The Brandeis Hoot - Sept. 23, 2011

Volume 8 Number 17

www.thebrandeishoot.com

Brandeis University’s Community Newspaper • Waltham, Mass.

September 23, 2011

Dual CA role presents conflicts of interest Community living unclear on standards

By Josh Kelly Staff

Roaming residence halls at quiet hours, community advisors are a major authority in upholding alcohol-re-

lated policies for social gatherings on campus. They fulfill a responsibility shared by university police—to prevent illegal underage drinking—but face the inherent dilemma of walking into parties and dorms with loud noise full of their friends and classmates.

Brandeis lays out its core alcohol policy in the Rights and Responsibilities Handbook, stating “Brandeis

University upholds and supports local, state, and federal laws with regard to alcohol beverages.”

“At the university we have some responsibility to enforce state and local laws … It would not be responsible for us to have policies that weren’t aligned with the laws that are in place for the city and state … We could sit here and debate for hours about the legal drinking age … It’s not really

for us to decide,” Senior Director of Community Living Jeremy Leiferman said.

Leiferman described the duties of the community advisor by explaining that it is not strictly about breaking up parties despite those perceptions from the student body.

“If a student has registered a party, See ADVISORS, page 5

Broken promise, loss for transparency in forgotten student vote

By Alex Schneider Editor

More than a year after administrators solicited student opinions for three options to replace the now-demolished Kalman Science Building, The Hoot has confirmed that administrators consider the construction project to be complete.

Instead of the proposed four-season garden, sand volleyball court or hybrid concept incorporating elements of both, the space, which sits between Gerstenzang and KosowWolfson-Rosensweig science buildings, is now filled by a parking lot, with room for 22 cars, including only two handicap spaces.

The outdated website for Brandeis capital projects lists the “Science Complex Renewal Project Interim Landscape/Hardscape” as a “current project” to be “completed in Spring 2010,” but the plan for the project has gone unfulfilled, with the student vote, which supported the hybrid plan, effectively void.

Senior Vice President for Administration Mark Collins told The Hoot that the construction of the Shapiro Science Complex displaced muchneeded parking, explaining the installation of the parking lot. He further cited handicap-parking considerations in the decision to install a parking lot close to the science complex.

Collins, who was not involved in the initial voting process, commented on the difficulty of planning

a construction project based on a voting procedure. “I think that until you have a plan in place for the site, I think it’s difficult—it’s pie in the sky.”

Contacted early Thursday, Casey Russo, assistant project manager in the Office of Capital Projects, confirmed that the project was in fact considered finished by the administration.

That decision, unlike the original unprecedented student vote, was never communicated with students or even formally announced.

Former Student Union President See TRANSPARENCY, page 5

photo by alex schneider/the hoot; graphic from website of office of capital projects

‘put up a parking lot’ (Top) The Shapiro Science Complex parking lot built in lieu of a

proposed four-season garden or sand volleyball court; (Bottom) The proposed hybrid concept.

Skip option fails to fill vacant seats

By Jon Ostrowsky Editor

The student body elected senators to the Student Union Thursday with 18 percent turnout, but even with a new skip option in voting, three of the five seats on the Judiciary were left vacant due to abstain votes. Three other senate seats were also left vacant and a new election date will be announced soon, Union Secretary Todd Kirkland said.

This election marked the debut of a new “skip” option available to students during the voting process. Unlike the “abstain” option, the skip option does not hurt the candidates but it still gives students the opportunity to demonstrate their right not to vote.

“We’re going to further evaluate what we do with the skip option,” said Union President Herbie Rosen ’12 in an interview early Friday morning following the election results.

The following students won seats: Evyn Rabinowitz as Senator at Large; Sneha Walia ’15 and Daniel Novak ’15 as Class of 2015 Senators; Theodore Choi ’13 and Sarah G. Kim ’13 as class of 2013 Senators; Melissa Donze ’12 as Class of 2012 Senator; Jenny Lau ’14 to the Alumni Association Representative seat; Lisa Purdy ’14 and Rohan Bhatia ’14 to the Brandeis Sustainability Fund Representative seats; Kelsey Dean ’14 as the Castle Quad Senator; Jeremy Goodman ’14 as the East Quad Senator; Paul Lee ’13 to the F-Board Racial Minority seat; Gaili Gordon to the Judiciary; Dean Kaplan ’15 as Massell Quad Senator; Charlotte Franco ’15 as North Quad Senator; Rachel Goutman as Off Campus Senator; Boris Osipov as Ridgewood Quad Senator; Jacklyn Gil ’14 as Rosenthal Quad Senator; James Polite as TYP Senator; Benjamin Beutel as Village Quad Senator See UNION, page 4

Brandeis students protest Davis execution

By Connor Novy Staff

photo by nafiz “fizz ” ahmed/the hoot

louis brandeis statue

The Troy Davis trial had captivated media for weeks and, finally, has come to a close. Students who felt there was more than a shadow of a doubt of Davis’ innocence due to the physical evidence and recanting of witness testimonies (and even a confession by someone else) protested his execution with duct tape gags and a vow of silence.

