the new approach will enable TYP students to access federal, state, and private funds to meet all the costs of attendance.” She wrote that TYP students will now be able to access financial aid from outside sources because they will be enrolled as degree-seeking students.

Smith did not elaborate on the specific academic criteria.

“Throughout the history of the TYP, students in the program have had to submit applications to Brandeis, as well as to other colleges and universities during their TYP year, as admission to Brandeis was not guaranteed upon program completion,” wrote Smith.

According to Dean of Financial Services Peter Giumette, TYP students were and will continue to be admitted on a need-blind basis. Giumette said that in the past a TYP student’s acceptance was not based on his ability to pay. If a TYP student is admitted to the University upon the completion of the program, he or she becomes eligible for University scholarships and government aid, and this principle will continue to apply under the new change, Giumette said.

A TYP faculty committee consisting of Vice President of Students and Enrollment Jean Eddy, Profs. Shilpa Davé (AMST), Tim Hickey (COSI), Marya Levenson (ED), Susan Parker (MATH) and Harleen Singh (GRALL) decided on the change earlier this year.

Eddy could not be reached for comment by press time.

TYP students will have to do well in the program in order to secure the opportunity to continue at the University, Smith wrote.

Smith confirmed that no other changes have been made to the TYP admissions or financial aid packages.

“I think that [the conditional admit program] is a good change,” said Riko Bol (TYP). “It puts you on the spot so you have to perform; if you don’t perform, then Brandeis is not for you.”

However, J.V. Souffrant (TYP) expressed concern about the financial implications of the conditional admit program. “TYP was set up so that students don’t have to pay. Changing the program and making students pay is going against what it was founded for.”

Medical Emergency Apr. 22—A 23-year-old male in the Foster Mods called BEMCo after ingesting peanuts. The party stated he was not sure if he was allergic to peanuts but was worried he might be. University Police and BEMCo responded, and the party was treated on-scene with a signed refusal for further care.

Apr. 22—A report was made stating that a child in the Lemberg Children’s Center was vomiting due to an allergic reaction.

An ambulance requested by BEMCo staff transported the child to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

Apr. 23—A caller reported that two individuals had collided on the soccer field near the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center while playing baseball. BEMCo requested two ambulances to respond to two conscious and alert individuals with head trauma.

The ambulance transported the injured parties to NewtonWellesly Hospital.

Apr. 23—BEMCo responded to a call reporting that an employee had cut their finger in ShermanDining Hall. An ambulance transported the patient to Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

Disturbance Apr. 25—A call was received with a complaint of a party in the Foster Mods causing noise. The party dispersed without incident.

Apr. 25—A call was received with a complaint of a small group within the Foster Mods talking, disturbing the residents of the quad. The group dispersed without incident.

Harassment Apr. 21—The Department of Residence Life responded to a call from a party in Renfield Hall who had been assaulted by a neighbor.

ResLife staff will assist in an investigation.

Miscellaneous Apr. 21—Two women were found engaging in sexual activity in an elevator in the Usdan Student Center. University Police advised the parties to cease.

Apr. 22—University Police were dispatched to Massell Quad to investigate a complaint of a student reported to be in possession of a pellet gun. ResLife staff assisted the police, and the replica weapon was confiscated. A report was compiled, and University Judicial charges will be filed.

Apr. 24—A University Police dispatcher viewed on a CCTV monitor located at the police control three young men, one of whom was passing into Deroy from Massell Quad in possession of what appeared to be a chrome plated semi-automatic handgun.

University Police responded and identified the parties. A replica airsoft pellet gun was confiscated and University Police will file University Judicial charges on

Union passes resolution to maintain AAAS department

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS

The Justice welcomes submissions for errors that warrant correction or clarification.

E-mail jsw5@brandeis.edu.

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 in Chief office hours are held every Thursday from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Justice office.

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REBECCA NEY/the Justice

Comparing legal systems Rabbi Carl Perkins spoke to students over dinner at Sherman Dining Hall in a talk titled, “Forbidden, Permitted; Guilty, Innocent; Then, and Now.” Perkins compared the Jewish and American legal systems.

The Justice Brandeis University Mailstop 214 P.O. Box 549110 Waltham, Mass. 024549110 E-mail: justeeditor@brandeis.edu

The Senate passed a resolution submitted by the Class of 2011 Senator Lev Hirschhorn and East Quad Senator Jenna Rubin ’11, which urged the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee to reconsider their recommendations and sustain the African and Afro-American Studies department.

The Senate then discussed a resolution submitted by Senator for Charles River Chen Lu ‘09 and Senator for the Class of 2012 Akash Vadalia that called on the University to encourage clubs and organizations to use biodegradable utensils and recycle at events. The resolution was passed. The Senate then passed a Money Resolution calling for the Senate to spend $145.36 to buy biodegradable utensils at cost and sell them to clubs.

The Senate heard argument about a bylaw amendment presented by Rubin. The amendment proposed that Article X, Section 4, Clause 3 of the Union bylaws be amended to say that “No potential candidate running for elected office shall promise appointed positions to individuals in exchange for political gain.” A motion to table the amendment was passed.

Rosenthal Quad Senator Philips Loh ’11 reported that new furniture would be purchased for the lounges in Cable and Reitman residence halls. He also said that he had a meeting with Vice President for Campus Operations Mark Collins to discuss the park benches and picnic tables that were out for accepted students day but have since been removed.

Senator for the Class of 2011 Alex Melman and Castle Senator Nathan Robinson ‘11 have resigned but have not e-mailed Union Secretary Tia Chatterjee ’09, which would make the resignation official, according to the Union constitution. Ridgewood Quad Senator Aaron Finegold ’09 officially resigned to establish quorum. For quorum to be established, 12 senators must be present at the meeting, and 11 senators were present at the meeting. If one of the senators resigned then quorum would be established by the presence of 11 senators.

The Senate chartered the International Association of Business and Economic Students.

—Harry Shipps

ANNOUNCEMENTS ‘An Arab, a Jew and the Heart of the Middle East’

theJustice

—Compiled by Justine Root

SENATE LOG

—Nashrah Rahman

An Arts teaser last week incorrectly spelled the name of a musical group. It is called Mochila, not Mochilla.

(April 21, p. 1).

A photo caption in the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts pullout last week misidentified the series the painting “José” is a part of. It is a part of last year’s “Faces of TYP,” not this year’s “Public Memory, November 4th, 2008.” (April 21, p. 24) The Sunday schedule in the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts pullout last week incorrectly stated the time of the second Rose tour. It took place from 3:30 to 4 p.m., not from 1:30 to 2 p.m. (April 21, p. 22).

An article in Arts last week incorrectly stated the name of the last movement of the Trio for flute, cello and piano, H. 300. It is called an Allegretto, not an Andante. (April 21, p.19).

An article in Arts last week incorrectly spelled the last name of a cellist. She is Laura Shechter (GRAD) not Laura Schechter. (April 21, p.19).

An article in Arts last week incorrectly stated the last name of the composer of Ruckert Lieder. It was composed by Gustav Mahler, not Gustav Nahler. (April 21, p.19).

An article in Arts last week implied that Alicia Kaszeta (GRAD) stopped playing for a period of time because she wanted to pursue a scholarly career. Kaszeta briefly stopped playing because of a performance related injury. (April 21, p.19) An article in Forum last week incorrectly stated when Jonathan Kane ’10 ran for the position of racial minority senator. He ran in 2007, not 2008.

(April 21, p. 10).

the incident. ResLife staff was advised of the incident.

Apr. 25—A party in North Quad reported finding a strange female asleep in her bed and that she was unable to wake her up. University Police responded and woke up the female party, who had mistakenly identified the room as her own and gotten into bed and gone to sleep. All parties were satisfied, and no further action was taken.

Apr. 26—University Police received a call from a party on a Crystal Shuttle Bus stating that an intoxicated male was on the bus, and the party asked to meet the Police in front of the Rabb Steps. Upon responding to the report, police identified the nonUniversity student as Brian Bochner and placed him into protective custody. Bochner was transported to the Waltham Police Department for further processing.

Join Students Crossing Boundaries and Students for Justice in Palestine for a talk by Sandy Tolan. Tolan will speak about his new book, The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew and the Heart of the Middle-East. Today from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Feldberg Lounge.

Israel turns 61 Students can participate in the yearly ceremony that falls in the hours between Israeli Memorial Day and Independence Day. The ceremony will include a speech by the speaker of the Knesset, a ritual march of soldiers carrying the flag of Israel and the lighting of twelve torches, one for each of the tribes of Israel. Every year, a dozen Israeli citizens who have made a significant contribution in a selected area are invited to light these torches. Today from 7:30 to 10 p.m. in the Shapiro Campus Cen-

ter Atrium. For more information, e-mail klionsky@brandeis.edu

Recruiter-In-Residence Program Learn more about getting started in the field of Health and Public Safety by interacting with the experts in the field. Space is limited so students are encouraged to register as soon as possible via Hiatt NACElink. Wednesday from noon to 4:30 p.m. in the Hiatt Career Center.

Bill Ayers Comes to Campus Listen to Bill Ayers, co-founder of the Weather Underground and professor in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, speak about social justice, activism and his experiences in the Weather Underground. There will be a question-and-answer session after the talk.

Thursday from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. in the Carl J. Shapiro Theater.

Sasha Grey at Brandeis Memory and Mitzvah Students can listen to Yehuda Kurtzer, a Charles R. Bronfman Visiting Assistant Professor in Jewish Communal Innovation, speak at an event sponsored by the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program. Wednesday from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in Usdan 122.

Ask adult film star Sasha Grey about her role in Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh’s film The Girlfriend Experience. There will be a screening of the movie before the question and answer session. This event is the last installment of the “Meet the Artist” series. Thursday from 7 to 10 p.m. in the Edie and Lew Wasserman Cinematheque.

THE JUSTICE

●

TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2009

3

STUDENT UNION

UJ makes pluralist decision in RMS case ■ The Union Judiciary did

not reach a majority decision on the existence of a Racial Minority Seat.

By HARRY SHIPPS JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

The Student Union Judiciary passed down a pluralist decision ruling in favor of the Student Union in the case of Klionsky and McElhaney v. Student Union and instructing the Union to hold elections for Racial Minority Senator as soon as possible, but a majority decision regarding the permanent existence of the RMS seat was not reached, according to UJ Chief Justice Rachel Graham Kagan ’09.

Associate Justices Julia Sferlazzo ’09, Judah Marans ’11 and Matt Kriegsman ’11 were in favor of the Union; however, Justice Jordan Rothman ’09 was in favor of the petitioners. Graham Kagan was partly in favor of the plaintiffs because she believed anyone should be allowed to run for the positions held for racial minority students but that voting for the seats should still be restricted to minority students. Sferlazzo, Marans, Kriegsman and Graham Kagan stated in the decision, “We direct the Secretary of the Student Union to hold the election for Racial Minority Senator as soon as possible in accordance with the Constitution.” Marans, Kriegsman and Graham Kagan also directed the Union president to ensure that a constitutional review process is scheduled for the next academic year to address the issue of the positions in detail.

Last Wednesday the UJ heard the case after petitioners Gideon Klionsky ’11 and former Union Director of Community Development Ryan McElhaney ’10, filed a complaint after Klionsky was not allowed to run for the position of RMS. According to Klionsky and McElhaney, the position violated the supremacy clause of the Student Union Constitution, Section 3, which states, “This Constitution shall be enacted in

REBECCA NEY/the Justice

MAKING A DECISION: Justices on the Union Judiciary interact with the petitioners and respondents at the trial last Wednesday. accordance with all federal, state, and local laws, and University policies, but the Union Government shall not be responsible for the enforcement of such laws and policies.” McElhaney and Klionsky originally directed their case against the Union Elections Commission after Union Secretary Tia Chatterjee ’09, who oversees the commission, denied Klionsky’s request to run for the senatorial position because he does not identify as a minority. However, Graham Kagan later ruled that the petitioners were challenging the Union constitution, not a body of the Union. “[Justices who voted in favor of allowing the case to be heard] felt that it was a very important issue,” Graham Kagan told the Justice last week. Graham Kagan attempted to engage the Brandeis community in the trial by permitting each side to bring forth undergraduates, Transitional Year Pro-

gram students or administrators to present legal arguments.

The petitioner was represented for the majority of the trial by McElhaney.

Lead counsel for the the Student Union was Union Director of Communications Jamie Ansorge ’09; assistant counsels were Matthew Kipnis ’11 and Castle Senator Nathan Robinson ’11.

The plaintiff argued that the UJ had the right to hear the case because it dealt directly with the Union Constitution and that all students should be allowed to run and vote for the RMS position because to dictate otherwise was unconstitutional based on the supremacy clause. The defense argued that the UJ had no jurisdiction in the case because it involved a standard set in the Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook. The defense stated that only the University Board of Student Conduct has jurisdiction over Rights

and Responsibilities standards.

The Student Union argued that the RMS position does not have the effect of “unreasonably interfering with a person’s education or work performance by creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment in which to work, study, or live,” a standard outlined in section 7.4 of Rights and Responsibilties.

At the hearing the defense called Jess Kent ’09, chairwoman of the UBSC, who testified that only the Board of Student Conduct has the jurisdiction to hear and decide on cases involving Rights and Responsibilities.

Chatterjee testified that the University registrar, rather than the Student Union, determines students are registered as racial minorities. Klionsky explained that although he could declare himself as a minority student, he chose not to do so because he believed that a person of any race should be able to

run for the position.

J.V. Souffrant (TYP), Kaamila Mohammed ’11 and Ariela SilversteinTapp ’09 spoke about why they believed the RMS position is important to the minority community and their personal feelings on why it should be kept.

Executive Senator Andrew Brooks ’09 spoke on behalf of the petitioners, saying that he believed that the case should be decided not on the emotions involved but on the letter of the law and that he believed, under the law, the RMS position was exclusionary.

Taisha Sturdivant ’11, a minority student, spoke on behalf of the defense and said that she had had many experiences that convinced her of the need for a RMS and that the position was very important to the racial minority community on campus. She added “I will say that I do not think the RMS position has to be ingrained in the Student Union forever. That is very dependent on the ways in which Brandeis progresses. As for now, the position is necessary.”

McElhaney and Klionsky could not be reached for comment by press time.

In an e-mail to the Justice, Ansorge said, “It is my hope that the issues raised at this trial will be explored further during next year’s constitutional review process. If the constitutional review process were to propose a change to the RMS positions, a schoolwide vote on the amendment can be held. I believe that is the only democratically just and constitutionally acceptable means of changing these positions.”

Ansorge added, “I believe that the RMS positions have played an important role within the Union. However, it is arguable whether or not it makes sense to specifically have RMS positions and not a [representative] from the LGBT community or for lefthanded students like me.”

Brooks said in a later interview that he hoped that Brandeis might one day reach a point where there would be no need for a RMS because all senators would be responsive to all different groups within their constituencies.

FACULTY

CAMPUS SPEAKER

Faculty honored by Academy selection

Ayers visit sparks debate on radio

■ Three professors have

been named by the Academy of Arts and Sciences.

By DANIEL D. SNYDER JUSTICE EDITOR

Profs. Jonathan Sarna (NEJS), James Haber (BIOL) and Gish Jen (ENG) were among those named in an April 20 announcement of this years list of figures to be inducted into the Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The professors share this year’s list with such names as author Thomas Pynchon, actors Dustin Hoffman and James Earl Jones and U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. The professors will be inducted along with the other honorees at a ceremony Oct. 10 at the Academy of Arts and Sciences headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.

Founded by James Bowdoin, John Adams and John Hancock during the American Revolution, the Academy of Arts and Sciences annually names honorees in the realms of academic disciplines, the arts, business and public affairs. Based in Cambridge, Mass., the Academy functions as a hub for cutting-edge research, organizing conferences and funding collaborative study projects among its members.

In addition to her role as a visiting professor of creative writing at Brandeis, Jen was also published in Best American Short Stories of the Century.

Jen could not be reached for comment by press time.

Jen was quoted in a Brandeis NOW press release saying, “I am thrilled and honored—and I am hoping, too, that I will be able to make a contribution to their many important and timely projects.”

Sarna is the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish

History at Brandeis. Haber is head of the Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center.

Both Sarna and Haber, despite their initiate status, expressed eagerness to participate in Sarna the Academy’s conference and research activities.

Sarna sees the Academy’s selections as a big victory for Brandeis.

“It’s remarkable that a small university like Brandeis can bring in a single year three Haber members to the Academy,” he told the Justice.

Sarna also sees his own selection as a triumph for his field. “There are a very small number of Judaic scholars in the American Academy. My hope is Jen that this is a signal to include others in the work of the Academy.”

These three are not the first Brandeis professors to achieve such recognition. Nineteen others, including University President Jehuda Reinharz, Irene Pepperberg (PSYC), famed for her work with Alex the parrot, and Profs. Greg Petsko (CHEM) and David Hackett Fischer (HIST), have been elected to the Academy in the course of Brandeis’ 61-year history.

■ Radio host Michael

Graham criticized the upcoming Bill Ayers visit and engaged in a debate with the event coordinator.

By HARRY SHIPPS JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

The visit of Bill Ayers, cofounder of the Weather Underground and professor in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, to campus this Thursday has raised the ire of members of the surrounding community such as prominent Boston conservative radio host Michael Graham, who has led a campaign to get Brandeis to bar Ayers from speaking.

On his blog, Graham further criticized the upcoming visit, writing, “The Unibomber, Timothy McVeigh, Osama bin Laden—hey, they’ve all got something to say and we should give them a forum at Brandeis to say it.”

Ayers was a radical anti-war activist in the 1960s and a co-founder of the Weather Underground, a radical protest group blamed for several bombings at the Capitol and Pentagon. The Weather Underground was suspected to have been involved in the shooting of Walter A. Schroeder, a Boston police officer, during a bank robbery in Brighton.

Dennis Nealon, the executive director of media and public affairs for Brandeis, said, “We told the [Boston] Globe and the [Boston] Herald that allowing the talk to proceed does not mean that Brandeis condones the views of the speaker.”

“The University does not unilaterally bar someone because some will oppose their views. … This is about freedom of [educational opportunity],” he said.

When asked about his response to Boston College’s decision to cancel a planned visit by Ayers, Nealon said that Boston College faced similar criticism to Brandeis but “there just didn’t seem to be a solution in saying, ‘You just can’t hear this speaker.’”

Liza Behrendt ’11, an event coordinator for the visit and a member of Democracy For America, a group co-sponsoring the visit, spoke about the importance of the Ayers visit’s appearance on Graham’s show, The Natural Truth, on Boston radio station WTKK. On April 23, Behrendt and Graham engaged in a debate for about 10 minutes during which Graham referred to Ayers’ ideas about education as “bizarro and lunatic.”

During the show, Graham asked if, when Behrendt had referred to Brandeis’ tradition of activism, she had been referring to Angela Davis, Susan Saxe and Katherine Howard.

These three Brandeis alumnae appeared simultaneously on the FBI’s most wanted list, representing the only time in American history that three women have been listed.

Behrendt replied that she was proud of those women and said that she didn’t believe “sharing a tradition of radical behavior is the same as endorsing a death.”

In the closing moments of the show, Graham asked if Behrendt would invite Adolf Hitler to speak at Brandeis. In a later interview with the Justice, Behrendt said “I didn’t know what to say; it was such an absurd question.”

Graham could not be reached for comment by press time.

When asked if she felt that she was experiencing a personal backlash from the event, Behrendt responded “No, I didn’t, because I was just a person from Brandeis who ended up on that show. … I don’t think that it’s anything personal. I just feel that many people made comments from another ide-

ological place.”

“It’s interesting to see some of the passion that comes with the backlash,” Behrendt added.

Behrendt said that going on the show “seemed like an interesting opportunity because part of the reason why we brought Ayers was to try and spark dialogue, and this seemed like a good way to do that.”

Behrendt also said that she thought it was good that Brandeis hadn’t backed out, because universities should be the place in society that stands for ideas.

On March 29, the Boston Globe reported a statement released by BC regarding why the institution had canceled Ayers’ visit to its campus.

The statement said, “In light of additional information that was shared with the students on the actions of the Weather Underground, including their alleged involvement in the killing of a Boston police officer in nearby Allston, and out of concern for the safety and well-being of our students, we believe that the appropriate decision was reached.”

Brandeis student reaction to the upcoming visit is mixed.

Doug Moore ’11 said, “I’ve been kind of against [Bill Ayers’] presence on campus,” citing “the message we’re sending by bringing him here. … It kind of damages that image [of an activist institution that Brandeis has].”

Shanna Rifkin ’11, however, said “Within an activist community, you have a whole spectrum of activism. It’s important to .. get a well-rounded and broad education.

You don’t have to agree with [Ayers], … but [we should] at least appreciate the fact that he’s bringing a different perspective and view than we have [now].”

—Daniel D. Snyder, Joel Herzfeld, Shana D. Lebowitz and Nashrah Rahman contributed reporting.

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THE JUSTICE

COMMENCEMENT: Speaker selected CONTINUED FROM 1 pal council, Booker spent 10 days undergoing a hunger strike in a tent outside the Garden Spires projects in an attempt to pressure city authorities to address the drug trade that was occurring near the projects. His actions led to the mayor deciding to add more police patrols and build a park in the area.

Booker’s unsuccessful 2002 campaign for mayor against longtime Newark mayor Sharp James, who was convicted on five counts of fraud in 2008 and sentenced to 27 months in prison, was the subject of the documentary Street Fight. The film details Booker’s attempt to gain votes in a minority community while combating James’ corrupt campaign tactics, such as demoting city workers who supported Booker and closing local businesses that held Booker’s fundraisers. The film was nominated for an Academy Award in 2005.

While studying at Queens College in Oxford, Booker became the president of the l’Chaim Society, a Jewish student organization, despite not being Jewish. He said he became “more Christian” by learning about other religions, according to the release.

“It’s clear that he’s a rising prominent urban leader who has been a community activist, and he certainly can bring that message to Brandeis,” Executive Director of Media Affairs Dennis Nealon said.

