The Justice, January 29, 2013 issue

ARTS Page 19

FORUM Rape culture must be changed 11

A-TRAK ROCKS

SPORTS Women endure tough road losses 13 The Independent Student Newspaper

the

of

B r a n d e is U n i v e r sit y S i n c e 1 9 4 9

Justice

Volume LXV, Number 17

www.thejustice.org

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Waltham, Mass.

STUDENT ACTIVISM

ENVISIONING ISRAEL

Students to Univ: “divest”

■ Students for a Just and Stable Future met this week to kick off its campaign for Brandeis to stop investing its endowment in fossil fuels.

By tate herbert JUSTICE editor

One student had informed Student Union Secretary Carlton Shakes ’14 of having difficulty voting; the student was manually added to the voting group and made eligible to vote. “If any issue was brought to my attention about inability to vote, I am sure it would

The fossil fuel divestment campaign that has received national attention is starting to take off at Brandeis.

The University’s chapter of Students for a Just and Stable Future, a Boston-based organization that promotes sustainability and climate change awareness, held a meeting Thursday night to kick off its efforts to remove Brandeis’ endowment funds from investment in fossil fuel companies.

SJSF, which falls under the Students for Environmental Action umbrella, drew about fifteen students to the meeting, where they screened an informational video on climate change, explained their goals and presented a timeline of protests and meetings with University administrators.

On a poster, next to the timeline, was written the ultimate goal: for “Brandeis to immediately freeze any new investments in fossil fuel companies and to divest within five years from direct ownership and from any commingled funds that include fossil fuels.”

“It’s really a great opportunity for us to come out and say, ‘this is not okay, these companies are not okay, we don’t want to have anything to do with them, we don’t want our money to have anything to do with them,” said SJSF member Dorian Williams ’13 at the meeting. “Regardless of the effect of pulling out ... we don’t want to be associated.”

SJSF leaders met with Brandeis Chief Information Officer Nicholas Warren last semester to gather information about the University’s endowment and how viable their goals would be.

See ELECTIONS, 7 ☛

See DIVEST, 7 ☛

ROBYN SPECTOR/the Justice

DIVERSE DIALOGUE: Keynote lecturer Aaron David Miller talks with students at the conference.

bVIEW highlights discussion ■ Aaron David Miller gave

the keynote address at Sunday’s all-day conference.

By scarlett reynoso JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Aaron David Miller, Middle East advisor to six U.S. Secretaries of State, delineated five myths he believes to exist widely in the realm of Israel-Palestine discussion in his keynote speech at last weekend’s

For more coverage of the bVIEW conference, see p. 3.

Brandeis Visions for Israel in an Evolving World conference. The conference, held on the Brandeis campus and attended by more than 200 students from Brandeis and other area universities, was the first event of its kind to be held by bVIEW. Miller began his talk by emphasizing the civility that becomes lost in Arab-Israeli dialogue, and continually reminded the audience that a

lack of balance or weighing of each side’s claims inhibits any amount of progress in the perpetually heated situation.

While polarity and refusal to budge on the issues is characteristic of discourse on Israel, Miller still believes that ultimately carelessness becomes the problem. Since they feel removed from “the center of conflict” people express their opinions without caution and a sense of responsibility of what impact their voices have.

The first myth that Miller addressed is that “U.S.- Israeli interests are congruent and must be.” Miller refuted this by speaking of the many dissimilarities between the U.S. and Israel, including their respective histories and population sizes.

Secondly, he said the notion that American Jews virtually control U.S. policy toward Israel is “[t]he single most fallacious assumption that is offered up.” However, the idea

See bVIEW, 3 ☛

student union

Open positions filled on Senate and F-Board ■ Victor Zhu ’16 was

elected midyear senator, while Teresa Fong ’15 will join the Finance Board.

By ariel glickman JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

For tips or info email editor@thejustice.org

In the first round of spring Student Union elections last Friday, Victor Zhu ’16 was elected as midyear senator and Teresa Fong ’15 was elected to the Finance Board.

Zhu, who is the Student Union’s second ever midyear senator, won with a total of 18 votes against five other candidates. His desire to become more active in the Brandeis

community motivated him to run for the position. “I hope to host an event for midyears either on campus or even possibly off campus sometime during the year,” said Zhu in an email to the Justice. He also looks forward to improving dining.

Out of the midyear class, 61 students voted in the election.

Staged for success

Home stretch

Admissions

The Office of the Arts founder inspires others to widen artistic involvement as he broadens his own.

 The swimming and diving teams returned home for several individual victories versus WPI.

 The Office for Students and Enrollment received 9,370 applicants for fall 2013.

FEATURES 9

SPORTS 16

News 3

Let your voice be heard!

Submit letters to the editor online at www.thejustice.org

INDEX

ARTS SPORTS

17 16

EDITORIAL FEATURES

10 8

OPINION POLICE LOG

10 2

COPYRIGHT 2013 FREE AT BRANDEIS. Email managing@thejustice.org for home delivery.

2

TUESDAY, january 29, 2013

●

THE JUSTICE

NEWS BRIEF

POLICE LOG

Ban on women in combat to be lifted

Medical Emergency

WASHINGTON—The U.S. military announced on Thursday that the end of a 19-year ban on women in combat, according to a senior defense official, a sweeping change that appears to recognize the reality that female troops have experienced since the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the timing, said that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, “are expected to announce the lifting of the direct combat exclusion rule for women in the military.”

The official added that the announcement “will initiate a process whereby the services will develop plans to implement this decision, which was made by the secretary of defense upon the recommendation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”

Like the elimination of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy prohibiting gay men and women from serving openly, the decision represents another far-reaching reversal of military policy and is emblematic of the changing culture in the American armed services.

About 200,000 women are among the 1.4 million active-duty personnel currently serving in the military.

The policy change also comes as Panetta is about to step down as secretary after several decades in government, and his White House-chosen replacement, former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, is about to face Senate confirmation hearings.

The decision follows a lawsuit filed in November challenging the legitimacy of the ban. The suit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of four female service members. All four had served tours in Iraq or Afghanistan, and two had received Purple Hearts for injuries sustained on duty.

Reversing the ban, said ACLU senior staff attorney Ariela Migdal in an email, means “qualified women will have the same chance to distinguish themselves in combat as their brothers-in-arms, which they actually already have been doing with valor and distinction.”

The lawsuit was challenging a ruling banning women from “being well forward on the battlefield,” a definition that didn’t always make sense in Iraq and Afghanistan, where fighting took place outside of a traditional frontline.

In reality, the policy has been a ban almost in name only. The danger that female troops faced only came to the attention of many Americans early during the Iraq war when Jessica Lynch, a private first class and Army truck driver, was captured and held hostage.

Almost two percent of the nearly 4,000 military deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq were women, according to Military Times.

“We’ve seen how the realities of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have blurred the lines of combat and service members’ roles and exposure to danger,” said Joyce Wessel Raezor, executive director of National Military Family Association, a nonprofit group that aids military families. “Significant numbers of women have been injured or killed in these conflicts over the last 11-plus years. I would guess their families would tell you those women were ‘in combat.’”

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was quick to voice support of the new policy in a statement: “It reflects the reality of 21st-century military operations.”

But Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, a nonprofit group that studies military personnel policies and opposes women in combat, said the change was “irresponsible.”

“For the same reason you don’t see women in the NFL, you shouldn’t see women in combat units,” she said. “Women are not the equal of men.”

Jan. 26—A caller in Rosenthal South reported an intoxicated male party had fallen down the stairs and said he might have a concussion. University Police and BEMCo were dispatched and an ambulance was notified.

The party was transported to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care.

Jan. 26—A student went to Stoneman complaining that he injured his thumb while playing basketball. BEMCo was requested, but the student was transported to an urgent care center via University Police cruiser.

Jan. 26—An ambulance transported a Brandeis student to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital for psychological assistance.

Jan. 26—On-scene BEMCo at the Levin Ballroom requested an ambulance for a 21-year-old female student who was possibly intoxicated. An ambulance transported the party to the

Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care.

Drugs

Jan. 21—The community development coordinator requested University Police assistance with the collection of drug paraphernalia from Rosenthal South.

University Police confiscated the same, and a report was compiled.

Jan. 27—A community adviser reported finding marijuana in the ceramic studio in the Usen Castle. University Police confiscated the drugs and compiled a report.

Traffic

Jan. 26—Escort staff called from the front gate reporting that a BranVan struck a passenger car, resulting in minor damage. A report was compiled and photographs were taken.

Disturbance

Jan. 27—A community advis-

er reported that Cholmondeley’s was still open, but it was supposed to be closed by the time the party called. The crowd was dispersed by University Police, and the staff was left to clean up and shut down for the night.

Vandalism

Jan. 24—A science staff supervisor reported that an unknown party vandalized the awning in the Shapiro Science Complex.

University Police compiled a report and took photographs of the damage.

Miscellaneous

Jan. 23—A student in Massell Quad reported there was a male wearing a black jacket with a hood near the bushes near the Massell Pond.

University Police on-scene reported there was a student in the area in a black jacket who was on the ice attempting to retrieve an empty box lying on the frozen

New clubs chartered

JON EDELSTEIN/the Justice

Selecting service

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS

n A photo caption in Features implied that the photo was of Daniel Smith and his wife. The photo actually pictured Daniel Smith and his mother. (Jan. 22, p. 8) n A photo credit in Arts misspelled the name of a photographer. The photographer’s name is Brianna Mussman, not Briana Mussman. (Jan. 22, p. 20) The Justice welcomes submissions for errors that warrant correction or clarification. Email editor@ thejustice.org.

Justice

the

Editor News Forum Features Sports Arts Ads Photos Managing

editor@thejustice.org news@thejustice.org forum@thejustice.org features@thejustice.org sports@thejustice.org arts@thejustice.org ads@thejustice.org photos@thejustice.org managing@thejustice.org

The Waltham Group recruited students for volunteer and community service work at its spring recruitment fair last week. The Waltham Group, the biggest club on campus, encompasses several serviceoriented groups that engage in projects in the Waltham community.

The Justice Brandeis University Mailstop 214 P.O. Box 549110 Waltham, MA 02454-9110 Phone: (781) 736-3750

The Student Union Senate met Sunday, chartering two new clubs while denying another.

The American Sign Language Club first requested recognition and charter from the Senate. The club leaders said their goals are to help teach American Sign Language and sponsor talks on deaf studies and culture. The Senate unanimously recognized and chartered the club with little discussion.

Education for Students by Students requested charter after being recognized last semester. The club said that it required funds for two events that it is planning. The first is ’Deis Talks, which is intended to mimic the popular TED Talks with Brandeis faculty and students as speakers. The second is an event called Splash. The Senate approved the club for charter.

The Skin Care Club also requested charter from the Senate. The club was recognized last semester and requested charter to take students to view spa treatments, provide samples of skin care products and attract speakers about skin care. The Senate declined to charter the club by a vote of two to 13.

The Senate also approved three Finance Board bylaw amendments.

Dining Services Committee chair Danny Novak ’15 said he and his committee met with Director of Dining Services Aaron Bennos last week to discuss student concerns.

Novak conveyed that Aramark is working to make minor changes, but that large-scale changes cannot be made until the University chooses the dining services provider for the upcoming year.

The Senate also approved between $400 and $600 to be spent on pizza and snacks for campus Super Bowl events, and passed a Senate Money Resolution authorizing $66 to be used for a ’Deis Impact art exhibit event.

—Andrew Wingens

ANNOUNCEMENTS Study Abroad Information Session

Come learn more about studying abroad!

We will go over the application process, how to choose where to go, funding and more so stop by to get started with the process of going abroad and to ask any questions.

Tomorrow from 11 a.m. to noon in the International Lounge in Usdan Student Center.

www.thejustice.org

The Justice is the independent student newspaper of Brandeis University. The Justice is published every Tuesday of the academic year with the exception of examination and vacation periods. Editor in chief office hours are held Mondays from 2 to 3 p.m. in the Justice office.

—compiled by Marielle Temkin

SENATE LOG

—McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)

n An article in Forum cited the federal debt limit at $16.4 billion. The debt ceiling is, in fact, $16.4 trillion.

(Jan. 22, p. 12)

pond, stating environmental reasons. No further police action was taken.

Jan. 24—The University Police detective sergeant waited in his office for the Waltham Police Department to arrive and serve a party with a temporary restraining order. It was served without incident.

Jan. 25—An unknown white male kept asking the reporting party if it was cold outside. He then grabbed packets of sugar from Einstein Bros. Bagels and ran out of the building toward the Louis Brandeis statue.

University Police checked the surrounding area near the statue and the Shapiro Campus Center in addition to inside the bookstore and Einstein’s, with no one reporting anything. The areas around Ziv, Ridgewood and the Village were also checked; nothing was found.

Beyond Nuremberg

Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, Permanent Representative of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to the United Nations, will deliver a Distinguished Lecture in International Justice and Human Rights. Free and open to the public.

Tomorrow from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the International Lounge in Usdan Student Center.

New frontiers in the Fight for Sexual Rights

Juhu Thukral will present for the inaugural Anita Hill Annual Lecture on Gender Justice. Thukral, the director of law and advocacy at The Opportunity Agenda, has worked to protect the human rights of women for more than 20 years. She is a passionate advocate for the rights of low-income and immigrant women in the areas of sexual health and rights, gender-based violence, economic security and criminal justice. She has also repeatedly shown courage and leadership in defending the human rights of women engaged as sex workers.

Tomorrow from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Rapaporte Treasure Hall.

Who is your social justice hero?

Join this roundtable lunch discussion and reflect on how you embody the principles, philosophies and leadership styles of your heroes. How have you taught these to others?

Event is open to all faculty, staff and students.

Free lunch is provided for those who RSVP to Kelly Whiffen at kwhiffen@brandeis.edu.

Friday from noon to 1:30 p.m. in room 313 of the Shapiro Campus Center.

Overheard at Brandeis

“Sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me.” Join the discussion sponsored by the International Center

for Ethics, Justice and Public Life as we revisit this old saying and the effects of terminology and language. How has language affected our status in society, how we view ourselves and our own privilege? Sayings and words will be posted around campus ahead of time to ignite discussion. In this session, we will explore those sayings and words. Be a part of the decision to understand and educate others about the importance of language in our everyday lives.

Friday from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Alumni Lounge in the Usdan Student Center.

Using social media for social justice

How can we use social media to mobilize for social justice? Through film screenings and discussion, this workshop will demonstrate how the Jubilee Project has been able to create a youth movement and inspire ordinary people like us to do extraordinary things.

Doing good is contagious. Sponsored by the Jubilee Project Brandeis with the Brandeis Asian American Student Association.

Saturday from 4 to 6 p.m. in room G03 of the Mandel Center for Humanities.

THE JUSTICE

●

TUESDAY, january 29, 2013 PHOTOS BY ROBYN SPECTOR/the Justice

SHARING IDEAS: Participants in the conference take part in a discussion section.

Students convene to learn and discuss

Lawrence, panel open event By ilana kruger JUSTICE contributing WRITER

“Vision is what one has, but visualizing is the active challenge to all of us and that is what we are about today,” University President Frederick Lawrence said at the Brandeis Visions for Israel in an Evolving World conference on Sunday.

Over 200 students from 17 schools across the Northeast attended the conference, which was held to help facilitate discussions about Israel on college campuses. bVIEW is a movement created by students who feel that current discussion about Israel can be polarized and unproductive.

Lawrence pointed out that the V in bVIEW stands for visions. There are multiple visions for Israel, and all of them need to be talked about, he said.

The conference, as bVIEW content and program director Natan Odenheimer ’15 said in the introduction, would help students “think constructively about the future.” Odenheimer said he had noticed that students have “difficulty discussing challenging issues regarding Israel.”

The bVIEW founders believe that in order for positive change to occur in Israel, the discourse on campus needs to be improved. The conference encouraged students, who bVIEW deem as the next generation that can influence the situation in Israel, to voice their opinions in a healthy, open environment.

Following the introductory session, bVIEW Codirector Erica Shaps ’13 moderated a panel on Israel programming on college campuses. The panelists included Lex Rofes, a senior at Brown University and

a student representative on the Board of Directors of Hillel at Brown; Matt Lebovic, senior campus associate at Combined Jewish Philanthropies; Daniel May, director of J Street U; and Larry Sternberg, executive director of Hillel at Brandeis.

The first question Shaps asked the panelists was about who plays a major role in dictating campus programming on Israel.

Lebovic said that he believes students should make most of the decisions but outside organizations can still be important. Student organized programs can be heavily influenced by activists, Sternberg pointed out.

May added that programs do not have to be adversarial in order to be productive. “The most successful student groups are the ones that understand that the university is a political universe,” he said. He continued that it is important for students to lead the discussion, but it is impossible for it to be completely separate from the outside world.

The panelists were then asked what they would like campus programming to look like in an ideal world.

“I think that we learn a lot more when we associate very directly … with people who differ from ourselves,” said Rofe, adding that conferences such as bVIEW allow for the necessary “constructive discomfort.” May also said that different ideologies should interact, to make the discussion “intellectually rigorous, diverse and politically engaged.”

Lebovic said that there can be a disconnect between what students are discussing in America and what is happening in Israel, and he would like to see students continue the

discussion by going to Israel to see the situation for themselves.

The final question posed to the panelists was whether or not there are boundaries to the discussion on Israel.

May answered that there are no limits to who is included; all parts of the population in Israel need to be part of the conversation.

There are, however, limits to what should be said in the discussion, he said. “There is such a thing as hateful speech.”

Sternberg brought up the example of a Knesset debate, where all of the members talk over each other. “The purpose of the convening is conversation. Conversations require listening,” said Sternberg. He believes that the extremes should be included if everyone listens to each other.

There is a difference between having boundaries on opinions and having them on actions, Lebovic said. “Universities should be able to self-select their members and strategies based on the actions of who wants to [join].” Only expression that leads to violence should be limited, said Lebovic.

The questions asked by students, as well as the individual table discussions that followed the panel, reflected the goals of the event as a whole. Students wanted to know what their impact will be on the outside world and how to make that world what they want it to be.

Thirty-eight bVIEW student facilitators led the discussions, including Hannah Kober ’16.

