The Justice- May 19, 2009

Page 1

TRACING THE ROSE

ARTS Studio Art theses displayed 28 SPORTS Softball loses in ECAC final 24

A timeline of key events from this semester 12

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BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY SINCE 1949

Justice www.theJusticeOnline.com

Volume LX, Number 29

Waltham, Mass.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

BUDGET

Board passes retirement fund plan

58TH COMMENCEMENT

Booker advocates responsibility ■ Mayor of Newark, N.J

Cory Booker told the graduating class to face challenges in life. By JILLIAN WAGNER JUSTICE EDITOR

Dr. Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, N.J., challenged members of the graduating class of 2009 to make a choice when he delivered the keynote address at Brandeis’ 58th commencement ceremony last Sunday, asking, “Do you resign yourself to what is, or do you commit yourself to being a part of what can be, what should be, what must be?” Booker spoke to the members of the graduating class of 2009, which consisted of 783 undergraduates, 84 Ph.D. students and 681 master’s degree recipients along with family members and friends who filled the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center to support and celebrate with their graduates. He offered gratitude to the audience for not behaving like his family on graduation day. Booker maintained a humorous tone throughout much of his speech. He began by describing the overbearing enthusiasm his

See GRADUATION, 5 ☛

■ The plan to suspend

contributions to faculty and staff retirement funds will save Brandeis $7.4 million. By HARRY SHIPPS JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSITANT

The University Board of Trustees unanimously approved a plan at its May 15 meeting to suspend University contributions to the retirement fund for faculty and staff for one year, effective when fiscal 2010 begins July 1, according to Faculty Budget Committee Chairman Prof. Peter Conrad (SOC). The plan will save the University almost $7.4 million, Conrad said. The projected budget deficit for fiscal 2010 will remain at $8.9 million, according to an e-mail from Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Peter French.

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY: In his address, Cory Booker encouraged the graduating class to be advocates of change. See TRUSTEES, 8 ☛

ROSE ART MUSEUM

Financial figures in the Rose interim report are incorrect, Rush says ■ Current museum director

Michael Rush specified that the indirect costs figure does not match old records. By ALANA ABRAMSON JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

The interim report released by the Committee on the Future of the Rose April 30 was met with criticism by Michael Rush, the current director of the Rose Art Museum, who questioned the accuracy of the financial figures presented in the report. The interim report is a compilation of the research the committee has gathered about the Rose, particularly regarding the museum’s budget as well as the legal concerns of selling art and operating as a public museum. Committee chair Prof. Jerry Samet (PHIL) wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that the report was

released with the intention of informing the Brandeis community about the committee’s process. “We wanted to let the Brandeis Community know what we were up to. More specifically, we were able to share some general information about the legal situation, make clear the the Rose itself was not in any sort of budget crisis, and outline the sorts of outreach and consultation,” he wrote. The committee, formed in March by the Faculty Senate Council and the provost, is composed of professors, students, alumnae and members of the Rose Board of Overseers. It is charged with devising options for the future of the Rose. The monetary figures about the Rose’s endowment and revenue from fiscal 2008 were included in the section of the report concerning budget information. One of the figures in the report states that the Rose’s indirect expenses—money allocated from the University’s budget for the museum—in fiscal

2008 were between $500,000 and $600,000. In a phone interview with the Justice, however, Rush said that those figures were inaccurate. Rush explained that when he assumed the position of director of the museum in 2005, the indirect costs were approximately $200,000. “There is no way that indirect costs have risen $400,000 in three

If there are significant errors ... we will correct them. PROF. JERRY SAMET (PHIL)

years. The money quoted in the report is not concordant with the records we have been operating with at the museum,” Rush said. Samet went on to explain, howev-

er, that the main idea behind releasing the figures was to show that the decisions regarding the Rose were a result of the University’s fiscal challenges, not the museum’s. When asked if the committee stands by the figures reported, he responded that the figures presented in the report did not misrepresent the information the committee had received about the Rose budget. “We received the figures in a presentation from one of the staff members in the budget office. That staff member reviewed the budget section of the interim report before it was released, and confirmed that it did not misrepresent the information we were given in the presentation,” he wrote. The interim report stated that Vice President for Budget and Planning Fran Drolette provided the committee with an overview of the budget. However, Samet acknowledged that the figures in the report were incomplete, explaining in an e-mail,

“We provided a summary—an accountant would provide a much more detailed report.” Rush said that he offered several times to appear before the committee and provide the correct figures but did not receive a response from the committee until May 14. When asked if Rush had previously offered to appear before the committee, Samet responded May 13 was the first the committee had learned of his offer but that Rush had previously mentioned to Samet that he would be able to clarify some of the budget inaccuracies. “If there is an error, we need to know that, because understanding the budget is critical for thinking about the future of the Rose,” Samet wrote. “I’ve invited Michael to communicate with us about this. If there are significant errors or inaccuracies we will correct them,” he added. The committee acknowledged in

See ROSE, 13 ☛

History of radicalism

Comeback story

Words of wisdom

■ In 1970, three Brandeis students were charged with murder and robbery.

■ Men’s basketball forward Steve DeLuca (GRAD) returned for a fifth season at Brandeis this year.

■ For inspiration at graduation, simply look towards our University’s namesake.

FEATURES 10 For tips or info call Let your voice be heard! Submit letters to the editor online (781) 736-6397 at www.thejusticeonline.com

INDEX

SPORTS 24 ARTS

25

EDITORIAL FEATURES

14 9

OPINION POLICE LOG

15 2

SPORTS LETTERS

FORUM 14 24 15

COPYRIGHT 2009 FREE AT BRANDEIS. Call for home delivery.


2

TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

THE JUSTICE

NEWS AP BRIEF

POLICE LOG

Massachusetts transit authority banning driver cell phones

Medical Emergency

BOSTON—Massachusetts transportation officials announced last Wednesday they were immediately banning nearly all mass-transit drivers in Boston from using or even carrying cell phones or other personal digital assistants after a text-messaging trolley driver caused a crash that injured nearly 50 people. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority train, streetcar and bus drivers caught using the devices can be suspended for 30 days after the first offense, with a recommendation for discharge. Having the devices at work carries a 10-day suspension for the first offense while a second offense carries a 30-day suspension with a recommendation for discharge. The policy does not immediately apply to commuter rail engineers, who are employed by a different agency. The two-strike policy for carrying a device is aimed at leniency toward operators who forget they are carrying a phone, officials said. “A moment’s convenience is not worth jeopardizing the safety of our passengers,” said Daniel Grabauskas, general manager of the MBTA. “I have considered the concerns expressed about the inconvenience that some operators may face because they will have to find alternatives to making a few phone calls on their break and have determined that those concerns do not outweigh customer and employee safety.” Transportation Secretary James Aloisi said the policy was the first of its kind for a major transit agency in the United States. “I predict what we do here in Massachusetts today will soon become a national model,” he said. MBTA operator Aiden Quinn, 24, told police he was texting his girlfriend before crashing his Green Line trolley into another train that had stopped the night of Friday, May 8 at an underground station at the edge of Boston Common. The collision sent nearly 50 people to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and caused an estimated $9 million in equipment damage. It also shut down for the weekend the portion of the Green Line that travels from Somerville northwest of the city, through downtown Boston and west to Boston College. The National Transportation Safety Board investigated the crash during the shutdown. The transit agency already had banned operators from using cell phones. It also recently ran an internal ad campaign featuring a poster of an open cell phone that warned employees not to drive “under the influence.” The MBTA stepped up enforcement of the ban following another Green Line crash in Newton last May that killed the trolley operator. Despite initial reports the driver was using a cell phone just before the crash, an investigation ultimately determined there was no evidence she was using her phone. Quinn’s attorney, Michelle Menken, said he is recovering from a shattered wrist and feels remorseful over the crash, but she has advised him not to talk with investigators while he is potentially facing criminal charges in the accident. The union representing subway operators said Tuesday it supports a cell phone ban but criticized the MBTA for not installing a more modern signal system, like those used by many other U.S. transit systems.

Apr. 30—A party in Ridgewood Quad with flu-like systems requested BEMCo for assistance. The party was transported to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital by ambulance. May 4—University Police and BEMCo responded to a report of a student in Massell Quad who had injured her back moving boxes. The student was transported to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital by ambulance. May 7—A party in Massell Quad reported that a female student was suffering from an anxiety attack and that the student was consuming alcohol. University Police and BEMCo responded. The student was transported to the NewtonWellesley Hospital by ambulance. May 8—A party in the Charles River Apartments reported that a person who had been smoking marijuana and consuming alco-

hol was suffering from an anxiety attack. Unviersity Police and BEMCo responded. The party was transported to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital by ambulance. May 8—A party in Lower Usdan reported a person having a possible seizure. University Police and BEMCo responded; the Waltham Fire Department was also present. The patient was transported to the NewtonWellesley Hospital by ambulance. May 8—University Police received a call requesting transport for psychological reasons. Residence Life assisted University Police in the transport of the student to the Police Station. The student was then transported to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital by ambulance.

having a picnic outside were making noise. Apr. 30—A party reported that individuals on Chapels Field were shooting at a target with a bow and arrow. University Police responded and report that a representative was present. No further action was taken.

Larceny Apr. 28—A faculty member reported that the lights had been stolen from his bicycle outside Sherman Hall. University Police compiled a report. May 7—A student reported that his backpack had been taken from the building manager office in the Shapiro Campus Center last Thursday. A report was compiled on the incident and CCTV footage will be reviewed.

The Justice welcomes submissions for errors that warrant correction or clarification. E-mail jsw5@brandeis.edu.

Apr. 30—A party in Massell Quad reported that individuals

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May 9—A party reported that one of the BranVan drivers struck a utility pole off campus. No one was injured. University Police compiled a report on the incident.

Miscellaneous

—Compiled by Harry Shipps

Apr. 28—The C of “Carl

AP BRIEF Bird, Spielberg honored at Boston U commencement BOSTON—Former Boston Celtics basketball star Larry Bird and film director Steven Spielberg were feted Sunday at Boston University with honorary degrees. Bird, who played for the Celtics for 13 seasons and was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame, is now president of basketball operations for the Indiana Pacers. Spielberg has made classic movies such as Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark. He recently directed Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano of Massachusetts delivered the commencement address at the school’s 136th graduation and received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. “You can get a job, climb the ladder of success, make money and build a very comfortable life for yourselves. But if that is all you do with your life, you will not feel fulfilled,” Capuano said. “You will always know you didn’t challenge your intellect to improve society. You didn’t use your voice to protest injustice. You will pass through this life without leaving much of wake behind you.” The university also is honoring Zhang Yimou, the Chinese filmmaker who produced the opening and closing ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics, with an honorary degree. He didn’t attend the commencement ceremonies and will receive his degree at another time, the university said. University President Robert Brown said last week that Zhang’s films “have offered worldwide audiences both a perspective on the people and culture of China ... and a window into universal aspects of human nature and yearning.” Zhang will start shooting a new movie in late May or June, his assistant told the Associated Press last month.

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

Senior kickoff Raquel Bubar ’09 pitches in a game of Senior Week Kickball Intramural Senior Week Kickball. Eighteen teams competed in the tournament. Jump Ship Gallagher won in the final round against Drunken Hippos.

NOTE TO READERS: The Justice is on hiatus for summer vacation. Our next issue will be published Aug. 25, 2009. Log onto our Web site at www.thejusticeonline.com.

AP BRIEF NH becomes sixth state to allow same-sex marriage

the

Traffic

Disturbance

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS A byline in News April 28 incorrectly identified the position of the author of the article. Harry Shipps is a Justice editorial assistant, not a Justice staff writer. (April 28, p. 3) An article in News April 28 incorrectly stated the last name of a Brandeis aluma. She is Katherine Power ’71, not Katherine Howard. (April 28, p. 3) A photo caption in Brandeis Talks Back April 28 misspelled the first name of a student. Her name is Liane Hypolite ’10, not Liana Hypolite. (April 28, p. 12). An article in Arts April 28 misstated the graduation year of a student. Lydia Flier is a member of the Class of 2011, not 2009. (April 28, p. 23) An article in Arts April 28 incorrectly abbreviated the name of an a cappella group. Jewish Fella A Cappella’s abbreviation is JFA, not JFAC. (April 28, p. 23) An article in Arts April 28 misstated the fun fact shared by an a cappella group. The Jewish Fella A Cappella group did not walk to a gig after the 10th Annual A Cappella Fest. (April 28, p. 23)

Shapiro” was removed from the Shapiro Campus Center. University Police compiled a report and will review CCTV footage. May 1—University Police compiled an information-only report about one student harassing another in the Castle. No further action was taken. May 2—University Police discovered three individuals behind the Shiffman Humanities Center. Police confiscated marijuana and other drug paraphernalia. Residence Life Staff was advised and University judicial charges will be sought.

CONCORD, N.H.—On March 26, New Hampshire’s House defeated a bill legalizing gay marriage by one vote but then reconsidered and passed it, to the surprise of many. Two months and many rounds of intensive lobbying later, New Hampshire has become the sixth state to let same-sex couples marry. Gov. John Lynch said last Thursday he will sign the bill provided that legislators add language to better protect churches and their employees against lawsuits if their beliefs preclude them from marrying gays. “I wouldn’t say it’s a done deal, but my gut tells me it has a better than 50-50 chance of making it to the governor’s desk,” said Kevin Smith, executive director of gay marriage opponent Cornerstone Policy Research. Smith didn’t expect it to pass. “The pre-

vailing wisdom was it would make it through the House but not the Senate,” he said. In fact, until the morning of the vote on April 29, it appeared the Senate would kill it. But the morning of the vote, the buzz in the chamber told a different story. Overnight, an amendment had been drafted that satisfied Reynolds and the 12 other Democrats needed to pass it. The bill squeaked out of the Senate but still needed House approval of the amendment. The day the House voted, Democratic leaders scrambled to fix errors in the already-passed bill. The measures create two marriage licenses, one civil and one religious. They allow churches to decide whether they will conduct religious marriages for same-sex couples. Civil marriages would be available to both heterosexual and same-sex couples. The day of the House vote, Maine’s governor signed gay marriage into law, though opponents are trying to derail it through a

public veto process. Earlier this spring, the Vermont Legislature overrode a gubernatorial veto to enact gay marriage in that state. Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa also allow gay marriage. Lynch said he would sign the bill if it was changed to more closely resemble Connecticut’s law, which he said contains better protections for churches, so a third bill must be amended. Opponents argue that fact alone shows the process isn’t working and the final piece should be rejected, which would prompt Lynch to veto the main bill. Smith argues Lynch’s amendment only protects religious institutions and not businesses or individuals whose faith would be compromised by providing services to gay couples. Smith acknowledges the chance is remote that a gay couple would contract with such a business, but maintains an exemption to the state’s antidiscrimination law should be enacted as a safeguard.


THE JUSTICE

TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

3

OBITUARY

Memorial service held to honor student who took his own life ■ The Brandeis University

community remembers the life of Igor Zhukovsky ’09. By NASHRAH RAHMAN JUSTICE EDITOR

Igor Zhukovsky ’09 took his own life at the age of 22 on May 7. A public safety officer discovered Zhukovsky during safety rounds in Charles River Lot, according to Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan. Zhukovsky, who was from Greenwich, Conn., is survived by his parents, Gennady and Yelena Zhukovsky. Zhuvoksy was an Economics major and a Business Studies minor. “[Zhukovsky] was really, really funny. His friends actually called him Master of One-Liners,” Yelena said. She recalled her son’s fondness for writing, describing how in the second grade, despite facing some language difficulties

after his family’s immigration to the United States from Kiev, Ukraine, Zhukovsky succeeded in writing a 17-page autobiography for a school assignment. Zhukovsky was also interested in Zhukovsky music, movies and traveling, according to Yelena. A memorial service for Zhukovsky led by University Jewish Chaplain Rabbi Elyse Winick May 12 in Rapaporte Treasure Hall was attended by over 50 students, faculty and administrators. Winick encouraged the attendees to reach out to one another in their grief and share their memories of Zhukovsky. Several of Zhukovsky’s friends and professors, as well as Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer, spoke.

“[Zhukovsky] was one of the first people who I met at Brandeis, and he made me feel so welcome,” recalled Liz Pascale ’09 at the memorial. Amy Klesert ’09 remembered at the service that “[Zhukovsky] had the sort of personality where he would drop anything that he was doing so that you could talk to him.” Prof. Mark Auslander (ANTH), who also spoke at the memorial, later told the Justice that Zhukovsky had taken his class “Museum and Public Memory” in spring 2009. Auslander elaborated that during the class, which focused on presenting museums using new technology, Zhukovsky helped students conceptualize an exhibition project on the Rose Art Museum. The exhibition, which was displayed in the Shapiro Art Gallery during the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts, illustrated how the museum has been historically affected by the economy in terms of the Dow Jones industrial index. Auslander remarked,

“In Igor’s typical way, he found an imaginative way to tell a story in a way that was humorous and unexpected, shocking his audience into a new level of awareness.” In light of his contribution to the student exhibition project, Zhukovsky was also remembered at a symposium held at the Rose Art Museum May 11 in honor of current museum director Michael Rush and museum staff. Since 2005, Zhukovsky had been working with his high school friends Ernie Zahn and Tom Stroll on a film titled Niente: The Movie, which explores what it means to be human. “All three of us had been working on the film for so long that our motivator was to just get it done, now Tom and I want to do it for [Zhukovsky],” wrote Zahn in an e-mail to the Justice. Zahn said that they will preserve Zhukovsky’s contributions to the movie. On May 10, Zahn, Stroll and the cast of the movie signed a collage of pictures

Most of CARS final report endorsed by the provost ■ The University is working

on a retirement plan to encourage faculty reduction. By MIRANDA NEUBAUER JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

TAKING THE OATH: Former Student Union President Jason Gray ’10 swears in incoming Union President Andy Hogan ’11.

New Student Union members are sworn in President Andy Hogan nominated senators for Executive Board positions. By HARRY SHIPPS JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

The new Student Union administration, including incoming Union President Andy Hogan ’11 and Vice President Amanda Hecker ’10, was sworn in and students were nominated for Executive Board positions at Union meetings held April 29 and May 3. Hogan told the Justice that he believed “next year was going to be a defining year at Brandeis,” referring to the expected changes such as those proposed by the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee. As Union president, Hogan said that he plans to become more involved in the decisions affecting the University. Hogan added that his greatest challenge would be connecting the Student Union with the student body by creating more opportunities for the student body to become involved at the Union. Hogan added that he also wants to legitimize the Student Union by increasing student support and involvement. He also said that he would build upon much of the efforts by outgoing President Jason Gray ’10 toward creating connections between the Student Union and University administration. Hecker said in an interview with the Justice that she decided to run for vice president because she wanted to find a way for the Student Union to better represent the student body. She said that her major initiative as vice president will be to create a blog to serve as a medium between students and the Student Union, a measure that she says will lead to better com-

munication and more transparency. After being sworn in by outgoing Union President Jason Gray ’10, Hogan swore in Daniel Acheampong ’11 as Union Treasurer. Hogan swore in Sara Enan ’11 as assistant treasurer. Jenna Rubin ’11 was elected executive senator, defeating fellow nominees Nipun Marwaha ’12 and Asa Bhuiyan ’11. Hogan also swore in incoming senators. Rami Abdelghafar ’10 and Bhuiyan were sworn in as senatorsat-large. Hogan swore in Michael Weil as senator for the Class of 2010. Michael Newborn and Rubin were sworn in as senators for the Class of 2011. Marwaha and Mark Zager were sworn in as Senators for the Class of 2012. Hogan swore in Secretary Diana Aronin ’11 and incoming members of the Finance Board, Akash Vadalia ’12, Julia Cohen ’10, Makensley Lordeus ’11, Gabriel C. Weingrod Nemzow ’12 and Lisa Qi ’11. Hogan swore in members of the Union Judiciary Matt Kriegsman ’11, Judah Marans ’11, Neda Eid ’11, Justin Pierre-Louis ’10 and Leeyat Slyper ’12. Nicole Cordero ’11 and Heddy BenAtar ’11 were sworn in as the junior representative to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and junior representative to the Board of Trustees, respectively. Samuel Fuchs ’11 was sworn in as the junior representative to the Alumni Association. As incoming president, Hogan was charged with nominating students to certain positions on the Executive Board, and the Senate discussed each nominee’s confirmation. Lev Hirschhorn, former senator for the Class of 2011, was nominated to replace Laura Cohen ’09 as director of student rights and advocacy. He was approved by a unanimous vote and sworn in. Supreetha Gubbala, former senator for the Class of 2012, was unanimously confirmed as director of academic affairs, and Hogan swore in Sophia Bronshvayg ’11 as the director

—Hannah Kirsch contributed reporting.

ACADEMICS

TRANSFER OF POWER

■ Incoming Student Union

of Zhukovsky along with a mission statement saying, “[Zhukovsky’s] spirit may no longer be in the vessel shards of his body and we may not have his last will and testament but with your help we can make this movie the new vessel for Igor’s voice to speak once more.” Ethan Goldstein ’10, who considers himself a good friend of Zhukovsky, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice, “[Zhukovsky] was loved and highly valued by all his friends.” Yelena said that Zhukovsky was planning to find a job in either finance or marketing after graduating from Brandeis. She added that he was considering an Master of Business Adminstration. “There were a lot of plans,” she said. “[Zhukovsky] mentioned numerous amounts of times, a hundred times, that [Brandeis] was the best four years in his life,” Yelena added.

of executive affairs. Danielle Wolfson ’11 and Julia Rabkin ’11 were nominated to be members of the Executive Task Force; both were confirmed by unanimous votes. A decision was made to table the confirmation of two Executive Board appointees, Jenna Brofsky ’10 and Sydney Reuben ’10, who were absent from the meeting. Brofsky and Reuben are the nominees for director of community advocacy and director of communications, respectively. According to an attendance bylaw that states that any senator who accumulates two unexcused absences will be subject to a resolution calling for censure, Senator for the Class of 2011 Alex Melman and Senator-atLarge Noam Schuster ’11 were faced with automatic censure resolutions. The Senate voted in favor of the censures. At the May 3 meeting, the Senate concluded business left over from the special session on April 29 and nominated and confirmed chairpersons for five of the six Senate committees. Abdelghafar was appointed chair of the Club Support Committee, and Philips Loh ’11 will chair the Diversity Committee. Zager and Marwaha will chair the Ways and Means Committee and the Social Justice Committee, respectively. Bhuiyan will chair the Outreach Committee. The Services Committee was left without a chair until the beginning of next year because no candidates ran for the position. The Senate also considered a bylaw amendment submitted by Rubin, which proposed that Article X, Section 4, Clause 3 of the Union bylaws be amended to say, “No potential candidate running for elected office shall promise appointed positions to individuals in exchange for political gain.” The Senate voted down the amendment. The club also recognized OneVoice, a club that is focused on achieving a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Provost Marty Krauss decided May 7 to support most of the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee’s final recommendations, concluding that the University should maintain African and Afro-American Studies, Classical Studies and American Studies as departments while increasing interdepartmental collaboration among all academic programs. The proposed recommendations will serve as a new basis for the Brandeis curriculum as the University seeks to decrease its faculty by 10 percent, primarily through departures or retirements if possible, over five years in order to save $5 million from the School of Arts and Sciences faculty budget. According to Krauss, the University is developing a voluntary retirement plan that would contribute to the reduction of faculty. The CARS committee originally recommended in its initial report released to the Brandeis community April 20 that those three departments be turned into interdepartmental programs so that faculty from other departments could make up for faculty reductions. Many students protested, and faculty members voiced their objections to the proposals at the April 23 faculty meeting in conjunction with a faculty resolution. “The logic of reorganizing those departments as programs was that it would make it easier to share the faculty resources across other departments in those programs,” Dean of Arts and Sciences and chair of the CARS committee Adam Jaffe said. “The new approach is that everybody is going to be doing that, so in theory, [maintaining the departments] shouldn’t matter,” he added. On May 4, the CARS committee also published a supplemental report in response to feedback from the community that recommended maintaining AAAS and Classics as departments and provided three options for the future of AMST. The report suggested that AMST should either become an interdisciplinary program starting next year, reorganize into an interdepartmental program over five years or remain as a department but increase collaboration with other departments. The report also suggested that all majors should have affiliated faculty from outside the department offering the major, Jaffe said. According to the report, affiliated faculty would commit to teaching in a major at a minimum frequency and would vote on curricular issues but not on tenure cases. The supplemental report also recommends that all majors create curriculum committees to figure out “what courses should actually be offered in any given year over a threeyear cycle,” Jaffe said, to ensure that necessary courses are still offered after

faculty reductions. Jaffe said departments currently make these decisions individually to update their three-year curriculum plans each December. In fall 2009 he would “ask each curriculum committee in addition to their actual … plan to construct a hypothetical plan [with fewer faculty and more affiliations] that will be a process for stress-testing the faculty numbers” to determine if the new target sizes are viable. A new committee, the Dean’s Curriculum Committee, will oversee this process, he said. Krauss described the details of a voluntary retirement plan. “We’re hoping that some faculty will think carefully about whether or not they feel now might be an appropriate time to enter into a retirement agreement because they recognize that the University needs to implement this plan,” she said. In a May 4 e-mail to faculty that Krauss forwarded to the Justice, Krauss offered two options for voluntary retirement plans for faculty. Part of the plan could involve professors retaining tenure while teaching less than full time and still retaining their benefits and receiving a proportional salary, an option Profs. Silvia Arrom (HIST) and Rudolph Binion (HIST) have already taken. Binion said he had been feeling “worn out” working fulltime and chose to work half-time. “It’s exactly what I wanted. … [I have] time to catch up on other work,” Binion said. Another option would be a fixedduration transition agreement under which faculty would reduce their workload substantially before agreeing to retire at a specified date within five years. Their salaries would be reduced less than their reductions in workload would. Krauss called the deliberations on the CARS report “an amazing process ... that really sought community input. ... I think we did more in four months than most other universities would have done in decades,” she said. Due to the widespread faculty reduction, “there’s a certain degree of demoralization that everybody was feeling,” she said. “We’re sorry that we had to fight with the tenacity that we fought with to defend our department,” Prof. Stephen Whitfield, chair of the American Studies department, said. He acknowledged that attrition would be necessary given the financial situation. Prof. Wellington Nyangoni (AAAS) supported the final decision. However, he thought the process was flawed because it did not allow the departments to come up with ideas for improvement. “I understood the first proposal, where they were coming from,” AAAS UDR Daevid Devallon ’09 said, but “I felt that the [department’s] legacy would be compromised or even lost” if it had become an interdepartmental program. Krauss said she is unsure if the measures will be enough to address the deficit because of uncertainties about the economy and the retirement plan.