Booker is one of seven individuals who will be given an honorary Doctorate of Human Letters at commencement, according to the release. The other honorary degree recipients are award-winning composer James Conlon, opera singer Marilyn Horne, Indian environmentalist and co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Rajendra K. Pachauri, dance choreographer Bill T. Jones, Holocaust scholar Israel Gutman and Israeli entrepreneur Stef Wertheimer, who has founded a number of parks in Israel and neighboring countries.

Hose said a committee presents recommendations for honorary degree recipients to the Board of Trustees, which then approves candidates for a list from which University President Jehuda Reinharz selects the final recipients. “[The] president attempts to identify individuals who, in one way or another, reflect values that the University values, whether they have to do with academic excellence, philanthropy, social justice [or] civic activism,” Hose said.

President of Brandeis Democrats Jason Paul ’09 said that he was “a big fan” of the selection of Booker as commencement speaker. “[Booker] has been through the wars challenging the entrenched establishment,” he said. He added, “While [Booker] was challenging the political machine in Newark, for graduating seniors [his message to Brandeis seniors] could be challenging the established path of straight to graduate school and then to a career. He can say that in the end it’s better to do the hard thing than the easier, more conventional thing.”

Ian Guss ’09, a graduating senior, said he wished the University had chosen a speaker with more “name recognition.”

“It is disappointing and a little surprising that they weren’t able to get someone with national or international recognition,” Guss said.

“After reading a little more about [Booker], it seems that he’s a bit of an up-and-comer, and maybe he will eventually have that name recognition, but overall, I wish they could have gotten someone a little more famous.”

Paul said, “It’s a bad societal thing for one to instantly judge someone on their name recognition because that doesn’t mean anything.

[Booker] has accomplished a major feat in a dying city and is now a leading figure in the leading political party in America that is on the rise.”

The commencement ceremony will take place May 17 at 10:30 a.m. in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center.

WILL: Language disputed CONTINUED FROM 1 Museum,” she wrote.

However, Meryl Rose also said that she does not believe the University’s actions, despite its expressed intentions to keep the Rose open as a public museum, have been in accordance with the will.

“Up until this latest notice that went out, the University was going to turn it into a student art center. When it became apparent that they couldn’t do that, now they are trying to turn it into a museum. But, you know, there are certain things inherent to running a museum that they are not doing, the first of which is getting rid of its director,” she said. “The administration has not changed what they are planning on doing since the beginning. This is all about selling art, so they are removing the people protective of this collection,” Rose said.

Hopengarten explained that the words “Brandeis agrees” imply a contractual relationship rather than a precatory one, meaning that Brandeis is obligated to comply with the will’s stipulations. Hopengarten said that it was the understanding of Edward and Bertha Rose that Brandeis had agreed to the terms of the will.

Meryl Rose said the family and Board of Overseers were consulting with lawyers which Hopengarten also confirmed.

“We’re talking to lawyers. Quite a few members of the Board of Overseers and the Rose family are lawyers themselves,” said Rose.

Hopengarten said that bringing the case to court was complicated.

“That is a question that we have to investigate more thoroughly, because the enforcement of trust involves a complex route including the attorney general,” he said, adding that “it’s not a civil matter that goes right to superior court.”

Rose said that the family and the Board of Overseers had not discussed the will with the administration. “We would be happy to talk to them, but we weren’t consulted in any step of the way. Obviously their esteem for our expertise is not high,” she said.

Jonathan Lee, the chairman of the Rose Board of Overseers, also said that he is fairly certain the will has legal implications but stressed that he could not make legal points since he wasn’t an attorney.

Emily La Grassa, the communications director for the Attorney General’s office, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that because she was unable to reach the necessary attorneys by press time, it was unlikely that the attorney general’s office would be able to comment at this time.

Meryl Rose explained that she does not believe the University is intending to do any harm, but it would be beneficial for the University to say they made a mistake. “Their announcement made it worse because it is really false. They say they are putting up an exhibit, but who is curating this exhibit?

Who is taking care of the fundraising?,” she said.

She also said there were other documents concerning Edward and Bertha Rose in addition to Edward Rose’s will but that she could not specify further.

Provost Marty Krauss did not respond to a request for an interview.

Meryl Rose said that although she could not confirm anything because she is not a lawyer, the will’s potential legal implications were clear to her. “I wonder why the administration all of a sudden sent this letter,” she said, referring to the announcement the Provost sent on April 17th announcing the Rose would reopen

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5

COMMITTEE CONTROVERSY

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

ROSE COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONS: Prof. Ellen Schattschneider (ANTH) describes objections at a recent town hall meeting.

Announcement of Rose reopening stirs disputes ■ Recent controversy has

stemmed from the April 17 announcement that the museum would re-open.

By JILLIAN WAGNER JUSTICE EDITOR

The April 17 announcement that the Rose Art Museum will reopen July 22 and will exhibit part of its permanent collection in order to allow the Committee on the Future of the Rose more time to deliberate was a turning point in the Rose debacle because it significantly elevated the doubt of many invested in the Rose story with regard to the committee and its lack of influence over the museum’s artwork collection.

Prior to the April 17 announcement, many were willing to wait for the Committee on the Future of the Rose’s report. Now, however, as a result of the announcement and the suspicions that have resulted from it, those same people who may have been willing to wait now imply that the committee was never given a fair chance to begin with and has been set up to fail from the start.

“I personally don’t recognize you as a legitimate committee,” Rose Art Director Michael Rush said to committee members at the Future of the Rose Committee Town Hall Meeting last week. “The mantra about the collection is that it is in the hands of the Board of Trustees. You are the future of the Rose but can’t discuss the collection of the Rose. How does that give you validity if you cannot discuss the future of the museum?”

The text of Krauss’ e-mail read: “In order to allow its members sufficient time for careful exploration, analysis, and deliberation, the Committee for the Future of the Rose requested that I clarify the plans the University has made for staffing and programming at the Rose following June 30, 2009.”

The announcement has generated a stir in the community. While the announcement explicitly says that the committee requested that Krauss clarify the University’s staffing and programming plans, Jonathan Lee, chair of the Rose Art Museum board of overseers, sent an e-mail that was posted on a blog on Time magazine’s Web site alleging that the office of the Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley was the impetus behind the announcement.

In response to Lee’s e-mail to the Board, Krauss said, “There has been a lot of misinformation going around, which is unfortunate, but I’m not in a position to counter it right now.”

However, Meyer Koplow, a mem-

NEWS ANALYSIS

ber of the University Board of Trustees, said at the April 21 Future of the Rose Committee Town Hall Meeting that the “attorney general’s office has not instructed Brandeis what to do. There has not been the slightest suggestion that the attorney general’s office has any intention of bringing action against the University,” he said.

Emily La Grassa, communications director for the attorney general, declined to comment on “why [the administration] felt it was appropriate to send the letter. … Our office has been in regular communication with the University and the Board over the past several months since plans about the Rose were announced,” she said.

Krauss’ April 17 e-mail also states that the University offered continued employment to four of the six current Rose employees, but not to Rose Director Michael Rush or Jay Knox, the current administrator of the museum, according to Lee. Some are very skeptical of the committee’s contributing role in the University’s decision regarding the Rose.

“

The committee has been handed an illconceived charge.

PROF. ELLEN SCHATTSCHNEIDER (ANTH)

“I don’t think the committee has the power to really do anything apart from spending time until the University does what they’re planning to do,” Meryl Rose, a spokeswoman for the Rose family and a Rose Museum board member, said at the town hall meeting.

In fact, the art collection and staffing decisions do not even fall under the purview of the committee.

The official charge of the committee states that “the Committee will operate with the understanding that the Board of Trustees, as part of its fiduciary responsibility for Brandeis University, will determine whether or not to sell works of art from the Rose.” As University President Jehuda Reinharz explained at the Jan. 29 faculty meeting, “If the museum is not closed, we cannot sell the art.” But as Michael Rush suggested, a committee created to make recommendations to the administration that is not permitted to make any recommendations about the art collection, has limited legitimacy, as it is unable to discuss arguably the most important factor the University has to evaluate when deciding whether to

keep the museum open.

There are some people who recognize that the committee members were put in a difficult position. In an April 24 e-mail to the Justice, Prof.

Ellen Schattschneider (ANTH) wrote, “I have many friends and colleagues on the Committee and believe they are all making a good faith effort. But I believe that the Committee has been handed an ill conceived charge, that severely limits its effectiveness. …

What is a museum other than a collection and its staff? Are they only supposed to talk about the future of the physical building now called the Rose Art Museum?”

Therefore, instead of “clarifying” the University’s plans, the April 17 announcement regarding the staffing decisions and timeline for the museum unleashed a new species of controversy and set itself up for criticism and second-guessing regarding the care of the artwork collection and museum this summer.

Indeed, such criticism is already taking place. Schattschneider has written a letter signed by many faculty members imploring the administration to continue Rush’s employment as director. She also wrote in an April 24 e-mail to the Justice that “it seems like a good inference” that the attorney general’s office pressured the University into writing the April 17 e-mail to the community. The Rose Board of Overseers has also repudiated the University for re-opening the museum without a director or a curator.

The controversy continues to grow. A legal matter regarding the will of Edward Rose, one of the founding donors of the Rose, is the most recent installment of the nonstop complication surrounding the Rose (see story, page 1).

Some are still somewhat optimistic for the future. “I remain hopeful that somehow, we’ll find a way out of this public relations disaster and will ultimately do the right thing, and restore the Museum to its former glory,” Schattschneider wrote.

Others fear the damage has already been done. “Of course even if the Trustees do take everything back it is hard to say how the Rose would continue given the damage to its reputation,” Maarit Ostrow ’11 wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.

But one thing is for sure. As calm as things might have seemed before April 17, the controversy certainly hasn’t lessened in the wake of that announcement.

As Rush wrote in an e-mail to the Justice, “The atmosphere remains toxic as far as I am concerned. To witness the dismantling of the great Rose Art Museum is inexpressibly awful to live with every day. We are doing everything we can to reverse this, but the train left the station at very high speed on Jan 26.”

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THE JUSTICE

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features

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TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2009

7

VERBATIM | William Hazlitt When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy, it ceases to be a subject of interest.

ON THIS DAY...

“Babe Ruth Day” was celebrated at Yankee Stadium in 1947.

FUN FACT The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

The Rose Art Museum was also a source of contention in 1991

By ANDREA FINEMAN JUSTICE EDITOR

The year 1991 is ending. A recession is setting in across the United States. Here at Brandeis, recent budget deficits have forced cuts. Administrators go into panic mode, and on Nov. 5, 1991, 14 paintings by the likes of Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec are auctioned at Christie’s to the tune of $3.5 million.

Brandeis community members and the Association of Art Museum Directors are outraged.

Sound familiar?

“It is the reason that all the museum associations codified the rules in writing for deaccessioning,” said Jonathan Lee, chairman of the Rose Art Museum’s Board of Overseers. “So Brandeis here is going to be famous twice— we’re going to be the poster child for bad cultural behavior.”

While the Brandeis administration recently announced that the Rose will remain open to display its permanent collection in July, the University’s Jan. 26 decision to consider selling works out of the Rose collection repeated history in a bitterly ironic way.

Though the source of considerable outrage at the time, the 1991 sale of several 19th-century paintings draws distinct contrasts with this year’s bombshell. While the 1991 sale didn’t exactly follow industry guidelines and the Rose was censured for a period of time following the sale, newly hired University president Samuel O. Thier negotiated the sale with the AAMD and the Rose bounced back from black-sheep status.

There are a couple of major reasons why the 1991 sale pales in comparison to this year’s decision—besides the obvious fact that the Jan. 26 decision by the Board of Trustees permitted the administration to close the museum and liquidate its entire collection, with the proceeds going to the University.

One preliminary point of comparison is the fact that then-Rose Director Carl Belz participated in and approved the 1991 decision, whereas current director Michael Rush was not part of the discussion until after the Board’s vote.

For instance, the paintings sold in 1991 were all 19th-century works, and while paintings by such masters as Renoir and Honoré Daumier are certainly fantastic for Brandeis’ art history students to study, they were not central to the museum’s core mission of creating a collection of midcentury modern art. The AAMD code of ethics allows museums to sell artworks that isn’t central to the museum’s core mission so long as the proceeds from the sale go directly into buying new artwork. Thus, the sale of paintings wasn’t an issue—however, at the time, many in the art industry were concerned that the proceeds from the sale would go toward the University’s operating budget, which would be far from ideal in the AAMD’s point of view.

Although the proceeds from the 1991 sale went directly back to the Rose and not the University in general, they didn’t exactly go straight into a fund for purchasing new art. While some of the money went into the Hays Acquisition Fund (named after the family who donated some of the artwork sold), a portion of the money went toward conservation projects at the Rose, and some, at the request of the Hays family, went into funding a yearly scholarship that Brandeis students, along with students from a number of other universities including Columbia and Harvard, can apply for to receive funding for research travels. “[The AAMD] insisted that we go back and talk to the donors and sort of make things right, and that’s what happened. We didn’t do our homework up front, but we did go back and make things right,” said Betsy Pfau ’74, a 12-year veteran of the museum’s Board of Overseers.

Despite the Rose’s after-the-fact cooperation with the AAMD and its survival through its subsequent censuring (where the museum was not allowed to participate with other museums to loan and receive loaned artwork), many in the Brandeis community remain upset about the 1991 sale. The sale may not have made the front page of The New York Times art section or in-

A history of

controversy PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBERT D. FARBER UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS DEPARTMENT, BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY

AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE: The Rose Art Museum before the addition of the Lois Foster Wing, which was completed in 2001.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBERT D. FARBER UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS DEPARTMENT, BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY

INSIDE THE ROSE: Above is the lower gallery of the Rose Art Museum. The Rose was founded in 1961. spired a 60 Minutes segment about art industry regulations, but among Brandeis faculty and Rose staff, the sale certainly ruffled a lot of feathers.

Said Prof. Nancy Scott (FA), who specializes in 19th-century art, in a letter to President Thier in October of 1991, “I am not only angry about the decision to sell the fourteen works, but I am especially angered about the way in which it was handled. … In fact, I only learned of the specific works to be sold, as did my colleagues, from an article in the Boston Globe on September 23; and further from a student that same week, that the works had already been dispatched in early September to Christie’s for the sale in November.”

Scott went on to say in the letter, “I would have enjoyed seeing the Renoir out of the storeroom, where I have always had to view it on storage racks, and I simply wanted to see the Vuillard. It has been ‘on loan’ to the president of the Bank of Boston for some years now, and so when I asked to show it to students, I was told that it was not available to me. This was true of other of these [19th century] works, some of which were scattered in different locales over

the campus.”

Roger Kizik, preparator of the Rose from 1977 to 2002, said the Renoir “was always available in the storage room. We did not show it as often as [others] would like, [but] we made it available to all comers, even other New England colleges.”

As for the Vuillard, the Rose had “long-standing agreements with the Bank of Boston” and other institutions. However, Scott maintained that art history professors felt their access to the Rose’s collection before the 1991 sale was limited.

Rose employees were also aghast at the recession-era sale of the 19th-century works. Lisa McDermott, the Rose’s registrar from 1988 to 1992, said, “I’m sure there were lots of conversations and arguments that happened outside the level I was involved in. But the mood that descended on us all was horrible.”

Though the Rose has been nearly self-sufficient financially for a number of years—the University pays for basic operating costs of the museum building, like heat and electricity—in 1991, the Rose did not fundraise quite as much as today and relied more heavily on the University’s support. Later directors increased fundraising efforts in order to make the Rose

self-sufficient and keep it that way. Said McDermott of the 1991 situation, “Belz was basically told that without a significant influx of cash the museum would be closed. … [Rose] staff received clear instructions that in order to keep doors open, artwork would need to be sold. None of us could afford to resign our jobs in protest of this move by the University, … so we strategized the best we could. We made a careful review of the holdings and determined that certain items that predated the major collecting focus of the Rose … [and] had significant enough value estimates that they could meet the goal for funds needed. … As a staff we were committed to maintaining the integrity of the collection as a superior example of 20th century and, specifically, post-war American art. Under the circumstances, there were no options left to us—either we sold paintings or we closed the doors.”

According to McDermott, the Rose’s staff felt that if the museum were to close due to an inability to support itself financially, the Rose’s collection would be liquidated and the proceeds directed into the University’s operating budget.

“When Carl Belz left [in 1998],” said Kizik, “they did seek someone who would be more comfortable with the fundraising role. And fundraising did increase [under subsequent directors.]” Belz, who worked as an art history professor before being promoted to the directorship, which he held for 23 years, was “a great professor, but maybe not a great schmoozer,” Pfau. Belz said, who specialized in contemporary art, taught a class in either art history or museum studies every semester.

“That was wonderful,” Prof. Susan Lichtman (FA) said. “And he would teach out of the museum.”

When Belz became director, said Pfau, “there was no graduate program to go to to learn how to be a director. … Now people learn how to become professional managers of art museums, and it’s a management role as well as an art historian and a curatorial—you need a lot of different skills to be an art museum manager. But it was different when he took it over.”

Indeed, the Rose’s deaccessioning history has been quite different to what we’ve seen this year. The University’s involvement of Rose staff in the decision to sell a few pieces to bolster the Rose’s finances, in contrast to the closed-door Jan. 26 decision to liquidate the museum’s collection to help pull the University out of its financial woes, created an unfortunate but ultimately surmountable situation from which the Rose rebounded. Time will tell whether the Rose will recover from the Jan. 26 Board of Trustees decision or whether the museum will ultimately be closed for good and the art sold to shore up the University’s budget deficit.

Summing up the negative publicity the 2009 decision has created, Lee said, “We’re world-famous. And we’ll be famous again.”

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TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2009

Observing Obama Greg Mankiw

Charles Dunbar

Stuart Altman PHOTOS BY SARA BRANDENBURG/the Justice

Three panelists analyze Obama’s first 100 days in office

By REBECCA KLEIN JUSTICE EDITOR

Cheers can be heard from almost any point on campus.

“Yes, we can!”

Students embrace with a sense of urgency.

“Yes, we can!”

Blue state. Red state. Electoral votes. CNN projections.

“Yes, we can!”

It is 11 p.m. on November 4, 2008, and Barack Obama has just been elected the 44th president of the United States of America.

Contained chaos has erupted.

At Brandeis, a consistently left-leaning university, Barack Obama’s election swept the campus with a feverish frenzy. One hundred days after Inauguration Day, most of the emotions surrounding Obama’s election have cooled, and students have begun speaking more rationally of his presidency. The April 19 event hosted by Gen Ed Now, “Obama’s 100 Days: A Progress Report,” featured a distinguished panel of experts who evaluated the Obama administration’s conduct in three key areas: the economy, foreign policy and health care.

Speakers at the event included Greg Mankiw, a Harvard professor of economics and former chairman of President George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers; Stuart Altman, professor of national health policy (Heller) and former deputy assistant secretary for Health Policy; and Charles Dunbar, professor of international relations at Boston University and former ambassador to Qatar and Yemen. Prof. Peniel Joseph (AAAS) moderated the panel.

The calm, bespectacled Mankiw, gave his insight into the current financial crisis and how well he thinks Obama’s economic policy has dealt with it. He started off by describing what makes the United States’ current financial situation unique and said it was caused by a “lack of imagination.” He said that in order to fix the situation, the administration has to fix the bank system because it goes to the “heart of the problem.” He said that Timothy Geithner “rolled out a plan … that is quite reasonable.” However, he went on to criticize Obama’s proposed fiscal stimulus package.

“The biggest long-term problem has to do with the [proposed] budget. [It’s] unsustainable,” Mankiw said. “We set up a social safety net for the elderly that is going to cause government spending to rise above tax revenues.”

Still, Mankiw was optimistic about Obama’s environmental reform policy. De-

SARA BRANDENBURG/the Justice

A PRO PANEL: Prof. Peniel Joseph (AAAS) moderated the panel of Harvard Prof. Greg Mankiw, Prof. Stuart Altman (Heller) and BU Prof. Charles Dunbar. scribing himself as a “fan of global climate change,” he said, “What [Obama’s administration] is proposing basically makes sense” by putting limits on the amount of carbon we can emit, among other things.

Despite his general doubts regarding the Obama administration, Mankiw said he was “not forecasting another Great Depression.”

Still, Mankiw also expressed concern about Obama’s health care reform plans.

“I am personally skeptical that we are going to save a lot of money through health care reform. Health information technology may be a good thing, [but it] may be a bad thing. What’s driving health care [costs are] advances in technology—which are not going to be changing,” he said.

Altman, who had reddish hair and a warm smile, also talked about his views on Obama’s health policy. Although he said the “stars are aligned for significant health reform,” he also described some of Obama’s major obstacles.

Firstly, he said, Obama needs to create universal health care coverage. Secondly, America needs to reduce the rate of the growth in health care spending.

“We spend 50 percent more than any other country in the world, and we really don’t get the [benefits],” he said.

Altman said Obama has adopted a philosophy that is working toward universal health care coverage and shared responsibility among the government, the individual and the employer. He also said Obama put off debate on controlled health care spending.

Charles Dunbar said that in his opinion, Obama has had the most difficult first 100 days in office in American history.

Dunbar praised Obama’s progress in forging America’s relationship with Russia. He also praised Obama’s approach to relations with the Muslim world as “quite reasonable.”

Dunbar also addressed U.S. affairs with Cuba and Obama’s increased effort towards

friendly relations. “[There is] a new beginning with Cuba, [which is] interesting. [There are] substantive changes [being made],” he said. “[By] easing travel with Cuban Americans, [it is] making it possible to make remittances. We already see the Cubans ready to respond in kind. That’s substantive tilling of the garden in the way the garden should be tilled.”

In reponse to a question from a member of the audience about how he thinks Obama will handle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Dunbar answered, “The two states solution.”

“All around the world,” Dunbar concluded, “Peoples and governments are prepared to say, ‘This is a new beginning.’”

Benjamin Bechtolsheim ’09 praised how informative the event was and said, “I was pleased that students took the initiative to present this forum, and I found it to be a valuable way of looking at the beginning of the Obama administration.”