The night of the execution, Brandeisians were repeatedly refreshing news pages, waiting for some news of the Supreme Court’s decision. After it was announced that the appeal was rejected, some students wore tape over their mouths and refused to speak in protest of the Supreme Court decision. From the Brandeis Protest for Troy Davis Facebook, “Although hope is lost for Troy Davis, we, as a community, can still effect change, and promote justice.”

Sentenced to death in 1991 for the shooting

of Savannah, Ga., off-duty police officer Mark McPhail, his appeals were rejected by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a two to one ruling. The dissenting judge, Rosemary Barkett, wrote, “To execute Davis, in the face of a significant amount of proffered evidence that may establish his actual innocence, is unconscionable and unconstitutional.” One of the few witnesses that did not recant his testimony was the other prime suspect in the case. He also was the person to initially inform the police of Davis’ professed guilt.

Troy Davis was executed on Sept. 21 at 11 p.m. He had had three previous sentences— each time he appealed, he was sentenced to death over again.

The Supreme Court reviewed the case for an entirety of three hours Wednesday night, and though the decision disappointed supporters, it is significant that the justices spent as much time as they did reviewing a death penalty case.

He has become a martyr of the anti-death penalty cause. Amnesty International wrote,

“The state of Georgia shamefully executed Troy Davis … but our fight to abolish the death penalty lives on.” They collected more than 700,000 signatures in less than a week, and the other organizations that bastioned Davis have had similar success. The ACLU and NAACP contributed their support, along with numerous public figures, including President Jimmy Carter.

Many students at Brandeis consider the Davis trial to be a “legal lynching” and evidence of the “racism inherent in the system.”

“It’s disgusting because there was so much evidence against his guilt,” Sneha Walia ’15 said.

“The death penalty should never be allowed. No one should have the power to play God.” Currently, the organizers of the protest are talking to the administration about organizing a rally to memorialize Troy Davis and the tragedy of the death penalty. “What happened tonight in Georgia constitutes an absolute failure of the justice system,” said the protest organizers, who urged Brandeisians, as members of an “activist school,” to show support.

NEWS

2 The Brandeis Hoot

September 23, 2011

Lawrence meets with Israeli college president

By Debby Brodsky Editor

Brandeis President Fred Lawrence and Uriel Reichman, president and founder of the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya, Israel, are collaborating efforts to establish a partnership between the two schools. The partnership, beginning specifically with the two school radio stations, marks the start of a solid friendship of two young liberal arts universities.

Wednesday, WBRS and IDC Radio held a shared broadcast from Brandeis and from Herzliya, in which student leaders had the opportunity to ask Lawrence and Reichman how they hope to learn from one another and what they see as hallmarks of a liberal arts education.

“We have to emphasize multicultural relationships,” said Reichman. “If you are to be experts in any field, you have to work globally.”

Reichman has been IDC’s president for 12

photos by lien phung/the hoot

years and strives to provide IDC students with a liberal arts education, with a background in the humanities. Founded in 1994, IDC is Israel’s

youngest university and looks to Brandeis as a source of inspiration.

IDC is unique because it is the first private, liberal arts university in Israel. It boasts a tremendously international student body, with more than 25 percent of its students from outside Israel.

As the broadcast commenced, Lawrence and Reichman cheerfully donned WBRS t-shirts over their button down shirts and neckties to show their support for student media and for one another’s efforts to form a partnership between Brandeis and IDC. The two presidents then took turns answering questions regarding the similarities and differences between Brandeis and IDC. Leadership proved to be the common quality Lawrence and Reichman view as most important to instill in their students. Reichman continued to address, however, that college students in Israel are under even greater pressure than college students in America are to find jobs immediately following college. “Brandeis students should feel lucky that they have undergraduate and graduate options,” Reichman said.

“Our students go to the army and have already invested three years of their life before entering

Higher education in the news brandeis

harvard

harvard

Break-ins reported at Brandeis off-campus apartments

Harvard releases detailed expansion plans

Professors receive MacArthur grants

Harvard University released plans for a massive, two-phase expansion of its science center in Allston, according to The Boston Globe. The first stage includes a 700,000 square foot addition to the life sciences center on Western Avenue, and a residential and retail commons at nearby Barry’s Corner.

Within the residential and retail commons, the expansion will include the redevelopment of the land currently occupied by the Charlesview housing complex, which is moving to another site being redeveloped off Western Avenue. Construction of the first phase of the expansion project is scheduled to begin in 2013.

“The second phase of the project will focus on developing what the university is calling Allston Landing North,” The Boston Globe wrote this week. There will be “a more than 36-acre site planned to host a hotel and conference center along with an enterprise research campus, or up to 12 commercial and academic buildings similar to the cluster in Cambridge’s Kendall Square.”

A master plan for the second phase of the expansion project will be submitted by December 2012.

