The Justice, October 23, 2012 issue

ARTS Page 20

FORUM Framework lacks inspiration 11

LITERARY LECTURE

SPORTS Men’s soccer continues to roll 16 The Independent Student Newspaper

the

of

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

Justice

Volume LXV, Number 7

www.thejustice.org

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

student union

OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS

Kaplan’s case ends in mediation with Union ■ Dean Kaplan’s ’15 suit

against the Student Union for removing him from office will not go to trial.

By TATE HERBERT JUSTICE EDITOR

As of about 10 p.m. last night, Dean Kaplan’s ’15 quest for the restitution of his Student Union Senate seat is over. He will not, as was the original goal of his claim against the Student Union, resume his position as off-campus senator, but instead will spearhead the creation of a University Committee that will focus on issues concerning Brandeis students living offcampus. Sunny Aidasani ’14 will continue to serve as off-campus senator.

Kaplan and Student Union President Todd Kirkland ’13, who represented the Union, reached this compromise during an approximately hour-long private mediation held in the Student Union office last night.

The mediation, the initial step in the process of resolving formally filed Union disputes, was conducted by the Student Judiciary.

According to Article IV of the Union constitution, mediations are intended to encourage “an informal, non-adversarial approach to an outcome that will be agreed upon, final and binding.” As the attempts for resolution were successful, Kaplan’s case will not go to a public trial.

Instead, at the suggestion of Kirkland, Kaplan will begin the process of forming a University

JOSHUA LINTON/the Justice

GATHERING FEEDBACK: University President Frederick Lawrence speaks at a strategic planning feedback session last Friday.

Planning details released ■ Provost Steve Goldstein ’78

issued the individual reports of nine task forces online.

By SAM MINTZ JUSTICE EDITOR

On Tuesday, following requests from vocal faculty members, the strategic planning steering committee and Provost Steve Goldstein ’78 released the individual reports from nine of the 11 task forces that were created last

spring and met throughout the summer. These reports contain many of the details and specific tactical plans that faculty and others had hoped to see included in the plan, but were absent from the framework.

The task forces were assigned to work on Academic Innovation, Alumni and Building Community, Benchmarking, Facilities and Campus Evolution, Faculty, Scholarship and Research, Flexible Education Through Technology, Global, Integrated Arts and Learning Communities and

Waltham, Mass.

Student Experience.

There are two reports which are not yet complete, according to an email from Goldstein. The Financial and Development Task Forces are “still at work,” he wrote in the email.

After comments that the framework was “uninspiring” and lacked specific ideas, the release of the reports shed more light on the planning process to this point, and members of the

See REPORTS, 5 ☛

Committee, or a Union-affiliated group designed to “[provide] student input and [share] the student perspective with University departments,” according to the Student Union website. These Committees are created with the approval of the Union president’s chief of staff (in this case Jesse Manning ’13) and are usually advised by a faculty or staff member. Student membership is limited to one year per Committee, according to the Union website.

Examples of such groups can be found on the website and include the Alcohol and Other Drug Coalition, the Academic Services Advisory Committee, the Dean of Arts and Sciences Advisory Committee and the Festival of the Arts Planning Committee.

Membership in many committees is capped at anywhere from one to eight students.

According to Kaplan, his committee will focus on the needs and concerns of students living off-campus; more specifically, the committee will focus on the issues that would normally fall under the Department of Community Living’s jurisdiction if the students lived on campus.

“I’m not expecting the University to pay for repairs, fix things, or beautify people’s back yards, but some kind of … organization with the students themselves for improving their day-to-day lives, whether it be better access to food [and] to books” and the like, is needed, said Kaplan, noting that “the off-campus constituency is a potentially very powerful force for change.”

Manning agreed to help Kaplan

See MEDIATION, 6 ☛

student life

Dept of Student Rights answers policy questions ■ Students address concerns

with changes to this year’s “Rights and Responsibilities.”

By jess linde JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

This year's edition of Brandeis’ “Rights and Responsibilities” was published by the Department of Student Rights and Community Standards with some big additions.

Specifically, the “Student Conduct

Process Code” gained a special focus on situations dealing with sexual harassment, and a new process called the “Special Examiner’s Process” was dedicated to that topic. To elaborate on the details of the new process and to clarify the language used in the new handbook, the Student Conduct Board held a public forum in the Shapiro Campus Center’s Art Gallery last Thursday.

The discussion lasted for about an hour. About 15 students attended, representing various clubs and student organizations.

The forum, led by Student Rights and Community Standards Director Dean Gendron and Student Conduct Board member Rachel Usnik ’13, was designed to address any concerns or confusion students had about the “Special Examiner’s Process” through a series of questions directed toward Gendron. Major student groups represented at the forum included Young Americans for Liberty and the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance.

Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer was also present in case questions with

complicated answers needed further elaboration.

According to the current “R&R,” the “Special Examiner’s Process” involves “cases where the [Department of Student Rights and Community Standards] determines that one or more possible violations of Section 3 (Sexual Responsibility) or Section 7 (Equal Opportunity, NonDiscrimination, and Harassment) exist.” The section in the handbook further describes the process as one in which a “Special Examiner” (as opposed to a board of faculty and

See CONDUCT, 6 ☛

The Mafia mindset

New beginnings

Candidates spar

 Alexander Stille discusses the Italian Mafia’s involvement with the Italian government.

 The swimming and diving squads look to reestablish their legacy with a plethora of young talent.

 Brandeis reacts as President Obama and Governor Romney face off in two debates within the past week.

FEATURES 7 For tips or info email editor@thejustice.org

Student Conduct Board members) appointed by Sawyer performs an investigation after the DSRCS receives a Community Standards Report and judges the case as violating one of the aforementioned sections.

The Special Examiner’s investigation consists of interviewing both the accuser and the accused with an observer present, examining any evidence provided and conducting interviews with other persons of interest such as witnesses. The

Let your voice be heard!

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

INDEX

SPORTS 14 ARTS SPORTS

17 16

EDITORIAL FEATURES

10 8

OPINION POLICE LOG

10 2

News 3

COPYRIGHT 2012 FREE AT BRANDEIS. Email managing@thejustice.org for home delivery.

2

TUESDAY, october 23, 2012

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THE JUSTICE

NEWS SENATE LOG

POLICE LOG

Senate revisits chartering process

Medical Emergency

This week’s Senate meeting was centrally dedicated to two new proposed amendments to the Student Union’s process of recognizing and chartering clubs. The amendments had been discussed and debated for several weeks, and during this meeting the Senate rejected each amendment. The amendments were introduced by the Ways and Means committee and were principally represented by Executive Senator and Senator for the Class of 2014 Ricky Rosen.

Other important issues besides the amendments were also discussed at length.

The amendments to the Student Union constitution bylaws were discussed last. Both amendments were intended to revise the processes for club recognition and chartering.

The first amendment, which was defeated nine to three, would have completely separated club recognition and charter by two weeks and set required meeting times. According to Rosen, this would create a more stable process. Members of the Club Support Committee disagreed, stating that the amendment would merely create unnecessary red tape for clubs.

The second amendment, also defeated, would have gotten rid of the requirement for prospective club administrators to gather 100 signatures for the club to be chartered. The reason for this proposed change was to give club leaders less busywork and more time to write constitutions and fill other requirements to prepare for recognition and chartering.

Preceding the amendment votes, Student Union President Todd Kirkland ’13 spoke to the senate about community outreach. Kirkland expressed his concern that there was not enough effort by the Union to encourage student participation in events and discussions, as evidenced by the drop in student attendance at public forums and Senate events.

He also announced his decrease in responsibility in relation to ‘Deis Impact, as he is graduating in the spring.

There was also discussion as to the issue of attendance at Senate Committee meetings, which has been inconsistent.

Next was a request from Student Union Finance Board Chair Nathan Israel for a possible step between club recognition and chartering, as the number of chartered clubs has grown so high that oncampus storage for clubs has begun to run out.

This was followed by a presentation by Rasheik Trammell ’13, Brandeis charter coordinator for Teach for America.

Trammell promoted a collaborative effort between the Student Union and Teach for America to set up student events at Brandeis dedicated to Teach for America’s campaign against education inequality.

Various Senate committees then presented issues they had encountered over the past few weeks. The major problem addressed was the fact that damage and theft from dining facilities has already cost the University $15,000 since the beginning of this semester, according to Danny Novak ‘15, the head of the senate dining committee.

The Senate will soon formulate methods to discourage said damage and theft.

Oct. 16—University Police received a call from Shapiro Residence Hall reporting a party with an infected ear piercing.

BEMCo was dispatched, and the party was treated on-scene with a signed refusal for further care.

Oct. 16—There was a section-12 evaluation at the Mailman House.

An ambulance arrived and was cleared because the medical staff wanted the patient to go to McClain Hospital. University Police waited with the patient until the other ambulance arrived, and the party was transported without incident.

Oct. 17—A male party called University Police requesting BEMCo to respond to an off-campus location because his girlfriend was experiencing kidney pain from a possible urinary tract infection. He was informed that BEMCo does not respond to off-campus locations, and that he should dial 911 for help. The male called back 10 minutes later stating that he and his girlfriend walked to the 567 Apartments. University

Police transported the parties to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital via police cruiser.

Oct. 19—An individual in Reitman had a head laceration; BEMCo treated the party and requested an ambulance. The quad director on call was notified of the transport.

Oct. 21—A party near the Foster Biomedical Lab reported a male passed out in the grass. BEMCo was requested to respond, and the party was transported to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital via ambulance. A University Police cruiser followed the ambulance. The party fled the hospital, but the hospital staff stated they did not need the party to return, and that they believe the party had friends pick him up.

Oct. 21—A female party in Gordon had a laceration on the forearm. BEMCo was dispatched, and one BEMCo member was cleared to ride in the car with the patient to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

Oct. 21—A party in Reitman reported that his friend was in-

toxicated but breathing and semialert. BEMCo requested an ambulance to transport the party to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

ting from the stairwell. University Police investigated the area but were unable to detect an odor of marijuana.

Larceny

Disturbance

Oct. 15—A student in the South Residence Lot reported a breakin to her motor vehicle. A University Police officer was dispatched to take report. The student reported a small amount of change missing from her glove compartment and scattered belongings.

Traffic

Oct. 16—University Police observed a red Dodge Ram hit an unoccupied silver Subaru Forester and drive off. University Police compiled a report; an investigation is to follow.

Oct. 17—University Police compiled a report of a two-car accident in North Lot.

Drugs

Oct. 17—A party in the Charles River Apartments reported a strong smell of marijuana emit-

n A graphic on the front page was unclear. The yellow bars in the SAT and GPA ranges represented the 50th percentile of students. (Oct. 16, pg. 1) n An article in News misspelled former University President Sachar's name. He was named Abram, not Abraham Sachar. (Oct. 16, pg. 5)

n A byline in Arts misspelled and misidentified a writer.

The article about Looper was written by Aaron Berke, not Aaron Burke, and he is a Senior Writer, not a Staff Writer. (Oct. 16, pg. 22) The Justice welcomes submissions for errors that warrant correction or clarification. Email editor@ thejustice.org.

Justice

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The Justice is the independent student newspaper of Brandeis University. The Justice is published every Tuesday of the academic year with the exception of examination and vacation periods. Editor in chief office hours are held Mondays from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Justice office.

Editor News Forum Features Sports Arts Ads Photos Managing

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

BRIANNA MUSSMAN/the Justice

Discussing gender Jesse Beal, the program coordinator for sexuality and gender diversity at the Intercultural Center, speaks at an event called He Said/She Said/ Xe Said, a discussion about the boundaries of gender and sexuality.

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

—compiled by Marielle Temkin

Harvard Medical School Prof. Stephen J. Elledge has been awarded the Lewis S. Rosensteil Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Science, according to an Oct. 17 BrandeisNOW press release.

Elledge’s work involves studying eukaryotic cells and damage to DNA. He is also known for developing research tools to investigate DNA damage, and “his pioneering work laid the foundation for our current understanding of how failures in DNA damage sensing relate to the … field of genome instability,” according to BrandeisNOW. Elledge said that he was honored to be given the prestigious award.

“Receiving the Rosenstiel Award was a very pleasant surprise as the past winners are a tremendously talented group of scientists and I am proud to be considered to be among them,” Elledge wrote in an email to the Justice.

“And, of course, it is a terrific tribute to my grad students and post-docs whose incredible talent and hard work was responsible for the discoveries we made over the years.”

The Rosensteil Award, which consists of a $30,000 cash prize and a medal, was founded in 1972 and “has had a distinguished record of identifying and honoring pioneering scientists who subsequently have been honored with the Lasker and Nobel prizes,” according to BrandeisNOW. Elledge is the Gregor Mendel Professor of Genetics and Medicine and a member of the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School.

He also .has positions at the Brigham and Women’s hospital and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Elledge attended the University of Illinois, where he studied biology, and he later earned his Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Elledge will receive his awardaduring a dinner at Brandeis on March 14, 2013.

—Sam Mintz

ANNOUNCEMENTS Strategic Planning feedback session

Share your thoughts on the strategic planning framework and task force reports.

Today from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium.

Israel at the Crossroads

the

Oct. 19—A party appeared at Stoneman to report a violation of a Brandeis no-contact order. University Police spoke to the party, who was directed to fill out a statement, and University Police compiled a report.

Oct. 20—The community development coordinator in the Village reported individuals were smoking outside their apartment door. The students were stopped

by University Police and sent on their way, and no further action was taken.

Harvard prof rewarded

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS

n An article in Arts misspelled the name of an actor in Into the Woods. The actress playing the baker is Jamie Perutz, not Jaime Perutz. Also, Zach Smith played the big bad wolf, not the fox. (Oct. 16, pg. 20)

Miscellaneous

BRIEF

—Jess Linde

n An article in News incorrectly stated that Andrew Slack ’02 founded the Harry Potter Alliance in 2007. In fact, Slack founded the HPA in 2005. (Oct. 16, pg. 5)

Oct. 21—A party in Rosenthal East reported a group of loud people outside the building; University Police officers advised a group of six people to move along.

An “off the record” conversation with Natasha Mozgovaya, chief U.S. correspondent for Haaretz, on the turbulence within and across the Israeli borders, U.S.-Israel diplomatic dance and the changing face of Israeli society.

The event is presented by the BrandeisGenesis Institute for Russian Jewry and is cosponsored by the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies and the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism.

Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Mandel Center for the Humanities room 303.

Post-Holocaust Anti-semitism

Renowned historian Dagmar Herzog will discuss arguments given by postwar West German psychiatrists to deny reparations to the traumatized survivors of Nazi persecution. She will also examine the stages of think-

Russia’s Past Leaders

ing among those American psychiatrists in the United States who sought to legitimate the psychological suffering of Holocaust survivors. Herzog argues that these conflicts between psychiatrists in West Germany and the United States over reparations led to the development of the term post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The event is sponsored by the HadassahBrandeis Institute.

Wednesday from 7 to 9 p.m. in Rapaporte Treasure Hall.

Join Russian Club for an educational evening to learn more about the leaders who have shaped the politics of the world’s largest country. Award-wining Russian Language Professor Irina Dubinina will give a short presentation and lead a discussion afterwards.

Traditional Russian refreshments will be provided.

Thursday from 8:30 to 11 p.m. in the Shapiro Campus Center Art Gallery.

Faces of Eve: Varieties of Mormon Feminism

Pragmatic Pacifism

Media portrayals of Mormon women have focused on the potential for oppression and abuse within both the mainline church and fundamentalist sects.

In this lecture, Janet Bennion will be joined by historian Laurel Ulrich to look beyond the official patriarchy and find the subtle feminisms Mormon women embody. Bennion is a professor of social sciences at Lyndon State College of Vermont.

Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m. at the HadassahBrandeis Institute in the Epstein Building.

Rev. Wayne Lavender, Ph.D, Executive Director of the Foundation 4 Orphans discusses his peacemaking work that has taken him to post-conflict Mozambique and Kurdistan, Iraq to foster peace between communities and religions.

Sponsored by the Peace, Conflict and Coexistence Studies Program, The Brandeis Pluralism Alliance, The Interfaith Chaplaincy, Hillel and the Brandeis Interfaith Group.

Today at 7:30 p.m. in Pearlman Lounge.

THE JUSTICE

Foreign policy comes to fore ■ President Obama and

Governor Romney debated for the third and final time in Florida last night.

By scarlett reynoso JUSTICE contributing WRITER

Last night at 9 p.m., 15 days before election day, presidential candidates Gov. Mitt Romney, and President Barack Obama met in Boca Raton, Fla. for their final debate. The debate, which was moderated by long-time CBS news anchor Bob Schieffer, covered foreign policy, but also made temporary detours into domestic policy. The candidates’ comments paid particular attention to Iran and Israel, and included a fiery repartee over China as well.

The discussion began with a question concerning Libya and the Middle East. Romney acknowledged the accomplishment of the assassination of Osama bin Laden, but stressed that the foremost goal for his administration would be to stop extremism all over the Middle East by showing a stronger presence and providing for democratically leaning opposition parties in countries such as Egypt and Syria.

Obama criticized Romney’s foreign policy for being similar to that of the 1980s, stating that previously Romney said in a speech that Russia is the greatest geopolitical foe of the United States.

Many of the plans Obama detailed for the future focused on advancing the country’s place in the world in terms of math and science education, as well as advancing technology, while Romney suggested that the last four years have made the United States weaker and that he would protect military spending.

Obama, however, countered: “We spend more on our military than the next 10 countries combined: China, Russia, France, the U.K., you name it, the next 10.

What I did was work with our joint chiefs of staff to think about what are we going to need in the future to make sure that we are safe.”

When the subject of how to handle Iran’s nuclear program arose, Romney ardently called for a series of “crippling sanctions.”

Obama said that his main objective

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012

PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES

is to prevent Iran from attaining a nuclear weapon, but that he could not act without evidence.

With Obama referring to Israel as the United States’s “true friend and greatest ally in the region,” both candidates were in agreement regarding Israel.

Romney continued his firm criticism of Obama’s supposed neglect of China’s manipulation of currency. Obama responded by saying that the United States will need to continue to ensure that China is following the rules, but that they have been bringing cases against China’s violations of trade rules. While both agreed that China is an important trade partner, Romney criticized China’s blatant creation of trade imbalance.

“I will get America working again and see rising take-home pay again, and I’ll do it with five simple steps,” said Romney on one of many economic tangents. He then went on to outline his plans to create 12 million jobs.

One student felt uncomfortable with the degree to which the candidates strayed from the central theme. “They didn’t talk about foreign policy issues today,” said Navrun Jacob ’15 in an interview with the Justice. “They were supposed to but they didn’t.

Most voters are interested in hearing about domestic politics.”

In his closing statement, Obama brought up a few subjects the candidates did not cover, proposing the return of manufacturing jobs to the United States and asking the wealthy “to do a little bit more.”

Romney said that with the way Obama has led the United States in the last four years, the nation will face a 20-trillion-dollar debt and an economy on its way to something resembling Greece’s meltdown.

“The debate tonight was really foreign policy heavy and that’s one of the places where I’m most in contention with American government in general,” said Malika Imhotep ’15. “And while I do support President Obama, tonight was really interesting for me. While there were definitely some ‘Hurrah, Obama’ moments, there were some things that didn’t sit well with me on either side. But I was glad that we got a little bit of feisty Obama tonight.”

—Sara Dejene contributed reporting.

JOSHUA LINTON/the Justice

CLOSE ATTENTION: Students attend a debate party hosted by several clubs.

Newsday/MCT

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL: With Romney looking on, Obama speaks to the crowd of undecided voters at Tuesday’s debate.

Obama, Romney square off ■ The second presidential

debate focused on domestic policy, especially economics and unemployment.

By ariel glickman JUSTICE contributing WRITER

The second presidential debate, held last Tuesday at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., covered both foreign and domestic policy issues, though only one foreign policy question was asked.

The Gallup Organization chose 82 undecided voters—all from the New York area—to attend the town hall-style debate, which challenged both President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to relate to the voters asking the questions as well as the ones watching at home.

This debate was more entertaining than the first and generally more stylistic than substantive. Each candidatetried to get the last word and outdo his opponent in a game of verbal one-upmanship, even compelling moderator Candy Crowley of CNN to ask Romney to sit down at one point and interrupt Obama when he spoke over his allotted two minutes.