—Greta Moran contributed reporting

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THE JUSTICE

CARS RECOMMENDATIONS

FACULTY: CARS proposals opposed

CARS FEEDBACK

CONTINUED FROM 1

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

CARS TALKS: Dean Adam Jaffe and Prof. Sacha Nelson (BIOL) respond to questions.

AMST students, faculty against CARS proposals ■ AMST students and faculty

are largely opposed to the CARS recommendation to consolidate the department.

By ALANA ABRAMSON JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

The reactions from students and faculty to the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee’s recommendation to convert American Studies from a department to one of three interdepartmental programs have been overwhelmingly negative.

Students and faculty in the American Studies department have expressed dissatisfaction with the recommendation involving the American Studies department that was released last Monday in the CARS committee’s report.

The CARS recommendation specifically proposes transforming American Studies from a department to an interdepartmental program while maintaining the major and minor, reassigning American Studies faculty to different departments, reducing the faculty by four over time and recruiting new faculty to teach courses in the interdepartmental program.

American Studies Undergraduate Department Representative Lauren Schloss ’11 wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that she and the fellow UDRs Robin Lichtenstein ’11 and Hannah Vickers ’10 have circulated a petition demonstrating student support for American Studies and opposition to the CARS recommendation. The petition has garnered 300 signatures. Schloss and Vickers have also created a Facebook group titled Save the American Studies Department to protest the recommendation.

Prof. Stephen Whitfield, chair of the American Studies department, said that his reaction was one of “pain, hurt and consternation.”

“While we are more than willing to bear the burden the financial crisis imposes, we could find no compelling reason why the price we are asked to pay is so disproportionate,” Whitfield said, adding that “the reduction in our status is also bound to give our students the sense that their studies have been depreciated as well.”

Prof. Richard Gaskins (AMST) said he was mystified by the recommendation.

“This recommendation is inconsistent with the overall goals of the CARS report,” he said, explaining that if the report was intended to encourage departments to share resources more freely, then it should have recommended that various departments that have similarities, like Politics, History and American Studies, coordinate rather than eliminate an entire department like American Studies by making the major interdepartmental.

Although the CARS report states that these recommendations would enable

American Studies to “continue to thrive and even to grow as an interdisciplinary program and major,” Prof. Thomas Doherty wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that he thinks these recommendations will adversely affect American Studies and result in a “slow, sure academic meltdown.”

“If approved, it will mean the end of a rigorous American Studies curriculum at Brandeis University,” Doherty wrote.

Prof. Steven Burg (POL), a member of the CARS committee, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that he believes the interdepartmental programs will be strengthened by the recommendations.

“The proposal to reorganize these departments makes more sense at this time because of the several other recommendations by CARS that will, if adopted, strengthen the role of inter-departmental programs in determining the curriculum, defining priorities for future faculty appointments, and generally elevating the status of inter-departmental programs in academic policymaking processes,” Burg wrote.

Burg also wrote that he believes this recommendation would enable more courses to count toward the American Studies major and would increase the amount of faculty teaching courses that would count for the major, which will “make it easier to absorb the impact of any future retirements or other departures of faculty without undermining the major.”

Schloss wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that the CARS recommendation concerning American Studies was made in haste and would reflect poorly on the University. “This change is solely detrimental, not only to the American studies students, faculty and alumni, but to the University itself,” she wrote.

Alissa Cherry ’10, an American Studies major, said that the committee’s recommendations raised concerns for her about the value of her degree and said she did not understand the reasoning behind the recommendation.

“When I first heard about it, my initial reaction was that my degree wasn’t going to be worth anything. I am not happy about it all. The American Studies program is probably one of the most successful programs on campus, and you don’t try and fix what isn’t broken,” she said.

Jennifer Abidor ’11, another American Studies major, said, “It’s a shame because it’s such a relevant major to our lives and our culture and it incorporates so many different elements of our culture in a unique way that not many other schools offer. The faculty on American Studies has been working on it for so long, and it’s a shame to see it fall apart. It is not the type of department I feel can be dispersed into other departments,” she said.

AMERICAN STUDIES

students so faculty could speak freely, Krauss explained Thursday.

According to faculty attendees, the bulk of the meeting’s discussion concerned the proposal regarding the three departments, with all three department chairs speaking out against the plans. Prof. Ann KoloskiOstrow (CLAS) spoke first, followed

by Prof. Stephen Whitfield (AMST) and Prof. Wellington Nyangoni (AAAS).

“I thought we should go on record as opposing the diminishing of those departments, Prof. Gordon Fellman (SOC) said on Sunday regarding the introduction of the resolution.

Krauss said she thought the wording of that part of the resolution was ambiguous. “I’m not entirely sure what the thrust of that resolution was.”

Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe said Friday the CARS committee would meet again this week and did not rule out changing the recommendations.

Jaffe said that the concerns expressed about each of the departments were somewhat different. “I think in all three cases the claim was made that this was a discipline; it’s not really an interdisciplinary field,” he said. “With respect to American Studies, there was discussion [that] it’s much bigger than the other two in terms of the number of [student] majors and also the historical role played by the Brandeis American Studies department,” he said.

“With [AAAS], there was a lot of discussion about the symbolism and its historical origins in Ford Hall, and with respect to Classics there was a lot of discussion that at many of our peer institutions Classics is a department and not a program,” Jaffe said. “[Changing] the three departments into programs is not a prudent idea,” Prof. Marc Brettler (NEJS) said after the meeting. “It’s clear and it was stated at the meeting that it’s not going to save money.”

Prof. Jane Kamensky (HIST) said she heard “very little support for [the departmental] recommendations and some strong, impassioned and very well-articulated pleas against them.”

Kamensky went on to say that Jaffe told faculty at the meeting that the recommendations “had not been costed out yet” in terms of how much they might save. She also stated that members of the committee seemed to disagree at the meeting as to whether or not the report recommended decreasing rather than replacing faculty in the affected departments. Regarding recommendations for the History department, “We are the department that has shrunk the most in the period of the University growing. … We stand to shrink more severely in the report, so I can’t say it’s a very happy outcome for the History department, but I don’t think it’s a happy outcome for anybody,” she said.

Jaffe pointed out Friday that 90 percent of the Arts and Sciences budget is faculty salaries, and far more than half of those are of tenured faculty. “[Cost savings] are only going to come about from retirements or resignations of tenured faculty,” Jaffe said. “So the whole CARS report is an attempt to, in general, create a more effective structure … so that when we do have departures, we continue to effectively deliver the curriculum with fewer faculty. There’s no way to tie any of the specific proposals to specific cost savings because that’s not the way the budget of the University works.”

Prof. Richard Gaskins (AMST) said Thursday that he emphasized at the meeting that faculty would need to vote to establish interdepartmental programs even if the Faculty Handbook does not require a vote on eliminating a department.

Gaskins stressed that this meant that faculty outside the affected departments would also need to consider the merits of the proposals in order to vote on establishing the new programs.

Gaskins also said that he had given

the opinion that paragraphs in the report that suggest difficulties existing currently in conducting interdisciplinary work within departments are “vastly overstated and, as applied to Brandeis, just plain wrong.” All three departments “interact extensively with all other departments on campus.”

The faculty also rejected a proposal by the CARS subcommittee on University Degree Requirements and Advising that would have allowed students to design their own degree requirements, a program the report says would help attract more students.

According to the proposal, students with high academic achievement could submit a proposal for alternative ways they could fulfill University requirements by, for example, replacing part of the writing intensive requirement with a writing portfolio or by allowing a student from Asia to demonstrate global experience by taking a course in American or European thought instead of a nonWestern class.

Fellman said he did not think the proposal was “very well-thought-out in terms of its larger implications for our educational program.” He added that he was worried that students would no longer need to take a foreign language and that the proposal seemed like a “marketing gimmick.”

Jaffe said Friday that the committee “felt it was a good compromise between the view that we have an obligation as faculty to say what we think students need to do, … but on the other hand, we’d like students to take ownership of their own education and be active in deciding what they want to study and how.”

Jaffe added that he was disappointed the proposal didn’t pass and would hope to address faculty concerns next year before reintroducing the proposal.

FACULTY RESPONSE

AAAS students pass resolutio ■ The recommendation to

make the African and AfroAmerican studies dept a program led to disputes.

By SHANA D. LEBOWITZ JUSTICE EDITOR

Students and faculty expressed resentment with the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee’s proposal to convert the African and Afro-American Studies department to an interdisciplinary program and worried about threatening the status of a department established 40 years ago in the wake of the Ford Hall takeover.

Last Sunday, the Union Senate passed a resolution, drafted by East Quad Senator Jenna Rubin ’11 and Senator for the Class of 2011 Lev Hirschhorn, to oppose making the AAAS department a program.

In 1969, students took over the Ford Hall building and presented a list of 10 demands to the University, the first of which was the establishment of an African and Afro-American Studies department. Today, students as well as former and current faculty fear that changing the department’s status to a program could jeopardize the institution’s symbolic significance.

“I think that it’s a bad decision on the part of the University to change the AAAS department to a program,” Hirschhorn said. “There’s a dangerous symbolism in that action,” he added, referring to the implications of eliminating a department that the University established in order to increase minority representation.

Prof. Ronald Walters, the founding chair of the AAAS department at Brandeis, decried the proposal as a significant threat to the status of African American studies here. “The dismantlement of the [AAAS] department will also dismantle much of the significance of Ford Hall as that historical begin-

SUPPORTING THEIR DEPARTMENT: African and Afro-American Studies major Nathan Ro ning to students in that setting today,” he wrote in an e-mail to Nathan Robinson ’11.

Prof. Ibrahim Sundiata (AAAS), who served as chair of the AAAS department in the 1990s, said that he doubts the proposal’s merit, particularly since Brandeis was one of the first American universities to establish an AAAS department.

“The [students who took over Ford Hall] in the 1960s wanted [the AAAS department] for a very good reason,” Sundiata said. “AAAS would … interface with other departments, but as an equal department.

Now, [the University] is going in a sense backward because a lot of [schools] are still fighting … to get their programs as departments.”

Walters, now a professor of government and politics at the University of

Maryland at College Park, saw the proposal as the culmination of a continued absence of University support for the AAAS department.

“It is my view, admittedly from a distance, that the department has suffered from the lack of vigorous University support since [its founding], such that the number of faculty that I originally instituted is what exists today,” he wrote.

Prof. Wellington Nyangoni, chair of the AAAS department, voiced his disappointment with the proposal at the faculty meeting. “I think the [faculty] meeting went well,” he said, after faculty voted not to change the three targeted departments to programs.Still, CARS committee members maintain that the AAAS department would be more successful as an interdisciplinary program.

THE JUSTICE

Classics students hold protest ■ Classics majors protested

the CARS recommendations with signs outside last Thursday’s faculty meeting.

By REBECCA KLEIN JUSTICE EDITOR

The recent recommendation made by the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee to convert the Classical Studies department into an interdepartmental program has caused much dismay among the department’s professors and students, who staunchly oppose the proposal.

In response to the release of the CARS report, several students stood outside last week’s closed faculty meeting holding protest signs with phrases such as “Save the Classical Studies Department” and “We Love Prof.

[Cheryl] Walker.”

Undergraduate Department Representative to the Classics department Alex Smith ’09 explained that the protest was held to promote “awareness of the Classical Studies department as a very dedicated department. We’re willing to sit outside the faculty meeting, not saying anything, completely peaceful, just [to] show them how much we care about this,” he said.

Lee Marmor ’10, also a Classics UDR, explained that in addition to the protest, Classics students have attended the three CARS proposal forums and are asking alumni for support.

The investment of students in the Classics department did not go unnoticed by administrators, and Provost Marty Krauss explained, “Both [student forums] were pretty much dominated by students from the Classics department, and they made a very impassioned plea to the committee about the quality of their experiences with the Classics department, and I thought they did a lovely job and a

thoughtful job of expressing their views.”

Prof. Ann O. Koloski-Ostrow (CLAS) explained the Classics department’s opposition to potentially being turned into an interdepartmental program.

“It’s a very serious thing to turn a department into a program,” Koloski-Ostrow said.

“We have some very distinguished programs with very distinguished faculty on campus. This is not a slight at those existing programs, but none of those programs were created by the demotion of a department. A department of Classical Studies does do a lot of interdepartmental work, we don’t deny that, but to turn us into an interdisciplinary program would be a real demotion in prestige already achieved by the department, and we are concerned about it first and foremost in terms of the reputation of Brandeis University."

Koloski-Ostrow said that she believes that eliminating the Classical Studies department would damage Brandeis’ reputation because almost all of the universities Brandeis competes with for the best students have Classical Studies departments. “We are trying to explain this to the administration,” Koloski-Ostrow said. “We understand the administration is in a bind [and] the CARS committee’s mission is to try and be more efficient and save money, [but] this is not going to save money; they have admitted that,” she said.

Koloski-Ostrow elaborated in an email to the Justice that “the administration and CARS were asked several times (in private meetings and in front of the whole faculty last week at the faculty meeting on April 23) how closing down the THREE departments recommended for ‘demotion’ into interdepartmental programs would save money? Each time the question comes up, the administration and CARS members say that this recom-

f e ] , n e y

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Burg also commented on students’ concerns about the department’s symbolic role. “The world has changed since the time AAAS was founded 40 years ago. …

The president of the United States is a black man. The symbolic politics is not as powerful as it would have been 40 years ago,” he said.

Kaamila Mohammed ’11, coPresident-elect of the Brandeis Black Students Organization, worried that “to get rid of the [AAAS] department would send a message to the … student body that these issues and this subject matter is not valued as much. A lot of people say that turning a department into a program is the beginning of a slippery slope.”

Although Robinson, an AAAS major, worried about preserving the “unique history of the AAAS department,” he said he was “not entirely opposed to the idea of turning the AAAS department” into a program.

The change “may be beneficial if the University continues to offer a wide range of classes,” he said.

Village Senator Avi Rhodes ’09 voted against the resolution to oppose making the AAAS department a program.

“I fear that if we leave AAAS as a department on its own without [making] it a program, it may suffer because right now there [are] very few majors,” he said. Converting AAAS to a program, he added, will “allow them to come under the wing of another department. ... Right now, unfortunately, we don’t have the funds to have an AAAS department.”

“Probably every faculty [member] finds this distasteful,” Burg said.

“CARS finds this distasteful. We’d rather not do this, but we don’t have a choice.”

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe said the committee felt that AAAS faculty members “could be used more effectively if they were combined with other departments and the majors were presented as programs.”

Faculty with relevant research and publication record and teaching history could join AAAS in order to strengthen the program offerings, according to CARS committee member Prof. Steven Burg (POL).

Burg said the University intends to add another position to the AAAS faculty as part of the proposal to change the department to a program. Prof. Robin Foer Miller (GRALL), another member of the committee, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that three members of the AAAS faculty already have joint appointments in the History, Politics and English departments.

PhD students concerned about cuts ■ Many Ph.D. students said

they were worried about the effects of the CARS proposal on teaching opportunities and Brandeis’ academic reputation.

CLASSICS

By MIRANDA NEUBAUER JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER

Some Ph.D. students are wary about plans by the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee to reduce the number of Ph.D. students who receive University stipends by 20 percent in order to increase the number of master’s students.

The CARS proposals also recommend enforcing higher academic standards for admitting or readmitting Ph.D. students. The proposals also explore the possibility of increasing the amount of courses in which both graduates and undergraduates can enroll and seeking more outside funding.

“We had to reduce our graduate school deficit, which is already fairly substantial and would increase next year because we are adding fifthyear funding to be competitive with other universities,” Dean of the GSAS Prof. Gregory Freeze (HIST) explained. “The graduate school needs to reduce costs through fewer paid doctoral students and increase revenues through more master’s students.”

Ph. D. students have already expressed concern about the effect the changes will have on the quality of teaching.

Christian Gentry, a Ph.D. student in Music Composition and Theory, said though he hasn’t read the report, he has heard that the report recommends cutting the size of the Music Ph.D. program. He believes that the decrease in the program will mean that more master’s students would have to teach classes or be teaching assistants, saying that “in general the lack of experience is … [not] the type of educational or pedagogical paradigm that I think Brandeis is really all about.”

“On the one hand, I’m worried about cuts because it does hurt the overall prestige of the University to have less talented graduate students,” Mikel Parent, a Ph.D. student in English, said.

“I think the way it stands right now there’s a lot of Ph.D. students that teach, and if that number decreases, I would wonder who would be teaching all those courses,” Parent said.

Emily Canning, a Ph.D. student in Anthropology, said that she thought Ph.D. students are sometimes seen as a “drain” because they don’t pay tuition. “It’s spelled out in very blunt terms in the report that master’s programs generate the funds that can fund Ph.D. students,” she stated.

However, Freeze feels that the proposals are reasonable. “It would have been nice not to have to cut so deeply, but they only cut as much as they possibly cut without impairing the programs,” he said. “There have been times in the past when there was talk about going much further, much more draconian changes.” In this case, Freeze said, “they’ve really hit the bottom on what they can cut.”

CARS had explicitly decided “not to abolish or suspend any graduate programs,” he noted.

“If things turn around,” said Freeze, “it’s a lot easier to recover than to reestablish a program so tactically that leave us much more maneuvering room to rebuild the graduate school.”

Graduate students can meet with the CARS committee members and the Provost this afternoon to discuss the proposals.

PH.D. PROGRAMS

MAX BREITSTEIN MATZA/the Justice

PROTESTING PROPOSALS: Classics majors hold signs in support of the department. mendation is ‘not about money.’

Instead, they say that the restructuring is aimed at eliminating duplication of courses and strongly encouraging various academic units to reach across disciplines to fulfill needs that a smaller faculty (in the future) will not be able to fulfill in any other way.”

Walker said that upon reviewing the CARS proposal she did not see “any documentation to suggest that [turning the department into an interdepartmental program] would a) save money or b) facilitate faculty reduction, which is the charge of the committee.”

Johnston said that she was “appalled [and] really disgusted” about the CARS proposals.

Prof. Patricia Johnston (CLAS) said she was “very proud” and “gratified to have so much support” from the Classical Studies students who held the protest.

Walker (CLAS) agreed that she could “not be happier with the students.”

“I have been so pleased that on their own volition they have taken up the torch and decided that [supporting the department] is something they want to spend time doing,” she said, “not only the students on campus but [also] alumni. I have gotten three notices from people who have graduated in recent years. Can we turn all that energy into something positive? I have hope.”

MORE VIEWS

AFRICAN AND AFROAMERICAN STUDIES

obinson ’11 speaks at an open forum.

d y t y e

TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2009

CARS RECOMMENDATIONS

on against proposal

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PHOTOS BY DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/THE JUSTICE

CARS TALK: Above, Student Union President-elect Andy Hogan ’11 speaks.

Below, Prof. Timothy Hickey (COSI) and Prof. Sabine Von Mering (GRALL), members of the CARS committee, answer questions at an open forum.

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TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2009

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THE JUSTICE

the Justice Established 1949

Brandeis University

MIKE PRADA, Editor-in-Chief ANDREA FINEMAN, Managing Editor HANNAH KIRSCH, Deputy Editor J OEL HERZFELD, SHANA D. LEBOWITZ, DAVID SHEPPARD -B RICK and DANIEL D. SNYDER, Associate Editors JILLIAN WAGNER and NASHRAH RAHMAN, News Editors REBECCA KLEIN, Features Editor REBECCA B LADY, Forum Editor IAN CUTLER, Sports Editor JUSTINE ROOT, Arts Editor JULIAN AGIN -LIEBES and MAX B REITSTEIN MATZA, Photography Editors B RIAN B LUMENTHAL, Layout Editor B RIAN FROMM, Copy Editor C OURTNEY B REEN and SARA ROBINSON, Advertising Editors

Rose committee extraneous Three months ago, the Board of Trustees made a surprise unilateral decision to close the Rose Art Museum. Last week, the administration said it would reopen the museum July 22 to give the Committee on the Future of the Rose Art Museum time to finish its discussions, according to an e-mail from Provost Marty Krauss.

We’re concerned that the administration’s dedication to CFRAM’s input may be insufficient.

Indeed, the administration’s attitude toward these committees seems patronizing. Asked in March about faculty input on the Rose decision, University President Jehuda Reinharz said that the Faculty Committee to Review the Closing of the Rose “can come back with any recommendations they want to make. … [The faculty] may give us a number of options.” It hardly seems sincere for the administration to announce now that the conclusions of CFRAM will hold weight with those in charge.

Many were put off by the closeddoor, one-sided way in which the Rose decision was reached, and Brandeis caught a lot of poor publicity for it— with good reason. In the face of all this negative press, the gesture to keep the Rose open after July 22 strikes us as more conciliatory than demonstrative of an actual desire to hear out CFRAM. Besides, now is not the time to start adding measures to this ignoble business. Nothing CFRAM says will

Too late for faculty advice change that the museum is in trouble with the American Association of Museums and the Association of Art Museum Directors, which handle the codes of ethics that apply to museums.

We ought to be finalizing this project by now, not getting bogged down in committee research. Now is the time for President Reinharz to consult with the AAM and the AAMD, as thenPresident Samuel Thier did in 1991.

In the same spirit, to keep the museum open over summer makes faculty and students feel like they had a say and ends the school year on a heartening note. But we question the value of keeping the Rose open all summer just so a committee can reach a decision that may not affect major policy anyway. Even worse, the Rose will be a museum in name only this summer, as it will be without a director, a curator and any exhibitions. And as of Jan. 26, the Board of Trustees’ vote has so egregiously violated national museum ethics codes that the Rose cannot receive loans or cooperation from other museums to develop exhibitions.

It’s nice that the administration is trying to give the faculty some say, but it’s too little, too late. If the University were really interested in faculty input, it should have consulted before Jan. 26. Also, since the decision has already been made, it’s not as if CFRAM will be involved in any serious capacity.

UJ unfit for RMS discussion Last Wednesday, the Union Judiciary heard a case in which petitioners Gideon Klionsky ’11 and Ryan McElhaney ’10 argued that barring Mr. Klionsky from running for the position of senator for racial minority students because he was not a minority both violated the Rights and Responsibilities Handbook and contradicted the Union Constitution. The UJ simultaneously discussed whether it had the right to rule on this issue.