4

TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

THE JUSTICE

COMMENCEMENT 2009 ACADEMICS

Bergman addresses honors inductees ■ Noted psychiatrist

Stephen Bergman gave the Phi Beta Kappa address on human connection. By HARRY SHIPPS JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Dr. Stephen Bergman, a prominent psychiatrist and novelist, delivered the Phi Beta Kappa address to 2009 inductees, their families and friends and members of the public, focusing his speech on retaining compassion while practicing in the medical field at Spingold Theater last Saturday Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe began the ceremony by offering a brief welcome to the audience. Prof. Angela Gutchess (PSYC) called out the names of the 87 inductees and presented them with a certificate and honor cord signifying their entrance. Associate Dean of the International Business School Prof. Trenery Dolbear (IBS) gave a short history of Phi Beta Kappa, tracing its roots from a fraternity at William and Mary founded in September 1776 to the prestigious honor society it has become today. According to a May 9 press release about the speaker, the Phi Beta Kappa address has become a traditional part of the induction of new members; former speakers at Brandeis include Justice Stephen Breyer and former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger. According to the press release, Bergman is “easily the finest and most important writer ever to focus on the lives of doctors and the world of medicine.” He has written several books including The House of God in 1978. Bergman titled his speech “How to Stay Human” and spoke about how personal experience and his writing taught him to retain his humanity and compassion while practicing in the medical profession. He identified for the inductees before him four of the most important things he had learned: that people need to connect to one another, to speak up when

they see something that is wrong, to learn and practice empathy not out of a textbook but through living and to “learn your trade in the world,” adapting to changing times and methods. He described his discovery process as one consisting of a series of “waita-second” moments that require one to stop and think about any particular incident. Later in an interview with the Justice, Bergman described one such moment in particular, telling the story of a women who had been brought in to Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, where he was an intern. The woman had been in a coma for years and had demanded before losing consciousness not to be left alive should she fall into a coma. The doctors, however, continued to treat the pneumonia she had to the best of their abilities, eventually sending her back to a nursing home still unconscious. Bergman said, “What kind of victory is that?” questioning what the doctors had succeeded in achieving for the woman. As he talked about his process of discovery and hardship, Bergman emphasized the importance of remaining connected to others in life, saying in his speech, “All of us in this room have experienced and will experience suffering. There is no way around it; the question is how we go through it. If you try to gut it out and go through it yourself, you are headed for trouble.” President of the Brandeis Mu Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa Prof. Andreas Teuber (PHIL), who introduced Bergman, told the Justice that Bergman came to mind as a possible speaker because “he straddles two fields; he is a writer, and he is in medicine, and he has a humane approach to medicine.” After the speech, Gregory Antill ’09, who was initiated into Phi Beta Kappa and plans on going to medical school, said that Bergman’s speech painted a picture of interning at a hospital as being “certainly daunting but encouraging that you get to heal people.”

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

FAREWELL, CLASS OF 2009 The graduating class of 2009 consisted of 783 undergraduates, 84 Ph.D. students and 681 master’s degree recipients. University President Reinharz addressed the graduates at the commencement ceremony held in Gosman Sports and Convocation Center last Sunday.

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

COMMENCEMENT

Kendler discusses familial ties at Brandeis ■ Ron Kendler ’09 spoke

said his understanding of family changed at Brandeis.

Student speaker Ron Kendler ’09 “Think of one person who belongs to this school in some way, shape or form—he or she can be a teacher, staff, student, graduating or still enrolled—with whom you have grown close. With whom you feel comfortable. I’m confident that there are far more than just one.”

By NASHRAH RAHMAN JUSTICE EDITOR

Senior commencement speaker Ron Kendler ’09, who was selected from among five finalists to deliver the student speech, emphasized Brandeis University’s communal culture in his address to the graduating class of 2009. “What is Brandeis?” Kendler asked in his speech. Reflecting upon his late mother’s understanding of Brandeis, Kendler summarized that the University culture is rooted in “a genuine community that cares about and supports one another, is found within ourselves.” He explained that Brandeis’ inclusive environment stems from its founding mission, which advocates that quality education is gained from dialogue and the sharing of ideas. Kendler says he did not fully acknowledge the University’s hospitable atmosphere until his sophomore year, when his mother passed away after battling cancer. He recalled that during his grieving, he was surrounded not just by relatives and friends but also by Brandeis classmates and professors. “You can’t get that everywhere,” Kendler said. In an interview with the Justice, Kendler said that one of the reasons that he wanted to deliver the student commencement speech was because he believed other students can relate to his experiences and thoughts about Brandeis. In his speech, Kendler told the

Excerpts from the commencement speeches

“What is Brandeis? Brandeis is family.”

Board of Trustees Chair Malcolm Sherman

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

THE BRANDEIS FAMILY: Ron Kendler ‘09 discussed Brandeis communal culture. graduating students to look beyond “the textbook answer, with key words such as liberal arts, research, non-sectarian, social justice,” and instead reflect upon their own experiences with classmates, faculty and staff who have always been a close-knit and supportive community. “The individuals who teach, research and work at Brandeis have gone beyond their basic duties to form meaningful relationships with us,” he said. Kendler asked the graduating class to continue to welcome new ideas in order to spread the values and spirit of the University. “Just because we’re saying goodbye to our Brandeis family doesn’t mean that we should not continue to emphasize the values with which it has imbued us,” he said. Reflecting upon his years at Bran-

deis, Kendler told the Justice that he believes that he has changed. “I would like to think that I have changed for the better just because of [my] more refined outlook on life, more patience, more understanding, maybe because I feel more humble,” he said. “It is our duty to ensure that the next phase of our journey, the lessons and experiences that we have been so privileged to see here, will matter every day, not just our day; that they will matter to everyone, not just us,” Kendler said in his address. “What [Kendler] said about Brandeis being a community, spot-on, dead-on, I completely agree,” said Sridatta Mukherjee ’09. —Sarah Bayer contributed reporting.

“In time of financial crisis and disquieting change, it is important that we remember the enduring purpose of Brandeis University: It is a community of distinguished scholars, talented students and dedicated staff defined by its skills and not by its financial resources. We have to keep the purpose foremost in our minds as we change our ways for a changing time.”

“You may have a major choice ahead. You can either be a tacit victim of circumstances or an active hero of your own life.”

“You will inevitably make mistakes. Learn and move on, and at the end, you will be judged by what you do—not by what you didn’t.”

Commencement speaker Dr. Cory Booker “You must love, and if you love with that spirit, if you love with that courage, if you love with all your being in every moment of your life where life gives you that opportunity, then you in your generation will bring hope to the despair, you’ll bring light to darkness, you’ll bring faith to the doubt. You will bring this nation forward and the people of this great planet so much closer to the promised land.”


THE JUSTICE

TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

5

COMMENCEMENT 2009

GRADUATION: Booker urges graduates to engage in change CONTINUED FROM 1 graduation ceremonies, including their loud screaming and cheering and their counterfeit ticket scandal at Stanford University that “still brings shame to [his] family.” However, Booker explained that his family gave him valuable advice after his graduations that led him to the insight that one decide in life whether to “accept the conditions as they exist or to accept the responsibility for changing them.” “There are no trivial moments,” Booker told the graduates. To exemplify this, he described a plane ride during which he sat next to a woman with a baby and a toddler, whose screaming pierced his ears as soon as they boarded the plane. Booker reflected that he made the choice to make the best of the flight, deciding to help the mother by entertaining the toddler. When the plane landed in San Francisco, the woman expressed her appreciation for Booker’s kindness, and the two exchanged letters for a month before they lost contact. Fifteen years later, Booker received a letter from the woman saying his “kindness still stays with [her] today.” She wrote that the young man he had entertained on the plane wanted to volunteer on Booker’s mayoral campaign and that her family would like to contribute to Booker’s campaign. “This world we live in is a balanced place,” he said. “If you are one of those people who expresses change with your lips and does not embody it with your being, you are simply blowing hot air into a world that definitely, in these economic climactic times, doesn’t need it,” Booker said. He quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to further demonstrate this message saying, “‘Change does not blow in on the wheels of inevitability.’ It must be carried in on the backs of soldiers of justice, of truth, of love.” “You live in the world’s oldest constitutional democracy, and democracy is not a spectator sport. ... This democracy is a full-contact, participatory engagement. You must get into the arena,” Booker said. Booker exemplified “getting in the arena,” by sharing the story of his 10day hunger strike to encourage local authorities to address rising crime rates. He explained that hundreds of

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

ENTER THE ARENA: Commencement speaker Cory Booker encouraged the graduating class to take an active role in the world. people eventually joined his efforts; community leaders, representatives from hospitals that performed health screenings for children and seniors and business people that reached out to support the larger community all took part in his initiative. A business owner in New York who had seen Booker on television even sent 500 pizzas, which “really ticked me off since I was on a hunger strike,” he said. On the 10th day of the strike, then mayor Sharpe James, whom Booker had described as his adversary, came to speak to Booker. “It was almost like an arena for boxing; he and I met in the middle,” Booker said. The moment Booker recalled in his speech was not the confrontation but the final prayer of the strike. “At this point, it wasn’t just a handful of residents and me and my staff praying. There were literally well over 100 people there praying. … When I joined hands with them, feeling naked and raw from 10 days without eating, I’m telling you it was a point in my life that I felt so strong, the

strongest I had ever felt,” he said. “We now benefit from people who got into the arena of life,” Booker told the graduates. “You now must choose: Will you be loyal to that legacy that you have inherited, or will you betray it?” “Don’t sit out. Don’t take a pass,” Booker said. “Call out the ignorance and the bigotry and the hatred. Point out the injustices. Embrace your fellow human being; show them who you are, not by what you say but by your very being. This is your challenge.” University President Jehuda Reinharz encouraged students to always take action in his address. “Whatever your job in the future, be involved in some part of your organization and community. Don’t sit on the sidelines waiting for others to make decisions for you,” Reinharz said. After discussing the difficult economic challenges the University has encountered this year, Reinharz advised students to always set money aside, “not just so that you can contribute to Brandeis but so that you can

take care of yourself and your family no matter what crises arise—and arise they will.” “This has been a year of crisis,” Reinharz said. “What impressed me about your last year here at Brandeis is how you, the student body, responded.” He described how students has participated in universitywide committees. “Many of you demonstrated analytic, quantitative and reasoning skills in addition to excellent interpersonal abilities and data gathering sophistication. I’m really proud of you,” he said. Reinharz quoted Sigmund Freud, who said, “In order to have a good life, one needs meaningful work and love.” Reinharz continued, “My deepest hope for you is that you will find meaningful work and save money. I also hope that you will find love, maybe at work. But I believe … that there is a third factor that will fulfill you, and … that is community involvement. I trust that your Brandeis experience will help you achieve all three.” Reinharz presented six recipients

with Doctors of Humane Letters at the ceremony. The honorary recipients included Booker, who is also a Rhodes scholar. Also receiving Doctors of Human Letters were James Conlon, founder of the Recovered Voices project that restores music of composers affected by the Holocaust; Israel Gutman, a Holocaust survivor and one of the world’s leading authorities on the Holocaust; Marilyn Bernice Horne, an American opera icon; Rajendra Kuman Pauchauri, Nobel Peace Prize laureate; and entrepreneur and industrialist Stef Wertheimer. Bill T. Jones, a professional dance choreographer, was not present to receive his degree due to illness. In an interview with the Justice, Booker, who said there are numerous people from the Brandeis community in his administration, said, “[Brandeis is] a rare school, unfortunately too rare, because I think that it’s really infused with the spirit of this institution not just to go and achieve great things but to make great contributions, and that’s what I think makes this place so special.” When asked about Booker’s speech, Henok Amente M.B.A ’09 said, “I [was] completely blown away. He’s a natural. I would say that I [feel] very empowered.” “I thought it was amazing,” Michael Raybman ’09 said. “I thought it was inspirational. It was right to the point; it was relevant. I thought it was really good. He’s a charismatic speaker,” he said. “I was really inspired, and it’s a great motivation for our future careers,” Jessica Blumberg ’09 said. “I think it’s inspiring that he’s so young and he’s done so much.” At the end of his speech, Booker summarized his message by telling the Class of 2009 to love. “Love because people love you, fought for you, struggled for you, endured for you. … Love because this world is desperately in need of your love. Love because it is the only force, if applied consistently and persistently and even recklessly, that can bring about social justice.” —Hannah Kirsch, Shana D. Lebowitz and Miranda Neubauer contributed reporting.

Recipients of the honorary degrees at this year’s ceremony

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

Rajendra Kuman Pauchauri Rajendra Kuman Pauchauri, who serves as director of The Energy and Resources Institute, a New Delhi-based organization that advocates environmental sustainability, was awarded the Doctor of Humane Letters. He has chaired the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and has served on the Indian Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, Advisory Board on Energy and Council on Climate Change. He has been awarded India’s Padma Bhushan for his environmental service and in 2007 accepted the Nobel Peace Prize for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

Stef Wertheimer Stef Wertheimer, an entrepreneur, industrialist and former member of the Knesset, was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters. Wertheimer is the founder of the ISCAR Metalworking Company, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of carbide cutting tools, as well as several industrial parks in Israel and Turkey. Wertheimer subscribes to the idea of a “Marshall Plan for the Middle East,” using industry to alleviate poverty and raise income of those living in the region. Wertheimer was awarded Israel’s highest honor, Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement and Exceptional Contribution to the Nation, in 1991.

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

Marilyn Bernice Horne

James Joseph Conlon

Marilyn Bernice Horne, one of the greatest opera singers in American history, received a Doctor of Humane Letters. Horne made her debut at the age of 20 in Bedrich Smetana’s The Bartered Bride. Horn played her breakthrough role in 1960 as Marie in Alban Berg’s Wozzeck. She has since performed at Covent Garden, La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera, some of the world’s foremost opera houses. She is currently the director of the voice program at the Music Academy of the West in California. Horne is also the founder of the Marilyn Horne Foundation, which supports young singers.

James Joseph Conlon, the music director of the Los Angeles Opera, was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters. As written in the commencement program, “Conlon has appeared with virtually every major North American and European opera company and orchestra.” He is the force behind the Recovered Voices project, which restores the work of composers affected by the Holocaust. He served as principal conductor of the Paris National Opera from 1995 until 2004. Conlon has also received Italy’s Premio Galileo award for his “contributions to art, music and peace”according to the program.

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

Israel Gutman Israel Gutman, a Holocaust survivor and one of the world’s foremost authorities on the Holocaust, was presented with a Doctor of Humane Letters. Gutman survived the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the concentration camps of Majdanek, Auschwitz, and Mauthausen. Gutman currently serves as academic adviser to the International Institute for Holocaust Research and Deputy Chairman of the International Auschwitz Council. Gutman is the author of several books, including The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. He is the recipient of the Salonika Prize for Literature and the Polish Unification Prize, among other awards.


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THE JUSTICE

TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

7

CONSTRUCTION

University sued for plan to raze Kalman building ■ The injunction claims that

the University’s plan violates the will of Julius Kalman. By MIRANDA NEUBAUER JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER

The great-nephew of a donor whose bequest funded the Kalman Science Building filed an injunction in Suffolk Probate Court May 7 to prevent Brandeis from tearing down the building due to disrepair, saying that such a move would violate his great-uncle’s will. According to the will quoted in a copy of the injunction provided to the Justice by Sumner Kalman, the greatnephew of Julius Kalman, Julius made a bequest of approximately $1.8 million to Brandeis “to be used by the trustees of said University for the purpose of erecting a building, buildings or a portion of a building, to be known as the ‘Julius Kalman Memorial’” in 1956. The

injunction goes on to state that “the testamentary intent of Julius Kalman, as with most donors to Brandeis, was that his gift to the school would carry on in perpetuity.” If the building were destroyed, according to the injunction, “there no longer will be a ‘building, buildings, or portion of a building’ named after Julius Kalman, as is required in his Last Will and Testament.” The Kalman building is scheduled to be razed by this winter as part of Phase 1 of the Science Complex Renewal Project, which also includes the completion of the Carl J. Shapiro Science Center, according to the Web site of the Office of Capital Projects. In a May 2007 memo to the Brandeis community, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Peter French wrote that Phase 2 “will involve the creation of a new building more or less on the footprint of Kalman.” According to a PowerPoint presentation from a 2006 community forum on the project, Phases 1 and 2 were scheduled to be completed by late 2010 or

early 2011. Vice President of Capital Projects Dan Feldman told the Justice this February that Phase 2 had been indefinitely postponed. “It’s one thing to say that the building has got to be torn down because they need the space for a new building, [but it’s] a little different when they don’t have any money to build a new building, but they’re going to tear down the [Kalman] building anyway,” Kalman said. “Brandeis’ position was that they weren’t going to really recognize my uncle in the way we felt the testamentary intent was reflected in the will; ... that’s what brought us to court.” University General Council Judith Sizer wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that the “Kalman Science Center is one of the oldest, most heavily used buildings on campus, and needs to be replaced.” Sizer also wrote that “the Kalman family was assured, over a year ago, that the University has every intention of continuing its memorial to Julius Kalman, a generous early donor to Brandeis.” Sizer wrote that the Uni-

versity received notice of the lawsuit May 11, 2009 and intends to work with the family to resolve the matter. The motion for the injunction states that Brandeis gave its assurance of a future commemoration “without providing specifics.” Kalman said he began raising concerns about the building last year by getting in touch with Brandeis and the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office when he heard about the plans on the Internet. According to the complaint, Kalman received a response letter from Reinharz about the matter. Emily La Grassa, director of communications for the Massachusetts attorney general’s office, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that after receiving a complaint in May 2008, “after carefully reviewing the will of Julius Kalman, we determined that nothing contained in the will imposed on Brandeis an obligation to maintain a building, or a portion thereof, in the name of Julius Kalman beyond the building’s useful life.” She wrote, “Moreover, the Uni-

versity has pledged that when and if it elects to demolish and replace the building, it will commemorate, with a plaque and a ceremony in his honor, Kalman’s contribution.” She wrote that the attorney general’s office saw no reason to take any action. Kalman said that discussions about the case were underway but he could not comment on specifics as the case was ongoing. When asked how the University should respond to concerns that the building is technologically outdated, he said, “They’ve got to talk to the Kalman family, just like they’re talking to the Rose family.” He said he was not pleased with the University’s reaction so far. Kalman told the Justice last Friday that he was awaiting the scheduling of a hearing on the motion for the preliminary injunction. “If we’re successful in the probate court, then that’s as far as we need to go,” he said. “Now how [the intent is] honored, whether it’s by this building or some proposal that satisfies the terms of his will, that is a question.”

CONTROVERSIAL SPEAKER COMES TO CAMPUS

Ayers encourages active citizenship Neighboring community

protests Ayers’ campus visit

■ Professor Bill Ayers

discussed the criteria for activism April 30.

■ The April 30 visit sparked

concern among Waltham residents and Brandeis and Boston-area students.

By NASHRAH RAHMAN JUSTICE EDITOR

Bill Ayers, co-founder of the radical protest group the Weather Underground and a professor in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, spoke about what it means to be an active citizen to an audience that mostly consisted of students in Carl J. Shapiro Theater April 30. The event was sponsored by Democracy for America, Students for a Democratic Society, the Brenda Meehan Social Justice in Action Grant and four academic departments: Peace, Conflict and Coexistence Studies; Education; History; and Social Justice and Social Policy. A question-and-answer session followed Ayers’ speech. In the 1960s, Ayers was a radical antiwar activist whose protest group was blamed for several bombings at the Capitol and the Pentagon. The Weather Underground was also suspected of involvement in the shooting of Boston police officer Walter A. Schroeder during a bank robbery in Brighton. DFA members Liza Behrendt ’11 and Mariel Gruszko ’ 10 introduced Ayers, referencing the controversy surrounding his visit to the University campus and the recent cancellation of his planned visit to Boston College. “We are proud that our university has demonstrated great intellectual integrity, becoming the first Boston-area institution to present a speech from [Ayers] after President Obama’s inauguration,” Behrendt said. In his speech Ayers advised his audience, “Open your eyes, act, doubt.” He explained that one must “see the world as it is: with all of its suffering as well as all its joy and ecstasy; ... otherwise, you’re [just] being a good person in your mind,” Ayers said. He said that he was disappointed to hear his progressive friends and students hope that Obama would make a difference without considering what they could do to help the president. Similarly, Ayers asked the audience to think about “what you did this morning for peace, what you did this morning for economic democracy, what you did this morning to change the frame for health care, education or GLBTQ rights?” “In other words, Obama will not save us, but with any luck, we can save Obama,” Ayers said, emphasizing that the administration’s success ultimately lies within the hands of its country’s citizens. However, Ayers also said that he

By SHANA D. LEBOWITZ JUSTICE EDITOR

EMILY BERK/the Justice

INCREASE PARTICIPATION: Bill Ayers encouraged more engagement in sociopolitical issues in order to become more active citizens of the community. understood that it was difficult to open one’s eyes and become an active participant in the public sphere. He referred to the abolition and women’s rights movements and acknowledged that it would have been difficult for the audience to be support those movements when they began. Ayers also spoke about the Vietnam War, saying, “The problem is that, of course, because we move on without resolving that history, it’s an open wound in our history.” When asked about the Weather Underground’s activities in response to the Vietnam War, Ayers replied, “I think everybody tried something, but no one was perfect. … We didn’t end the war.” By electing an African-American president, the United States has made progress, according to Ayers. “With the legacy of white supremacy that we bring into this moment, … to have [an African-American president] just seems ... enormous,” he said. When asked during the questionand-answer session about his feelings regarding the protesters who had gathered off campus and on University premises before and during his speech, Ayers said, “The threats that were generated against me, toward me and toward you be-

cause you were with me are generated by a couple of guys in their boxer shorts. … Nothing is happening.” “A university of all places, a library, a radio station, a bookstore; these have to be places where we insist that no matter how weird the ideas, no matter how weird the history, we have to hear them. We have a right to debate them,” Ayers said. “It’s simply having a conversation.” “You should set out on a mission to talking to everybody, reading every book, listening to every debate to set up a mind of your own at the end of the day,” Ayers told his audience. Claire Cooper ’11, who considers herself an activist, said in an interview with the Justice that she found Ayers’ pointers for becoming an active citizen to be very helpful. “You always have to doubt yourself and doubt your surroundings and always self-question, always reevaluate. I thought that was the message more than anything,” Cooper said. Matthew Kupfer ’12 found Ayers’ speech inspiring. “I just like the hope he had … for ordinary people from the bottom,” Kupfer said. — Brian Fromm contributed reporting.