After Obama’s uninspiring performance at the first debate, all eyes were on him on Tuesday.

He was patient but also deflected attacks, on the offensive at times and defensive at others: “Governor, you’re the last person who’s going to get tough on China,” Obama said, stressing that the governor had invested in companies that outsourced jobs to China. Obama also questioned Romney’s plan to reduce the deficit: “When [Romney’s] asked, how are you going to do it, which deductions, which loopholes are you going to close, he can’t tell you.”

With two weeks until Election Day, Obama couldn’t afford to be overconfident, said Prof. Marty Levin (POL). “He doesn’t want the

negative disgrace, the shame of losing. … He’s very competitive,” said Levin in an interview with the Justice.

Eleven people asked questions, facilitated by Crowley. Because Romney won the coin toss, he answered the first question on employment after college graduation. But, while Romney told 20-year-old Jeremy Epstein, a junior at Adelphi University, that he knows what it takes to create jobs—even guaranteeing that Epstein would get a job—he failed to answer how he would generate them—an essential part of the question.

Both candidates ducked questions, often hiding behind statistics to boost their arguments.

Romney attacked the President on 7.8 percent unemployment— the same rate as when Obama took office in January 2009, he said. Obama asserted that his administration created 5.2 million jobs over the last 31 months.

With the use of facts and figures to defend their records and attack their opponent’s, there was heated interaction between the candidates. In critiquing Obama’s policies, the governor sometimes appeared aggressive, telling Obama, “You’ll get your chance in a moment. I’m still speaking.”

Romney also tested Crowley’s role as moderator: “He actually got the first question. So I get the last … answer,” he told Crowley.

But, the governor was not alone in challenging Crowley: “I want to make sure our timekeepers are working here,” Obama said, believing that the governor had spoken out of turn.

Crowley outlined her role at the beginning of the debate, saying, “My goal is to give the conversation direction and to ensure questions get answered.”

Yet, she did more than ask for specifics; she reworded voters’ questions and served as factchecker after Romney and the President contested over when the

Libyan attack was labeled an “act of terror.”

“He did, in fact, call it an act of terror,” she said, referring to Obama’s Sept. 12 speech. .

So, who won? “It’s rare to see a presidential debate where both candidates are at the top of their game, and yet there is still a clear winner. … [T]he President, Obama, who was absent at the first debate, showed up” figuratively, said Russell Leibowitz ’14, Campaigns Coordinator for Brandeis College Democrats, in an email to the Justice.

“I would say Obama won in the end or possibly a tie depending [on] which candidate you favor.

Obviously, you’d think that candidate did better, but Obama did terrific, and Romney came out unscathed, which is good,” said Morris Didia ’14, president of the Brandeis Libertarian Conservative Union, in an interview with the Justice.

On the topic of the moderator’s role, Didia commented, “It wasn’t her place to referee … and say who is right and who is wrong.” But, Leibowitz countered, “Crowley was just trying to force the candidates to accurately answer the questions, a trademark of most good debate moderators.”

In any case, remarked Nahum Gilliat ’14, vice president of Young Americans for Liberty, in an interview with the Justice, “Debates don’t tend to persuade people. … People who watch debates are usually partisan voters.”

The candidates reunited yesterday for the final debate at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., where they discussed foreign policy.

Looking ahead, early voting has already commenced in six of the nine swing states— Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin— and will begin in Florida this weekend. Early voting has yet to commence in Virginia and New Hampshire.

BRIEF Prof Epstein named Massachusetts Academy of Sciences Fellow for scientific research Prof. Irving Epstein (CHEM) has been recognized as a Massachusetts Academy of Sciences Fellow for his professional achievements and his contributions to the science community.

Each year the MAS awardees “constitute a select and prestigious community of scientists, engineers, research physicians, and others deeply concerned about science and science education,” according to the Academy’s website.

According to the MAS website, the

organization’s mission is “to promote public understanding and appreciation of the sciences, to support scientific research and education in areas relevant to the needs of the state, and to Epstein provide consultative or advisory services on matters of science to the Governor, and to local,

state, and federal agencies.”

Fellows are elected by the Board of Governors’ and are nominated by a leading scientist or science educator in their field, the website states.

Epstein was nominated by Prof. Eve Marder (BIOL), who is also a MAS fellow.

“Irv Epstein has been … an international leader in the field of oscillating chemical reactions for many, many years, and so his work has sort of led the whole field of oscillating chemical reactions, and it was exactly for that

reason that I thought it was meritorious,” Marder said in an interview with the Justice.

According to his profile on the Life Sciences at Brandeis website, Epstein’s research focuses on “oscillatory chemical reactions, spatial pattern formation, dynamical systems and neurobiology.”

In an interview with the Justice, Epstein said that he is joining an “interesting group of fellows,” which includes five Nobel laureates; astronaut Catherine Coleman; and Dr. Bill Nye,

host of television series Bill Nye the Science Guy. When looking ahead to working with the Academy, he expressed excitement about their “[initiative] … to make science more accessible to the general public.”

Epstein joins three MAS fellows from Brandeis; in addition to Marder, previous awardees include Prof.

Carolyn Cohen (BIOL) and Prof. Jeffrey Hall (BIOL).

—Allyson Cartter

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THE JUSTICE

●

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012

STRATEGIC PLAN TASK FORCE REPORTS

REPORTS: Task forces provide specific details

Academic Innovation The task force on Academic Innovation urged the strategic planning committee to ensure that the plan focuses on distinguishing the University and letting “Brandeis be Brandeis.”

The group recommended that the University offer more twice-weekly classes in order to “free up Fridays” for field trips or workshops. It also recommended a shift to “constructive feedback” as an alternative to grading, in the mold of schools like Hampshire College, which offers “narrative evaluations” instead of grades, according to the Hampshire website.

CONTINUED FROM 1

Integrated Arts The Integrated Arts committee wanted to “reimagine the arts at Brandeis for the future and to further restore them to prominence in the university’s identity,” according to cochair Scott Edmiston, the director of the Office of the Arts.

Specific ideas largely focused on facilities, with suggestions including renovations to the Rose Art Museum, new spaces on campus for studio arts students to work and the creation of a Center for Creative Collaboration. The task force also wrote about integrating the arts into more corners of campus, from connecting with alumni to putting on Lydian String Quartet concerts at faculty meetings.

Benchmarking The Benchmarking task force focused on comparing Brandeis to similar schools, including schools like Tufts University, Brown University and Washington University in St. Louis. They discovered that most of the University’s peers have had huge increases in applicants in the last 10 years, while Brandeis has grown modestly. The task force’s recommendations included big events to get the University noticed nationally and improving the graduate and professional schools.

The committee noted that Brandeis was the only school studied that did not have a medical school and one of only two that did not have a law school.

Faculty, Scholarship and Research

Facilities and Campus Evolution The report from the task force on Facilities and Campus Evolution was rife with specific suggestions of special interest to students weary of crowded residence halls and sometimes questoinable facilities. The report mentioned creating a physical social justice hub on campus, creating outdoor art installations, setting minimum standards for academic buildings and residence halls, adding two parking garages on campus and making the loop road two-way, creating a piazza in upper campus and adding 150 new rooms for students in North Quad or East Quad.

strategic planning team expressed the thought that this is an important step in the process.

“Brandeis loves a good, big, complicated debate. This kind of open conversation is, in part, what helps us get closer to the ideal of justice,” said Scott Edmiston, director of the Office of the Arts and cochair of the task force on Integrated Arts. “I think its fantastic how much the community cares about this plan and the passion with which they are discussing it.”

All of the task forces put forth both broad and specific ideas,.

The next step for the planning committee is to gather feedback from the community about the framework in order to start working on the final draft of the plan.

“There are many terrific ideas in the task force reports,” said Daniel Terris, director of the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life and one of the cochairs on the Global task force.

“Now the challenge is for the broader strategic plan to capture the zest, specificity, and imagination of the process. This will mean making tough choices—but I am certainly optimistic that we have the intellectual firepower within our community to make this a success.”

9FORCES TASK

The task force on Faculty, Scholarship and Research aimed to give the faculty every opportunity for discovery and research, while still ensuring that students are given the best possible education. According to Prof. Robin Feuer Miller (RUS), a senior adviser to the provost and one of the cochairs of the task force, one of the most important details in their report was the effort to efficiently and productively use faculty time. The report also emphasized the need to recruit and retain talented, top-tier faculty and to increase the diversity of the faculty, to allow for unique voices from different backgrounds on campus.

INSPIRATION: Provost Steve Goldstein ’78 shows his enthusiasm while talking about the strategic plan at a feedback session last week.

Flexible Education Through Technology

The Flexible Education Through Technology task force was tasked with “transforming Brandeis so that it will take advantage of radical and disruptive changes in technology while fulfilling its mission of excellence and access,” according to the task force report.

Specific recommendations included forming an online summer school, raising the school’s online profile through joining sites like iTunes and partnering with a community college to offer Brandeis online courses to community college students.

Alumni and Community Building

The task force on Alumni and Community Building recommended doubling involvement of young alumni and friends in the next five years, capitalizing on the new figure of University President Frederick Lawrence.

The task force also highlighted the need to “train” young alumni to ensure their commitment to future giving.

Global The Global task force was tasked with turning Brandeis into a “global public square,” according to task force cochair Daniel Terris, the director of the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life. “We also laid out goals for extending the Brandeis global reach by developing a concentrated set of partnerships and relationships in a limited number of key regions, building on a successful start in Israel and India,” he said. Specific ideas included increasing the number of students who study abroad and who attend the University from abroad.

Learning Communities and Student Experience Finally, the Learning Communities and Student Experience proposed that “a central vision for strategic planning should be that Brandeis students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends will be connected to and infused with pride for the institution,” according to the report. They suggested creating a physical social justice center, in agreement with the Facilities and Campus Evolution task force.

They also suggested more investment in athletics, the arts and competitive teams like mock trial or ballroom dance. The task force also emphasized recruitment and branding, suggesting an “aggressive Brandeis awareness campaign.”

Photos by Joshua Linton/the Justice Design by Nan Pang/the Justice

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012

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THE JUSTICE

MEDIATION: Kaplan to form Univ Committee for off-campus issues

STUDENT CONDUCT

CONTINUED FROM 1

JON EDELSTEIN/the Justice

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS: Student Rights and Community Standards Director Dean Gendron and Conduct Board member Rachel Usnik ’13 (both seated on couch, right) lead a conversation about additions to the “Rights and Responsibilities” handbook.

CONDUCT: students raise concern CONTINUED FROM 1 Examiner reports directly to Sawyer, in conjunction with Gendron.

Sawyer makes the final decision on the validity and seriousness of the violation. As opposed to the former examination process that was handled by Sawyer and a faculty and student board, the SEP only involves deliberation between Sawyer and the examiner. Various concerns with the SEP were brought up. A question as to the respect given towards the accuser’s confidentiality began the discussion, and issues such as preventing a fraudulent CSR and the specifics of hiring an Examiner, such as how the Examiners are related to the Brandeis community and their training process, also came up.

Gendron gave equal time for each question and their follow-ups.

He assured the representative from FMLA, who did not wish to be identified, that every step would still be taken to assure that the accuser in a SEP case would be comfortable and safe, but also explained that CSR

reports are not confidential to the accused, as in accordance with a new federal advisement document called the “Dear Colleague Letter,” the accused party now has a right to know their accuser.

As to the process of hiring an examiner, Gendron said that all Examiners are people with a real understanding of campus life, and would most likely be a part of the Brandeis community, such as a psychiatric counselor or member of the DSRCS. Examiners brought in from off-campus will be persons with multiple years of experience dealing with sexual assault in colleges and universities, as well as psychiatry in relation to the subject. Also, they are required to undergo training with the DSRCS so they are acclimated to the atmosphere at Brandeis and its community. All Examiners work alone as to prevent bias.

The final topic of the evening was the clarification of the language used in the “Rights and Responsibilities” book itself. YAL Brandeis Chapter

President Aaron Fried ’14 expressed his concern that including vague language within the handbook could be harmful to free speech on campus and allow too wide a definition of “sexual harassment,” and thus possibly make way for unfair bias in cases. Fried urged Gendron to possibly edit the code language to be much more specific and clear about the University’s definition of sexual harassment. Gendron agreed and explained that the Process was still an experiment, so issues such as Fried’s had plenty of time to be addressed and changes made.

The date of the next forum on the current “Rights and Responsibilities” will be announced soon. Until then, more information can be found by contacting Gendron or Sawyer, looking on the Brandeis website in the DSRCS section, and reading the handbook itself, which can be found online.

Editor’s note: Aaron Fried is a Justice columnist.

BLEED –

Will you be the applicant they can’t afford to bring on?

Or the one they can’t afford not to?

in his application process to create the off-campus University Committee, according to both Kirkland’s and Kaplan’s accounts of the mediation.

A staff member, such as an administrator from DCL, will most likely facilitate Kaplan’s committee, said Kirkland.

“I couldn’t be happier with the outcome,” said Kaplan. “I feel like the Union very specifically addressed my concerns.”

As Chief Justice of the Student Judiciary Seth Brody ’15 said in an interview with the Justice, “Dean wanted to be a senator. The Union couldn’t offer him that position, so they compromised and found a way that Dean would be able to achieve his goals.”

As for the long—and at times arduous—road that led to the mediation, Kaplan conceded that he wasn’t entirely happy with the process itself and the trouble it had caused some of the people involved.

“I realize that I offended Carlton [Shakes ’14]. I feel really bad about that. Me and Carlton have been really good friends for the past year.”

The Student Judiciary agreed to hear the third of Kaplan’s appeals last week, which claimed that he was wrongfully removed from office after being sworn in. Kaplan’s initial election and subsequent removal resulted from a misinterpretation of the election results by Shakes, the Student Union secretary and chief of elections.

“I just have had a bad experience with University Committees in the past,” Kaplan continued, addressing his reasons for pursuing this

result through the Judiciary.

Last year, during his service as Massell Quad Senator, Kaplan was placed with the Office of Student Rights Advocacy as a representative for students who have had disciplinary action taken against them by the University. OSRA, which is run through the Student Union, is described on the Union website as “a student run club and service that works to inform the student body of their rights. In essence; we ADVISE, ADVOCATE, and INFORM.”

By Kaplan’s own account, the appointment was “very ironic,” as he himself was on the opposite side of disciplinary situations multiple times last year.

However, this may be an opportunity for a fresh start for Kaplan.

“Yeah, I caused a mess,” said Kaplan, referring to the amount of work that his accusations caused for the Judiciary and Student Union officers as a whole. “We’re here to be students primarily, and I feel bad for, you know, taking away time in some cases from students,” said Kaplan.

“I’m glad that we were able to make a good decision,” Senatorat-Large Charlotte Franco ’15 said in an interview with the Justice.

Franco noted that the Union was glad to have increased visibility and involvement with its off-campus constituency, especially as it continues to grow due to a lack of housing space on campus.

“I think that [Kaplan] is a good person to chair this [Committee],” said Franco, “because he has such passion for this as an off-campus student and as a previous senator, knowing what it takes to put things in action.”

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Breaking the code

of silence

WENDY CHOI/the Justice

INVESTIGATING JUSTICE: Stille, a journalist, is a Mafia expert.

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2012

7

VERBATIM | GUSTAV MAHLER If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music.

ON THIS DAY…

FUN FACT

In 2001, Apple presented the iPod, offering “1,000 songs in your pocket.”

“Topolino” is the Italian name for Mickey Mouse.

Stille discusses Italian Mafia and politics

By Jaime kaiser JUSTICE contributing WRITER

An excited group of students and faculty, including students from other universities in the area, eagerly packed into the Mandel Center for the Humanities room G03, which was quickly filled to capacity— on a Friday afternoon no less.

Much-anticipated speaker Alexander Stille gave a talk titled “Voicing the Outrage of Silence: A Talk on the Mafia and Italian Politics,” an event in the Martin Weiner Lecture Series cosponsored by the Humanities Council, the Romance Studies Department and the Italian Studies program.

Stille is an accomplished author and journalist and a Columbia University professor of international journalism. He has received numerous literary awards, including the Los Angeles Times Book Award for best work of history and the Alicia Patterson Foundation award for journalism. He has also contributed to numerous major publications including The New York Times, Rome’s La Repubblica and The Atlantic.

Stille has authored several books dealing primarily with Italian politics and culture, though the lecture was focused on his second novel, Excellent Cadavers: The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic, a gripping account of the political struggle against the Sicilian Mafia in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The central theme of silence in Mafian politics was introduced in the form of three experiences in Stille’s time as an investigative journalist and published author. All three anecdotes seemed to end with “embarrassed phone calls,” as Stille spoke of them, in which he was asked or told that his work needed to be censored in some way.

In one particularly shocking instance, Stille was not permitted to write a story about the trial of the Mafia boss Marcello Dell’Utri because of a newly appointed edi-

tor’s connection to the Mafia.

Getting to the heart of the challenge presented in the lecture, Stille said, “I mention these [anecdotes] only for their ordinariness. This is not a case of a courageous shopkeeper who refuses to pay protection money and announces the Mafia in Sicily, but its very ordinariness says something important. If this subject cannot be discussed in a public forum, then we have a problem.”

Much of the lecture focused on the Mafia assassinations of court Justices Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. The 20th anniversary of their deaths was this summer.

Their contributions to the Italian judiciary battle against the Mafia were described by Stille as “revolutionary.”

One of the ideas Stille repeatedly stressed was that the Mafia’s power was mainly an illusion supported by its interactions with the rest of the world. “[The Mafia] was seen as an anthropological phenomenon that seemed to be running through the veins of Sicilian culture, something that therefore trying to combat it would be as useless as trying change the heat in Sicily in July or August,” Stille said.

This myth was deconstructed, in large part, by the efforts of Borsellino and Falcone.

“The most extraordinary contribution of the two judges was to show that [the Mafia’s] power derives very directly from its ties to the legitimate world and when the state decides to do something about it, they are much stronger than the Mafia.”

Stille was living in Italy during the first serious attempts to combat organized crime in Sicily, including at the height of Falcone’s convictions and the attempted destruction of his reputation. He reflected on the mood of those times, saying “I had this sensation that I was watching an earlier middle act of a Greek tragedy. You could see this was going to end very badly with the death of Falcone.”

Stille went on to debunk many of the major stereotypes regarding the Sicilian Ma-

fia, using a combination of hard facts and quotes to emphasize his position.

“The idea that Sicilians are naturally violent is factually wrong. There are periods where violence really takes a vacation in Sicily. It is difficult to find even a jealous husband; there’s [almost] no homicide during periods where Mafia lays low.”

Also discussed were the anomalies of the Italian legal system in a broader manner, which, according to Breanna Small ’16, was one of the most compelling portions of the lecture. “In Italy, the statute of limitations clock never stops ticking, leading to more corruption in a way that is not even possible in the U.S.,” she said.

The lecture was followed by a questionand-answer session, during which Stille addressed a question regarding the possible dangers of investigating such a characteristically sinister organization. Surprisingly, Stille did not feel in any immediate danger while writing Excellent Cadavers, which was written after the assassination of the judges. “The Mafia had so many problems by then,” said Stille. “They make pretty rational calculations. ... It just wasn’t in their best interests to bump off a foreign journalist.”

Michael Pizziferri ’15 noted the valuable addition this lecture made to the hodgepodge of academic events at Brandeis.

“I’ve found there’s a lack of events focused on European history on campus. This lecture brought visibility to issues of Italian heritage.”

Brandeis undergraduates taking classes in Italian language and culture, particularly those in the first-year seminar “JustBooks: Voicing the Outrage of Silence, Social Justice and the Mafia,” represented a large portion of the attendees.

Stille tied his faith in the legal system to effectively combat these types of thugs to the actions of ordinary citizens. “It starts with the very basic idea that you try as a voter to reward people who play by the rules and punish those who don’t,” he said.

WENDY CHOI/the Justice

EAGER AUDIENCE: Students filled the room to listen to the lecture on the Mafia in politics.