While the UJ ultimately found against Mr. Klionsky, only Associate Justice Julia Sferlazzo ’09 wrote that “this case should not have been heard by the UJ.” We agree with Ms. Sferlazzo: The UJ’s authority extends only as far as interpreting the Union Constitution. Mr. Klionsky and Mr. McElhaney’s petition claims that the Union violated Section 7 of Rights and Responsibilities, which prohibits Brandeis from discriminating on the basis of race. However, cases of alleged discrimination are under the purview of the University Board on Student Conduct, not the UJ. We feel that the justices who decided that the UJ could rule on this case interpreted the Union Constitution too loosely. Associate Justice Judah Marans ’11 and Chief Justice Rachel Graham Kagan ’09 both cited Article I Section 3: “This Constitution shall be enacted in accordance with all …

University policies.” In our opinion, this says that the Union Constitution is inferior to Rights and Responsibilities and that the UJ cannot interpret Rights and Responsibilities.

Furthermore, even though the UJ decided it had jurisdiction over this

Community input needed case, the justices should have dismissed it on an ideological basis: All white petitioners, respondents and justices held the rights of minorities on trial, requiring analysis of Brandeis’ interracial relations. As Ms. Sferlazzo pointed out in her concurring opinion, “None of the justices have degrees in constitutional laws nor are we scholars of race and sociology.” We appreciate the UJ’s efforts to be fair in this trial by altering protocol to allow the testimony of friends of the court and the entry of amicus briefs into evidence; however, that the UJ had to modify its procedures just to hear this case shows that the UJ was not the proper venue for this issue.

While the UBSC should have decided Mr. Klionsky’s individual situation, the student body should decide whether the University’s minority undergraduate constituency should have its own Union senator and Finance Board representative. We agree with Ms. Sferlazzo’s opinion that “a series of open forums and town hall meetings” would be more appropriate than a UJ trial in which only a few proponents of either side could speak. The students who were shushed in the back of the Shapiro Campus Center’s makeshift courtroom should be exactly the students the Union should look to for feedback.

The Union should have settled the issue of minority representation by proposing a Constitutional amendment. This is both within the Union’s authority and a means of involving the community.

ELI TUKACHINSKY/the Justice

Preserve Deis’ curriculum Rebecca

BLADY MAELSTRÖM

I can’t shake this vision of a prospective student poring over admissions pamphlets, coming across the possibility to create his or her own Independent General Education Requirements.

Instantly, excitement grows as this overeager and inherently confused prospective student identifies the well-advertised new IGER program as something all too similar to Brown University’s New Curriculum.

I’m not suggesting that Brown students receive an education inferior to ours. Although the New Curriculum’s lack of general education requirements offers its students infinite freedom, it’s not the model that Brandeis should follow. Brandeis’ education guarantees well-rounded graduates. Even if IGER’s foundations are rooted in the University’s mission to teach core intellectual skills, global citizenship and a broad array of knowledge, a community united in pursuit of the same educational foundation is a risky thing to sacrifice. IGER, proposed by the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering Committee in a separate report, has tremendous potential to be misused and exaggerated as a recruiting tool.

We are already designing our own respective curricula.

Brandeis’ existing distributional requirements are remarkably loose. The University Writing Seminar offers first-years a tremendous amount of options. Writing intensive and oral communication courses abound in all departments, and students will inevitably complete the required courses. And there are so many courses available that fulfill the requirements for non-Western and comparative studies, quantitative reasoning, science, social science, humanities and creative arts that students often don’t even know which class to choose.

The current system is structured in such a way that grants students the freedom to simultaneously determine what they want to study while ensuring them a well-rounded education.

The University should be proud that it produces graduates who have studied in many areas of academia. Graduate schools recognize Brandeis as a school that challenges its students and encourages them to think in many different ways.

Although the idea for IGER is rooted in these same standards, its implementation will not prove to be consistent with Brandeis’ educational philosophy.

It seems to me that all IGER will accomplish is the establishment of a separate community with separate resources and the risk of the complete liberal arts education that is already available at Brandeis. We don’t need the suggested substantial and costly increase in Academic Services staff to figure out a way to cover all the bases. This could turn out to be a fairly pricey way to fool around with our liberal arts education.

Furthermore, a look at the CARS report’s suggestions for different ways to meet various requirements doesn’t reveal anything spectacular. For example, a student can complete the intellectual foundations criterion with previous work, such as a high SAT score or writing portfolio. For the global citizenship criterion, a student can likewise exempt himself by proving to be fluent in a foreign language or planning to study abroad. There is no reason these exemptions can’t simply go into effect now if the University wishes to see them count toward these requirements. Students can already obtain credit for high scores on AP exams, and many foreign language departments offer students the opportunity to place out of lower level courses. Creating an isolated community for IGER students to ultimately accomplish the same goal as mainstream students is unnecessary and detrimental to the University community as a whole.

Also, CARS suggests majoring in one field and pursuing a minor or major in a different field to fulfill the University’s breadth criterion. This seems disturbingly mindless of the basic balance that a true liberal arts student appreciates in his or her education. Unrelated majors and minors may guarantee a diversified education but surely not a well-rounded one.

It seems like CARS wants our University to be able to shout at prospective students, “Come to Brandeis and learn whatever you want!” This might be a nice route for Brown to take, but Brandeis is different. We don’t have a New Curriculum; we want students to leave Brandeis having taken a diverse course load. This is what makes a Brandeis student unique.

It’s no secret that the word “requirement” tends to make students apprehensive. At first glance, IGER appears to provide a means to ease the worry. But it is not consistent with the spirit of our university. Brandeis students enjoy paging through the University Bulletin and shopping numerous classes at the beginning of every semester so that they can shape their education both creatively and appropriately. Creating a way to escape distributional requirements is not the way to go.

OP-BOX Quote of the Week “We’re world-famous. And we’ll be famous again.”

—-Jonathan Lee, chairman of the Rose Art Museum’s Board of Overseers, regarding the negative publicity resulting from the decision to close the Rose. (See Features, page 7)

Brandeis Talks Back What do you think about the Union’s handling of the racial minority positions?

BEN SILVER ’10 “I don’t know what their position is, so I really don’t have a comment on it.”

ILANA SIDORSKY ’12 “It’s a very Brandeis thing to be discussing this.”

YESENIA CRESPO ’09 “It should be out of the hands of the students, and staff should be involved.”

LIANA HYPOLITE ’10 “To not have it would mean that discrimination doesn’t exist. It’s a really important thing to keep on campus.”

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2009

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READER COMMENTARY Errors were made in review of concert To the Editor: Some clarifications and corrections must be made to the review of the April 18 Graduate Musicology Concert (April 21 issue). The concert was described as “bringing music from classical and contemporary composers to life,” which gives the impression that the works performed were only from two historical periods. The reviewer was clearly confused by the difference between musical genres and eras.

There are only two ways in which an organ’s pipes can be activated: via the pedals and via the manuals. Accordingly, it goes without saying that Alexander Lane “pressed the pedals of the organ with his feet” and that he “used his fingers.” Moreover, while it is permissible to refer to organ stops as “drawknobs,” they should never be called merely “knobs.”

The Martinu work performed finished with an allegretto movement, not an Andante. This could have been checked in the printed program if the reviewer lacked the musical proficiency to recognize the difference. Similarly, the correct spelling of the cellist’s name is Laura Shechter—also easily found in the program.

The vocal-piano duets also commonly referred to as “songs” included the “Ruckert Lieder” by Gustav Mahler. The composer “Nahler” does not exist, unless he is part of the little-known group of Nozart, Nendelssohn and Nonteverdi.

The write-up of the Brahms trio also contained inaccuracies. The statement, “It was apparent that the performers were first and foremost scholars of music and only play instruments as a way to enhance their studies in musicology,” was a fairly outrageous and outlandish statement to print, irrespective of what the reviewer thought of the playing.

Musicologists are musicians first and foremost and not dilettantes who write about a subject that catches their fancy and “play instruments” for their own amusement. All the performers in the concert reviewed have played and/or sung professionally and continue to do so when not teaching undergraduates, playing for music majors’ recitals (and waiving their usual fees), contributing to the University’s ensembles, giving lectures and publishing papers.

Furthermore, the reviewer should check the biographical details of musicians before publishing. The French horn player in question, Alicia Kaszeta (GRAD) was a professional orchestral musician before a performance-related injury forced her to stop playing for some time. She did not stop playing in order to pursue a scholarly

career, as the article inferred.

Musicians are always happy to help with factchecking before or after a concert. In the future, accurate research should be carried out before going to press so that biographical inaccuracies, among other things, do not appear on the Internet. Reviewers should always be aware that every factual error has the potential to compromise someone’s professional reputation.

—Amanda Mason Gadrow (GRAD), Gilad Harel (GRAD), Alicia Kaszeta (GRAD), Alexander Gordon Lane (GRAD), Georgia Luikens (GRAD) and Laura Shechter (GRAD) The writers performed in the Graduate Musicology Concert.

End of Classics dept risks liberal arts To the Editor: Regarding your article “Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee releases report” (April 21 issue): I am shocked that Brandeis would even consider turning viable departments into programs simply because they happen to be interdisciplinary in nature.

As a product of the Classical Studies department, which was the primary reason I chose to attend Brandeis in the first place, I would be terribly embarrassed to tell people the University from which I received my degree should Brandeis choose to demote Classical Studies as well as American Studies and African and AfroAmerican Studies to the status of a program.

A possible closure of existing interdisciplinary programs, one of which I successfully expanded into an additional independent major, would likewise promote the idea that Brandeis neither supports nor encourages interdisciplinary study, which would become even more subordinate to study within the boundaries of traditional disciplines. Brandeis’ support and promotion of interdisciplinary education carrying the weight of majors was largely the reason I not only declared two interdisciplinary majors while at Brandeis but also pursued interdisciplinary graduate education and ultimately ended up as a professor in an interdisciplinary college department.

Given these recommendations from the CARS committee, I fear for the future of Brandeis’ commitment to liberal arts and for the continued prestige of a Brandeis liberal arts degree.

—Dr. Ilana Krug Baltimore, Md.

AMST an important part of Brandeis Regarding your article “University reacts to CARS proposals” (April 21 issue): I graduated from Brandeis in ’79 with a degree in American Studies. Today, 30 years later, I draw on lessons learned from those fabulous classes. I even have the books from those classes and return to them (especially Tocqueville) to help me understand what goes on in our country and our world.

Gutting AMST and turning it into a program is an outrage. In my mind, AMST is Brandeis, and if it loses departmental status Brandeis will lose my respect and financial support.

—Lisa Fruitt ’79

Explore race in theory, not in court To the Editor: The case of Klionsky and McElhaney v.

Student Union exploits the legal spirit and intention of our Constitution through co-opting of the letter of law. Within this case, the prosecution argues that two Union positions reserved for racial minorities are discriminatory and therefore unconstitutional. Klionsky’s unsuccessful attempt to be included in the election for the position of racial minority senator spawned the petition. He was then told by the Union that he could not do so since he did not officially identify as a minority at Brandeis. As a result, the two petitioners claim that the positions violate the Union constitution and should therefore be abolished.

Despite outcries from many parts of the minority community as well as the Union regarding the inappropriateness of this case, the Union Judiciary brought it to trial. After reviewing the facts of the case, in my mind, the initial argument of discrimination does not match the proposed solution of eliminating the racial minority positions raised by the petitioners. I acknowledge that perhaps there is legal merit to the claim of exclusion in being denied participation in the election of the RMS. When a person feels disenfranchised and silenced, he or she has historically taken action by fighting for equal rights and representation. However, the suggested abolition of the position does not acknowledge the need for or value of the representation offered by these Union seats. A response that would alternatively match the initial claim of discrimination would be to advocate for changing the constitutional jargon dealing with the two positions to make them more inclusive. I admit that the relationship between the petition’s claim and solution is irrelevant to the official legal discussion, yet it becomes significant when discussing how the

majority of people that must abide by these laws do not feel that these statutes protect them. I therefore believe it is necessary, when approaching a legal suit that has potential to destroy rather than build up, for the participating bodies to honestly articulate their intent.

Thus, I would hope that such bodies ask themselves the following question before they bring their case into a public forum: Does the possible change for which we are advocating benefit the community it would affect? The disparity between the argument of discrimination and the suggested solution of the elimination of the racial minority positions in the Union leads me to believe that the petition presented does not consider this question.

Additionally, though an argument may have legal merit, sensitive issues of race and representation have historically blurred the law’s monopoly of what is both moral as well as in the best interest of the people under that law’s jurisdiction. Therefore, more than a legislative matter, race is sociological; race is a social construction with extremely real consequences. These consequences are experienced in a variety of everyday institutions with which we all engage, such as schools, political offices and legal bodies. The unfavorable treatment these examples too often bestow upon racial minority groups materialize in inadequate resource distribution. Yet these covert practices of institutional racism are habitually ignored since they are simply deemed part of the status quo.

In order to rectify these subtle but shamefully normative injustices, I believe our university community must address issues of race on a theoretical level in order to understand its practical implications. This strategy has a higher chance of eradicating prejudice in contrast to debating the semantics of the Union constitution, for the solution proposed does not directly rectify the initial problem. I believe that discrimination is therefore not confronted and destroyed by changing words but rather by changing minds.

Yet the process adopted in the case brought before the Union Judiciary ignores the need for these conversations. In order to bring this discussion into another needed forum, I plead that the Brandeis population does not limit the relevance of this case to the space of the Union Judiciary trial; rather, I hope that as a community we initiate needed dialogue in a sensitive manner to do justice to the complex issue of race and the experiences of institutional racism many of our fellow students encounter everyday.

—Rachie Lewis ’09

BA/MA program is an essential feature of our University Zachary

MATUSHESKI COMMENT IS FREE

The Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering Committee proposal has caused quite the buzz on campus. Although the Brandeis community has largely been debating the implications of the interdisciplinary nature of the proposed reforms, I think that the CARS proposal to phase out the BA/MA program is most upsetting.

The authors of the CARS report are straightforward about this proposal. Under “miscellaneous recommendations,” the CARS report asserts that four year BA/MA programs are “generally not appropriate, with the work done to earn the MA closer to an undergraduate honors degree than a true graduate degree.” The CARS reports adds, “the existence of these options precludes the development of 5-year BA/MA programs, which might offer students an attractive option of achieving the MA degree, while also providing revenue possibilities for the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.” The History, Anthropology, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Biology, and Physics departments carry fouryear BA/MA or BS/MS programs.

The four year BA/MA program is not “closer to an undergraduate honors degree program.” I can attest to this as a younger graduate student myself. I speak regularly with the BA/MA students who are placed in the same seminars as graduate students. They may elect to do readings, but in many cases, they are right next to graduate students learning about theory, historiography, higher levels of analysis and graduate school level project design, among others. The BA/MA

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students also feel overwhelming pressure to meet graduate-level reading requirements and write graduate-level papers. If a poor paper is turned in, most professors do not take it easy on the student because he is an undergraduate student in the BA/MA program. The Graduate School prides itself on fairness and is just as constructively critical of BA/MA students as it is of regular graduate students.

If my word is not enough, then look at the recent panel on Lincoln’s 200th birthday held in the Robert D. Farber Archives Feb. 10. Planners of the event thought enough of the BA/MA program to invite a BA/MA student focused on the Civil War to speak on the panel. The BA/MA program is what each participating department makes of it. If a department’s respective BA/MA seems weak, then CARS should encourage participating departments to simply improve their program. Branding the BA/MA as a glorified undergraduate honors program debases the commitment to integrity and fairness many departments practice in their handling of these younger scholars.

Overall, the BA/MA program benefits undergraduate students in three ways. First, it awards the student with a graduate degree on completion of their studies. If the student decides to teach at the high school level, the student must only earn a Masters in education in order to reach a higher income bracket. Most BA/MA students are the crème de la crème of their fellow undergraduate majors. Having a master’s makes the transition to graduate school at Brandeis or elsewhere easier. The BA/MA experience exposes students to what it takes to succeed in graduate school.

Secondly, the students in the BA/MA program are shown theories and ideas that are usually not accessible to the average undergraduate honors student. They learn in their year as a BA/MA student what a first year graduate student would.

Lastly, BA/MA students’ educations are far

The Justice welcomes letters to the editor responding to published material. Please submit letters through our Web site at www.thejusticeonline.com. Anonymous submissions cannot be accepted. Letters should not exceed 300 words, and may be edited for space, style, grammar, spelling, libel and clarity, and must relate to material published in the Justice.

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All submissions are due Friday at 5 p.m.

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

CURRICULAR CONVERSATION: Students attend an open discussion with the CARS committee yesterday. stronger than those found in an honors experience because they are not only exposed to big ideas but also expected to engage in discussion of these ideas with more sophisticated minds than those found in your average undergraduate discussion section.

Eliminating the BA/MA program will also hurt departments’ graduate sections. Since the CARS proposal calls for fewer Ph.D. students overall, the lack of BA/MA students will be a detriment to classroom discussion. Because seminars are cooperative learning situations, having no highly intelligent, vetted BA/MA students will hurt the Ph.D. experience and weaken the already-shrinking graduate program.

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 opposite page, staff interview four randomly selected students each week and print only those four answers.

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Although CARS disparages the BA/MA program equivalent to an average honors path, it is a worthy program. It may not earn the University extra money, but it demonstrates the University’s commitment to opportunity and excellence. Students who show high levels of skill get a stronger degree. Their hard work is rewarded by the invitation to the program and the distinction of completing it. If CARS wants to meet the guiding principles laid out by President Jehuda Reinharz in his Jan. 22 statement calling Brandeis a “superb undergraduate school” that has the ability to “pursue excellence by being a research university,” then Brandeis must keep the BA/MA program.

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS ARTS: Sarah Bayer ADS: Brad Stern NEWS: Harry Shipps STAFF Senior Writers: Miranda Neubauer, Jeffrey Pickette, Melissa Siegel Senior Photographers: Sara Brandenburg, David Brown, Hsiao Chi Pang Senior Illustrator: Eli Tukachinsky News/Features Staff: Alana Abramson, Destiny Aquino, Sam Datlof, Irina Finkel, Reina Guerrero, Michelle Liberman, Ruth

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TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2009

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THE JUSTICE

FORUM

THE DEPARTMENTS REACT Value of AAAS should not be undermined

By NATHAN ROBINSON SPECIAL TO THE JUSTICE

In 1969, approximately 70 black Brandeis students occupied Ford Hall to protest mistreatment on the part of the University administration. They issued a list of 10 demands to the University. The very first of these demands was “a department of African Studies with the power to hire and fire its own faculty.” On April 24, 1969, after the students had lasted through an 11day standoff with administrators, the University finally relented and created the Department of African and Afro-American Studies. In the time since then, the department has become a robust source of scholarship with a top-notch faculty, and the occupation has become celebrated on campus as a powerful affirmation of the potential for direct action to force necessary social change.

With this history in mind, the recent Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee proposal to dismantle the AAAS department and transform it into an interdisciplinary program is extremely surprising. Brandeis takes pride in the small part of civil rights/black power era history that occurred on campus, so it’s shocking that the University would consider massively undercutting the gains of this student struggle.

African-American students here in the 1960s were part of a wider movement for serious black representation in academia, as black students felt alienated and unrepresented.

But even if we set aside the history of the department, the proposal is still worrisome. While the CARS report claims that its plans will somehow strengthen the AAAS program, the proposal includes forcibly reassigning AAAS professors and removing the program’s ability to choose its own classes and faculty.

Any study of African or AfricanAmerican issues on campus will have to occur under the umbrella of another department, and there is no evidence that other departments will maintain a strong commitment to the serious study of black issues.

There is a need for autonomy of black scholarship, since there has been a historically weak commitment of universities to their AAAS programs and significant prejudices against the academic contributions of non-Western political theorists and historians. Without its own department, the AAAS faculty will lose control over the direction of their program, and AAAS majors like myself are concerned that we will see more generic courses (with titles like “Race, Class, and Gender”) instead of a direct focus on specifically African issues.

CARS cites the small number of AAAS majors (“just 7 in [academic year] 2007-2008”) and the small size of the faculty (five) as justification for its recommendation. They point out that “This year … when three AAAS faculty members had the opportunity to go on research leave, there were only two department fac-

ulty members remaining at Brandeis.”

Of course, neither of these reasons actually makes a case for shutting down the department. The CARS report concedes that “although AAAS graduates relatively few majors, … average enrollment in its courses is strong.” So the lack of faculty speaks more to a lack of commitment by the University to the department than to any weakness of the department itself. The University’s perpetual unwillingness to properly support the AAAS department with adequate faculty is not justification for the department’s dissolution.

In a lengthy section of the report, the CARS committee cites Princeton University as an example of an institution which restructured its AAAS program to great effect.

But a cursory examination of the case they cite reveals that Princeton was attempting to expand its program and renovated a whole new building to house it. The CARS report proposes nothing of the sort.

Here and elsewhere, the CARS committee feebly attempts to spin the dismantlement into a positive, arguing that this will benefit the both the students and the department’s faculty. Yet they never address the key question this raises: If, as the report argues, this measure will strengthen the department, how will it possibly save money? Certainly, if this proposal could truly be implemented in a way that both saved money and benefited AAAS students and faculty, we would have no problem with it. But if it is a cost-cutting measure, it is hardly going to be the boon to AAAS students that the report suggests.

Dr. Ronald Walters, the aforementioned original chair of the AAAS department, states that the most worrisome aspect of the proposal is “the casual professionalism with which this it has been offered, somewhat thematic of this age in that it ignores the importance of the symbolic entity of a department to African American students as a place of empowerment, position and academic motivation within a still largely hostile institution.” The CARS report is disturbing not simply because it is radical but because for all of its praise for AAAS, it treats the department as a liquid asset, to be dissolved in the case of emergencies. If the University has any commitment to its own history, or to that ambiguous axiom of “social justice,” it should understand the absolute necessity of maintaining the department in its current form. AAAS is not expendable, and Brandeis cannot simply wipe the struggles of its black students from the pages of its history.

AFRICAN AND AFROAMERICAN STUDIES

Editor’s Note: Nathan Robinson ’11 is an AAAS major.