“I think that people should gain a greater understanding of what Israel discussion could look like on campus, as opposed to what is looks like right now, which is very polarized,” Kober said.

bVIEW: Miller encourages audience to explore myths CONTINUED FROM 1 that they have a non-existing role in policy is also wrong.

He asserted that instead of specific interest groups, it is an overall American “value affinity,” or agreement on core values, with Israel that guides our policy.

He named the belief that U.S. support of Israel is a cost-free enterprise as the third myth. “There are a lot of … rationally angry and irrationally angry [people] who accuse us of blind obeisance to a tiny state that in their judgment doesn’t share American interest,” he said.

The last two myths lay in the still-existing sentiment that President Barack Obama is an enemy of the state of Israel, and in the belief of a disconnected nature of the president’s relationship with Israel. These beliefs, he said, are founded on Obama’s lack of an instinctively biased, pro-Israel response to issues.

Although Miller said there now exists the “most dysfunctional relationship between an Israeli prime minister and an American president,” he added that the way the president thinks is in the “color of democracy” versus a black-and-white perspective that was held by the past two presidents.

“Those myths do trickle down, even if it’s from our parents’ generation,” said Avi Popack ’14, one of the students who asked Miller questions at the end of his address.

“Looking at the speech, people really in-

ternalize those five myths and really think about how they relate to those, if they actually think about those, or their friends think about them,” said Popack.

Does Miller foresee a cease of conflict in the future? “We are stuck in a region that we cannot fix and cannot leave,” he said. At this point he cannot imagine a peace that would let go of what he says are now five main agreement disputes.

Finally, Miller advised the students to take two things into consideration. First, he gave general advice for students to aspire to a combination of passion and expertise in their careers.

“If you are lucky enough to get on such a track, grab it,” Miller said. And lastly, that truth is not easy to see, and therefore if one sets one’s views firmly on the ArabIsrael conflict, an understanding of Israel and their position will not be attained, while one will also “surrender any real capacity to do anything about it.”

“Mr. Miller really gave … the most nuanced perspective of what we’re doing here, but he transferred it to a global vision and he told us … the left and the right have these extreme positions but there’s no balance,” said Ryan Yuffe ’15, co-president of Brandeis Israel Public Affairs Committee and a member of bVIEW. “I think that’s exactly what we’re doing here at Brandeis, we’re trying to bring [balance] while still being able to advance our own ideas and visions.”

FOUNDING FIGURES: From left to right, bVIEW leaders Gil Zamir ’15, Sarah Geller ’13, Chen Arad ’15, Erica Shaps ’13 and Natan Odenheimer ’15 pose during the conference on Sunday.

Journalist speaks on media, sectarianism By allyson cartter JUSTICE senior WRITER

EXPERT IN THE FIELD: Israeli journalist and entrepreneur Bambi Sheleg speaks on Sunday.

Israeli journalist Bambi Sheleg addressed participants as the second keynote speaker of the Brandeis Visions for Israel in an Evolving World conference Sunday evening in Levin Ballroom. She spoke about the role of media and sectarianism in Israeli society.

Sheleg is the founder and editor of Eretz Acheret, a magazine and website that “provide[s] Israeli and Diaspora Jews with a platform for open discourse and dialogue on all facets of the Israel-Diaspora relationship, as well as the opportunity to express their identity through the written word,” according to its website. The magazine’s name translates as “A Different Israel.”

Before founding Eretz Acheret, Sheleg was the editor of a children’s magazine. Following the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, Sheleg said that she “got the feeling that something went totally wrong in the inner dialogue of Israeli society” and

“that no one could understand each other.” She founded Eretz Acheret, in 2000 in order to “invest in a new kind of dialogue” and “bring people together from different sectors and different beliefs,” she continued.

Sheleg said that she sought to work with individuals outside her “sector” of society and those “who don’t share my education and my beliefs.” Eretz Acheret aims to answer the question of “who are the Israelis?” she said.

“What do people have in their minds?” she inquired further.

“What are their dreams, what are their pains and what are their values?” According to Sheleg, a “pluralistic editorial board” of 25 “people from the periphery and people from the center” of society works to answer these questions.

Eretz Acheret aims to cover “things that are considered to be boring by the commercial media” because they are more moderate than radical but “many times they are the most important things that we have to deal with,” she said.

“Israel is a very sectarian society,” Sheleg continued, noting

that many people are primarily concerned about the sector that they themselves occupy.

She then posed the questions: “Who are the people in the center? Can you define them?” One answer she received was, “all the people who are willing to dialogue [with] one another.”

The response she herself gives is, “people who care more about the future of the whole society than they care about the future of the sector they came from.”

“There are a bunch of those people in all … Israeli sectors,” said Sheleg. Due to media bias, however, “we don’t know our allies in the different sectors because they are considered to be boring,” she continued.

Though there are political parties that operate within this center of society and prioritize compromise, they often fall apart, she said. The changing role and definition of Zionism may be a factor, she continued.

“I think we are in the second stage of Zionism, meaning we’ve been a country, but we don’t know what it’s about,” said Sheleg. “We feel it, but we don’t know how to articulate it.”

She continued, “Here we are, and it’s so different from what we were educated to be. This is not because someone is bad. It is because this is the encounter with reality.”

The next step, said Sheleg, is to examine “what we can do together in order to have a shared future” and to once again create a set of shared values.

Sheleg encouraged participants to “get interested in our own people in ways we’ve not been interested in them in a long time.” She suggested this could be done through media, building toward these shared values and trying “to understand the Israeli society and what’s going on.”

“Don’t tell the Jews who they are; ask them,” she said. “There is a lot to listen to.”

Joshua Kaye ’13, a bVIEW facilitator, thought the event was succesful. “I thought she was very engaging with the audience,” said Kaye. “Her message was about promoting dialogue and an openness and a willingness to talk to other people, and that really fit the entire theme of the conference.”

3

We Deliver!

286 Moody St.

Tel: 781.736.9188, Fax: 781.736.9014

Mon. to Sun. 11a.m. to 10 p.m., Fri. to Sat. 11a.m. to 11 p.m.

ThePonzu.com - Order Online!

10% Discount with your Brandeis ID

Follow Justice!

the

COLUMBIA S U M M E R 2013 The campus and the City.

More than 50 program areas to explore, and endless opportunities to discover.

@theJustice

Start building your summer

ce.columbia.edu/brandeis

CSCE_611_Brandeis_6x8_BW.indd 1

and like us at: Facebook.com/thejusticeonline 12/20/12 4:25 PM

THE JUSTICE

ADMISSIONS

Univ sees rise in applications ■ President Lawrence’s

efforts to attract new and prospective students appears to be a success, as 2013 cycle called “most competitive year ever.”

By SARA DEJENE JUSTICE EDITOR

According to statistics from the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, the University currently has a 14.2 percent increase in applications from this time last year. As of Jan. 24, the Office of Undergradu-

ate Admissions has received 9,370 applications for first-year fall 2013 admissions, compared to 8,203 applications last year.

In an interview with the Justice, Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel said that there was “no way to know for sure” why there has been an increase in applications. One idea he put forward is that since University President Frederick Lawrence’s arrival at Brandeis and “efforts at engaging” current and prospective students have become more focused, the University has become more “successful in telling the Brandeis story” to potential applicants.

Out of those applicants, the number of Early Decision I applications rose 19 percent while Early Decision II applicants rose 47 percent.

“So not only do we have more applicants overall, but more students who are letting us know that Brandeis is the place they absolutely want to be,” commented Flagel.

Flagel also said that the University is aiming to have a first-year class that is about the same size as last year’s class.

This past fall, 821 students matriculated into the first-year class— not counting mid-year students and transfers—a drop from 858 students the previous year, according to statistics given by Flagel at an October

2012 faculty meeting.

The Classes of 2015 and 2016 also saw the largest first-year applicant pools in Brandeis history.

While this year’s early decision application pool is larger so far, it is too early to tell how that will affect the admissions rate, according to Flagel in the interview.

However, Flagel said he expects these numbers to reflect a consistent trend for applicants in the next couple of years.

“This will likely be the most competitive year ever for getting into Brandeis,” he said.

—Robyn Spector contributed reporting.

PLANNING JOURNEYS

●

TUESDAY, january 29, 2013

5

administration

Alumna appointed to take on new role as trustee ■ Leslie Aronzon ’84 has been actively involved with the University Alumni Association since graduating from Brandeis.

By MARISSA DITKOWSKY JUSTICE editorial assistant

OLIVIA POBIEL/the Justice

Students visit a table to learn about a study abroad program, along with other attendees of the Study Abroad Mini-Fair on Jan. 24 in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium. The deadline for sophomores to apply to study abroad is Feb. 15.

Advertisement your story

Join the Justice, share your thoughts!

■ The Justice is

looking for writers.

Contact Sam and Tate at news@thejustice.org By your name here future JUSTICE editor

Adis anditaerum ipictin nisque nosamendit quis exernate et atestio. Cum quae et es eost laborestor repudit omnim voluptat parunt fugit as ellati rehentias eostio dolo esedi blabores adit, con exerferatias debis dis aliquo bearunt.

Ducid quate niscia quo et vello cone debisimet poriossunt perferepedit molorio rporum vollace ptatquam et plaut aut min net lautemp orecto moloriaspis aut es erferuptatia prehenecus qui ut lis apelestibus repturibus, aliquam etur adit, solor aut ilit aut voluptatquae od ut vita que de sendae liberum quiam, samus maio ipsam

que expe sum et que veliquis si offic tet mosa sequatiasite pro moluptiatio intem quid quatur, sequist volorio. Itataqu osapisti deles quam ut ilique liquo tet aut laborenda quo modi quam aut re nobis a deliquide quam ni blacerum corem ullessit rernatu renest qui illatur epudae rentionsequi cor repudandunt autemoluptas ent, verorempor aboribusdae net volupta quiaecae et quam ut liquis qui ut aut modipsus.

Igendus trumquiam labor sint quae re reperat aut maxim quis eicilit facepel enimil maximus, earciis sus dolutem fuga. Nam quiatatum volendi psantemposti utem re eos explandi officiisquae eaque eumquo corem issincit doluptae venihilis resequi dolupit vellor res explicit lab int is ventis et ea porersp errori verciet, to tem re aut autemostorum que quasin net entias que si conesti sinis aperspictur, oditisitati sunti ut ut aut poreic tem audis ni cus moluptur, sum aute secta suntum quo blaut latecae veni cume nonsequam, culparit liquiaest est, cuptam apieturectat as sumOccus, omnis dolestrum quidus idundes tiusamet volene

plandant, quidusa ndiatiame dolenimus et ea nonecup tatinveriam quam vidicat invenis eostio eum utasi quis ates renis minctae sunt laceatur? Qui officiur? Ecum ea et inciatur? Qui dolupta tectur?

Ur simus, torporate et dolo vendis sit, sed quatur re dolores reriae dolorate praerem et fugias quae plam, volupti id eatistentem faceribeatur alitae optium quo mod etus aut pro bla et aperepe liquas aboreped quunt es nihicias ea arcia consequ osandam hil in porestrum que nost, odis nienissit magnamenimus eario berferrorum accus dolorum faccum quuntium ius modicita ducienimil magnim labore dolore culparunto blaniassit officab isim ipienda dolorem voluptu sciendae auta veres eossitat.

Atur, tem atquis auditis sint volutem ium fugit, a sed quas explab ipsuntiumque lautem quam harcipit aliquid erum, sam est, se nis disciat quatia in cus res most, senimillab il ipsum eserspis nullupt atiorat ecatur, voluptasi audae.

Alias solor sequo inci dolestem rest lab inctotaest et aut atiae conet que eseque eruptat ibuscie ndanda aspiendem quo te escidis et doluptiam

fugitio sanient.

Natia nestist fugit a dolorum cupic temqui consequunt essimodit fugia quatist quam qui nonsed eritia porro et, officium eumquias dolupti corrumquos cus apiet into dolupta si comnia quiam earcill orrovit emperumquam veniates nient fuga. Ugiatibus dolore, odi beati to coriatur arcia imusam quideri atquaes eroreru ndiscient quae voluptatecus sunt.

Anda nulliquae architatias delluptur?

Nam fugitium, ut labor rehendu storporest, sam ilicias dolendes eosapid et quo bea quam, quae volorpo reperum nonsedi dolupta tuscima volorei umquam, omni dolore voluptate idest. Nam quiatatum volendi psantemposti utem re eos explandi officiisquae eaque eumquo corem issincit doluptae venihilis resequi dolupit tati sunti ut ut aut poreic tem audis ni.

Atur, tem atquis auditis sint volutem ium fugit, a sed quas explab ipsuntiumque lautem quam harcipit aliquid erum, sam esAtur, tem atquis auditis sint volutem ium fugit, a sed quas aliquid erum, sam es pro bla et ape.

Last November, alumna Leslie Aronzon ’84 was officially appointed to the Board of Trustees for a fouryear term after the Board voted to approve her selection.

After being nominated during the summer of 2012, Aronzon went through an extensive process that included an interview with the nominating committee of the Board Aronzon of Trustees. Following the nomination, interview and discussion among the nominating committee, she was presented to the full board for a vote.

“I was thrilled to join [the Board].

I loved Brandeis and have remained active since I graduated,” wrote Aronzon in an email to the Justice.

“It is a very high powered group of individuals who have taken on great responsibility in guiding the institution. When President Lawrence and other board members asked me about it, I jumped at the opportunity.”

Her position took effect immediately, as due to the timing of her nomination her term technically took effect the day after Commencement 2012.

“At Brandeis I developed an intellectual curiosity that I didn’t have before,” said Aronzon, quoted in the Jan. 22 BrandeisNOW article. “I had conversations with my peers that I never had with my friends from home. We talked about the [Reagan vs. Carter] election and the issues of the day. It really jazzed me up.”

Aronzon said that her experience at Brandeis has led to her active involvement since graduation. In addition to her position as the newest addition to the Board of Trustees, Aronzon is a member of the Alumni Association Board and most recently acted as its vice president.

According to BrandeisNOW, Aronzon returned to California after graduation, and earned her MBA from the University of Southern California five years later.

“I do not work in a traditional job at the moment, I stay home with my three children,” wrote Aronzon.

“I do sit on other boards and do extensive philanthropic work and lots of volunteering at their schools.

My career path was an investment banker. I specialized in bankruptcies and workouts, in particular, distressed [mergers and acquisitions].”

Her philanthropic work over the years has included working with the Jewish Free Loan Association of Los Angeles, as stated in BrandeisNOW. According to Aronzon, she plans to remain in her home state of California and will fly to Massachusetts for the four Board meetings that occur in person per year, and plans to conduct meetings over the telephone as needed.

Aronzon is just one of approximately 28 current board members who are alumni of the University.

Only roughly 10 other members remain who are not University alumni.

TUESDAY, january 29, 2013

ENVIRONMENTAL POTENTIAL

●

THE JUSTICE

7

BRIEF ZBT suspends recruitment events According to a member of the Zeta Beta Tau leadership, the fraternity has “decided to take certain actions this semester which [they] felt were appropriate to maintain the character and image of [the] organization.”

ZBT decided to suspend its remaining rush events as of Monday, Jan. 21 because they "just felt that it was the appropriate environment for us to conduct the recruitment process at the time,” according to the member of the fraternity’s leadership.

He could not provide specific reasons for the change. ZBT also declined the opportunity to issue a formal statement on the subject. All “formal” events for the remainder of rush were cancelled, including three off-campus parties that would have occurred last Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. However,

according to the ZBT member, “individuals in the fraternity were still welcome to go out and talk to prospective new members.” ZBT is still accepting new members this semester, and as of press time, had eight new members, according to the fraternity member. By comparison, the fraternity only had six new members in spring 2012.

As for next semester, the member of ZBT’s leadership said, “We can resume rush in the sense that we will participate in it along with all of the other organizations in Greek Life, but … we have found what works better for the type of guys we try to attract to this organization. … We’re much more interested in someone with personal integrity and character.”

—Jeffrey Boxer, Sam Mintz and Marielle Temkin

ELECTIONS: Fong wins seat on Finance Board CONTINUED FROM 1

TALI SMOOKLER/the Justice

Jacklyn Gil ’14 gives an introduction to divestment as Students for a Just and Stable Future held a kickoff event in the Mandel Reading Room on Thursday night.

DIVEST: Group plans to meet with Univ board CONTINUED FROM 1 Warren confirmed in an email to the Justice that Brandeis invests approximately seven to 10 percent of its endowment in businesses which “might be considered directly linked to oil and natural gas energy companies.”

The exact percentage and list of companies is hard to pin down, he said, because this could include a varying degree of involvement with fossil fuels, depending on one’s definition. Companies’ mixed investments in renewable and nonrenewable energy make the distinction even murkier.

Brandeis does not invest in energy for this high rate of return, said Warren (24 percent in 2011, against the overall 19 percent, according to a Jan. 14 article in the Chronicle of Higher Education) but rather to provide a buffer against inflation. However, should the University stop investing in these sources, “[the] next best options are much worse on either the return or the inflation protection,” he wrote.

Warren was unable to give a clear prediction for the viability of Brandeis’ divestment from fossil fuels.

SJSF members will push ahead with the construction of a “climate refugee camp” as part of a project for 'Deis Impact. The demonstration, which was created by SJSF and SEA and is set to begin with ’Deis Impact on Feb. 1, will include the construction of a shanty-town on the Great Lawn, representing the vast numbers of people that are anticipated to be displaced by the effects of climate change.

Students participating will also view a movie about climate change and possibly even stay overnight in the camp.

Immediately following the close of ’Deis Impact, hoping to build on the attention it will garner, SJSF leaders plan to schedule a meeting with University President Frederick Lawrence and pitch their ideas.

In April and May, as the academic year winds down, SJSF aims to have its more substantial goals in full swing, with a referendum question

on the Student Union’s spring election ballot to gauge popular student opinion on divestment.

Late last semester, SJSF began to circulate a petition in support of divestment that by now has about 650 to 700 student signatures, by club member Andrew Nguyen’s ’15 estimate. The vast majority of these are undergraduates.

Around this time, the group also plans to meet with the Board of Trustees to present its requests.