A struggle of Jewish identity Barnouw lectures on controversy surrounding Anne Frank play By ariel glickman JUSTICE contributing WRITER

“I’m not so Jewish. Anne was hardly Jewish. … Don’t make the play too Jewish.” Those were the words of Otto Frank, the father of renowned diarist Anne Frank, in a letter to Hollywood playwrights Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett. According to David Barnouw, coeditor of the The Diary of Anne Frank: The Revised Critical Edition, Otto wanted the diary to become a “universal” play: “Suffering is universal. … What Anne has suffered is not only suffering from Jews but suffering from everybody,” Barnouw said during a lecture called “Anne Frank: An American Heroine” held in Olin-Sang last Monday.

The event, cosponsored by the University Writing Program and the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life, focused on the controversy surrounding the 1955 play The Diary of Anne Frank and the legitimacy of her diary.

Prof. Dawn Skorczewski (ENG) invited Barnouw to speak to her “ENG 18B: Writing the Holocaust” class.

Barnouw, a member of the Netherlands Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, addressed Jewish playwright Meyer Levin’s protest that a story Jewish in nature was not writ-

ten by a Jew. As Barnouw explained in his lecture, Levin motivated the diary’s publication in English in the United States. He wrote to Otto about turning the diary into a play, after which Otto gave Levin authorization to draft it.

After it was complete, however, Otto denied Levin the rights to the play and turned to Broadway playwrights Goodrich and Hackett because he believed Levin’s version did not focus on universal suffering. Levin sued Otto and received damages. His main problem with the play was that he believed only a Jew could do her suffering justice. Levin criticized Goodrich and Hackett for not discussing hiding—an aspect twhat he deemed central to the Jewish Holocaust.

Levin believed that this break with Judaism was anti-Semitic. He saw the play as Otto’s retaliation against him. Otto represented “Jews from the East coast, those Jews from Germany, those educated Jews who were not Jews anymore,” according to Barnouw.

Visiting Prof. and Fulbright Scholar Pawel Wolski (NEJS), however, did not think that Jewish identity was the main point of controversy in the play: “It’s not a diary anymore. It’s not a book, or it’s not a play anymore. It’s a Holocaust diary. A Holocaust play.”

Wolski suggested another lens to evaluate The Diary of Anne Frank—one that emphasizes Holocaust literature.

If the play is viewed through this framework, Levin’s critique may have value.

Barnouw reasserted the theme of universality in explaining the diary’s popularity. Because Anne is young and forthright, her audience can come away with what it wants—whether it’s Christian or Jewish, liberal or conservative. The Holocaust is in the background because, according to Barnouw, Holocaust literature did not exist upon the diary’s publication.

Therefore, Anne’s diary does not occupy “a special place in the Holocaust literature,” said Barnouw.

Twenty years ago, the diary was perceived as a girl’s book. Anne could not have written about the Holocaust because she died before it was labeled as such. Still, Wolski said that some people credit Anne as the first Holocaust writer. If she is to be a true representative of the Holocaust, the problem lies in the authenticity of her diary. If her diary is not genuine, the same would follow for the play, according to Barnouw.

In publishing the Revised Critical Edition, the Netherlands Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies introduced another account, the voice

CARIN GOLDBERG/Doubleday

APPLY TO ALL: David Barnouw’s book speaks to the universality of the diary. of the 13-year-old Anne that Otto had not made public. After Otto’s death in 1980, the Institute received Anne’s diaries, as predicated in Otto’s will.

Before then, few people knew that two diaries existed—the one Anne started at 13 years old and the rewritten version from 1944. Otto primarily used Anne’s second diary but took excerpts from her first one as well.

The Institute released a press statement indicating its desire to publish

Anne’s complete diary, which was met with criticism. “How is it possible that the Institute is going to publish a diary that Otto Frank didn’t want?” people asked. But to that question, Barnouw responded, “You can say that we did what Otto Frank didn’t want, but … there is not a good interview with Otto Frank because he was kind of—almost—the father of a saint.

You don’t ask difficult questions to fathers of saints.” The Secretary of Education in the Netherlands at that point in time agreed that the new publication would be beneficial and considered “a monument for the Jewish children that were killed,” according to Barnouw.

For Theresa Fuller ’13, a student in Skorczewski’s class, the discussion gave her a new perspective on the diaries. “I thought that the original versions hadn’t been released because Otto, Anne’s father, didn’t want them released for privacy reasons. I didn’t realize that it was just … not known that it existed.”

Another of Skorczewski’s students, Allie Belfer ’15, was equally impressed with the lecture. “I thought it was interesting that we got not just Anne Frank but … her writing and her writing style. … This wasn’t focused on the Holocaust per se but on how people perceive the Holocaust in literature.”

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012

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THE JUSTICE

Investing in sustainability

Student campaign takes a stand against fossil fuels By aLEXA BALL JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Students constantly hear about climate change from the news, from political campaigns and from professors in their classrooms. Brandeisians have decided to counter the results of global warming and help communities of the world affected by it. Shouldering the responsibility of helping to create a better future for this generation and those to come, a group of Brandeis students has started a campaign to end the use of non-renewable energy and raise national awareness about the consequences of the use of fossil fuels.

The Divest for Our Future Campaign at Brandeis University is headed by members of Students for a Just and Stable Future, and works actively to help stop the production and distribution of fossil fuels and move toward renewable energy and sustainability. A subgroup within Students for Environmental Action, SJSF has been around for several years, while the Divest for Our Future Campaign began this summer.

Modeled after the University’s stand against companies active in the South African apartheid in the 1980s and 1990s, the campaign is pushing for Brandeis to “divest, or take its money out of investments that are placed within fossil fuel companies,” according to member Andrew Nguyen ’15. Their hope is that this will shift the use of and public opinion about non-renewable energy and will lead to methods that will help sustain the environment for future generations.

Nguyen says SJSF plans to move the campaign quickly because climate change has already affected many people and will to continue to do so. This past year has seen record heat waves and many extreme weather events attributed to climate change, and Divest for Our Future hopes to draw attention to “the externalities of producing or burning fossil fuels that people suffer from, [such as] pollution, toxic waste, and contamination of drinking water,” says Nguyen.

The campaign is asking Brandeis for “transparency in the endowment so everyone knows that we are investing in morally responsible companies,” Nguyen said. Because of the current lack of transparency, there is no way to ensure that the endowment does not have funds in fossil fuel companies, according to Nguyen. In order to make the move toward investing only in businesses that do not rely on fossil fuels, the University could perform what is called a “negative screening,” which would allow it to screen out a certain type of industry from its investments, Nguyen explained.

However, Nguyen asserts that, even though there are about 200 companies that the club specifically wants Brandeis to divest from, there are many profitable, environmentally responsible companies that could produce a

return on investment that equals what Brandeis is currently earning.

The club realizes that the University must remain financially stable but believes this can be done while taking a moral stance against environmentally harmful fossil-fuel companies. “We understand that the endowment has to make money, but we want to show them that you can be profitable while not putting our future in jeopardy,” Nguyen said.

In order to achieve transparency and ultimately remove all investments from fossil fuel companies, the Divest for Our Future campaign’s first task is getting students to sign a petition.

Nguyen said that the goal of this first step is to “help raise student awareness about the University’s endowment and the fact that climate change is going to impact us and it’s going to impact us soon.”

While the group realizes that it would be improbable to immediately eliminate the use of fossil fuels in their entirety, the members of SJSF hope that the University will begin the shift toward renewable energy as soon as possible.

They recognize that this must be a cooperative effort between the campaign and the University and have sent a letter to University President Frederick Lawrence to make him aware of their interests to have Brandeis divest its endowment from the targeted companies.

The battle against climate change has proven to be long and arduous, and the Divest for Our Future Campaign knows they cannot do it alone. Working with organizations such as the international group 350.org, the Better Future Project based out of Cambridge and several other universities, the members of SJSF working on the campaign hope to help raise national awareness of the imminent problems associated with climate change and fossil fuels.

Other local colleges such as Tufts University, Harvard University, Hampshire College and Boston University have also been working with the Brandeis group on the campaign. In addition, nearly 40 students at other universities nationwide have started campaigning on their campuses. Although only Hampshire College has confirmed its explicit intention to divest its endowment from fossil fuel companies, Nguyen emphasizes that a major benefit of the campaign is national awareness. “Not only can Brandeis take a moral stand by divesting, but they can help to shift the marketplace if enough universities divest from fossil fuels,” he said.

As Nguyen pointed out, in the presidential debate between President Barack Obama and the Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, “they didn’t mention climate change once. They only mentioned clean coal, which is a myth. We have the means of producing energy without harming people or the environment.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREW NGUYEN

CLEAN ENERGY CRUSADERS: The group works to disconnect Brandeis from fossil fuel companies.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LISA PURDY

SOLIDARITY: Dorian Williams ’13 and Shea Riester ’12 sat outside TransCanada’s office to protest a pipeline.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREW NGUYEN

PREVENTING PIPELINE: Nguyen ’15, Danielle Mizrachi ’15 and Kaitlyn Stewart ’15 (right to left) protested in D.C.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012

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THE JUSTICE

9

JOSHUA LINTON/Justice File Photo

Making

new

RACE TO THE FINISH: The renovated pool was widely admired by many during the Alumni Swimming and Diving Meet on Oct. 13.

FAMILY PHOTO: The men’s and women’s swimming and diving squads pose after the squads’ alumni meet on Oct. 13.

JOSHUA LINTON/Justice File Photo

waves

The swimming and diving squads compete again

By JEFFREY BOXER JUSTICE EDITOR

The Brandeis men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams first started competing in 1968.

Until being cut in 2010, the team was a national force, amassing 30 All-University Athletic Association performances and 15 Division III AllAmericans. Until 1995, passing a swim test was a graduation requirement for University students.

This past weekend, Brandeis welcomed back a piece of its storied history, as the squads hosted their first meet since Oct. 22, 2008.

“Having the team back, I think it means that we found that missing piece to the puzzle,” coach Michael Kotch said. “You know when you’re working on a 1,000-piece puzzle and you find that missing corner piece in your sweatshirt pocket.

Swimming and diving really complements the academic mission of the University.”

The long road back The pool in the Joseph M. Linsey Sports Center was closed in the fall of 2008 due to infrastructure problems. The team competed through the 20092010 season using facilities at other local colleges.

But without a pool to call its own, the program was suspended indefinitely.

“Everyone was left hanging,” Esther Tandetnik ’13 said. “There was no timeline for getting the pool running, and no one looked for a coach.”

That all changed in April, 2011. Facing pressure from both students and alumni, the University announced that the pool would be reopened in time for the spring 2012 semester. That led to the swim team’s reinstatement for the 2012-2013 season and Kotch’s hiring in July, 2011.

Senior closure The two-season hiatus left Kotch’s squad in a unique position: while seniors Antonio Cancio, Jared Goldman, Niko Karkantis, Holly Spicer and Tandetnik are experienced college students, they haven’t raced at the varsity level in nearly three years. Instead, it is the newer students that were in high-level competition last season.

“We’ve been able to balance each other out, and it’s been a great dynamic,” Tandetnik said. “We have Brandeis experience, while they have more experience in the pool. It’s mutually beneficial.”

“There’s a dichotomy of the old returners versus the new generation,” Karkantis said. “People refer to the freshmen and sophomore transfers as Brandeis 2.0, and our job as Brandeis 1.0 has been as mentors.”

Kotch said that the five seniors have been invaluable for the team.

“For the seniors, the word I’ve been using is closure,” he said. “We are relying on them to establish a foundation and start a competitive culture that will last us for years. It’s not the journey they were expecting, but it’s a happy ending.”

Brandeis 2.0 It isn’t just the pool that has received a makeover. The senior holdovers have been joined by two new assistant coaches, two juniors, five sophomores and eight swimmers in the Class of 2016.

And that’s not including their new head coach.

Kotch joins the program with huge shoes to fill.

Assistant Director of Athletics Jim Zotz, Kotch’s predecessor, coached the team for 32 years.

“He’s a mentor, he’s a friend, he’s a colleague,” Kotch said of Zotz. “He’s been a great resource.”

By all accounts, Kotch has been a success.

“He’s awesome,” Tandetnik said. “He knows how to approach the sport seriously and on a varsity level, but he’s very approachable.”

Joining Kotch are assistant coach Breda O’Connor and diving coach Charlotte Rea ’09, both of whom were hired this fall. Kotch recruited O’Connor out of high school when he coached at Bentley University and she also joined his staff when he moved on to Regis University.

Then there are the squad’s newest members. Of the Judges’ 15 wins against Wheaton College last Saturday, nine of them came from first-years, and three more came from Max Fabian ’15, a sophomore transfer from Connecticut College.

“We are a new team,” Kotch said. “We have kids with some great experience under their belts who have been recruited to help us compete.”

“It was great to see our freshmen stepping up and winning events,” Spicer said of the meet against Wheaton. “It wasn’t just the upperclassmen leading the team.”

Back in action Just one week into the season, the squad already finds itself swimming against the current.

The team’s relatively small size and its membership in the University Athletic Association will make it difficult to win competitions.

“Fortunately or unfortunately, we are in the middle of one of the most competitive swimming conferences,” Kotch said. “We are trying to control the things that we can control and develop the culture, and we will grow in numbers as the program goes forward.”

Kotch will continue to lead the team in its reboot. And he can take pride in helping to locate the missing piece of the Brandeis jigsaw puzzle.

JON EDELSTEIN /the Justice

HANDS IN THE AIR: Diver Eliza Koppelman ’15 competed against Wheaton College on Saturday.

10

TUESDAY, October 23, 2012

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THE JUSTICE

Justice Justice

the the

Established 1949, Brandeis University

Brandeis University

Established 1949

Andrew Wingens, Editor in Chief Marielle Temkin, Managing Editor Eitan Cooper, Production Editor Fiona Lockyer, Deputy Editor Jeffrey Boxer, Nan Pang and Robyn Spector, Associate Editors Sam Mintz and Tate Herbert, News Editors Celine Hacobian, Features Editor Shafaq Hasan, Forum Editor Adam Rabinowitz, Sports Editor Jenny Cheng and Joshua Linton, Photography Editors Rachel Burkhoff, Acting Layout Editor Sara Dejene, Online Editor Maya Riser-Kositsky, Copy Editor David Wolkoff, Advertising Editor

Know your rights This past week the Student Conduct Board held an open forum with the Student Rights and Community Standards Director Dean Gendron to discuss the changes to the 2012-2013 Student Rights and Responsibilities handbook. While the University makes small changes to the language in the handbook each year, this semester the University introduced the new special examiner position: an individual who will be responsible for specifically overseeing the process of sexual assault allegations.

While it is important for students to understand the role and position of the special examiner, students should also be familiar with what rights they have and how that language is structured. We encourage all students to attend future feedback sessions about the handbook to better acquaint themselves with their rights.

The handbook establishes the boundaries and rules students are required to follow as members of the Brandeis community. However, the handbook also includes the limitations and restrictions of the administration’s purview into student life.

It provides students with the scope of the administration’s authority concerning campus protests, explanations of student privacy and the University discrimination policies, among other issues relevant to students in their daily on-and off-campus lives.

However, without educating themselves about the handbook contents and their rights, students are leaving themselves at a disadvantage as community members.

For example, the introduction of the special examiner position is a significant addition that many students may be unfamiliar with.

While the special examiner’s position was introduced earlier this semester, the

Read student handbook administration has yet to decide or announce who will fill the special examiner position.

The open forum presented the administration with the first opportunity to explain the details of the position to the student body in addition to providing a platform for students to ask questions about any section of the handbook that is unclear.

Given the importance of the handbook in general community life and the importance of this new position, even minor changes in how the issues are presented and structured in the handbook will impact their real life practice.

Therefore, students should attend these forums where they are able to voice their questions and concerns about the language of the handbook to better understand what the sections are saying.

However, without attending this event or reading this section in the handbook, students will be unaware of a significant policy change restructuring the process of addressing sexual assault allegations.

Given the unpredictability of sexual assault cases, it’s important for every student to be familiar with the process of reporting an attack and the resources provided in the handbook.

As part of this community, students are provided with the laws instructing their behavior on and off campus in the handbook. Many students may feel some sections of the handbook may not be applicable to them during their time as a student at the University. However, we still urge students to read the handbook, become informed of their rights and attend the open forums with questions. If a student ever finds himself or herself in a situation where his or her rights are violated or obstructed, knowledge of the handbook will be a vital tool.

Nurture connection with students At last week’s “Hang out with the Dean” event, students were invited to relax and mingle with select administrators in an effort to relieve some of the stress and tension inherent in college life. This event was characteristic of the close-knit community that many at Brandeis value.

We appreciate the administration’s effort to reach out to students by playing a more active role in engaging in students’ lives.

The event allowed students to mingle with administrators including Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer, Associate Dean of Student Life Maggie Balch and Director of Student Rights and Community Standards Dean Gendron. In the midst of the anxiety and pressure of midterms, the event provided students with a safe place to alleviate their stress.

Students’ everyday interaction with the administration is usually limited to occasional town hall meetings, office hours and, most recently, feedback sessions on the newly released framework of the strategic plan.

We appreciate that this event demonstrates a new effort by the administration to directly engage with students to build a rapport with the community.

While the attendance at the event was

Build a rapport less than impressive, we hope that with repeated similar efforts by the administration, the student body will respond enthusiastically. To further engage students, the administrators could orchestrate a game night where students can more casually interact with administrators.

Moreover, perhaps moving the event into students’ dormitory lounges, such as the Polaris Lounge or Ridgewood Commons, would help further integrate the administration into student life. Melding these two spheres of campus life will only encourage a more open and productive relationship.

While the University thrives in part because of its intimate campus and close community, there remains a distance between students and the administration.

This distance is not too far, however, and we encourage administrators to more frequently reach out to support and help the student body.

Promoting accessibility between the administration and the students helps to continue fostering a healthy work and learning environment.

NAN PANG/the Justice

Views the News on

The integration of technology into the classroom has allowed students to learn, think and analyze in many different ways. More and more, universities such as Harvard University, Columbia University and Tufts University are allowing students to enroll in online courses instead of attending a traditional classroom. Do you think Brandeis should incorporate online courses into its current curriculum? Do you think there’s merit in taking university courses online?

Prof. Angela Gutchess (PSYC) Online learning offers a number of opportunities, particularly for distance learning. However, I think that online courses would not be a good substitute for live courses at Brandeis. The classroom setting supports discussion, lively demos, and interaction in a way that online forums do not. Particularly the small classes and seminars allow students to develop skills in oral communication and processing and in responding to ideas in “real time,” which are not the same as skills emphasized in a written medium. Large live courses may have more of a challenge in engaging students and creating an active learning environment, but it can be done with the right tools and methods.

Angela Gutchess is an assistant professor in the Psychology department.

Prof. Marya Levenson (ED) Technology can provide a great opportunity for students to learn in a different way, provided that we resist the glitz and keep asking ourselves how the particular form of technology enables us to ask critical questions, learn new skills and solve challenges. If Brandeis could be part of a university consortium that provided excellent opportunities to learn online, faculty and students would be able to think about how/ whether to make that part of a Brandeis experience. For example, being able to take one semester of online courses might enable more science students to have a semester abroad.

Marya Levenson is the Harry S. Levitan Director of Teacher Education and Professor of the Practice of Education.

John Unsworth I came to Brandeis in February of 2012, from the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois, and I spent the rest of the spring semester teaching my Illinois graduate course in digital humanities online. I was teaching online because GSLIS has been delivering its professional masters degree online since 1996, and currently teaches half its students in this way. In my experience, online courses can be high-quality, high-touch and highimpact experiences for both faculty and students, if done right. Online instruction can also be done badly, but in my experience most courses benefit from the rethinking of the syllabus that is required for faculty to teach them online. Finally, both undergraduate and graduate students can benefit from access to guest speakers, new forms of interaction, new modes of expression and new methods for investigation that online courses can make available. I don’t think online teaching will become a replacement of on-campus teaching of undergraduates at Brandeis, but I do think it could be a very useful supplement.

John Unsworth is the vice provost for Library and Technology Services and chief information officer.