Students from Brandeis University and Babson and Bentley Colleges, as well as Waltham residents, protested against the controversial visit of Bill Ayers, co-founder of the Weather Underground and professor in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago April 30. Protesters who were not Brandeis students were banned from entering campus, but college students from neighboring institutions still protested inside the Shapiro Campus Center. However, Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan told the Justice that non-Brandeis students should not have been allowed on campus. Callahan added that he did not know why Babson and Bentley students had been allowed on University premises. Waltham residents gathered with protest signs on South Street near the Main Gate early in the morning, but Brandeis police told them that they could not enter University premises. Waltham residents tried again later in the evening to enter campus, but police said they could not enter the premises without a Brandeis student escort. Brandeis students protested against the visit outside the campus center and then outside the Carl J. Shapiro Theater. In the late 1960s, Ayers co-founded the Weather Underground, a radical group that opposed the Vietnam War. The group was notorious for rioting and for bombing several government buildings including the Pentagon and the New York City Police Department. The country’s attention shifted toward Ayers again last year, when rumors of Barack Obama’s ties to Ayers surfaced during Obama’s presidential campaign. Although Ayers and Obama served on two nonprofit boards together, investigations by major news organizations concluded that Obama had little connection to Ayers. Many protesters were outraged with the University’s decision to allow a former terrorist on campus. “I believe what [Ayers] did in 1970 was appalling,” said Mark Maclay, a junior at Babson College. “I don’t believe he should be here speaking and perpetuating his message of hate,” he added. “The worst part [of Ayers’ visit] is, he’s unrepentant about [his past],” said Allie Smith, a junior at Babson. “He doesn’t care and he’s proud of it—that’s what kills me. He’s extremely proud of what he’s done.”

MAX BREITSTEIN MATZA/the Justice

COMMUNAL OUTRAGE: A Waltham resident gathered on South Street with a sign protesting Bill Ayers’ visit. In light of Brandeis’ traditional Jewish affiliations, many protesters compared Ayers’ involvement with terrorist organizations to anti-Semitic movements. “Imagine … that you had a Nazi collaborator who was speaking at Brandeis,” said Joe Manzoli of Shrewsbury, Mass., who stood protesting outside the main gate. “Do you think that people should not be offended by what occurred 60 years ago? We’re talking about something that occurred 40 years ago.” “I don’t understand why Brandeis would host a terrorist who is probably against everything that Israel stands for,” said Evelyn Reilly, a 68year-old Waltham resident. “[Ayers] should be in a jail cell, not a classroom on any campus,” her husband Joseph Reilly, 78, added. “He is a convicted felon.” Some Brandeis students supported Ayers’ visit as a representation of free speech on campus. “If we’re going to talk about free speech, we should let anyone say whatever they want to say,” Mairin O’Donnell ’11 said. “Education is seeing different perspectives from people you sometimes disagree with [and] sometimes you agree with,” said Matthew Kupfer ’12, who also heard Ayers speak at the event. Other students were inspired by Ayers’ reflections on his activist past. “[Ayers] showed … appropriate consciousness of what he had done and his mistakes, but also I think [the speech] was more about the future than about the past,” said Lily Adams ’09. — Brian Fromm and Miranda Neubauer contributed reporting.


8

TUESDAY, MAY 19 , 2009

THE JUSTICE

TRUSTEES: Retirement plan passed CONTINUED FROM 1 Conrad originally told the Justice that the projected budget deficit for fiscal 2010 had dropped to $7.8 million because of an upswing in the economy. However, after learning that French placed the deficit at $8.9 million, Conrad said that because French provides him with financial figures, French’s current figure should be taken as correct. Conrad explained that the decision to suspend University contributions to retirement funds was made when the deficit was projected at $8.9 million. “While the current University contributions are a fixed percentage based on an individual’s salary, all faculty and staff will still be eligible to make individual pre-tax contributions to their own retirement accounts,” French wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. “We believe that the suspension of the University’s retirement contribution will cover a substantial part of next year’s operating deficit, and like colleges and universities across the country, Brandeis is actively engaged in looking at longerterm solutions for our fiscal stability,” he explained. According to Conrad, the Faculty Budget Committee considered several options for covering the budget deficit including furloughs that temporary leaves without pay, pay cuts, layoffs and the suspension of retirement contributions, when developing the plan. For example, Conrad said

that in order to cover the deficit through pay cuts, the University would have needed to cut the salaries of faculty and staff earning over $50,000 annually by almost 12 percent. In an e-mail to the Justice French wrote, “While we performed a detailed review of other options, ... the President and the Board of Trustees believe that suspension of retirement contributions is the least objectionable and most equitable of the alternatives.” “We had a number of … principles that we wanted to try to uphold,” Conrad said. “We wanted something to try and avoid layoffs. We wanted something that wouldn’t only affect one part of the University, such as staff; we wanted something that at least to some extent had a degree of fairness and even social justice, and we wanted something that would have the least negative impact to people’s lives.” Since 80 percent of faculty and staff are part of the University retirement plan and the 20 percent who are not are generally the lowest-paid members of faculty and staff, the suspension of retirement contributions option “had a kind of fairness to it,” Conrad said. However, Conrad stressed that this plan will only be in effect for one year and is not a sustainable course of action. The Faculty Budget Committee has no set plans for dealing with the remaining budget shortfall for fiscal 2010 mainly because it is not certain what the remaining

deficit will be at the beginning of next year, according to Conrad. He said the committee has discussed possible options but that he was not at liberty to say what those options were. Conrad said that the idea of suspending retirement benefits came from the larger University Budget Committee, of which he is the chair and which is comprised of both administrators and faculty. When weighing the options, this plan “seemed the least bad of unpleasant options,” he said. “In some ways, this was the most socially progressive [plan], since the best-paid faculty naturally get the highest benefits, and some of the worst-paid faculty turn out not to get benefits at all,” Prof. Jonathan Sarna (NEJS) said. “[The lowest-paid] have not elected to be part of this system, so … they lose nothing, which I think is what many of us would have wanted.” He added, “Many of us understand that we are very lucky. … There are a lot of people who would like to be in our situation.” Prof. Jane Kamensky (HIST) wrote in an e-mail to the Justice, “Suspending retirement contributions may be the best among a series of difficult and painful choices.” After the plan was presented to faculty at the May 14 faculty meeting, some professors expressed doubts. At the faculty meeting, Prof. Bernadette Brooten (NEJS) raised the concern that the plan to suspend contributions to retirement funds might make it

more difficult for faculty to retire. “One of the ways the University is trying to save money is by encouraging more senior faculty to retire,” she said. Brooten also said that there was a question over whether the University would eventually reimburse faculty and staff accounts for the amount that the University does not contribute to retirement funds due to the suspension. “In the long term it makes such a big difference. ... It will enable faculty to retire and have a decent standard of living in their retirement,” he said. Conrad declined to comment on Brooten’s first concern but said that the prospect of reimbursement had been discussed though there is no firm plan at this point. Prof. Nancy Scott (FA) said, “My major concern is that to take money out of my monthly paycheck to pay myself back my retirement benefits is going to effectively be a salary cut. … I’m sorry the money can’t be found in another way,” she said. “Both [University President Jehuda Reinharz] and I realize the negative impact this will have for the families of faculty and staff at Brandeis for this upcoming year,” French wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. “While I know that we are all hopeful that the national economy has hit bottom and that there are signs of a small recovery underway, we must all realize that the next year will be a difficult fiscal challenge,” he wrote.

Board grants faculty tenure At its May 15 meeting the Board of Trustees granted tenure to several professors. Profs. Jane Kondev (PHYS), Laura Quinney (ENG) and Elizabeth Brainerd (ECON) were promoted to the rank of full professors with tenure. Profs. Wendy Cadge (SOC), Albion Lawrence (PHYS), Janet McIntosh (ANTH), Nidhiya Menon (ECON) and Laura Miller (SOC) were promoted to associate professors with tenure. Finally, Profs. Milos Dolnik (CHEM) and Sarita Bhalotra (Heller) were appointed as associate professors outside the tenure structure, according to an e-mail from the office of Provost Marty Krauss. Also, Board members Thomas Lee, William Friedman ’65, Sylvia Hassenfeld and Stephen Reiner ’61 will leave the Board after the 2009 to 2010 academic year. Two new members were elected to the Board: Ellan Lasher Kaplan ’64 to a four-year term and Leonard Potter ’83 to an initial one-year term. Potter completing the unexpired portion of the term of Morton Ginsberg ’56, who resigned, according to Executive Assistant to the President John Hose. —Harry Shipps

INSIDE THE JUSTICE

RELAY FOR LIFE

Kirsch elected new Justice editor in chief ■ Former Copy editor

Hannah Kirsch was elected as the new editor in chief.

RACHEL CORKE/the Justice

Walking for a cause Brandeis University held the second annual American Cancer Society Relay For Life. The event saw people gather to celebrate the lives of those who have had cancer, way to remember those who have been lost and fight back against a deadly disease.The relay for cancer ran from May 2 to 3 in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center.

Hannah Kirsch ’10 became the Justice’s new editor in chief April 28. She was elected by the staff and confirmed by the editorial board after running unopposed. Kirsch Kirsch said she is excited about the position because “[the Justice is] a really hardworking group of people, and [this is] a great opportunity to try and help out the community.” Kirsch hopes that the Justice can play the role of “information disseminator” on campus by continuing to uphold the level of coverage that the Justice sustained this past semester. “I’d also like to do a lot more analysis of the news ... because with these big issues, it’s important that we go very in-depth in trying to help explain what’s going on and what the consequence of decisions might be,” Kirsch said. She also she plans to expand the Justice’s interactive coverage with more online content and multimedia. Former editor in chief Mike Prada ’09 said that Kirsch’s background in copyediting will be an advantage to her in her new role. “I think ... the small things that maybe we missed before are not going to slip through her grasp because [she’s] very committed to detail, ... and that’s going to be a huge strength,” he said. “She’ll be a great editor.” Kirsch joined the Justice as a member of the Copy staff in fall of 2006. She became copy editor in spring 2008 and then worked as deputy editor in the spring 2009 semester. “[Working on the Justice is] a way to really play a part in life on campus in helping get information and opinions out to people ... and information on upcoming events,” Kirsch said.


THE JUSTICE

just

features

TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

VERBATIM | Katharine Whitehorn The easiest way for your children to learn about money is for you not to have any.

ON THIS DAY...

FUN FACT

In 1804 Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed emperor by the French Senate.

In 1994, there were four murders and eight attempted murders of abortion providers in the United States. In 2004, there were zero.

IDEALISM GONE WRONG

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

ACTIVIST ATMOSPHERE: A student sit-in during early 1970 shows the idealistic air at Brandeis at that time. Some of this activism went violent when months later three students used criminal means to protest.

In 1970, three Brandeis students participated in crime By REBECCA KLEIN AND GRETA MORAN JUSTICE STAFF WRITERS

On Sept. 23, 1970, Brandeis University woke up to another day of classes, cool fall weather and news of a murder and bank robbery at the hands of three of its students. There were five people suspected of murder and robbery, three of whom were associated with Brandeis. According to the Sept. 29, 1970 issue of the Justice, the suspects included Robert Valeri, 21, a student at Northeastern University; William Gilday, 41, also a student at Northeastern; Kathy Power ’71, 21, a senior at Brandeis; Susan Saxe ’70, 20, a Brandeis graduate and admitted Brandeis graduate student; and Stanley Bond, 25, also a Brandeis student. The five were accused of murdering Boston patrolman Walter A. Schroeder during a robbery that gained the group $26,000 from a Brighton, Mass. bank. Schroeder, 42, had nine children; he died from a gunshot wound in the back. Although Brandeis was not new to revolutionary activity—it was home to the National Strike Information Center, and 60 students took over Ford Hall in a 1969 protest—the incident drew much negative attention. Still, according to the Sept. 29, 1970 issue of the Justice, then-University president Charles Schottland expressed “his and the University’s ‘abhorrence’ for the ‘criminal’ savagery of the slaying and affirmed Brandeis’s academic mission.” Schottland also emphasized that “the three students [had] recently ‘severed all relationships’ with Brandeis.” Neither Power nor Saxe seemed like the typical murder suspect. Power had graduated at the top of her Catholic Denver high

school and had served as an administrative aide to the Brandeis Student Council. Saxe transferred from Syracuse University and graduated from Brandeis magna cum laude in June 1970, according to the Sept. 29, 1970 issue of the Justice. Gilday, Valeri and Bond, however, had been paroled from the Walpole State Prison within 90 days of each other the previous spring. In the Justice, Schottland said that Bond, an honorably discharged Vietnam War veteran, was accepted into Brandeis “because his record seemed such an excellent one for school.” Prof. Jacob Cohen (AMST) explained that there are several theories as to why these students robbed the bank. The culprits affirmed that the robbery was an act of protest against the war in Vietnam. “The reason given by [Valeri], the man who was first arrested, was that they were going to use the money from the bank robbery toward various projects in the antiwar resistance,” Cohen said. Following the incident, Valeri was promptly arrested, and Bond was arrested soon after. Until his arrest several days after the murder, Gilday eluded “the largest manhunt in New England history [at the time], involving 800 policemen,” according to the Sept. 29, 1970 issue of the Justice. Saxe went “underground” as she was hiding from the FBI until she was arrested in 1975 and served time in prison until 1982. Power, however, remained “underground” until 1993, when she was placed in prison through 1999. According to an Oct. 12, 1999 issue of the Justice, Power was unable to “suppress her conscience any longer [and] turned herself in to authorities and pleaded guilty to charges of murder.” Prior to her

9

arrest, Power took on the alias Alice Metzinger and lived a small-town life in Oregon, according to the Oct. 12, 1999 issue of the Justice. Although it is often assumed that this violence was kindled by a Brandeis precursor to the Weather Underground—as the students involved in the incident and the Weather Underground shared similar missions and mentalities—this is likely not the case. An FBI release from Jan. 29, 2004, “1975 Terrorism Flashback: State Department Bombing,” removed a photo of Katherine Powers “because she was inaccurately associated with the Weather Underground.” Cohen agreed that there was no formal connection between the Weather Underground and Walter Schroeder’s murder. “I know that that link between Kathy and the Weather Underground has been made, ... but I don’t know of any formal connection between the Weather Underground and that operation,” Cohen said. However, Cohen also said there was certainly an ideological connection between the acts of the Brandeis radicals and the Weather Underground in that they were willing to use violent means to achieve their goals. Albert Axelrad, the University’s rabbi and Hillel director from 1965 to 1999, described the significance of the bank robbery and murder of the policeman in his thesis paper, “Activism at Brandeis: An Anecdotal Review”: “So strong and intense was this opposition [to Vietnam], that it once exceeded all moral bounds and wound up expressing itself in the single most shameful chapter of Brandeis’ young history.”

Following the incident, there was a widespread negative reaction against Brandeis throughout Boston. “For many months after [the incident], it was not intelligent to go into Boston with a Brandeis sticker on your car,” Cohen said. Schottland also offered all of Schroeder’s nine children full four-year scholarships to the University. Norm Levine, the track and swimming coach at the time, also collected money from Brandeis students for Schroeder’s family, according to the 1970 issue of the Justice. Although Cohen maintains that it is hard to generalize about the political and social atmosphere on the Brandeis campus leading up to the incident, Jeff Soref ’71 wrote in a letter to the editor in the Oct. 13, 1970 issue of the Justice, “One can say accurately that [the students involved in the illegal incidents’] behavior was influenced in no small way by the environment which has prevailed at Brandeis recently.” He went on to explain that “the environment at Brandeis has been one of harassment and coercion, both roundly endorsed by the University community in an effort to appease those people employing such tactics.” Upon her release from prison in 1999, Power expressed a great deal of remorse for her actions. According to an Oct. 12, 1999 issue of the Justice, she said, “I will always carry my human responsibility for the sorrow my actions have caused.” In response to Power’s release from prison, Clare Schroeder, Walter Schroeder’s daughter, said, “I don’t know what forgiveness is in this circumstance. I’m not going to extract any vengeance. I don’t wish her ill will. Other than that, she has no significance for me.”


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TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

THE JUSTICE

Brilliant birds

MAX BREITSTEIN MATZA/the Justice

AVIAN INTELLIGENCE: Griffin, 14, is one of the parrots studied at the Parrot Lab. Prof. Irene Pepperberg (PSYC) conducts research with Griffin to understand animal behavior, intelligence and communication.

A look into the research of the world-famous Parrot Lab By HARRY SHIPPS JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

To find the Parrot Lab, I walk downstairs into the basement of the Foster Biomedical Labs to room 208. I notice the hall smells vaguely like a zoo as I enter the office of Prof. Irene Pepperberg (PSYC). Inside the small room, Pepperberg sits with a student, Stephanie Sapowicz ’10, and two African gray parrots, Griffin and Arthur. It is hard to imagine that this room was until very recently home to perhaps the most famous parrot in the world, Alex. Before he died on Sept. 6, 2007, Alex represented a new level of avian intelligence. According to the Alex Foundation Web site, which is dedicated to supporting parrot research, Alex possessed more than 100 vocal labels for different objects, actions, and colors and could identify objects by their material. He could also count object sets containing up to six items and was working on sets of seven and eight. His intelligence was a source of wonder internationally, and he shined the spotlight directly on Pepperberg and her work studying animals’ intelligence through their abilities to understand and communicate. His empty cage still sits in the corner of the room. Just because Alex has passed away, however, does not mean activity has ceased in this small room that serves as a place for Pepperberg to house parrots and perform research. As I walk into the room, I see two cages, but their presence seems only perfunctory since both parrots move as freely as they please. Griffin, 14, sits outside his cage on a perch, hardly moving as his eyes either scan the room or threaten to close. Pepperberg says that he has been in a “mood” today, either grumpy or sleepy. The other parrot, Arthur, 10, (a.k.a. Wart, a nickname from the Sword in the Stone), is the picture of lively activity. He alternately swings in and out of his open cage, playing with the toys that hang from the side. When Arthur gets bored, he uses a short, disconcerting call that sounds like the word “spool” to demand his favorite spool toy. Today, Sapowicz joins Pepperberg in the lab. Sapowicz is a Biology major and is on

MAX BREITSTEIN MATZA/the Justice

PARROT’S PARADISE: The Parrot Lab is home to two African gray parrots, Griffin and Arthur. Previously, the lab was home to a world-famous parrot named Alex who was recognized for his intelligence. the preveterinary track. She says that she is very interested in animal behavior, so she came to work with these parrots, who represent the forefront of research into animal behavior and intelligence. As both Sapowicz and Pepperberg explain, the role of behavior in the lives of animals and their interactions with veterinarians and other professionals was not thoroughly studied until very recently, and has now become a small specialization within the veterinary field. Still, behavior problems account for a great percentage of the birds who are rejected as pets or sent to shelters. Pepperberg said that it is very important for veterinarians to have a kind of “double-edged” understanding of these birds, both behaviorally and physically. Pepperberg explains that the parrots are very social creatures; in the wild, they would be flock birds, living with up to 100 other animals. When we remove them from that

flock, she says, we must provide them with companionship and a sense of family in order to truly nurture them. She says that we cannot keep birds locked in cages for eight hours a day and expect them to thrive; we must give them the freedom to interact and explore. It is clear that there is a hierarchy and a competition for attention between the birds in the lab. Pepperberg explains that unlike Griffin and Arthur, Alex was a single bird for many years and was often treated like a human toddler, which encouraged his development. When Griffin and Arthur came along, however, Alex interrupted the other parrots’ learning sessions many times. Because of this, Pepperberg is questioning whether to fill Alex’s place with another parrot due to her fears that Griffin and Arthur would inhibit the new bird’s development. Most people have seen movies in which a parrot sits on a pirates’s shoulder and utters short bursts of language, but the work that

Pepperberg is doing in this lab only begins with language. She explains, “Their communicative skills never get much beyond a twoyear-[old’s], but their intelligence on the tests we’ve given them, is at a five-year-old’s [level].” She says that Griffin, the more advanced of the two birds, is currently being trained to identify colors and shapes and speak not in language or common phrases but in English Speech Sounds, which are the sounds we make when we speak. According to Pepperberg, Griffin also participates in optical illusion studies meant to help researchers understand “how [birds] view the world.” Through presenting Griffin with a number of different optical illusions, Pepperberg discovered that he views them in very much the same ways that humans do. She can ascertain this through Griffin’s ability to communicate in terms of the shapes and colors that he already knows. When asked what lessons studying these parrots could teach humans, Pepperberg said, “It shows us how another organism processes information. We look at the world in a particular way with our vision, [and] we don’t know how other creatures process this information. [Figuring this out] is important in terms of figuring out how our visual system works.” These parrots are also used as models for intervention systems that help treat and manage disabilities, says Pepperberg. Some of the training that has been done with these birds has been adapted for children with autism; people are more sympathetic when they see how intelligent and bright these creatures are who may be on the same mental and communicative levels as some people with more extreme autism. As Arthur swung around in his cage and Griffin stood lazily on his perch, at times they seemed more like human children than parrots. When I look at Griffin’s eyes slowly scanning the room, it seems as though perhaps, in the minds of the parrots, we are not necessarily the ones in charge. It is a very strange yet thrilling experience to be in such close proximity to an animal that, at least on some level, can think like you and notice the same things as you.


THE JUSTICE

TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

11

B

ack to school ... again

By REBECCA KLEIN JUSTICE EDITOR

Upon graduating college, Elliot Danko ’07 envisioned himself in the high-end finance and investment world. His career aspirations evoked images of New York City, a suit and tie and 80-hour workweeks. However, years later, after experiencing a layoff, an economic recession and an unrewarding job search, Danko’s professional dreams have shifted. He now finds himself heading back to school to become a teacher. “Now I see myself in a classroom [wearing] a button-down and khakis. Instead of having 80-hour weeks, I see myself having a summer vacation, which, I admit, I kind of like,” Danko says. Danko’s story is not unlike many others’ during uncertain economic times. According to Andrea B. Dine, associate director of career development at the Hiatt Career Center, applications to graduate school are historically inversely related to the health of the economy. “In a great economy, applications fall, in a poor economy applications rise,” Dine wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. Although the overall percentage of college graduates going to graduate school next fall has not increased significantly, that number is expected to increase next year, Dine wrote. This year, approximately 27 percent of Brandeis’ graduating class is going to graduate school. The percentage of graduate school applicants did not increase significantly this year because economic conditions did not look as dire when applications were submitted this fall, Dine wrote. Danko, an Illinois native, graduated from Brandeis with degrees in Economics and History. Soon after, he took a temporary job in Chicago until he was offered a job in personal finance in New York. After he’d worked there for about 1 1/2 years, Danko was laid off. “That job ended because of corporate buyout. ... Bank of America bought my company and didn’t need us anymore,” Danko says. When Danko re-entered the job market, he found that because of the economic recession, offers for his ideal job were not exactly flowing in. “The job process is always difficult, especially now,” Danko says. “The best thing that you can do is ... you can never have too many options out there. ... You just want to make sure that you put your name out there and you don’t burn any bridges in the process.” Danko describes the job search process as frustrating and says that even when a job opportunity presented itself, it did not necessarily suit his career desires. “I got a few offers for positions I didn’t want [in the mortgage market]”, Danko says. “Despite [this], I tried using those interviews to parlay it into a position that I would [want], but that didn’t really happen.” In lieu of this unrewarding search, Danko decided that instead of continuing to look for a job that might not match his interests, he would return to school to become a high school economics and history teacher. Next fall, Danko will be attending NationalLouis University in Illinois, home of a National College of Education. “When we got let go, it was a little bit of a stressful time. But you got to put your name out there and figure out other plans,” Danko says. “I’m taking losing my job as an opportunity to switch careers because I didn’t like finance all that much.” Danko says the effects of the recession motivated him to return to school, as he is guaranteed to get something out of more education as opposed to an unrewarding job search. Amanda Eisinger ’09, who will be attending Columbia in the fall as part of a postbaccalaureate program in

PHOTO COURTESY OF ELLIOT DANKO

WORK AND PLAY: After a day of work, Elliot Danko ‘07 (right) meets with Robert Geiman ’08 for dinner in New York. At the time, Danko was working in personal finance.