SJSF members hope that Brandeis will begin to divest by the end of this academic year. Should they meet resistance, the group has a number of protest measures in mind, including getting graduating seniors to pledge to withhold their senior gifts and reaching out to alumni for support.

A Brandeis investment policy adopted in 1973 states that divestment should be considered “where a corporation’s conduct is found to be clearly and gravely offensive to the university community’s sense of social justice and where it is found that the exercising of shareholder rights and powers is unlikely to correct the injury.”

The policy lists examples, including “conservation and environmental pollution.”

In considering divestment, its financial effect on the endowment “should be a relevant, but not necessarily controlling, consideration,” according to the policy.

The fossil fuel divestment campaign is often compared to a similar movement in the 1980s for universities to divest their endowments from apartheid South Africa.

In a Feb. 19, 1986 article, the Justice reported that 85 percent of the student body (voter turnout unknown) favored divestment from South Africa.

While Brandeis did eventually divest in that case, the Board of Trustees at the time was “incredibly resistant” to the students’ proposals, said Prof. Gordon Fellman (SOC) in an interview with the Justice.

The deciding factor in the Board’s divestment was students’ threats to disrupt commencement, he said.

This past November, according

to the Chronicle, Unity College became the first in the nation to divest from fossil fuels when it pledged to remove its $13.6 million endowment from the industry. Hampshire College also divested its $39.3 million endowment in December, according to the article.

“Until it was brought to my attention, it didn’t even occur to me that Brandeis or other universities have money invested in polluting industries,” said Fellman. “It’s unconscionable.”

When asked about the economic aspect of divestment, Prof. Michael Coiner (ECON) had low expectations for its actual financial impact, but allowed that a broader movement could be sparked through it.

“My guess would be that it would not hurt the University all that much (we would still be able to hold a rather diverse portfolio of other stocks),” wrote Coiner in an email to the Justice.

On the other hand, “any one college divesting would not have much effect on the energy companies,” Coiner added. “[I]f we are to eventually change course on energy policy, it will probably take many 'small' efforts that might eventually add up to change.”

Prof. Laura Goldin (AMST) took a similar stance on SJSF’s campaign.

“I always applaud and support student efforts to call attention to ... environmental justice issues,” wrote Goldin in an email to the Justice.

“I expect the reality is that divestment of Brandeis funds alone would make very little or no impact in the wider scheme of fossil fuel investment and financing.” However, she added, it “could make a powerful statement, both about the critical importance of this issue and Brandeis’s own strong commitment to social justice.”

While SJSF members encouraged realism about their goals and the opposition they might encounter, they remained committed to the cause.

“We might not win this fight,” said Williams at the meeting on Thursday. However, she added, “[Brandeis] should be leading the way.”

have been easily addressed like in this case,” said Shakes in an interview with the Justice.

No other problems were evident.

In an email to the student body, Shakes explained the differences between selecting abstain and skip when voting to avoid another mixup like that in September and in other previous elections.

Participation in this election was down from last year. Whereas 71.8 percent of midyears voted in February 2012, only 60.4 percent of eligible midyears voted for the senator position this year. Though the voting pool for F-Board was larger, fewer people participated—12.67 percent of students this round as opposed to 20.72 percent in May 2012. However, more positions were up for election in May. With a total of 148 votes, Fong

became the F-Board’s newest member, running against three other candidates.

“I know this position holds many insights into the ways of being a successful manager or businesswoman in the future,” said Fong in an email to the Justice. “I picture myself in a corporation, running operations and supervising people,” and she sees her membership on F-Board as beneficial for her future success.

As its newest addition, Fong hopes to improve the F-Board’s reputation. “I know there are bad connotations around the F-Board and its members. I want to … let people know that the F-Board members tries [sic] their best to be fair in allocating the amount of funds available.” Fong is eager to learn more about the clubs on campus through her new role as well as network with other students.

K N I H

T

U O Y

N A C

A E K A R M TTE ?

E B AD JOIN LAYOUT Contact Rachel Burkhoff at

layout@thejustice.org

8

features

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2013

just

●

THE JUSTICE

VERBATIM | OSCAR WILDE If you want to tell someone the truth, make them laugh. Otherwise, they’ll kill you.

ON THIS DAY…

FUN FACT

In 1891, Liliuokalani was proclaimed Queen of Hawaii, the state’s last monarch.

Members of the armed forces and police in the Domican Republic cannot vote.

NOVEL BARGAIN: The book sale in Tuscon is a chance to support Brandeis students and read cheaply in genres ranging from biography to fantasy.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ALRENE GRAY

Books that give back A fundraiser in Tucson brings in money for BNC scholarships By jAIME kAISER JUSTICE editorial assistant

Receiving a degree in higher education is not the easiest financial feat, but through innovative fundraising, the Tucson Ariz. chapter of the Brandeis National Committee is making learning a little cheaper for everyone.

The Tucson BNC hosted its annual book sale in the Foothills Mall from Jan. 18 to 27, the proceeds of which go to an endowed student from the Tucson area who has been accepted into Brandeis and qualifies for financial aid.

For the BNC, reading has always taken center stage. The organization was founded as the Brandeis University National Women’s Committee around the same time as the University in 1948 as a way to provide financial support to Brandeis and its libraries. Since then, the organization has gone coed and consists of over 26,000 members nationwide in over 50 chapters engaging in philanthropic and community projects that “reflect the values on which the university was founded: academic excellence, social justice, nonsectarianism and service to the community,” as stated in its online mission statement.

The BNC’s commitment to Brandeis scholarship has enabled it to donate $115 million in support of the University and its libraries, lining the Goldfarb shelves with books, as well as scholarly journals and resources in online formats.

The book sale complements this commitment to scholarship because, as Meg Sivitz, the head of the sale said, “We’re all about books.” The BNC started holding book sales in 1958 as an innovative method of raising money. Explaining one reason Tucson continues this tradition, Sivitz said, “[Books] are a green way of being—we’re able to recycle used books.”

Additionally, the benefits of buying from the sale instead of a large book

chain are tremendous. “People that would find a book for $26 at Barnes and Nobles can get it from us for $5,” said Sivitz. The sale held a number of promotional discount days that always send book-lovers sprinting toward their stacks; all books were half-off on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the last day of the sale was “Bag Sunday,” which allowed shoppers to fill a canvas bag of books for only $10.

As a companion to the annual mall sale, Sivitz established a year-round online Amazon bookstore that also raises money that goes toward the Brandeis scholarship fund. The online store is “extremely successful,” according to Libby Fischer, the book sale consultant who ran the physical sale before Sivitz.

So far, it has sold about 6,000 books, raising over $400,000.

The proceeds from the thousands of books sold at the Foothills sale will go to a scholarship fund that supports students including Coco Tirambulo ’16, a first-year Brandeis student and Tucson native.

Sivitz explained that the sale gives back to the community by giving local students the chance to go to Brandeis, a school some might otherwise not be able to afford or even know exists.

“We wanted to give back to Tucson,” said Sivitz. “Many people in [Tucson] don’t know about Brandeis. They go ‘Brandeis? What’s that?’”

Tirambulo’s wide interests have caused her to plan on double majoring in Biology and Anthropology, and possibly adding a minor in Classical Studies.

Although she is thrilled by the academic opportunities Brandeis has made available to her, the people are what made her finally decide to fill out the enrollment forms.

“It was the community that made me choose Brandeis. I remember when I first came to Brandeis during Admitted Students Day, everyone was so friendly.

It made me feel like I was in the right

place,” said Tirambulo.

Linda Cramer, the president of the Tucson BNC chapter, expressed how glad she was to support Tirambulo. “We loved meeting Coco and enjoyed our lunch with her. We met her parents at the book sale.”

Academic support is something the larger BNC community is making staunch efforts toward. Janice Fineman, the executive director of the BNC, identified key areas of scholarship fundraising where the organization makes an impact. In addition to “general scholarship,” the BNC has “a library works scholar fund which helps pay the salaries of students working in the library as part of their financial aid,” said Fineman.

The BNC is also running a campaign called “Sustaining the Mind” to establish a fund to foster research in neuroscience and neurodegenerative diseases, and to establish an endowed scholarship fund for students studying science.

Although many chapters have pledged to help fund these projects, the Internet presence in combination with classic “brick-and-mortar,” as Fineman put it, fundraising strategies of the Tucson branch are practically an anomaly within the organization. “In terms of the online book-sale and the regular physical sale, Tucson is very unique in that regard,” said Fineman.

Most of the members of the BNC are not Brandeis alumni, but graduates of other schools that support social justice and the education and research ideals to which Brandeis is committed. “For me, the best part is knowing that our members, who are not alums, are making an impact in the lives of our students,” said Fineman.

Tirambulo is an example of benefits decades of BNC philanthropy has had on the University. “I am so thankful for having so many opportunities at Brandeis.” she said.

PHOTO COURTESY OF COCO TIRAMBULO

ACADEMIC STAR: Tirambulo ’16 was awarded a BNC Scholarship.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ARLENE GRAY

MULTIMEDIA READING: The Tucson book sale at the Foothills Mall only lasted a few days, but an online Amazon book store operates all year-round selling books; all the proceeds go into the BNC scholarship fund.

THE JUSTICE

●

TUESDAY, January 29, 2013

Flipping the spotlight Scott Edmiston brings his theater expertise to the Boston stage

By ALEXA BALL JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

PHOTO COURTESY OF SCOTT EDMISTON

A STORIED CAREER: Edmiston has directed around 60 other productions in addition to his current project Other Desert Cities.

PHOTO BY CRAIG BAILY/Perspective Photo

CENTER STAGE: Anne Gottlieb and Chrisopher M. Smith in a scene of the SpeakEasy production of other Desert Cities.

He calls it intuition. Many others would call it raw talent. Either way you put it, Scott Edmiston has what it takes.

As the recipient of numerous Elliot Norton Awards for the theater arts, Edmiston has been directing plays in Boston since he moved here nearly 16 years ago. He is the founder and currently serves as the director of Brandeis’ own Office of the Arts, helping to unite the community of artists and art lovers alike around campus.

Currently, Edmiston is dedicating himself to directing a piece called Other Desert Cities, which is put on by one of Boston’s premier theaters, the SpeakEasy Stage Company. The play opened on Jan. 11 and will continue through Feb. 9, with a special opportunity this Thursday, Jan. 31, for Brandeis students to attend with discounted tickets.

The production features a novelist, Brooke, who is writing a memoir that dredges up the tragic episode in her family’s history of her late brother’s suicide. An anti-war activist torn between her Republican parents and her own political ideals, Brooke in part blames her parents’ politics for her brother’s suicide. This confession becomes apparent in her newly written memoir, much to the dismay of the rest of the family.

Edmiston explains that the brother’s suicide acts as a “metaphor for the trauma America went through between the Vietnam War and Watergate, two events that ultimately splintered the American family… and led us to the red states and to the blue states.” As Edmiston describes it, “it’s a political play, but the politics of it are embedded into the life of this one particular family.”

What Edmiston enjoys most about this production is that ultimately it’s a play for the characters, allowing him to showcase the skills of his “extraordinarily talented” cast. “This play is really about five people in a room in their home struggling with their relationships, the complexity of the relationships, their identities, what they want, how much they love each other, how much they hate each other,” Edmiston says. “It’s really an actor’s play, without the distraction of multiple scenery and costume changes that many other productions have,” he explains.

Initially an aspiring actor, Edmiston soon realized his talents were better suited to directing. He credits his success to his “visual sensitivity,” and his tendency to compare producing plays to the creation of paintings.

“I’m a kind of painterly director. The special relationships, the use of color and the visual dynamics are really important to me,” he explains. Also,

he says, “I really love the way plays are structured. …Directing combines my love of literature, my love of visual arts, and my love of theater.”

Since he’s been in Boston, Edmiston has directed around 60 plays, musicals and operas. He says each production has always been a “transformational experience.”

“You come out the other side and you’re a little different from taking that journey,” he says. “Each one of them offered me something. It might have been a person, or an emotion or a life lesson.”

In addition to directing, his Office of the Arts job situates Edmiston deep within the campus arts scene. He likens the Brandeis campus to a Georges Seurat painting, an artist known for his work in pointillism, a method consisting of innumerable tiny dots of color combined to create a cohesive work of art.

Before the Office of the Arts, “everyone was just seeing their own little dot of color, and my office kind of steps back and tries to say, look at this gorgeous masterpiece you’re creating,” he says.

Under Edmiston, the arts community strives to become a united force.

With all of the University’s art departments, including Creative Arts, Theater Arts and Fine Arts, the Rose Art Museum and multiple clubs, it’s important to have a cohesive mission and extensive communication between each branch.

The Office of the Arts also works to increase participation in the arts and “nurture the creativity of the student population here at Brandeis,” explains Edmiston. “We know not everybody is going to be a professional artist, but we do hope that the arts will be a part of their whole lives. We help broaden and deepen those experiences and the capacity in our students to find meaning and pleasure in the arts,” he says.

Edmiston himself is a role model for this kind of participation and appreciation of art. In everything he does, be it administrating, teaching or directing, Edmiston offers a creative approach, allowing “Brandeis as a whole to think outside the box,” he says.

As for future artists, Edmiston warns against the “misconceptions and mythology about a life in art.” He says being an artist is not as hard as some would like to make it seem. Instead, he says, it is about setting aside the “perceptual obstacles that might get in the way of just loving art and doing it.” No matter the medium, art is not something to be discouraged or condemned, and for Edmiston, the opportunity to direct plays like Other Desert Cities has enriched not only his life, but the life of those who are able to appreciate his work.

“I think it should be a joy,” he says,

PHOTO BY CRAIG BAILY/Perspective Photo

FAMILY TURMOIL: Munson Hicks and Anne Gottlieb act as father and daughter.

9

10 TUESDAY, January 29, 2013 ● THE JUSTICE

Justice Justice

the the

Established 1949, Brandeis University

Brandeis University

Established 1949

Andrew Wingens, Editor in Chief Marielle Temkin, Managing Editor Jeffrey Boxer and Robyn Spector, Deputy Editors Joshua Linton, Nan Pang and Adam Rabinowitz, Associate Editors Sam Mintz and Tate Herbert, News Editors Celine Hacobian, Features Editor Glen Chagi Chesir, Forum Editor Henry Loughlin, Sports Editor Jessie Miller, Arts Editor Josh Horowitz and Olivia Pobiel, Acting Photography Editors Rachel Burkhoff, Layout Editor Sara Dejene, Online Editor Maya Riser-Kositsky, Copy Editor

The potential of bVIEW Last week, on the heels of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, this board spoke of the importance of diversity on campus and the positive externalities that follow.

We reiterated the importance of clubs and communities, which may not have a connection to each other, interacting and learning from one another. However, the importance of diversity goes beyond the realm of personal interaction. The acceptance of diverse opinions is essential to the success of any campus atmosphere.

This past week, Brandeis Visions for Israel in an Evolving World achieved that very diversity of opinions with their first annual conference. bVIEW, a joint coalition of many clubs on campus that “care” about Israel, invited students from both Brandeis and 15 other schools to “change discourse regarding Israel on American college campuses, for a better future for Israel and the region,” according to the bVIEW website. This board is excited about the prospects of bVIEW and the conversation that it produces. However, the diversity of opinion that bVIEW strives towards must continue to be developed.

The conference boasted many impressive guest speakers with a wide variety of opinions and backgrounds including Dr. Aaron David Miller, a former advisor to six different United States Secretaries of State; Bambi Sheleg, a prominent Israeli journalist and founder of the magazine Eretz Acheret, in English “A different Land [of Israel]”; and Shai Bazak, Counsel General of Israel to New England and the former media director and spokesper-

Foster diverse dialogue son for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his first term in office. Each speaker came with their own political ideas and effectively spoke about those issues sensitive to them. The diverse group truly inspired and enlightened.

The speakers featured at the bVIEW conference presented an array of engaging and multi-faceted viewpoints. We applaud the informative dialogue, but also call attention to the need for a greater presence of more varied organizations. bVIEW has thrived as a model for an enriching debate on Israeli affairs, and so, it would be beneficial for Brandeis to further expand upon the scope of debate.

We would like to see the bVIEW team continue to look towards other campuses to ensure that all opinions about Israel are properly represented and discussed at future conferences.

Additionally, we hope the concept of bVIEW spreads to campuses across the country. Universities with larger student bodies may have more varied opinions to share, which may lead to an even more vibrant conversation than one that Brandeis has to offer.

The bVIEW conference showed that diverse opinions can co-exist in a conversation.

We hope that bVIEW continues to further its efforts to promote a varied conversation about the discussion on Israel both on our campus and others around the country.

TZIPORAH THOMPSON/the Justice

Views the News on

This past Tuesday marked a significant step for the recovering economy with a 62.5-point gain for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and 6.5-point gain for the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index, capping them off at 13,712.21 and 1,492.56 respectively. These impressive numbers marked new 5-year highs for both, continuing a strong start to the financial markets in 2013. As President Barack Obama’s second term begins, what do you think of the state of the economy, and what needs to be done to ensure it’s on the right track?

Nabila Kabir ’13 Despite the recent records, they only represent weak economic recovery. Unemployment is currently at 7.8 percent and the sales of existing homes have fallen. Recently, Obama has been rallying support for immigration reform and gun control. While these are imperative issues, addressing energy security, both domestically and internationally, and education reform would set the U.S. up to sustain long run economic growth and help maintain the U.S. as the leader in intellectual capital. The President spoke of these growing concerns in his speeches during his first term, since then, however, no major decisions have been made regarding domestic oil and natural gas production.

Nabila Kabir ’13 is an Economics major and an International Business School MA ’14.

Prof. Catherine Mann (IBS) Financial markets are strong, but the rest of the U.S. economy is not.

The most notable weakness is in the labor market, with a persistently high unemployment rate, and stagnant incomes of everyone but the one percent. Housing markets are weaker than what we might expect based on long-term relationships. Bank lending to business is moribund, as banks fear commitment and risk. Business investment has weakened in recent quarters, in part because of domestic policy uncertainties but also because of global growth concerns. Exports, a key for GDP growth, likewise have softened. While this picture is much better than when Mr. Obama took the Presidency the first time, when the economy was in free fall, the economic challenges in the second term are daunting. The room for policy maneuver is limited, on the fiscal side because of the deficit and on the monetary side because of the waning effectiveness of quantitative easing. So, what to do? Reducing policy uncertainty by dialing down the partisanship in Washington sets the stage for policy improvements in time, but also, will support real consumer and business gains today.