Rachel Downs ’13 There is always possibility for significant gains, and significant losses, with an online approach to education and teaching. In some ways, I feel that Brandeis is limiting its students by not incorporating online classes in the curriculum, because it limits the variety of courses students can take for credit here and necessitates in-person instruction for all classes. On the other hand, as a teacher, I strongly believe that so much is gained by being a member of a class and learning in a mutual, engaged environment with a knowledgeable facilitator. That being said, I would be in favor of Brandeis incorporating some online courses into the curriculum as long as our undergraduate culture here maintained a majority in-class instruction and online classes did not have a significant impact on in-person class size and/or faculty and staff teaching positions.

Rachel Downs ‘13 is an Undergraduate Departmental Representative for the Education Studies program.

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, October 23, 2012

Strategic framework lacks inspiring vision

By Joseph Reimer Special to the justice

Universities are always changing, but the tailwinds of change have recently intensified. No one is quite sure what future university learning experiences will look like or how many universities will still be open in a decade or two.

Disruptive forces are at our gates and, as a member of the Brandeis faculty, I am grateful that our leaders acknowledge these forces and have initiated a deliberative process by which we can come together to answer: How might Brandeis best assure its survival and flourishing in the years ahead?

I looked forward to the “Preliminary Framework for the Strategic Plan” that the provost disseminated and hoped for an inspiring vision of what Brandeis might become. But I was sadly disappointed. While this framework addresses our possible future, it is written in ways that are more generic than inspiring. It claims to represent what is unique about Brandeis, but it could be describing any number of research universities in this country.

Still, as University President Frederick Lawrence stressed, we can treat this framework as a preliminary statement and work to enhance the directions that it champions. In that spirit

I will address two of its key directives: First, that “all Brandeis students will experience a highly personal education with opportunities to engage in real-world discovery” and, second, “our community will deepen its commitment to social justice.”

What is “a highly personal education?” The document describes it as students receiving “individual guidance and support to facilitate an academic experience that is excellent.” But in what ways will that academic experience be excellent?

The provost, in addressing the faculty, seemed to suggest that each student will be guided to work one-on-one with a professor who will involve the student in his or her cutting edge research. How that will happen and how many students could possibly be involved in cutting edge research has not been spelled out.

In my many years of teaching here I recall wonderful experiences of working one-on-one with some students and also teaching other students who much preferred learning in small groups. In this document “discovery learning” seems to be identified only with this one-on-one model of interaction.

But cannot discovery learning happen in small groups or even in captivating lectures?

Indeed, can any one mode of teaching ever be viewed as the ideal model for all the varied learning interactions that take place at Brandeis?

To more effectively promote “discovery learning,” I would look to Professor Lee Shulman, a leading expert on learning in higher education, who asks: Why assume that discovery learning in a biology lab looks like discovery learning in a humanities course or a legal studies seminar?

Rather, encourage teachers and learners in each of these learning contexts to define what makes for powerful learning and then create “signature pedagogies” that can be assessed, refined and shared with professors in that field. It is challenging enough to get a group of like-minded teachers to work on improving their teaching. To insist there is a single “signature pedagogy” for the whole university is to undermine meaningful change for it would leave many professors feeling that their best teaching experiences have been ignored.

The same can be said for the noble aspiration that social justice becomes a hallmark of the Brandeis experience for all students. Is there a single definition of “social justice” that students from many different backgrounds and persuasions can embrace? Has anyone worked

11

past the slogan of “social justice” to examine how to involve students in a meaningful examining of their ethical values? Has Brandeis created sufficient learning contexts in which students can openly and safely explore their ethical values without worrying that they have to be in line with the views of the majority?

The International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life has taken important steps in this direction, but much more would need to be done to effectively make social justice (or any moral virtue) the hallmark of the Brandeis experience.

We are a university with a rich tradition of exploring the great articulations of human virtues.

That includes the classical religious as well as modern secular traditions of both the East and West. An inspiring vision for Brandeis would need to connect the academic exploration of these traditions with the aspirations of our students to learn how to become effective agents for change in the globalized world they will soon be entering.

Joseph Reimer is an Associate Professor of Jewish Education in the Education Program and the Hornstein Program for Jewish Professional Leadership.

Inadequate research distorts campus Dor Guez coverage Philip

gallagher Back to basics

The Rose Art Museum simply cannot stay out of the newspaper. First, it got press because it was going to be closed, then again because it wasn’t going to be closed and recently because it appointed a new director. Last week, the Rose Art Museum made news once more in a New York Times article from Oct. 12 by Emily Gogolak about the new Dor Guez exhibit titled “100 Steps to the Mediterranean.”

Unfortunately, the Brandeis community was thoroughly mischaracterized by the article. Ms. Gogolak did not do sufficient research to understand the Israel dialogue between Brandeis students or learn of recent campus events that could have influenced the direction of her article. Ms. Gogolak suggests that “there have been accommodations to campus sensitivities” with regards to the content of the exhibit. Ms. Gogolak does point out that the exhibit’s advertising was worded in such a way to avoid discussing Muslim Palestinians, but it isn’t clear how changing the wording of an advertisement would alter a visitor’s reaction to the actual exhibit. Mr. Guez, in an email interview with the Justice, flatly denied that his exhibit had been altered in any way and stated that he would never work with an institution that attempted to censor his artwork.

Ms. Gogolak also articulates the belief that there are “differences between the Guez pieces shown at Brandeis and the more overtly political work displayed at his exhibitions in Israel.”

She fails, however, to offer any specific examples of these differences, which makes this assertion difficult to take seriously. Additionally, given Mr. Guez’s above response in his interview with the Justice, he would probably not allow museum staff to pick and choose which of his works to display and bow to campus political pressures.

With regard to student discourse on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Ms. Gogolak indicated that “[p]ast efforts to encourage campus discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have had little success,” which simply does not tell the whole story of campus dialogue. An innovative new student initiative, called Brandeis Visions for Israel in an Evolving World has attempted to improve the state of dialogue on campus surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

According to their Facebook page, the group aims to “understand why so many people are frustrated with Israel-related activity and why ‘polarized’ is often the first word people will use to talk about Israel conversations on campus.”

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MARA SASSOON/the Justice

Their recent premiere event on Sept. 27, two weeks before Gogolak’s article came out, filled the atrium of the Mandel Center for the Humanities. It probably isn’t too far-fetched to assume that this is indicative of student enthusiasm for a more constructive dialogue about Israeli politics, an enthusiasm that Ms. Gogolak neglected to mention.

The University even hired a consultant to hold meetings and weekend seminars exploring the political themes present in Dor Guez’s exhibit. Farhat Agbaria, a facilitator of dialogue on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, visited Brandeis for two weeks in conjunction with the Dor Guez exhibit, according to a report from Dr. Cynthia Cohen, the director of the Program in Peace building and the Arts at the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life. The report explains that Mr. Agbaria participated in 14 meetings with classes, clubs or members of the faculty. Mr. Agbaria and Dr. Cohen also

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jointly led two weekend workshops for exploring themes in Mr. Guez’s exhibit.

According to the report from Dr. Cohen on Mr. Agbaria’s visit, students from the Brandeis Israel Public Affairs Committee requested time to speak with Mr. Agbaria and were willing to engage with new themes of the Arab-Israeli conflict that they had not previously explored.

Mr. Agbaria and Dr. Cohen spoke with a theater class, several students from an art history class, a legal studies class and a sociology class. These efforts by the University to help foster conversation about the themes present in Dor Guez’s work are evidence of Ms. Gogolak’s lack of thorough research.

Lastly, the Dor Guez exhibit is described as “bold for Brandeis.” Thank you, Ms. Gogolak, for your conclusion about our school’s capabilities, but we’ve actually always been “bold.”

In the past few years, we’ve had Israeli figures speak on campus, such as Michael Oren and

The Staff

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Tzipi Livni, as well as prominent Americans speak about Israel, including Noam Chomsky and Jimmy Carter.

We’ve encountered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before. This art exhibit is really nothing out of the ordinary. Readers of Ms. Gogolak’s article unfamiliar with Brandeis may be inclined to believe that we are ill-equipped to confront difficult questions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and handle a controversial art exhibit.

However, we encounter these questions quite frequently, with Dor Guez’s exhibit being the most recent venue to bring them to the forefront.

Are they difficult and emotionally charged questions? Absolutely. So why has there been a tepid political reaction among students? It’s difficult to say. There have been private grumblings to be sure, but maybe we are at a point where we can publicly appreciate the message within an art exhibit without staging a political protest.

Editorial Assistants Arts: Philip Gallagher, Jessie Miller Forum: Glen Chagi Chesir Photos: Josh Horowitz, Olivia Pobiel Sports: Henry Loughlin Staff Senior Writers: Josh Asen, Aaron Berke, Allyson Cartter, Dafna Fine Senior Illustrator: Sara Weininger Senior Photographer: Alex Margolis, Tali Smookler, Jane Zitomer News: Shani Abramowitz, Marissa Ditkowsky, Danielle Gross, Luke Hayslip, Raquel Kallas, Jess Linde, Suzanne Schatz, Rachel Starr Features: Selene Campion, Rachel Miller, Gabrielle Santoro Forum: Michael Abrams, Aaron Fried, Noah M. Horwitz, Liz Posner, Sara Shahanaghi, Leah Smith, Avi Snyder, Naomi

Volk Sports: Jacob Elder, Ben Freudman, Zachary Marlin, Jacob Moskowitz Arts: Aliza Vigderman, Aaron Berke, Erica Cooperberg, Alex DeSilva, Rachel Hughes, Eli Kaminsky, Olivia Leiter, Mara Sassoon Photography: Wendy Choi, Jon Edelstein, Nathaniel Freedman, Brianna Mussman, Josh Spiro, Karina Wagenpfeil, Michelle Wang, Anna Yatskar Copy: Aliza Braverman, Jennie Bromberg, Hilary Cheney, Patricia Greene, Andrew Hayes, Max Holzman, Brittany Joyce, Eunice Ko, Kinza Kukhari, Megan Paris, Christine Phan, Mailinh Phan-Nguyen, Leah Rogers, Will Schneiderman, Amanda Winn Layout: Talia Helfrick, Elana Horowitz, Rebecca Lanter, Jassen Lu, Denny Poliferno, Illustrations: Rishika Assomull, Mara Sassoon, Arielle Shorr, Tziporah Thompson

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TUESDAY, October 23, 2012

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THE JUSTICE

FORUM

Judicial elections hinder unbiased rulings

By Jassen Lu JUSTICE contributing WRITER

Last week, I was proud to vote for the first time in my life. In a democracy, citizens have a duty to choose the officials who will represent them in government. As I marked my New Hampshire ballot however, I noticed that there were no boxes to be checked for the state judicial branch.

Throughout American history, the judiciary has been the branch of government that citizens can rely on to solve problems fairly. To preserve this aspect of our court system, our judges should never be chosen through political elections.

The task of a judge, as the federal judicial oath dictates, is to “administer justice without respect to persons,” and judicial elections are corroding this responsibility.

In the Federal government, the president appoints judges to the Federal courts.

While some state governments, such as New Hampshire’s, choose their judges through a similar process, most states continue to select judges in the same way they select their politicians, through popular elections.

Unfortunately, those states are oblivious to the burden that election imposes on a judge’s responsibilities.

For the judiciary to function properly, its judges must be protected from political pressures.

Many rulings that judges issue are fair and legally correct, even if they are not politically satisfying or popular.

This is the case with many court orders on contentious social issues, such as same-sex marriage.

When a judge’s tenure depends on popular elections, his protection from political backlash is greatly weakened because voters can determine the fate of his job.

In a system with judicial elections, if the judge rules against the voters interests, the voters will be tempted, and will most likely, dismiss him in retaliation, no matter how impartial the decision was.

The 2010 judicial elections in Iowa illustrate the negative impact that voters impose when they can decide a judge’s tenure.

When voters choose their judges, campaigns are unavoidable as candidates and interest groups attempt to defeat their judicial opponents.

After the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision in Varnum v. Brien, which

NAN PANG/the Justice

legalized same-sex marriage in the state, groups such as Iowa for Freedom and the National Organization for Marriage launched massive campaigns to unseat the justices who made the ruling.

NOM, along with several antimarriage equality groups, provided one million dollars to oust the justices. The efforts culminated in exaggerated attacks on the justices’ personal characters and past

decisions, and ultimately cost them their careers. The voters, at the prodding of the interest groups, no doubt selected anti-marriage equality judges, just so their selfish views would be satisfied and projected.

NOM’s actions demonstrate the damage that elections and campaigns inflict on courts. When voters, along with interest groups, have a direct say in selecting judges, they can unfairly rig the judiciary to ensure that it always rules in their favor.

These elections also send a negative message to state judges nationwide, that if they wish to stay employed, they must consider public opinions more than impartial justice.

Furthermore, when political campaigns are involved, judicial candidates are forced to prematurely commit themselves, even before considering the facts of a case, to a particular ideology or decision in an attempt to win voter approval.

Such a setup is disgraceful to the work of judges.

Judging means giving each party an unbiased opportunity to plead his convictions before he receives a legal decision. However, after being elected to office, an elected judge may have to honor his commitment to his voters and to the pre-approved ruling, and so the case is over even before the lawyers even start to argue.

In the Declaration of Independence, one of the colonist’s grievances was that the King had obstructed justice by “[making] Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their offices[.]”

Sadly, we are obstructing justice today when we force judges to echo our will.

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer said, “[J]udges are not politicians. They’re not junior league ... [or] senior league politicians.”

Their ultimate duty is not to stiffly favor our selfish desires, but to be objective and to uphold the laws of the land.

At many courthouse squares in the country, Lady Justice stands blindfolded with her balanced scales.

If we wish to live in a society where Justice remains blind and “without respect to persons,” we cannot permit judicial elections to keep operating.

While it’s difficult even for judges to leave their political leanings and bias completely out of the courtroom, voting for them through political elections only further exacerbates the issue.

Unfairness has already permeated our justice system, and we should not aggravate it by continuing to pressure our judges.

Football embodies democratic government ideals Glen Chagi

chesir

Chagi’s chop

This past Sunday I had the honor and privilege to join hundreds of thousands of people across the country in what has become one of the greatest and most exhilarating moments in any American’s life; attending a live National Football League game.

A ticket costs more than I make in a month in my on-campus job and I may no longer be able to look at a potato knish the same way; they were the complimentary gift to the fans in our section.

While sitting in traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike, after watching Eli Manning connect with Victor Cruz for the game-winning touchdown to beat the Washington Redskins, I reflected on how football has become an integral part of the American democratic culture.

The 2012 Superbowl featuring the New York Giants and Boston’s own New England Patriots set the television record, drawing in 111.3 million viewers, for the third year in a row.

To put that number in perspective,

that is more viewers then the first two presidential, plus the vice presidential campaign debates combined.

The question must be asked: How did a such a game whose violence may be the cause of severe depression, anxiety and numerous attempted suicides of former players due to repeated undocumented concussions, become such a classic American pastime?

What is so attractive to us about giant, yet remarkably athletic men throwing themselves at each other, chasing a leather oval-shaped ball around a field?

“

A politician cannot, and will not, be successful in office without the cooperation of his team.

Perhaps the answer lies in the structure of a successful football team. A team’s compilation is remarkably similar to how a democratic society should ideally function.

After all what is more American than democracy.

The sport of football has an inherent cooperative nature. Football is

not a sport that can be won by a single player; it is the collective effort of all 53 players, the numerous coaches and athletic trainers.

Each player must have the good of the team in mind in order to be successful. Those players looking for impressive statistics and personal records simply do not succeed in the league. You can have all the talent in the world and fail without the proper mind-set and, more importantly, the proper team around you. A balanced team is almost always more successful then a team of flashy skill players.

Likewise, each football team is like a functional democratic society. Each indivdual player has the responsibility to follow the lead of, and help, those players with larger roles on the team.

The quarterback must have the proper protection from the offensive line, the offensive line needs the skill positions to play a certain speed and the skill positions need the quarterback to get them the ball.

And, of course, all units are under the discretion of the leaders, the coaches, who decipher exactly which play-call allows each unit to play effectively.

The United States is no different.

Every segment of the democracy has a certain responsibility that can only be achieved if, and only if, every other part of the democracy does their respected part. We as citizens have the right and responsibility to vote for

our best personal interests. We elect politicians on all levels of government that ideally coincide with our personal agenda.

However, that is dependent on politicians running on platforms that express the views of many, hence the need for multiple political parties.

If there were only one candidate, it would be impossible for agenda of the masses to take form.

A single player, no matter how talented, cannot win a game on his own.

A politician cannot, and will not, be successful in office without the cooperation of his team, comprised of both his constituents and fellow politicians.

Too often throughout the country, politicians are elected on charisma and rhetoric. Pure political talent does not cut it.

For any democratic government to be successful, the agendas of the citizens, individual representatives and Congress as a whole must be in unison.

Only then can the platform chosen by the masses, and by extension in the best interest of all involved, be put in place.

It is impossible for a quarterback to win a game without the rest of his team. Likewise, it is impossible for any politician to succeed without his constituents and fellow politicians working in unison.

Take the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles on paper are arguably the most talented team in the league, yet they

failed to make the playoffs last year, let alone the Superbowl. The Eagles players were constantly fixated on the preseason hype, not the task at hand.

It was impossible for the team to succeed without all members striving for the same goal.

To quote former President Theodore Roosevelt, an avid sports fan, from his early days in office, “In life, as in a football game, the principle to follow is, hit the line hard; don’t foul and don’t shirk, but hit the line hard.” The strategic plan for any football team is predicated on playing a hard-fought, physical and mistake free game.

This holds true for our government.

In today’s day and age, where we are surrounded by bickering politicians, a financial system standing on thin ice due to excessive personal agendas, unprecedented foreign policy danger in a nuclear Iran and social issues from gay marriage to abortion, we must remember those lessons from our favorite sport.

Every single member of a representative democracy needs to “play hard” in order for the government to be successful. We must look past what looks like insurmountable issues and remember it is precisely the combination of opinions and issues that makes this country great.

Only with this balance can we assemble that Superbowl team around our star quarterback; the next president.

THE JUSTICE

WSOCCER: Squad uses Lynx as preparation for UAA games CONTINUED FROM 16

29 times—nine of which were on goal—but came up with zero goals.

Then, in the next game against the University of Chicago, they shot 12 times, but only came up with one goal. Finally, against Washington University at St. Louis, they fired 11 shots, completing only once.

While Brandeis’ 11-3-1 record is partly due to Spital’s nine goals and the team's early-season offensive prowess, its defense has been enormously effective this season, allowing it to win numerous one-goal games and other close matches.

However, rather than singling

out one particular defender for being exceptional, the team has been defending well as a unit, which is a key component in achieving defensive success.

And, with the exception of center back Kelly Peterson ’14, all of the team’s defensive starters—center back Allyson Parziale ’16, left back Haley Schachter ’16 and right back Emma Eddy ’15—are all in the first two years of their careers, pointing towards defense being the winning formula for years to come.

Given the potential for a NCAA Division III tournament bid (although the team won't know the

status of that until November), the Judges enter their last four games with a lot on the line.

Dallamora is fully aware of this and is looking to have the Judges fine-tune their play at both ends of the field.

“The teams [that we will be facing] in the UAA are tougher than many of the non-conference teams that we have faced so far this season, so we need to play harder,” she said.

The Judges have a big week ahead, starting with a home nonconference game against Lasell College tonight at 7 p.m.

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012

13

VOLLEYBALL

Team emerges victorious in a regional classic ■ The Judges came out on

top in two of three games during a weekend tournament hosted by Smith College.

By JACOB MOSKOWITZ JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

With University Athleitc Association competition looming in the near future, the women’s volleyball team was able to gain some valuable experience at the Hall of Fame Invitational at Smith College last weekend, winning two of three matches.

The wins improved their record to 16-11 and 1-6 in the UAA. In the UAA Round Robin II at Carnegie Mellon University two weekends ago, the Judges finally broke through and won their firstever UAA match, defeating New York University in straight sets.

They carried that momentum into last weekend, defeating Bridgewater State, 3-0, and Smith College, 3-2. However, they fell to Middlebury College, 3-0.

Defensive specialist Elsie Bernaiche ’15 commented about the effects of the UAA Round Robin II on the team’s prospects for the rest of the season.

“The win against NYU didn't so much affect our play as much as it reaffirmed our team attitude to play to our potential every single match,” she said.