In lieu of recent hard economic times, more college graduates decide to return to school pre-med science, also says current economic conditions affected her decision to return to school upon graduation. “I always knew I was going to go back and do the program, but [the recession] affected my decision to not take a year off [in between graduating college and going in to the program] to get a job because there’s not much [in the job market] right now,” Eisinger says. Among students who graduated within the past few years, many have found it difficult to find permanent employment. Some who decided to stick out the tough job market, such as Josh Golub ’07, were eventually rewarded. Golub, who majored in American Studies and minored in Legal Studies, recently found a job in finance after a long and grueling job search. Previously, Golub had worked for his national fraternity, Zeta Beta Tau, before he was laid off due to restructuring. “[My six-month job search was] frustrating because of how may qualified applicants there are in the market. You really have to look for stuff that you might not normally want,” Golub said. Even despite the difficult economic times this year, some graduating seniors were also able to find jobs. Sarah Gelman ’09 will work for a non-profit organization, Jewish Funds for Justice, in New York next year. “[Finding a job] wasn’t really hard for me. ... I interned for a nonprofit last summer, and I was offered a job when the summer was over,” Gelman says. “There wasn’t really a job search involved, so I really lucked out.” Yet, Dine said, people are more apt to return to school during times of an

PHOTO COURTESY OF ELLIOT DANKO

GRADUATION DAY: Elliot Danko ’07 (center) and two friends after their Brandeis graduation. Soon after, Danko got a job. economic downturn as poor economic conditions spur fears of the “unknown.” “Life transitions are difficult and are often frightening,” Dine said. “Leaving college for the ‘real world’ is no exception. An economic recession and the perception that there are ‘no jobs’ heighten students’ anxiety.

Academic study is familiar, which makes the idea of graduate school more attractive.” Still, Danko reflects on his decision to apply to graduate school and ultimately believes it was the best option available to him. “I think right now is the best time to go and get a master’s [degree]”,

Danko says. “It really is a rough time out there. I have a lot of friends who have been backstabbed through the interview process. It’s just [tough and unpredictable]. ... That’s why I keep saying you can’t get discouraged. ... You have to keep putting coal on the fire, because you don’t know what’s going to work out.”


TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

THE JUSTICE

ROSE ART MUSEUM

Tracing the Rose Key events surrounding the Rose Art Museum issue By JILLIAN WAGNER

Jan 28: STUDENT OPEN FORUM • An open forum was held at which senior administrators, including University President Jehuda Reinharz, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Peter French and Provost Marty Krauss answered questions about the closing of the Rose and other budget issues. • Reinharz said that the University might not sell any or all of the art from the Rose’s collection. • Reinharz explained that the University would comply with all donors’ wishes, which was required along with approval from the Massachusetts attorney general’s office in order to try to sell works from the Rose’s collection.

Jan. 26: REINHARZ E-MAIL ANNOUNCES ROSE WILL CLOSE • University President Jehuda Reinharz announced in an e-mail to the Brandeis community that the Board of Trustees met and unanimously voted to close the Rose Art Museum. • According to the press release attached to Reinharz’s email, “Plans call for the museum to close in late summer 2009, and transition into a fine arts teaching center with studio space and an exhibition gallery. After necessary legal approvals and working with a top auction house, the university will publicly sell the art collection. Proceeds from the sale will be reinvested in the university to combat the far-reaching effects of the economic crisis, and fortify the university’s position for the future.” • Reinharz was quoted in the press release, “These are extraordinary times. ... We cannot control or fix the nation’s economic problems. We can only do what we have been entrusted to do—act responsibly with the best interests of our students and their futures foremost in mind.” • The majority of reactions from students, faculty, community members, art critics and people from around the world were negative particularly with regard to the potential sale of the Rose’s art collection, though some people were in supprot of the board’s decision to close the Rose Art Museum.

Feb 2: UNIVERSITY HIRES PR FIRM • The University signed a two-month, $20,000 contract with the public relations firm Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications, Inc. to handle the increased press surrounding the Rose. • Reinharz and French took a 10-percent pay cut on their annual salaries to cover the full cost of the contract.

January 2009

March 16: ROSE FAMILY CONDEMNS UNIVE MAX BREITSTEIN MATZA/the Justice

JUSTICE EDITOR

• A statement written on behalf of over 50 members of the Rose family was read aloud at an interdisciplinary symposium titled “Preserving Trust: Art and the Art Museum amidst Financial Crisis,” held at the Rose. • Meryl Rose, a spokeswoman for the Rose family and a Rose Museum board member, read the statement to students, faculty, about 20 members of the Rose family, Rose museum staff and members of the art community who attended the symposium. • The statement urged Reinharz and the Board to “restore th ities of the Rose Art Museum until a final decision is issued • Rose family members later publicly claimed that the Unive Edward Rose, a benefactor of the museum. The will stated th be housed and exhibited at the Rose. The University’s couns plied with the wishes of the will.

Feb 26: DONATION TO FUND ROSE’S OPERATING BUDGET • An anonymous donor made an undesignated donation that Reinharz suggested putting toward the Rose’s operating budget for the rest of fiscal 2009. • Joe Baerlein of Rasky Baerlein said the gift was “a substantial, low-six-figure gift that is very generous.”

February �

��

March �

Feb 5: SENIOR ADMINISTRATORS HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE FOR CAMPUS MEDIA

Jan 29: FACULTY MEETING MAX BREITSTEIN MATZA/the Justice

• At the Jan. 29 faculty meeting, 104 faculty members voted in favor (11 voted against, 12 abstained) of a motion to create a faculty committee to consider all future decisions about the museum. • Many faculty members criticized the administration’s judgment in announcing the closure of the Rose Art Museum, the process by which the decision was made, how details of Reinharz the decision were conveyed to faculty and the ensuing national media coverage. • “If the museum is not closed, we cannot sell the art,” Reinharz explained. • Reinharz said at the meeting: “…No one had anticipated that we could have that kind of reaction,” which he characterized as “an avalanche of such bad publicity.”

• Provost Marty Krauss announced in an e-m Brandeis community that she created the Co on the Future of the Rose Art Museum “to ex consultations, deliberations, and recommend the initial Rose Committee.” • The committee would include faculty, stude alumni, a member of the Rose Museum staff, ber of the Rose Board of Overseers and a mem the University’s Board of Trustees.

Feb 5: REINHARZ SAYS THE ROSE IS NOT CLOSING • University President Jehuda Reinharz wrote in an e-mail to the Brandeis community that the Rose “will remain open, but in accordance with the Board’s vote, it will be more fully integrated into the University’s central educational mission.” • Reinharz also explained in the e-mail that the University may consider selling pieces of the Rose’s art collection, if necessary and if certain legal requirements are met. • Reinharz wrote, “I regret as well that I did not find a more inclusive and open way to engage the Brandeis community in the deliberations that led to the Board’s decision. … I take full responsibility for causing pain and embarrassment in both of these matters. To quote President Obama, ‘I screwed up.’ • Reinharz and the University were criticized for backpedaling on the decision about the Rose.

Jan 29: SIT-IN AT ROSE

DESIGN BY BRIAN BLUMENTHAL/the Justice

Feb 5: “FUNERAL FOR THE ROSE” PROCESSION • Students marched across campus holding signs and carrying roses to protest the University’s decision. • The procession was sponsored by Art Attack, an arts club on campus. It was held despite Reinharz’s e-mail sent earlier that day in which he wrote that the museum would remain open. • Emily Leifer ’11, who organized the procession, wanted to show that students didn’t think closing the Rose was an option.

REBECCA NEY/the Justice

• A sit-in was held to protest the Board of Trustees’ decision. • The event, sponsored by the Brandeis Budget Cut Committee and organized by Rebeccah Ulm ’11 and Maarit Ostrow ’11, gathered a crowd of 200 students, faculty, donors and Waltham community members. • Rose Museum Director Michael Rush said at the event that the museum is “bigger than Brandeis” and called the decision to close the Rose “a big mistake with major historical ramifications.”

March 3: COMMITTEE ON THE FU OF THE ROSE ART MUSEUM FOR JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

• Members of the senior administration held a press conference with campus media to discuss, among other issues, recent developments about the Rose. • Reinharz said that the press release attached to his Jan. 26 e-mail “misReinharz represented what the Board actually said, as did the initial statements.” • Reinharz said that the Rose building would not be closed and said, “We have a faculty committee that is working right now in thinking what and how the Rose should function on this campus.”

RACHEL CORKE/the Justice

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March 27: CFRAM AN CHARGE

• The committee “is charged tions for the future of the Ros issuing recommendations to istration and Board of Truste • The charge also states, “The erate with the understanding Trustees, as part of its fiducia Brandeis University, will det not to sell works of art from t


THE JUSTICE

April 17: PROVOST’S E-MAIL ANNOUNCES ROSE TO REOPEN IN JULY • Provost Marty Krauss announced in an e-mail that the Rose will reopen July 22 and will exhibit part of its permanent collection to grant CFRAM more time to deliberate before releasing its recommendations. • The University also offered continued employment to four of the six Rose staff members but not to Rush or Jay Knox, the current administrator of the museum. Emily Mello, the director of education at the Rose, declined the University’s offer. Assistant Director of Operations Roy Dawes will serve as director of museum operations, Museum Registrar Valerie Wright will serve as collections manager, and Karina Sheerin will remain director of financial control, budgeting and analysis. • This e-mail generated controversy related to the legitimacy of the committee, the museum and its art collection and staff.

MAX BREITSTEIN MATZA/the Justice

ERSITY’S DECISION

• A town hall meeting was held at which members of CFRAM listened to suggestions about the Rose from members of the community. • Rush questioned the committee’s legitimacy, saying, “I personally don’t recognize you as a legitimate committee. ... You are the future of the Rose but can’t discuss the collection of the Rose. How does that give you validity if you cannot discuss the future of the museum?” • Meyer Koplow, a member of the University Board of Trustees, confirmed that despite rising suspiRush cions that the impetus behind the Provost’s April 17 email was pressure from the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General, the “attorney general’s office has not instructed Brandeis what to do.”

Members of the Rose family

he use, budget, staffing and activby a court.” ersity violated part of the will of hat Brandeis’ works of art must sel, however, insisted it had com-

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

April 21: CFRAM TOWN HALL MEETING

April 30: CFRAM RELEASES INTERIM REPORT • The report states that the committee is “not yet at the point at which we can articulate options for the future of the Rose. … But we do understand that, although not desirable, it is possible to sell works of art for budget relief and to remain a public museum. We have been considering how best to go ahead on both these fronts.” • The report also states that the committee’s final report will be released in early fall.

April

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with exploring opse ... with the goal of the Brandeis adminees.” e Committee will opg that the Board of ary responsibility for termine whether or the Rose.”

April 27: FACULTY LETTER IN SUPPORT OF RUSH

April 6: FACULTY LETTER • Sixty-four signatures were collected on a faculty letter that was addressed and delivered to Reinharz and Krauss, to follow up a faculty letter written in late March. • The letter stated, “We ... urge that you act to keep the Rose Art Museum open as a public art museum, with professional staffing, continuing exhibitions and active educational programs, until at least June 30, 2010.” • At the time, Krauss said, “The letter is an expression of feelings and desires, but its recommendation is not one that I think the administration will take in advance of [CFRAM’s] report,” which at the time was expected to be released by the end of April.

• Prof. Ellen Schattschneider (ANTH) wrote a letter signed by many faculty members that implored the administration to continue Rush’s employment. It was delivered to Reinharz and Krauss. • The letter stated, “Now that the University has affirmed that ‘the Rose Art Museum will remain a museum open to the public with professionally trained staff’ we are at a loss to understand why Dr. Rush would be terminated.”

April 6: ALUMNI PANEL HELD AT ROSE • Gary Tinterow ’76, Kim Rorschach ’78, Reva Wolf ’78, Andrea Aronson Morgan ’80 and Karen Chernick ’06, five prominent alumni in the art field, spoke at a Aronson Morgan and Tinterow panel discussion titled “Education Matters in the Museum” about the impact of the Rose on their educational experiences and careers. • The event was co-sponsored by the Rose and the Fine Arts department and organized by a student committee consisting of six undergraduate students. • Rush said in his opening remarks that this event showed “that the Rose is still very much alive.” He condemned the administration for its lack of communication with the museum staff. “[Reinharz] has not been to the museum since Jan. 26. That is not leadership. That is hiding,” he said.

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

May

April 6: PR FIRM NO LONGER SERVES IN DAY-TO-DAY SPOKESPERSON ROLE • Senior Vice President for Communications Lorna Miles confirmed in an interview that Rasky Baerlein would no longer serve in a day-to-day spokesperson role regarding the Rose. • However, Rasky Baerlein would fulfill some assignments that it began prior to the completion of its contract involving working with some media outlets on stories near completion. These assignments were expected to be concluded by the first week in May.

TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

13

ROSE: Interim report disputed CONTINUED FROM 1 the report that while the Rose’s budget has suffered because of the recession and the current controversy surrounding the museum, its budgetary figures confirm that the University’s decision January 26 to sell the collection was the result of Brandeis’ financial difficulties. The report states that the Rose budget itself did not impose a fiscal strain on the University. According to the report, the Rose can continue to operate legally as a public museum if the University sells its artwork but does not use the proceeds to purchase other art. The committee will release its final report early in the fall after continuing to work into the summer, according to an e-mail Samet sent to the Brandeis community April 30. The report explains that the committee did not want to begin deliberating about future options for the Rose until they had obtained sufficient background information about the Rose. University Provost Marty Krauss wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that she was pleased with the committee’s research. “This is a serious committee that is working diligently to gather information from many sources. I have confidence that it will provide thoughtful and well considered options for the future of the Rose,” she wrote. Jonathan Lee, the chairman of the Rose Board of Overseers, said in a phone interview with the Justice that the report did not contain any significant information in terms of mitigating the controversy surrounding the museum. Lee said, “the committee is incapable of coming up with anything new because it has nothing to do with whether art is sold or not; that authorization is reserved strictly for the Board of Trustees, and you have to assume art will be sold.” Students and faculty collaborated with the Rose Board of Overseers to hold a symposium May 11 to honor Rush’s term as director and the rest of the museum staff, according to Prof. Andreas Teuber (PHIL), who spoke at the event. Others who spoke at the symposium included Meryl Rose, spokesperson for the Rose family and member of the Rose Board, and Jane Farver, Director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology List Visual Arts Center. “Although Michael Rush reached out to me as a teacher, I tried to say a few words [at the symposium] about what he and his curating had taught me,” Teuber wrote in an email to the Justice. Rush’s employment will end June 30. Jay Knox, the current administrator of the Rose, and Emily Mello, the current director of education at the Rose, will also not return after that time. “We appreciated that under the circumstances, it was unlikely there would be an official reception for Michael Rush. A group of concerned faculty and students therefore decided to work with the Rose Museum Board of Overseers to put on a suitable event, to express our gratitude to Dr. Rush and the entire Rose Museum team,” Prof. Mark Auslander (ANTH), who also spoke at the event, said in an interview with the Justice. Auslander added that Krauss stopped by for several minutes. “I think it was appropriate for the faculty and students who have been involved with the Rose to coordinate this event,” wrote Krauss in an email to the Justice.


14

TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

THE JUSTICE

the Justice Established 1949

Brandeis University

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

Money-saving tactics key On May 4, the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee released a supplemental report retracting its original suggestion to reorganize the American Studies, African and Afro-American Studies and Classical Studies departments into interdepartmental programs. Although there are several reasons that the revocation of this proposal was wise, we feel that the most troubling thing about the entire process was the CARS committee’s failure to investigate the monetary results of the changes it initially wanted to make. The committee should not have had to wait for the community to question how much the University would save because of the proposed changes; rather, the committee should have investigated the money issues first before officially proposing any major restructuring at all. Granted, the committee’s research was excellent. The CARS report provided a detailed overview of each department’s structure and assets. The rationales for transforming AMST, AAAS and Classics into interdepartmental programs were clear but lacking: Despite the details on how to broaden the disciplines and cut their resources, there was no hard evidence that substantial savings would result from these alterations. Why should such a drastic proposal pass without such crucial information? Such important reports as this need solid plans with concrete answers to the question of how the University can successfully combat its budget deficit now and in the next few years. The theory behind the proposals to restructure AMST, AAAS and Classics was that these newly revamped interdepartmental programs would share faculty and cross-list courses. However, after the proposals failed, Dean of Arts and Sciences and chair of the CARS committee Adam Jaffe said, “The new approach is that everybody is going to be doing that, so in theory, [maintaining the departments] shouldn’t matter.” If the University intended to use its resources like this in the first place, why bother to propose such major changes? The University should channel its efforts into researching more specific money-saving tactics rather than ill-considered mass restructuring plans in order to really be productive.

Less focus on restructuring Another specific instance of CARS’ oversight appears in Section 3 of the Supplemental Report of the CARS Committee. The report acknowledges several departments’ analyses of its suggestion to reduce their respective target faculty sizes. The departments explained to the committee that these reductions would harm undergraduate or graduate curricula. CARS’ response to these concerns is to make no change; the committee claims in its report that it does not “have the time for the analysis and conversation with the affected departments that would be necessary to get these [analyses] right.” This is not the appropriate way for CARS to conduct its research for the academic restructuring process. The committee should not have to wait for the departments to prove it wrong. The committee’s task is to make reasonable suggestions based on meticulous analysis. This is not the first time we have witnessed major backpedaling due to poorly conducted investigations. In the case of study abroad, the University paid no attention to merit scholars’ admissions letters guaranteeing them the right to transfer their aid to their preferred study abroad programs. The University soon reversed that decision because the community pointed out the tremendous flaws in its research. Likewise, the CARS committee’s proposal to convert AMST, AAAS and Classics into interdepartmental programs sparked similar outrage and mistrust in the Brandeis community. In the future, the University must ensure that its committees do proper research before proposing major changes. After the April 23 faculty meeting, when the CARS committee’s proposal to restructure the three affected departments was rejected, Prof. Marc Brettler (NEJS) said, “[Changing] the three departments into programs is not a prudent idea. It’s clear and it was stated at the meeting that it’s not going to save money.” This editorial board concurs. If saving money is truly this University’s objective, then the first consideration when proposing radical changes to Brandeis’ cherished curriculum must be analyzing these proposals’ monetary effects.

Thank you, Justice seniors For this last issue of the academic year, we’d like to use this space to recognize and thank the graduating editors at the Justice for all they’ve brought to the paper. Mike Prada started out as a Sports writer and, after his tenure as Sports editor, became editor in chief during a very challenging semester. He rose to the occasion, working through to the end with enthusiasm and energy. Mike’s passion for the Justice and journalism will carry him far. Daniel D. Snyder is a former Arts editor whose writing was a wonderful asset to the Justice, as his column, “Made of Metal,” rained quip-filled death and destruction in the form of metal music reviews. As associate editor, he helped lead the Forum section temporarily between changes in lead-

Your hard work paid off ership, picking up the slack when the Justice needed it. Associate editor Joel Herzfeld got his start as Copy editor, and he helped to develop a fledgling Copy section and to write the Justice’s own style guide. He joined Dan Snyder in taking over the Forum section, and we know from experience that he would be homeless for a day in Boston so he could write a Features story about it. Mike, Dan and Joel have been invaluable contributors and colleagues at the Justice. We thank them and all the other graduating Justice staff members for their time with the newspaper. They will be missed, and we wish them the best for their lives after Brandeis.

A. ELI TUKACHINSKY/the Justice

Emulate Brandeis’ merits By SAHAR MASSACHI JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Graduates, congratulations on getting your degrees! Now, I’m no Cory Booker, but I figured I’d take a crack at delivering my own sort of mini-commencement address. You know, it’s weird. Why wait for a long speech giving life advice until after you graduate? If there was something particularly important to say, it should have been said four years ago. What advice is important to college graduates that isn’t equally useful for people 10 years their senior? And who am I to advise people two years my elder? Let’s compromise. I’ll write about what I know: Louis Brandeis, his life, his work and social justice. A name like Brandeis must be “earned,” as the man himself might say, “by effort, earned by a persistent, active desire to have and to hold that which lies before us.” OK, well, what does that mean? We students—and alumni—must follow Louis Brandeis’ greatness and ideals. Well, since Louis skipped undergrad and graduated a year early as valedictorian of his law school class, maybe we can’t quite follow his impressive greatness. We also can’t create new sections of U.S. law, like a right to privacy or sociological jurisprudence. In today’s times, we might take a look back at Brandeis’ groundbreaking work, Other People’s Money and How the Bankers Use It. In this book, he refers to the financial oligarchy, not an oligopoly. Brandeis was, at heart, a political reformer who “fought bigness in the cloak of monopoly.” In Boston, he dealt with the Gas Combine, Elevated Railway Company and life insurance businesses. In the case of the gas and insurance industries, he devised a plan so that business would be more efficient and benefit workers, owners and the public. When the Elevated Railway Company resisted reform, he simply fought for public control of its destiny. Heed his example. In life, there will always be corruption and violations of our social compact of good governance and public spirit. Stick to your values; remember what is important. The Gas Combines of today may ask the Massachusetts legislatures for permission to create mergers and monopolies. There’s a place for opposition, yet the Brandeis spirit transcends and encompasses activism. Brandeis, throughout his life, sought to understand these sorts of problems so well that he could come up with a solution equitable to everyone. One of Brandeis’ closest clients, Edward Filene, especially impressed Brandeis with his own version of blending his business’ financial interests with the goals of worker self-determination. The Filenes built up a merchant empire but, just as importantly, “demonstrated that the introduction of industrial democracy and of social justice is at least consistent with marked financial success.” Filene’s system of industrial democracy included a minimum wage for women, a system of arbitration between individual employees and management and employees’ rights to veto management decisions and determine their own work conditions. We, too, can resolve the inherent conflict between doing good and doing well. We must always take care of those underneath us, because while social justice opposes systems of oppression, mitigating systems of oppression is important as well. Our common humanity demands that we measure our moral worth by the ways in which we treat those whose destinies are in our hands. “Politically,” Brandeis once said, “the American workingman is free—so far as law can make him so. But is he really free? Can any man be really free who is constantly in danger of becoming dependent ... for his subsistence upon somebody and something else than his own exertion and conduct?” Louis Brandeis defined his career by working to ensure the strength of democracy in the face of the new industrial system of the late 19th and 20th centuries. In the dawn of a new era, the challenges to ensuring a democratic polity still exist, albeit in newer guises. Like Brandeis, we must champion freedom from a tendency to make ideological enemies and remember that “men are not free while financially dependent upon the will of other individuals.” But let’s toss aside politics. Let’s toss aside big issues of state, country, policy and economy. Freedom, too, involves remembering to make time for family and to free oneself from duty and obligation enough to stroll in the park. Look. It’s a staple of commencement addresses to urge you both to follow your dreams and remember to contribute to your community. It is easy to tell recently minted college graduates to make sure they act as public citizens. Too easy. Brandeis built up his law practice before he started getting tangled up with his “Public Franchise League.” Too often we forget that if we don’t look out for ourselves, no one will. Too often we forget to live the change we want to see, perhaps working long and hard hours so that others may have a better life. That’s great. But remember, you’re not doing anyone favors when you grind yourself down in the quest to hopefully lift others up. Inside each of us is a dancing star, a shining soul straining to enjoy the wonders of the universe. In your journeys in life, remember to let it out sometime.