Enhance BranVan service Waltham has emerged as a vibrant and dynamic community over the past few years, earning the distinction as one of the three hottest neighborhoods in the Boston area. The city continues to develop its businesses and cultural centers, creating the opportunity for increased interaction with its college-aged constituents.

As students at Brandeis, we have continually maintained a positive relationship with the Waltham community. However, as residents of this neighborhood, it is imperative that we interact with and shape the continual development of Waltham.

Yet, this potential interaction has been somewhat hindered by the mismanagement of the BranVan service. Brandeis prides itself on its integration into the Waltham community, but without an effective transportation medium, students cannot effectively partake in Waltham’s growth. Students have continually struggled with the van service’s problems with punctuality, limited stops and, most importantly, its lack of accountability to students.

Therefore, this board proposes that the Escort Services remedy these shortcomings with a more diverse range of drop-off locations, a GPS system, and increased attentiveness to students’ requests.

Escort Services should note the BranVan’s limited route throughout Waltham. Members of the campus community greatly rely on this service as a means of transportation throughout the city and, particularly, to and from

Transform transportation Brandeis. Students live in far-off parts of Waltham, shedding light on the necessity for a more expansive route. Also, as previously mentioned, students should seek to integrate themselves into this ever-growing commercial community.

We believe this integration would be more feasible with an expanded Waltham BranVan route.

Moreover, if the Escort Service chooses to implement a GPS tracking system, students will greatly benefit from the ability to track and monitor the location of BranVans both on campus and off.

Consequently, they will not have to resort to estimating the van’s arrival time, which is particularly relevant in light of the frigid temperatures that the campus experienced this past week.

With a GPS system, students would be directly aware of the vans’ locations, allowing them to plan their schedule accordingly.

Finally, employees of the Escort Service must be sure to stop at all marked BranVan stops, as students often wait inside businesses during inclement weather, occasionally leading to students missing their chance to get on the van.

Waltham Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy stated in a December 2011 article for the Waltham News Tribune, “I would like to open up those lines of communication [with Brandeis] again to see what they’re doing.” Improving the students’ experiences with BranVans is a step in the right direction.

Catherine Mann is the Barbara and Richard M. Rosenberg Professor of Global Finance.

Yosef Schaffel ’13 The recent rebound in financial markets is definitely good news, but it may not be a cause for excessive celebration. Many of the gains of the past month have been a correction from the depressed economy, resulting from the uncertainty of the “fiscal cliff,” or package of spending cuts and tax hikes. Once the cliff was averted in the beginning of January through a temporary measure, we saw immediate gains in the market, at least for the short term. However, continued action is needed to translate these gains into something permanent. With the fight over the debt ceiling coming up, lawmakers need to act quickly to avoid further financial uncertainty. More importantly, serious and concrete steps need to be taken to reduce the spending deficit, which is definitely unsustainable in the long term and serves to destabilize our fiscal security and future.

Yosef Schaffel ’13 is the undergraduate departmental representative of the Economics department and a former editor of the Justice.

Josh Agress ’15

While the strong start for financial markets in this new year is encouraging, there is still much reform needed in the U.S. economy.

Specifically, the U.S. needs to find a way to move away from consumption in order to save and invest in itself. Since the financial crises, the U.S. has been hovering right around the zero lower bound on interest rates. The original thought was to keep interest rates incredibly low in order for people to continue spending in these troubling times. However, with virtually no return on an investment, saving has slowed, and we remain indebted to China and other countries that are eager to fund out shopping sprees. Through rising interest rates, saving can become a realistic option for many, which would allow for present and future investments into the economy. And who knows, with enough investing, maybe a job or two can be created as well.

Josh Agress ’15 is an Economics and Neuroscience major.

THE JUSTICE

●

TUESDAY, January 29, 2013

11

Success of Israeli centrist party demands attention

By Avi Popack JUSTICE contributing WRITER

This past Tuesday’s Israeli legislative elections for the 19th Knesset gained relatively little international media attention despite the immense effect on the United States’ and European Unions’ Middle East politics and policies in the coming years, most notably with regards to Iran’s alleged pursuit of obtaining nuclear capabilities. When first announced in October, the elections received much attention, but once international news outlets discovered that Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party would merge with Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) party in order to form a unified right-wing front, and in so doing, making it almost impossible for anyone but Bibi to take the prime minister’s office, international interest plummeted. Many prematurely categorized the next government as one that would continue to follow the “status quo” in its relations with the Palestinians and its progress in the peace process. Outside of a few articles on Bayit Hayehudi leader Naftali Bennet’s rise in popularity among Israeli voters, most notably in the form of a sizable article in the New Yorker which emphasized his radical views on how to deal with the Palestinians in the West Bank, there was an absence of news about Israel in the international media, which is otherwise fascinated by every aspect of Israeli politics.

The results of the elections show how naïve the media can be. Yair Lapid’s centrist Yesh Atid party was crowned last Tuesday as the clear winner in this year’s race. While the Likud-Beiteinu ticket was by far the popular winner, it received significantly fewer seats in the Knesset than originally expected, while Yesh Atid received double what they predicted to gain just days before the elections, and three times as many as began campaigning began. Lapid’s party is now situated as the second largest in the country and has essentially been given the power to form the coalition that will govern the State of Israel. Yesh Atid, which was founded less than a year ago by a popular television host and whose candidate list consists of respectable community leaders, none of whom have previously held positions in the Knesset, is now in the driver’s seat in deciding who will govern the United States’ number one ally.

I mention the lack of experience in Lapid’s group not to delegitimize the party but rather to emphasize the absurdity in the lack of coverage that the international media has paid to this election. This being said, a deeper look at Yesh Atid will show that rather than keeping the Israeli government in the status quo, it is in a position to actively assist in shaping the country’s policies. In every aspect, Yesh Atid is considered a centrist party. Every single one of its political stances is aimed at reaching the middle ground of the Israeli political spectrum, which it’s capable of claiming, as none

HANNAH KOBER/the Justice

of its members have ever been affiliated with any other political party. The backgrounds of the party’s eligible Knesset members are vast, and the central theme of Lapid’s campaign has been to unify and improve all of Israeli public life. As an example, Lapid, who is commonly categorized as anti-religious due to his father’s views of separating religious and public life in Israel, picked to fill the second spot on his candidates list Rabbi Shai Piron, who helped establishe one of the largest hesder yeshivot, a religious institution that combines Jewish learning and army service in the country.

After the previous election in 2009, Tzipi Livni, who led the centrist party Kadima, which actually won the popular election but could not form a coalition large enough to rule the Knesset was forced to head the opposition party. Centrist political parties have always been a big part of Israeli politics, but unfortunately, after Livni began her mission of opposition to Netanyahu’s leadership, her

“centrist” views quickly slid leftward in order to oppose the right-wing hold on the government. This has created a scenario in Israel that seems all too similar to that of America: Right vs. Left. At times, the polarization that has formed in Israel over the past few years has shown signs of transforming a political spectrum that was once nicely distributed from one extreme to the other into one that is weighted on both sides, pulling those caught in the middle to one end or the other.

The media saw this polarization continue to worsen and judged that the elections were not worth covering. However, they missed the boat on Yesh Atid.

The day after the election results were announced, rumors began flying that Lapid would join an “obstructive bloc” that would contend for a chance to rule the government in a similar situation to what happened in 2009 when Livni won the popular vote, but could not take the office of the prime minister. Lapid quickly and firmly denied these rumors,

stating that he would join the coalition with Likud-Beiteinu. He essentially stated that he would not take part in undermining the public opinion, which evidently preferred a centerright government.

Rather than side with the left-wing bloc, which would cause an eventual leftward slide to right-wing opposition, and theoretically position Lapid as a potential prime minister, Yesh Atid claims that it will hold steady in the center. Lapid has now placed his party in a position to add an effective centrist view to the government. Rather than compromising its ideology in order to gain power, Yesh Atid will have the opportunity to make a significant change within a coalition that has shifted and been pushed to the right. By choosing to work with, rather than oppose, the most popular party in the country, Lapid and Yesh Atid will finally be in a position to bridge the gap between the right and left camps and begin dissolving the polarization which has been ravishing Israeli politics.

American rape culture is problematic and must be addressed

By Catherine Rosch JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

In autumn of 2011, a young woman named Elizabeth Seeberg told the University of Notre Dame police that a member of the football team had assaulted her. Nine days later, she committed suicide. Notre Dame allowed the player to remain on the football team, and he was later cleared of any charges.

This summer, in the small town of Steubenville, Ohio, members of the high school football team tweeted and Instagrammed the sexual assault of a high school girl. Local authorities have been accused of giving the players special treatment. Both these cases have received media attention, but they are far from being unique.

In a national study done by The New York Times, one in five women reported being a victim of attempted or successful sexual assault. Among college women, that number goes up to one in four. Nine percent of rape victims are male. Ninety nine percent of rapists are male. And that is only looking at those people who were brave enough to report attacks. Conservative estimates by the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network state that around half of all rapes go unreported.

Write to us

The Justice welcomes letters to the editor responding to published material. Please submit letters through our Web site at www.thejustice.org. 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. Letters from off-campus sources should include location. The Justice does not print letters to the editor and oped submissions that have been submitted to other publications.

Op-ed submissions of general interest to the University community­—that do not respond explicitly to articles printed in the Justice—are also welcome and should be limited to 800 words. All submissions are due Friday at 12 p.m.

According to the FBI website, only about a quarter of alleged rapists are ever convicted, and less than five percent of convicted rapists serve time in jail. Conviction rates are partially so low because victims do not always go to the police, due to the stigma of sexual assault. Even when victims do go to the police and receive a rape kit, the rape kit is not tested for years, if ever. Even worse, some states make the victim pay for a rape kit, which can cost up to $1,500.

We have a culture in the United States that normalizes rape and has a blame-the-victim attitude. Comedians joke about rape. In the media, coverage often focuses on what the victim was wearing or how they were behaving, rather than on the attackers. Victims are often questioned or, in extreme cases, accused of lying. How else are there statistics like the 35 percent of male students in a University of Illinois at Chicago study who said they would rape a woman if they could get away with it?

Or that politicians running for national office say rape is a gift from God, as Richard Mourdock infamously said this election cycle, “or some girls just rape easy,” according to former Wisconsin assemblyman Roger Rivard?

Rape is not just a woman’s issue, as the

Fine Print

The opinions stated in the editorial(s) under the masthead on the opposing page represent the opinion of a majority of the voting members of the editorial board; all other articles, columns, comics and advertisements do not necessarily. For the Brandeis Talks Back feature on the last page of the newspaper, staff interview four randomly selected students each week and print only those four answers.

The Justice is the independent student newspaper of Brandeis University. Operated, written, produced and published entirely by students, the Justice includes news, features, arts, opinion and sports articles of interest to approximately 3,500 undergraduates, 800 graduate students, 500 faculty and 1,000 administrative staff.

In addition, the Justice is mailed weekly to paid subscribers and distributed throughout Waltham, Mass. The Justice is published every Tuesday of the academic year with the exception of examination and vacation periods.

Advertising deadlines: All insertion orders and advertising copy must be received by the Justice no later than 5 p.m. on the Thursday preceding the date of publication.

All advertising copy is subject to approval of the editor in chief and the managing and advertising editors. A publication schedule and rate card is available upon request.

Subscription rate: $35 per semester, $55 per year.

rape culture of our country is not one that only women live in. Men should be insulted by the idea that just because a girl is dressed in a provocative manner, there is the assumption that they can’t control themselves and must have sex with her, consensual or not.

Men should be disgusted by the fact that 35 percent of their college-aged peers would rape someone if they could get away with it, or disgusted with themselves for even contemplating the idea. Rape victims aren’t sluts, they aren’t easy, they aren’t stupid and they aren’t asking for it. It doesn’t matter what they were wearing, or how drunk they were or if they originally consented but then changed their mind. After all, in the University of Illinois at Chicago study, 43 percent of male respondents said they had coerced or forced a girl into having sex, even if they had said no.

Those who have experienced sexual assault are indeed victims. Rape victims are women.

They are mothers, sisters, daughters, wives, girlfriends. They could be any woman in your life. It is shameful that we have this culture in the United States. It is shameful that when an eleven-year-old girl in Texas was gangraped by her peers, most of the media attention revolved around what she was wearing

The Staff

For information on joining the Justice, write to editor@ thejustice.org.

rather than the attack itself. Rape can no longer be the butt of Daniel Tosh’s jokes. Instead, it should be covered like any other serious crime, with respect for the victim and not judgment. Perhaps if there were more stories about the victims, instead of just attacks, rape culture would be at least partially solved.

There is not one right answer for how we can end rape culture. Part of it does rest on women, to be aware of their surroundings and know their limits. But it also rests on men, to respect their partners, understand that no means no, and that just because a girl is friendly to them does not mean they automatically can have sex. We need to hold the media to a higher standard, and make sure rape isn’t just a storyline in a Law and Order episode, but rather an issue that gets the attention it deserves. If one in four women were robbed, wouldn’t that make the news?

Stop blaming the victim of a violent crime for what she is wearing or how friendly and flirty she is. Stop making excuses or apologies for the attackers. Demand that our police and courts test rape kits and treat the victims with dignity. Ending rape culture is a good way to start dealing with the rape problem in the United States.

Editorial Assistants Arts: Rachel Hughes, Eli Kaminsky Photos: Josh Horowitz, Olivia Pobiel Features: Jaime Kaiser News: Marissa Ditkowsky Ads: Schuyler Brass

Copy: Brittany Joyce Staff Senior Writers: Josh Asen, Aaron Berke, Allyson Cartter Senior Photographer: Jon Edelstein, Alex Margolis, Tali Smookler, Jane Zitomer News: Shani Abramowitz, Ariel Glickman, Danielle Gross, Luke Hayslip, Raquel Kallas, Suzanne Schatz Features: Alexa Ball, Selene Campion, Rachel Miller Forum: Michael Abrams, Jennie Bromberg, Aaron Fried, Noah M. Horwitz, Liz Posner, Leah Smith, Avi Snyder, Naomi Volk

Sports: Ben Freudman, Avi Gold, Jacob Moskowitz, Jonah Price Arts: Aliza Vigderman, Aaron Berke, Erica Cooperberg, Alex DeSilva, Aliza Gans, Olivia Leiter, Zachary Marlin, Adelina Simpson, Emily Wishingrad Photography: Wendy Choi, Bri Mussman, Josh Spiro, Karina Wagenpfeil, Michelle Wang, Copy: Aliza Braverman, Jennie Bromberg, Hilary Cheney, Patricia Greene, Andrew Hayes, Max Holzman, Brittany Joyce, Eunice Ko, Kinza Kukhari, Megan Paris, Christine Phan, Mailinh Phan-Nguyen, Leah Rogers, Will Schneiderman, Amanda Winn Layout: Elana Horowitz, Rebecca Lanter, Jassen Lu, Denny Poliferno Illustrations: Hannah Kober, Mara Sassoon, Arielle Shorr, Tziporah Thompson

12

TUESDAY, January 29, 2013

●

THE JUSTICE

FORUM

Democrats must rediscover civil liberty roots Aaron

Fried Free thought

When I was growing up under the Bush regime, I thought that I could always rely upon the Democrats to consistently oppose an imperial foreign policy and its consequent violations of individual rights. Every time a bomb would fall on the home of an innocent family, from Baghdad to Kabul, liberal Democrats could be counted on to prevent the Republicans from sweeping the incident under the rug as “collateral damage.”

Liberal Democrats were also reliable and consistent partners in defending the American people from the domestic spillover of these policies. They were fierce and vociferous defenders of civil liberties in assailing the Patriot Act, which authorizes the federal government to spy without warrant on American citizens’ communications.

Guantanamo Bay, the off-coast torture center of the Bush regime, also came under regular attack from the American political left– and properly so. They understood the notion of “innocent until proven guilty,” and favored the concomitant humane justice system.

Under Bush, the War on Drugs, which apprehends disproportionate amounts of minorities and is single handedly responsible for America’s record-setting prison population, was under constant attack by liberal Democrats. The American Left effectively communicated the absurdity, futility and evil of these policies. A policy that seeks to protect people from risk by harming them—putting them in prisons—is neither moral nor practical. Further, national Democrats were calling for marriage equality, defending the right of consenting adults to freely associate. Under Bush, liberal Democrats’ rhetoric heralded a bright future for civil liberties and a sane foreign policy.

After President Obama’s election in 2008, amid partisan bickering over the new administration’s agenda and a struggling economy, these issues were all but forgotten by the national Democrats. Despite President Obama’s meeker rhetoric and humbler approach to foreign policy, for which he was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize (on credit, it seems), his administration’s actions have been no less belligerent than those of his predecessor’s. In terms of foreign policy, 2008 to 2012 may as well have been Bush’s third term.

The war in Iraq no longer makes headlines, but violence rages on. The Shiite-led government installed by America faces strong opposition from the Sunnis, and the two factions frequently clash during bloody protests.

Many American troops have been withdrawn, but only because a multi-billion dollar embassy fortress is being built to cement our occupation of Iraq for years to come. In other

MARA SASSOON/the Justice

words, Obama simply completed what Bush started.

In Afghanistan, whether we see troop surges or withdrawals, one thing remains constant: the “end date” of the war continues to be pushed back. Our futile involvement in the region has endured for over a decade, and while the “boots on the ground” have been less active, the drones in the sky have been busier than ever before.

The Obama regime’s terroristic drone policy in the Middle East ought to be morally condemned from all sides. This bloody campaign is particularly horrifying in Pakistan, where it kills just one terrorist for every 49 innocent people of “collateral damage”—human beings whose only “crime” is being in the same place as someone suspected of terrorist activity. If that wasn’t sickening enough, the drone operators have borrowed tactics from Hamas, and engage in “double-tapping” targets—they bomb the emergency responders who come to tend to those wounded by the first bombing.