Not only will the multi-phased development plan change the facade of Harvard Square today, it stands to expand drastically the number of Harvard academic building, and will improve Harvard University’s resources to host guests and friends of the university with an increased number of hotels and residential buildings.. debby brodsky, editor

Three Harvard professors were among 22 recipients of the MacArthur $500,000 genius grants on Monday.

Roland Fryer, professor of economics; Markus Greiner, associate professor of physics; and Matthew Nock, professor of psychology, were caught by surprise, as they received the five-year grant without having applied for it, according to The Boston Globe.

“The MacArthur grant is awarded to people in diverse fields, including this year the radio producer of a show about science, a percussionist and a poet. Instead of honoring a lifetime of contributions, the grant is often given to people at an important stage in their career, to fuel future work,” the Globe wrote this week.

The award recipients at Harvard exemplify a diverse group of professionals at the height of their career. Each is younger than 40 and represents a different department at Harvard.

“Greiner, for example, is known for work he has done on a microscope that provides a window into a world governed by the quirky rules of quantum mechanics,” The Globe reported. “One of the things he hopes to do with the grant is to emulate his mentor, Nobel laureate Theodor Hansch, by setting up a space in his laboratory where scientists can play with new ideas.”

Nock is working on tools to predict whether a person is likely to commit suicide, and Fryer is interested in understanding the causes of racial disparities in incarceration rates, income and health. debby brodsky, editor

In the last week, several students living off campus reported break-ins to their Waltham apartments, director of Public Safety Ed Callahan wrote in an e-mail Wednesday. The incidents were reported to Waltham Police.

“Students residing off campus should check with their landlord to ensure that their residence has proper locking devices on all windows and doors and remember to use them.

Students should also report any suspicious activity to the Waltham Police,” Callahan wrote.

Callahan declined to comment on the specifics and location of the incidents because Waltham Police is investigating but said that people gained access to the apartments through windows, and in some cases stole computers and jewelry.

Detectives at the Waltham Police Department referred all requests for more information to Sgt. Timothy King.

King did not respond to a phone message left Thursday morning by press time.

“Students living on campus should make certain that their residence hall room doors and windows are secure when leaving the room and report any suspicious activity to Brandeis Public Safety,” Callahan wrote.

No other information was immediately available.s. jon ostrowsky, editor

college, so they are older when they start studying. They are under greater pressure.

This is a tremendous advantage that you have in the United States.”

Reichman explained that IDC’s goal is to give students the liberal arts education that Brandeis students receive, but in three years rather than in seven years of undergraduate and graduate studies.

As the broadcast continued, Student Union President Herbie Rosen ’12 challenged Lawrence and Reichman to consider how they might change their respective institutions to allow them to better fit the current times.

“I think the setting we are in right now— a classroom with students in two countries, with two professors—is a good model for future classrooms,” said Lawrence. Referring to the broadcast room set up with students from around the world speaking together to both presidents, Lawrence emphasized the importance of dialogue among students from around the world.

Further into the broadcast, students asked Lawrence and Reichman to explain what they believe to be the importance of partnerships with student media on campus. “On Tuesday and Friday mornings, the first things I read are The Justice and The Hoot,” said Lawrence. “I read them to know what the student opinion is.

Now, news comes from our radio station, our newspapers and it gets picked up online, and can be instantly communicated around the world.”

Reichman explained that IDC has a student-run radio station, and two daily Internet publications, one in Hebrew and one in English. “Student-run media is important, because our dividend from our work is what our students contribute to society after graduation,” Reichman said.

Reichman elaborated how important it is to him to learn how he can better IDC from his students. Not only does he view his students as his academic partners, he maintains a school rule that he meet with students quarterly in a local bar to discus criticisms and concerns about IDC, so they feel as comfortable as possible when they share their thoughts with him.

At the conclusion of the broadcast, Lawrence and Reichman both stressed the importance of studying abroad while in college. “The idea of social commitment alongside free market concept and professionalism go hand in hand with our philosophy,” said Reichman. “Both Brandeis and IDC are the same in that respect. We encourage students from abroad to study with us as well. This way, our students are exposed to what is happening all over the world.”

Like Reichman, Lawrence stressed the importance of studying abroad as part of a student’s global learning experience.

“Studying abroad is a powerful thing because if students go abroad before they graduate, they bring their experience and knowledge back to Brandeis.”

Currently, WBRS and IDC Radio are considering airing broadcasts from one another’s stations to expose students to music and media trends from around the world and to commence the partnership Lawrence and Reichman have been working toward.

September 23, 2011

NEWS 3

The Brandeis Hoot

Even after crisis, departments feeling the strain

By Connor Novy Staff

Three years ago former Brandeis President Jehuda Reinharz warned of severe budget shortfalls for at least half a decade. With two years left to Reinharz’s projection, a number of academic departments are beginning to shake free of their mandated hiring freezes; but an even greater number are not and are potentially facing permanent restructuring.

The 2008 crash hit much of Brandeis’ endowment and donor base, and forced many of the university’s departments to contract. Some were consolidated into a single entity, like the Italian and Classical studies, which joined the Romance Studies department, while others shrank significantly in faculty. Most departments, in addition to other reductive actions, froze any search for new faculty. At the time, these precautions were assumed to be temporary, until the financial state of the university was more stable.