OP-BOX Quote of the Week “You live in the world’s oldest constitutional democracy and democracy is not a spectator sport. ... This democracy is a full-contact participatory engagement. You must get into the arena.” —-Dr. Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark, N.J. in his address to graduates Sunday. (See News, page 5)

Brandeis Talks Back What are your thoughts on graduating from Brandeis?

BONNIE RONISH ’09 “I’m happy to be graduating.”

SANCHITA GHOSH ’09 “In the last few months, Brandeis has given me a lot. I’m very sad to leave.”

JENN BARENBAUM ’09 “Most terrifying moment of my life.”

BRIAN BOTNICK ’09 “I’m glad, because it will give me more time to focus on my hip hop.”


THE JUSTICE

READER COMMENTARY Put opinions aside, and hear Ayers out To the Editor: Justice Louis Brandeis made his reputation on the idea that in a democracy, the remedy for bad speech is more speech. A significant portion of the Brandeis University community seems to forget this foundational formula for the basis of a free society every time someone with whom they disagree is invited to speak on campus. But further, Brandeis University was at the very center of the racial-cultural agon of the ’60s. American radicalism of the Weather Underground variety had its roots in the questing, dialectical, rebellious, guilt-ridden, grandiose, love-besotted, principled and idea-philic Jewish left that gave Brandeis its soul. Katherine Anne Power came from us. This is our own American pastoral. Silence it? Reduce Ayers to the discredited Bushite epithet “terrorist”? We need to hear Ayers whether we agree with him or not. We need to debate Ayers and talk about him. But we cannot and should not prevent him from speaking any more than we can silence our own angry thoughts. —Todd Melnick ’84

Admins made poor decision on AMST To the Editor: Looking back on my years at Brandeis, I remember both the good and the bad. Unfortunately, a lot of the bad that sticks in my mind concerns the University’s administration and its inability to make responsible and well-received decisions. During my years, it was the Classical Studies department that Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe targeted, favoring the more politically correct track of East Asian Studies. Now, American Studies, one of Brandeis’ signature departments, faces radical changes at the hands of incompetent leadership. Am I surprised? No. I do believe, however, that the students benefiting from such a wonderful program can rise up and educate the ignorant Adam Jaffe and the out-of-touch Jehuda Reinharz on the value of AMST and the rich contributions that the department has made to the lives and continuing educations of its alumni. Brandeis has a strange setup when it comes to what is labeled “political science” at most other high-caliber institutions. We have a Politics department, an American Studies department and a History department. Together, these three departments, though distinct and valuable alone, look more like the typical academic polisci setup. The beauty of the system, however, is that each department enables students to dive much deeper into their personal areas of most passionate interest. AMST professors such as Jacob “Jerry” Cohen, Steve Whitfield and Brian Donahue all touched my education in invaluable ways. Others in the department guided my now-wife through the major and helped her create a second independent major that fit her utmost passion. Now in the name of a few dollars that Jaffe and Reinharz (and yes, the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee) want to save, they make yet another rash and panicked decision—first the Rose Art Museum, and now academics intricate to the quality of credentials handed out each May. The AMST faculty is not only made up of published scholars. It is made up of accessible, grounded and simply invaluable teachers of school and teachers of life. Brandeisians of all time—past, present and future—cannot allow the trend of irresponsible leadership that has prevailed under Jehuda Reinharz to continue. Yes, he is a fantastic fundraiser, but the Brandeis community needs responsible, farsighted and in-touch leadership before it needs money. Financial stability is important, but it is time for feel-good leadership and rash, thoughtless decision-making to exit. To a Brandeis strong in its academic principles and mission—not just in its operating accounts! —Jason Levine ’06

Admins used poor judgment for Rose In response to your feature “A history of controversy” (April 28 issue): Ms. Fineman has written an excellent article highlighting the importance of an honest, open and interactive process when a transition of a great institutional resource is under consideration and the unique educational opportunities of a bona fide art museum on campus. In contrast, the administration has exhibited the most incomprehensible and reprehensible constellation of behaviors from secretive deliberations to fraudulent and obfuscatory public responses. In light of a seriously depressed art market and a multiplicity of other options for funding Brandeis’ expansion, no one is fooled by this transparent if not criminal attempt to transfer the collection to the benefit of unnamed private sources. The result has been a destruction of donor confidence in Brandeis as a whole and an ongoing stain on the reputation and judgment of the faculty and trustees. —Dennis J. Solomon Cambridge, Mass.

Write to us

The Justice welcomes letters to the editor responding to published material. Please submit letters through our Web site at www.thejusticeonline.com. Anonymous submissions cannot be accepted. Letters should not exceed 300 words, and may be edited for space, style, grammar, spelling, libel and clarity, and must relate to material published in the Justice. Letters from off-campus sources should include location. The Justice does not print letters to the editor and op-ed 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 5 p.m.

TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

15

UJ Justice considers difficulties of RMS trial By JUDAH MARANS SPECIAL TO THE JUSTICE

It is with hesitation and a degree of uncertainty that I write this piece. In the judicial branch there should be no need to be politically defensive; all justification is intellectual in the form of written court decisions. However, in this particular situation, I feel compelled to explain in a medium other than our published opinions my perspective as an associate justice of the Union Judiciary that oversaw the case Klionsky and McElhaney v. Student Union. Let me be clear: I am not writing to espouse any particular view on reverse discrimination or even to reinforce my legal understanding of this case. That would be unprofessional and unnecessarily defensive. Our opinions, which are accessible to all and which I encourage every student involved in the trial to read, do so in a by-and-large academic manner. I am writing instead as someone with a passion for critical thinking and fair analysis committed to giving all sides, no matter how unpopular, a shot at explaining their points of view in an established, professional and procedural way—in a courtroom setting—without letting political leanings obstruct an unprejudiced examination of a claim’s merits. It is in that capacity that I reflect on experiences from the case. From the outset, when we granted certiorari to hear the case, we knew it was going to be a personal and impassioned issue for many. The respondents soon filed a motion to dismiss the case, which echoed a broad public sentiment that the UJ should not hear a case on the legality of Student Union racial minority positions, positions regarded by some as too crucial to the experience of minority students for a handful of elected students to abruptly dismantle. We met to analyze and evaluate new issues arising from the motion, taking very seriously and carefully considering all arguments. At the same time, two rooms down the hall of the Shapiro Campus Center, the Senate happened to hold an emergency meeting in response to the somewhat heated reaction to the news of the upcoming trial. During its meeting, the Senate passed an emergency resolution urging us to dismiss the case. And as the five of us privately deliberated, deeply focused and passionately engrossed in an intellectual exchange regarding the communal legal issues involved, a Student Union official walked into our room and personally hand-delivered a copy, printed just for us, of the Senate resolution, which he had signed. I can cite potent sayings from political philosophers regarding the utmost importance of judicial integrity and separation of powers in any democracy. But no need. Res ipsa loquitur—the matter speaks for itself. We were being nothing short of pressured from another political branch for nonlegal reasons to change our minds. Perhaps, from a social point of view, it indeed is best to leave this issue for town hall meetings or the constitutional review process, as was in fact the court’s final verdict. And let

REBECCA NEY/Justice File Photo

A COMPLICATED CASE: UJ justices discuss the issues of racial minority positions at the April 22 trial. there be no misunderstanding: I concurred with this ruling. But it is not up to the UJ to summarily and without trial make this decision. A mechanism must exist by which students can challenge something allegedly illegal other than subjecting the validity of their claims to a popular student review. And as then-Chief Justice Rachel Graham Kagan ’09 wrote in her opinion, “No mechanism other than the UJ currently exists within this university by which students may challenge a portion of the Constitution.” Even if we disagree about how the petitioners exercise their rights to challenge, surely we shouldn’t be asked to deny them those rights. Most, if not all, of those who signed the resolution urging dismissal of the case wanted the racial minority positions to remain intact. They did not sign on to the resolution purely to inform us of their understanding of appropriate jurisdictional foundations as per their views of jurisprudential theory and philosophy of the legal system in general. In reality, they didn’t want us to hear the case for fear of an outcome they didn’t want. They might as well have signed a resolution urging us to hold a trial but to then vote for the respondents without paying attention to any of the trial’s arguments or proceedings. I believe that even in the face of pressure from an emergency Senate resolution, influential Student Union officials, community leaders and others alike to dismiss the case, the petitioner’s voice deserves the chance to be heard in our adversarial system of justice regardless of the opinion it espouses. We made real efforts, especially given the sensitive nature of the case, to be as judicially professional and sincere as possible during the events leading up to the trial, during the trial itself, after it. But while most of the trial made me proud, I found certain parts somewhat disheartening. There were times during the peti-

tioners’ speeches when members of the audience booed and even yelled, telling them that they were wrong. Should just one side have to deal with such distracting social pressure? The last thing we wanted was to turn the trial into a public spectacle. I personally ran for the UJ so that I could be a leader exercising the skill of separating the political from the intellectual, the social drama from an idea’s true merits. Many involved with the case both directly and indirectly made it hard to do so. The Justice’s last editorial “UJ unfit for RMS discussion” (April 28 issue) seemed to condone the above-discussed kind of political behavior. It stated that we “should have dismissed [the case] on an ideological basis.” The idea that we “should dismiss a case abdicating [the court’s] role and denying the litigants their day in court for ideological reasons,” as one reader commented on the editorial online, “runs contrary to every tenet of republican governance and judicial impartiality that we profess to believe in.” It seems that a school so bent on social justice surely can disregard the integrity of our justice system. Everyone involved in this trial is, in my eyes, a model of one engaged in the pursuit of truth, everyone except those who haven’t seen the value in being able to hold it. I have been moved by the honesty, expressiveness and courage of both sides of this case. In that sense we—both those who are and are not racial minorities—can learn something from the petitioners. They courageously exercised the constitutional prerogative to express their legal hurt and seek relief through a system created by Brandeis students and for Brandeis students.

Judah Marans ’11 is currently the chief justice of the Union Judiciary.

Intergenerational activity benefits students and elders By A. ELI TUKACHINSKY JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Senility, sloth, dementia and dependency came first to the minds of Brandeis students musing over the concept of aging at the Waltham Group’s Generations Symposium held April 30. These historic stereotypes fortunately do not deter our elders from offering the college community advice for living active and healthy lives. Yet university administrations rarely attempt to remove the unhealthy contempt separating young and old. This should change. A branch of Brandeis’ Waltham Group dubbed Companions to Elders builds strong connections with the elderly population. Kudos to these volunteers for successfully relating to our forgotten generation of seniors. Through the Generations Symposium, they attempted to bridge the gap of unfamiliarity between students and seniors and initiate on-campus discourse. Speaker Prof. Margie Lachman (PSYC) posited that a classroom “dialogue across generations can be enriching for all.” In the spirit of campus and curricular change, it would benefit our school to integrate an eager body of elderly students. Although Companions to Elders maintains success in interacting with senior citizens, vol-

The opinions stated in the editorial(s) under the masthead on the opposing page represent the opinion of a majority of the voting members of the editorial board; all other articles, columns, comics and advertisements do not necessarily. For the Brandeis Talks Back feature on the opposite page, staff interview four randomly selected students each week and print only those four answers. 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 3,000 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, $50 per year.

Fine Print

unteer coordinator Audrey Lamb ’11 believes in greater possibilities than a moment to “relax and get a perspective … on finals week.” Lachman persistently reminds us that the “unrepresentative group” of senior citizens in nursing homes presents only one of the conceivable venues for association. Many religious denominations within Christianity, Judaism and Islam support intergenerational interactions in order to motivate both the young and the old. Within the workplace, mentorship programs employ senior staff to guide promising protégés with their own expertise and experience. Organizations such as Help Age Society encourage self-supporting elderly people within the U.S., Europe and Asia in pursuit of education and social service. If we learn from these examples, we can engage students by adding a dynamic group of active seniors to classrooms. If alumni and senior citizens from the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Brandeis’ program providing education for Waltham’s students of a different age group, voluntarily attended weekly sessions, they would not only contribute to campus diversity but also could be capable of changing our negative attitudes toward the elderly. Similar cooperation between intergenerational volunteers at Brandeis would be far from innovative: University of California, Berkeley

The Staff For information on joining the Justice, write to justeditor@ brandeis.edu

holds off-campus meetings with the elderly as part of their curriculum. Students learn communication and oral skills from experience, while the elderly stimulate their hungry minds. Many participant testimonies confirm the success of activities varying from lectures to student-led yoga classes. Essentially, campuses such as Berkeley’s give students access to a growing population that will be our clients, coworkers, and eventually peers. The global public’s average age increases exponentially due to the stubborn postponement of death through improved medication, geriatrics and research in gerontology. Our administration does little to encourage the study of the demographic changes caused by our aging parents and the baby boomers. We typically engage in age-segregated activities and goals, but many methods exist for our community to reap the benefits of a widespread and natural relationship with senior citizens. Judging from the Generations Symposium, undergraduates and elderly people hold common misconceptions about each other that cause natural disdain and avoidance. Liberated from the barriers of embedded ageism, we could discover that perseverance and ambition rather than senescence and decline are the hallmarks of the Boston area’s aged population.

Moran, Ruth Orbach Forum: Richard Alterbaum, Hillel Buechler, David Litvak, Zachary Matusheski, Ethan Mermelstein, Eileen Smolyar Arts: Daniel Baron, Wei-Huan Chen, Sean Fabery, Laura Gamble, Caroline Hughes, Rachel Klein, Emily Leifer, Wei Sum Li, Daniel Orkin, Alex Pagan, William-Bernard Reid-Varley, Shelley Shore, Ben Strassfeld Photography: Rachel Corke, Rebecca Ney, Adina Paretzky, STAFF Senior Writers: Miranda Neubauer, Jeffrey Michelle Strulovic Sports: Eli Harrington, Andrew Ng, Sean Petterson, Adam Rosen Pickette, Melissa Siegel Senior Photographers: Sara Brandenburg, Copy: Ariel Adams, Danielle Berger, Jacob Chatinover, Emily Kraus, Marissa Linzi, Danielle Myers, Lauren Paris David Brown, Hsiao Chi Pang Layout: Karen Hu, Kathryn Marable Senior Illustrator: A. Eli Tukachinsky News/Features Staff: Alana Abramson, Destiny Aquino, Sam Datlof, Irina Finkel, Reina Guerrero, Michelle Liberman, Greta

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS NEWS: Harry Shipps ARTS: Sarah Bayer ADS: Brad Stern


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TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

THE JUSTICE

FORUM Mayor Cory Booker achieves wonders for city of Newark David

LITVAK REALITY CHECK

A. ELI TUKACHINSKY/the Justice

Grey shows true American values Eileen

SMOLYAR YEAS AND NAYS

On April 30, Brandeis hosted two controversial figures. One was an award-winning American pornographic actress, while the other was a professor from the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Sasha Grey, the actress, came to Brandeis to promote her new film The Girlfriend Experience by notable director Steven Soderbergh. Bill Ayers, the professor, intended to discuss his rebellious and declarative past rather than his present academic standing. I chose to see Sasha Grey over Bill Ayers. The choice was easy. Even as Grey takes off her clothing, I believe that she will always be a figure of pride for this country. Grey started making adult films at a young age intending to create a new, sensual genre. Famous for outrageous and over-the-top scenarios in her movies, Grey is also known for declaring a feministic approach to pornography by putting more narrative and voice in the female role and adapting to a more plot-based graphic film. The audience for her premiere at the Edie and Lew Wasserman Cinematheque consisted of both men and women of

all ages. There was a calm acceptance of the young starlet. She truly sells her belief about how she would like to pioneer a fairer, safer and more plotbased genre of adult films. Although I definitely did not choose the same path in life as Grey did and I may furrow my brow when thinking of baring it all, what she does and envisions doing is completely and perfectly legal. The types of films Grey plans to change and replace currently give male viewers an inaccurate perspective on women and debase them sexually. But the bottom line is that pornography is legal and protected by the fundamental rights granted under freedom of expression in the First Amendment. With over 150 acclaimed movies and frequent promotions for getting tested for sexually transmitted infections and staying clean, Grey has no intention of breaking the law; rather, she endorses following it. Also granted under the First Amendment is the freedom to disagree and contest others’ opinions. Without this right, the United States would be an autocracy and not a democracy. Bill Ayers, however, is anything but proud of this country’s democracy. Ayers was invited to Brandeis to discuss his radical antiwar movements in the 1960s, when he rallied underground violent protestors. Safe and reasonable public protest is fine, but Ayers’ former

organization, the Weather Underground, conducted a campaign to bomb public buildings and is loathsome to our country. Ayers participated in the bombings of New York City Police Headquarters, the United States Capitol building and the Pentagon, all targets that Al Qaeda terrorists attacked on September 11, 2001. Ironically enough, although Ayers became a professor in an attempt to work in education reform, curriculum and instruction, he has since expressed numerous times that he “didn’t do enough” after setting the aforementioned bombs. On the grounds of Brandeis’ academic honesty and integrity, I do not believe there was any reason to listen to condemnation of America from a person who clearly resembles a terrorist. When discussing people whom Brandeis should invite to speak, think of the Nobel Prize winners and former presidents who can engage our generation in order to make our lives and country better. Even someone without notoriety but with a story, such as someone who has made positive change in our own community, would be a better and more spectacular speaker. Brandeis should show its excellence by striving for similar attributes in its speakers so that our time and attention is spent on being proud of the rights granted by this country rather than lamenting them.

When Cory Booker came into office as mayor of Newark, N.J. in July 2006, his job could not have been considered an easy one. A host of problems had long been eating away at the core of the city, with rampant crime and government corruption the two most visible and distressing among a host of related issues. Of course, Booker was only one man, and these problems wouldn’t disappear the night he assumed office. The previous mayor, Sharpe James, was mayor for a full two decades, and Booker has only been mayor for slightly less than three years. His achievements are particularly noteworthy in light of the comparatively short tenure of his mayorship and the considerable operational and historical obstacles to his goals. Newark’s tragedy has always been one of potential: It is the largest municipality in New Jersey and only 15 minutes from Manhattan. It should be viewed as a lower-cost suburban alternative to New York’s crowded and expensive urban character; it should be awash in economic enterprise and, one would hope, civic pride. But its unemployment and poverty are twice the national average, and its median family income is half the national average. Newark was labeled “the Most Dangerous City in the Nation” by Time magazine in 1996; its murder rate is significantly higher than nearby (and much maligned) New York City’s. Five of its past seven mayors have been indicted on criminal charges of corruption, including all three mayors preceding Booker. James’ chief of staff and police director were both jailed on corruption or corruption-related charges. Enter Cory Booker. Booker was educated at the University of Oxford in England and at Yale University; while at Oxford, he became president of the L’Chaim Society, a group founded by nowcelebrity Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, as a testament to his commitment to ending tensions between Jews and African Americans. He was elected to Newark’s City Council in 1998 and immediately set about his own particular brand of visible activism for the sake of his constituency. He went on a 10-day hunger strike in 1999, living on the street in areas known for blatantly public drug dealing. Many of his reformist proposals were shot down by the city’s council by votes of 8 to 1.

Booker was nothing if not persistent. He ran for mayor in 2002, losing to James after a campaign challenging his faith (on the evidence of his involvement in L’Chaim while at Oxford), his suburban background and his African-American identity (despite James himself being AfricanAmerican), but the margin was close enough that James opted to run for the New Jersey Senate in 2006. Booker subsequently won 70 percent of the vote and got to work fast. Newark’s police department didn’t even include a narcotics department until Booker took office, and he brought in a top New York Police Department officer, Garry McCarthy, to restructure and lead the new department in Newark. Crime is really the sine qua non of Newark’s problems, and Booker has instituted a zero-tolerance policy to help combat it. In light of endemic ineptitude or historical corruption within various sectors of the city government, Booker has sought outside reformers to aid in reviving the city regardless of their racial background. He has otherwise simply fired city employees, for example, in the Newark Housing Authority, which had become notorious for political cronyism and nepotism. Booker has sought to reform Newark’s education system as well, although he has had less control there given the state government’s intervention in Newark’s schools following the state Education Department’s 1994 report. But here, too, he has gone against the grain, challenging entrenched (if well-intentioned) groups like teachers’ unions and seeking to close or restructure failing schools. In the past, Booker has supported bipartisan efforts to expand school choice, which, even if untested, were generally shunned outright without being given an opportunity to succeed. The importance of Booker’s work is not lost on others. President Barack Obama proposed an Office of Urban Policy during his candidacy that would have helped to target federal aid to cities effectively and aimed to improve job creation and economic development. Obama created a similar Office of Urban Affairs in February to achieve nearly the same purpose. It is not unreasonable to think that Obama, Booker’s friend, has taken note of the mayor’s progress and continuing efforts. His push to renew the urban pride of Newark’s past and bring his city back to its feet are laudable, and Newark’s success may depend on his ability to deliver. His commitment bodes well for his city’s future.

In these troubling times, don’t lose sight of those who helped keep Brandeis great Zachary

MATUSHESKI COMMENT IS FREE

This spring, Brandeis had quite a semester. With the closing of the Rose Art Museum and many budget problems, it is hard to see anything truly positive in all that happened this year. However, beneath the surface, there have been good things to talk about. Selfless people have loyally aided Brandeis in this difficult semester. With so many negative stories in the press, it is easy to forget these great people. Their contributions are strong votes of confidence in uncertain times, something this University community desperately needs and should remember as it takes stock of this semester. On March 3, 2009, the Justice reported that an anonymous donor offered a donation to cover the operating fees for the Rose Art Museum. It was reported as a “substantial, low-six-fig-

ure gift” according to Joe Baerlein of Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications, Inc. Here was a much-overlooked nugget of good news as Brandeis continued to struggle over the undying Rose Art Museum issue from January. More recent stories came from our own community. The golf team raised the $22,000 necessary to fund its continuation for another season from 80 donors. With donations at around $500 a pop, people rallied around the team to keep it afloat. Other universities have not been as lucky. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology cut eight varsity teams, golf included. Quinnipiac University also cut its golf program. Pepperdine University, the University at Northern Iowa, the University of Vermont and Western Washington University cut nongolf athletic teams. Whether these teams will weather the storm as Brandeis’ golf team has is yet to be seen. In the same issue as the golf team success story, the April 7 edition of the Justice reported that a $1 million gift had been given to the University for

scholarships. Half of that amount will be given to current and future students in the humanities and fine arts. The other half will be added to the endowment. This good news was buried under the larger negative stories about the “resumption of hearing of grievances” with the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee report, an influential editorial on need-based acceptance policies and continuing issues with the Rose controversy. What has been most amazing about this year is the way that the community has come together. Prof. William Flesch (ENG) caught the Boston Globe’s attention after he convinced one-third of the faculty to donate one percent of their salaries to save colleagues’ jobs. He and his compatriots raised $120,000, enough to keep two or three jobs. That might not sound like much, but it’s significant for those two or three employees. The faculty worked with the administration to bridge the budget gap. These educators were never silent observers of the drastic CARS propos-

al or the struggles over the Rose. For example, on April 23 the faculty passed a resolution against recommendations to reorganize the African and AfroAmerican Studies department, the American Studies department and the Classical Studies department as interdepartmental programs. Although we as students do not know who voted in which direction, the Justice reported the following week that members of departments not directly affected by the proposal became involved. Members of the History and Sociology departments alike went on record critiquing the CARS proposal. Our professors are not parochial in their view of their responsibilities; their activity with the CARS proposal reflects commitment to the University as a whole beyond their respective departments. Faculty members have been involved in the Rose controversy as well. On April 7, the Justice reported that 64 faculty gathered to protest the decision to close the Rose. Before that campaign, 22 faculty members cosigned a letter urging Provost Marty Krauss and the Committee on the

Future of the Rose Art Museum to “recommend to the administration that, at a minimum, the Rose Art Museum should stay open as a public art museum, at its current level of professional staffing and continuing to mount high-quality exhibitions, until at least June 30, 2010.” Brandeis professors believe in not just their careers but also Brandeis’ commitment to the humanities and fine arts. There has been a lot of bad news this year. The CARS committee report been has been met with wails from the departments it originally proposed to liquefy. Students have voiced concerns about how increasing the number of acceptances will affect the value of their degrees. Uncertainty can be found just by reading the “Op-Boxes” in most issues of the Justice this semester. It would be easy to write off this semester as a bad one for Brandeis. But it’s clear that Brandeis loyalists are legion. We cannot close this semester without noticing the acts of Brandeis’ friends. They make the story of this semester, with all its troubling stories, truly complete.