Is the murder of emergency responders suddenly morally acceptable to liberal Democrats? What about the 178 dead children who have been murdered by these strikes? Has the murder of innocents become acceptable, or have the Democrats become so accustomed to playing politics that they’ve forgotten their virtuous principles?

Closing down Guantanamo Bay was a rallying cry of “Hope and Change”—but then fighting barbaric torture was deemed impractical. The sadistically-named Patriot Act was once properly reviled by the Democrats—until President Obama signed its renewal. The Democrats righteously defended even a nonAmerican terrorist’s right to a trial—until President Obama signed Section 1021 of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act into law, effectively revoking Americans’ right to a trial by jury if they are merely suspected of terroristic activity.

President Obama sat back as the Drug Enforcement Agency ramped up the War on Drugs; under him, it has raided more legal medicinal marijuana dispensaries than under Bush. With a simple order instructing the DEA to obey state law under the 10th Amendment (the course taken towards Colorado and Washington), President Obama could have prevented thousands of medical patients from being forced to suffer through the horrors of chemotherapy, chronic pain, and other diseases.

One of these raids which President Obama could have prevented resulted in 23-year-old University of California, San Diego student Daniel Chong’s abandonment in a DEA holding cell with nothing to drink except his own urine, and nothing to eat but methamphet-

amine—presumably left in the cell by a prior occupant.

After five days of unanswered screams for help, Chong was finally discovered clinging to life—bleeding from his wrists after attempting to slash them with his glasses and bleeding internally from attempting to eat the broken glass after his failed attempt to put an end to his methamphetamine and starvationinduced misery.

Is this the “compassionate drug policy” that we hoped for? Under his own policies, a younger Barack Obama could have suffered this same horrific (but legal) abuse—simply for smoking marijuana in a dorm.

The show of electoral politics is over. Unconditional support for the president isn’t a strategic necessity. Obama’s second term agenda will be determined by his base. Will the liberal Democrats be satisfied with simply seeing a Democrat in office, even if the next four years of social and foreign policy issues basically resemble the Bush years? Democrats, from the national level down to campus clubs, must hold the Obama administration accountable on these issues.

Their choice of action is simple: tacitly approve neoconservatism, or demand progress.

If liberal Democrats truly believe in civil liberties and oppose an imperial foreign policy, now is the time to prove it. Put up, or shut up.

Republican bashing of Clinton over Benghazi inappropriate Noah M.

Horwitz Civil Affairs

Last Wednesday Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified before a Congressional Investigation Committee related to the September 2012 attack on the United States consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including the Libyan ambassador. She was grilled by the Republicans on the committee, most notably Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rand Paul of Kentucky, for, in their eyes, being negligent and culpable for the attacks. Such an utterance is low and underscores the blatant disrespect the Republican Party has for this administration.

On Sep. 11, 2012, Islamic militants, who have allegedly been linked with al-qaeda, attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, killing the four Americans. The attacks occurred in the midst of a plethora of protests across the Middle East over an inflammatory anti-Muslim video spreading over YouTube. Thus, the administration, which had been caught offguard by the attack, falsely initially reported that the attacks were a result of these demonstrations. Further analysis, however, proved this untrue. While President Obama did call the attack an “act of terror” the next day, Re-

publicans are correct that his administration was scrambling for answers in the days following the attack.

However, this immediate response of the administration should not really matter. The fact is the United States was attacked by terrorists, like it has been dozens of times in the past. When the United States embassy in Beirut was bombed in 1983, resulting in the deaths of 14 Americans, Democratic leaders did not immediately start clamoring that President Reagan had maliciously caused the attack, or that Secretary of State George Schultz was somehow culpable. Indeed, when individual Democrats attempted to hold the administration personally liable for such attacks, they were roundly criticized by their party.

Historically, when the United States is attacked, the nation comes together, in an effort to heal the wounds and work with one another to find answers.

Divisive politics is usually put aside during such issues. The Republican Party has sunk to a new low by exploiting this tragedy for political gains, especially as they keep harping upon it. Instead of working together to see what had happened and trying to prevent other tragedies, the Republicans have been insistently trying to simply assign blame and point fingers.

Secretary Clinton, in her testimony, summed up her articulate position responding to Senator Johnson in saying, “With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was

it because of guys out for a walk one night decided they’d go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, senator.” Indeed, the Beirut embassy bombing under Reagan’s tenure, nor the bombing of the United States Embassy in Nairobi in 1998, in which 12 Americans and over 200 Kenyans were killed, did not even draw this stiff of a punitive congressional investigation.

“

Historically, when the U.S. is attacked, the nation comes together in an effort to heal.

A cursory Google search will reveal the true strategy of the Republicans: not to get to the bottom of this investigation, but to disparage and impeach a President they hate.

In September, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, a regular contributor on Fox News, even compared the Benghazi attacks to Watergate and insisted that President Obama should be removed from office.

Though it is true that inquiries and investigations must take place after terrorists attacks and other national tragedies, this is not

what Congressional Republicans are doing.

Rather than simply trying to get to the bottom of what happened, Republicans are simply looking for someone to assign blame. They want to hold President Obama and Secretary Clinton responsible for the attacks and play the blame game with national tragedies.

I was appalled by many fellow liberals who argued that President George W. Bush let 9/11 happen, or some variation thereof.

Exploiting tragedies, especially deadly ones, for political purposes is morally reprehensible. However, the difference was that Democrats who insinuated the Bush administration was negligent over 9/11 were unequivocally castigated by the leaders of their party. While the president and his or her administration surely have a responsibility to protect the nation’s citizens working abroad, failures on this account are not the result of negligence.

Instead of playing petty politics with this somber, sobering issue, the Republican Party should use it for a brief showing of bona fide bipartisanship, working together to not only find the culprits and bring them to justice, but to increase and strengthen embassy security, to make sure a tragedy like this will not be repeated any time soon. Senator Paul may believe that Secretary Clinton deserved to be terminated following the attacks, but she is no more responsible or liable for these attacks as former Secretary of State Colin Powell was for 9/11—that is, not at all.

Only by coming together and not assigning blame for tragedies can we move past them.

THE JUSTICE

Emory and Rochester, they will get a second chance at those teams this weekend.

By ADAM RABINOWITZ JUSTICE EDITOR

With eight minutes, 47 seconds left in the first half of Sunday’s game against the University of Rochester, the Judges were finally in cruise control.

Forward Erika Higginbottom ’13 drilled a jumper to stretch Brandeis’ lead to 20-14 and, at that point, the baskets were falling. The Judges seemed to put their offensive woes from previous road matches at New York University and Emory University, in which they only scored a combined 56 points, far behind them.

Guard Kasey Dean ’14 led the squad with 14 points, headlining two other double-digit performances. However, the first-half emergence proved to be a false dawn that the Judges would emerge from their five-game losing streak, as the team eventually succumbed to a 72-58 loss.

With the loss, Brandeis drops to 7-11 overall and 1-6 in the University Athletic Association.

“Honestly, our approach and mentality was the same as it was in the preceding two games,” said women’s head coach Carol Simon. “The key to the success we had in the Rochester game was that we made big shots and finished better.”

Guard Janelle Rodriguez ’14 sparked a 9-0 Brandeis run at the outset of the first quarter, concluding the stretch with a resounding basket and a 16-7 lead. The Judges also forced two turnovers and nabbed three offensive rebounds, displaying versatility at both ends of the court in a strong first half. And given that both preceding losses had been largely down to the Judges’ offensive woes, it seemed that draining baskets would prove enough for Brandeis to get its first win since Jan. 5.

Enter the YellowJackets, a squad that has recorded a formidable average of 66.8 points per game.

Junior center Danielle McNabb tipped in a layup to give Rochester their first lead at 23-22, an advantage they would not relinquish for the rest of the game. Higginbottom and the Judges kept pace, especially after a tip-in layup from the senior forward

JOSH HOROWITZ/Justice File Photo

REACHING FOR IT : Forward Alex Stoyle ’14 grabs an offensive rebound during the team’s victory over MCLA on Dec. 11.

MBBALL: Team defeated by UAA opponents on the road “We need to move the ball a bit better,” Coppens said. “We have to get easier shots in transition—get guys running and get in the flow of the game. It is hard for guys like [guard] Derek [Retos] ’14 and [forward Alex Stoyle ’14] if they don’t get going early. We need to get them touches early on.”

Rochester finished the weekend with an 18-0 record, including 7-0 in the UAA. The YellowJackets moved up to the top spot in Division III, due to the the University of St. Thomas losing to Concordia College last Monday night.

Against Emory, Brandeis was unable to replicate the second-half comebacks that had seen them pick up key road victories against the

13

Women fall in UAA contests ■ Though the team fell to

University of Chicago and Washington University in St. Louis the weekend before.

The Judges had trailed Chicago by 10 and WashU by four at the break in those contests, and found themselves down 29-26 to Emory at the midway point. Despite knotting things up at 40 apiece with just over 13 minutes left, Meehan’s team was unable to get over the hump, falling 69-55.

“We weren’t really into the game,” guard Jay Freeman ’13 said.

“We lost focus too easily. We had a good first half, but the second half we weren’t focused.”

Moton led Brandeis with 14 points, but he was the team’s only player in double figures. Emory junior forward Jake Davis had a game-high 18 points, one of three

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2013

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

HIGHER THAN THE REST

CONTINUED FROM 13

●

Eagles with more than 10 points.

Emory was paced down the stretch by freshman guard Michael Florin and senior guard Alex Greven, who combined for 17 points over the final 13 minutes of action.

Brandeis will get a second crack at both Rochester and Emory, as the Yellow Jackets and Eagles will travel to Waltham this weekend.

“Our execution has to be better, and I think it will be,” Coppens said. “Coming home Friday our effort will be better, and hopefully the score will indicate that.”

“Against Rochester, being at home could be all the difference,” Stoyle added. “Hopefully we can get a little more production out of a few more guys.”

The game against Emory will be Friday at 8 p.m. The Judges will

with 3:11 remaining to cut the deficit to one point.

Rochester initiated their high-powered offense once more to close the half, as junior guard Ally Zywicki and sophomore guard Breanna Madrazo combined for seven straight points.

Guard Hannah Cain ’14 led a second-half charge for the Judges, nailing a crucial three-pointer to pull within five points and a potential nail-biter. Guard Jackie Walker countered with a three-pointer of her own, and from there, Rochester’s offensive display overwhelmed the Judges’ defense. The YellowJackets led by as many as 17 points before eventually earning a 72-58 victory.

Cain and Rodriguez, along with Dean, sparked the offensive resurgence for the Judges with 12 points apiece. Cain also made a statement on the defensive end, earning five steals and pulling down six rebounds.

The Judges greatly needed those 58 points, especially after a second consecutive sub-30 point performance in a 59-28 loss to No. 18 Emory University last Friday.

Rodriguez was in her element at the Woodruff PE Center, scoring a career-high 14 points on six-for-12 shooting. She even contributed on the defensive end with three steals. The Eagles could not seem to contain her hot hand.

However, Rodriguez was the anomaly in a game defined by Emory’s smothering defense. The Eagles limited the rest of the Judges to 14 points and just three field goals, cruising to a 30-point victory.

Forward Samantha Anderson ’13 led the squad with seven rebounds while Dean contributed two assists.

Though the women were certainly crushed by the defeat, Simon sees room for improvement which could prove to be crucial with its last two UAA clashes of the regular season coming up.

“We need to be able to play well at both ends of the court consistently for 40 minutes,” she said. “For our games this weekend, I’ll break down the films more in depth. This time we will have a much better idea of the adjustments that we need to make for our rematches this weekend.”

After a punishing four-game UAA road trip, the squad will return home with an invigorated offense against Emory this Friday at 6 p.m. The Judges will then welcome the YellowJackets for a rematch at Red Auerbach Arena this Sunday at 2 p.m.

TRACK: Athletes begin to reach top condition CONTINUED FROM 13 tively, timing in at 2:46.81 and 2:50.41.

Casey McGown ’13 took 61st in the women’s 400-meter race, running the two-lap distance in 1:01.62 seconds.

The women’s jumps and throws featured a trio of Brandeis competitors. The long jump saw Melissa Darling ’16 leap 4.69 meters, good for 32nd overall. The triple jump saw Kim Farrington ’16 go 10.61 meters, landing her in 17th. Alyssa Fenenbock ’15 threw the shot put for 6.86 meters, which gave her a 53rd-place finish.

Galen Karlan-Mason ’16 led the Judges’ sprinting charge in the 60-meter dash, finishing 82nd with a time of 7.66 seconds. Chi Tai ’16 took 91st in 8.18 seconds. Jacob Wilhoite ’15 placed 93rd, covering the distance in 8.37 seconds. Karlan-Mason then took 166th in the 200-meter dash, running 24.54 seconds for 166th overall. Makalani Mack ’16 and Brandon Odze ’16 placed 186th and 188th, timing in at 26.04 and 26.16 seconds, respectively.

Josh Hacunda ’16 ran 51.77 seconds in the 400-meter dash for 108th place, and Josh Hoffman-Senn ’13 completed the two-lap race in 53.89 seconds, which resulted in a 130th-place finish.

The men’s distance charge featured a few notable performances.

Mik Kern ’13 cracked the 4:20 barrier

in the one-mile race, covering the distance in 4:18.09 seconds for 54th place.

Grady Ward ’16 and Greg Bray ’15 took consecutive spots in 109th and 110th, timing in at 4:30.68 and 4:30.72.

Jarret Harrigan ’15 placed 83rd in the 3,000-meter run, finishing in 8:48.52 seconds. Ed Colvin ’14 also took part in the event, finishing 101st in 8:53.96.

In addition to the running events, there were a few other performances from the men’s squad. Brian Louis ’16, landing at 13.16 meters, pulled in at 21st in the men’s triple jump. Adam Berger ’15 took 31st in the event, jumping 12.37 meters.

Kris Stinehart ’14 threw the shot put 11.74 meters for 41st place.

Though satisfied with the team’s performance as a whole, Sanford recognized that there is still work to be done before the athletes reach their peak performance.

“Our training is just starting to get intense now,” she said. “It was hard over winter break since we can't all train together. Lately, we've really been picking it up on our runs and workouts. We're determined to run really well by the end of the season.”

The Judges will next compete at the Tufts University Stampede on Saturday at 10 a.m.

Have an opinion to share?

Write a letter to the editor!

Large Apartments for Rent Live with all your friends for the next school year. • 6 bedroom 3 bath apartment Available June 1st

Close to Brandeis, parking, laundry, very spacious, separate utilities

$3600 per month

• 7 bedroom 2 bath apartment Available June 1st Close to Brandeis, parking, laundry, convenient location, separate utilities $3850 per month

Send your emails to justletters@brandeis.edu

Email dennisbford@gmail.com or call 978-501-2532 Easy to show. No Realtor fee.

Going fast.

THE JUSTICE

●

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2013

15

FENCING

jUDGES BY THE NUMBERS Men’s BASKETBALL UAA STANDINGS

TEAM STATS

Points Per Game

Not including Monday’s games

Gabriel Moton ’14 leads the team with 15.5 points per game.

Player PPG Gabriel Moton 15.5 Ben Bartoldus 10.1 Derek Retos 9.5 Youri Dascy 8.7

UAA Conference Overall

W L D W L D Pct. Rochester 7 0 0 17 0 0 1.000 JUDGES 5 2 0 14 4 0 .778 Emory 5 2 0 13 4 0 .765 WashU 4 3 0 14 4 0 .778 NYU 2 5 0 12 6 0 .667 Case 2 5 0 9 9 0 .500 Chicago 2 5 0 8 10 0 .444 Carnegie 1 6 0 4 14 0 .222

Rebonds Per Game Gabriel Moton ’14 leads the team with 6.3 per game.

Player RPG Gabriel Moton 6.3 Alex Stoyle 4.8 Youri Dascy 3.9 Wouter van der Eng 3.1

UPCOMING GAMES Friday vs. Emory Sunday vs. Rochester

WOMen’s basketball UAA STANDINGS

TEAM STATS

Not including Monday’s games

Points Per Game

UAA Conference Overall

W L D W L D Pct. Emory 6 1 0 16 2 0 .889 Rochester 6 1 0 14 4 0 .778 WashU 5 2 0 15 3 0 .833 Case 4 3 0 12 6 0 .667 Carnegie 3 4 0 11 7 0 .611 Chicago 2 5 0 6 11 0 .333 NYU 1 5 0 8 10 0 .444 JUDGES 1 6 0 7 11 0 .389

Kasey Dean ’14 leads the team with 8.9 points per game.

Player PPG Kasey Dean 8.9 Hannah Cain 8.2 Erika Higginbottom 5.8 Mikaela Garvin 5.0

UPCOMING GAMES Friday vs. Emory Sunday vs. Rochester

Rebounds Per Game Hannah Cain ’15 leads with 5.2 rebounds per game.

Player RPG Hannah Cain 5.2 Erika Higginbottom 5.0 Samantha Anderson 3.9 Kasey Dean 3.4 JENNY CHENG/Justice File Photo

FACING OFF: Foil Ethan Levy ’15 (right) squares off against an opponent during the Brandeis Invitational on Dec. 2.

SWIMMING AND DIVING Results from Saturday’s meet against Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

TOP FINISHERS (Men’s)

TOP FINISHERS (Women’s)

100-YARD FLY Padraig Murphy Jared Goldman

200-YARD BACK Lauren Cruz Gabby Drillich

TIME 57.70 1:03.27

200-YARD FREE TIME Ariel Baron 1:58.86 Antonio Cancio 2:25.12

TIME 2:22.63 2:25.86

200-YARD FREE TIME Theresa Gaffney 2:13.24 Lindsay Fitzpatrick 2:29.67

UPCOMING MEET: The men’s and women’s teams will next compete on Saturday at home against Regis College.

Fencing squads defeat foes at conference meet ■ Both teams downed Tufts, Vassar and Dartmouth in a competition held at Brown University on Saturday.

By JOSH ASEN JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER

TRACK AND FIELD Results from Friday’s Terrier Classic at Boston University.