Last year the university released a proposal in

which faculty expected to retire by 2020 would not be replaced and many liberal arts programs would be cut. In order to orchestrate this, departments were made into “programs” that allowed for greater cross-curriculum resource sharing. As of yet it is a change in name only, but according to American Studies chair Joyce Antler, the future of such programs are precarious.

They are allowed to grow “through some new courses and a greater reliance on cross-listings,” but cannot hire new faculty. “A policy of attrition will not serve us well,” she warned.

The repercussions are already being felt.

Student-teacher ratios are rising, lecturers are replacing professors in the classrooms and the class sizes, especially of introductory courses, are swelling. But faculty hiring did not suffer alone. Last year, there was a significant drop in the number of employees at Brandeis on the whole. Many un-tenured professors were not rehired and the maintenance services were also narrowed, as was office staff by 6 percent. The hiring freeze and program reduction, however,

could be a welcome alternative to what other universities felt compelled to do—eliminate need-blind admissions and merit scholarships.

Brandeis has managed to leave financial aid largely untouched, unlike many other private colleges in the area.

Three years have passed since the financial crash, but few of the departments have had their freezes lifted and it is unlikely that they will in the future. The few that are looking to hire once more aim only to fill a fraction of the positions vacated by retirees, not to expand. With so many departments understaffed even prior to 2008, the “freeze intensified a situation that was already very bad,” said Professor Faith Smith (AAFS), “and has prevented us from mounting the textured, fully interdisciplinary major that we have dreamed of offering.” Finally replacing former faculty isn’t a step forward but a return to the starting gate.

There are only a few full-time positions available in the open departments and most of them will go unfilled but, as Professor Smith added,

“We are happy that the administration responded to our dire situation by allowing us to conduct a search,” which is more than was possible a few short years ago, or for most departments still.Faculty is reticent to share any plans, in case they do not come to fruition, but the atmosphere, despite the “2020” plan, is hopeful. The endowment, which had plummeted so badly, showed a healthy gain last year that surpassed many peer institutions’ and indicated that with time, finances will stabilize and provide an opportunity for Brandeis to expand programs into a more integrated and complete curriculum.

The rate at which faculty are retiring has also slowed in the past two years, Chief Financial Officer Fran Drolette said.

“I do know some people that work with me that are retirement age that are not going anywhere right now because … I think nationally, the work force is getting older, which is causing issues for those entering the workforce right now,” Senior Vice President for Administration Mark Collins said.

Univ seeks to tap into alumni base of donors

By Debby Brodsky Editor

In contrast to the five consecutive years where the university’s fundraising dividends exceeded $70 million, Brandeis raised $62 million in fiscal year 2011, falling $8 million short of its annual goal and marking a shift in priorities from building to student aid.

“The change in Brandeis’ fiscal year 2011 fundraising numbers reflect the end of payments on multi-year pledges for building projects,” said Nancy Winship, senior vice president of institutional advancement. “To meet the growing financial aid needs of our students, we are focusing our fundraising efforts on securing support for scholarships rather than building construction,” Winship said.

As a young university, one of Brandeis’ core fundraising challenges is that the majority of its donors are friends and not alumni of the university.

Winship explained that, unlike larger universities, Brandeis receives about 20 percent of its fundraising profits from alumni. Older colleges and universities with larger alumni bases often receive more than 60 percent of their gifts from alumni. Because of this, the university strives to maintain a strong relationship with non-alumni donors, such as trustees, parents, grandparents, corporations, foundations and members of the Brandeis National Committee.

“I think we always want to draw on friends of the university to support the school to the extent that we can. The fact is the friends of this university are what have allowed us to do what

All about Aramark:

from prisons to (Disney) castles

By Connor Novy Staff

Food is a popular point of contention at Brandeis and Aramark, the company that provides it, which garners criticism both for the quality of the food and its business practices.

Students enjoy repeatedly pointing out that Aramark also serves prisons, which is true. It does not, however, serve the same food to Brandeis as it does to state penitentiaries. Aramark functions on a tier system, which means that the more expensive packages boast fancier, and likely healthier, food. Prisons rank somewhere near the end of the alphabet and Brandeis, though not Tier-A, is significantly better.

Aramark is not exclusive to universities and state penitentiaries. It also caters to the staff of Walt Disney World, “the Happiest Place on Earth.” It has been serving the BBC since 2007.

That Fenway hot dog? Aramark. They’ve worked the Olympics a total of 14 times. The Chilean miners, trapped thousands of feet underground for months, were sent vacuum-packaged meals

by Aramark. It is an expansive corporation, with offices in more than 22 countries and hundreds of thousands of employees.

Recently, the company has been plagued by safety and sanitation complaints as well as labor disputes. Aramark settled negotiations with migrant tomato harvesters in Florida that resulted in an 80 percent wage increase after charges, which included paying far under minimum wage and even allegations of “slavery,” which was a labor-success largely due to the efforts of student organizations at Florida Gulf Coast University in Ft. Myers.