THE JUSTICE

TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

17

SPORTS OUTDOOR TRACK

Women earn 17th place while men take 51st place at ECACs ■ Both teams had strong

performances in the 1,500meter run at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships last Friday. By IAN CUTLER JUSTICE EDITOR

Both the women’s and men’s outdoor track teams competed at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Championships in Springfield, Mass. last Friday. The men’s team finished in a four-way tie for 51st place of 56 teams with two points, focusing more on improving individual performances than team achievement due to its small size and lack of depth. The women’s team, however, had a few more bright spots, taking 17th place out of 56 teams with 13 points while also trying to build upon its members’ personal scores. Moravian College won both the men’s and women’s meets, with 64.50 and 67 points, respectively. On the women’s side, the team’s best race of the meet came in 1,500-meter run, where Beth Pisarik ’10 turned in a second-place performance at 4 minutes, 36.22 seconds, almost six full seconds behind the first-place winner, junior Jacqui Wentz of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Still, Pisarik was able to score eight of the Judges’ 13 points with her impressive finish. Joining Pisarik with top finishes in the 1,500-meter run were Grayce Selig ’11, Marie Lemay ’11 and Erin Bisceglia ’12, all of whom finished in the top 14 of the event. Selig was sixth with a time of 4:41.96, recording three points for the Judges, while Lemay was ninth at 4:43.31, one slot shy of bringing in points for her team. Bisceglia took 13th place in the race with a time of 4:54.00. “They’re so strong. They’re a great

core group that worked together and really hard throughout the season to get to where they were,” runner Katy Agule ’09 said. Agule was responsible for the Judges’ two remaining points on the day. She earned them by taking seventh place in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 11:27.87. Agule finished almost 45 seconds behind the event’s winner, Ursinus College senior Christa Johnson, who turned in a 10:45.92 race. Agule improved her time in the event by a full 13 seconds from her last run at the Open New England Championships in Amherst, Mass. May 8, where she finished 19th with a time of 11:41.14. However, her time last weekend was still not as impressive as the finishes she had earlier in the season at the New England Division III Championships May 1 or the University Athletic Association Championships April 26. Agule was second at the UAA championships with a time of 11:25.79 but recorded her best time of the season in the event at the New England Division III Championships, where she finished third with a time of 11:15.15. “Honestly I was kind of disappointed with my race because I was hoping to run faster,” Agule said. “I was pretty tired with finals and end-ofthe-semester things like that, so I definitely think that was a factor. I felt much better the week before, so that was good.” Lucia Capano ’12 gained experience in her rookie campaign as the Judges’ only jumper to compete at the ECAC Championships. She was 16th in the long jump and 14th in the triple jump with leaps of 4.85 meters and 10.87 meters, respectively. On the men’s side, the team also stockpiled its runners in the 1,500meter run but were not as successful as the women’s team in recording high finishes and tallying team points. Though the team had three runners

end up in the top 10 of the event, it came away with only two points for the entire day. Mike Stone ’09 had the best finish, taking seventh place with a time of 3:59.51, recording the Judges’ only two points. Classmate Matt Jennings ’09 was ninth in the event with a time of 4:01.27, while Chris Brown ’12 was just one second behind him in 10th place at 4:02.28. Stone, Jennings and Brown were the only men’s runners to place in any event. “It was a good meet,” Stone said. “We highlighted our strength in the 1,500 on both sides.” The NCAA Division III Outdoor Track Championships will be held at Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio starting Thursday and lasting through Saturday. The Judges will send at least one runner, Paul Norton ’11, to the National Championships but may also send Pisarik. Pisarik is waiting to hear from the NCAA if she will be able to compete because the NCAA is not yet sure how many runners it will be able to invite to the National Championships. Stone said Pisarik should hear from the NCAA this week. Norton, the men’s top runner, will race in the 10-kilometer run, an event that Stone said he could have done very well in at the ECAC Championships had he not sat out last Friday’s meet to rest for the NCAAs. “[Norton going to NCAAs] is a significant event for our team,” Stone said. “[Norton] could’ve won the [10kilometer run or the 5-kilometer run last] weekend definitely, but he was preparing for Nationals.” Stone also said that Norton’s teammates are excited to see him compete on the national stage. “[Norton has] put a lot of hard work in and is totally committed, and this will be a great moment for him,” Stone said. “Everyone’s happy to see him go, and this is just the start for him. He’s still improving.”

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/Justice File Photo

RUNNING STRONG: Kate Henry ’09 competes at an indoor track tournament Jan. 24.



THE JUSTICE

TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

19

Four NCAA Tournaments, four friendships

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF ADAM LEVIN

WINNING CLASS: From left, women’s basketball head coach Carol Simon and seniors, guard Lauren Goyette and forwards Lauren Orlando, Cassidy Dadaos and Amanda Wells, pose at Red Auerbach Arena this year. By MELISSA SIEGEL JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER

The Brandeis women’s basketball seniors knew early in their college careers that they shared a special bond that even extended to the injuries they endured during their rookie season. After senior forward and captain Cassidy Dadaos ’09 discovered a stress fracture in her foot in December four years ago, she was forced to wear a boot for several months while it healed. Just as Dadaos was ready to get back onto the court the following spring, classmate and teammate guard Lauren Goyette ’09 suffered the same injury. “It was actually really funny. The minute she got out of her boot, I had a stress fracture in my foot, so she passed it down [to me],” Goyette said. “It’s another bond that we share,” Dadaos added, laughing. The four seniors—starting forwards Dadaos and Lauren Orlando ’09, reserve forward Amanda Wells ’09 and Goyette—have strengthened that bond over the past four years and will graduate as the first women’s basketball class in Brandeis history to make the NCAA Division III Tournament for four straight seasons, going 79-28 in that span. This season, the team made

its deepest run in the NCAA Tournament in the school’s history, when its historic run came to an end just one game away from the Final Four in the Round of 8, after a loss to Amherst College March 14. The women’s basketball team will best remember the Class of 2009 players for the close connection they shared with each other. The four athletes grew close during their rookie year and stayed in touch over the summer. Wells and Orlando roomed together their sophomore season, and the four women have shared a suite for the past two years. They also have had many classes together over the years. “It’s a miracle we don’t hate each other,” Dadaos joked. As rookies, together they made the same mistakes on the court. The foursome recalled one experience during their rookie season at the first practice the day after Thanksgiving. “Our first practice after Thanksgiving, you don’t know what to expect, and you eat a huge meal, and then you come and you’re sprinting the next day,” Orlando said with the others laughing around her. “[Coach Carol Simon] had four trash bags [on the floor]. You don’t know as a freshman not to eat a lot during Thanksgiving meals.” While the four athletes have grown

closer on and off the court, they have also grown individually throughout their time at Brandeis. While Goyette missed the entire season this year with arthritis and a herniated disk in her back, she was optimistic about the team’s progress and contributed with extra advice for her teammates from the sidelines. “[Goyette is] probably the most unselfish person,” Dadaos said. “I think we all knew that she was really clearly upset [about being injured] but she never let it affect any of us or let it show. She would have her time to be upset, but it was never around the team.” Meanwhile, Wells evolved into a more vocal leader on the court, Simon said. “[Wells] probably matured most just as a person and [with her] personality,” Simon said. “She got her nickname in freshman year—Bob— because she was like Silent Bob: She never spoke. [She matured] this year as a leader, one who was a vocal leader, not just a leader by example. She just improved tremendously in that sense.” Simon also mentioned how much Dadaos and Orlando improved their games throughout their time at Brandeis. “Her game, her skills got better,”

The four seniors who made Judges history Simon said of Orlando. “Each year, she got stronger, she became more of a leader throughout the years. [Dadaos], talentwise, improved immensely from her freshman [to] senior years.” While each of the four players have their own recruiting stories and reasons for attending Brandeis, Dadaos’ journey was a bit unorthodox. Coming from a mediocre high school basketball team in Healdsburg, Calif., where she was a two-year captain, Dadaos wanted to play for a team that took basketball more seriously and would let her play in big games. She wanted to play at Brandeis so badly, she said, that she wrote Simon a letter asking the coach to give her a chance. “I actually recruited Brandeis,” Dadaos said. “I kind of found them and came and met the team. … I wanted to be on the East Coast and near a big city, and in a tough conference where I got to travel.” The decision paid off for all four players, as they led the most successful women’s basketball team in school history this season. Dadaos averaged

5.5 points per game and had 380 rebounds over her career despite missing most of her rookie season with the foot injury. Orlando contributed both offensively and defensively as a starter with 915 points and 56 steals in four seasons. Wells was a key bench contributor all four seasons and finished her career with 303 rebounds and 64 steals. Goyette averaged 6.4 minutes per game in 35 games in her first three seasons before having her career cut short due to her back injury. She had eight steals her junior year, despite appearing in just nine games. Regardless of the 79 wins in four years, the four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances or even the best postseason run in Brandeis history, what will ultimately matter to these four women are the off-the-court memories they have formed as a team. “We’re not going to remember if we beat [the University of] Chicago at home junior year,” Dadaos said. “We’ll remember [Goyette] running into a glass door [over spring break].”

Hattenbach leaves a lasting impression on his team By ANDREW NG JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Aaron Hattenbach ’09 showed some promise on the golf course during his first two years at Brandeis. In 11 events he had two top-20 finishes and had posted the two best average scores of his four-year career. While Hattenbach’s scores have declined in the last two seasons, he has certainly had more to focus on, particularly this past year. “I’ve been all over the place. I’m not thrilled about my performance these past two years, but the experience trumps any individual achievements I could have had,” he said. “It was great to play great golf during my first two years, but it’s tough to manage your golf game when you have a lot of other responsibilities on the side. As I started to look more at the bigger picture, it became more difficult to score well.” This season, after the University suspended the varsity golf program for the 2009 to 2010 season to fill a projected $10 million gap in the fiscal 2009 operating budget, the bigger picture became saving the varsity golf team for one more year. Hattenbach led the golf team’s fundraising effort, which produced $22,000 from the time members of the team learned of the University’s intention to cut the golf program in

Varsity golf to last one more year February to early April, an amount just enough to keep the team at the varsity level next year. The rest of golf team rallied behind Hattenbach’s positive attitude and relentless effort as they reached out to prospective donors ranging from friends and family to former team members and other alumni. In the University’s initial plan, Director of Athletics Sheryl Sousa ’90 said, the golf program, which consisted of only nine members, would be terminated as a varsity sport and changed into a club sport because of the minimal damage such a transition would do to athletic staffing compared to the suspension of another varsity sport. Coach Bill Shipman, who also coaches the fencing team, said that members of the golf team did not want to be demoted to a lower status. “This group of players has seen the team improve a lot. We’ve gone from one of the weaker teams in New England to a competitive team at the upper-middle level of New England golf,” Shipman said. “While the team can still play some golf as a club team, it’s just not same level of competition or the same goals. It would be a poor

substitute for the players who are on the team now.” As a club team, the golf team would be unable to compete in the University Athletic Association Championships or the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III New England Regionals, where the team has performed progressively better over the last few years. “With all of the bad news around campus, we wanted to keep the status we had. Club sports are not the same as a varsity sport. There is a seriousness associated with varsity athletics,” golfer Lee Bloom ’10 said. “It’s nice to be associated with the school, and we get to represent the school and compete against other schools under the school’s varsity name.” Team members praised Hattenbach’s ability to motivate the team in its effort to save the program. “[Hattenbach] was very enthusiastic from the beginning. He was always positive that we would raise the money. Even when others were a little doubtful, he was always there to boost our morale,” Bloom said. But Hattenbach’s mission extended even beyond a fight for the continuation of a Brandeis team that he and so

many others before him cherished. He explained that during his first few years on the team, members played into golf’s individualistic nature off the course and did not share strong personal connections like other varsity teams outside of their athletic arena. Through the fundraising effort, Hattenbach said, he felt he could change the culture of the team he was leaving behind. “During my freshmen year, our captains were generally on their own and [didn’t] make the underclassmen feel included. They never really called us up to hang out or do anything, but this team has taken a turn,” said Hattenbach. “Everyone on the team hangs out together regardless of their class [year].” Though this past semester was his last at Brandeis, Hattenbach still remained the key organizer and leader in the efforts to save the varsity program. “The reason I helped with this fundraising effort was because I had a great four-year experience as a member of the golf team. It made a huge difference in my college experience, and I want them to have the same experience I’ve had,” he said. “I’m very close

with [Bloom], [Charles Sacks] ’11, [Aaron Cusato] ’12 and the other guys on the team, and I want to see them finish off their collegiate careers, especially [Bloom], who had a great fall season.” Now, the team has a new mission at hand: continuing its fundraising efforts to get the Hattenbach team endowed for a longer period. The University estimates that the team would have to raise anywhere from $300,000 to $400,000 to do so. Fellow golf team members say that Hattenbach played a huge role in the process of saving the team and that his efforts laid the foundation for the rest of the team to build upon in order to continue as a varsity program beyond next season. “It means a lot to me that [Hattenbach] cares,” Sacks said. “It means that I have to take this on after he graduates to work even harder to create the [endowment]. He put the pressure on us to keep it going.”

—Ian Cutler contributed reporting


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TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

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THE JUSTICE

Sports 2008-2009

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Angela Chui ’12

Judges’ Fall, winter and spring seasons in photos

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/ Justice File Photo

■ The swimmer broke 11 school records this season, including six individual records and five relay records. If rookie Angela Chui ’12 continues to break Brandeis swimming and diving records at her current pace, she will have rewritten the entire record book by the end of her junior year. Chui capped a historic rookie season by setting 11 school records, six individual and five relay records, surpassing Hannah Johnson ’02 as the program’s alltime record holder. Johnson set 10 records in her career at Brandeis. “Honestly, if we trained [Chui] for other events, I believe she could break those school records as well,” Coach Jim Zotz said. Zotz offered high praise for the rookie sensation. “She’s extremely coachable [and] humble; her teammates all just really love her because she’s very unassuming. She doesn’t necessarily call any attention to herself, and she’s extremely versatile,” he said. Chui was recruited from the Peddie School in Hightstown, N.J., a boarding school with a nationally acclaimed swimming program. Around the team, Chui is known as a hard worker who excels in the pool and the classroom. Despite her personal success as an athlete, Chui’s focus has always been on the team. “I’m actually really happy overall with my achievements [and] the team’s achievements. Everyone did so well [considering that] we had to swim off campus and everything,” she said. [see Swim story p. 23]. Chui set individual records in the 50-yard backstroke (28.83 seconds), 100-yard backstroke (59.92 seconds), 200-yard backstroke (2:8.05 ), 200 –yard individual medley (2:09.38) and the 400-yard individual medley (4:33.24). Captain Rachel Nadas ’09 attributed Chui’s succes to her natural ability as well as her hard

work in practices. “She definitely has the natural talent, which helps her out, but I think more than that is just her work ethic, and she really pushes herself to be the best she can.” In the relay events, Chui teamed up with Hollis Viray ’10, Siobhan Lyons ’10 and Julia Derk ’12 to shatter all five Brandeis relay race records this season. The four swimmers combined to set records in the 200-yard medley relay (1:52.25), 400-yard medley relay (4:02.25), 200-yard freestyle relay (1:41.60), 400-yard freestyle relay (3:41.28) and 800-yard freestyle relay (8:07.35). Chui is the leadoff swimmer in all of the relay races, and the squad often relies on her to get off to a fast start to give her teammates momentum. “[She] sets the tone for the us,” Viray said. “When she would dive in there and we’d be out in front, it gives you a sense of adrenaline and an extra excitement because you want to keep the lead for your team and you’re already ahead.” Chui was a two-time University Athletic Association Athlete of the Week winner; she received awards on Nov. 17, 2008, and March 2 of this year. “I never thought I’d get [the award] twice. … When I got it the first time, I was very excited, but then when I got it the second time, I was in shock,” Chui said. According to Zotz, Chui will also be eligible to become an Honorable Mention Academic AllAmerican if she maintains her current grade point average. When asked where Chui ranks among all of the swimmers Zotz has coached at Brandeis over his 31-year tenure, he answered without any hesitation, “Without a doubt, she’s in the top three. There’s no question about that.”

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/Justice File Photo

SEASONAL PHOTOS: Above, men’s soccer midfielder Kyle Gross ’10, right, looks to gain possession of the ball against Carnegie Mellon University in a 2-1 loss Nov. 2. Below left, pitcher Emily Vaillette ’10 throws a no-hitter at home against Framingham State College April 2 in the Judges’ 6-0 victory. Below right, guard Jessica Chapin ’10 glides to the basket in the women’s basketball team’s 62-49 win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament over Western Connecticut State University.

—Adam Rosen HSIAO CHI PANG/Justice File Photo

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/Justice File Photo


THE JUSTICE

TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

21

Year in Review An overview of Brandeis sports and highlights from each of the three seasons SPORTS PHOTO OF THE YEAR

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/ Justice File Photo

Monster Rebound Men’s basketball forward Terrell Hollins ’10 is pulled away from a loose ball in the Judges’ 69-57 win over then-No. 14 Carnegie Mellon University Jan. 11.

Judging numbers 98

career points for men’s soccer forward Ben Premo ’09, placing him fifth all-time on the Brandeis scorers list. Premo finished his career with 38 goals and 22 assists despite a leg injury limiting his play his junior year.

1,595

career points for men’s basketball forward Steve DeLuca (GRAD). DeLuca finishes his career as the Judges’ fifth alltime leading scorer.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Sean O’Hare ’12 ■ The first-year athlete was a two-sport star at two key positions for both the men’s soccer team and the baseball team this season. O’Hare will play only baseball next year. It takes a special kind of athlete to start on a varsity team as a rookie. To start and contribute is even more impressive. But Sean O’Hare ’12 has exceeded both those accomplishments. O’Hare came onto the Brandeis Athletics scene as a two-sport star, starting in net for the men’s soccer team in the fall and as shortstop and center fielder for the baseball team in the spring. “In my 36 years of coaching [I’ve seen] some very good athletes here. Sean O’Hare is already one of the top four or five that I’ve ever seen,” men’s soccer coach Mike Coven said. In the fall, O’Hare started the soccer season, splitting time with Taylor Bracken ’10 as the team’s primary goalkeeper, but earned the starting job in the fourth game of the season against Babson College. By season’s end, he logged over 1,000 minutes in goal and started in 10 games, leading the team with 52 saves. O’Hare has had even more success this spring. Playing two of the most athletically demanding positions, shortstop and center field, O’Hare started all but two games and finished the season with an even .300 batting average while finishing second on the team with 26 RBIs and third on the team with 42 hits. Aside from his ability to excel at two positions, O’Hare led the team with 28 runs scored and nine stolen bases with a perfect stolen base percentage. “He was a big get for us; we thought of him as a shortstop and outfielder, and he’s a tremendous athlete,” assistant baseball coach Brian Lambert ’97 said. “Especially in the mental aspect of the game, he only needs to see or hear something once, and he figures it out.” O’Hare, a native of Southampton, Mass., was initially recruited by Coven to play soccer, but word of his two-sport potential got out fast. “I still know a lot of people in the area, and when I mentioned O’Hare’s name, people would tell me what a great baseball player he was,” Coven said. Coven informed Lambert and baseball head coach Pete Varney, who also had their eye on O’Hare. “We had definitely seen him [before Coven told us about him], and we knew he was a two-sport athlete and a great student, so Brandeis seemed like a great fit for him,” Lambert said. O’Hare said the attention he received from both coaching staffs and the academic standards at Brandeis drew him to the school. “The chance to play two sports was important, but Brandeis also

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

has such an outstanding academic reputation,” O’Hare said. O’Hare has not yet picked a major but said that he intends to study Computer Science, which did not surprise his teammates. “Besides being obviously a very good athlete, he’s definitely focused and has his head screwed on straight,” baseball team captain and outfielder Mike Alfego ’09 said. Both sports benefit from O’Hare’s athletic skill set, as his hand-eye coordination and combination of quickness and agility allow him to alternate acrobatic saves between the pipes with diving catches out on the diamond. Coven explained how these skills crossed over in both sports. “Particularly as a shortstop, [playing goalie requires] the same kind of lateral mobility and hands that work together, and [O’Hare] has hands like glue,” Coven said. Although playing two sports is not a new challenge for him, O’Hare said he feels he has to give up one of them to achieve his full potential. O’Hare will play only baseball next year; playing both sports forced him to be at an uncomfortable playing weight, he

said. Still, O’Hare stressed that the 20 hours of practice per week that both teams require during their respective seasons was never a problem. “I’ve never played baseball in the fall before—it’s always been that I played soccer in the fall and winter and baseball during the spring and summer—so that was actually pretty normal for me,” he said. Despite his success, O’Hare remains humble, saying the opportunity to spend time with teammates on both teams was the most worthwhile experience of his rookie year. “Being able to spend time with two great groups of guys [has been the most rewarding]. It was great to be welcomed in and put on the same level with everyone else, especially to have the older guys on both teams as leaders and to see how those guys go about their business,” O’Hare said. “I can’t imagine college life without being on a team, and I’ve been lucky enough to play for two special ones.”

—Eli Harrington

2

11

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consecutive Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships for the women’s soccer team after the Judges beat the University of New England 3-1 in the final match of the tournament Nov. 16, 2008.

appearance in the Sectional Finals of the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Tournament for the women’s basketball team in program history, an accomplishment achieved this season after the Judges after also hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.

school records broken by swimmer Angela Chui ’12. Chui broke six individual marks this season and was a part of the relay team that broke all five of Brandeis’ relay records.

three-point fieldgoal percentage for men’s basketball guard Kevin Olson ’09 this season. Olson had the best success rate in all of college basketball, including players from Division I and Division II schools.

appearances for jumper Anat Ben Nun ’09 in the NCAA Division III Indoor Track National Championships in her four seasons at Brandeis. Ben Nun competed in the triple jump at the NCAAs in her rookie, sophomore and senior seasons.

home wins for the volleyball team compared to only three home losses over the last three seasons. The Judges were 12-2 at Red Auerbach Arena this season.


Pick up a free issue of the Justice Residence quads Shapiro Campus Center Library Usdan Student Center Rabb steps Science quad

Attention: Sports Fanatics

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THE JUSTICE

TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

23

SPORTS UNFAMILIAR TERRITORY

DELUCA: The journey of a top-tier player CONTINUED FROM 24

Away from home HSIAO CHI PANG/Justice File Photo

TRAINING: Members of the swimming and diving team practice at Bentley College due to the closing of the Linsey pool last fall.