NOTABLE FINISHES (Men’s)

NOTABLE FINISHES (Women’s)

1-MILE RUN Mik Kern Grady Ward

1-MILE RUN Victoria Sanford Amelia Lundkvist

400-METER DASH Josh Hacunda

TIME 4:18.09 4:30.68 TIME 51.77

400-METER DASH Casey McGown

TIME 5:06.67 5:13.45 TIME 1:01.72

UPCOMING MEET: The men’s and women’s track and field teams will next compete Saturday at the Tufts University Stampede.

The men’s and women’s fencing teams each defeated four schools, finishing with winning records in the season’s second Northeast Fencing Conference Meet held at Brown University this past Saturday.

The men won by double-digits against Vassar College, Tufts University and Dartmouth College, but against Boston College, the men’s team trailed 13-10 with four bouts left. However, the Judges swept the four remaining duels to capture the win over the Eagles.

“To win three in a row when you have to, it’s a nice accomplishment,” said coach Bill Shipman.

Despite its four victories, the men’s squad suffered at the hands of

Brown by a 20-7 margin.

The women’s team cruised to double-digit victories over Dartmouth and Smith College. They also posted victories against Tufts and Vassar by margins of 14-13 and 16-11, respectively. The squad also lost to Brown 24-3 and to BC by a 20-7 margin.

Shipman noted that in the loss to the BC, the team “didn’t fence as well against them as we had hoped.”

Before the dual-squad meet at Brown, the women’s squad defeated Wellesley College 20-7 on the road last Wednesday. In the first and only head-to-head competition for the squad this season, the Judges won both saber and foil 8-1, and also proved to be victorious in épée by a score of 5-4.

“Wellesley has been a challenging team in the past, so I think our mindset was in the right place, and that we wanted to really beat them,” said saber Zoe Messinger ’13. “I think that we really wanted it more than they did.”

Saberists Emilia Dwyer ’16 and

Annette Kim ’16 each won their three bouts, while Messinger and fellow foil Deborah Abiri ’16 also went 3-0 in the competition. Épéeist Kristen Ha ’14 led her weapon group with two wins.

Both squads next compete in the Eric Sollee Invitational on Sunday, hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Messinger said that the women’s squad must stay mentally focused during the competition to fence well in Sunday’s meet.

“We have to play the right mental game,” she said. “We all have the skills to match and beat most of these teams that are coming, but it’s who really wants it the most, and I think we do.”

Shipman believes that a solid week of practice will benefit both squads in the Invitational on Sunday.

“We had a very spotty week of practice, so we need to have a little more organized and beneficial week of practice this week than we did last week,” he said.

BOSTON BRUINS BEAT Rookie defenseman Hamilton gets first NHL point as Bruins pull away from Islanders in third period The Boston Bruins, off to one of their hottest starts in franchise history, rebounded from a heartbreaking overtime loss to the New York Rangers to beat their Empire State counterpart, the New York Islanders, by a 4-2 margin. With the win, the Bruins move to 3-1-0 and continue to fight the Ottawa Senators for an early lead in the Eastern Conference.

The Islanders applied heavy pressure and forced the Bruins to commit several missed passes and errors. Yet, Boston struck five minutes into the game, as rookie defenseman Dougie Hamilton fired a slap-shot from 57 feet, which deflected right towards winger Shawn Thornton, who flicked it in the back of the net.

Tensions then began to rise, and in the first fight of the night, Boston winger Milan Lucic and New York

forward Matt Carkner threw down their gloves. Although Carnker got the first few punches in, Lucic knocked Carkner to the ground.

“He got the first two punches in on my head, but that’s what helmets are for I guess,” Lucic joked. “Luckily I was able to retaliate and I saw an opening.”

Despite the momentum swing in Boston’s favor, the Islanders tied the game minutes later. New York forward Andrew McDonald drew out Boston goalie Tuukka Rask out of position with a precision pass right outside of the crease to forward Keith Aucoin, who fired it into the back of the net. In an incident towards the end of the period, forward Shawn Thornton received a ten-minute misconduct, and after an offset penalty and a Bruins’ power play, Boston had its chance to strike.

However, they were unable to capitalize, leaving it tied at the half.

Early in the second period, Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chára tripped and fell on top of an Islander, resulting in an interference penalty. The Islanders weren’t able to make anything of the power play, but the Bruins created a chance, as left wing Daniel Paille had a short-handed breakaway. However, he wasn’t able to shoot the puck in time, and the chance was lost.

The Islanders took the lead, though, as a deflected shot skidded right in front of right wing Keith Aucoin, who ripped a shot to the top shelf, making it 2-1 in favor of the Islanders. Minutes later, the Bruins were given a third play for a hooking call against the Islanders. And though they failed to score on that particular time, they tied the game up when a deflected shot

from Hamilton fell right in front of center Gregory Campbell, who flicked it into the net. This marked Hamilton’s first multiple point night of his career.

“It’s a great system and the guys make it so much easier to do my job,” commented Hamilton on how his teammates help his play. “They’re really supportive on and off the ice.”

Coach Claude Julien has also been impressed with the play of the 19-yearold, who, despite being new to the National Hockey League, has seemed to adjust to the level of play quite quickly.

“It’s only once in a while that you see a young guy so poised and skilled at his age,” he said. “Plus, he’s got some professional experience from playing overseas during the lockout.”

The period ended with a well-placed pass from Lucic to forward Tyler Se-

guin, setting the 20-year-old up for an opportunity. However, Seguin couldn’t get the shot off, and the game remained tied at two goals apiece.

Despite the fact that the first two periods were close-run affairs, the Bruins blew the game open in the third period. The Bruins scored what would be the game winner when Lucic passed back to Chara, who ripped a 60foot slapshot in the bottom corner of the net past Islanders goalkeeper Rick DiPietro. Center Patrice Bergeron sealed the deal when left wing Brad Marchand sent him on a breakaway with a brilliant pass, which allowed Bergeron to score a finesse goal.

The Bruins resume action tonight at home against the New Jersey Devils at 7 p.m.

— Jonah Price

just

Sports

Page 16

FOILING THE COMPETITION The men’s and women’s fencing teams started off on the right foot in 2013 with four wins apiece in their first meet, p. 15.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Waltham, Mass.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

PLOWING THROUGH THE WATER

Road trip results in losses to UAA foes ■ The men challenged

then-No.2 Rochester and Emory, but couldn’t beat either this weekend in conference matchups.

By JEFFREY BOXER JUSTICE EDITOR

place. Maggie Hensel ’16 came in 92nd place, running 5:31.46. Molly Paris ’16 rounded out the Judges’ participation in the event with a finish in 5:52.10.

Kelsey Whitaker ’16 capped an impressive effort in the 1,000-meter run, clocking 3:04.80 seconds for 12th place.

Rachel Keller ’16 also competed in the race, timing in at 3:18.93 seconds for 29th place.

Nora Owens ’16 and Gabriella Guillette ’15 came in 103rd and 107th places in the women’s 800-meter, respec-

In its five University Athletic Association contests this season, the then-No. 19 men’s basketball team, ranked No. 25 in yesterday's poll, had shot 51 percent from the field in second-half action, outscoring its opponents by an average of nine points over the final 20 minutes of play.

The Judges were unable to replicate that magic this past weekend, fading down the stretch during closely-fought contests with then-No. 2 University of Rochester and Emory University.

Brandeis’ record now stands at 14-4 overall, including 5-2 in UAA play.

“Fatigue played a factor—we had back-to-back weekends on the road,” assistant coach Joe Coppens ’08 said. “We faced two really good opponents. Emory’s pace is very tough to beat or even stay in the game with them. Rochester was another really tough environment.”

Against Rochester last Sunday, the Judges held a lead late against one of the top teams in the country, but ultimately fell 69-65.

Brandeis started the match off on a high note, especially after a three-pointer by forward Anthony Trapasso ’13 that gave the Judges a 14-11 lead with 11 minutes, 22 seconds left in the first half. They retained the lead for nearly 30 minutes, stretching the advantage to seven points on several occasions.

However, cheap fouls were Brandeis’ undoing down the stretch, as the Judges were whistled for several questionable calls. Rochester senior guard John DiBartolomeo took 12 free throws in the final 3:22 of the game, hitting all of them. Rochester sophomore guard Kevin Sheehy drilled a three-pointer with 1:55 left in the contest, and the YellowJackets led for the rest of the game.

“DiBartolomeo has earned those calls just by his body of work,” Coppens said. “He really ratcheted it up and put the pressure on us towards the end. Most of [the foul calls] were warranted.

To his credit, he knocked down all of his free throws.”

In total, Rochester went 29-for31 from the charity stripe. The Judges outrebounded the YellowJackets 31-27 and had a field goal percentage that was nearly 10-percent higher, but were just 11-14 at the line.

The Judges were paced by guards Ben Bartoldus ’14 and Gabriel Moton ’14, each of whom scored 21 points. Center Youri Dascy ’14 added 14 points and tied Moton for the game-high in rebounds with seven. That was nearly all of Brandeis’ offense, however, as only five players put points on the board. Only seven players even registered a field goal attempt.

See TRACK, 13 ☛

See MBBALL, 13 ☛

BRI MUSSMAN/the Justice

INTENSE FOCUS: David Lazarovich ’16 finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke during the Judges’ home meet against Worcester Polytechnic Institute on Saturday afternoon.

WPI dual meet lets swimmers test waters with new events ■ In order to get ready for the

upcoming postseason meets, coach Michael Kotch entered athletes into myriad events.

By BEN FREUDMAN JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Though the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams have sought to gain experience in their first season since 2009-10, strong individual performances in a variety of disciplines continued to be a consistent theme for the squads in losses to Worcester Polytechnic Institute this past weekend.

Despite the men losing 157-107 and the women falling 167-95 to the Engineers, the teams each boasted three individual successes.

Coach Michael Kotch said that, while happy with the performances, he placed swimmers in different events in light of the rapidly approaching University Athletic Association championships.

“We have spent the last four months working on our events and

as we head into the rest phase of our season, I try to evaluate who needs a mental break,” he said. “Because we have started to rest, some swimmers might think that they should pop a time early in the cycle, so I use my judgment in who might need a little change of pace.”

In the first event, the women’s 200yard medley relay, Brandeis jumped out to a hot start, leading for the first three legs, albeit by only six-tenths of a second at the final exchange.

However, WPI senior Jess Lopez overtook Theresa Gaffney ’16 in the final yards of the race, resulting in a defeat by 88 one-hundredths of a second.

The men’s 200-yard medley relay, the next race on the docket for the Judges, proved to be just as thrilling, if not more so. WPI led throughout the entire race but Brian Luk ’16 made things interesting after swimming his leg, the butterfly stroke, in 24.17, two seconds faster than his opponent. However, he fell just short in his comeback bid, as the team fell two seconds short in the relay.

The women’s 100-yard backstroke

was another race that came down to the wire. WPI’s senior Heather Peruffo conceded her slight lead going into the final 50 yards. Her defeat came at the hands of Lauren Cruz ’16, who finished her final 50 yards one second ahead of her opponent.

The men’s 100-yard backstroke was also an exciting race. Padraig Murphy ’14 finished second to WPI senior James Perez-Rogers by 12 one-hundredths of a second. They were the only two competitors to finish the race in under one minute, finishing at 59.70 seconds and 59.58 seconds.

After a tight backstroke, the 100yard breaststroke was the third race in a row that was decided by less than one second. WPI sophomore Nysa Casha began the race strongly, leading by over a second going into the final half of the race. Holly Spicer ’13 roared back and even led for a brief period of time, but could not complete the impressive comeback.

Casha won with a time of 1:12.23, just a mere seven hundredths of a second faster than Spicer.

Kotch stated that each of the

swimmers tested different events this past weekend. Luk, who competed in the 500-yard freestyle in addition to swimming the butterfly in the 200-yard medley relay, was one of them.

“I had a conversation with Coach early in the season in which we came to terms that I am going be a freestyle sprinter,” he said, “and that the butterfly will be my secondary stroke. We tried that out today.”

There were seven other races, at 100 yards or more, that were decided by a two-second margin or less.

In fact, 10 total races of 100 yards or more were decided by less than a second. Although the end result was a loss for the Judges, this young team has a lot to look forward to.

Though disappointed that they fell short of team victories in both meets, the Judges fought throughout all events against a 7-3 WPI men’s and women’s dual squad. The team will host its last meet versus Regis College this Saturday before concluding the season at the UAA Championships at the University of Chicago, which are Feb. 13 to 17.

TRACK AND FIELD

Teams perform well at Terrier Classic ■ Hosted by Boston University,

the meet saw many quality performances from the Judges.

By HENRY LOUGHILn JUSTICE EDITOR

While the Dartmouth Relays on Jan. 13 and the Greater Boston Track Club Invitational on Jan. 20 featured many competitive opportunities for the men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams, the Boston Univer-

sity Terrier Classic last Friday proved to be the biggest stage on which the squads had performed this season.

And though they may not have boasted the same number of competitors as some other schools, they held their own.

Featuring NCAA Division I powerhouses such as Dartmouth College, Boston University, Cornell University and the University of Rhode Island, the Judges were able to size themselves up against a variety of top competitors.

“The meet as a whole went well,”

said Victoria Sanford ’14, who finished 32nd in the one-mile race with a time of five minutes, 6.67 seconds. “We don’t want to be peaking until early March. This was a very large and competitive meet for our team.”

Sanford headlined the women’s participation in the meet with her standout performance in the one-mile run, in which there were four Judges also racing. Sanford’s finish, which placed her 21st in Division III, is a new season best in that event.

Classmate Amelia Lundkvist ’14 clocked in at 5:13.45 seconds for 54th-

JustArts

Volume LXV, Number 17

Your weekly guide to arts, movies, music and everything cultural at Brandeis and beyond

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Waltham, Mass.

A-Trak packs the house:

Canadian DJ attracts record crowd to Student Events winter concert

In this issue:

Movie Review:

Titus Andronicus

Chums concert: Indie punk band dishes out rollicking Saturday night show. P. 20

Lunar New Year Chinese connection: BC3

rings in the Year of the Snake with festive performances. P. 21

‘The Impossible’ P. 23

Hooked on Tap Dance Show P. 19 WSRC “OFF-KILTER” Art Exhibit P. 19

This week’s PHOTO CONTEST:

“Funny faces”

18

justARTS

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2013 | THE JUSTICE

CALENDAR

INTERVIEW

What’s happening in Arts on and off campus this week

ON-CAMPUS EVENTS “The Pillowman”

Members of the Masters of Fine Arts acting class perform this 2003 play by Martin McDonagh about a writer in a totalitarian state who is interrogated about the gruesome nature of his stories and their similarity to a number of child murders happening in his town.

The Pillowman is a dark comedy about family, justice, and what we leave behind. Directed by Jeremy Fiske. Seating is limited Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 4 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Merrick Theater in the Spingold Theater Center.

Artist Talk: Janine Antoni

Prof. Thomas Hall (MUS)

Music professor shares his passion for improvisational performance PHOTO COURTESY OF Thomas Hall

This week, JustArts had a conversation with Professor Thomas Hall (MUS), who directs Brandeis’ Improv Collective. Hall shares his fervor for musical improv, sources of personal inspiration and the projects that he takes on to share improv with budding musicians.

Hall has been an active professional musician since he was a teenager, and moved to Boston to attend the New England Conservatory, where he first studied free improvisation. Hall has since played in and toured with several successful musical groups that range from jazz to country swing. In recent years, he has been teaching music at the college level as well as special workshops in the Boston area.

JustArts: How were you first introduced to improvisation?

Tom Hall: Like every human, I was introduced to improv when I was born, and it has been a part of my life ever since.

JA: The Improv Collective is open to musicians and vocalists regardless of their experience or skill in improvising. What sort of tactics do you use to make sure all of the performers are on the ‘same page’?

How do first-timers adjust to the improv experience?

TH: One of the keys to this is creating the right kind of atmosphere.

I use a series of improvisational exercises to gradually bring people into group musical improvisation in a safe and structured way, and work with each student to help them overcome any blocks or fears they may have about improvising.

By the end of the first semester most people are comfortable with the idea of freely improvising music with other people. My book Free Improvisation: A Practical Guide is a good practical look at the methodology that I use to teach group improvisation and a lot of the philosophy behind it.

JA: Why do you think it is important for musicians to gain an appreciation for improv and to be able to enjoy performing without an agenda or plan?

TH: Every moment of creation is a moment of improvisation. Even in the most highly structured classical music, what gives the music its life, what makes one performance different from the next, is the improvisation of the performer in the moment.

If this was not true, we could just have computers play the music perfectly and be done with it.

Learning to more easily and fluidly access and more intelligently process our creative intuition is a valuable skill, no matter what it is we are choosing to do in our lives.

Improvisation is a process, not a product, and no matter what you are creating with it, the process of improvisation remains the same.

So anything you learn about the process of improvisation itself is directly transferable to every other time you improvise. When someone becomes a better improviser, they are not only getting better at playing music, they are getting better at improvising their lives!

JA: Would you share with us one of your favorite memories or moments with the Improv Collective?

TH: There are many moments every semester when an experience we have shared in class has inspired someone. It has made a difference in their lives, a difference in how they experience the world or themselves, whether just for that moment or forever.

Those moments are my favorite moments, and they are what makes the experience of teaching this class so exciting and rewarding.

JA: Your career has taken you all over the world and into the company of other prestigious musicians.

What is it about the musical atmosphere at Brandeis that keeps you inspired?

TH: I am continually inspired by the students at Brandeis; by their openness, their curiosity, their willingness to try new things and to share what they have learned with others.

—Rachel Hughes

Performance artist Janine Antoni blurs the distinction between performance art and sculpture, transforming everyday activities into ways of making art.

She has washed away the faces of soap busts made in her own likeness and used the brain wave signals recorded while she dreamed at night as a pattern for weaving a blanket the following morning. Part of the Art in Dialogue series, sponsored by the Department of Fine Arts and made possible by the Brandeis Arts Council.

Friday at 2 p.m. in Mandel Center for Humanities G03.

AYALA

Southeast Asia Club presents AYALA, a variety show featuring a collaboration of performers from other colleges as well as Brandeis’ own clubs and organizations. There will be free food!

Saturday from 7-9 p.m. in the Levin Ballroom. Free admission for Brandeis students. $5 for off-campus guests.