“The win against NYU additionally helped us raise the bar for our individual play. Every player performed extremely well, and now that we have set that standard, we will have higher expectations for every game following that performance in the UAAs.” Brandeis’ last game of the Hall of Fame Invitational was perhaps the most exciting game of the tournament. Playing against host Smith, the Judges won the first set 25-19.

After losing the second set 25-22, they bounced back to take the third set, 25-21.

Smith handed the pressure back over to the Judges by winning the fourth set 25-18. However, Brandeis won the tie-breaker 15-11 and improved their record to 4-1 on the season in five-set matches.

“We went into the Smith game knowing we could beat this team,” Bernaiche said.

“Even though it went to five sets, we were confident and determined going into every match that we could pull it off.”

The team’s middle blockers led the way for the Judges’ victory.

Lauren Berens ’13 had a season

high 12 kills and added two block assists, Becca Fischer ’13 had 10 kills and just three errors and Maddie Engeler ’16 added nine kills and a career high 10 blocks, four solo.

Bernaiche said that the team’s performance last weekend showed their potential going into the postseason.

“This past weekend at the Hall of Fame tournament was a big weekend for us because our team has the opportunity to excel in the postseason in the ECACs [Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference],” Bernaiche said. “We saw a lot of northeast teams, and we were hoping to compete well this weekend to put ourselves in a good place going into post-season soon.”

The Judges began the tournament by beating Bridgewater State in three straight sets—25-20, 25-19 and 25-19. Brandeis’ balanced attack proved to be successful, as four players recorded double-digit performances.

Setter Yael Einhorn ’14 tallied a double-double, leading the Judges with 28 assists and 11 digs.

Bernaiche had 10 digs and outside hitter Liz Hood ’15 led the Judges with 10 kills. Outside hitter Si-Si Hensley ’14 almost recorded a double-double with 11 kills and nine digs.

In their first game on Saturday, the Judges fell to No. 8 Middlebury College 3-0. They lost the first set 25-19. The second set was much closer, but the Judges couldn’t pull off the win and fell 25-23. Middlebury dominated the third set and finished off the match with a 25-16 victory.

Bernaiche led the team with 10 digs and Einhorn had 24 assists.

They were the only two players to record double-figure statistical performances. Hood had nine kills and Hensley tallied seven.

Bernaiche compared the talent level in the UAA to the schools in the Hall of Fame Invitational.

“The UAA competition level is higher than any I've personally seen,” Bernaiche said.

“The UAA teams are of the highest caliber and so going into any other tournament, you wouldn't expect to see a team like Emory [University] or [Washington University]. However, we were still challenged in this weekend's tournament, as many of the teams competing this weekend were excellent, too.”

Brandeis will host the Judges’ Classic this weekend. The squad is slated to play play Lasell College on Friday and Keene State College and Westfield State University on Saturday.

JOSH HOROWITZ/the Justice

THE JUGGLER: Forward Dara Spital ’15 controls the ball as two Lesley University defenders bear down in their Oct. 18 clash.

MSOCCER: Squad continues to roll as the impending postseason approaches CONTINUED FROM 16

Judges a 2-1 lead. Ocel’s assist pulls him to a team-leading eight this season.

Springfield regained possession for the majority of the second half, sending four unaswered efforts on goal. Yet for all their persistence, they were not able to capitalize on any of their chances, much to the relief of the Judges.

With less than a minute left on the clock, a Springfield defender attempted to back-pass the ball to the goalie to clear it. However, his effort to clear the ball resulted

in a calamitous circumstance, as Schmid missed the pass. Russo, who called the goal “a gift,” sprinted by both players and slotted the ball into an empty net, providing gloss for the scoreline and sealing the hard-fought victory.

The Judges outshot Springfield 13-12, while also firing off seven corner kicks compared to one from Springfield.

The Judges have a busy week with three crucial matches, two of them from within the conference— Friday against Case Western Reserve University and Sunday ver-

sus Carnegie Mellon University.

Feather also stated that the team must be defensively cohesive, especially against their UAA competitors.

“I think we need to be more organized defensively,” he said.

“We got outrun on a bunch of through-balls tonight, which is not something that usually happens.

We gave up a bunch of stupid fouls.

We just have to keep playing our game.”

The Judges begin their eventful week today with a game against Mount Ida College at 7 p.m.

SWIM: Judges vie for home victory CONTINUED FROM 16

Of Brandeis’ 15 wins, Wheaton finished second, third and fourth in 10 of them, demonstrating the sheer volume of competitors that the Judges were up against in their first meet.

“We were really happy with how we performed,” Spicer said.

“Our swimmers won a lot of individual events. We don’t have numbers yet, but we have individual talent, and we showed that this weekend.”

Kotch also made a point to

hail the impact of the crowd that showed up to cheer on the team, which was largely supported by the newly-founded Brandeis StudentAthlete Advisor Committee.

“Any time you have the stands packed the kids definitely appreciate the support,” he said.

“It was great to have everyone out there. I think the team enjoyed that, and we hope that it continues.”

The Judges next compete this weekend at the Mini-UAA meet at the University of Rochester.

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THE JUSTICE

●

Tuesday, OCTOBER 23, 2012

15

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

jUDGES BY THE NUMBERS Men’s Soccer UAA STANDINGS

TEAM STATS Goals

Not including Monday’s games UAA Conference Overall

W L D W L D Pct. JUDGES 2 1 1 13 1 1 .900 Carnegie 2 1 1 10 2 1 .808 NYU 2 1 1 10 3 1 .750 Emory 2 1 1 8 5 2 .600 Rochester 1 0 3 8 2 3 .731 WashU 2 2 0 8 4 1 .654 Chicago 1 2 1 7 3 4 .643 Case 0 4 0 3 11 1 .233

Lee Russo ’13 leads the team this season with 11 goals.

Player Goals Lee Russo 11 Sam Ocel 6 Tyler Savonen 4 Kyle Feather 4

Assists Sam Ocel ’13 is the current team leader with eight assists.

Player Sam Ocel Lee Russo Tyler Savonen Kyle Feather

UPCOMING GAMES Today vs. Mount Ida Fri., Oct. 26 vs. Emory Sun., Oct. 28 vs. Carnegie Mellon

Assists 8 5 4 3

WOMen’s Soccer UAA STANDINGS

TEAM STATS

Not including Monday’s games

Goals

UAA Conference Overall

W L D W L D Pct. WashU 3 0 1 12 1 1 .893 Emory 3 0 1 10 0 4 .857 Carnegie 3 1 0 10 1 2 .846 Chicago 2 2 0 10 5 0 .667 JUDGES 1 2 1 11 3 1 .767 Case 1 2 1 7 4 4 .600 NYU 1 3 0 9 5 0 .643 Rochester 0 4 0 3 10 1 .250

Dara Spital ’15 leads the team this season with nine goals.

Player Goals Dara Spital 9 Sapir Edalati 5 Holly Szafran 5 Mary Shimko 3

UPCOMING GAMES: Today vs. Lasell Fri., Oct 26 vs. Emory Sun., Oct. 28 vs. Carnegie Mellon

Assists Dara Spital ’15 leads the team this year with four assists.

Player Assists Dara Spital 4 Alyssa Fenenbock 3 Alec Spivack 3 Holly Szafran 3

VOLLEYBALL UAA STANDINGS

TEAM STATS Kills

Not including Monday’s games UAA Conference Overall

W L W L Pct. WashU 9 1 0 24 2 0 .923 Emory 9 1 0 27 4 0 .871 Chicago 6 1 0 23 8 0 .742 Case 4 3 0 20 9 0 .690 Rochester 2 5 0 18 9 0 .667 Carnegie 2 5 0 13 15 0 .464 JUDGES 1 6 0 16 11 0 .593 NYU 1 6 0 14 12 0 .538

UPCOMING GAMES: This weekend, the Judges will play Lasell, Keene State, and Westfield State University at home.

Liz Hood ’15 leads the team in kills this year with 373.

Player Kills Liz Hood 373 Si-Si Hensley 200 Lauren Berens 178 Becca Fischer 150

Digs Elsie Bernaiche ’15 leads the team in digs this year with 490.

Player Digs Elsie Bernaiche 490 Si-Si Hensley 272 Yael Einhorn 218 Susan Sun 213

cross cOuntry Results from the Open New England Championships on Oct. 7.

TOP FINISHERS (Men’s)

TOP FINISHERS (Women’s)

RUNNER TIME Alex Kramer 25:23.66 Mik Kern 26:18.04 Taylor Dundas 26:54.89 Greg Bray 26:55.52

RUNNER TIME Victoria Sanford 18:50.04 Ali Kirsch 19:03.06 Amelia Lundkvist 19:27.46 Kelsey Whitaker 19:39.10

UPCOMING EVENTS: Oct. 27 UAA Championships at the University of Rochester Nov. 10 New England Division III Regional Tournament

JON EDELSTEIN/the Justice

DOUBLE THE TROUBLE: Forward Lee Russo ‘13 (left) and midfielder Sam Ocel ‘13 celebrate a goal against Clark on Sept. 8.

Russo, Ocel team up as a formidable duo ■ Leading the team in goals

and assists, respectively, the duo looks to lead the Judges to upcoming glory.

By HENRY LOUGHLIN JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Prior to the season, men’s soccer coach Mike Coven was unsure of his team’s fate.

Last year, Brandeis put together a solid 15-5-1 record and won its second consecutive Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship.

However, Coven said that the graduation of a trio of All-New England players—central midfielder Theo Terris ’12 and center backs Ari Silver ’12 and David McCoy ’12—could jeopardize the team’s chances for success this year.

Little did he know that his team would be better than they were last year after the season’s first 15 games.

The success is in large part due to the senior offensive partnership of Sam Ocel ’13 and Lee Russo ’13. The duo has racked up 17 goals and 11 assists, helping the Judges to a 13-1-1 record. Russo leads the squad with 11 goals, while Ocel has notched a teamhigh eight assists.

Their selflessness, work ethic and desire to succeed are evident.

Russo said in an interview that he’d much rather the team win and him go scoreless than the opposite.

“There is no supporting cast on our team,” said Russo. “On any given day, any player on the field can be our best player.”

Ocel cited the team’s change in mentality as a big difference between the success this year and that of the last campaign.

“Last year, I don’t think we ever won a game in which we were scored upon,” he said.

His estimation wasn’t far off, as the Judges’ 2-1 victory over Carnegie Mellon University on Oct. 30, 2011 was the only in which the squad emerged victorious after having its defense— which was admittedly stingy, conceding 10 goals in 21 games—breached.

“We’d hang our heads,” Ocel said.

“This year, we’ve had four games where we’ve been down and come back to win.”

While Ocel is listed as a midfielder and Russo as a forward, each has proven interchangeable in the Judges’ attack-minded 4-3-3 lineup.

“Our style involves moving around a lot,” said Russo, pointing out that he will often go back and help out in the

middle of the park while Ocel bombs forward with regularity. “It’s good because it confuses the other teams when you can switch on the fly.”

Russo and Ocel are also close friends off the field and have shared plenty of advice with each other.

“This guy has taught me a bunch of stuff I can do away from the field,” Russo said. “Like, I had no idea what an agility ladder was before I came here. Now, I use it all the time.”

Likewise, Ocel talked of the duo emerging through hardship as a key component of their relationship.

“We’ve come a long way since freshman year,” he said. “We only won six games our freshman year, so to come out here and be having a good season is really rewarding.”

Yet, despite the good fortunes thus far this season, neither is taking anything for granted.

“We always have the mentality of one game at a time,” said Ocel. “We’re not looking past our game against Mount Ida next Wednesday.”

“We want to make the [NCAA Division III] Tournament,” Russo said, “but we’re trying to stay focused and not get ahead of ourselves.”

With an arsenal of skills and fearless determination, there is a great chance that they could achieve that.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL BRIEF American and National League Champions determined in a week of eventful championship series The Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals were the final four teams in the battle to get to the World Series.

The series between Detroit and New York in the American League and the battle of St. Louis against San Francisco in the National League could not have been more different. The AL figured to be a slugfest over six or seven games, while the NL appeared to be seven games of pitchers duels.

This is what was expected but the reality proved different. The Tigers dominated the Yankees and will return to the World Series for the first time since 2006. The National League Championship Series was much closer, where the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants are locked in a surprising slugfest.

The Tigers got great performances from Doug Fister and Anibal Sanchez, starters in games 1 and 2., respectively.

Fister, who pitched six and one-third scoreless innings against the Yankees, saw his lead get blown by Tigers closer Jose Valverde when outfielder Raul Ibanez hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game. However, the Tigers won it in the top of the 12th, as ALCS MVP Delmon Young ripped a double past right fielder Nick Swisher.

Game 2 featured seven scoreless innings pitched by Sanchez, and another timely hit by Young, who placed the ball just deep enough in the shortstop hole to score a run to score in the top of the seventh. Pitcher Phil Coke, who took over the closer’s role for Valverde, pitched the final two innings for the save.

With a 2-0 lead, the Tigers sent Jus-

tin Verlander to the mound in Detroit for Game 3. Verlander gave up one run in eight and a third innings, helping the Tigers to a 3-1 victory. With their season on the line, the Yankees sent their ace C.C. Sabathia to the mound.

However Sabathia gave up six runs in only three and two thirds innings.

From there, the Tigers won the series with an 8-1 victory.

The Yankees left the series drained.

Third baseman Alex Rodriguez, second baseman Robinson Cano and first baseman Mark Teixeira combined for only five hits in 42 at bats, and Rodriguez was benched for the final two games. Shortstop Derek Jeter broke his ankle in the 12th inning of Game 1 and is scheduled for surgery. The offseason will be one of recovery for the Yankees.

The NLCS, featuring the two previ-

ous World Series champions, proved to be a slugfest, with only one game having less than five runs scored by the winning team. The Cardinals, defending champions, began the series by going to San Francisco and roughing up pitcher Madison Bumgarner.

The Cardinals scored all six runs off the Giants starter within the first four innings of the game and rode their bullpen the rest of the way to a 6-4 victory.

San Francisco’s offense woke up for 7 runs in Game 2, highlighted by a leadoff home run by center fielder Angel Pagan in the first inning. The Giants rode the arm of pitcher Ryan Vogelsong to tie the series.

With the series back in St. Louis, and each team’s ace on the mound, the Cardinals won Game 3 3-1, as pitcher Kyle Lohse outpitched Giants pitcher Matt Cain, giving up one run in 5 2/3

innings. Cain, who gave up three runs in 6 2/3 innings, served up a home run to outfielder Matt Carpenter, the backup right fielder filling in for injured right fielder Carlos Beltran.

With momentum in their favor, the Cardinals dominated Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum in Game 4, taking the game 8-3. With their season on the line, the Giants turned to pitcher Barry Zito in Game 5, who didn’t allow an earned run in seven and two thirds innings and allowwed the Giants to rebound in the series with a 5-0 victory.

In a one-sided game 7, the Giants pulled off a 9-0 romp to advance to their second World Series in three years.

The World Series should be a fitting culmination for what has been a unforgettable postseason.

— Avi Gold

just

Sports

Page 16

DYNAMIC DUO Forward Lee Russo ’13 and midfielder Sam Ocel ’13 have led the Judges to a resurgent season in their final year, p. 15.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Waltham, Mass.

MAKING A SPLASH

WOMEN’S SOCCEr

Spivack provides spark in victory

MEN’S SOCCEr

Progress continues with win over Pride ■ Despite starting down

1-0, the team roared back for three unanswered goals putting them at 13-1-1.

■ The team got back in the

win column this week with a vital 1-0 triumph as the end of the season nears.

By JONAH PRICE JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

By BEN FREUDMAN JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

The women’s soccer team rebounded from back-to-back losses against University Athletic Association opponents the University of Chicago and Washington University in St. Louis with a 1-0 win at home against non-conference foe Lesley University on Thursday night.

Prior to their last three games, in which they went 0-2-1, the Judges conceded merely two goals the season, both of which came during a loss against Bowdoin College. During their threegame winless stretch, the Judges surrendered eight goals, albeit the Chicago game was more competitive than the six goals conceded might have suggested.

The Judges’ defense allowed Lesley only two shots on goal.

Both were easily saved by goalies Michelle Savuto ’15 and Francine Kofinas ’13.

“Lesley is a very good team that is physical and tough. We controlled the game and played well,” coach Denise Dallamora said.

Midfielder Alec Spivack ‘15 scored her first goal of the season in the 34th minute, which proved to be the decisive goal. After a Brandeis player was fouled 20 yards from the goal, Spivack launched the resulting free-kick around the wall and into the bottom-left corner of the net, causing celebration from the crowd and her teammates.

The Judges had several other opportunities to extend their lead, many of which involved forward Dara Spital ’15. The striker continually weaved her way through a confused Lesley defense, which did not seem acclimated to the pace or trickery that the former Division I player possessed. Three other Brandeis players — Mary Shimko ’14, Alyssa Fenenbock ’15 and Sapir Edalati ’15, had efforts on goal that were saved.

The Judges had several chances in the 20th minute, when Fenenbock fired two shots, one that hit the post and the other that was saved.

Moments like these were the crux of the Judges mid-season slump; despite playing well, they failed to key in on their good plays by converting possession and chances into goals.

“We played well in these games, but were not able to capitalize on the chances that we created,” said Dallamora.

The Judges' lack of efficiency in their finishing has denied them victories in games in which they have otherwise played very well and arguably deserved to win. In the Oct. 6 game against Case Western Reserve University, the Judges shot a whopping

See WSOCCER, 13 ☛

JON EDELSTEIN/the Justice

SURGING SWIMMER: The Brandeis swimming and diving squads returned to business in their first home meet last Saturday.

Swimming and diving squads return to action

■ The men’s and women’s

swimming and diving squads lost to Wheaton College in their inaugural home meet.

By JEFFREY BOXER JUSTICE editor

In their first meet since 2010 and first home meet since four years ago last Saturday, the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams didn’t just dip their toes in the pool in the Joseph M. Linsey Sports Center. The squad dove in head first, picking up 15 individual victories and one school record in a pair of losses against Wheaton College. The men lost 159-97, while the women were defeated 163-120.

“I was really proud of the team,” said Esther Tandetnik ’13. Tandetnik was on the team her first year prior to its suspension following the 2009-2010 season. “Even though we didn’t win the meet points-wise, we competed really well and gave them a run for their money.”

Max Fabian ’15, a recent sophomore transfer from Connecticut College, won three individual events for the Judges. The highlight was his record-breaking performance in the 1,000-yard relay.

Fabian completed the race in nine minutes, 58.06 seconds, besting the record set by Hal Grossman ’06 by over six seconds.

The presence of Fabian, who also won the 500-yard freestyle in 5:02.22

and the 200 butterfly in 2:06.05, has been noted by coach and teammates alike.

“He’s training hard,” said Coach Michael Kotch of the newcomer.

“He’s very coachable and very knowledgeable of the sport. I was proud of the way he went out there and competed. I thought it was a great way for him to start his Brandeis career.” “[Fabian] has been working so hard in practice,” said Holly Spicer ’13. “He obviously has a lot of talent, and it is really exciting to watch him swim and hopefully fight for more records.”

In addition to Fabian's standout performances, Brian Luk ’16 also won three events for the Judges.

The rookie dominated three sprint events, winning the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle and 100yard butterfly.

Theresa Gaffney ’16 and Lauren Cruz ’16 each won two events for the Judges. Gaffney showed her endurance in excelling in the distance events, winning the women’s 500- and 1000-yard freestyle competitions. Cruz won the 200-yard freestyle in 2:05.94 and 200-yard backstroke in 2:25.02.

“It was great to see our freshmen stepping up and winning events,” Spicer said. “It wasn’t just the upperclassmen leading the team.

That's what we as upperclassmen are happy to see—that we have a bright future with many capable underclassmen.”

Spicer won two different events

in the meet, sweeping the women’s breaststroke events. She won the 100 in 1:11.27 and the 200 in 2:37.05.

“She swam well and swam hard,” Tandetnik said of her classmate Spicer, who was also originally on the squad before its suspension.

“She definitely surprised Wheaton a lot with her ability.” “[Spicer] had a great meet,” added Kotch. “She swam vey well given where we are in the season and where she left off as a freshman. I thought she did a great job.”