Aramark has also been accused of overcharging and driving up prices. In 2004, they settled for $3 million after accepting a donation from the USDA without reducing the bill to the school district to which it was contracted but claims that no laws were broken. Complaints of unpaid workers’ compensations were brought against the company but were later dismissed

on jurisdictional grounds. Workers have been fired after reporting unsanitary conditions to regulators. The Philadelphia Capitol cafeteria was forced to close for three weeks due to rodent contamination.

Brandeis, however, has few complaints in terms of cleanliness, most of them coming from the taste of the food. A new student-employee at Usdan reassured The Hoot, “Everyone cleans up really well. The employees here do above and beyond their cleaning job.”

Brandeisians complain inarticulately about the dining services, citing a general lack of quality and variety in dining options, but many students do have legitimate concerns: “The healthier options are very limited, and some things don’t look edible at all … A lot of things are just bread,” said Victoria Aronson ’15.

According to Karen Cutler, director of communications at Aramark, these student complaints might not be so futile: “We also survey students each semester to gauge their needs and preferences, and enhance the dining program based on student feedback.”

Aaron Bennos from Brandeis’ Dining Services office, chorused corporate to the letter. Students, he said, are given a survey every year and Aramark builds a program to meet their needs.

Aramark “is committed to offering the students the greatest variety, convenience, quality and value.”

we’ve done in the past 63 years,” university President Fred Lawrence said in an interview last month. “But I also think we need to be able to draw more on alumni than we have in the past.”

Winship explained that fundraising staff begin by sharing the story of Brandeis with potential donors. “We have a great story to tell about an incredibly impressive faculty, students who passionately engage with their professors, their campus and the world, and university leadership that is energized and looking to the future,” Winship said. “Our strategy is to share that story with our alumni and friends.”

According to Winship, Brandeis’ fundraising strategy has had to adapt to the Internet era by supplementing more traditional fundraising methods, such as direct mail and a student Phoneathon, with online solicitations, an increased use of social media (including a presence on Facebook and Twitter) and the creation of an online alumni community.

As part of its alumni outreach effort this year Brandeis is specifically targeting attorneys who support the university. According to Lawrence’s Chief of Staff David Bunis, “In general, more than 4,000 of Brandeis alumni are attorneys.

Under a new initiative, we are putting together a special event for alum lawyers this spring, as we look to engage all of our alumni in the months and years ahead.”

Joining the Brandeis board of trustees this year is James Humphreys, a practicing attorney and president of the James F. Humphreys and Assocaites law firm in Charleston, W.Va., alumnus and Board of Advisors Emeritus member of George Washington University Law School.

Lawrence knows Humphreys from his connection to GW.

Humpreys formerly served in the West Virginia legislature and is a member of several nonprofit boards, including those serving George Washington University, the Brain Injury Association of America and the Washington National Opera, Bunis said.

Lawrence and his team said they value Humphreys’ presence on the Brandeis board of trustees not only because of the fundraising expertise but because of the ties he represents between Brandeis and George Washington University.

Since President Lawrence’s inauguration, Brandeis has had an immediate bond with George Washington University, as President Lawrence served as dean and Robert Kramer Research Professor of Law at George Washington University Law School from 2005 to 2010.

“From the moment President Lawrence officially became president on Jan. 1, he became an integral part of the University’s fundraising efforts,” explained Winship. “President Lawrence is a natural fundraiser. In just nine months on the job, he has made strong connections with alumni and friends around the world.”

Lawrence has already met with large groups of alumni, friends, parents and prospective students at events in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Israel. He has also met with smaller groups of alumni and friends and has held hundreds of one-on-one meetings.

“Every year were try to equal or better our prior year’s fundraising total. It is hard to gauge the impact of factors such as the economy and our presidential transition. One of our primary goals is to rebuild the pipeline of seven- and eight-figure gifts,” Winship concluded.

Professor to continue research with new grant

By Nathan Koskella Editor

A Brandeis professor is researching the history of slavery dating back to ancient times with a team that has acquired information from such varied sources as Greek or Latin graves, papyrus and tax receipts of antiquity to uncover the lives of enslaved women and their female owners as well.

Professor Bernadette Brooten (NEJS), an authority on early Christianity, will head the group, using a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The Robert and Myra Kraft and Jacob Hiatt Professor of Christian Studies and this year’s visiting scholar at the Harvard Divinity School’s Women’s Studies in Religion Program, Brooten received the grant for the current academic year to research early Christian women who were enslaved or who were slaveholders from the first to fourth centuries.

“Slavery has been part of our lives for most of our history,” Brooten, who is also a professor of Classical Studies; Women’s and Gender Studies; and Religious Studies; and director of the Feminist Sexual Ethics Project, said in a BrandeisNOW release. “Christianity, Judaism and Islam

tolerated slavery for most of its history and the habits of slavery are deeply entrenched in our thinking. In order to overcome them, we need to see how deep they are in our history and our habits of thought.”