Women Making Music: Honoring the Work of Musicologist Judith Tick

The Women and Music Mix of the Women’s Studies Research Center SRC celebrates the 25th anniversary of Judith Tick’s groundbreaking anthology, Women Making Music: The Western Art Tradition 1150-1950. Tick

is the Matthews Distinguished University Professor of Music at Northeastern University and a leading authority on American music in general and the history of women in music in particular.

She will speak on the legacy of Women Making Music, and her recent work on Ella Fitzgerald. A reception with jazz will follow.

Sunday, at 3:30 p.m.in the Women’s Study Research Center. Reservations required for this event; email info@wammix.org.

Gala Concert

The evening concert features historical and contemporary works by women, with excerpts from Maria Teresa Agnesi’s opera La Sofonisba, premieres of Women’s Studies Research Center Scholar Ruth Lomon’s oratorio Rebekah and of Women’s Study Research Center Scholar Dana Maiben’s song cycle The Green House, songs of Fanny Mendelssohn and Ruth Crawford Seeger’s violin sonata.

Sunday at 7 p.m. in Slosberg Recital Hall. Tickets: $20 general public; $15 for Brandeis community and seniors; $5 for students. Available online or by calling Brandeis Tickets at 781-736-3400.

“Inventory:” The Artist as Advocate for Social Justice Women’s Studies Research Center Scholar Linda Bond’s artwork explores the mediated experience of wartime.

Through drawings, prints, and installations, Bond attempts to humanize the tragedies of war and to combat the numbing effects of a media-saturated culture.

Bond’s installation “Inventory,” on view at the WSRC and other campus locations from February 1-15, is a participatory art installation that catalogs, displays, then disperses 190,000 images of AK-47 assault rifles and Glock pistols that have gone missing in Iraq. Part of the ’Deis Impact festival of social justice.

Monday, Feb. 4 at 4 p.m. in the Women’s Studies Research Center. Free admission to general public.

Pop Culture He’s gonna take your grandpa’s style. No really, ask your grandpa, can he have his hand-me-downs? Sure, he might enjoy dancing down the aisles of thrift shops purchasing everything from knee-boards to gator shoes, but Macklemore is much more than a bargain-huntin’ shopaholic.

This past week, the singer made history with his hit single, “Thrift Shop,” marking the first time in nearly 20 years that an independent artist has topped the Billboard Hot 100.

Sure, your grammie, your auntie, your momma and your mammie might be quoting the single from left and right, but hold on a second—do they even know about Macklemore? First, let’s clear some things up. The pale, blonde rapper originally went by his birth name, Ben Haggerty, (you didn’t really think his parents named him Macklemore, did you?).

Another source of confusion: the pairing of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Who’s that second dude? Allow me to explain: Macklemore is the rapper and Ryan Lewis is his producer— and would you believe they actually connected via MySpace?! Don’t be mistaken by Lewis’ lack of presence in the music videos; he is just as integral a part of the music as Macklemore himself.

Now you’ve got some background knowledge to share with the folks but, be honest with me, can you name one other Macklemore and Ryan Lewis song? Yeah … didn’t think so. “Thrift Shop” has become so popular that it has almost entirely eclipsed the duo’s other work. Many fans of the single, though, don’t realize that “Thift Shop” is not particularly indicative of the rest of the duo’s music.

In fact, many of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ tracks have released focus on the rapper’s drug addiction and substance abuse [about which he has been very open] or his childhood growing up in Seattle and how each of these issues has affected his life. My baseballloving brother can’t get enough of “My Oh My,” a song written about the death

The Brandeis Theater Company Presents: “In the Heart of America”

A young Palestinian-American woman searches for her missing brother in this drama that crosses time and space, blending and blurring conflicts from the Vietnam War to the Gulf War. Playwright Naomi Wallace explores the intersection of violence and politics, racism and patriotism, desire and the human heart. Director, Prof. Janet Morrison (THA) says, “The characters represent different backgrounds, cultures and wars, but you can see the common wounds, hope and striving that are alive in all of them.”

Feb. 7-9 at 8 p.m.and 2 p.m. in the Spingold Theater Center. Tickets are regularly $20, or $5 for students.

OFF-CAMPUS EVENTS fun. at the Orpheum Theater

In 2012, fun. returned with its sophomore effort, Some Nights, following its 2009 debut, Aim and Ignite. The album was produced by Jeff Bhasker, who worked on Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The record’s first single, “We Are Young,” featured vocals by Janelle Monáe and reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100. fun. even graced our campus with a tremendous appearance at Springfest 2012. On Feb. 1, they will rock The Orpheum Theater in Boston.

Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Orpheum Theater in Boston. Tickets range from $39 to $45.

Mumford and Sons at TD Garden British Bluegrass-Pop band, Mumford and Sons will headline a show at the massive TD Garden.

They hope to blow minds with hits off their first record, Sigh No More, the likes of “The Cave,” “Little Lion Man” and “Roll Away Your Stone” plus tracks off their Grammy-nominated release Babel. Look forward to hits like “I Will Wait.”

Tuesday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. at the TD Garden, Boston. Tickets from $54 to $64.

By Erica Cooperberg

thecomeupshow/CREATIVE COMMONS

DEADLY DUO: Macklemore (above) and Ryan Lewis flipped the rap industry on its back. of famed Seattle Mariners’ sportscaster Dave Niehaus. I recommend giving it a listen; I pinky promise you’ll be impressed … and possibly reaching for a tissue.

Fans of the duo appreciate them not only for the catchiness of one single, but also for Macklemore’s ever-humble approach to anything at all. Fans also respect the novelty of the duo’s emotional lyrics and fearless approach to tackling controversial issues in the world of rap.

In “Same Love,” the duo’s single supporting gay marriage, Macklemore raps, “No law is gonna change us, we

have to change us…Strip away the fear, underneath it’s all the same love.” And in “Wing$,” Macklemore criticizes consumerism, relaying his childhood self yearning for, loving and abruptly despising a pair of Nike’s. Macklemore breaks boundaries here and goes beyond the typical get-money-get-ladies rap riff.

Irregardless of why you know or appreciate them (or even if you hate ’em!), you have to give props to the guys for the success from releasing The Heist, their newest album, on their own label this past fall. Like they say in “Thrift Shop,” it is freakin’ awesome.

ARTS COVER PHOTOS: Jon Edelstein and Karina Wagenpfeil/the Justice, DESIGN: Robyn Spector

ON CAMPUS

THE JUSTICE | TUESDAY, january 29, 2013

19

concert review

DJ A-Trak delivers tremendous show By eli kaminsky

justice editorial assisstant

OLIVIA POBIEL/the Justice

POINT OF VIEW: Eager viewers are among the first to see Moss’ work unveiled at the Women’s Studies Research Center.

art exhibit

“Off-Kilter” art exhibit kicks off creative year By rachel hughes justice editorial assistant

Marking the beginning of a new year of artistic creation, as well as the start of a new semester, the Women’s Studies Research Center opened a new exhibit for viewing last week. Titled “Off-Kilter,” the exhibit features an impressive array of paintings with drawn and collaged elements, created by artist Karen Moss. In a program for the exhibit, Curator Michele L’Heureux shares that Moss’s art “reflects the complex, tumultuous, and confusing state of our times. Instead of avoiding this reality, ‘Off-Kilter’ engages us in some of its bleaker components: eating disorders, youth violence, homelessness, rampant consumerism, and environmental devastation.”

Upon an initial walk through the exhibit, one feels happy, interested, and inspired by the bright colors in Moss’s paintings, staged spaciously throughout the Kniznick Gallery on stark walls painted orange, blue and white.

But the discerning viewer need not be fooled by the exhibit’s Technicolor surface: Moss’s statement is indeed a serious one. Many of the paintings feature elements that are manipulated or unnatural, such as animal-human hybrid creatures, nature landscapes depicted in neon hues, and characters with distorted body types. The characters in the

paintings resemble the artistic concoction one can imagine if illustrations of a Lewis Carroll work were combined with pages from Artist Barbie’s sketchbook: cartoonish and garish at the same time.

The exhibit opening reception that took place last Thursday evening was quite a special event because the artist attended and spoke about her favorite pieces. Moss, a petite and pleasant-looking woman, stood in front of three of the larger paintings of the exhibit, hung sideby-side on its main wall. She began her discussion with an insight into the inspiration for this triptych.

Moss explained that, several years ago, she made a stop during a car trip and happened upon a store where she found several children’s coloring books from the 1940s and 1950s. Flipping through the pages, she saw illustrations of children posing as soldiers, medics, nurses—all completely normal role-play options for children who, like Moss, grew up during the World War II era. “The girls [in the coloring books] dressed the same way I did. I started giving a lot of thought to that period, and thinking about now, and what has happened since.” She dwelled on the roles that children play in a society that is burdened beyond their comprehension, and the youngsters began to make appearances as characters in her paintings. “The coloring books launched me into art that would last

the next six years.”

The painting immediately behind Moss, situated in the middle of the triptych, shows a young girl with pin-curled hair in a 1950s style dress, Mary Janes and bobby socks, pushing a stroller that carries a bonneted bird-human hybrid creature. The doll-like girl smiles and walks through a colorful collaged city-scape, unaware of the rat-boy hybrid that is nibbling on trash at her feet.

On a washed-out layer of the background collage behind her there is a brick wall, decrepit wood fence, sketches of rickety buildings and giant waves of water overtaking it all. “These are icons that represent to me what landscape is today in the city,” says Moss. “Hurricane Katrina, tsunamis, trees falling down from hurricanes and people’s homes being destroyed…

There are a lot of disturbing things going on there—it’s almost a postnuclear landscape.”

Call them disturbing, call them brash—but one cannot deny the skillful way that Moss’s paintings reflect the change in culture over generations. The elements of nature that are manipulated in her work are meant to parallel the processed, unnatural societal norms we maintain today. “We are all being altered all the time; we’re used to this idea,” she says. “My nature is to be fairly up-beat and positive rather than depressed; but well informed.”

“Who is A-Trak?” many students asked after the name began to float around Brandeis during the early weeks of the semester. If you were one of the lucky 700 to nab a ticket to Student Events’ Winter Concert, you will never ask that question again.

Born Alain Macklovitch in Montreal, A-Trak gained recognition in New York as a young musician after winning several disc jockey competitions.

He eventually created his own label, Fool’s Gold and, while touring with Kanye West as his personal DJ, contributed to several of the rap superstar’s studio albums including 2007’s Graduation, which is highlighted by the world-famous single, “Stronger.”

On Dec. 30, 2012, Student Events created the Facebook group “WINTER CONCERT: A New Year’s Resolution,” and invited the entire student body to Levin Ballroom on Saturday, Dec. 26. However, to increase suspense, Student Events allowed a day or so of buildup before announcing that DJ A-Trak would be headlining the evening.

Quickly after tickets went on sale, the concert sold out, creating a nearfrenzy for any resales. Many students bought tickets from friends at inflated prices.

Student Events Concert Coordinator Benjamin Bernstein ’15 responded to the overwhelming demand for entry to the show. “This was the first time in years we sold out Levin [Ballroom],” he said. Reacting to the heightened success of this year’s Winter Concert, Bernstein explained, “This year we wanted to do something unprecedented and make the Levin Ballroom into a real concert venue.

Watching from the balcony, I felt like we were at the House of Blues.”

The entire audience really got moving thanks to every song’s hard-pumping bass and blares of “A-Trak” and “Fool’s Gold”s. Levin became a raving party filled with

hundreds of sweaty kids dancing and having an absolute blast. No one was standing still; no one looked glum. Danny Lubarsky ’16, said, “[ATrak created a] really good environment the whole time. There were never awkward moments of silence– solid transitions between songs. He worked the crowd well.”

The bustling audience was definitely not disappointed. The jockey has clearly mastered the ability to select fabulous dance music and manipulate it live on stage, with an elaborate setup to make his performance edgier and more exciting.

A-Trak uses more than the minimal computer setup that the mainstream electronic dance music DJ employs.

A-Trak goes hard on stage, spinning and scratching his records on turntables like a madman, changing the pace of songs, dropping the bass on his own command on top of pretty much every other move in the book.

The DJ also had an incredible capacity to captivate and control the crowd, interacting so closely that he ran into the front row, high-fiving anyone who was able reach the stage.

Possibly the strongest moment of the DJ’s set was the late and extended version of “Barbra Streisand,” one of A-Trak’s biggest hits, which he recorded with his former group, Duck Sauce. Since the entire audience most likely was familiar with the huge single, A-Trak closed on an incredibly strong note.

Noah Litwer ’15 left having enjoyed himself tremendously. “It was the first time I’ve gone to a Brandeis concert and had fun the entire time.” However, some of the older members of the crowd were somewhat turned off by the mass of underclassmen partying hard.

The messy handling of the postconcert coat return definitely did not help the situation. Nonetheless, the majority of concertgoers raved about their tremendously fun Saturday night. Matthew Schwartz ’15 summed it all up by claiming, “ATrak has a solid 5:5 chill:pull ratio.”

Can you ask for anything more?

KARINA WAGENPFEIL/the Justice

RAISING THE BAR: A-Trak’s exuberant performance showed why he sold out Levin.

PERFORMANCE

Hooked on Tap dance show boogies with talent all night long

By Arielle Gordon justice CONTRIBUTING writer

As the lights dim and the audience inches closer to the edges of the seats, the cheers suffuse the room with a frenzy. Friends call out names of dancers and shout words of inspiration. The hype and anticipation electrify the room, predicting an exciting show.

The curtains open to reveal a stage illuminated by spotlights and nervous faces. The tapping begins, with clicks and clacks bouncing from the stage.

Yet, something is seriously wrong here. On the left, girls with confused expressions try to match their uncoordinated rhythms to the girls on the right, and the girls in the back forget

their hand motions altogether. I can’t help but feel as if I am watching a high school production, and almost everyone seems to have forgotten their parts. The opening number disappoints, and I expect little from anything else that might follow.

Yet, as the show progresses, a certain magic emanates from the stage and captivates the audience. The numbers become more cohesive and the clacks and taps become a euphonic harmony. From the dancers shaking their booties to hits like Gia Farrell’s “Hit Me Up” to a slideshow of the backstage friendships that formed in rehearsals, the show adopts an accessibility to the audience that is incredibly charming and witty. With some numbers remixed with rap tracks, the

urban edge makes the show undeniably cool again. The chain sequences that begin with one dancer and culminate in all five dancers in the number dancing in canon build the excitement once more. These performances are nothing like the first—they are sassy and spicy and full of pizzazz. While they are still not completely polished, they make even the most uncoordinated audience members want to get up and tap.

By the time Chris Knight ’14 enters the stage to perform his improvisational tap dance, the audience has already been completely reconverted.

Knight refreshes the show as one of the only male tappers and excites the room with challenging rhythms and experimental motions. He throws his

body into the movement, possessed by a tapping demon that no one wishes to exorcise. He is thrilling, while also calculatingly technical, and outperforms most of the rehearsed girls.

The momentum is unstoppable.

Numbers like “Space Jam,” which combines brief comedy sketches with technical tap steps, and “Swing Set” reveal flawless formations and a youthful vivacity between the dancers. These sequences keep the show fresh and interesting, seducing a roomful of gazes that trail the heels of everyone on stage. In addition, the show also featured tap groups from Brown University and Boston University, who performed to Paul Simon’s “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” and an original piece “Don’t

Give a Fairy,” respectively. Brown’s group combined impeccable synchronization with a futuristic feel.

The curtain call added the final touch to an amazing show, with all of the dancers adding unique inflections to their bow, like a fifteen-second spontaneous routine. The final bows characterized the sentiment surrounding the whole show. While it was far from perfect, nobody took themselves too seriously, everyone had a great time and in the end it was a spectacular show. As the curtains drew to a close, I overheard a student in front of me whisper to his friend, “Now that’s how you tap.” True to its name, the show indeed succeeded in alluring us, enticing us and hooking us on tap.

20

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2013 | THE JUSTICE

CONCERT REVIEW

Titus screams the night away at Chum’s

JOSH HOROWITZ/the Justice

PUNK ROCKERS: The New Jersey quintet tore down Cholmondeley’s this weekend with its rambunctious anthems and intense stage presence.

By ZACHARY goulet justice contributing writer

Last Saturday night when many students went to the A-Trak concert in Levin Ballroom, approximately 150 students squeezed into Cholmondeley’s to hear indie-punk band Titus Andronicus. I expected the evening’s other concert to overshadow Titus’ performance, but as I walked in I saw a decent sized crowd eagerly awaiting the performance.

The opening band, Make it Up, a four-piece group that got its start while here at Brandeis, delivered a powerful kickoff. The singer, who also played rhythm guitar, had an excellent presence onstage, standing out among his bandmates in movement and energy. His vocal performance was not perfect, however, as his voice cracked often, especially

when singing wide intervals with explicit emotion. Although the microphone level wasn’t quite high enough to be fully appreciated over the instruments, his periodic screams made it clear that he was there to be heard. His guitar fed into an Orange Tiny Terror amplifier, which filled the room with the crunchy distortion produced by his single overdrive pedal. The lead guitarist was feeding through a Fender stack with an impressive array of effect pedals at the reach of his feet, from delay to reverb to a mind-warping flanger. The clean lead cut deftly through the overdrive rhythm guitar and produced a powerful and exciting harmony.

Make it Up’s sound combines elements of jam-bands such as Phish, which uses long, introspective ethereal instrumental tangents with classic rage-filled punk rock. Make it Up

switched back and forth between these styles several times throughout each song. During their last song, the singer jumped down into the audience and started head banging with the more enthusiastic of the audience members.

The audience grew after the opening act, and by the time Titus took the stage, Chum’s was packed. The Glen Rock, N.J. musicians plugged their Gibson guitars into the massive Fender stacks and removed their plaid flannel shirts as they stepped onto the stage. Even as they introduced themselves, the audience continued to murmur, paying little attention to the band. The chatter continued through the beginning of the first song, until a shout of “Fuck you!” from lead singer Patrick Stickles blared through the speakers, unleashing the band’s punk rock

energy and pulling the audience’s complete attention into their music.