The talent of the underclassmen was quite evident, as the first-year and sophomore classes featured multiple victors for Brandeis, including David Lazarovich ’16 in the 100-yard breaststroke, Fallon Bushee ’16 in the 50-yard freestyle and Gabby Drillich ’15 in the 200-yard butterfly. Kotch believes that the success achieved by the younger members of the team is integral to the future of the program, saying that “those kids competing well really helps us this season, and it helps us in recruiting as we can hopefully continue to bring in kids at that talent level.”

While many of the individual performances were impressive, their individual point contributions weren’t enough to give the Judges the team victory. The Lyons have a much bigger squad than the Judges, meaning that many Brandeis swimmers found themselves racing alone against three Wheaton competitors in their individual events.

See SWIM, 13 ☛

Down 1-0 in its game against Springfield College last Wednesday, the men’s soccer team found itself in an undesirable position.

Yet, as it has done four times this year, the team rallied from an early deficit en route to a 3-1 victory.

The Judges improved to 13-1-1 in the season with the win, while Springfield—who had won three in a row prior to the game— dropped to 5-9-1.

“We play very different styles, so it was tough at first,” said forward Lee Russo ’13 of the opening stages of Wednesday's match.

“Once we settled down and started dictating possession, then we started to play well. Initially, though, we struggled a bit.”

The beginning of the game spelled trouble for the Judges.

Springfield dominated on the offensive side of the pitch, applying constant pressure on the Judges’ defense. Defenders Joe Eisenbies ’13 and Matt Brondoli ’14 did their best to stop Springfield from mounting an offense, but in the 14th minute, Springfield drew goalkeeper Blake Minchoff ’13 off of the goal line to make a save.

Springfield then poked the ball inside the penalty box as junior midfielder Scott Saucier took a shot, which ricocheted off the far post. Junior midfielder Danny Amato then got the rebound and tapped the ball into the net for his fourth goal this season.

The Judges continued to struggle for control of the ball throughout the half. They barely had the ball in Springfield’s half at all for the first 30 minutes of the match.

However, the Judges began to mount an offense as the first half wound down. In the 35th minute, defender Robbie Lynch ’15 lobbed a deep ball from the team’s half up to midfielder Steve Salazar ’14 inside the 18-yard box, which he gracefully chipped over the Springfield goalie to tie the game at one apiece.

However, the second half told a different tale. The Judges dominated the half as they have all season long.

Forward Kyle Feather ’14 stated that the team had to exhibit patience until the proper opportunities arose, and from there, it was smooth sailing.

“We’re used to coming back from behind and we’ve come back from further down; they were playing a lot of guys back on defense, and we just had to be patient and wait for our chance,” he said.

This patience paid off in just the second minute of the half.

Lynch sent a through ball to forward Tyler Savonen ’15, who played the ball in the air to midfielder Sam Ocel ’13. Ocel’s shot was then blocked by Springfield goalie Billy Schmid. However, forward Feather put the ball in the back of the net to hand the

See MSOCCER, 13 ☛

just just

October 23,7, 2012 February 2012

ARTS

t n e m e g a g Cultural en c i s u m h g throu P.19

Photo: Brianna Mussman/the Justice. Design: Josh Horowitz/the Justice.

18

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012 ● THE JUSTICE

POP CULTURE

INSIDE ON CAMPUS

18-22

■ Tango Concert

19

■ Soli Sorabjee Lecture

19

■ ‘Escape from Happiness’

20

■ Jam Night at Chum’s

20

Pablo Ziegler dazzled the audience on Satuday evening with an unforgettable performance of tango music and dance.

Mohsin Hamid spoke to a full audience about constructing literary fiction.

The Brandeis Theater Company’s show explored themes of family and forgiveness.

A series of performances at Chum’s brought energy into the coffeehouse.

■ Thelton Henderson film

22

Director Abby Ginzberg screened her film titled ‘Soul of Justice: Thelton Henderson’s American Journey’ last Wednesday.

21-23

OFF CAMPUS ■ ‘The 2nd Law’ Review

21

Muse’s new album is experimental and pushes the envelope to be original.

■ Taylor Swift Review

22

Her album builds on her previous style with new sounds and dubstep influence.

■ ‘Argo’ Review

23

Zachary Marlin ’16 offers praise for the new film, based on the true story of U.S. diplomats in Iran.

■ Toscanini’s Ice Cream Review 23 This ice cream parlor offers unique flavors and a comfortable atmosphere.

CALENDAR

Interview

by Erica Cooperberg

It’s official: As of last Friday, Justin Timberlake has said “bye bye bye” to the single life!

After five years together, the former-*NSYNC member, 31, and Jessica Biel, 30, tied the knot in a top-secret Italian wedding. “It’s great to be married, the ceremony was beautiful and it was so special to be surrounded by our family and friends,” the newlyweds told People magazine in an exclusive statement on Friday.

The couple was so intent to keep the wedding’s location under wraps that they initially had guests fly into Germany and then had them transported via private jet to an undisclosed Italian locale. E! News even reported that guests were requested to sign nondisclosure agreements, ensuring that the nuptial’s details stayed private for as long as possible (in other words, until tomorrow, when exclusive photos and details will be published in People).

Us Weekly reported that the duo’s closest family and friends joined in the ceremony and festivities, which took place at the Borgo Egnazia, a huge hotel complex in southern Italy.

The ceremony was themed “white,” boasting white floral displays throughout the entirety of the buildings, and guests showered the newlyweds with white heart-shaped flowers as they emerged from the chapel. Among the 150 guests were Saturday Night Live alum Andy Samberg and music producer Timbaland.

Why the choice of Italy as the ceremony’s location rather than the more traditional stateside setting? It’s possible that the newlyweds were influenced by the wedding of Biel’s former 7th Heaven co-star, Beverley Mitchell, who was married in southern Italy back in 2008. Biel served as a bridesmaid and, who knows, maybe she was taking notes.

JT and his lady’s nuptials mark the peak of their on-and-off romance, which began back in 2007. The couple briefly split in late 2009 and again in March 2011, releasing a statement that there were “no hard feelings”—which became

Lockwood joins his talents with Brandeis theater  Doug Lockwood explains his love of theater and his new directorial pursuit, ‘Escape From Happiness.’

Kirk McKoy/ MCT

HOLLYWOOD MATRIMONY: Biel marries pop star. obvious when Timberlake popped the question in December with a customized six-carat engagement ring.

Prior to all this romance between the “SexyBack” singer and his former-7th Heaven star love, they each had high-profile relationships of their own. Timberlake was linked to Britney Spears and later had a more mature relationship with actress Cameron Diaz. Biel spent her pre-Timberlake years dating Captain America hunk Chris Evans and, briefly, New York Yankees shortshop Derek Jeter.

Now that the couple is hitched, the pressure’s on for kids: a five-year-long courtship and no baby before the wedding? Certainly doesn’t sound like classic Hollywood to me. Then again, considering the pair’s backgrounds—she was raised in Colorado, he hails from Tennessee— it’s unsurprising that they take things slowly.

Guess we’ll just have to sit back and wait to see what Hollywood’s freshest newlyweds do next.

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

ON-CAMPUS EVENTS

Advance Screening of ‘Cloud Atlas’

The program in Film, Television and Interactive Media invites you to a sneak peek of ‘Cloud Atlas.’ The film, a science-fiction drama based off of the novel of the same name by David Mitchell, is directed by Lana and Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer. Tom Hanks and Halle Berry are starring. It will be released in theaters on Oct. 26.

Today at 6:30 p.m. in the Wasserman Cinematheque in the International Business School.

The event is free but ticketed. Contact delorenz@ brandeis.edu for tickets.

Music at Mandel: Early Music Concert with Scholars from the Women’s Studies Research Center

The concert will feature music from the scholars of the Women’s Studies Research Center. It is part of the Mandel Center for the Humanities’ ‘Music at Mandel’ series, a series of monthly concerts to share music with members of the community. A light lunch will be served following the concert.

Tomorrow from noon to 1 p.m. in the atrium of the Mandel Center for the Humanities.

Close Looking: Gene Davis’ “Moondog” Prof. Judith Eissenberg (MUS) and Christopher Bedford, the Henry and Lois Foster director of the Rose Art Museum, will discuss Gene Davis’ painting “Moondog” with interested members of the Brandeis community.

“Close Looking” is an interdisciplinary series of talks that bring professors from different academic disciplines together to explore the themes and ideas present in some of the artwork of the Rose Art Museum. The event is sponsored by the Mandel Center for the Humanities, the Rose Art Museum and the Robert D. Farber University Archives & Special Collections Department.

Tomorrow from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in the Rose Art Museum.

Adagio Dancefest

Adagio, one of Brandeis’ student dance companies, will be performing with groups from Boston College, Suffolk University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bentley University and Simmons College.

Tomorrow at 8 p.m. in the Levin Ballroom.

Tickets are free for members of the Brandeis community and $5 for the general public.

Brandeis Ensemble Theater Presents: ‘Metamorphoses’

Metamorphoses is a collection of Greek myths adapted by Mary Zimmerman from Ovid’s epic poem Metamorphoses. The stories examine human nature and are all connected through the theme of water. Directed by Jessica Rassp ’13 and produced by Helena Raffel ’14.

Produced by the Brandeis Ensemble Theater.

Performances on Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $3 for the Brandeis community and $5 for the general public.

Jay L. McClendenin/MCT

SPIDER STAR: Andrew Garfield is Peter Parker in ‘The Amazing Spiderman,’ screened by Student Events..

Student Events Film Series: ‘The Amazing Spiderman’ Student events presents a showing of The Amazing Spiderman right before Halloween.

In the film, which was released this year, Peter Parker explores why his parents disappeared when he was young, putting him in conflict with his father’s former partner Dr. Curt Connors. Starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Martin Sheen and Sally Field.

Friday at 8 p.m. in the Mandel Center for the Humanities in room G03.

Kaffeekonzert II with Robert Hill Internationally acclaimed harpsichordist Robert Hill will perform three partitas by J.S. Bach. Robert Hill has recorded many well-received performances of Bach’s solo keyboard works.

Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Slosberg Music Center. Tickets are $5 for Brandeis students, $15 for Brandeis community and seniors and $20 for the general public. Tickets can be purchased at www.brandeis.edu/tickets.

Artist Talk by Dor Guez Dor Guez will deliver a talk on his exhibit “100 Steps to the Mediterranean,” currently on display at the Rose Art Museum. An illustrated catalog of the exhibition with essays by the curators, the artist and Samir Srouji, a Boston architect and artist, will be released at the talk.

Monday from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Rose Art Museum.

OFF-CAMPUS EVENTS Rush Performance

The band Rush will be performing at TD

Garden in Boston this Wednesday. Rush is a rock group that was most prominent in the 1970s and 1980s. The Canadian band includes singer-bassist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer Neil Peart.

Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the TD Garden in Boston. Tickets range from $60 to $145.

Trey Anastasio of Phish

Trey Anastasio, a cofounder of the famed band Phish, will be performing on Saturday in Boston.

Anastasio will be performing songs from his recently released album Traveler in addition to well-known Phish classics.

Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Orpheum Theatre on Hamilton Place in Boston. Tickets are from $55.

Halloween Horror Movie Marathon

Coolidge Corner Theatre will be hosting the 12th annual Halloween Horror Movie Marathon right before Halloween begins. Movies shown include a double-feature of The Exorcist and The Thing, although the remaining four moves are a secret to be revealed that evening.

The evening also features a costume contest, music by Dream Warrior, and performances by the Betsi Feathers Burlesque Troupe.

Saturday at midnight until Sunday at noon at Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard St., Brookline. Tickets cost $15 for the double feature and $20 for all six movies.

Strand Theatre’s Boo Bash

An annual event sponsored by the Strand Theatre, featuring a costume parade, haunted house, Monster Mash dance party and trick or treating. Sponsored by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.

Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. at Strand Theatre on Columbia Road in Dorchester, Mass. Free and open to the public.

Director of Brandeis Players’ latest performance, ‘Escape From Happiness,’ Doug Lockwood shares his experience in theater, a personal take on EFH and the importance of the arts in society.

JustArts: What about George F. Walker’s play Escape From Happiness attracted you to direct it?

Doug Lockwood: I have always loved Walker’s caustic, dark, muscular language and the surprising way that just when you think a character is done, they take an idea or thought three steps further into a verbose extravaganza!

JA: How do you decide which plays you want to be involved in, whether it is directing or acting?

DL: It’s a combination of things. There are a bunch of plays I’ve seen or been part of over the years that I keep on kind of a back burner in my brain, and when the time is right, they begin to boil. Sometimes an artistic director or chair will give me some parameters of the kinds of plays they’re looking to produce. With acting nowadays, it’s about wanting to work with certain directors more than certain roles. That’s been an interesting shift for me.

JA: As a professional actor and director, what importance do you think the arts can bring to the regular workings of society and the people that it reaches?

DL: With the pulse of society becoming more rapid, I believe theater is even more important these days in allowing people to slow down and examine their thoughts and feelings in community with other people. We go through our days with so much armor and technology, and theater is a place where we can unzip that armor and see what’s inside. That can produce all kinds of changes by simply sensitizing people to their common humanity. Maybe the armor they wear when they leave the theater can be a little less heavy.

JA: You are a founding member of the Actors Shakespeare Project here in Boston; how did you first become interested in Shakespeare plays and thereby involved with ASP? DL: I got my undergrad training at University of Colorado Boulder, and there is a wonderful Shakespeare Festival there that I did for two summers. We also had great teachers of Shakespeare at that school. I got involved with ASP when I first moved back to Boston in 2003, and it was great timing because I was more and more interested in site-specific theater which is what we do with the plays.

JA: Having been on both sides of the stage as an actor and director, do you think that the type of interaction and relationship that is built between actor and director impacts the quality or impact of a performance?

DL: Yes. I believe the director sets the tone for everything you experience at the performance from the moment you arrive to the moment you leave. I believe the director’s main job is to create a theatrical process where the actors and designers are constantly inspired to investigate and explore the play freshly each time. To truly do that, the actors need to feel a real sense of trust and freedom (as opposed to fear), which they will have only if the process has been truly collaborative and thorough.

JA: Escape From Happiness is a comedic exploration into the life of an average family and the challenges they face. How do you think audience members will react to a theme so familiar to their own lives?

DL: With laughter and recognition and empathy, I hope. I have never seen theater as an “escape” (ironically perhaps), but rather as an opportunity to look closer at my own “stuff,” and I do think this play does that in a very darkly funny way.

JA: Walker wrote this play in 1991; what do you think it is about plays like Escape From Happiness, that are a form of social commentary but still manage to remain relevant to society two decades after it was first produced?

DL: Well, I think the great playwrights like George F. Walker tend to write about the big themes, and those don’t change, in my opinion, so that his characters’ grapplings in this play around personal issues such as family, love and identity are still extremely relevant, as are the societal ones he explores: police brutality, the conditions of our neighborhoods, speaking out against the system, etc.

JA: What Shakespeare character do you relate to most and why?

DL: Well, its always changing, but today I would say Feste from Twelfth Night. He is both inside and outside of his community, and I feel that way too. He can be a trusted friend and confidante, and then he can disappear for a long stretch of time, and I am like that too. I also identify with his mixture of wit and melancholy. And I do enjoy singing.

—Jessie Miller

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012

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ON CAMPUS CAMPUS SPEAKER

Hamid discusses construction of novel ■ Mohsin Hamid, an award-

winning author, delivered a lecture on South Asian literature last Wednesday.

By Mara Sassoon JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Sometimes what you read in a novel might actually illuminate something about your own identity. For author Mohsin Hamid, identity is an important theme that he explores throughout his fiction. Hamid visited campus last Wednesday evening to give a talk entitled “Constructing Fictions: Prose, Politics, and Pakistan” for the fall 2012 installment of the Soli Sorabjee Lectures in South Asian Studies, which was sponsored by both the South Asian Studies Program and the BrandeisIndia Initiative. A large crowd of students, faculty members and even some residents of the local community came to the atrium of the Mandel Center for the Humanities to hear Hamid talk about his award-winning writing. Ultimately, the notion of identity became the connecting theme of the three topics in the lecture’s title.

Before Hamid took the podium, Prof.

Harleen Singh (SAS) gave a brief but thought-provoking introduction, leaving the audience to consider the notion that someone could be at home everywhere but at the same time nowhere, which she described as a “trope of a rapidly globalizing world.” This seemingly oxymoronic concept provided a good segue to what Hamid expounded upon in his talk and was particularly apt considering Hamid’s own global lifestyle and interest in how people identify themselves.

Hamid himself has lived in Pakistan, the United States (he graduated from Princeton University in 1993) and the United Kingdom, and he currently splits his time between these countries. He is the author of Moth Smoke (2000), a New York Times Notable Book of the Year; The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007), which was shortlisted for

JENNY CHENG/the Justice

THE FACTS OF FICTION: Hamid lectured to a full room on the construction of fiction, especially related to South Asian literature. the Booker Prize and named a defining novel of the decade by The Guardian; and the forthcoming How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, which was recently excerpted in The New Yorker.

Hamid first discussed his 2007 novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist, which takes place over the course of one night at a Lahore café and follows a conversation between a Pakistani man and a man who is presumably American.

Hamid did not say much else about the story’s plot during his lecture, but I soon came to realize his reticence was central to the point he was trying to make.

The novel was on the New York Times Best-Seller list, and it was recently adapted into a film by Mira Nair, director of movies such as Vanity Fair and The Namesake. Hamid claimed that being involved with the film adaptation “has been quite educational,” and he proceeded to go into how “strange” it has been for him to “see these characters come alive with these very talented actors.” The cast includes such names as Kate Hudson,

Liev Schreiber and Kiefer Sutherland.

According to Hamid, his involvement in the film adaptation process showed him that screenwriters have to do much of the same work as readers—that is, they have to create from what they are provided in the text.

This, he added, accounts for why oftentimes people are disappointed with the translation of a novel to the screen; everybody creates differently.

Hamid told the audience that with novels, and his novels in particular, there is “a great deal of creation on your part. … You are invited to create.”

This, I think, is why Hamid did not go in to a deep recounting of the plot of the novel or the implications of what he wrote. He is just as interested in the reader’s psychology, what someone who reads his book brings to the story with them, as with what he intended to convey while writing the novel. At the end of the day, when reading a novel, you are really faced with is paper and ink, or as Hamid put it, “black squiggles on pulped wood.” As such, the act of construction, of creating a personal-

ized, vivid image, is naturally involved in the reading process.

Reading, Hamid informed the audience, allows people “to transcend their everyday experiences.” He read the first page of The Reluctant Fundamentalist to show how this particular novel begs for the reader’s involvement in creating, calling what he presents in the novel a “one-sided conversation,” with the presumably American man merely listening throughout the novel.

Hamid placed emphasis on the word ‘presumably’ when talking about this listener character. The Pakistani man who is speaking assumes that he is American, but Hamid never overtly states what nationality that the character is. “You, the reader, have to supply the rest of the story. … What happens is up to you,” he told the audience.

He mentioned the dominating “sense of menace in the world around us” today and how the reader might, for example, bring this notion of danger and fear into the novel, even if it may not really be there. It was interesting that Hamid never did say if he intended to

convey a sense terror in his novel, and I was left thinking about how much of my own emotions and identity I project into the stories I read. The rest of the audience also got very quiet and still at this point, as if pondering some of their past reading experiences.

Hamid emphasized that what he writes is not autobiographical. He cited the example of Changez, the Pakistani man speaking in The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Whereas Hamid thinks “hybridity is part of what I am,” he described how Changez has a fear of it. “The attempt to simplify and define ourselves as one identity,” as he expressed it, is something that both baffles and frightens him. Through writing fiction, he explores the concept of identity and ways to “blur our notion” of it.

“We live in a brand-saturated world,” Hamid concluded. “Pakistan is a brand, Brandeis is a brand, … just like Nike.” He compared the way that Pakistan is depicted in news to the Friday the 13th film franchise, admitting that the frightening side that is shown definitely exists, but emphasized that is the only part people see. As such, in his forthcoming novel, he decided to avoid using the names of places and people, feeling this was a necessary technique. Perhaps in coming up with the title of the lecture, this idea of “constructing fictions,” Hamid was also referring to how people are so preoccupied with labels, and tend to create rigid notions of their identities that do not encompass all of what makes them who they are.