Brooten will examine the ethical challenges faced by enslaved women in early Christianity to better understand the perspective of this most marginalized of groups. Celibacy, along with the idea of keeping one’s body pure and holy for Christ, was a Christian ideal very early on but, while elite women were able to honor that if they wished, what, Brooten asked, was the Christian decision of God’s judgment on enslaved women?

She hypothesizes that the idea would have been difficult, as owners wanted enslaved women to give birth to ensure further enslaved labor.

Brooten said she will examine how the institution of slavery affected enslaved girls and women who were at risk of enslavement and slaveholding women. She will document how the early Christian majority decision to tolerate slavery, including the enslavement of fellow Christians, and to condemn those who encouraged enslaved persons to flee from their owners shaped teachings on marriage, fidelity, chastity and celibacy.

4 The Brandeis Hoot

Views of The week

September 23, 2011

Trivia Night at Ollie’s

Teams consult at Ollie’s first trivia night of the semester (top and left).

students test knowledge

photos by nate rosembloom/the hoot

’Deis Dems Celebrate

Recycling comes to campus

photo by jon edelstein/the hoot

’Deis Dems campaign for the president and celebrate the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. dems hold meeting

photo by alex patch/the hoot

coke comes to campus

Coca cola promotes it’s recycling program with Coke Zero.

Hiatt Holds Career Forum

photo by nafiz “fizz ” ahmed/the hoot

hiatt panel discuss

Professionals present on finance, business and consulting.

September 23, 2011

NEWS 5

The Brandeis Hoot

Protocol for CAs makes mentoring difficult ADVISORS, from page 1

the CA might stop by just to check in, but not to do anything … to break it up. Generally CAs don’t break up the parties unless they’re going past one or unless [they’ve] gotten out of control … It’s not an expectation that CAs are going around just breaking up parties.”

While Leiferman acknowledged breaking up parties is one aspect of a CA’s job, it is not something CAs enjoy.

“It’s not why they became CAs—to break up parties,” Leiferman said. “They became CAs to be a leader and to build community on campus, and this is a part of their responsibility being a leader and building community. But for most of them I would guess it’s probably their least favorite thing.”

Situations become complicated for students, however, who are engaging in underage drinking in dry quads such as East. In these quads, no alcohol is allowed and a CA who finds a student in possession of alcohol is obligated to have the student pour the alcohol out, and then report the incident to the Department of Community Living.

The issue CAs face, however, is figuring out what constitutes reasonable grounds to report someone in East for possession of alcohol.

Leiferman explained that if a student is severely intoxicated, then medical attention is required. A CA while on rounds may pass by a very loud room and then upon knocking and entering discover alcohol.

Community Living’s policy is that students can become CAs as sophomores for sophomores. Potentially, according to Leiferman, a sophomore could even be a CA in Ziv for older students. This can obligate a sophomore to break up a party where alcohol is served, and at which someone their age and year—even perhaps a friend of theirs—is the host.

In this awkward scenario, Leiferman explained that students shouldn’t allow it to happen.

“If you were friends with a CA, why would you want to put one of your friends in that situation? … I think the responsibility lies with the student, not the CA. … It’s a challenge for CAs to have to balance the CA role and the responsibilities there and also their friendships.”

Leiferman offered a solution to this problem in dealing with the difficult situation before it happens. “We encourage the CAs to have conversations with their friends before that situation happens to set up some expectations with them.”

Leiferman acknowledged that instances may occur in which CAs “let things slide” in that sort of scenario.

Whenever someone is in a “power” situation compared to someone else their own age, there is always the concern about how well authority will be kept.

Dean Gendron, however, director of the De-

partment of Student Rights and Community Standards, indicated that he does not think it is about a power differential at all.

“CAs do carry responsibilities and expectations that flow from their positions as community advisors, but their positions are certainly not intended to create a power differential,” Gendron said. “Indeed, their positions are created to alert residential students to members of the community whom the university has trained and nurtured as role models familiar with campus resources and networks that can increase student success.”

Leiferman furthermore described that the Department of Community Living takes this into account when considering if someone can be a CA for a floor of students their own year or age.

Gendron explained that a student is bound to uphold standards of conduct, including their responsibilities as a CA, even when not on Brandeis’ property or even when Brandeis is not in session.

“Rights and Responsibilities applies to active students, whether they are physically on our campus property or not,” Gendron said. “Our policies apply when a student is traveling during winter recess or when a student participates on a volunteer vacation. Anyone may hold a Brandeis student accountable for upholding our standards through the Student Conduct Process.”

Erika Lamarre, director of Community Living, echoed this sentiment but without emphasis on a student’s obligation to act. She rather sees it more as the CA’s prerogative.

“CAs when on-duty or not on-duty may address situations they encounter or can act as a resource for students in need of assistance.”

Other students acknowledge the difficulties associated with being a CA—especially the awkwardness of being obligated to report issues as they come up regardless of whether or not the CA is friends with an offender or not.

When asked how a CA should go about implementing alcohol policy without damaging friendships, Kevin Zhao ’14, found the situation to be incredibly difficult and jokingly tossed ideas around.