The volume levels were better mixed for Titus, allowing Stickles’ melodic voice and periodic screams to be heard adequately over the instruments. The group wasted no time between songs, usually allowing the last note of the previous song to lead seamlessly into the next. They delivered a skilled performance and were able to interact well musically.

The band performed songs from each of its three albums, the majority of which were from the album Local Business, released in October of last year. These included “Ecce Homo,” “Still Life with Hot Deuce on Silver Platter,” “Food Fight!” “In a Big City” and “Upon Viewing Oregon’s Landscape with the Flood of Detritus.” The song titles, which frequently reference historic works of art

and show Baroque influences (heavy ornamentation and polyphonic harmony), distinguish them as cultured and thoughtful. Indeed, their lyrics contain themes of profound rumination coupled with the angst of traditional punk rock.

Every few minutes an ambitious crowd-surfer would rise on the hands of their peers and fall onto the dance floor soon after. They would always, however, be helped back up with a smile on their face, eager to rejoin the action.

Truly, this event was all about the intrinsic experience of the concert, a chance to appreciate the value of a live analogue musical performance as opposed to a DJ set. It seemed that most people there had never heard of the band and were content to simply dance and enjoy the awesome energy of the crowd.

Cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show came to Brandeis with a new twist—Disney! In last Saturday’s performance, the cult favorite received a cartoonish makeover. The show was performed by Boston-based company RKO Army, and proudly sponsored by Brandeis’ own Rocky Horror Official Production Ensemble.

AVIV GLICK/the Justice

AVIV GLICK/the Justice

THE JUSTICE | TUESDAY, january 29, 2013

21

PERFORMANCE

Year of the snake comes to the stage

FAN CLUB: The Lunar New Year performance featured a lineup of dance acts that showcased Chinese culture in a celebration of the holiday.

By emily wishingrad justice Staff writer

It is the Year of the Snake, a year in which starvation is not an option, or so the Chinese horoscope says. It also says we will all survive this winter and have a healthy year. In the midst of the chilling temperatures on Friday evening, Levin Ballroom came alive as Brandeis Chinese Cultural Connection presented a heart-warming and culturally enriching compilation of performances in honor of the Chinese Lunar New Year.

The Chinese culture takes its New Year festivities seriously and Brandeis’ BC3 did not disappoint.

Levin’s walls were strung with red ribbons, a lucky color traditionally highlighted in Chinese New Year festivities. The copious performances lasted for a lengthy two hours plus, but the audience remained attentive and enthusiastic until the very end.

One of the first performances was an all first-year dance, choreographed by Julie Yiu ’13 and Thai Le ’14, in which they were playfully introduced as a “special group of dancers who came all the way from Massell and North Quads.” The dance, entitled “Girl and Guy Dance from Brandeis” featured a juxtaposed girls’ dance and a guys’ dance. The girls’ dance incorporated chairs as props and bright shirts in a sexualized and upbeat performance.

The guys’ dance was equally sexualized. The crowd cheered and clapped loudly when the men stripped down to their tank tops.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Asian Dance Team performed a more traditional dance in

which the dancers, wrapped in bright green, one-sleeved gowns gracefully slithered snakelike onto the stage.

With a forest soundtrack in the background, the audience was transported into a wild yet peaceful natural landscape. As the program said, the dance depicted the growth of a bamboo forest in the spring rain. The MIT Asian Dance Team followed this piece with a modern dance with movements indicative of fire and danger. The dancers’ red and black costumes flashed before the audience with intensity.

In the second half of the show, students performed a “Singing Reality Competition: The Voice,” a take-off of the internationally popular reality show. Students acted out a skit featuring three different voice performances

by Chen Zhang ’15, Anni Long ’16, Zhihao Liu ’14 and Rayne Xie ’14 and critiqued by judges Jing Liao ’15, Jesse Jianran Zeng ’15, Moshi Shi ’15 and Yuan Duan ’15. The crowd went wild during the performances and cheered even louder during the judges’ comical commentary. The judges’ comments were in Mandarin, however, and many non-Mandarin speaking members of the audience looked confusedly at the performers and audience, trying to get a hint of the reason for the laughter.

Perhaps the most sentimental part of the event was the video dedicated to the graduating members of BC3. Tributes to Steven Wong ’13, Julie Yiu ’13 and Jiaying Zhang ‘13 were made by their friends and acquaintances during their years at Brandeis and it was clear how crucial and influential each person was to the Brandeis community. The crowd cheered loudly for every senior as they received flowers. The

excitement did not stop there, however; in the last clip of her tribute videos, Zhang’s boyfriend proposed to her.

Zhang stood on the stage, on speakerphone with her soon-to-be fiancé in order to accept his proposal. She did.

BC3’s Lunar New Year Show was a fun celebration of the Chinese New Year, saying goodbye to the year of the dragon and hello to the year of the snake. In China, the new year celebration is typically a festive event shared with family and friends.

BC3’s show allowed for students to come together and celebrate with one another while being away from home.

PHOTOS BY XIAOYU YANG/the Justice

CLASS COUPLE: Students stepped down the runway during a peppy fashion show.

FINAL STRETCH: Dance performances featured spunky modern choreography and costumes inspired by traditional dances.

THE JUSTICE | TUESDAY, January 29, 2013

23

MOVIE REVIEW

Tsunami film features poignant family bond

By jessie miller justice editor

The first few minutes of The Impossible were that of an overwhelming sense of doom. I knew exactly what was going to happen to the Bennett family—the devastating tsunami in Thailand in 2004 where they were vacationing for Christmas. I remember reading articles in People magazine about the natural disaster and now I saw on the big screen just how horrific the experiences of tsunami victims and survivors actually were.

The Impossible, by the renowned Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona (The Orphanage), is based on the true story of a Spanish family’s experience in Thailand.

The acting was impeccable—from every character—and the special effects were flawless. The raw emotion mixed with hard-hitting images created a dual visual and mental response to the film. I cannot imagine a better way of telling the tragic story from the perspective of a single family.

Naomi Watts, as Maria Bennett, was incredible, and this was definitely one of her best performances to date; she captured the resilience, yet vulnerability, that the injured family matriarch experienced while fighting for survival. Ewan McGregor, as her husband Henry, embodied an entirely different character than the Star Wars jedi I had previously seen. After the tsunami first hit the oceanfront resort the family is staying in, Henry is left with the two youngest boys, Thomas (Samuel Joslin) and Simon (Oaklee Pendergast), ages seven and five, respectively, still at the resort. He sends the boys off with a group of survivors headed to the mountains and stays behind to look for his wife, not knowing that she and their oldest son Lucas (Tom Holland) have already started their journey to safety after being washed away from the resort by the relentless waves.

The rest of the film chronicles their travels through Thailand, separated from one another, while Maria is fighting for her life after a gory chest and leg wound. She and Lucas travel together, encountering natives who help them; as Maria becomes weaker, we see Lucas emerge as more than a 12-year-old boy. He is strong, resilient and

takes care of his mother, becoming a man over the course of only a few days. It is an understatement that Holland is beyond amazing in this movie. Throughout much of the second half of the movie, he is the focal point, as he takes care of his mother, navigates the disaster-torn country and continues to hope the rest of his family has survived. As a young actor, it is clear that his rise to fame starts now, and he has won two awards for his performance in the movie—London Film Critics Circle Awards’ Young British Performer of the Year and National Board of Review USA’s Best Breakthrough Actor Performance.

However, The Impossible did receive some negative critiques, like that it inaccurately portrayed the tsunami from the perspective of a white, foreign family and ignored the plight of other people. But, the film is truly about a family and the ties that bond them together amidst an overwhelming crisis.

Personally, I like films that take a worldwide event and transform it into the experience of a single person or family; it creates a more personal, often more emotional connection for the viewer, especially when they didn’t have the same experience. The Impossible reminded me of other noteworthy films, like United 93 and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, both about Sept. 11, yet containing entirely different spectrums of the story.

Visually, The Impossible is stunning and the detail and dedication put into the production is evident.

Throughout the initial scenes of the tsunami’s impact, they used moments of pure black, with only the sounds of rushing waves which mimicked the helplessness of being caught in the water.

Though some of the wider shots of the tsunami’s destructive path were shot using miniatures, the scenes in which Watts tumbles like a rag doll through the debris-filled water are entirely real—she was actually submerged in a tank of water, take after take.

Walking away from the movie, I gained a greater understanding and visualization—though from a movie perspective—of what transpired in Thailand in 2004. The Impossible is a reminder of the tragedies that befall mankind and the need to maintain awareness of the lives of people around the world.

PHOTO COURTESY OF Summit Entertainment

LOVE AND DISASTER: The Bennett family overcomes great hardship.

CONCERT REVIEW

Diverse university ensemble reinvents classic tunes

By Adelina simpson justice Staff writer

Buffalo, the snowy steel town up near Lake Erie most known for its chicken wings, has one of the most vibrant arts communities of the Rust Belt cities. On Friday and Saturday nights in Slosberg Recital Hall, Brandeis featured its Genkin Philharmonic, a 10-piece electro-acoustic chamber ensemble.

The majority of its members teach in the music department of the University at Buffalo. There’s also a UB student among the players: Bill Louden, the keyboardist, who’s pursuing a degree in music composition. Its other members have distinctly Buffalonian connections, too. Tim Clarke, the trumpet player, arranges music for toys and commercials at Fisher-Price, whose headquarters are southeast of Buffalo. And Jonathan Lombardo has been the principal trombone player of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra since 2004; he’s a graduate of the Juilliard School along with Tom Kolor, the percussionist, who received his master’s there.

The ensemble originated as a credit-giving class at UB for members to practice contemporary technical arrangements of classic tunes from Radiohead, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa,

Igor Stravinsky, Claude Debussy and other musicians. Matthew Felski, on the drums, was a student member of the original Genkin, and a second, student-version of the group still exists on UB’s campus. The professional Genkin has toured places like Mt. Holyoke College and State University of New York at Fredonia College and has played for sold-out crowds in Mexico City at jazz festivals.

The program on Friday included a number of Frank Zappa songs, whose piece “Echidna’s Arf” was the first the band learned as a group. The Philharmonic gave renditions of his “Marqueson’s Chicken and Pygmy Twylyte,” on which guitarist and vocalist Tim Allen growled along into the microphone. The ensemble complemented Zappa’s “musique concrete” style, music that combines acoustic and electronic sounds.

They played some songs by Zappa’s forerunners, too, like classical composer Igor Stravinsky on pieces like “Double Canon” and “Inertia.” Bela Bartok’s Eastern European folktinged Mikrokosmos, a collection of songs, were paid homage, as well. Director Jon Nelson’s interpretation of Mikrokosmos transformed the piano piece into an electric guitar and drum affair fit for boogie nights.

Bartok, a 20th-century compos-

er, was known for being one of the founders of ethnomusicology and approached the study of music from an anthropological perspective. Steve Baczkowski, the ensemble’s saxophonist, began exploring this perspective while studying American Studies at UB, according to Buffalo Spree magazine. That explains the homemade didgeridoo he used, which is similar to a wooden trumpet. Most didgeridoos aren’t tune-able, but Bacskowski made his own didgeridoo from PVC pipes so he could tune it. He was a standout member: When he wasn’t crouching like a passionate chicken on the sax, he swung the didgeridoo, blowing into it, releasing sounds evocative to circling drones.

Lazara Nelson, the only woman of the group, stood out as well on the violin. Nelson is originally from Havana, where she was the solo violinist for the Havana-based Camerata Romeu, an all-women string orchestra. She met Jon Nelson, Genkin director, at a music festival, and they married. They stood side-by-side both nights playing the violin and trumpet respectively.

On Saturday, the Philharmonic played pieces written by Brandeis’ own Music Department students. The ensemble learned the students’ pieces and performed them Genkin-style, arguably better than “Gangnam Style.”

ABBY KNECHT/the Justice

INSTRUMENTAL INSPIRATION: Cuban native Lazara Nelson, who is married to fellow perfomer and trumpet player Jon Nelson, was featured playing the violin.

24

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2013 | THE JUSTICE

Brandeis TALKS

TOPof the

ARTS ON VIEW: SHADES

CHARTS

Quote of the week

Top 10s for the week ending January 28

“We are stuck in a region that we cannot fix and cannot leave.”

BOX OFFICE

—Dr. Aaron David Miller on Israel during his keynote address at this weekend’s bVIEW conference. (News, 3).

1. Mama 2. Zero Dark Thirty 3. Silver Linings Playbook 4. Gangster Squad 5. Broken City 6. A Haunted House 7. Django Unchained 8. Les Miserables 9. The Last Stand 10. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

What are you doing differently this semester?

NYT BESTSELLERS

ZACH HOGAN ’15 “I’ve been sick for the past month, so the change I want to make this semester is to make sure I don’t get sick again.”

JOSHUA LINTON/The Justice

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL: Justice photographer Joshua Linton ’14 took this photo at the subway stop for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The walls of the subway tunnel display beautiful shades of gray.

NEXT Issue’s PHOTO CONTEST THEME: “FUNNY FACES” Submit your creative photo to photos@thejustice.org to be featured in the Justice!

CROSSWORD ERIK HOWDEN ’16 “I’m a midyear, so compared to high school I want to be true to myself. Part of this is coming out and being comfortable expressing my full identity.”

MICHAEL SAPP ’13

“I want to set aside time for my blog to comment more on social experiences and my perspective on culture and current events.”

ADRIANNE WURZL ’14 “I am learning how to manage my time better and balance medical school applications, TA-ing a class, playing frisbee and orientation core committee.”

ACROSS 1 The grand concert one has 47 strings 5 Teen hangout 9 __ poll 14 French possessive 15 Chills and fever 16 “The Voice” judge Green 17 Holdup device?

18 Party person 19 Communications device 20 Question cads in their cups?

23 Response to “Are you serious?”

24 Gardner of old films 25 Wow 28 Burden beasts of burden?

32 Western landscape feature 36 Vessel designation 37 Weigh station visitors 38 New Testament book 39 Variable-yield investment option 42 Passed-down tales 43 CBS newswoman O’Donnell 45 Summer baby 46 Termini 47 Stumble over plumbing gunk?

51 Brahms’s A? 52 View from Marseille 53 To-do 58 Proper sort ... or a cry upon solving each of this puzzle’s theme answers?

62 Canceled a reservation, maybe 64 Waikiki’s whereabouts 65 Yankee great, familiarly, with “The” 66 Window box bloom 67 “Exodus” novelist 68 US Open stadium 69 Post with carvings 70 Passé demo item 71 Scholarship factor DOWN 1 “Satisfied now?”

2 “__ friend unbosoms freely ...”: Penn 3 Innkeeper’s offerings 4 Longstocking of kiddie lit 5 Hawaiian for “very strong” 6 All atwitter 7 Thick with vegetation 8 Super-harmful 9 Serious argument components 10 Colorful duck 11 North Pacific sockeye 12 Woodcutter Baba 13 Seek favor with 21 Feasts on 22 Garden outcast 26 Strange and then some 27 Pluralizers 29 Society honoree

iTUNES

1. Taylor Swift — “I Knew You Were Trouble” 2. The Lumineers — “Ho Hey” 3. Bruno Mars — “Locked Out Of Heaven” 4. Swedish House Mafia — “Don’t You Worry Child” 5. Maroon 5 — “Daylight”

BILLBOARD

1. A$AP Rocky — Long.Live.A$AP 2. Kidz Bop Kids — Kidz Bop 23 3. Soundtrack — Pitch Perfect 4. Taylor Swift — Red 5. Bruno Mars — Unorthodox Jukebox 6. Soundtrack — Les Miserables: Highlights From The Motion Pictures Soundtrack 7. The Lumineers — The Lumineers 8. Phillip Phillips — The World From The Side Off The Moon 9. Mumford and Sons — Babel 10. One Direction — Take Me Home

30 Waggish 31 Ubangi tributary 32 Minister’s quarters 33 Culprit in some food recalls 34 Severe 35 “Without delay!”

40 “The Matrix” hero 41 Spot for one in disfavor 44 Rebus puzzle staple 48 Outlaw Kelly 49 Shriek 50 Brillo alternative 54 “You’ve got to be kidding” 55 Grace 56 Nourishment for un bebé 57 Put in a request 59 Department of northern France 60 Lipinski with a gold medal 61 Beat 62 Well-put 63 Confucian path

Top of the Charts information provided

by Fandango, the New York Times, Billboard.com and Apple.com.

STAFF’S TOP TEN

“Cruisin’”

By JOSH HOROWITZ Justice editor

Solution to last issue’s crossword Crossword Copyright 2012 MCT Campus, Inc.

SUDOKU INSTRUCTIONS: Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each small 9-box square contains all of the numbers from one to nine.

VIKI BEDO ’15

“I have more free time now that bVIEW is over since I was part of organizing it, so I will be doing my readings.”

—Compiled by and photos

by Olivia Pobiel and Rachel Burkhoff/the Justice

Fiction 1. A Memory of Light — Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson 2. Gone Girl — Gillian Flynn 3. The Fifth Assassin — Brad Meltzer 4. Tenth of December — George Saunders 5. The Third Bullet — Stephen Hunter Nonfiction 1. My Beloved World — Sonia Sotomayor 2. Killing Kennedy — Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard 3. Going Clear — Lawrence Wright 4. No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama Bin Laden — Mark Owen with Kevin Maurer 5. Killing Lincoln — Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard

Solution to last issue’s sudoku

Sudoku Copyright 2012 MCT Campus, Inc.

This is the playlist that I throw on when I’m in the mood to just take a drive up Pacific Coast Highway with the windows rolled down without a care in the world.

THE LIST 1. “Gotta Have It”—Kanye West ft. Jay-Z 2. “The Way You Move”—OutKast and Sleepy Brown 3. “Fine By Me”—Andy Grammer 4. “Come Together”—The Beatles 5. “The Next Episode (ft. Snoop Dogg)”—Dr. Dre 6. “Thrift Shop (ft. Wanz)”— Macklemore & Ryan Lewis 7. “Top Back (Remix)”—T.I. ft.

Young Jeezy, Young Dro, Big Kuntry and B.G. 8. “Ride Wit Me”—Nelly Ft. City Spud 9. “Victory Lap”—Macklemore & Ryan Lewis 10. “Good Life”—Kanye West