MAX BREITSTEIN MATZA/the Justice

CONTESTING CARS: Members of the Classics department speak to a professor outside of the faculty meeting last Thursday.

In defense of American Studies, African and Afro-American Studies and Classics

AMST under siege by CARS

By STEPHEN WHITFIELD SPECIAL TO THE JUSTICE

Among the recommendations that stands out in the recent Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee report is the elimination of American Studies as a department, and as its chairperson I appreciate this opportunity to warn the University of the consequences of our extinction. For nearly four decades, American Studies has been among the most popular majors on campus because we have blended a commitment to scholarship with an unusual dedication to teaching and advising. Our destruction as a department is therefore bound to produce disaffection and demoralization among our students and faculty at this delicate moment in the history of the University. The overall aim of downsizing that Brandeis must achieve hardly requires the destruction of so healthy and vibrant a part of liberal arts education.

Though the Committee assures us that the transformation into an interdisciplinary program should not be understood as a demotion, there is no other way to understand this change except as a devaluation of what we and our students do. The message is that we are no longer entitled to sit with the grown-ups.

The committee urges the dropping of barriers that divide current departments and programs and which result in both duplication of resources and narrowness of vision.

Yet nowhere does the CARS report offer the slightest evidence that the Department of American Studies is responsible for those barriers, nor are we in any way accused of having raised them. In fact, the evidence is entirely in the direction of our histo-

ry of lowering those barriers. For example, because we believe that students can learn about America in divergent and even eclectic ways, our 88 majors can choose to earn departmental credit from almost six dozen courses offered in other departments. In our inclusiveness American Studies is unmatched; no other department could be more open to tapping the knowledge of our colleagues. We have also created the very programs that have helped reduce barriers. Legal Studies, Women’s Studies, Environmental Studies, Film Studies and Journalism were all born in American Studies. For the sake of lowering departmental barriers, the very department that has been so fertile a site for curricular innovation is threatened with disappearance.

So punitive a fate is especially galling given our own legacy at Brandeis. Though the United States as a multidisciplinary field of study has its roots in the late 1930s, the formal takeoff of American Studies began in the 1950s. Nowhere was that consolidation more significant than at this campus, where in 1957 Max Lerner published his canonical work, America as a Civilization. In 1990 the key figure in the life of our department, Lawrence H. Fuchs, came out with The American Kaleidoscope. Both of these books have helped to define a field marked by the yearning to treat our nation, for all of its diversity, as a coherent unit. My colleagues and myself are the legatees of the effort to deploy multiple perspectives from a common core; to fling us to other departments in the University, while an American Studies program struggles to survive, will diminish our capacity to do what our own intel-

l e c t u a l habits and our teaching experience have honed us to do. Demotion and diffusion are an odd way of upholding the ideal of interdisciplinary learning that President Jehuda Reinharz listed as one of the pillars of the University during this budgetary crisis.

We realize that belts will be tightened in the coming years. But CARS makes no explicit case for the savings that will result from the transformation of a department like ours into a program. Nor does the committee indicate how the scattering of our faculty to other departments will ensure (much less increase) the desired rates of attrition. The committee does not explain why the department of American Studies (along with two others, which are significantly smaller) cannot absorb the same shocks as everyone else.

When virtually every other department will remain intact and autonomous, why is American Studies expected to pay so exorbitant a price, to bear so heavy a burden? We will be embarrassed in the wider scholarly world that our American Studies colleagues inhabit. Our former students (now numbering in the thousands) may well feel diminished and perhaps even betrayed. Those among them who have expressed their gratitude for what they learned under the auspices of a harmonious and cohesive department may wonder why it is being asked to make so inequitable and unfair a sacrifice.

AMERICAN STUDIES

Editor’s Note: Prof. Whitfield is the chair of the American Studies department.

Classics enriches Univ and must stay intact

By ALISSA THOMAS, ALEX SMITH and DIANNE MA SPECIAL TO THE JUSTICE

The Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee recently recommended that the Classical Studies department, an integral part of the academic fabric of our liberal arts University, be reorganized into an interdepartmental program. In its report, the committee praised the department for the “heroic” and “sterling contributions” of its faculty and students to the University. Although “the committee recognizes the irony” of its recommendation, it suggests that Classics be converted to an interdepartmental program, reducing the faculty from four to three. CARS believes that because of the small size of our department, our “organizational structure is not optimal.”

On the contrary, our faculty and students arrange a wide array of events for the Brandeis community including a popular film series, two prestigious lecture programs that attract world-renowned classicists, undergraduate academic fellow-

ships for majors and minors and an internship program through the Classical Artifact Research Center.

In the CARS student forum on Wednesday, representatives of the committee cited “departmental barriers” as an impetus for our reassignment as an interdepartmental program. We firmly believe these barriers do not exist in Classics.

Every semester, the Classics department crafts courses that link diverse disciplines including but not limited to Physics, Anthropology, History, Fine Arts, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and Theater Arts.

The committee also conceded that the University would not save much from this change; rather, the private donations that help fund our dynamic lecture programs, undergraduate fellowships and the CLARC could be significantly diminished or withdrawn due to the lack of a departmental status. In fact the University could potentially lose money due to a retraction of alumni donations to the Classics department.

Furthermore, our professors— who many members of the Brandeis community know personally—have

fostered an inviting and intellectually engaging community worth maintaining as a department. Admittedly, we are a small department, retaining only four full-time professors; however, we are on par with the national average of 3.5 professors in Classical Studies departments. If you know a Classics student, you probably are familiar with our unique atmosphere of scholarship, warmth and— indeed—nerdiness.

We welcome everyone with an enthusiasm for classical subject matter to come enjoy our events or a course with Profs. Ann O. KoloskiOstrow, Leonard Muellner, Cheryl Walker or Patricia Johnston. We ask that the Brandeis administration, faculty, and students help us to preserve the prestige of our small department so that we may continue to offer the vibrant environment that both our faculty and students have created. Valete Omnes!

CLASSICS

Editor’s Note: Alissa Thomas ‘11, Alex Smith ’09 and Dianne Ma ’09 are Classics majors.

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2009

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SPORTS HOME COURT

GOLF

Bloom earns honors, but team finishes last at UAAs ■ Lee Bloom ’10 earned all-

association honors but the golf team was last at the University Athletic Association Championships yesterday in Georgia.

By IAN CUTLER and ANDREW NG JUSTICE STAFF WRITERS

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

LAST STAND: Gabrielle Helfgott ’09 returns a ball backhanded in her final match at the University Athletic Association Tournament last weekend at home.

TENNIS: Judges sixth at UAA tournament CONTINUED FROM 20 However, the Judges battled back. After No. 6 Levine fell to Krups 6-2, 6-1, Brandeis won the next two singles matches to even the score at 3-3, as No. 1 Rosman beat Stachtiaris 6-1, 6-1 and Gallegos edged Freedman 6-3, 6-4.

NYU took a 4-3 lead when Weisberger dropped her match at No. 5 singles to Mijovic 6-2, 6-4, so Brandeis needed to win the last two singles matches in order to avoid the upset.

In her last collegiate match, Helfgott, playing at No. 2 singles, won the first set against Tu 6-4, but Tu bounced right back in the second set with a 6-4 victory of her own and raced to a 5-2 lead in the third set. The next game went into deuce, but eventually Tu emerged victorious 6-2, clinching the match for NYU with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory.

“

They did everything that I ever asked them to do.

COACH BEN LAMANNA

“It kind of breaks my heart to have a kid that works so hard and cares so [much] not win her last match,” Lamanna said.

Helfgott expressed some disappointment in losing her final collegiate match, but said she preferred to focus on her whole Brandeis career rather than just her last match.

“I’m not going to lie, I obviously am a little bit disappointed

with how it turned out,” she said.

“But one thing that I take away and take pride in as a player is that I don’t reflect on this being the last match. I sort of look at it [like] I’ve had a great run here for four years, and sometimes you’re going to win and sometimes you’re going to lose.”

In the consolation semifinals last Saturday, eighth-seeded Case Western proved to be no competition for the Judges.

In doubles, the No. 1 pairing of Rosman and Gallegos beat sophomore Cheyenne Chambers and senior Marta Worwag 8-4, the No. 2 pair of Helfgott and Levine handled junior Jennifer Clever and sophomore Emily Hoffman 8-1 and the No. 3 duo of Sanai and Weisberger swept sophomore Carrie Reese and rookie Svetlana Villano, 8-0. In singles, no Brandeis player lost more than three games in a set.

Against WashU last Friday, Rosman accounted for both Brandeis points in the 7-2 loss.

Rosman teamed up with Gallegos at No. 1 doubles for an 8-6 win and then knocked off sophomore Karina Kocemba at No. 1 singles 6-1, 6-4. For the weekend, Rosman went 6-0 in her matches, while Gallegos finished 5-1 in hers.

The Judges will lose only Helfgott next year to graduation, and Rosman, Gallegos, Levine, Sanai and Weisberger will all return to the Judges’ starting lineup.

Lamanna praised Helfgott’s contributions both on and off the court.

“She’s an unbelievable kid, one of the nicest kids in the world,” Lamanna said. “She’s been a great captain [and an] unbelievably hard worker. [She is the] prototypical student athlete: academics first, tennis second, social life third.”

Despite playing at what captain Aaron Hattenbach ’09 deemed one of the most difficult courses the golf team had encountered this season, the team had eight birdies in the first round of the University Athletic Association Championships at the Royal Lakes Golf Course in Flowery Branch, Ga. last Sunday, finishing the first day with a team score of 45over-par 329, putting them in last place out of five teams but only 15 strokes behind the leading team, the University of Rochester.

Unfortunately, the team could not build on its first-day performance, dropping eight strokes while only recording two birdies yesterday in the final round. The squad finished the second day with a 53-over-par 337 and concluded the tournament with a 98-over-par 666.

Carnegie Mellon University won the tournament with a 13-over-par 626.

“It’s a very difficult, narrow golf course, so you’re bound to have a few high scores in there,” said Hattenbach, who shot a 30-over-par 172. “The golf course is set up so that if you miss a shot, it’s very hard to get a follow-up shot off because there is very little rough. Every hole has out-of-bounds left and right.”

Coach Bill Shipman did not anticipate such a drop-off going into the second day.

“Our score was not bad considering that Emory University, the defending UAA champions, typically averages around 300 and shot 326 [on the first day],” he said after the first round. “Last week, we played [New York University], who shot 305 and 297, and [on the first day] they only shot 317.”

Despite the last-place finish, the Judges had two golfers score in the top 15: Lee Bloom ’10 and Charles Sacks ’10. Bloom earned second-team all-UAA honors with an 17-over-par159 and tied for eighth place with Emory senior Patrick Cohn and New York University senior captain Alex Hopson, while Sacks tied for 15th place with Emory junior John Ross, shooting a 21-over-par 163.

“That’s nice,” Shipman said of Bloom’s accomplishment. “It shows the level of play that he’s reached. I think he was even better in the fall, so this wasn’t even his best, and he could’ve done better. It shows some improvement on the team, and [Bloom’s] level is competitive with some solid players in Division III.” “I would’ve liked to have placed higher, but it’s nice to receive honors,” Bloom added.

Both Bloom and Sacks performed better on the first day of action than on the second. The two were tied for fourth place overall, leading the Judges by shooting a 6-over-par 77 on the day. Both were also tied for the tournament lead with three birdies the first day, as Bloom excelled in the par-five holes, shooting one under par, while Sacks shot a 1under-par on the par-3s.

After going six over par on the front nine on the first day, Sacks closed strongly, finishing the back nine at even par.

“I had three bad swings that cost me six strokes,” Sacks said. “I had four three-putts, but luckily I made

some putts that I needed.”

On the second day, Bloom shot a 12-over-par 82 while Sacks was at 15over-par 86.

Shipman said that Sacks’ struggles on the second day were from similar problems the entire team had on the first day, pointing to the 11th hole as one that gave the team trouble. The hole was a par-5 with an island green, with three chances to hit the ball into the water, Shipman said.

“That hole really killed us,” Shipman said. “We had a lot of big numbers on that hole. We played it 110 times, and I would guess we were 20 over par on that hole.”

For Sacks, the 11th hole was a nightmare on the second day. Sacks hit two balls into the water and had to call a penalty stroke on himself after accidentally but illegally placing his club on the ground in a hazard. He shot a 6-over-par 11 on the hole, according to Shipman, but was praised for his resilience.

“It’s hard to play as well after that, but he has the best composure on the team, so he did well after that,” Shipman said.

“He probably would’ve shot in the 70s if not for that hole.”

Rounding out the remaining Brandeis scores were Aaron Cusato ’12, who tied with Hattenbach for 22nd place with a 30-over-par 172, and captain Ralph Haray ’09, who finished in last place with a 51-overpar-193 performance.

“Nobody was really sharp,” Shipman said yesterday. “They just couldn’t turn the bogeys into pars, they turned pars into bogeys and bogeys into double bogeys.”

The UAA Championships conclude the golf team’s season. The squad will return in the fall after raising the necessary funds to support the team’s operating budget for one more year (see story p. 20).

SAFE FOR A YEAR

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

GOLF NEWS: Golfers Ralph Haray ’09, left, and Aaron Hattenbach ’09, right, speak at the golf team’s press conference April 22.

ATHLETICS: University announces golf program’s return next year CONTINUED FROM 20 told reporters. “I was very happy with the enthusiasm [the team] showed in doing that. I wasn’t sure how quickly it could be done, [but] they did it in an extraordinarily short amount of time.”

The golf team had one of its strongest seasons last fall but has struggled early this spring leading up to last weekend’s University Athletic Association Championships, in which the team finished last of five teams.

“I’m just really happy and excited

to have a team next year,” Bloom told reporters. “It gives us another opportunity to go out and play well, and I’m just excited for [that].”

—Mike Prada contributed reporting.

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TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2009

17

SPORTS SOFTBALL

DEFENSIVE EFFORT

Squad drops two to ranked regional foe ■ The softball team’s four-

game winning streak was snapped at home by Rhode Island College last Thursday as RIC swept the Judges in a doubleheader.

By MELISSA SIEGEL JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

ON THE RUN: Shortstop Joe Coreira ’12 makes an off-balance throw to first base in the team’s loss to Trinity College last Sunday.

Defending champions overwhelm ailing Judges ■ The baseball team was

swept in a doubleheader by defending national champion No. 6 Trinity College at home last Sunday despite going 2-2 last week.

By ELI HARRINGTON JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Riding a two-game winning streak last week, the Judges led 4-2 through the first five innings in the first game of a doubleheader against the defending national champion No. 6 Trinity College (Conn.) last Sunday and seemed to be on their way to a major upset in what has been a tumultuous April in which the team had gone 5-8.

In the top of the sixth inning, however, starting pitcher and captain James Collins ’09 saw his tworun cushion disappear as he surrendered a solo home run to Trinity junior first baseman Kent Graham—his first of three on the day—and was lifted in favor of lefthanded reliever Justin Duncombe ’11.

But after Collins’ departure, the Judges fell back into a familiar pattern as a combination of mental miscues, physical errors and pitching problems came together. Trinity scored eight straight runs over the final two innings to win 10-4 in seven innings. Brandeis dropped the second game 13-3, and fell to 1521 overall and 5-10 in April.

Collins turned in his best start of the season as he held Trinity to only three earned runs, striking out four and surrendering just seven hits across five-plus innings, but the Judges could not hold onto the lead.

“He pitched his heart out,” pitch-

er Kyle Ritche ’10 said of Collins.

“He got into some jams but worked his way out each time and kept us in the game the whole time.”

Duncombe replaced Collins and recorded one out but was lifted after issuing a walk, setting the stage for the Bantams’ comeback. Reliever Nick Pollack ’11 followed Duncombe and took the loss.

With one out, third baseman Tony Deshler ’11 committed an error on a ground ball to his left, leaving the door open for the Bantams to continue the inning and take the lead.

The error would prove costly as Trinity added another run to break the tie and take a 5-4 lead. Trinity added five more runs in the top of the seventh inning to close out the game.

In the second game, Ritchie started the game and struggled with control, issuing four walks to get the loss. The Bantams capitalized on another Deshler error and jumped out to an early 3-0 lead with only one earned run in the first two innings.

The Judges fought back, bringing the score to 3-2 after O’Hare hit his second home run of the year. Rookie reliever Alex Tynan ’12 kept Trinity in check until the fifth inning, when Trinity hit back-to-back home runs and a double to increase their lead.

Tynan was removed from the game, but the rest of the Brandeis bullpen fared no better as Trinity exploded for eight runs on seven hits and one error on the inning, putting the game out of reach for the Judges.

The middle of the Trinity order headed into the game hitting well, as Graham and senior captain catcher Sean Kileen, hitting at the third and fourth spot in the lineup, entered the game hitting .441 and .484, respectively. Their success continued as they combined to go 7for-15 with nine RBIs and six runs

scored while hitting five home runs over the two games.

The sweep occurred after the Judges had won four of their last five games with impressive starting pitching and timely hitting from the heart of their order.

The week started out with a 9-2 win over the University of Massachusetts at Boston last Thursday, one day after designated hitter Drake Livada ’10 was named UAA baseball co-player of the week after he raised his batting average from .295 to .365 during the week of April 15 to 22. He continued his hot streak at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, going 4-for-5 with two RBIs. Captain second baseman John O’Brion ’09 helped Livada in the middle of the Judges order at the third and fourth spot throughout the week as he ended the week leading the team in batting average (.382), slugging percentage (.632) and home runs (4). “[Livada and O’Brion] swing the bat well, and they aren’t too picky up there,” assistant coach Brian Lambert ’97 said. “The biggest thing is that they are coming up in clutch situations and producing. Those guys are the ones that we want up in those situations.”

Last Friday, the Judges handled Endicott College 4-0 on the strength of Drew Brzozowski’s ’10 best start of the year. Brzozowski lasted 8 1/3 innings and struck out a careerhigh 10 Gulls while allowing only three hits.

Yesterday’s game at Amherst College ended too late for this edition.

The Judges will play again tomorrow at Bowdoin College at 4 p.m.

The team will close the season with its final home game against Wheaton College Friday at 3 p.m. and then with a doubleheader at Suffolk College starting at 1 p.m.

In the first game of the softball team’s doubleheader against regionally ranked No. 4 Rhode Island College last Thursday, pitcher Caroline Miller ’12 gave up two home runs in the first inning to put the Judges in an early 3-0 hole in a game they would go on to lose 9-3. In the second game, the Judges also fell behind after a home run in the first inning, and while they were able to tighten the gap, they ultimately suffered the same fate.

The Judges lost the second game 4-1 in a game that was called after five innings due to darkness to drop the team’s record to 22-14 on the year. RIC, which has gone to the NCAA Division III Tournament the last three seasons, improved to 31-3-1 with the sweep.

“Anytime you’re facing a home run-hitting team, it’s a little bit disheartening [to give up home runs early],” coach Jessica Johnson said. “It’s a bit demoralizing and hard to bounce back from. It’s tough. We know that we need to do it, and we didn’t get it done.”

In the second game, Brandeis starting pitcher Emily Vaillette ’10 gave up a two-run home run in the first inning to RIC sophomore left fielder Kayla Jandreau.

Jandreau came into the week without any home runs on the season but then hit two in the doubleheader against Brandeis, including one off Miller in the first inning of the first game.

The Judges pulled within one run in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by rookie right fielder Lara Hirschler ’12, scoring second baseman Melisa Cagar ’11.

However, the Anchormen struck back in the top of the fifth inning, scoring two more runs on three hits to secure the win.

Brandeis could only muster four hits against RIC sophomore starting pitcher Melanie Neece,

who has a 1.68 ERA on the season.

“They have pretty good pitchers, and I think it just took us too long to adjust to what they were throwing at us,” Cagar said.

In the first game, Miller gave up two home runs in the first inning. One was a solo home run off the bat of Jandreau and the other was a two-run blast by sophomore first baseman Chelsi Panarelli. Both of these home runs, and eight of the RIC runs in the game, came with two outs, an issue Johnson said has been plaguing the team all season.

As another example, the Judges gave up three runs with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning in an eventual 5-4 loss to Babson College in the second game of a doubleheader April 17.

“That’s been kind of our story all year,” she said. “Most of the runs that we give up are with two outs, so we’re not closing the door. … I just think we’re not finishing for whatever reason.”

While Brandeis got two runs in the bottom of the first inning to pull to within one run, the Anchormen pulled away with one run in the second inning and two more in the third. The two thirdinning runs came off another two-out home run by Panarelli.

Miller struggled in the RIC loss, giving up four home runs in just three full innings of work to fall to 11-4 on the season.

However, her earned run average is still a solid 2.73 for the season.

“They were just very talented hitters,” Miller said. “They were taking everything I knew how to throw. We tried changing it up, they were just much better than I could be today.”

Miller also went 0-2 from the plate, leaving a team-high four runners on base, however, Johnson said she still plans to have Miller bat in every game she pitches.

“We let [Miller] hit when she’s pitching, just because we think that gives us our strongest offense,” Johnson said. “She’s a little bit hit-or-miss. When she does hit, she hits the ball really hard so it usually pays dividends, [but] when she misses, she misses, so it’s kind of a 50-50.”

The Judges end their regular season today in a home doubleheader against Tufts University at 3:30 p.m.

TRACK: Women’s team fourth at UAAs while men’s team finishes last CONTINUED FROM 20 seconds, earning six points for the Judges.

In the high jump, Suzanne Bernier ’10 and Lily Parenteau ’12 finished in a tie for third place, earning 5.5 points apiece for the Judges.

On the men’s side, the 800- and 1,500-meter races featured high finishes, but the Judges were never able to counteract their lack of depth in the field and sprinting events.

The men’s 4-by-800 meter relay finished second behind the University of Chicago with a time of 7:47.91.

The quartet of Marc Boutin ’12, Matt Jennings ’09, Mike Stone ’09 and Chris Brown ’12 earned eight points for the Judges.

“It was a great performance by the entire team,” Jennings said. “We were in it the whole time. We were unable to come up with a victory, but [the UChicago team] ran great.”