The desire he expressed to remove these preconceived labels seemed to me to go along with his views on identity. His lecture once again provoked a sense of hyperawareness in the audience, leaving those listening to what he was saying to think about the possibility of a society in which these loaded, “prepackaged” labels do not exist. It’s surely idealistic, but maybe we’d all be a little more in tune to who we really are, as opposed to being concerned about how we should label ourselves.

CONCERT REVIEW

Tango quartet performs with flare and rhythm

■ Pablo Ziegler’s quartet,

brought to campus by MusicUnitesUS, performed to a sold-out crowd Saturday.

By Felicia KUPERWASER JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

On Saturday night, the Pablo Ziegler Classical Tango Quartet concluded their four-day stay at Brandeis with a captivating performance at Slosberg Music Center. A special occasion in its own right, this concert provided a perfect capstone to this year’s MusicUnitesUS program of events. The concert celebrated and showcased different elements of creativity and a synthesis of artistic ideas that the ensemble explored with a variety of audiences at the University at various events in the last few days.

Performing were Pablo Ziegler, piano; Héctor Del Curto, bandoneón, a type of accordion used in tango performances; Jisoo Ok, cello and Pedro Giraudo, bass. Through their expert performance, the quartet successfully communicated the thematic and semantic elements of tango in a way that was both meaningful and stimulating. They synthesized different musical styles and in doing so captured the tensions both inherent and unique to the music itself and addressed the broader theme of cultural exchange across time and place.

Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) was an Argentinian composer and bandoneon player whose legacy of “nuevo tango” brought the musical style into the concert halls by combining it with elements of classical and jazz composition. A student of Piazzolla’s work, Ziegler made unique contributions to tango that bring to light exactly what makes the music so stirring and

provocative. His innovation in tango makes it relevant as an art form as much in the concert hall as it was on the streets in its original form.

Ziegler played in Piazzolla’s quintet until he formed his own ensemble in 1990. A Grammy-winning musician, Ziegler carries on Piazzolla’s legacy by arranging his music and innovating further in his own compositions, blending jazz improvisations with characteristic tango rhythms and harmonic constructs. The concert featured both his arrangements of Piazzolla’s music and his original compositions, highlighting both Ziegler’s origins and innovations. His style is perfectly suited to Brandeis, whose own musical legacy values exploration of different musical ideas within a disciplined framework, for a greater creative purpose.

The evening’s program reflected the development of the nuevo tango movement. It began with two professional tango dancers, Fernanda Ghi and Guillermo Merlo, who performed to a recording of Ziegler’s quartet.

The provocative dance introduced the notion of the power struggle present in the genre, the opposing forces and strengths of the two partners which, when in sync, create a beautiful unity, and when opposed create a palpable and compelling tension.

Most striking about the style of dance, skillfully executed by Ghi and Merlo, was the stoic control of their upper bodies while their legs perpetuated drama and momentum.

Bold and powerful, their legwork appeared almost isolated from the rest of their expressive movement, drawing them closer and pushing them further apart, until ultimately one of the dancers prevailed as Merlo dramatically dragged Ghi off stage at the end of the piece.

When Ziegler and his ensemble en-

tered the stage following the dance, they began to play with a marked immediacy and spontaneous feel. The ensemble played as if inspired by the dance itself in that moment, perhaps as the music was originally played.

This momentum and energy lasted for the duration of the concert, as they alternately played compositions

by Piazzolla and Ziegler. While Piazzolla’s compositions sounded more typically Latin, infused with elements of classical and jazz composition, Ziegler’s compositions sounded somewhat more contemporary, as he used the musical language of nuevo tango to evoke times and places beyond the streets of old Buenos Aires.

Piazzolla’s “Fuga y Misterio” (1968) is a beautiful fugue whose structure, Ziegler joked, rivals that of Bach’s fugues, but whose theme is an unquestionably Latin-sounding one.

He used a distinctly classical form to write Latin-sounding music. Conversely, Ziegler’s “La Fundicion” (2003), or “The Foundary,” with its distinctly industrial and almost guttural, grating sound, combines elements of musical quality and rhythm to tell a story outside of this context but through the language of nuevo tango composition. Ziegler’s arrangements quite literally mimic the actual dance form, with more rhythmic, passionately-charged gestures in the lower registers, propelling the restrained but emotionally charged melodies in the higher registers.

In all of the arrangements, the quartet experimented with a wide variety of sounds and musical styles: not just in the seamless blending of Latin, jazz and other types of musical ideas, but in the actual musical quality they produced. All members of the ensemble used their instruments as percussive instruments, drumming out the resolute rhythms while others

BRIANNA MUSSMAN/the Justice

SOUND CHECK: Performers practice together on the piano, cello and bandoneón. were playing, reintroducing an element of ‘street music’—even Ziegler drummed on the piano’s fallboard at one point to create this effect and did so with a playful smile. The music’s complexity and musicians’ impeccable musical skill were easy to overlook given their cool, understated manner, particularly Ziegler’s. But this attitude was decidedly a reflection of their comfort, ease and intimacy with the music, which proved very contagious. Each instrument assumed its role in musical conversation, amicably competing for the melody, and patiently stepping aside when appropriate. The opposing musical forces of different voices, rhythmic statements and genres worked side-by-side to create a unique musical environment which truly reflected both the music’s origins and other musical influences.

Where Piazzolla’s compositions brought the tango to the performance

stage, Ziegler’s original compositions bring nuevo tango back out to the streets with its more vibrant and visceral moments blended beautifully with old tango sound. The opposing forces of passion and restraint that form the common thread of tango are as relevant now as they were when tango was only found on the streets.

For the final piece, “Libertango” (1973) composed by Piazzolla, the dancers rejoined the ensemble halfway through the piece to bring the music back out to its original context.

“It takes two to tango” takes on a new meaning in light of this musical exploration. Perhaps this old mantra refers not so much to the two dancers, but the two opposing forces, whether they are dancers, genres, forms or even the tension of past and present, whose combined forces, when they finally join, create a unity more powerful and provocative than each individually.

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012

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THE JUSTICE

STUDENT PERFORMANCE

BRANDEIS THEATER COMPANY

Chum’s evening is charming ■ The coffeehouse showcases

different student talents from original songs to slam poetry.

By Aliza VIGDERMAN JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MIKE LOVETT/Brandeis University

SIBLING RIVALRY: Sarah Elizabeth Bedard MFA ’13, Alex Johnson MFA ’13 and Nicole Dalton MFA ’13 play three conflicting sisters trying to protect their mother.

‘Escape from Happiness’ raises challenging ideas with humor ■ The play touched on

themes of family and forgiveness through the lens of a dysfunctional family.

By EMILY WISHINGRAD JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Escape from Happiness, written

by George F. Walker and directed

by Doug Lockwood, was performed from Thursday, Oct. 18 to Sunday, Oct. 20 in the Laurie Theater of the Spingold Theater Center. The play portrays the build-up of a family’s tension, anger and hurt after the father’s unstable return to the home from a decade-long hiatus.

In the play, the family lives in poverty because a couple of decades ago the father, Tom (Jonathan Young MFA ’14), a former alcoholic, tried to burn their house down and then ran away with their modest life savings. He left behind his wife Nora (Laura Jo Trexler MFA ’13), and his three children, Mary Ann (Sarah Bedard MFA ’13), Gail (Nicole Dalton MFA ’14) and Elizabeth (Alex Johnson MFA ’14) to fend for themselves.

Johnson, who played the eldest

sister, Elizabeth, did a fantastic job of portraying a bisexual lawyer who is trying to stay sane and hold the family together in the midst of insane circumstances. Johnson made this multi-layered and troubled character come to life.

Trexler also did an excellent job of portraying the mother’s complete denial about her family’s dire situation and the compromised mental statuses of herself and her children.

This family encounters an insurmountable number of problems.

For example, the show opens with Gail’s husband, Junior (Sam Gillam MFA ’14), lying on the floor: injured and seemingly almost dead because, as we learn later, he has been shot by the crooks he was trying to keep at bay. While the situations are dire, the characters respond and deal with depressing situations like these with an unusual amount of levity. When Nora sees her son-in-law lying on the floor and bleeding heavily out of his side, she proclaims that he is not hurt badly because there is not a “certain smell in the air.” She proceeds to force him to get up and start dancing in order to take his

HOSTAGES AT HOME: Characters Nora and Elizabeth tie Rolly up and gag him.

mind off his pain until the ambulance arrives. Like the rest of the family, Nora has become mentally unstable due to her anger at her husband and the disillusionment that comes with the traumatic events she has experienced.

Although best exemplified by Nora, all the characters react to their problems in a comical and irrational manner. Junior confirms the characters’ inability to react to situations in a productive and serious manner when he tries to convince Gail that they are in rough waters by telling her, “Gail, we’ve got a real problem, really.”

Gail proceeds to roll on the floor laughing as if the whole situation is a big joke. Throughout the play, the audience finds itself thinking exactly what one of the marginal characters puts into words, “What is wrong with you people? You’re all crazy.”

To be fair, the situations in which this family finds itself are insane in the most literal sense of the word. The play begins with a highly unusual premise but as the story progresses, things become stranger. By the final scene, the play has exposed the audience to

violence, screaming and crying as well as themes of betrayal, drugs, gangs and pornography.

The set was a two-story house with a cluttered and messy kitchen, a metal exterior door and an upstairs with two bedrooms. The set was fittingly homey and unassuming, reflective of a working class family abode. The floor was covered with woodchips, the presence of which was largely unaccounted for. The characters’ costumes nicely fit their roles in the family. Elizabeth, for instance, wore a corporate-looking suit for roughly the whole show, until the end when she took off her jacket, representing her breakdown. The mother’s attire was appropriately slouchy and comfortable-looking in accordance with her laid back and casual take on life.

The production was well received by the audience, who laughed at every satirical aspect of the performance and sat upright in their seats, ready for more. Overall, the production was a success and left the viewer with a greater understanding of what it means to forgive in the face of resentment and anger.

A NEW NORMAL: Nora and Tom design a plan for their new life at home.

Going into my first Cholmondeley’s open mic night, I didn’t know what to expect. Would the gang from Friends be there? Should I snap instead of applaud?

Are scarves a requirement or just a suggestion? When I walked in, I realized that while scarves were definitely not required, the night would be anything but typical.

The Oct. 18 coffeehouse featured a cappella, slam poetry and other musical performances. People milled in and out, watching performances, conversing, eating and even getting impromptu haircuts from Chum’s employees. Students were encouraged to bring their own instruments for a final inclusive jam session at the end of the night. Add Nutella hot chocolate, grilled cheese and sweet potato fries, and you’ve got the unique combination of people, music and food that creates the quirky atmosphere of Chum’s.

Josh Berman ’15, a Chum’s employee who helped organize the event, was especially pleased with how the night went. He described that “there was a huge turnout, which I was really happy about. I think that everyone had a good time with the set performances, but I was especially pleased about the jamming. Brandeis does not have enough outlets for people who love to play music. Hopefully Chum’s can fill that role and provide a space for the Brandeis community.” More jamming sessions to come, Berman plugged.

The evening started off on a pleasant note (pun intended) with three lovely songs by Manginah, one of the University’s Jewish a cappella groups. Soloists included Matt Sidell ’14 and Jess Pullen ’12.

Pullen’s sweet, melodic voice and Sidell’s earnest tenor made for an enjoyable performance.

Next was a surprise slam poet described

by Melanie Steinhardt ’13 on the event’s Facebook page as “socially challenging and thought provoking.” The man himself turned out to be none other than Brian Slepian ’14. Slepian delighted audience members with two whimsical poems. He began with “Consent,” which included saying the word “consent” about fifty times with different emotions. Following “Consent” was “The Adventures of Mancat and Dogwoman,” a conversation between—you guessed it—a mancat and a dogwoman.

The poem ended with Slepian on the floor, screaming profanities in an emotional uproar. Maybe it’s just because of my love for drama and silliness, but this was undoubtedly my favorite performance of the night.

Following Slepian was a remarkable five-song set by Blunt Logic, a two-person male rap group not unlike Outkast—if Outkast had been two liberal arts college students, specifically Coleman Mahler ’13 and Nick Polanco ’13. At first I wasn’t sure if they were serious or just being ironic, as rappers sometimes are. However, their final song, titled “Registered Motherf*cking Sex Offenders,” convinced me of their ironic intentions to satirize rap culture.

Even so, the length of their performance was definitely overkill.

Ayan Sanyal ’14 took the stage next, playing guitar and singing original songs.

Sanyal was a natural and talented performer with breezy, enjoyable melodies.

Next was Matt Sidell ’14 on the keyboard with Clay Williams ’14. The performance, while not in any way bad, was not particularly memorable either. Unfortunately for the performers, by this point in the night, most people were socializing instead of watching.

The night concluded with a spirited jam session which depended on audience participation—not an issue in a school with so many creative and musical students.

One musician would start off, and slowly people would join in, creating a jazzy fusion.

This event is definitely not meant to be viewed in its entirety; most people stayed for a few performances and then left. Due to the disparity in performance quality, along with the 10-minute gaps between each performance, the event would be best enjoyed in small doses. Overall, while the quality of the performances greatly varied, the atmosphere proved to be supportive, cozy and fun.

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012

CHILLING ON CLOUD NINE PHOTOS COURTESY OF WARNER BROTHERS RECORDS

BRITISH BEAT: Muse, a British rock band, released its most recent album, “The 2nd Law,” this month.

Muse’s new album mixes many genres ■ ‘The 2nd Law’ combines

different ideas and styles into an enjoyable but lackluster collection.

By ELI KAMINSKY JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Often, the hardest-working bands strive throughout their entire career for grandiose magnitude in their overall sound. Muse, a British alternative rock band fronted by Matt Bellamy on guitar and vocals, Christopher Wolstenholme on bass and backing vocals and Dominic Howard on drums and percussion, is one of the frontrunners of this “go big or go home” mentality. Muse’s most recent album, The 2nd Law, released on Oct. 1, stays true to said traditions and pushes to be as epic in theme, musicality and overall vibe as possible. The album is filled with 13 massive stadium-rock crowd pleasers that jump between a range of genres spanning from hard rock, pop, dubstep and all the way down to classical.

The 2nd Law is by far Muse’s most experimental album to date, however, such a classification does not make it the band’s best. Certain songs definitely rank highly next to other Muse work, though the album as a whole musically and lyrically is all over the place. The band tried extremely hard to push their “2nd Law of Thermodynamics” theme, but barely stuck with it as an album-wide concept. In addition, these boys from Devon, in the United Kingdom, lift in musical style from artists like Aerosmith, U2, Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder and Queen all throughout The 2nd Law, which is indeed a fun, listenable album, though it falls somewhat short of some of the band’s previous releases.

The record kicks off with the ominous “Supremacy,” one of Muse’s best efforts to date, complete with a head-banging introduction that segues into a crushing riff in dropA tuning that recalls the James Bond theme. “Supremacy,” like The 2nd Law, is a mash-up of various

styles, genres and effects including hard rock, hence the lead riff and the breakdown, spacey-progressive rock that points back to Pink Floyd, the cheesy, 80’s-esque guitar solo and the perfectly produced horn section. “Supremacy” furthermore proves that Matt Bellamy is absolutely on top of his game as a singer, blasting through the track with wails, screams, falsettos and slower, dark vocals.

“Madness,” the most famous single, which the public first heard on Aug. 20, comes from a completely different musical world than “Supremacy,” built upon a synth beat and an electronic vocal track constantly repeating the phrase “m-mm-m-mad-madness.” Like a lot of The 2nd Law, “Madness” will grow on listeners after initially leaving them mildly dissatisfied and perhaps confused.

The third tune on the record, “Panic Station,” certainly stands out next to “Supremacy” as one of the eclectic release’s highlights.

“Panic Station” mixes funk and soul, combining riffs reminiscent of those of Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” and Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition.” Nonetheless, the musicianship on the track, as expected, is near perfect and “Panic Station” is tremendously catchy, regardless of any externalities After the third track, classical and operatic influences shine through, primarily on “Survival,” the record’s first single and the official song of the 2012 Olympics. Like “Madness,” “Survival” may leave you with the question of “What the heck did I just hear?” To say that “Survival” is bad would be harsh, because pieces of the track are better than others.

Nonetheless “Survival” is certainly an adequate pump-up song that shows a tremendous amount of effort in production, though perhaps a lack in the lyric department.

The second section of The 2nd Law begins to dwindle in quality beginning with “Follow Me,” a corny ode to Matt Bellamy’s newborn son.

“Follow Me” and “Explorers” are probably the weakest efforts on the

record. Putting the smooth, sexy, “Animals,” built upon Matt Bellamy’s guitar mastery, between the two was strategically wise, despite the fact that Bellamy does not break any new ground musically on the track. “Big Freeze,” a near cover of “Where the Streets Have No Name”

by U2, stresses the extreme diversity of the album but also the constant lifting from other sources.

The next four tracks on the record appear in linked groups of two. Bassist Wolstenholme’s first major contributions to composition, “Save Me” and “Liquid State,” which discuss the thirty-three-yearold’s battle with alcoholism, are decent if one factors in the fact that Wolstenholme rarely writes full songs. They do not feel, however, extremely “Musey,” rather seeming like they could have been produced by any alternative rock band. The album is somewhat redeemed in its final moments by the absolutely epic double-track suite, “The Second Law,” which pulls from classical music, electronic dubstep and movie scores, though, like the rest of the record, has a shocking effect on the listener.

The 2nd Law demonstrates Muse’s happy talent for lifting styles and strategies from other places (they have been mocked for ripping off Radiohead since their inception, though their sound has more recently gravitated away from the band’s sound) yet still maintaining a recognizably “Muse” vibe. After their previous album, 2009’s Resistance, fans hoped the band would return to their more straightforward rock roots. The band continued with The 2nd Law right where Resistance left off. Though the 2009 record included several genres (rock, britpop and classical), the band’s 2012 release progressed even more, lifting from almost every musical idea imaginable. Perhaps Muse was too ambitious during this past series of studio sessions, but that is what makes The 2nd Law a Muse album.

The trio is known for being ambitious, combining concepts and unstoppably supporting their evolving tendencies.

DETERMINED ORIGINALITY: The group has tested new music styles in each album.

BUILDING A HISTORY: Muse has now released a total of six albums since 1999.

21

22

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2010

●

THE JUSTICE

Henderson’s legacy captured on screen ■ Director Abby Ginzberg

brings her documentary on the life and legacy of Thelton Henderson to Brandeis.

By RACHEL HUGHES JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Spending even a small amount of time at Brandeis can nearly desensitize a person to the phrase “social justice.” We encounter these words printed on posters, in announcements and even dropped in classes and conversations—not to mention frequent events focused on the idea.

It can be easy to take the fight for social justice for granted on a campus that is always buzzing about it, which is why I was both delighted and refreshed to attend a special screening of a documentary that brought the idea of social justice home last Wednesday, Oct. 17. The 2005 documentary, Soul of Justice: Thelton Henderson’s American Journey, was gracefully presented to a small audience of students, professors and administrators by director Abby Ginzberg, who closed the night with a personal question-andanswer session. The event was sponsored by the Louis D. Brandeis Legacy Fund for Social Justice and held in the Wasserman Cinematheque of the Brandeis International Business School.

Ginzberg, who has a background in law, holds social justice quite close to her heart. She now dedicates her time to making films to share this passion with others.

“Thelton Henderson has always been a hero of mine and his story is a story that I wanted to share more broadly,” she shared just before the lights in the auditorium dimmed and her masterpiece took center stage. Ginzberg calls the film “the intersection between biography and history,” as it follows Henderson’s life and career chronologically while focusing on personal and legal milestones. She wanted to “underscore the power a judge has” by giving viewers this broader perspective.

While Thelton Henderson’s name may not be familiar to everyone, the decisions that have come out of his courtroom are the results of issues that quite personally affect us all— racism, civil rights, integrity and human dignity. Henderson moved to California with his mother and grandmother as a child and was raised with a sense of hard work

ROBYN SPECTOR/the Justice

DIRECTORIAL PRESTIGE: Abby Ginzberg speaks at the screening of Soul of Justice: Thelton Henderson’s American Journey. and purpose. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, as one of only seventeen black students in a class of 1,500. He earned his law degree at Berkeley’s Boalt Hall Law School.

