The Justice, October 29, 2013

Page 1

ARTS Page 20

FORUM Grant marriage equality in all states 11

META MUSICAL

SPORTS Swimmers post top finishes at Rochester 16 The Independent Student Newspaper

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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 LXVI, Number 9

www.thejustice.org

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

ADMINISTRATION

COMIC RELIEF

Collins leaving after 27 years ■ Mark Collins will leave the

University, effective at the end of this calendar year, after a distinguished career. By TATE HERBERT JUSTICE EDITOR

Senior Vice President for Administration Mark Collins will leave Brandeis effective at the end of this calendar year, according to an email announcement sent to the Brandeis community on Friday by Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Steven Manos. While neither Manos’ email nor Collins cited a specific reason for the departure, Collins did express

Waltham, Mass.

his gratitude to the University. “I’ve heard from a lot of people since Friday, and I’m just incredibly humbled by what I’ve heard from people in email and in person,” said Collins in an Collins interview with the Justice. “It’s been a great run for 27 years here. And I just thoroughly enjoyed it and I’m very much optimistic about the future.” According to Manos’ email, Collins “has chosen to take advantage of other professional opportunities” after his term at Brandeis comes to a

See COLLINS, 7 ☛

BRIEF Marder elected to national IOM Prof. Eve Marder ’69 (BIOL), the Victor and Gwendolyn Beinfield Professor of Neuroscience and the head of the Division of Science, has been elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, according to an Oct. 21 BrandeisNOW press release. Marder was elected to the IOM on Oct. 1 as part of a cohort of 70 new members and 10 new foreign associates. She is the third Brandeis faculty to be elected to the Institute. Prof. Stuart Altman (Heller) was elected in 1996, and Prof. Emeritus Gregory Petsko (BCHM) was elected in 2001. Election to the IOM is conducted by current members. Marder conducts research on the modulation of neural networks, using the nervous system of crustaceans such as lobsters and crabs as models. Her research has been recognized with her past elections to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and she served as the president of the Society for Neuroscience in 2008. Earlier this year, Marder won the 2013 Gruber Neuroscience Prize and was appointed to the scientific advisory board of the Brain Research through Advanc-

ing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative, a project launched by the Obama administration to enhance neuroscience research. In an email Marder to the Justice, Marder commented on her election to the IOM. “It is a great honor,” she wrote, “and I am appreciative of the respect of my peers that it signals.” Marder also wrote that she does not expect her election to the IOM to impact her work on the advisory committee of the BRAIN Initiative. The IOM defines itself on its website as “an independent, nonprofit organization that works outside of government to provide unbiased and authoritative advice to decision makers and the public.” The website further explains that “many of the studies that the IOM undertakes begin as specific mandates from Congress; still other are requested by federal agencies and independent organizations.” —Phil Gallagher

ANNIE FORTNOW/the Justice

Student Activities hosted comedian Judah Friedlander in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center on Friday night. For full coverage of the event, see Arts page 20.

ACADEMICS

Cuts affect doctoral programs ■ The economic downturn

led GSAS to decrease University-funded students. By MARISSA DITKOWSKY JUSTICE EDITOR

Since its peak in 2009, Ph.D. programs in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences have experienced a decline in the number of students enrolled due to cuts in funding from the University after the economic downturn. According to Associate Dean for Enrollment and Marketing at GSAS David Cotter, the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering Committee, otherwise known as CARS, chaired by the then-Dean of Arts and Sciences Prof. Adam

Jaffe (ECON), assessed the Ph.D. programs during the 2009 to 2010 academic year and set new target numbers for enrollment. These departments had until this year to begin using these reduced target numbers, according to Cotter. “In effect, there has been an overall reduction in doctoral students. There’s absolutely no way around that. There definitely has been. It was strategic, and it was pointed,” said Cotter. Target numbers are defined as the desired amount of Ph.D. students within a program during one given year. For example, if a target number for a specific department is 10 students, about two to three students could be accepted in one year, depending upon how many students are currently enrolled in the program and will remain for the

See GSAS, 7 ☛

Building Bridges

Overtime agony

Ranking released

A new program hopes to create cohesion on campus.

 The Judges fell to UMass Boston in their only game of the week.

 U.S. News ranked fourth in the number of alumni who go into public service.

FEATURES 9 For tips or info email editor@thejustice.org

following year, due to the fact that students do not have to complete the degree in a set amount of years. However, according to Cotter, in the sciences, the average amount of time it takes to receive a Ph.D is five to five and a half years, while in the social sciences and humanities the average is about six and a half to seven years. Cotter said that GSAS had previously been working under a set of target numbers established in 2000, and that these target numbers are generally reassessed every 10 to 12 years. In fiscal year 2008, 85 Ph.D. students were enrolled in GSAS, and in 2009, 104 were enrolled. By 2010, GSAS enrolled only 66 students as a financial ramification from the economic crisis. That year, the CARS

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INDEX

SPORTS 16 ARTS SPORTS

17 16

EDITORIAL FEATURES

10 8

OPINION POLICE LOG

10 2

READER COMMENTARY 11

News 3 COPYRIGHT 2013 FREE AT BRANDEIS. Email managing@thejustice.org for home delivery.


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