In the 1,500-meter race, three members of the 4-by-800-meter relay earned points for the Judges.

Jennings finished fourth, Stone took seventh and Boutin ended up eighth.

Paul Norton ’11 continued to be a strong finisher in long-distance events, finishing third in the 5,000meter run. Norton ran in 15:36.72 to earn six points for the Judges.

“When conditions are bad, things get funky,” Norton said. “It was a tough race, but I came out of it with a pretty decent performance, so I’m happy.”

Mark Edwards ’09 rounded out the scoring for the men’s team, finishing third in the javelin throw with a toss of 52.04 meters.

Both the men’s and women’s squads will travel to Springfield, Mass. Saturday to compete in the New England Division III Championships. The event will last until Sunday.

18

TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2009

●

THE JUSTICE

Q&A

Alum discusses his career on MLB fringes ■ Professional pitcher and

Brandeis alumnus Nelson Figueroa ’96 continues to try to make a permanent stay in Major League Baseball.

FLUSHING, N.Y.—Former Brandeis baseball star Nelson Figueroa ’96 made his 2009 Major League Baseball debut with the New York Mets at the brand new Citi Field against the Milwaukee Brewers April 19. The 35-year-old, who returned to the Major Leagues briefly last season after a three-year hiatus, allowed three earned runs on five hits in six innings pitched while also recording three strikeouts. The Mets lost the game 4-2, almost exactly a year since Figueroa’s Mets’ debut last season April 11, 2008. On that day, he was recalled to face the same Brewers club at the old Shea Stadium, pitching six innings, allowing two earned runs on just two hits while striking out six batters for the victory.

Figueroa was recalled before the April 19 game this season from the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate in Buffalo, N.Y. to replace New York’s injured pitcher Mike Pelfrey.

Figueroa spoke with justSports after the game to discuss his thoughts on his most recent appearance, his experiences in the World Baseball Classic last March-—where he threw 7 1/3 scoreless innings for Puerto Rico—and throwing nine hitless innings for Lara in the Venezuelan Winter League playoffs last January, in a game in which his team was stuck in a scoreless tie going into an extra 10th inning when Figueroa gave up his first hit but won the game 1-0.

Since the interview, Figueroa was designated for assignment by the Mets. After clearing waivers, Figueroa opted for free agency but

ultimately re-signed with the organization last Friday. He is now back at Triple-A Buffalo, where he is 0-0 with a 3.00 ERA in two starts this season.

Figueroa has a career major league mark of 10-21 with a 4.63 ERA in 91 appearances since 2000.

JustSports: So, you guys obviously came up with the loss today, but you had a quality start: six innings, three earned runs. What were your thoughts on the game today?

Nelson Figueroa: I felt good. I made that one mistake to [Brewers center fielder Mike] Cameron, [who hit a solo home run in the sixth inning], and the Brewers did a good job of manufacturing the first two runs: Getting the guy over and getting the guy in from third base. But when the big guys came up and they had a chance to do some real damage, I was able to make some good pitches and get out of it.

JS: How was this start different from your start against Milwaukee from last year?

NF: I think last year was a chance of getting back for the first time and being in the big leagues again and being a Met for the first time. I think this time I knew [it] was going to be a spot start. You know Pelfrey is going to miss one time through the rotation, and in audition to be the long man, [I can] show what I can do over an extended period of time. Hopefully it pans out, but you gotta take these things one day at a time. I felt like I did a good enough job.

JS: Why do you think [Mets manager Jerry Manuel] chose you over [a younger prospect like] Jon Niese for a game like today?

NF: I think the right-handed-heavy lineup that they have and my success against them last year gave me the opportunity to come up and really try and give us a chance to win a ballgame, and I felt like I did that. We came up on the short end of the stick,

but next time we’ll turn the tables on that.

JS: When you’re down in the minor leagues, how much are you following the professional club, and how much are you just focused on yourself and your own performances?

NF: I think down at the Triple-A level you really just need to focus on yourself and your team down there, because the better that your team

“

I can show what I can do over an extended period of time.

NELSON FIGUEROA ’96

does down there, [the more it] looks good for you. So if you all put up numbers collectively, then the manager [and] the front office staff [will] look down [and say], “Hey, we’re gonna look at Triple-A, they’re a winning team, they win together, and, you know, who’s the best pitcher on [the team] at that time?” You always try to put your name in the forefront.

JS: You had a very busy offseason.

What was it like playing in the World Baseball Classic for Puerto Rico and doing so against some of your Met teammates?

NF: It was a tremendous honor to represent Puerto Rico and play in the [World Baseball Classic], I think, a chance to compete in spring training and show what I was able to do in a playoff-type atmosphere. Every game was kind of a seventh-game-of-theWorld Series feeling to me, so to show that, I felt like it was going to be more influential for me to make the team.

JS: And I also have to ask about that start you had in the Venezuelan Winter League—nine hitless innings,

BILL KOSTROUN/The Associated Press

HOLDING HIS OWN: Pitcher Nelson Figueroa ’96 starts for the New York Mets April 19 against the Milwaukee Brewers at Citi Field in New York. The Mets lost 4-2. but losing the no-hitter in an extra 10th inning because the game was scoreless after nine innings. What was that like for you?

NF: Oh, it was awesome. To have a chance to throw a no-hitter and it didn’t count, it was tough, but the atmosphere there in Venezuela, you know it’s in their playoffs. To have my first start go that well was tremendous. I wish I could have had a 10-inning no-

hitter, but I’ll settle for the nine no-hit innings and the victory.

—Adam Rosen

☛ Watch the entire WBRS video

interview with Figueroa online at www.thejusticeonline.com.

THE JUSTICE

■ The tennis player was 6-0 at the University Athletic Association Championships at home last weekend.

4 66

th-place finish for the women’s outdoor track team at the UAA Championships hosted by Carnegie Mellon University last weekend. The Judges earned 101 points.

combined wins for Rhode Island College and Tufts University this season.

The softball team will have to face the two schools in consecutive games after the Judges were swept by RIC last Thursday. The team plays Tufts today at home.

2

nd-place finish for the men’s outdoor track 4-by-800-meter relay team of March Boutin ’12, Matt Jennings ’09, Mike Stone ’09 and Chris Brown ’12 at the UAA Championships last weekend. The men’s team was seventh overall with 35 points.

1

combined loss for tennis players Rachel Rosman ’11 and Mackenzie Gallegos ’11 at the University Athletic Association Championships last weekend at home.

Rosman was 6-0 while Gallegos was 5-1.

8

runs scored by Rhode Island College with two outs in an inning in the softball team’s loss to the Anchormen in the first game of a doubleheader last Thursday. The Judges were swept, falling 9-4 and 4-1 in the two games.

10

strikeouts for pitcher Drew Brzozowski ’10 in the Judges’ 4-0 home victory over Endicott College last Friday. Brzozowski lasted 8 1/3 innings, allowing just five base runners off three hits, one walk and one hit-batsman.

19

New Lions quarterback Stafford wants to win over fans in Detroit

Rachel Rosman ’11

Judging numbers

TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2009

AP BRIEFS

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Rachel Rosman ’11 did not take long to assert herself on the women’s tennis team, earning the No. 1 singles slot by the end of her first season. And this season, Rosman has taken yet another step forward. With her dominating 6-0 performance at last weekend’s University Athletic Association Championships at home, Rosman has proven herself to be one of the best all-around players in the University Athletic Association.

Her performance against Washington University in St. Louis sophomore Karina Kocemba was evidence of her continued growth. After Rosman won the first set 6-1, Rosman and Kocemba alternated points throughout the second set, with Rosman taking a 5-4 lead. Rosman was able to close out the set and take the match 6-1, 6-4, something she recognized she has struggled with at times this season.

“It was a difficult lead because she could have easily won the next game and forced me to play to 7-5,” Rosman said. “I’ve been having trouble closing out, especially against some one as good as [Kocemba]. I was happy I played aggressively to close that match out.”

Coach Ben Lamanna attributed her success to her on-court maturity.

“The only thing that bogged her down in the past were her emotions during her matches. Now, as a competitor, she keeps a very level head,” Lamanna said.

On the court, Rosman has developed a stronger offensive game. Rosman and Lamanna both said Rosman tended to hit most of her shots at the baseline in the past, but Rosman has started to attack her opponents’ short shots more aggressively.

●

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

“Over the course of the season, I’ve been working on working my way into the court and stepping in on short balls. I used to be a more defensive player, and I’ve been working on playing more aggressively,” Rosman said.

“When she first got here, she hit a lot of great forehands, but she did not take advantage of the next ball that came back,” Lamanna said. “Now she has real-

ized that she is getting a lot of short balls because of her forehand, and she’s stepping up and attacking the ball. She’s developed an all-court game, more of an offensive game where she can finish off points at the net.”

—Andrew Ng

UAA STANDINGS Baseball

Softball

Not including Monday’s games Overall W L 27 11 20 10 23 18 13 32 15 21 12 10

UAA W L Rochester 4 2 Washington Univ. 3 3 Emory 3 3 Case Western 3 3 JUDGES 2 4 Chicago 0 0

Not including Monday’s games Overall UAA W L W L Washington Univ. 7 1 24 9 Rochester 5 3 31 10 Emory 5 3 30 10 JUDGES 3 5 22 14 Chicago 0 0 13 11 Case Western 0 8 15 24

TEAM LEADERS Baseball (on-base percentage)

Baseball (runs batted in)

Second baseman John O’Brion ’10 leads Brandeis with a .472 on-base percentage.

Designated hitter Drake Livada ’10 leads the Judges with 25 RBIs.

Player John O’Brion Nick Gallagher Jon Chu Julian Cavin Drake Livada

Player Drake Livada Sean O’Hare Tony Deshler Jon Chu John O’Brion

OBP .472 .432 .419 .405 .397

RBI 25 24 17 15 15

Softball (on-base percentage)

Softball (runs batted in)

Pitcher Caroline Miller ’12 leads Brandeis with a .500 on-base percentage.

Catcher Erin Ross ’10 leads the Judges with 21 RBIs.

Player Caroline Miller Melisa Cagar Marianne Specker Danielle Lavallee Samantha Worth

Player Erin Ross Melisa Cagar Chelsea Korp Courtney Kelley Marianne Specker

OBP .500 .459 .421 .393 .372

RBI 21 15 15 14 13

UPCOMING GAME OF THE WEEK Softball vs. Tufts University at HOME The Judges host undefeated Tufts University at home today starting at 3:30 p.m.

The softball team will take on undefeated No. 5 Tufts University in its final home games of the season in a doubleheader starting at 3:30 p.m. Tufts is ranked No. 1 in New England with a 22-0 regional record.

The Judges are coming off two straight losses in a doubleheader sweep against Rhode Island College at home last Thursday. The Judges lost 9-4 and 41 to the Anchormen but had won 14 of their last 18 games prior to that.

The team is 22-14 overall this season.

At home, the Judges have only lost three games, holding an impressive 7-3 mark.

Tufts is a perfect 34-0 this season and 12-0 in the New England Small College Athletic Conference East Division. The Jumbos most recently swept Endicott College in a doubleheader last Saturday, winning at home 4-1 and 8-5.

The Judges will be up against a tough pitching staff, as Jumbo starting pitchers have recorded nine shutouts with a team ERA of 1.73 while holding opponents to a mere .231 batting average.

ALLEN PARK, Mich.—Matthew Stafford and Brandon Pettigrew were booed by Detroit Lions fans before they even arrived in town on Sunday.

But the quarterback and tight end both expect that they will be able to win over a frustrated fanbase that wanted draft picks to help a defense that was the main cause of the first 0-16 season in NFL history.

“I’m a competitive guy, and I’m excited about going to Detroit,” said Stafford, the first overall pick, at a press conference at the team’s practice facility in the Detroit suburb of Allen Park. “I know there were a lot of people that might have been scared away by an 0-16 team, but I can’t wait to take on that challenge.”

Traditionally, even highly drafted quarterbacks have had to wait for their first chance at a starting job, but that changed last year when Atlanta’s Matt Ryan and Baltimore’s Joe Flacco led their teams to the playoffs as rookies. Ryan and Flacco both played in college as fifthyear seniors while Stafford didn’t redshirt and left Georgia after his junior year, but he does not think that will be a problem.

“I got a lot of experience at Georgia—I started a lot of games,” he said. “Those other guys played as seniors, but I started as a freshman, so I’ve had a lot of game time.”

That doesn’t mean that Stafford expects to sweep Daunte Culpepper aside before Detroit’s Sept. 13 opener in New Orleans, but he hasn’t resigned himself to clipboard duty, either.

“I want to play as soon as I can—whether that’s Game 1, Game 4 or Game 8,” he said. “I’m going to fight like heck for the job, but if they don’t feel like I’m ready, I’ll accept that and keep working.”

Lions coach Jim Schwartz isn’t going to rush Stafford, but reiterated his happiness with the pick.

“I said when I got here that we needed to find a replacement for Bobby Layne, but that didn’t mean we went into the draft committed to take a quarterback at No. 1,” he said. “This was a long process, with a lot of steps. We’ve broken down every snap he took in college, and we’ve even looked at his high-school tapes. We’ve looked into his background and we’ve seen him in social situations. Matthew jumped through every hoop we put in front of him.”

When Stafford does get on the field, he’ll be happy to have a pair of athletic 6-foot, 5 inch receivers in Pettigrew and Calvin Johnson—two players he has seen firsthand.

“I played against Calvin Johnson—it was my freshman year and his last year at Georgia Tech—and he can do everything,” Stafford said. “Then I played against Brandon a year ago, and he’s a great player, too.”

Stafford was immediately unpopular at the Lions draft party because fans wanted Wake Forest linebacker Aaron Curry. When Pettigrew was announced at No. 20, the boos were just as loud—something he said he understands.

“The fans here want to win, and I think I’m going to be able to help them do that,” he said. “They might not have been thrilled at first, but that just means I’ll have to show them what kind of player I really am.”

Schwartz doesn’t think that will be a problem.

“Brandon is a big, physical point-of-attack blocker in the run game, and he’s a big target in the passing game,” he said. “This is a player with a skill set that is NFL-ready right now. He immediately helps our front seven.”

Detroit’s third first-day pick had the shortest physical trip to Detroit, but the longest life journey. Western Michigan safety Louis Delmas, taken with the first pick of the second round, grew up in a poor part of Miami and credits sports with keeping him out of trouble.

“I don’t play football just because I like it—I play it because it’s the only reason I’m here today,” he said. “If not for my high-school coach getting me out of danger and away from the bad influences on the street, I could have gone the wrong path in life.

“I’ve had a lot of bad cards dealt to me in life, and football was the first time I ever got any good ones.”

Playoffs bring out best of O’Neal MIAMI—During the past two Miami Heat games, Heat forward Jermaine O’Neal has gotten poked in the face, kicked in the leg and knocked on his back.

He’s enjoyed every bit.

It’s no coincidence that the two Heat wins in this Eastern Conference first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks came in O’Neal’s best games with Miami.

Looking every bit the All-Star of old, O’Neal combined for 41 points and 16 rebounds in those contests, and it’s him—not Dwyane Wade—who has the Hawks befuddled this series.

And for the first time since 2006, when Wade and that other O’Neal—Shaq—were teamed up, Miami has the second round in sight.

“He’s definitely the X-factor for the Miami Heat,” Hawks forward Josh Smith said Sunday. “If he keeps playing the way he’s playing, it’s going to be tough to beat them.”

That’s music to O’Neal’s ears. And it’s what Clifford O’Neal envisioned when he called his baby brother after Game 1, where the Heat got walloped and their center was a nonfactor with five points and two rebounds.

Clifford O’Neal had one question: Are you going to have fun or not?

With that, something clicked for Jermaine O’Neal.

He’s been different since, and after finding Wade for a spectacular dunk in Saturday’s Game 3 Miami romp, he strutted near half court, pointed skyward and waved his arms in exhilaration.

That’s the O’Neal the Heat wanted when they traded Shawn Marion to Toronto for him in February.

“I’m a very emotional player,” O’Neal said. “That’s always kind of been my calling card since I was in Indiana. I was a guy really able to get in a rhythm and really build off the emotions of the crowd and the emotions of myself.”

In Miami’s eyes, he’s picked the perfect time to let that show.

“He’s seizing the opportunity right now, ... really stepping up to the challenge,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

just

Sports

Page 20

MLB JOURNEYMAN Brandeis alum and professional baseball player Nelson Figeuroa ’96 talks to the Justice, p. 18

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

PERFECTION IN DEFEAT

Waltham, Mass.

ATHLETICS

University makes golf program’s return official ■ The Department of

Athletics announced that the golf program will continue next year after the team raised enough funds to run its operating budget.

By IAN CUTLER JUSTICE EDITOR

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

LONE STAR: Rachel Rosman ’11 hits a backhanded shot last Saturday as part of her perfect 6-0 match record last weekend.

Squad sixth at UAA tournament ■ The women’s tennis team

hosted the University Athletic Association Championships last weekend but finished sixth of seven teams.

By ADAM ROSEN JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

As the women’s tennis team prepared for its fifth-place match at last weekend’s University Athletic Association Championships at home, it faced a New York University squad that it had defeated 7-2 on a neutral court March 14 at Middlebury College.

The Violets were able to exact revenge this time, however, defeating the Judges 5-3 to secure fifth place in the UAA tournament. The loss dropped the Judges, ranked fifth out of eight squads coming into the Championships, to sixth

place in the tournament. They were 1-2 overall on the weekend, losing to fourth-seeded No. 14 Washington University in St. Louis last Friday in the first round and sweeping eighth-seeded Case Western Reserve University 9-0 in a consolation match last Saturday. The women’s team finishes the season with an 11-9 mark.

The men’s squad’s match against Bryant University last Wednesday was rained out and will not be made up. The team finishes the season with a 7-13 record.

Emory University won its 22nd consecutive UAA Championships by defeating Carnegie Mellon University in the finals.

Though Brandeis finished worse in the tournament than it was seeded, coach Ben Lamanna said he has no regrets with how the team played.

“I’m real proud of the girls; they fought real hard. They did everything that I ever asked them to do.

To come up short like that kind of leaves a bitter taste, but not in the way I feel about them,” he said.

The Judges won the first doubles match against NYU but lost the final two to fall into an early 2-1 hole. No. 1 doubles partners Rachel Rosman ’11 and Mackenzie Gallegos ’11 defeated rookie Elizabeth Stachtiaris and senior captain Stephanie Tu for the second time this year, winning 8-5. But NYU’s No. 2 duo of senior Amanda Freedman and sophomore Lisa Mijovic knocked off the Judges’ pairing of Gabrielle Helfgott ’09 and Nina Levine ’12 8-4, and the No. 3 pairing of Ariana Sanai ’10 and Emily Weisberger ’10 fell to sophomores Elizabeth Feldman and Lena-Sophie Krups 8-5.

“If we’re up 2-1 [in doubles] it changes the match,” Lamanna said.

“It comes down to executing our big points in doubles.”

See TENNIS, 15 ☛

The University has officially reinstated the varsity golf team through the 2009 to 2010 season after members of the team independently raised the necessary $22,000 to support the team’s operating budget for next year, Director of Athletics Sheryl Sousa ’90 announced in a press conference last Wednesday.

Sousa told reporters from the Justice and The Hoot that “the team rallied and took it upon themselves to raise the operating budget we need for next year.”

“The amount of character [the players] displayed as a team exemplifies everything we hope our student athletes will be: determined, hardworking and passionate about their sport,” Sousa told reporters.

The Department of Athletics had suspended the varsity golf program in February to help fill a projected $10 million gap in the University’s fiscal 2009 operating budget, Sousa told reporters. She added that the varsity golf program had been chosen to be converted to a club sport because it only has nine members and would have had “the smallest impact” on staff changes.

Team captain Aaron Hattenbach ’09 led the fundraising efforts.

Along with co-captain Ralph Haray ’09 and Lee Bloom ’10, as well as other members of the team, Hattenbach contacted alumni, family, friends and My Sports Dreams, a professional fundraising agency, to assist in the process of raising the $22,000 for the team’s operating budget next year.

“It was a team effort,” Hattenbach told reporters. “It shows that we can do this, and we can keep going and raise the money we need. I’m excited for the underclassmen who will be able to continue their careers.”

The golf team’s future beyond

the 2009 to 2010 season is still undecided, Sousa said. She told reporters that the team would require an endowment fund of approximately $300,000 to $400,000 to continue beyond next spring, and added that such funds would have to come from the team’s continued independent fundraising effort.

“We’ve had a coordinated effort with [Hattenbach], the team and the Development Office to try and contact alumni for fundraising, so the fundraising doesn’t stop here,” Sousa told reporters. “We’ve met our goal, but the efforts are continuing, so now that next year is secure, we just are going to keep going with the momentum we have.”

Hattenbach said the team members will continue to fundraise, noting that they will rely even more heavily on alumni support to reach the larger goal.

“We figured our large donors would be from the golf alumni network, but we did get a lot of donors from family and friends, people who didn’t know a lot about Brandeis golf. So we really were hoping to compile an accurate list to get these people to donate and build toward the endowment level.”

In an interview with the Justice, Hattenbach specifically mentioned the help of three recent golf alumni—David Milch ’08, Adam Green ’07 and Josh Levine ’06—as those who have contributed the most time and effort to the team’s fundraising effort.

“They put together [a letter to other alumni] and worked hard,” Hattenbach said. “We couldn’t have done this without their help and their mentoring along the way, so we’re going to look to those guys again for help [moving forward] to see if we can make a lot more money, which will be required.”

“It was awesome. It’s cool to be a part of it,” Green said. “[Hattenbach] took the lead on it and impressed all of us in doing it.”

Coach Bill Shipman praised the team’s efforts to continue the program at the press conference.

“I knew the team would try to keep itself alive but didn’t know how the response would be,” he

See ATHLETICS, 15 ☛

OUTDOOR TRACK

Women’s team fourth at UAAs, but men fall to last place ■ The women’s outdoor

track team was fourth of seven teams last weekend, while the men’s team was last at the University Athletic Association Championships.