The team that continues to tread By SEAN PETTERSON JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

At 5 a.m. in the middle of winter, members of the Brandeis swimming and diving team wake up for an early-morning practice. By 5:45, they’re ready to board a van headed for Regis College, Bentley College, Babson College or Wellesley College, depending on the day, to get time in the pool to prepare for their weekly meets. After the Linsey pool was closed Oct. 28 when the air-handling system that heats and ventilates the pool stopped working, the team was forced to adjust. “We didn’t have necessarily exactly the same schedule every week. It would depend on when we got pool times and … on what pool we were going to,” captain Rachel Nadas ’09 said. “It was a challenge, but we were all very committed and wanted to swim, … and we did what we could to make it happen.” Despite the Linsey pool’s closure, this year, the men’s and women’s teams were able to produce one of the most successful seasons in school history. Though the men’s team had a dualmeet record of 4-5, it broke eight school records and sent one swimmer, Marc Eder ’12, to the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships for the first time since the Judges sent Matt Christian ’05 in 2005. The team placed 16th out of 23 teams at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships, the second-highest finish for Division III teams at the meet. The women’s team had a 6-3 dualmeet record and finished 13th out of 26 teams at the ECAC Championships, the best finish out of all Division III teams at the meet. The team broke an impressive 12 school records this season, including all five of the program’s relay event marks. Both teams won the tri-meet

Michael Zarilli Memorial Invitational early in the season as well. “I would say that 95 percent of the goals we wanted to achieve, we achieved,” head coach James Zotz said. A lack of depth plagued the men’s team dual-meet record. The team had no divers, which automatically put them 32 points behind its opponent in every meet. Still, the Judges rode James Liu ’10, Bobby Morse ’09, Aaron Bennett ’11 and Eder to a successful season. Zotz commented on the team’s diving situation. “It affects us in terms of scoring points,” he said. “Without any [divers], we were falling behind,” he said. One of the team’s biggest accomplishments, however, was sending Eder to the NCAA Championships. Eder competed in the 200-yard breaststroke, 100-yard breaststroke and 200-yard individual medley. He finished 47th of 49 in the 200yard individual medley, 27th out of 36 in the 200-yard breaststroke and 26th out of 42 in the 100-yard breaststroke. Despite all his success, Eder still hopes to improve his skills. “I’m nowhere near where I want to be as a swimmer,” Eder said. “I don’t think we have had a [University Athletic Association] champion at Brandeis in a long time, and I would like to win an event at the UAAs.” The men’s team graduates only two seniors (Morse and Mike Rubin), and Jesse Herschman ’10 and Alex Cemaj ’10 will return after studying abroad this past semester. The women’s team benefited from an impressive rookie swimmer, Angela Chui ’12, who accounted for 11 of the 12 school records broken by the team this season. Hollis Viray ’10 holds the 12th record broken this season in the 200-yard breaststroke. Chui broke six individual records in freestyle, backstroke and individ-

ual medley events and was a member of the relay team that broke all five of the team’s relay marks. The quartet was made up of Chui, Viray, Siobhan Lyons ’10 and Julia Derk ’12, all of whom will return next season. As a team, the Judges came through in the clutch, breaking eight of the 12 records this season at the ECAC Championships. Chui fell one space short from qualifying for the NCAA Championships, finishing 21st out of 20 available spots. Ironically, her 400-yard individual medley time at the ECAC Championships would have placed her 13th in the NCAA meet. “She is very consistent; she is very mentally tough,” Zotz said, “And I’m confident that she would have done equally well [as she did at the ECACs].” “We had a small group, but we had good depth,” Zotz added. “Overall, they swam great, they dove great, and it was a good year.” The University currently has no plans to rebuild the pool at an estimated cost of $10 to $12 million in light of the current financial crisis. The swimming and diving program will continue practicing at other schools through the 2009 to 2010 season, but currently the University has no plans to continue the program after that. With their successes in mind, the men’s and women’s teams can’t help but focus on their uncertain future. Members of the team have met with President Jehuda Reinharz and Director of Athletics Sheryl Sousa ’90 to discuss their fate, but as of now, nothing has changed. The team will be suspended upon the completion of the 2010 season. Zotz plans to work with the team, parents and alumni “to push forward on all fronts” to save the team and follow the golf team’s example to resurrect the program, [see story, p. 21]. The team only hopes it can manage to stay afloat.

guy. Meehan said he regarded DeLuca as not only one of the top players to come through Brandeis but as one of the top players in all of Division III through the last five years. “Everybody would take DeLuca—he’s that good,” Meehan said. “Before the injury, he was arguably the best player in the country; top five, no doubt.” After last season, DeLuca received his undergraduate degree and enrolled in a Master’s program at Brandeis in order to play out his additional year of eligibility after taking the medical redshirt. He spent the 2008 offseason rehabilitating from surgery he had last April on his lower back. He completed his comeback by leading the team with 15.4 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. The Judges started the season 0-3, and sitting at just 12-8 with five games left, DeLuca helped guide the team to a fivegame winning steak to close out the season, which cemented an NCAA Tournament bid for the third straight season. The team advanced to the second round of the tournament before losing to host school Franklin & Marshall College 65-63 in Lancaster, Pa. March 7. DeLuca said he felt coming back was the right decision whether the team made it to the postseason or not but said, “Making the tournament makes it that much more worthwhile.” Meehan said DeLuca was the type of player who could take total “control of the game,” pointing to his per-

formance down the stretch this season at then-13-1 Amherst Jan. 20, when DeLuca scored 12 of his 23 points in the final five minutes of play to help Brandeis turn a 55-48 lead into a commanding 73-58 win. “Everybody knew he was getting the ball, [but] it didn’t matter. They couldn’t stop him,” Meehan said. DeLuca’s ability to dominate games was the result of a more aggressive approach on the offensive end. When he first came to Brandeis, Meehan said DeLuca was almost “unselfish” to a fault. “I didn’t want to be a ball hog by any means,” DeLuca said. “But I kind of had to develop being more selfish in college. … The coaches had to stress that I needed to shoot the ball more. DeLuca was arguably the crown jewel in Meehan’s initial recruiting class. Along with fellow 2008 graduates Joe Coppens, Kwame GravesFulgham, Stephen Hill, Florian Rexhepi and John Saucier, he helped change the Brandeis men’s basketball program from a Division III bottomfeeder into a postseason mainstay. DeLuca finished his career as the fifth-most prolific scorer in team history with 1,595 total points. He is also among the career leaders in rebounds, blocked shots and steals. After five years at Brandeis, he is looking to extend his playing career in the professional ranks, possibly in Europe. “There were definitely pros and cons for [coming back] this year,” he said. “But I have no regrets.”

SOFTBALL: Judges fail to repeat CONTINUED FROM 24 ing error by Grimm in right field. The Judges are graduating only two seniors this year: third baseman Samantha Worth ’09 and outfielder Victoria Roomet ’09. Worth hit above .300 in her last three years at Brandeis, finishing fourth on the team this year with a .311 average. She also had two hits and scored

two runs in the elimination-game victory over Plymouth State. After recording a batting average of under .200 in her first two seasons, Roomet hit .316 last year and .278 this year with 10 hits, three of which came against Plymouth State. “[Roomet] had a great end to her season,” Mussen said. “She went from really not playing very much

at all the entire season to right at the end her bat was on fire. It was really good to have her on the field because it’s a morale boost to all of us because she tries so hard, and so it’s good to see when your hard work pays off.” The Judges finished the season with a 28-17 overall record and went 3-5 in the University Athletic Association.

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/Justice File Photo

INSIDE DRIVE: Forward Steve DeLuca (GRAD) brings the ball toward the hoop in the team’s 67-36 home win over the University of Chicago Feb. 1.


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Sports

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WINNING CLASS The four women’s basketball seniors have shared friendship and achievements over four years, p. 19

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Waltham, Mass.

SOFTBALL

Team falls short of second ECAC title ■ The No. 1 softball team

lost to No. 2 Keene State College in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships May 10 and failed to defend its title. By MELISSA SIEGEL JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER

Last season, the Brandeis softball team came from behind to defeat Keene State College to win the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III New England Championships. This year, the Judges fell behind early again but could not repeat last season’s theatrics. Instead, the top-seeded Judges fell 11-1 in five innings in the championship game at home May 10 after losing to the second-seeded Owls 6-3 May 9. The first loss moved the Judges to an elimination game against sixth-seeded Plymouth State University. Brandeis won that game 6-4 to advance to the championship rematch. In the finals, Keene State gained an early lead with a solo home run in the top of the first inning by sophomore right fielder Ashley Annis, her first of the season. But the real damage came in the second inning, when the Owls scored nine runs, six of which came off of Brandeis rookie starting pitcher Caroline Miller ’12. Miller started the season 11-3 but struggled with a 1-3 record in her last five starts. Relief pitcher Allie Mussen ’10 tried to limit the damage but gave up four runs, two of them earned, in one-plus innings. The Owls had batted around in the second inning before the Judges recorded an out. “I think that [the Keene State

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

LAST HEAVE: Center fielder Carly Schmand ’11 thows in a ball from the outfield during the Judges’ run in the ECAC tournament. players] are definitely stronger than they were last season, but we’re also a different team than we were last season,” Mussen said. “I think that their hitting definitely got stronger.

… They are very consistent hitters, and they played excellent defense [Sunday]; they made every play.” Earlier in the day, the Judges advanced to the finals with an elim-

ination-game victory over Plymouth State. The game was tied at three in the bottom of the fifth inning when rookie Brittany Grimm ’12 hit a two-RBI single to

give Brandeis a lead they would never relinquish. Grimm finished the season with a .282 batting average and finished fourth on the team with 17 runs scored. “[Grimm] is a great young player, and she’s going to continue to get better,” Mussen said. “I see her doing great things for us. She’ll only get stronger and be more consistent. … She’s been thrown around and she’s adjusted to it, so maybe, hopefully, next year she’ll find a more permanent spot so that she can really focus on that, but either way, I think that she’s going to continue to work hard and do great things for us.” The Judges won their first game in the double-elimination round against fourth-seeded Western New England College in five innings by a score of 11-3 May 9. This time, the Judges got out to a large early lead, taking advantage of three Western New England errors in the bottom of the first inning to go up 9-1. The big blow came from a grand slam by first baseman Courtney Kelley ’11, who also had a solo home run in the fourth inning. Kelley finished the season strong with a team-high six home runs and 26 RBIs despite hitting .143 in the Judges’ eight earlyseason conference games. “[Kelley will] have her rough patches, but she’ll come back, and she wants to win more than almost anybody on the field, so she does whatever she can,” Mussen. After this game the Judges lost to Keene State for the first time in the ECAC tournament to send them to the elimination game against Plymouth State. Brandeis gave up three runs in the top of the third inning and two runs in the top of the fifth in the 6-3 loss. All three thirdinning Owl runs came after a field-

See SOFTBALL, 23 ☛

DeLuca’s comeback By JEFFREY PICKETTE JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER

It certainly is a stretch to compare an NBA player to one in Division III men’s college basketball, but if there’s anyone at Brandeis who can sympathize with injured Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett, it’s outgoing men’s basketball forward Steve DeLuca (GRAD). A knee injury has relegated the perennial all-star Garnett to the bench for his team’s 2009 postseason run. Instead of patrolling the low post, he’s only able to look on and offer his teammates words of encouragement. “I know all too well how that feels,” DeLuca said. “It’s a terrible feeling. It keeps you up at night.” As a senior, DeLuca missed all but 27 minutes of the 2007 to 2008 season with lower back and leg injuries. He was sidelined while the Judges made their deepest NCAA Tournament run in school history, reaching the Sectional Finals, where rival Amherst College eliminated them 65-55 in Plattsburgh, N.Y. to advance to the Final Four. “[You have] this helpless feeling like you can’t do anything,” DeLuca said. “I would give advice, … but that could only go so far.” DeLuca took a medical redshirt that season, making him eligible for a fifth year at Brandeis. During his return this season, he

A look at one of the school’s all-time scorers started all 27 regular and postseason games for the Judges, averaging over 32 minutes per game, and was named a Division III AllAmerican by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, leading the team in scoring and rebounding for the third time in his career en route to the squad’s third straight NCAA Tournament appearance. His return to the starting lineup this season capped a comeback effort that was nearly a year in the making. Men’s basketball head coach Brian Meehan said he thought that DeLuca had brought his game to “an entirely different level” in the summer of 2007 between his junior and senior years. But DeLuca injured his plantar fasciata soon after he returned from the team’s offseason trip to Italy that summer. It took two months for him to heal; then, a week after his return, he injured his back. The back injury may have been a long time coming for DeLuca, who has played with tight hamstrings since high school. He said he did not think the injury was the result of his bout with plantar fasciitis.

It didn’t take long for “sharp pains” to travel down to his hamstrings and calves. DeLuca tried to tough it out and saw limited action in the team’s first two games of the 2007 to 2008 season but was shut down after that. “I was in so much pain after that first game. I woke up in the middle of the night; it was terrible,” DeLuca said. Even without DeLuca, the team posted a 20-5 regular season record and hosted the first two rounds of the Division III NCAA Tournament before losing later in the Sectional Finals. “My biggest disappointment was not finishing my career with the guys I came in with,” he said. Had DeLuca been healthy, Meehan suggested the Judges could have won the national championship that season. “I thought we could have won it even without him, but with him it certainly would have been interesting to see,” Meehan said, “We went so far without him. When you get to that point, you need that one guy who’s just better than everybody.” DeLuca could have been that

See DELUCA, 23 ☛

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/Justice File Photo

RAISING A COMEBACK: Forward Steve DeLuca (GRAD) shoots over defenders in the Judges’ 69-57 victory over then-No. 14 Carnegie Mellon University Jan. 11.


SENIOR MASTERPIECES

May 19, 2009

Graduating seniors exhibit their artistic theses, p. 28.

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Photos: Julian Agin-Liebes/the Justice. Design: Max Breitstein Matza/the Justice.


26

TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

THE JUSTICE

POP CULTURE

INSIDE ON CAMPUS

26-29

■ ‘The Girlfriend Experience’ 27 Sasha Grey, an adult film star who has appeared in over 150 X-rated movies, came to Brandeis for a screening of her new mainstream film.

28-29 ■ The Art of Studio Studies The “creative theses” of Brandeis’ senior studio art majors are currently on display in the Dreitzer Gallery in Spingold Theater Center. Contributions to this show come from such graduating students as Ariella Silverstein-Tapp, Hannah Chalew and Danielle Garfinkel.

OFF CAMPUS

27, 31-32

27 ■ The Ruination of Radio One JustArts writer and This American Life fan explores the viability of public radio in the face of new mediums like satellite radio and podcasts. 31 ■ ‘Don Giovanni’ The Boston Lyric Opera brought to life the story of Mozart’s womanizing aristocrat with the help of an extremely talented cast and impressive set design. 31 ■ Ron Riekki The up-and-coming writer and author of the recently released U.P. talked about selling novels via the Internet as well as upcoming works like I Hate It Here, which is scheduled to be sold beginning in 2011.

CALENDAR

U-WIRE by Shelly Shore

It’s fairly common knowledge that Hollywood’s biggest power couple, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, have been on the rocks for the last few weeks. Neighbors and friends have heard them dissolve into screaming arguments bordering on Lohan-Ronson intensity, and recently a longtime friend of the couple told In Touch magazine that the tone in their home has been “cold. They’re barely speaking.” But what is causing these new conflicts? Apparently, the source of tension is Brad’s latest confidant in his time of relationship turmoil—ex-wife Jennifer Aniston. Friends of the former couple say that in the past few weeks, Brad and Jen have been talking frequently both on the phone and by text message. “It’s a crazy position for Jen to be in—that of a shoulder to cry on,” one of Jen’s friends says about the increasingly personal conversations. “But she’s excellent in a crisis, and she’s happy to have Brad back in her life. ” Just how close are they getting? In Touch reported that on April 23, after visiting Angelina on the set of her new movie Salt, Brad headed across NYC to see Jen on the set of The Baster for their first one-on-one meeting in almost a year. “He pulled up in his black SUV,” a friend of the former couple says. “He arrived on the opposite end of the set from where Jen’s trailer was, and Jen snuck into his car. They drove around New York City together talking.” While Jen’s rep denies the story, the friend says that the conversation was very personal, as Brad confided his relationship worries about Angelina and his fears about a possible breakup. So what does this newly kindled friendship mean for the ex-spouses? Jen admitted in Vanity Fair magazine that she will love Brad

LaBeouf talks ‘Transformers’ ■ The film star discussed the

sequel to the 2007 adaptation of the classic franchise during a conference call with several college newspapers. By MOLLY GRAY THE LANTERN (OHIO STATE U.)

PETER KRAMER/The Associated Press

AMICABLE ANISTON: Brad Pitt’s ex-wife has recently been a source of comfort for the star. for the rest of her life, and Brad has also been wearing a necklace that Jen gave him for his birthday almost daily over the past few weeks. “Brad doesn’t take that necklace off for days at a time,” says the friend. “It’s almost like he’s trying to keep up a connection to Jen as his relationship with Angelina weakens.” Call me nostalgic, but is a reunion of one of my favorite Hollywood couples ever possible? This is one story I’ll definitely follow carefully. Have a great summer, and until next fall, may Perez and E! be with you.

What’s happening in Arts on and off campus

A Reading from a Novel in Progress Kindness , a novel by Women’s Studies Research Center Scholar Rachel Kadish, concerns the consequences of one woman’s refusal to embrace her own death. The novel intertwines the story of a hidden Jewish community in 17th-century London with that of the contemporary historians who unearth its surviving documents. Ultimately, it explores the seductions of martyrdom. Kadish’s other works include From a Sealed Room and Tolstoy Lied: A Love Story. Her short fiction has been read on NPR and has appeared in Zoetrope, Prairie Schooner, New England Review, The Gettysburg Review, Story, and Bomb, in the Pushcart Prize Anthology, Lost Tribe: New Jewish Fiction from the Edge, and in various other anthologies. Her essays have appeared in Moment, Lilith, and Tin House magazines, as well as in anthologies such as The Modern Jewish Girl’s Guide to Guilt and Who We Are: On Being (And Not Being) a Jewish Writer in America. Tuesday from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in the Epstein Lecture Hall. JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/Justice File Photo

Lydian String Quartet Summer Concerts This summer, the Lydian String Quartet, whose members consist of Profs. Judith Eissenberg (MUS), Joshua Gordon (MUS), Mary Ruth Ray (MUS) and Daniel Stepner (MUS), will perform several concerts. The programs will be announced in the near future. For students, advance tickets cost $20, and tickets purchased at the door will be $25. Saturday, June 6 and Saturday, June 13 from 8 to 10 p.m. in the Slosberg Recital Hall.

AREA EVENTS Memorial Day Open House The Boston Museum of Fine Arts will open its doors on Memorial Day for a day of celebration with free general admission for all, including free admission to the special exhibition “Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice” available on a firstcome, first-served basis. Highlights will include films, art activities and performances by such groups as the ANIKAI Dance

WHAT’S ON?

LILTING LYDIANS: The Lydian String Quartet, shown here sans Prof. Judith Eissenberg (MUS) during a Music at Noon concert held last March at the Rose Art Museum, will stage several concerts this summer. Company, which will interpret works of art currently on view in the Museum’s galleries. Monday, May 25 from 10 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

provide vital operating support for the Museum of Fine Arts. June 13 from 8 p.m. to midnight at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

mfafirstfridays

WFNX’s New England Product Presents ...

As part of its ongoing series, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts will bring the Andrew Stern Jazz Ensemble to the Koch Gallery for the Museum’s May installment of mfafirstfridays. Patrons will also be treated to fine art, tapas and a cash bar featuring signature cocktails. Visitors must be at least 21 years of age, but entry is free. June 5 from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

Groups such as Taxpayer, The Good North, The Information and Thick as Thieves will perform at this show. The event will also include DJ sets by the Pill DJs. June 21, doors at 8 p.m., at the Middle East Downstairs in Cambridge.

The Summer Party Celebrate summer in the city with an artistic flair at the sixth annual Museum Council Summer Party Masquerade. Save the date for the festive, black-tie fundraiser featuring fine art, live entertainment and a silent art auction. Proceeds will benefit the Museum Council Artist-in-Residency Program and

Chad Perrone At this 18+ show, Chad Perrone will perform his unique blend of folk rock, pop and rock. Perrone’s second solo album, Wake, has been called an “outstanding collection of songs [that] showcases Perrone’s incredible songwriting skills and unforgettable melodies” by Alternative Addiction, an online music forum that also named the record one of the Top Twenty Albums of 2008. July 25, doors at 8 p.m., at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston.

In anticipation of his new movie, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Shia LaBeouf held a conference call with college newspapers from around the country. The Lantern magazine listened in. Q: How is this second movie going to top off the first Transformers? Shia LaBeouf: It’s f---ing bigger, stronger, faster, better—it has to be. You got to realize, you know, this movie is being made by a lot of dudes who have a lot of pride. There’s no way that we’re going to promise you something and then have it be a piece of s--t. It would just be a real problem for everybody’s psyche. I think that definitely the easiest way that I could say that it’s going to be a better film is, it’s definitely the most explosive thing that you can possibly buy tickets to this year. We broke like four or five Guinness World Records making it. This guy named John Frazier is like the oldest practical effects guy in the business. He was the dude that used to hang out underneath the Wheel of Fortune and bankrupt people with a stick. He’s been in it that long. And so he rigged an explosion for seven months, which is basically a 1,000-gallon gasoline bomb. They were rigging the bomb for longer than we took to make the entire film. And that bomb wound up being the biggest bomb ever filmed with actors in it in the history of cinema. The stunts and everything are just on a whole other level. But there’s humor—there’s a lot more humor and there’s great additions in terms of character and cast and you see more robots. So it’s a win for everyone, I think. Q: How does your character change? How does he evolve from the first movie? SL: Well, Sam saved the world the first time, right? So just imagine Brad Pitt going to Trader Joe’s to go get a granola bar. If you save the world, you have a real problem trying to buy a granola bar, you know? So, like, anywhere you go, you’re the guy who saved the world. And you’re trying to go to college and have like a normal life. And as you know, college is a humongous, humongous deal for kids who didn’t enjoy their life in high school because it’s a chance to start over. And Sam was this nebbishy, neurotic, dorky kid in high school who fell into the most ridiculous situation. The movie starts two years later from where the last one left off. He’s on his way to school to start a new life, to get away from his parents, to get as far away from his parents as he can because he’s stifled and feels like most kids do who have extremely protective parents. He’s sheltered. And on top of that he’s got Bumblebee living in his garage, who is his guardian. And he’s just sick of having guardians. He’s trying to create his own world and create his own personality free from other people’s input. And he goes off to college and when he gets to college, he starts having problems, meaning he starts having these spastic fits of information where like his great, great grandfather, Archibald Witwicky, starts having these visions. Q: Can you relate to the theme of being in college and experiencing that change? SL: I wanted to go to college. I wanted to go to college so bad, and I was going to go. I was set to go. I had my backpack picked out, all my cool little pump-up pencils and stuff, I was ready. And at the last minute a guy named Steven Spielberg called up and had a plan for other things. And I wasn’t going to be like, “Well listen, Steven, you’ve got great ideas and all, but I don’t think so, Boss; I’m headed to school.” But still, I mean, even though I’ve done these movies and I’m very fortunate and blessed to have done them, I always feel lesser than, I always feel like intellectually—I just feel like a—I always feel like anytime I’m around anybody who’s gone to school, they have a superiority, you know, about them. It’s just—I don’t know. It’s just one of those insecurities I’ll deal with for the rest of my life unless I go to school.

Top 10s for the week ending May 19

Box Office

College Radio

Billboard

WBRS

1. Star Trek 2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine 3. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past 4. Obsessed 5. 17 Again 6. Next Day Air 7. The Soloist 8. Monsters vs. Aliens 9. Earth 10. Hannah Montana The Movie

1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz 2. Decemberists – Hazards of Love 3. Metric – Fantasies 4. Peter Bjorn and John – Living Thing 5. Bat For Lashes – Two Suns 6. Fever Ray – Fever Ray 7. Thermals – Now We Can See 8. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone 9. Dan Deacon – Bromst 10. Röyksopp – Junior

1. Bob Dylan – Together Through Life 2. Various Artists – Hannah Montana The Movie Soundtrack 3. Rascal Flatts – Unstoppable 4. Rick Ross – Deeper Than Rap 5. Lady GaGa – The Fame 6. Various Artists --- Twilight Soundtrack 7. Various Artists – NOW 30 8. Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know 9. Taylor Swift – Fearless 10. Various Artists – Playing For Change: Songs Around the World

1. Buckwheat Zydeco – “Lay Your Burden Down” 2. Charles Wilson – “Somebody’s Tears” 3. Nick Moss – “Try To Treat You Right” 4. Commander Cody – “Loser’s Avenue” 5. Roy Rogers – “Someone Like You” 6. Barbara Carr – “The Heart You Break” 7. The Dirty Mac Blues Band – “Black Cat” 8. Cyril Neville – “I’ll Take Care of You” 9. Little Arthur Duncan – “Can’t Stand It No More” 10. Enrico Crivellaro – “Guitar Rumba”

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


THE JUSTICE

TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

27

A NEW ‘EXPERIENCE’

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MADJABUDS SASHA GREY, INC.