“That’s a tough one. … Don’t become a CA. …

Don’t be a CA [for] your friends?”

Rachel Gofman ’13, explained how to go about coping with the awkwardness associated with breaking up parties of friends.

“I would tell my friend ahead of time ‘this is my job’ and not to take it personally, but it’s part of the duty.”

Gofman also explained, however, that if she were a CA she would demonstrate to her residents that her responsibility lies with her hall.

“I’d tell my friends—or people my age—that my job is basically to make sure you guys don’t do it here,” Gofman said. “Whatever you do [outside] is not my business … so if you have to do it, go out for it.”

18 percent of students turn out for Union elections UNION, from page 1

and Sol Kim as Ziv Quad Senator.

Sneha Walia ’15 won as Class of 2015 Senator and said in an interview before the election that the skip option was a positive addition to the voting procedures.

“The addition is really helpful because each option serves its own purpose but neither forces a voter to select a candidate,” Walia said, “People absolutely do have the right not to vote for a certain position and let their voices be heard in that sense.”

Polite said he was excited to begin his work as a new member of the Union and planned to represent the interests of fellow TYP students.

“I’d like to thank everyone for their support,” Polite said. “I’m looking forward to representing TYP as their senator, and bringing their values and concerns to the Student Union. I’m looking forward to starting; I want to act as a facilitator for bringing everyone together.”

In the race for senior representative to the Alumni Association, sophomore Jenny Lau won. Rosen explained that the junior and senior seats reflect time spent on the Union, not one’s junior or senior class year.

Because the vote for the alumni association representative seat was open to the entire student body, Rosen said, it was not limited to a student from any one class holding the position.

Plans for construction site never publicized

construction site Satellite image of the razing of the old Kalman Science building.

TRANSPARENCY, from page 1

Andy Hogan ’11 was unaware of the status of the project, writing in a recent e-mail to The Hoot, “As for the fact that only a parking lot is there right now, I’m sure the installation of the garden/courts got sidetracked because of the other aspects of a huge and expensive capital project venture. If the garden or volleyball courts are important to students, then students would advocate for them and I’m sure the administration would be responsive.”

In April 2010, the administration asked students to vote on the option for the project that they preferred. The vote received attention by student leadership and the student media at the time because of the administration’s apparent interest in reaching out and securing student input.

“That vote actually originated from the ad-

photo from internet source

ministration, not the Student Union and it was definitely a great step in soliciting student opinion,” Hogan said.

At the time of the vote, The Hoot editorial board responded cautiously. In its April 23, 2010, edition, the paper lauded the administration for soliciting student input, but it also questioned the importance of the entire issue: “While this is a noble quest, the fact remains that whether students choose volleyball or a garden is inconsequential when one considers the vast majority of decisions which have been decided without a student vote such as academic cuts, the closure (or not) of The Rose Art Museum and the creation of the Justice Brandeis Semester, to name a few.”

Even on what The Hoot called an “inconsequential” issue, the university administration did not follow through and keep the promise to implement the plan students chose.

6 The Brandeis Hoot

The Katzwer’s Out of the Bag

ImpressiOns

September 23, 2011

TheJMom: the virtual umbilical cord

graphic by steven wong/the hoot

By Yael Katzwer Editor

In their fight against gay marriage, opponents define marriage as “between a man and a woman,” as per a constitutional amendment.

The LGBT community disagrees.

As do Jewish mothers apparently.

They believe it should be between a man and a woman … and their mothers.

In November 2010, siblings Brad and Danielle Weisberg launched a dating website aimed at Jewish mothers: TheJMom.com. This disturbing website allows Jewish mothers to create dating profiles for their children, search through dating profiles created by other Jewish mothers and eventually match-make in the 21st century.

After all, according to the website, “Who knows their children better than they know themselves? Their

Parents!”

The Weisbergs got the idea for TheJMom after their mother, Barbara, became frustrated with their single statuses. After his mother’s incessant nagging to see his online dating profile, Brad gave in and let his mother go wild. After only two hours, she had found 10 prospective dates for him. This was her not-so-subtle hint that she wants grandchildren.

But an idea was born and the siblings decided that if their mother was that good at finding them dates, maybe other mothers would be too.

TheJMom is currently a free website and, as it is still in its infancy, has very few users. It is the trend, however, that is frightening.

Jews do not live in the shtetl anymore. Admittedly, arranged marriages are still performed in some Orthodox communities, even in

New York. But at least arranged marriages do not pretend to be something else. Arranged marriage is when a third party, often the parents, decide that a young man and woman will get married; the couple may have some say in it, but the decision ultimately lands on the parents.

TheJMom tries to avoid this by claiming that the mothers work in concert with their children to find spouses. Let’s be honest though, how many mothers on that website are really being upfront about it with their kids? There are no statistics to suggest an answer one way or the other but mere knowledge of mothers meddlesome enough even to take to the Internet to find sons- and daughtersin-law gives a hint.