By SEAN PETTERSON JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Entering the University Athletic Association Championships last weekend at Carnegie Mellon University, the women’s outdoor track and field team knew it would need a balanced effort to finish well and compete with its conference

foes. The Judges got one and finished higher than they did last season.

Employing their usual combination of depth in distance events and skill in the jumping events, the Judges finished fourth out of seven teams with 101 points despite not having any of their members win an individual event. Washington University in St. Louis won the UAA title with 231.5 points.

The men’s team finished seventh out of seven teams with 35 points.

WashU won the title with 221 points.

The women’s team earned 17 points from a trio of top-five finishes in the 1,500-meter race. Beth Pisarik ’10 finished second behind

rookie Erica Jackey of WashU. Pisarik lost to Jackey by a mere 0.09 seconds with a time of 4 minutes, 40.39 seconds.

“I have a really good training group, and our mile group is so strong,” Pisarik said, “It’s so great to have the support of your teammates, and it pushes me ever more than I would be able to do [without them].”

Grayce Selig ’11 finished fourth, and Marie Lemay ’11 finished fifth, earning five and four points, respectively.

Katy Agule ’09 finished her outdoor career on a high note in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Agule finished second with a time of 11:25.79, earning the Judges eight points.

Agule also finished third in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 18:55.97.

“I’ve never done this well at UAAs before,” Agule said. “I’m really proud of the fact that I placed second in steeple and third in the [5,000-meter race].”

The Judges showed their depth in the 800-meter and 4-by-800-meter races as well, as six different runners combined for three top-five finishes. In the 4-by-800 relay, Jess Girard ’10, Julia Alpaio ’12, Molly Shanley ’12 and Hannah Lindholm ’11 finished third with a time of 9:43.14, earning six points. In the 800-meter race, Emily Owen ’11 ran in 2:18.83, finishing fourth, and Erin Bisceglia ’12 ended up fifth

with a time of 2:21.54.

In the field events, Lucia Capano ’11 and Ali Sax ’09 combined for strong finishes in both the triple and long jump events.

Sax finished third in both events, with leaps of 11.46 and 5.49 meters, earning six points in each event.

Capano followed her teammate with fifth-place finishes in the same events, jumping 10.84 meters in the triple jump and 5.21 meters in the long jump.

“I think [Capano] is doing spectacular,” Sax said. “I’ve been glad to have her with us; she is a huge addition to the team.”

Sax also finished third in the 100meter hurdles with a time of 16.18

See TRACK, 17 ☛

April 28, 2009

Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Arts brings culture to campus

Photos and Design: David Sheppard-Brick/the Justice

22

TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2009

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THE JUSTICE

POP CULTURE

INSIDE ON CAMPUS

22-26

■ ‘Grounded Indefinitely’ 22 Sketch comedy group Boris’ Kitchen offered scenes of adolescent misbehavior in its semester show.

22 ■ A Cappella Fest Nine ensembles showcased their vocal talent at the annual fundraiser concert, part of the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Arts.

22 ■ ‘Carmina Burana’ The Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra, the Brandeis University Chorus and the Wellesley College Chorus performed the ubiquitous cantata by Carl Orff.

23-24 ■ SuperSpringfest Mochila, Asher Roth and the Decemberists were among the performers at the free concert on Chapels Field. Sunday’s festivities also included a show by The Guy Mendilow Band and sidewalk drawing for children

OFF CAMPUS

27-28

27 ■ Made of Metal Daniel D. Snyder ’09, Lord of The Land of Metal, bids farewell to his subjects and delivers a State of The Metal Union before being placed on an ice floe barge and sent out to be eaten by sea dragons.

27 ■ The Crystal Method Five years after the release of its Grammynominated album, the electronic music duo began a national tour behind its new album.

Member Scott Kirkland spoke to JustArts.

CALENDAR

Q&A

by Shelly Shore

It’s time for another round of everyone’s favorite game—what’s Lindsay Lohan doing this week?

I’ll tell you what she’s apparently not doing: eating.

Lohan was spotted out and about in Los Angeles this week with her sister Ali, and her wraithlike appearance—her ribs could be seen quite clearly when she turned to the side in an open-side sundress—has both her fans and her friends worried.

“She’s a self-destructive person,” a source close to Lohan told People magazine. “It’s all part of her cry for attention.

She wants Sam [Ronson, Lohan’s ex-girlfriend] to see how bad she’s hurting and she wants Hollywood to see her as a ‘tortured artist’ who is wasting away. … This is a symptom of something much bigger—a desperate need to be noticed.”

If she’s trying to get noticed, it’s working. While most celebrities tend to stay mum about recent breakups, Lohan has spoken about hers to just about any news source that will listen. On the April 23 Ellen DeGeneres show, Lindsay told Ellen that the breakup “came out of nowhere.”

Split or not, Lohan and Ronson still spend time together. Lindsay visited Ronson at her Los Angeles home on Thursday for about six hours. “Lindsay had her assistant drive her to Sam’s house around 1 p.m.,” a source told People.

According to the source, when Lohan left six hours later, she looked “very happy.”

Maybe she looked happy, and I’m all for exes staying friends, but her extremely thin appearance doesn’t seem too conducive to being adjusted to the single life.

A friend of Ronson’s agreed. “When

LBS sophs play in unison ■ The Leonard Bernstein Scholarship Quartet for the Class of 2011 looks back in advance of its yearly concert.

EVAN AGOSTINI/The Assiciated Press

LANK LINDSAY: In the aftermath of an ugly breakup, Lohan has become increasingly thin.

Lindsay is off-balance, she’ll pull out every issue you can imagine,” she told People.

“She doesn’t eat. She stays up all night and sleeps all day, so she misses meals. When she is doing good, when she is happy, her appetite is healthy and her weight is healthy.”

While Lindsay’s rep tells People that “[Lohan’s] weight is fine” and that she “has been in a very good place,” her appearance and recent actions—an alarming return to her partying ways—say otherwise.

What’s happening in Arts on and off campus

Chamber Music Recital Under the direction of Prof. Judith Eissenberg (MUS), students of the chamber music performance class MUS 116, “Inside the Piece, from the Player’s Perspective, will play chamber music works. MUS 116 focuses on providing instrumentalists with the opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge to practical musicmaking.

Tuesday from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in the Slosberg Recital Hall.

Creative Writing Senior Thesis Reading Students graduating from the Creative Writing program will read from their works.

Participants will include fiction writer Cat Kearns and poets Michelle Olney and Matt Hope. Refreshments will be provided.

Thursday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Epstein Lecture Hall.

Senior Concert Composed of original compositions by Dan Newman during the fall 2008 and spring 2009 semesters, Newman’s culminating concert at Brandeis is geared toward “making music accessible” by way of mini lectures and fun pieces that were written to be enjoyed.

Friday from 8 to 9 p.m. in Lower Usdan Student Center.

New Music Brandeis This event will feature world premieres by graduate composition students. Pieces to be played will include “Animated Watercolor”

by Jeremy Spindler, “Seperation: Effigy, and the Wraith of Pristine Land” by Lin MuXuan and “Machinations” by Nathaniel Eschlet, among others.

Saturday from 8 to 10 p.m. in the Slosberg Recital Hall.

Leonard Bernstein Scholar Quartet Sarit Luban ’11 and Ethan Valinetz ’11, violin, Emily Gelb ’11, viola, and Connor Massey ’11, cello—all of whom are recipients of the Leonard Bernstein Scholarship—will perform an assortment of works.

Sunday from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Slosberg Recital Hall.

Haru Matsuri Spring Festival The Japanese Student Association will be hosting the second Haru Matsuri Spring

WHAT’S ON?

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE BOSTON MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS

FRIDAY THE FIRST: This month, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts’ mfafirstfriday event will provide visitors with an evening of music courtesy of the Uziel Colon Latin Jazz Trio in the Koch Gallery.

Festival. The event will have a wide variety of entertainment, including Soran Bushi, and traditional Japanese comedy (kyogen).

Saturday from 1:30 to 5 p.m. in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium.

fridays. Patrons will also be treated to fine art, tapas and a cash bar featuring signature cocktails. Visitors must be at least 21 years of age, but entry is free.

Friday from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

AREA EVENTS

Boston Armenian Film Festival

Winesdays The Boston Museum of Fine Arts invites patrons to an evening of not just drinking wine, but learning to taste it. With the help of an expert, eventgoers will savor a new selection from a featured winery each month. Admission is $25 per person.

Wednesday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in BRAVO at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

mfafirstfridays As part of their ongoing series, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts will bring the Uziel Colon Latin Jazz Trio to the Koch Gallery for the Museum’s May installment of mfafirst-

The Boston Armenian Film festival celebrates Armenian culture and its filmmakers from the documentary to the dramatic. This year’s films include The Blue Hour, a multiethnic ensemble drama that explores the connections between a Mexican graffiti muralist, an Armenian camera repairman, an African-American blues guitarist, and an English pensioner. The Blue Hour is written and directed by Eric Nazarian. The festival’s other highlights include Float by Johnny Asuncion and Hrach Titizian, which tells the story of a 55-year-old ice cream shop owner who separates from his wife and decides to move in with his two bachelor employees.

Friday through Sunday at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

The Leonard Bernstein Scholarship quartet for the Class of 2011 consists of Conner Massey, Emily Gelb, Sarit Luban and Ethan Valinetz.

JustArts caught up with Massey by e-mail recently to find out more about the group’s latest efforts.

JustArts: Where does the quartet stand now?

How has the group changed over the past year?

Are any of you planning to go abroad next year, and if so will the group go on hiatus?

Conner Massey: At the moment, the quartet is preparing for our upcoming concert in May. This involves roughly three hours of rehearsal a week, plus an hour and a half of coaching with a member of the Lydian String Quartet. Over the past year or so, I feel that our group has changed relatively little. Aside from the first few weeks when we were getting to know each other, we kind of got into a groove during the semester. I don’t think anyone is planning to go abroad during our junior year, although that might not be the case senior year. The LBS ’10 Trio has been on hiatus for the entire year due to members being abroad, which I know I would have a hard time dealing with.

JA: What kinds of music do you focus on? Is it prescribed by a professor? Do you try to get a variety of music, or specialize in one style?

CM: So far, we’ve strictly played classical music. However, we have not limited ourselves to certain musical time periods. We’ve played early Haydn quartets from the mid-18th century in addition to a Shostakovitch quartet from 1960, and everything in between. The Lydians encourage us to play more contemporary music as well; for our May concert, we are performing a quartet

by Peteris Vasks that was written in 1995. The Lydians rarely ask us to play a specific work, they usually just make suggestions and recommendations. We have a lot of leeway in choosing pieces.

JA: How does playing with one consistent group over four years affect your musicianship?

What kinds of skills are needed to work with the group as opposed to playing solo? Do you guys hang out outside of practicing together?

CM: Playing in a string quartet, or any chamber group for that matter, is a very unique experience, especially when a group is able to really get to know each other after months of practice. I feel that I’ve developed a certain comfort level with these people that can only be attained from spending hours upon hours in the practice room.

When we rehearse, we don’t just play music for a couple hours. There is a great deal of thoughtful debate, discussion and conversation as we pore over a piece of music. It’s a highly intellectual pursuit. Not only are Emily, Sarit and Ethan fabulous players, they are also terribly bright and always offer invaluable insight when we put together a work. I’m so lucky! Personally, I find playing chamber music much more enjoyable than working on solo repertoire. Instead of spending long, lonely hours by yourself in a practice room, you get to participate in beautiful musicmaking in the company of good friends. I always look forward to rehearsals. Although we get along really well, we don’t hang out much outside of rehearsal. I feel that we take a very businesslike approach to playing. This might change though. I've spoken with Noa Albaum of the LBS ’12 quintet, about throwing a wild LBS chamber music party. We have yet to get organized on this idea though.

JA: Have you collaborated at all with other Leonard Bernstein groups? What kind of relationship, if any, is there between the different years?

CM: I would love to collaborate with other LBS groups. However, this is well-nigh impossible considering how busy we all are. It’s hard enough setting up a rehearsal schedule for the four of us.

If I recall correctly, during our freshman year, the only time we could have coaching was at some ungodly hour, like 7 in the morning. It would be a scheduling nightmare to put together a sextet or an octet. For the most part, the LBS scholars are all well acquainted and friendly with each other. We usually attend other groups’ performances when we can.

—Sarah Bayer

Top 10s for the week ending April 28

Box Office

WBRS

Billboard

Staff Playlist

1. Obsessed 2. 17 Again 3. Fighting 4. The Soloist 5. Earth 6. Monsters vs. Aliens 7. State of Play 8. Hannah Montana: The Movie 9. Fast & Furious 10. Crank 2

1. The Dirty Mac Blues Band – BBQ 2. Barbara Carr – The Heart You Break 3. Zora Young – Going Back To Memphis 4. Nicole Hart – The Other Side of the World 5. Mary Flower – Up A Lazy River 6. Richard Ray Farrell and The Spanish Band – Look Watcha Done 7. John Nemeth – Blues In My Heart 8. Sammon/Holland – Easiest Thing I’d Ever Do 9. Commander Cody – Roll Your Own 10. Shawn Pittman – Brand New Blues

1. Soundtrack – Hannah Montana: The Movie 2. Day26 – Forever In A Day 3. Rascall Flatts – Unstoppable 4. Soundtrack – Twilight 5. Various Artists – NOW 30 6. Jadakiss – The Last Kiss 7. Silversun Pickups – Swoon 8. Lady GaGa – The Fame 9. Jason Aldean – Wide Open 10. Taylor Swift – Fearless

1. Carpathian Forest – “The Swordsman” 2. The Crown – “Night of the Swords” 3. Detonation – “Sword-Carved Skin” 4. Dismember – “Sword of Light” 5. Ensiferum – “Sword Chant” 6. Ensiferum – “Raised by the Sword” 7. Goatwhore – “Baptized in a Storm of Swords” 8. Suidakra – “Shattering Swords” 9. Wolf – “Die by The Sword” 10. 3 Inches of Blood – “Swordmaster” —Daniel D. Snyder

Album information provided by Billboard Magazine. Box office information provided by Yahoo!Movies. Radio charts provided by CMJ.

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2009

23

ON CAMPUS MUSIC

Singers make merry at A Cappella Fest ■ Vocal ensembles revealed trivia about themselves at their fundraising concert.

By SHELLY SHORE JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

The 10th Annual A Cappella Fest took place this past Wednesday, and the show was a great success. The Brandeis community raised over $700 for the Shana Foundation, a nonprofit corporation organized to educate health care professionals and the public about bacterial meningitis.

Hosted by Starving Artists, the show started off with a performance by Voices of Soul. Prior to each group’s act, the audience learned a fun fact about it.

Apparently, all members of Voices of Soul are bilingual. They kicked off their set with “If I Ain’t Got You,” featuring solos by Ji Yun Lee ’11 and Darlene Zephyrine ’12. The girls rocked it out, and the audience broke into applause when they paused for breath before the song had even ended. Making a shift, the group turned up the sex appeal with “Alright,” which included a solo by Josh Kahane ’12.

Rocking T-shirts and yarmulkes, Jewish Fella A Cappella took over.

Their fun fact? After A Cappella Fest, they headed out to walk to a gig in Newton. JFA sang a fun version of the Passover classic “Dayenu” complete with adorably cheesy choreography and finished their set with “Juicy Tongue on Rye,” an ode to a deli in Brookline and a spoof of the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”

Company B (which is also, apparently, a bobsled team) took the stage after JFAC. They started their set with “Woodstock,” which featured a solo by Liza Behrendt ’11. The sopranos rocked some serious high notes before David Neiditch ’09 out-falsettoed them with his solo in “Witchy Woman.”

MAX BREITSTEIN MATZA/The Justice

SEMITIC SINGERS: The men of Jewish Fella A Cappella sang Jewish-themed songs like the Passover favorite ‘Dayenu.’

There was a brief interlude between groups as first-year Eric Freeman (Starving Artists’ resident technical genius) rushed onstage to work with the sound system before Manginah took the stage. A fun fact about Manginah: if you don’t know what they’re saying, don’t worry—neither do approximately 42 percent of their members. Manginah dove right in with “Kama od Efshar.”

The song included Harrison Bannett’s ’11 amazing tenor belt. Manginah finished its set with a crowd favorite, “Happy Ending,” during which Jennifer Levy ’12, Becky Fisher ’10 and Harrison Kessler ’09 performed solos.

The last act before intermission, Rather Be Giraffes (who are apparently changing their “RBG” acronym to mean “Revolutionary Butt Gangsters”), came on stage rocking their signature ties. They started off with a debut song that brought us back to childhood—the “Nickelodeon Medley,” which featured solos by most of the group and tributes to shows like All That, Rocko’s Modern Life, Hey Arnold, Doug and more. Keeping us in a nostalgic mood for a different era of music, they closed off the first act with “Zoot Suit Riot,” with soloist Jordan Talan ’12 serenading the audience into intermission.

Estrogen levels climbed in the room before intermission even ended, and when Brandeis’ resident boy band VoiceMale was announced, the ladies in the audience screamed so loud that the sound system shrieked with feedback. Fortunately, no panties were thrown, and VoiceMale—the self-proclaimed smelliest a cappella group on campus—took the stage to thunderous applause. They too sang a debut song, a VoiceMale original called “Please Don’t Go,” featuring soloist Noah Schnoll ’09.

Going out on a lively note, they finished their set with “When the Lights Go Out,” a piece accompanied by choreog-

raphy from the lovely Julie Judson ’11.

Predictably, the girls once again went crazy, and the boys collected their clothing from the stage and the audience at the end of the song.

Toning down the hormone levels and giving the ladies in the audience time to cool down, all-girl group Too Cheap for Instruments took the stage. Their fun fact? They were absolutely, completely, utterly too proud to plug their album in front of—oh, wait. Oops. They began with “Dark Island,” an Irish folk song with a solo by Hannah Cross ’11 and finished their set with “My Favorite Mistake.”

Proscenium (which is apparently Swahili for “yo mama”) followed TCFI. Members brought out their fun side and gave the audience some good-intentioned advice with “Mama Says” from Footloose, featuring a solo by Jonathan Muchin ’11 before cooling down and heating up again with “Mama Who Bore Me” from Spring Awakening, featuring Megan McGrath ’12.

Closing out the night, host group Starving Artists took the stage to wild applause. They kicked off their set with crowd favorite “Everywhere,” featuring soloist Morgan Schwartz ’11, before heading into “Heard it Through the Grapevine.” “Grapevine” featured soloist Lisa Berger ’12 as well as some very Voicemale-like choreography by the suit-clad male members of the group (not that there were any complaints from the girls in the audience). SA finished the night with a debut song titled “Bigger than My Body,” which contained a solo by Jordan Brown ’12 who, despite pouting at an uncooperative microphone before the song started, rocked out his solo and finished the night on a great (excuse the pun) note.

A reminder to those who weren’t able to make the show: Manginah, Rather Be Giraffes, Voicemale and Too Cheap for Instruments have soon-to-be or just-released albums that you should definitely keep an eye out for.

MUSIC

IMPROV

‘Carmina’ calls for collaboration

“Grounded” no punishment for “Indefinitely” attendees

■ The Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra teamed with both schools’ choruses to bring Carl Orff’s cantata to Levin.

By WEI-HUAN CHEN JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Art of epic proportions is happening. How else can one describe the enormity of a full orchestra, a 100plus person choral ensemble and two pianos reliving what The New York Times calls “one of music’s most resilient creatures?”

The Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra, in collaboration with the Brandeis University Chorus, the Wellesley College Chorus and guest children’s chorus Youth Pro Musica, filled the Levin Ballroom with Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana Saturday, April 25. The concert was a part of the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts and featured soloists Andrea Matthews, soprano, Mark Kagan (MUS), tenor, and David Ripley, bass-baritone.

Carmina Burana was written by German composer Carl Orff, who based the cantata’s lyrics on a collection of 13th-century Bavarian poems of the same name. Although originally regarded as degenerate by the Nazi Party, the piece was eventually embraced in Germany and proceeded to gain worldwide fame after World War II. Now, “O Fortuna,” which begins and ends the piece, is ubiquitous in everyday life. The chilling hymn is the theme for Old Spice and Gatorade commercials, countless movie trailers and New England Patriots games.

“It was an honor being a part of one of the most recognizable pieces in music,” noted Josh Goldman ’11, a percussionist in the orchestra.

In between “O Fortuna” are three movements depicting dancing, drinking and sex. Many of its lyrics

are quite lurid, such as the line “Come, come, my beloved/ I am awaiting you with desire.” It’s surprising that medieval monks wrote this and not college students.

Throngs of listeners came to hear Orff’s masterpiece brought to life last Saturday, completely filling up Levin Ballroom 15 minutes before the performance.

Before the concert, esteemed composer and professor Marty Boykan (MUS) was presented with the Distinguished Arts Faculty Award.

Boykan, who has taught at Brandeis since 1957, was awarded for his work in the Ph.D. program for music composition and his overall contribution to Brandeis.

The concert quickly followed, and from the first majestic chord of “O Fortuna,” I knew this was the most impressive musical performance at Brandeis this year.

“What’s wonderful is that you get a certain energy with college students you don’t see in professionals,” commented Kagan, who had performed Carmina Burana multiple times before with groups such as the Boston Ballet. “This is a tremendously difficult piece. Orff puts every voice at their edge, but the students really wanted to do it. Even faced with funding problems since last spring when we first began planning, everyone still pulled together.”

Despite recent budget cuts, Carmina Burana’s production continued with the help of Music Dept.

Concert Coordinator Shawna Kelley and Office of the Arts’ Director Scott Edmiston and Program Administrator Ingrid Schorr.

“Organizing everything took a lot of collaboration with the two choral directors: Lisa Graham at Wellesley and our own Sarah Mead (MUS),” said Neal Hampton (MUS), conductor of the Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra. “Since the choruses rehearsed separately, we had to agree in advance on musical issues such as tempo and what kind of

Latin—German or Italianate—we were going to use.”

That’s why Carmina Burana was such an impressive project. The ensembles consisted of nearly 200 members in total, bringing together musicians of diverse background and age.