Before he had even graduated from law school, Henderson was invited to work under the Kennedy administration to investigate racial segregation in the South with the

task of banning it altogether. At this position, Henderson was not only a newbie fresh from school, but he was also the only black attorney among his coworkers.

He moved on to work in Birmingham, Ala. in the 1960s, establishing personal and professional relationships with such influential figures as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “There was a real hatred.” he

said in the film, “You could see the venom in the police.” Henderson was working in Birmingham during the time of Dr. King’s famous march on Washington and the Birmingham church bombing that followed the march (several weeks after). He was even arrested once while he was monitoring the activities of local law enforcement because of his race.

As Ginzberg’s film details this early phase of Henderson’s career, it incorporates authentic footage of riots and marches, obscene violence on behalf of the white police forces and flashes of jarring newspaper headlines downplaying the abuse.

Shots of the acrimonious racist messages on the picket signs of whites at these riots alone were enough to send shivers down my spine. At parts, I found myself cupping a hand over my mouth, gaping and shaking my head; it was not that this information was new to me, but that Ginzberg’s unbridled presentation of the civil rights era as Henderson lived it was so powerful, and every bit of that power was absolutely necessary.

After moving back to California, away from the tumult of the 1960s and the South, Henderson’s career ambitions kept increasing.

He started a minority program at his law school alma mater, which raised the population of students of racial minority at Boalt Hall to 20 percent. The program became a national model. He became a lawyer for one of the nation’s first legal aid offices, in Palo Alto, Calif., and later served as one of the first black federal judges alongside the first female federal judge. His ruthless investigation into reports of extreme violence and abuse against inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison led to his almost singlehanded reform of the state of California’s prison system, which he still oversees today. After the film, Ginzberg proudly told us: “There are very few federal judges as committed as he is to seeing their decisions upheld.”

Ginzberg intended her documentary to be viewed by college and law students, as she knows that potential like Henderson’s resides in all of our youth. The audience was heartily engaged, fixated on Ginzberg as she spoke, asking her many questions and eagerly relating the material in the film to their own personal experiences. Audience members seemed to respond most to issues of race and civil rights, and one could tell, that they will be thinking about Ginzberg’s film long after seeing it.

So, how can we emulate both Henderson’s and Ginzberg’s ardor in our own lives? The director advised, with a knowing smile, “Try to find a good fit and see who you need to surround yourself with to succeed.

[Do with your life] something that engages you as a whole person.” Appropriately enough, that’s exactly what Brandeis teaches us to do best.

MUSIC

Swift’s latest release repeats recipe for stardom ■ With the release of ‘Red,’

Taylor Swift proves her musical competence, but stays similar to past albums.

By JESSIE MILLER JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Within hours of its midnight release yesterday, Taylor Swift’s newest album, Red, sky-rocketed to the No. 1 slot on iTunes and is shaping up to be another hit album for the 22-year-old songstress. Swift has already released three No. 1 albums and received multiple Grammy awards. The highly anticipated release of Red marks the epitome of what it means to be Hollywood’s starlet, with her fans hanging on every lyric of the new singles off of the album.

To be quite honest, I have been a devoted Taylor Swift fan since I heard her eponymous first album, followed

by Fearless and Speak Now. I have grown up with Taylor; she was there at my first heartbreak and I cried along to every emotional lyric that so boldly expressed what I was feeling.

But now, as Taylor and I have both grown up, her music has changed. Red has many similarities to past hits in terms of song themes, but Swift also experiments with new sounds, especially pop.

The album starts off with “State of Grace,” and although the song is admittedly weaker than others, it is typical of Swift to not start an album with her best work. The song draws listen-

ers in, with her tender voice contrasted by strong instrumentals. Following this song, “Red” steals the show and is one of my favorite tracks of the entire album. The beginning line, “Loving him is like driving a new Maserati on a dead end street,” perfectly evokes the feeling she seeks: speeding up with nowhere to go. The song is catchy and the color symbolism—red for love, blue for breaking up and grey for missing him—provides a visual context of emotional state that most songs do not.

As a whole, the song reminds me of “The Way I Loved You” from Fearless because they both deal with lost love yet don’t sink into a despairing, heartwrenching tone.

Toward the middle of the album, most of the songs are filler, light-hearted pop that diminishes Swift’s talent.

Both “22,” “Stay Stay Stay” and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” all exemplify this cursory musical style of mediocre pop songs. “I Knew You Were Trouble” almost falls into this precarious category, but redeems itself purely in its comical value. For whatever reason, Swift breaks into some form of dubstep; the echoes of “trouble trouble trouble” resonate through the entire song somewhat eerily. These filler songs add nothing to the album and detract from the success of what Swift does best: ballads.

In this album, “I Almost Do” and “Sad Beautiful Tragic” fill the ballad expectation of heartbreak commentary. The former features an acoustic guitar opener, followed by Swift’s airy voice. Unlike the ballads on past albums, her voice is clearly more digi-

tally enhanced, but in this instance it does the song justice. Additionally, Swift’s mostly teenage girl audience, having much experience in this area, can relate to the love-jaded lyrics, the power of which should not be ignored.

“Sad Beautiful Tragic” is another prime example of a Swift ballad—the music slowly creeps to its pinnacle of melancholy, drowning in her lost love and heartbreak. This is the type of song that I blast at full volume while I let my emotions run wild. Like “Enchanted” off of Speak Now, it pulls at my carefully tied-up emotions and brought back the Taylor I connected with in previous albums.

On other albums, Swift has been accompanied by fellow female artist Colbie Caillat, but Red features the soulful voices of both Ed Sheeran and Gary Lightbody. Of the two, I personally enjoyed “Everything Has Changed” with Sheeran and his raw, acoustic voice.

Swift banishes the distasteful pop that dominates other tracks in favor of a more natural, earthy sound. Her lyrics are as powerful as ever, but in place of a depressing failed-love story, Swift is optimistic and perfectly captures that first moment of attraction.

What can I say? As a proud Taylor supporter, I’m trying hard not to fall into the bottom-less trap of blind approval of Red, but it is a solid album.

She hits all the classical features of past songs but is also continuing to develop and evolve her style.

I won’t be listening to the album on repeat for the next month, but select songs have earned their place in a new playlist.

LOS ANGELES TIMES/MCT

GOLDEN: Swift poses after winninng two awards at the 2012 Grammy Awards.

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012

23

OFF CAMPUS RISKY BUSINESS

PHOTOS COURTESY OF WARNER BROS. PICTURES

DELICATE SITUATION: From left, Landon Butler (Rob Brownstein), Jon Titteron (David Sullivan) and Hamilton Jordan (Kyle Chandler) play three of the White House officals who advise on the scandal in Iran.

‘Argo’ creates a historical adrenaline rush ■ Affleck’s latest

directorial pursuit balances the amount of action and dramatic plot.

By zachary marlin JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

When was the last time you clapped at the end of a movie?

For me, it was at the end of Ben Affleck’s newest directorial feature, and one of the most exciting movies released this year, Argo.

Argo is based on the declassified true story of six United States diplomats who escaped the American embassy in Iran before it was captured by Iranian civilians, an event which began the Iran Hostage Crisis that would last 444 days in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The six diplomats find their way from the embassy to the Canadian ambassador’s house, where they can hide until they can leave the country safely.

Here is where the movie picks up. CIA specialist Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) is charged by his boss (Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston) with the task of finding a way to get the hostages out of the extremely volatile (and anti-American) country. Mendez comes up with idea to have the six Americans pose as a Canadian film crew scouting locations for a science fiction movie called ‘Argo.’ From there, Mendez contacts make-up artist John Chambers (John Goodman) and producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) in Hollywood to help make this fake film seem real.

Hopefully, if this appears legitimate enough, the ruse will get the Americans back home.

The movie, which runs at almost exactly two hours, starts off with a bang, showing the invasion of the American embassy in Iran in 1979, and it never slows down.

The situation is tense right from the start, and the last 30 minutes

of the movie are absolutely riveting. I won’t spoil any plot details (though, as a true story, they are readily available online), but the movie easily keeps you on the edge of your seat, waiting to see what will happen next. The action isn’t violent or shoot-em-up; rather, it is an uneasy feeling of not knowing what will happen to the six Americans, or those trying to save them, at any point.

Affleck shows true prowess as a director with this film. He is so confident in his material that, during the credits, he compares his shots in the movie to actual pictures of the Iranian situation at that time. It certainly shows. The film is well-crafted in its pacing as well as in the shots that were used.

The opening scene shows the rush of the Iranians into the embassy from an aerial view, and the effect is chilling as we see the Americans inside frantically try to burn or shred any document in sight. For extra effect, Affleck chooses to put in real news footage throughout the film to intensify the situation. This technique also effectively provides background and adds a sense of realism to the film.

The acting in the film is also top notch. Affleck is rather impressive in his role as Mendez. He pulls it off and plays the determined and smart CIA agent convincingly.

However, it is the supporting actors who truly steal the show. Alan Arkin is excellent as the sarcastic, bombastic movie producer who begins the fake movie process. He and John Goodman, who plays the make-up artist and Tony’s main Hollywood contact, add depth and quite a bit of humor to the film.

They are given all the best lines, such as when Arkin’s character humorously quips “If I’m gonna make a fake movie, it’s gonna be a fake hit.”

The movie takes some pride in poking fun at Hollywood and those who do business there. Bryan

Cranston also shines as Mendez’s boss at the CIA, and colorfully plays a character that could have easily been lost in the shuffle and tension of the movie. Without these three supporting actors, the movie would not have been nearly as good, as they add layers to the film.

The screenplay, written by Chris Terrio, is intriguing and fastpaced. Though none of the characters are particularly appealing emotionally, the storyline and the situations are incredibly tensionfilled. There were moments when I audibly gasped at events occurring on the screen, both a combination of impressive camera work (done

by Academy Award nominee Rodrigo Prieto) and the effective screenplay. The last 30 minutes, which go back and forth between the hiding Americans and those back in the United States, are absolutely incredible, and some of the most exciting moments I’ve seen in film. The editing and directing there are superb.

Overall, Argo is a smart, dramatic and thrilling movie. What makes it so effective is that it has a little bit of everything. The drama is intense because it is real. This story is too incredible to make up, and because of that, everything about the film is realistic and fascinating. The movie also has a significant amount of comedy to it, especially in the Hollywood scenes; this keeps the film on the lighter side when the events surrounding the situation are literally life and death. The action is exciting and fast-paced without a single gunshot fired. Again, because the situation concerns the lives of the six hiding Americans, the suspense builds and builds until the climax as they try to escape.

At the end of Argo, the audience and I clapped. At a film, as there is no curtain call or live performers to hear the praise, it is quite the compliment to hear applause, and this film certainly deserved it.

ULTIMATE RUSE: John Goodman stars as John Chambers opposite Affleck in ‘Argo.’

LEADING MAN: Ben Affleck stars as movie protagonist Tony Mendez and directs the movie.

food

Toscanini’s eccentric ice cream flavors tantalize taste buds ■ Cambridge ice cream

shop Toscanini’s serves up a variety of delicious flavors in the heart of the city.

By maya riser-kositsky JUSTICE editor

Does anyone dislike ice cream?

(Sorry, lactose-intolerant folks.) I don’t think I’ve ever run across such a person. If you have, I have just the place in mind that could cure them of their strange inhibition.

Once you’ve secured your ice cream patient, get on the BranVan to Harvard Square. Next, take the Red Line one stop to Central Square (or, if it’s a nice day, take a 30-minute walk down Massachusetts Avenue). You will be within three blocks of your destination, just off Mass. Ave., 899 Main St,

the home of the ice cream shop called Toscanini’s.

Looking at the blackboard of ice cream flavors inside the cozy shop, I was intimidated. Here’s a sampling of the flavors available when I went (they rotate them): Hydrox cookie (similar to Oreos); ginger snap molasses; Grape-Nuts; rum raisin; bourbon flake; Khulfee; burnt caramel; Belgian chocolate; tea and biscuits; and B3 (brown sugar, browned butter and brownie). I wanted to try something exciting, but I also wanted it to be tasty. Both my ice cream companion and I got two scoops—any more and we wouldn’t have been able to move, any less and we would have missed out on a whole flavor.

I selected Khulfee and tea and biscuits, neither of which you could pick up at the grocery store. Khulfee was a mixture of nuts (mostly pistachios, I think) and cardamom-flavored ice

cream. The flavor was deep and multifaceted. The crunchiness of the nuts added to the smooth, rich texture of the ice cream to make eating it interesting not only for my palate but also for my tongue.

My other flavor, tea and biscuits, was a little overpowered by the Khulfee, but it was still very tasty.

Large pieces of plain cookie (like a Nilla Wafer) were mixed through ice cream infused with Earl Grey tea.

While more subtle than the cardamom-nut ice cream, the tea flavor tasted vibrantly like actual tea.

My companion selected ginger snap molasses and B3 (brown sugar, browned butter and brownie) as his two flavors. I, in the spirit of a true (hog, ahem, I mean) reviewer, sampled some of these flavors as well. The ginger snap molasses was perfectly balanced between those two strong flavors, with both the bite of ginger

and the deep sweetness of molasses.

The B3 flavor was brown sugar and browned butter-flavored ice cream containing chunks of perfectly cooked brownies. The process of browning butter involves cooking the butter until just before it starts to burn, which gives it a deeper flavor. B3 provided a nice chocolate component paired with the lighter taste of browned butter. The B3 surprisingly wasn’t overwhelmed by the strong flavors of the ginger snap molasses; instead, the two flavors combined well and were a perfect match.

The ice cream is definitely cult-worthy, but the shop’s atmosphere is also noteworthy. The area of comfy couches and a large table well-supplied with a retractable bunch of extension cords hanging above it make it a great place to hang out or get some work done.

The shop’s art is rather odd; one of the pictures is of a Victorian-era woman

who informs the viewer via superimposed text that she enjoyed standing in the bushes outside peoples’ windows, watching them undress and touching herself.

Keeping with the theme of peculiar, the shop’s television showed a seemingly random stream of YouTube videos without sound (a Japanese synchronized swimming routine, a clip of Singing in the Rain and a video of ice cream cones being mass-produced).

All this was to a soundtrack of indie pop, which worked surprising well for the man’s dance in Singing in the Rain. When I went on a Friday evening, it was hard to snag a seat, but at a less busy time, I would definitely bribe myself to write a paper by holing up there for several hours with some ice cream. While two scoops for $5.50 was a little pricey, I can’t wait to go back to try more of Toscanini’s innovative flavors. 10/10

24

TUESday, October 23, 2012 ● THE JUSTICE

TOP of the

ARTS ON VIEW

Brandeis

CHARTS

TALKS

Top 10s for the week ending October 21 BOX OFFICE

Quote of the week

1. Taken 2 2. Argo 3. Sinister 4. Hotel Transylvania 5. Here Comes The Boom 6. Pitch Perfect 7. Frankenweenie 8. Looper 9. Seven Psychopaths 10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower

“Brandeis loves a good, big, complicated debate. This kind of open conversation is, in part, what helps us get closer to the ideal of justice,” --Scott Edmiston, director of the Office of the Arts and co-chair of the task force on Integrated Arts, speaking about the strategic planning process.

NYT BESTSELLERS Fiction 1. The Casual Vacancy — J.K. Rowling 2. NYPD Red — James Patterson and Marshall Karp 3. Gone Girl — Gillian Flynn 4. Winter of the World — Ken Follett 5. Mad River — John Sandford

What issue is most important to you this election season?

KARINA WAGENPFEIL/the Justice

FALL SURROUNDINGS: Justice Photographer Karina Wagenpfeil ’16 took this photo of the reflections of the trees in water at the Peak Foliage Invitational at the University of New Hampshire.

Daniel Moskowitz ’15 “An important issue to me is the U.S.-Israel relations and the promotion of the two-state solution.”

Aliza Gans ’15 “The job market. I’m going to enter the real world and I want to make sure I have the opportunity to make a career for myself in these harsh times.”

Aaron Hentoff ’16 “One of my biggest concerns is that people remember to keep public education alive and continue funding.”

ACROSS 1 Word in discount store names 4 Hand-holding dance 8 Reveal all?

13 Set right, in a way 15 His voice is heard after “Live, from New York ...”

16 Rewards cardholder’s benefit 18 Brazilian novelist Jorge 19 Horace’s “__ Poetica” 20 Roulette option 22 Computer-generated visual media 26 Athlete dubbed “O Rei do Futebol” 27 One known for great service 28 Limerick fifth 29 Environmentalist Sigurd 30 Show of strength?

31 Baseball div.

32 Time for laundry and such 35 Bright 37 Yale grads 38 Tiffany collectibles 39 Key not used by itself 40 Curved molding 44 Road maneuvers, briefly 45 Salad dressing ingredient 47 Rhinitis doc 48 Dads 49 Infomercial kitchen brand 50 Starting a project ... and what the letters between each pair of circles are doing?

55 Bizarre 56 Audience member 57 Does some yard work 58 Solomonic 59 Hosp. areas DOWN 1 Tetley competitor 2 Infinitesimal 3 Long sail 4 Spartan serf 5 Time and again, in verse 6 “The Natural” protagonist Hobbs 7 Surrealist Jean 8 Hunting or fishing 9 IDs on a carousel 10 Grade sch. basics 11 “My thought is ...”

12 Thick-skinned citrus fruit 14 Zenith’s opposite 17 In short supply 21 Unfavorable impression?

23 Calm 24 Bank claim 25 “The handmaiden of creativity”: Eliot 26 Guilty, for example 29 Bygone GM division

CROSSWORD

iTUNES

1. Taylor Swift — “State of Grace” 2. Taylor Swift — “I Knew You Were Trouble” 3. PSY — “Gangnam Style” 4. Ke$ha — “Die Young” 5. Kelly Clarkson — “Catch My Breath”

BILLBOARD

1. Mumford & Sons — Babel 2. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis — The Heist 3. Kiss — Monster 4. MGK — Lace Up 5. Coheed and Cambria — The Afterman: Ascension 6. All Time Low — Don’t Panic 7. Barbra Streisand — Release Me 8. P!nk — The Truth About Love 9. Ellie Goulding — Halcyon 10. Muse — The 2nd Law

30 Marshy lowlands 31 Nimble 32 Got real?

33 They may be sealed 34 Workers’ rights org.

35 Risqué 36 Illusory hope 39 Mozart’s “__ fan tutte” 40 Pungent bulb 41 Reveal all?

42 Former Disney chief 43 Ducks 45 “Land __ alive!”

46 Concur 48 Cowpoke’s pal 51 Côte d’Azur saison 52 “I’m thinkin’ not” 53 Sporty VW 54 Sporty cars

Top of the Charts information provided by Fandango, the New York Times, Billboard. com and Apple.com.

STAFF PLAYLIST

“Term Papers”

By JESS LINDE

Justice CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Solution to last week’s crossword

Crossword Copyright 2012 MCT Campus, Inc.

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

Dan Truong ’15

“The economy. As a young adult how student debts are going to affect me later in life.”

—Compiled by Jane Zitomer Photos by Josh Horowitz/ the Justice

Nonfiction 1. Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot — Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard 2. No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama bin Laden — Mark Owen with Kevin Maurer 3. Who I Am — Pete Townshend 4. America Again: Re-becoming the Greatness We Never Weren’t— Stephen Colbert, Richard Dahm, Paul Dinello, Barry Julien, Tom Purcell et al.

5. Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever ­— Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard

Solution to last week’s sudoku

Sudoku Copyright 2012 MCT Campus, Inc.

For whatever reason, I work much better when I’m with people.

The noise somehow becomes the white noise I need to get things done. The same thing goes for my music. This week alone I have three term papers due, and these songs have been helping me through.

THE LIST 1. “Exile on Broadway”—Trash Talk 2. “Take My Bones Away”—Baroness 3. “Johnny Better Get”—The Zero Boys 4. “Oh Hail No”—El-P 5. “Ex-Lion Tamer”—Wire 6. “Teenage Icon”—The Vaccines 7. “Sailin’ On”—Bad Brains 8. “Grown Up”—Danny Brown 9. “I Never Learnt to Share”— James Blake 10. “Five Seconds”—Twin Shadow