GREY THE ‘GIRLFRIEND’: Adult film star Sasha Grey makes her mainstream debut in ‘The Girlfriend Experience,’ which depicts the life of a prostitute who gives her clients the feeling of being in a committed relationship.

FILM

Grey brings ‘Experience’ to ’Deis ■ The adult film star plays a

prostitute in her new movie, which was screened at the Sundance Film Festival. By SARAH BAYER JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

It seems like anyone who appears in an adult film or two can be called a porn star, but Sasha Grey has certainly earned the title: She’s appeared in over 150 X-rated movies in the last three years and was named Female Performer of the Year by Adult Video Network in 2008. That’s especially impressive when you consider that she just turned 21 in March. So there was considerable excitement in Wasserman Cinematheque April 30 as the audience waited for the start of a screening of The Girlfriend Experience, Grey’s latest movie. “Is she naked in it?” asked the boy sitting just behind me. “She’s trying to go mainstream,” his neighbor reminded him. The film, directed by box-office powerhouse Steven Soderbergh,

aired at Sundance and the Tribeca Film Festivals earlier this year. Grey disrobes a few times (to the audible delight of those in the next row) but does not have sex on screen. The Girlfriend Experience depicts a few days in the life of Grey’s character Christine, alias Chelsea, a prostitute who specializes in giving each of her clients the feeling that he is in a committed relationship with her. Set in New York City in October 2008, the movie shows Christine asking advice from johns about recessionproof investing and voting in the presidential election. Unlike the stereotypical call girl, she isn’t flirty or vulgar. She laughs only once in the movie’s 77 minutes and hardly cracks a smile the rest of the time. She politely asks about her clients’ families and listens to their mundane anxieties. For the most part, the movie feels like a high-budget reality TV show. It might just as well be called The Business Lunch Experience. After the film, Grey joined Brandeis alum Scott Feinberg on stage for a question-and-answer session about her career. If you haven’t seen her work, she might not be what you’re

picturing. With straight dark hair, sardonically arched eyebrows and proportionate breasts, Grey is practically the anti-Jenna Jameson. The difference goes beyond appearances. After all, how likely is it that an 18-year-old contemplating pornography as a career would not only consider the stage name Anna Karina (after a French New Wave actress) but also discard it for being disrespectful? Instead, she created the pseudonym Sasha Grey by combining the name of the lead singer of the band KMFDM with an oblique reference to the Kinsey scale of sexual orientation. Grey entered the pornography industry the same way most kids pick a college—after painstaking research and reflection. She spent seven months watching porn movies before deciding she could bring something new to the business. “I saw a blank canvas that needed to be painted,” she says. “I took some photos and wrote this little mission statement and sent them to different adult agencies.” She signed with the first agent who responded and moved from her family’s home in northern California to Los Angeles. Grey approaches her adult film

roles with the same discipline as her initial decision to enter the business. “I don’t just check into set and say, ‘Okay, let’s f---,’” she says. “I like to be prepared in all aspects, mind and body. I even do an affirmation à la Raging Bull.” She believes that in order to survive, the porn industry must push beyond basic depictions of penetration. “You can get that for free, so why would you buy that?” she asked the Wasserman audience. “You can go film your neighbors having sex, and it will look exactly the same.” Instead, she advocates adult films as a healthy way to explore sexuality. “Your deepest, darkest secrets, they don’t have to be secrets,” she says. “We should all feel comfortable to explore them and talk about them openly, because we use sex to sell everything these days.” Upon arriving in L.A., Grey immediately developed a reputation for performing unusual sexual acts onscreen. Asked to discuss her first experience on an adult film set, she shook her head and smiled before answering. “First off, it was an orgy scene. Yes, I did deep-throat [co-star] Rocco [Siffredi]. Did I ask him to punch me in the stomach? Not in

that context. ... That was an exercise in improvisational fantasy.” Tyra Banks hosted Grey on her show in 2007, criticizing her for demeaning herself by acting out sexual violence. Grey still recalls her appearance on the show with anger, but concludes, “Slander, defamation of character: That was good for me; that was good exposure.” Although her life is very different from the average 21-year-old’s, Grey wouldn’t be out of place on a college campus. She wears a ponytail holder around her wrist and says the person she’d most like to meet is the late actor-director John Cassavetes. Asked if she worries about staying physically fit, she announces, “I did have some lamb chops today, and they were delicious.” She says if she weren’t a porn star she’d probably be at school. As others her age get ready to graduate and enter the labor market, though, Grey is set to launch her own film production company later this month. “I wouldn’t be happy doing the same thing for 25 years,” she says. “The titillation that you see in a mainstream film, that’s the kind of quality I want to bring to my movies that I direct.”

RADIO

Voice of public radio growing steadily quieter ■ The ability of this medium

to adapt to a world in which the economy discourages donations and satellite radio rules is questionable. By RACHEL KLEIN JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Public radio has been an integral part of my life. As I write this article, I am listening to the radio in my kitchen. When I am in the car, the radio is playing. When I am reading, the radio is on in the background. Unlike most kids, who grew up with dreams of becoming astronauts or ballerinas, one my dreams was to be interviewed for This American Life, a radio program hosted by Chicago Public Radio. In all my years of listening to the radio, I have found that there is a program for everyone. Ask any listener, and he will immediately be able to name his favorite show and explain why it is the best. Public radio has not

often gotten the respect that it deserves, and while the Saturday Night Live skits are hilarious, the time has come to get serious about the future of the public radio. For the casual listener, producing a radio show may seem like an effortless process: Type up a script, read it on the air, and play a few songs. But hours of work can go into producing a 30-minute segment. In high school, I took an elective in which our class was responsible for creating a weekly radio program that our teacher then aired on a local public radio station. While our program was far from the standards of professional radio and probably had a grand total of five listeners, I was amazed at how much time and effort went into creating it. From brainstorming ideas, selecting songs, conducting interviews and deciding on the program’s order, the process took hours. Even creating the opening theme took an entire class period. I left the class with a deeper appreciation of those who make a living in public radio. Now with the advancement of broadcast technology, it may seem

that public radio is slowly being phased out. Who needs to worry about what will be playing when one can just pay for satellite radio and have a station that is guaranteed to play Queen 24/7? Why donate money to a station when one can just buy a cord to play an iPod through the car speakers? In fact, why listen to news programs on the radio at all, when with just the click of a button all the news can appear on our cell phones? In an age when our friends text us while we are sitting in the same room, radio provides one more way through which we can reach out to others and hopefully connect. This American Life, a weekly radio program hosted by Ira Glass, is one of the most well-known programs on public radio. The show has a main theme and uses individual stories and experiences to illustrate it. As Stacy Handler ’12 put it, “I like how the show has such a strong following of people of all ages. It’s because it makes the nerdy hip.” Glass’ nasal voice helps to make the show so unique. But the real reason it’s so successful is because the show

helps listeners see how something so small—like a fear of the dark—can unite so many people. However, even a show as popular as This American Life is looking for new ways to survive. The show has now also become a TV show and a podcast. In fact, almost all shows on public radio are now posted on iTunes as podcasts, which listeners can download and listen to at their leisure. Like the radio, they are all free, though listeners are always encouraged to give donations. Every listener has a story of how public radio has shaped his or her life. I will never forget how National Public Radio’s Morning Edition accompanied me on the drive to high school every morning, or trying to figure out with my parents the answers to the game show Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me on weekend mornings. Handler tells of a funny way that radio has shaped her life: “So my dad always jokes … that his love is conditional, so that way it means more than, say, my mother’s, which is unconditional. Of course, I know that he’s joking, but I still find this somewhat disturbing. I joke that his parenting strategy will

cost me thousands of dollars in therapy as an adult. So I was listening to This American Life about a year ago, and I hear a story about a father who said the same thing to his daughter. I freak out because I never thought anyone else would do such a thing. I excitedly tell my dad to which he replies something like, ‘Yeah, I know. That’s where I got the idea. … You were listening to a rerun.’ So basically, for good or for ill, my dad let NPR raise me.” So what does the future of public radio look like? In an economy spiraling downward, do people really have money to donate to radio stations they still get for free? Will the government deem public radio worthy of receiving aid? Or will public radio become a feature of the past? The answers remain to be seen. If public radio can adapt to the technology of the future, if people are still willing to donate money to their favorite shows, than radio may stand a chance. If not, then people will lose an important source of entertainment, news and stimulation. And I will have nothing to listen to on Saturday mornings.


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TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

THE JUSTICE

WALTHAM W

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Sen

Tucked Prospect iors und the rest o for exam whose w Spingold their div lection o Like m ber of th their inte Ariella S ucation Philadelp teacher c interview JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

CHAOTIC COLORS: As part of the exhibit of creative theses by graduating Studio Art majors currently on display in Spingold’s Dreitzer Gallery, Danielle Friedman ’09 presented her painting ‘Bike Love.’

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

DIXIE DREAMING: Jennaleigh Rosenbloom ’09 imagined a Southern scene in her painting ‘Kerosene.’

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Ju

URBAN STUDY: Ariella Silverstein-Tapp ’09 explored class and race relations in her work ‘dis Location.’


THE JUSTICE

TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

WAY: Hannah Chalew ’09 wrote that her painting ‘Body Shop’ reflects the experience of spending time on a local street corner.

Creative Theses

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

PAINFUL PORTRAITS: Nichole Speciale ’09 presented ‘Blind the Miniseries.’

nior Studio Art majors end the year By ANDREA FINEMAN JUSTICE EDITOR

d away in a studio building on t Street, a group of Brandeis sendertook creative projects while of us wrote papers and studied ms. Senior Studio Art majors, work is currently on display in d’s Dreitzer Gallery, explored verse creative impulses in a culof paintings and sculptures. many Brandeis students, a numhese graduating artists combine erest in art with a second major. Silverstein-Tapp ’09, also an EdStudies major, will teach in phia next year with the national corps Teach For America. In an w with the Justice, Nikita Beni-

ustice

aminov ’09 similarly said, “I am hoping to get a job with [civic service organization] AmeriCorps, teaching art classes. Later on I will probably go to grad school, but I have yet to decide which field I’d like to study more.” Danielle Garfinkel ’09, also a Health: Science, Society and Policy major, said, “I know that I can’t stay away from art. I hope to integrate my two passions of health and art and through this continue to use art as a way to increase social awareness. My Fine Arts degree has provided me with a groundwork of skills that I plan to keep developing and exploring throughout my life.” Though the artists’ interests range from portraiture to installation to abstraction, all of the artists’ statements drawn up for this exhibition were highly

erudite and well-prepared. Said Hannah Chalew ’09 of her wide-angle views of Waltham’s streets: “In my work, I construct landscapes based on the real world that give the viewer the experience of being in these spaces, manipulating the way we view the environment by altering conventional perspective and combining disparate scenes to create new, reconstructed landscapes. In many ways, my perception of the world, through the filter of a painting, is more real than a photograph.” Though most of Brandeis’ painters and scultors graduating this year won’t enroll in Master of Fine Arts studio programs in the fall to embark on strictly artistic careers, their artistic training at Brandeis will certainly have a lasting effect on their adult lives. JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

MODERN MYTH: Julia Sferlazzo ’09 updated ancient mythology with ‘Flora.’

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

ART TRAP: Amanda Millet-Sorsa ’09 exposes the ‘Illusion of Painting.’

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

MUSIC MAN: Ariella Silverstein-Tapp ’09 depicts a patriotic ‘Trumpeter.’

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

CHAMBER MAID: A woman sits in a bleak room in ‘In Sickness in Health’ by Ernest-Leon Paulin ’09.

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THE JUSTICE

TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

31

THEATER

‘Don Giovanni’ seduces audiences ■ The Boston Lyric Opera’s performance of the classic Mozart work featured a talented cast that made for a unique experience. By HANNAH KIRSCH JUSTICE EDITOR

Mozart’s Don Giovanni is one of the oldest of operatic warhorses for good reason: There are few operas that combine such graceful music with a protagonist as compelling as this lascivious libertine with a heart not of gold but “of stone, or none at all,” to quote the character himself. As a result, every performance needs something unique to make it more memorable than the last. The Boston Lyric Opera’s recent production of Don Giovanni found it in both an intriguing set and a highly talented cast whose members were all well-suited to their roles. Don Giovanni, which was well-received at its premiere by an enthusiastic Prague public, opens not with love but with murder: Donna Anna runs out of her home screaming after the titular pleasure-obsessed Don sneaks into her bedroom to seduce her. He stabs her father the Commendatore in the ensuing tussle, and Donna Anna and her soon-to-be husband Don Ottavio swear vengeance. Between staving off the enraged blows of his equally vengeful ex-lover Donna Elvira and trying to spirit the commoner Zerlina away from her fiancé Masetto, Don Giovanni and his sidekick Leporello keep themselves busy with seductive hijinks. But the Don meets his match in the Commendatore’s possessed statue, which he saucily invites to a dinner party at his home despite Leporello’s misgivings. After Don Giovanni refuses the Commendatore’s order to mend his wicked ways, the statue drags him to hell. It’s unsurprising to learn that Christopher Schaldenbrand has had ample experience singing the role of Don Giovanni. He philandered his way across the stage with outstretched arms and an insouciant cant to his hips, bringing an extra dimension to his impressive voice. But as thrilling as Schaldenbrand’s rendition of the “Champagne Aria” was, it was Matthew Burns as Leporello who shone with the “Catalogue Aria.” His voice was precise and agile as he sang the Don’s list of lovers to a spurned Elvira, and his body language edged on the opera buffa—a comic, almost slapstick style of opera—as he tossed little black, red, green and blue books from his pockets. Burns kept the audience chuckling and sometimes laughing outright throughout most of his time on stage, but no more so than during that aria. Susanna Phillips was touching and sensitive in her role as the emotionally distraught Donna Anna, particularly when singing Non mi dir to her lovelorn fiancé Don Ottavio, adeptly

T. CHARLES ERICKSON/The Boston Lyric Opera

DEPRAVED DON: Zerlina’s fiancé Masetto (played by Joseph Valone, left) is tricked by Don Giovanni (Christopher Schaldenbrand), who is disguised as his servant. sung by the promising young Matthew Plenk. Kimwana Doner was excellent as Donna Elvira, and Heather Johnson was likewise entertaining playing an earthy, knowing Zerlina to Joseph Valon’s indignant Masetto. Ulysses Thomas cut an intimidating figure as the Commendatore. The orchestra under the baton of Anthony Barrese was precise and nuanced, the overture a pleasure to hear. While the staging at the end of the opera was forced—bringing up the house lights as the cast sings Questo è il fin was a little overdone, as was the ungainly portrayal of Don Giovanni’s demise—the set and costuming were excellent overall. The bleak grey stage was seedy and grim, which belied the opera’s comedic element and in some ways foreshadowed the untimely death of the doomed libertine, and gasps could be heard throughout the hall as the curtain rose and revealed a storm of glittering “raindrops.” As often as opera fans experience Don Giovanni, the across-the-board quality of this production make it a memorable one.

T. CHARLES ERICKSON/The Boston Lyric Opera

BLUSHING BRIDE: Zerlina (Heather Johnson, center) and her bridesmaids show off the production’s colorful costumes.

BOOKS

Riekki releases ‘U.P.’ with the help of Road, Web ■ In an interview with the

Justice, the author talked about his new novel as well as plans for the future. By DANIEL BARON JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Ron Riekki is a very busy man. After I had interviewed him over the telephone, he responded to some of my e-mailed follow-up questions with short answers, because he was at the Virginia Festival of the Book, an event at which writers and readers gather for book signings, author panels and other literary happenings. Riekki, author of the “metal hiphop punk novel” U.P., received his M.F.A. in Theater Arts/Playwriting from Brandeis University where he had a “brutal professor” who taught him “about the real world” in 1999. He also holds a B.S. from Central Michigan University, an M.F.A. from

the University of Virginia and a Ph.D. from Western Michigan University. If this were a bragging contest, we’d have to add his SAG membership and appearances on VH1, as well as connections to Tina Fey and Second City to this list of credentials. This author-scholar, however, is not aloof. He is quite grounded and down to earth despite being “addicted to writing”—something he professed to me with chuckles, laughing not because it was a joke but rather because of how true the confession was. A lot of his understanding of the real world comes from his upbringing in a Michigan community disrupted by economic woes, as well as joining the military as a means to survive those monetarily difficult times. He would say that all times are financially tough for him, and I agree that this is true for most scribes throughout history. His new book, U.P., is a coming-ofage story set in Michigan’s Upper

Peninsula that deals with some heavy coming-of-age experiences. Riekki is also writing A Portrait of the Artist as a Boogey Man (due 2010), I Hate It Here (due 2011) and Hunger and the Ass (due 2012), which are all part of his contract with Ghost Road Press. And while you might be able to get a copy of U.P. at one or two stores, its main method of distribution is not through brick-andmortar outfits; You can check out Ghost Road Press at ghostroadpress.com to get your copy. Search by author in the drop-down on the left side of the page, and then select Ron Riekki. Riekki’s own Web site is rariekki.webs.com. Or, just go to Amazon.com and search for U.P. there. I learned from Riekki that selling books primarily through the Internet is common, as books these days, apparently, are similar to songs and pieces of the music industry. Blogs, email forwards, word-of-mouth and similar marketing techniques are

being used more and more to promote sales. Riekki calls this very piece in the Justice the result of an interview that is part of his “weird post-modern book tour.” In the age of YouTube, in which homemade videos can be responsible for more revenue than more traditional media, it is not surprising that viral advertising has become king for authors. “My book’s definitely underground,” states Riekki, “but [it’s] accessible to anyone who wants to pick it up.” Music is more than an analogy that Riekki uses to discuss business and technology trends. It is also like oxygen to him; he can’t write in silence. With one of his characters, he listened to the rapper Ice Cube over and over again for inspiration and direction. In the ninth grade a friend told him to “check this out” and played Run DMC; Riekki was in love with hip hop from that moment on. It was more than just the music, though. Riekki was also captivated by the issues presented in the lyrics, like in-

carceration, class and race. I wanted to know more about Riekki’s experience with racial differences, so I asked, and in doing so I became “the first person to ask me about race” out of 35 interviews up to that point. Growing up, Riekki’s neighborhood was all white (yes, 100 percent). In fact, the first black person he ever met was Muhammad Ali when he got the boxer’s autograph in an airport. He’s taught at Moraine Valley Community College and is currently on the faculty of Auburn University. But what are his future plans? What happens after his jackpot four-book contract with Ghost Road Press is a thing of the past? I asked about settling down, but Riekki told me he is more interested in going wherever the money takes him. If the money took him to Los Angeles, however, then maybe he will settle down and just stay there, especially since that’s where he plans on finding the woman of his dreams.


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THE JUSTICE

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Untangling personal problems might take more time than the impatient Lamb expected. But it’s important to hang in there until all those knotty situations are straightened out. TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) You still need to work out last-minute snags in your dealings with a rival. Hold your ground despite a perceived lack of support. Things should turn around before you know it. GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Best not to delay preparing for that upcoming family event. The sooner you get things started, the better chance you have of finding potential problems and making needed changes. CANCER (June 21 to July 22) The romantic Moon Child might be reluctant to see the reality behind that “ideal” situation. But by midweek, the practical Crab emerges to help clear away the moonbeams. LEO (July 23 to August 22) Although the Big Cat might be receptive to more “purr-suasion” to get you to agree to a workplace change, make sure you can distinguish the fine line between facts and flattery. VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) Your positive attitude in the workplace helps to get you noticed by the right people. Now go ahead and use some of that new self-confidence to help shore up a personal relationship. LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Although you might still have to work out some problems with a business partner, things go more smoothly on the home front. An investment opportunity might need more study. SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Don’t be reluctant to act on your suspicion. Even if others see nothing wrong, the astute Scorpio ACROSS 1. Vacationing 4. Weapon handle 8. Major leagues 12. Carnival city 13. Look lecherously 14. Norway’s capital 15. Bully 17. Revolution period 18. Bill 19. Come before 21. Talcum, e.g. 24. In an earlier time 25. “— not choose to run” 26. Long sandwich 28. Different 32. Belgrade resident 34. Wrigley product 36. Domesticate 37. Inquired 39. Petrol 41. Zero 42. Melody 44. Gaudy 46. Stunt double, e.g. 50. “Of course” 51. Flock youngster 52. MySpace alternative 56. Neighborhood 57. Pinocchio, at times 58. X-ray descendant 59. Designer Vera 60. “Desire Under the —” 61. Chow down DOWN 1. Scepter topper 2. Christmas tree, often 3. Adroit maneuvering 4. Calvin’s companion 5. Time of your life? 6. Envelope feature

could sense an underlying problem that isn’t always obvious on the surface. SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) A new opportunity presents some obstacles that need to be dealt with as soon as possible. Delaying action in hopes that the problems will go away could be counterproductive. CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) A friend or family member’s request might carry some hidden factors that could later create problems. Be sure you know all the facts before you make your decision. AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) A setback in implementing a plan could turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Use the downtime to rework your original concepts and see where changes could be made. PISCES (February 19 to March 20) You might not be consciously fishing for compliments, but admit it—won’t you feel great when your efforts are noticed? So accept the praise gracefully. You earned it. BORN THIS WEEK: Your love of beauty in your personal life extends to your efforts to protect and preserve the natural world around you.

BRANDEIS

Through the Lens

Solution to last issue’s crossword.

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

Calming Canine During the study period before finals, students destressed with the help of therapy dog that was brought to campus April 30.

Sudoku 7. Aquarium favorite 8. Refuse to buy 9. “Gotcha” 10. Pleased 11. Angry 16. Bankroll 20. Freudian concept 21. Tower city 22. Pindaric works 23. Bad hairpiece 27. Annoy 29. Attractive 30. Eastern bigwig 31. Depend (on) 33. Pellet-filled chair 35. Wrestlers’ surface

38. Accomplished 40. Lord Wimsey’s creator 43. Soldier’s arm 45. Symbol of intrigue 46. Cabbage salad 47. The O’Hara estate 48. Congregation’s cry 49. Manicurist’s concern 53. Rotating part 54. Man-mouse link 55. Set of equipment

King Crossword Copyright 2007 King Features Synd., Inc.

■ It was American comedian, actor and writer George Burns who made the following sage observation: “The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending, then having the two as close together as possible.”

■ If you’re like the average American, you watch a whopping 4 hours and 44 minutes of television every day.

■ In all likelihood, you’ve never run across a moirologist—in fact, they probably don’t even exist in the United States today. However, these professional mourners have a long history that dates back to ancient Greece. As recently as the early 1900s, there was a report of a moirologists’ strike in Paris.

■ Another reason to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of that iconic Irish export, Guinness: Studies show that the stout beer contains antioxidant compounds that benefit the heart by slowing down the accu-

mulation of bad cholesterol on the walls of arteries. Cheers! ■ According to a recent news story on the Web site of the British Broadcasting Corporation, eight police officers in Scotland claim their religion to be Jedi—as in the Jedi Knights of George Lucas’ Star Wars films. And it seems they’re not the only ones: According to the 2001 census, there are 14,000 adherents of Jedi in Scotland and another 390,000 in England and Wales. There’s even a U.K. Church of the Jedi, founded by brothers Barney and Daniel Jones, which offers lightsaber training and teaches about the Force.

■ If you’re right-handed, studies show that you tend to wash your left hand more thoroughly than your right hand. Reverse that if you’re a leftie.

Thought for the Day: “Drive-in banks were established so most of the cars today could see their real owners.” —E. Joseph Cossman

Enter digits from 1 to 9 into each blank space so that every row, column and 3x3 square contains one of each digit.

Sudoku Copyright 2007 King Features Synd., Inc.

Undoubtedly, those graduating seniors overwhelmed by the prospect of venturing into the world appreciated the event.


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