For example, the solo bassoonist was Isabelle Plaster, who had just retired two years ago from teaching at Wellesley College and now enjoys playing with some of her former students. “I’m amazed it all came together in such a short time, and I love keeping in touch with my students,” she said.

Youth Pro Musica, a children’s choir directed by Peter Krasinski, brought singers as young as eight years old to perform with the college groups. “I think it’s great for kids to be a part of this big, beautiful machine,” said Krasinski, who got in touch with Neal Hampton through a mutual conductor friend. “And I loved seeing so many people get together for one purpose,” he said, praising the ensemble’s diversity.

There was even collaboration between the Music and Classical Studies departments, as noted by chair Prof. Ann O. Koloski-Ostrow (CLAS). As an assignment in Latin 125, students translated many of the Latin poems of Carmina Burana.

Classical Studies UDR Lee Marmor ’10, whose translations appear in the program, was excited to attend the concert.

The performance of Carmina Burana was not only an astounding musical endeavor but one that showcased an immense amount of teamwork. At the end of the piece, the performers were treated to cheers and an extended standing ovation by the audience.

It was definitely one of the finest elements of the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts.

“The chorus, orchestra and soloists all sound great,” said Hampton. “It’s been an honor to lead them.

■ Boris’ Kitchen provided a witty take on adolescence at their semester show.

By SARAH BAYER JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

“Is this comedy?” a man asked nervously at the box office before the performance of Boris’ Kitchen’s semester show Friday evening. He and his wife were about the right age to be pre-frosh parents, although a son or daughter was nowhere to be seen. Upon being assured that Boris’ Kitchen was a sketch comedy group, they each bought a ticket and went inside.

Whether audience members were prospective parents looking for a wholesome atmosphere to entrust their child to or alums looking to relive their glory days may have made a big difference in how they received the show. Titled “Grounded Indefinitely,” the 90-minute program offered a half-nostalgic, half-subversive take on adolescent boredom. For example, in one skit, Paul Gale ’12 played Pinky to Sam Roos’ ’09 Brain, asking, “What are we doing tonight?”

To which Roos answered, “Same thing we do every night,” and whipped out a bong.

In “There’s No Such Thing as a Free Meal,” Lydia Flier ’09 played an apathetic daughter forced to watch murder mystery dinner theater only to end up murdering the performers. “No one suspects the wetblanket sibling!” she proclaimed.

Fittingly for a show with such nostalgia for childhood, the group skewered a few almost too-familiar targets, such as zombies, transgendered individuals and Sham WOW. “Woah, Man,” a skit in which Charlie Kivolowitz ’11 volunteered for a transgender operation, provoked mostly groans as his character Fred cast off his womanizing ways and experienced a gruesome first period.

Sex and romance won many laughs

throughout the evening. “That Guy Olympics” sent up pretentious, rude men who still manage to get laid, “Frank’s Bar and Grille” depicted dysfunctional couples meeting in a seedy alternative to eHarmony, and “The Way I Aren’t” showed Ron Kendler ’09 on the waitlist for a girl’s affections.

As with most Brandeis comedy, the skits were even funnier if you knew the people in them. As Kendler delivered an impossibly speedy and elaborate send-up of recent political news, some in the audience laughed before he even got to the punch line. Kendler’s litany was part of the evening’s longest skit, “The News,” in which Roos and Mike Martin ’09 offered their takes on the latest world events. It wasn’t quite The Daily Show, but it was a lot funnier than Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update and may have earned the most resounding laughter.

Parents were a target, as well—particularly mothers. Portrayals included a pillpopping mother offering cocaine in exchange for Webkinz, a nymphomaniac mother whose desires were revealed during a family therapy session and an overbearing mother who nagged her son via a video game. The skit “I Hope They Keep My Room the Same” played on fears of moving back home after graduation, pitching it as a financially savvy move for parents and children alike.

The writers didn’t miss a chance to skewer the university in locus parenti, either. In one sketch, Brian Melcher ’10 donned a sandwich board advertising “The New Rose Art Museum.” At another point, Matt Hope ’09 announced, “Fart is Happening.”

The show was beautifully produced with well-shot videos and effective props.

The transitional music between sketches included cartoon theme songs, hip-hop mashups and Britney Spears’ “If U Seek Amy.” For their grand finale, troupe members danced to The Who’s “Baba O’Riley,” completing their sharp and witty exploration of the territory.

24

TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2009

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THE JUSTICE

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CAM crow The to r per Guy com form JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

MAX BREITSTEIN MATZA/the Justice

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

MAX BREITSTEIN MATZA/the Justice

SUPER SPRINGFEST

Stars take the stage

By RACHEL KLEIN JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Nothing could have been more picturesque and collegiate than this year’s Super Springfest, which took place Sunday afternoon. Hundreds of students flocked to Chapels Field to take in the beautiful weather, good music and free food. Student Events and WBRS organized Springfest, and it ran smoothly with the help of many volunteers clad in bright red shirts.

Although there were several moments when there seemed to be a bigger crowd around the food than around the stage, everyone seemed to enjoy the atmosphere, and Student Events, WBRS, Peers Educating about Responsible Choices, National Collegiate Volunteers and Student Sexuality Information Service provided activities for students who wanted a break from the music.

Springfest kicked off with a performance from student band Mochila, followed soon after by the band Deerhunter. Both drew modest-sized crowds and provided mostly background music for the sunbathers and Frisbee players. Asher Roth, the suburban college dropout, provided amusement with a rap set. Roth, best known for his single “I Love College,” spent close to half an hour espousing the benefits of marijuana, and indeed the smell of marijuana was so pungent that it was clear that many crowd members agreed with his sentiments. While Asher Roth performed an interesting spoken word piece about the production of fast food in America, his less impressive raps overshadowed it. After his performance, Roth hung out with concertgoers on Chapels Field, sharing their common “interest” and proving that he is indeed just another young guy.

Roth was followed by RJD2, a DJ known for creating interesting mixes. His mixing amassed a fair amount of dancers, and the trippy atmosphere was only improved by a group of bizarrelooking puppets who joined the crowd. However, it was the

The concert was a grand finale to the Festival of the Arts headlining group, the Decemberists, who really stole the show.

For fans of the Decemberists, Springfest provided a unique opportunity to see this exciting band in a close and personal space. The group lived up to its reputation and performed a high-energy and engaging show, much to happiness of the singing crowd. Colin Meloy, the lead singer, drew the audience in and got them to actively participate in the songs. The group performed several songs, ranging from old favorites like “July, July” and “The Crane Wife 3” to songs from their newest album, The Hazards of Love . The Hazards of Love is a rock opera, the first of its kind for the group. The Decemberists played “The Hazards Of Love 1 (The Prettiest Whistles Won’t Wrestle The Thistles)” and “The Rake’s Song” from the new album and provided the crowd with a glimpse of their upcoming tour in which they will perform the album in its entirety. Unfortunately, Meloy had to leave soon after the show, and most audience members were unable to get a picture with him. But considering that the band had to prepare for its appearance on The Colbert Report the next day, the Decemberists’ swift departure was easily forgiven.

Springfest was a beautiful day for the students of Brandeis University to enjoy the music and the weather, and it served as a reminder of how lucky we all are to go to this school.

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

PLAYFUL PERFORMANCES: There was ple entertained on Sunday afternoon. Top, a costume. Above, Deerhunter’s bassist pe Field. Below far left, Brandeis world musi Springfest concert, a distinction the band Bands. Below left, a Student Events volun free food options available at Springfest.

REBECCA NEY/the Justice

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2009

Y OF ART

reeting spring with creativity

Brandeisians awoke Sunday morning to the warmest day the spring so far. The weather was perfect for venturing ut onto Chapels Field or the Great Lawn for some of the any events planned as part of the Leonard Bernstein estival of the Arts. Students tanned and picnicked in tween concerts and other “happenings,” perhaps pausing take part in interactive events such as sidewalk chalk awing and origami tutorials. After enjoying free food proded by Student Events and taking in the spirited performnces by Mochila, Deerhunter, Asher Roth, RJD2 and the ecemberists, students returned home exhausted but happy ith the day’s festivities. —Sarah Bayer

MPUS HAPPENINGS: Due to the beautiful weather, outdoor events drew large owds on Sunday, the final day of this year’s Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Arts. e result was an atmosphere of enthusiastic creativity throughout campus. From left right, the day’s events included an origami folding session, Brandeis saxophonists rforming in front of Shapiro Campus Center, a concert by Boston folk musicians The y Mendilow Band, sidewalk drawing with Brandeis students and families from the mmunity, a roving performance by Big Nazo and “Philosophical Love,” a dance permance choreographed by Justin Becker ’09.

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

MAX BREITSTEIN MATZA/the Justice

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

MAX BREITSTEIN MATZA/the Justice

enty going on to keep students performer from Big Nazo in full erforms for the crowd on Chapels ic collective Mochila opens the d won at November’s Battle of the nteer with a hot dog, one of the JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

MUSICAL MELANGE: This year’s Springfest concert featured a wide variety of high-powered performers due to its merger with Student Events’ semester concert. The crowd gathered on Chapels Field enjoyed six hours of the latest hits from a range of genres, all free of charge. Student Events and several clubs collaborated to provide free food and games for those in attendance. Counterclockwise from above: “I Love College” rapper Asher Roth shows off his Brandeis pride as he performs at Springfest; frontman Colin Meloy performs new music from the rock opera album by indie darlings the Decemberists, the concert’s headliners; RJD2 mixes songs that brought students to their feet; concertgoers enjoy beautiful weather, great music and free food on Chapels Field.

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

25

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THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2009

27

OFF CAMPUS METHOD TO THE MADNESS

PHOTO COURTESY OF DISAVIAN

DYNAMIC DUO: Scott Kirkland (left) and Ken Jordan of the Crystal Method have made a name for themselves as pioneers of electronic music. Their album ‘Legion of Boom’ was nominated for a Grammy in 2005.

Kirkland crystallizes story of Method ■ One of the members of the electronic music duo discussed the band’s newest album and offered advice to aspiring musicians.

Electronic music duo The Crystal Method is coming out with a new album, and it’s about time. Five years after the release of their Grammy-nominated Legion of Boom, Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland are back for a nationwide tour to promote their fourth studio album, Divided by Night. JustArts was lucky enough to nab an interview with Kirkland last week, who gave insight into the band’s recording process, an upcoming tour and being an electronic musician.

JustArts: Tell me about your new album, Divided by Night. What was it like recording with artists like Peter Hook and Matisyahu?

Scott Kirkland: Divided by Night was definitely the most collaboration we’ve had for an album. But it was great having different perspectives

and angles for each song, because every artist brought a little something new. We enjoyed going over to New York to record with Matisyahu, who was working on his own album at that time.

JA: Your last album, Legion of Boom, was nominated for a Grammy. Is there pressure for another nomination for this new album?

SK: I wouldn’t say there’s pressure to duplicate success, although I’d obviously like to see it again. Legion of Boom’s success in terms of reception and sales was amazing, and if it happens with the new album, that’s great, but for the most part, all we do is just try to make music that we’re into.

JA: Tell me about this tour you’re kicking off in the House of Blues in Boston. How do you feel getting back on tour after five years?

SK: I’m really looking forward to getting the crew together and doing the big tour. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Actually, we were just in Boston not long ago doing a DJ set. We love Boston. It’s a great town, and it’ll be very exciting to be back. I’m really hoping the Red Sox will be playing

there so I can catch a game.

JA: Hopefully, lots of college students will be there. Would you say they are your target audience?

SK: From the beginning, we did have a younger group of fans, but I wouldn’t say it’s all college students.

There’s always lots of different variety. It’s been a good cross section of listeners, which I think is great.

JA: Do you have anything do say to the young aspiring college musicians out there? How do you go from playing around in Garageband to being on tour and producing an album?

SK: With regard to technology, enough is definitely out there for people without a large budget to give themselves an opportunity to be expressive. Reason is a great program out there to buy. There are really a lot of programs out there to get now, Ableton Live being another good one. There’s no shortage of reasonably-priced complete sets that allow someone to record the audio, guitar, bass, vocals and have a good collection of sounds.

JA: Is that how you guys got started, with lower budget software?

SK: It was many years ago, and we

were using DigitalPerformer, but we’re talking about around 14 years ago. Nowadays, I’m sure everyone has some sort of keyboard or drum machine that you start out and expand with. We didn’t have that equipment when we started.

JA: Do you think it’s become easier for electronic musicians to get started since then?

SK: I think it’s overall easier for everyone, like guitar players and such having much more access to options, especially for a couple of DJs who are tired of just playing other people’s music and want to use their influences to create something cool.

It’s easier to reach the gear and purchase and find it, but it’s still not easy to be creative. The quality of musicality isn’t guaranteed.

JA: Being part of a duo, is the process of making music more flexible?

SK: I have two kids, so they pretty much rule my schedule. Early on, not having [a] family, and not having a schedule, we’d probably work until later in the evening. The work was more conducive to the creative process. Now it’s been pretty rigid, and I’ll wake up at 8 or 9 in the morn-

ing.

JA: Is there a balance needed between playing for college-aged fans and being a family man?

SK: We don’t make music for any age group. It’s always great to see people grow up with your music, to see any longevity. We’ve played clubs DJing and stuff for the last four years. DJing definitely brings an influx of a younger crowd, though.

Electro music brought considerable new fans over the past few years.

JA: Now, is there any chance of you guys wanting to perform at colleges like Brandeis University?

SK: We’ve actually done lots of shows at colleges and universities DJing and playing live, so yeah.

JA: What do you plan to do after the tour?

SK: Go back into the studio, do some things that we want to make remixes of, do a couple more tours and start working on the new album again.

Divided by Night is due out in stores May 12. The Crystal Method will be performing at the House of Blues in Boston on May 6 at 7 p.m.

—Wei-Huan Chen

EXTREME METAL

Merciless metal dictator toppled from throne Daniel D.

SNYDER MADE OF METAL

Though it may surprise you to read that this is Made of Metal’s final installment, remember that it is the nature of tragedy to strike without warning. Yes, it seems the time has come for me to step down from my throne and assume a civilian role; however, before you weep for me, remember that figures as powerful as myself often do not leave office in once piece. Hitler had to blow a chunk out of his own brain, William Wallace was drawn and quartered (Look it up. Very metal way to go), and Slobodan Miloše vić reputedly cannibalized himself while waiting for officials at The Hague to cook him dinner.

All things considered, I’ve gotten

off pretty easy, having made only one mortal enemy: Nine Leaves (You still suck).

But, in all seriousness, my timing couldn’t be worse. Just as your guide must depart, metal stands on the cusp of a defining age in its existence. Metal, as we have known it, is slowly, begrudgingly headed once again into mainstream acceptance. The evidence is all around us. Metal has sprouted from basement shows to arena tours in the harsh light of day while backyard black metal videos (please do yourself a favor and watch Immortal’s “Call of The Wintermoon” video online) are turning into high production pyrotechnic nightmares.

Likewise, TV shows like Adult Swim’s immensely popular animated series Metalocalypse , which chronicles the misadventures of the international superstar death metal outfit Dethklok, have exposed the genre’s more humorous side and made it more easily di-

gestible (My sister Lily is now a devout fan of Dethklok). Metal is even making headlines in high society media; The New York Times runs frequent coverage of Metallica’s ongoing drama. (For the record, I hate Metallica. As the public face of metal, the way most extreme metal fans feel about Metallica can be likened, I imagine, to the way modern Germans feel about the Nazis.)

Now, more than ever, there’s money to be made in metal as well.

High-profile package tours crisscross the country with the backing of some pretty impressive corporate sponsors: Just to name one, the upcoming annual Summer Slaughter tour is backed by no fewer than 17 sponsors, among them being dickhead outfitter giant Affliction Clothing. Metal labels are boasting bigger corporate structures as well, with some of the larger labels like Century Media, Roadrunner Records and Nuclear Blast showing imprints on multiple continents.

All this leads us to wonder: What will happen when a genre that is essentially defined by its sense of deliberate otherness, abrasiveness and outcast nature becomes accepted and even enjoyed by the rest of society? Will fans stand by their beloved genre because they truly love the music, or will they abandon it once more when fair-weather trend fans enter the fold? Extreme metal is also branching out in such different directions that we have to begin questioning the legitimacy of the term itself. What does the caveman production and ethos of black metal have to do with the bouncier, commercialized tones of metalcore? All this and more I would have loved to explore with you, had I only another thousand years on the Made of Metal throne.

With my final words, I just want to offer my thanks to the people who deserve it the most. First and foremost, I thank my few faithful readers, without whom I would have no reason to even write these

nonsensical volumes in the first place. Thank you to everyone at the Justice, past and present, who believed in my ability enough to let me near a computer (P.S.: I have been eating directly from the office peanut butter tub. Sorry.) Thank you to all the bands that have inspired me along the way and continue to do so. Also, a big thanks to my sister Lily, whose repressive older sibling tactics spurred me to find solace in the metal realms. I will convert you yet. And thanks to my parents James and Tina for threatening me with financial independence if I didn’t join the school paper. Finally, eternal hails to the realm of metal. My heart forever belongs to you.

I leave you now to seek my fortune in the realm of harsh reality.

One might say there’s no place for a metal heart in the real world, but whenever I doubt that which pulses inside me, I will remember the following words: Cowboys. Never.

Quit.

28

TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2009

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THE JUSTICE

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) You might need to do a bit more investigating before making a career move. You do best when you come armed with the facts. A personal matter still needs tending to.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Your creativity and your good business sense once more combine to give you an important advantage in a difficult workplace situation. An ally proves his or her loyalty.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Avoid rushing into something just because it offers a break from your usual routine. Take things a step at a time to be sure you’re moving in the right direction.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Bouncing back from a disappointing incident isn’t easy, but you should find a welcome turn of events emerging. Spend the weekend with someone special.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) An incomplete project needs your attention before someone else takes it over and uses it to his or her advantage. There’ll be lots of time for fun and games once you get it done.

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) Doubts involving a potential career change need to be resolved quickly so they don’t get in the way when you feel you’re finally ready to make the big move.

LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Looking to blame someone for a workplace problem could backfire if it turns out you’ve got the wrong “culprit.” Best to get more facts before acting on your assumptions.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Patience might still be called for until you’re sure you finally have the full story that eluded ACROSS 1. Friend 5. Egos’ counterparts 8. Leading man?

12. Sax-playing Simpson 13. Born 14. Arizona city 15. Greek war god 16. Somewhat sore, as a throat 18. Know-it-all, maybe 20. Desert waterway 21. Bound 23. Distant 24. Wrote hastily 28. Philosopher Immanuel 31. Gorilla 32. Done in 34. Plaything 35. Cleanse 37. Ice-removing gadgets 39. Pitch 41. Medal earner 42. Illinois city 45. Mythological maidens 49. Prepare eggs, in a way 51. Repast 52. “— a Lady” 53. Vegas intro 54. Therefore 55. Throw 56. Sullivan and McMahon 57. Strong yearning DOWN 1. Applaud 2. Employ 3. Secondhand 4. Spice blend of Indian cuisine 5. Sets up for use 6. Last calendar pg.

you up till now. A trusted associate could offer valuable guidance.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) Look into your recent behavior to see if you could have caused the coolness you might now be sensing from a loved one. If so, apologize and set things straight.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) Easing up on your social activities allows you to focus more of your energies on a longneglected personal matter. You can get back into party mode by the weekend.

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) A dispute with a colleague can be resolved peacefully once you both agree to be more flexible about the positions you’ve taken and allow for more open-minded discussions.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Volunteering to take on added responsibilities could be a risky way to impress the powers that be. Do it only if you’re sure you won’t be swept away by the extra workload.

BORN THIS WEEK: Your sense of selfawareness allows you to make bold moves with confidence.

BRANDEIS

Through the Lens

Solution to last issue’s crossword.

REBECCA NEY/the Justice

Big Love A student shares a moment with a member of the Big Nazo troupe, which visited the Brandeis campus on Sunday. The group of visu-

Sudoku 7. Antitoxins 8. National Railroad Passenger Corporation 9. Adorn 10. Wan 11. BLT topper 17. “Bow-wow!”

19. Information 22. Fuzzy fruit 24. Witnessed 25. Bookkeeper (Abbr.)

26. Makes good as new 27. Tragic condition 29. Neither mate 30. Pennington and Cobb 33. — a soul (nobody) 36. Bother repeatedly

38.

40.

42.

43.

44.

46.

47.

48.

50.

Saddle knob Edge Hushed “Hey, you!”

Reverberate Skilled South American land Crones Coin aperture Young fellow

King Crossword Copyright 2007 King Features Synd., Inc.

■ It was Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard, chancellor of West Germany in the 1960s, who made the following sage observation: “A compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes he has the biggest piece.”

survey to determine what the most annoying bathroom-related habits are. The results: The habit that annoys people more than any other is failing to replace the roll of toilet paper when it runs out. Leaving blobs of toothpaste in the sink was a close second.

■ You think you’re a chocolate lover? In Spain in the 16th century, people loved chocolate so much that it was not uncommon for royal families to give cocoa as part of their daughters’ dowry.

■ There was once a law in Hawaii that required anyone not owning a boat to pay a fine.

■ Chiffon is a perennially fashionable lightweight sheer fabric used in many beautiful gowns—you yourself might have worn a chiffon dress to your prom. But you probably didn’t realize that the word chiffon is actually French for “rag.”

■ If you’ve ever lived with another person, whether a sibling, a spouse or a roommate, it’s almost certain that no matter how good the relationship, there was friction over sharing the bathroom. A few years ago, those who study such things decided to conduct a

■ Dooley Wilson, the actor who played Sam the piano player in the Academy Award-winning 1942 film Casablanca, was actually a drummer—he couldn’t play the piano at all.

■ Talk about being desperate for immortality: Greek philosopher Empedocles wanted people to believe that his body had disappeared and he had been turned into a god, so he threw himself into Mt. Etna, an active volcano.

Thought for the Day: “Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States.

Ask any Indian.” —Robert Orben

Enter digits from 1 to 9 into each blank space so that every row, column and 3x3 square contains one of each digit.

Sudoku Copyright 2007 King Features Synd., Inc.

al artists and performers spent the day wandering among those listening to the likes of Asher Roth and the Decemberists.