In USA Today’s feature on the new website, Denice Beckerman, a young woman whose mother

covertly created an account for her on TheJMom, said, “I laughed it off. She thinks this is the coolest thing since sliced bread, so I’ve got to let her have that.” Denice is clearly an understanding and generous daughter. Of course, she does not have to go on any of the dates Mom set up for her.

On the other hand, she was being interviewed for an article by USA Today. What did they think she was going to say? “I can’t believe that conniving, sneaky woman did that!? What a bitch!” No. Her mother, who is clearly learning to navigate the Internet and was also interviewed for the article, would find that and probably do something else covert and horrible to Denice.

Of course, Denice may actually be fine with it, just as the Weisbergs were. If so, what does this say about young adults today? Are they really that lazy that they need their mothers to find spouses for them?

On TheJMom website, the Weisbergs explain why this is the perfect idea: “Dating is not easy these days for young professionals. It takes lots of time, money, and can be very stressful.” They add that “kids should listen to their parents.” Just because something is not easy does not mean it should be delegated. Working in business is not easy either, but you don’t call your mom up and ask her to finish your accounting spreadsheet. And if these young adults who have granted their mothers permission to interfere in their lives are too lazy to find spouses themselves, perhaps they are too lazy to keep their Internet-order spouses as well. Relationships take time—nobody said it was easy. Stop wussing out!

And what does this say about the mothers? Are they really that desperate to dominate their children’s lives? This is the time that mothers should be relishing. They no longer have to deal with the everyday doldrums of motherhood—they get to applaud their children’s accomplishments from a slight distance and claim their nachis.

Nu, enough’s enough! Cut the

Nuts about the nighttime nosh

graphic by steven wong/the hoot

By Jeremy Goodman Staff

As I settle into my second year at Brandeis, I have started to reminisce

about my first year. As a first-year I was young, naive,and ready to kick ass in college. Here I was in Waltham, on my own, 3,000 miles away from home. I did what most eager 18-yearold college kids do—I rebelled

against my parents’ wishes and got my ear pierced. Once the excitement of being able to do almost anything I could ever want to do without any supervision or restrictions passed, I settled down into my new home, ready for the next four years.

Renfield Hall was my home. My only friends were my neighbors on my hall and I was anxious about how the relationship between my roommate and I would evolve. Orientation ended, classed abruptly began and, before I knew it, I was a real college student. I was staying up late to write papers and study, involved in more activities than I could commit to—as most Brandeis students find to be the case—and eager to make the best of my time here at Brandeis.

As all first-years do, I began to learn the ropes of being a student at Brandeis. I learned everything from the details about what was once called Pachanga to the weekend brunch famines at Usdan. Among the dump of insider knowledge and the mostly insignificant information about making the best of Brandeis, there was one thing that went unmentioned— the Kosher Express Machine.

I’m not sure exactly how many people really know about the Hot

Nosh machine. Located inside Massell’s Shapiro Lounge are two of these magical vending machines. (There is also one at Fenway Park in Boston!)

These machines, similar in appearance to standard beverage vending machinery, are extremely different in composition. The “Hot Nosh 24/6 Diner” vending appliance provides to its kosher patrons a variety of hot, parve munchies. For the extra-hungry Jew inside each of us, the Hot Nosh Kosher Xpress provides cheese pizza, mozzarella sticks, potato knishes, french fries, onion rings and a few other hot, late-night, munching snacks. Although cleverly named “Hot Nosh 24/6,” the kosher food services are available with the insertion of a few dollars or swipe of a credit card 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including the Sabbath.

At a university where dining services are heavily criticized for their strange and inconvenient hours and lack of quality and choices, the Hot Nosh provides late-night snacks for both the kosher connoisseurs and the everyday hungry people. As an alternative to ordering Asia Wok—the only option for eating on campus after 2 a.m.—an alternative such as Hot Nosh is lifting. Don’t get me wrong, I

umbilical cord! It has no place in your child’s relationship.

This is not to say that a young adult should not be close with their mother. Moms are great. They’re always there when you need them.

Unfortunately, they are apparently there when you do not need them as well.

Of course, this trend is not contained in the Jewish community.

Millanus is a similar program for Muslims. Millanus—whose motto is “Muslims Marry Muslims”— hold events where young Muslims can quickly meet others of the opposite sex in controlled circumstances in order to find spouses.

But this should not be mistaken for speed dating. Millanus is very clear on that, explaining on their website, “Is it speed dating? No, it emphasizes Islamic marriages rather than relationships between Muslims.”

Well, the other reason it is not speed dating is that, in real speed dating, your parents are not sitting along the side watching.

All religions have crazy mothers.

It is a fact that generations of children have learned the hard way.

And the problem is not just mothers. On TheJMom’s FAQs page, someone asks, “Do I have to be a mom to create a profile on TheJMom.com?” The answer: “No, you can also be a father, aunt, uncle, grandparent or dear friend.”

Great, now the whole family can get in on the creepy, overbearing action!

And can it get creepier? Yes. Someone else asks how they can increase responses to their child’s not-self-made profile. The answer: “We recommend including a vast amount of information so other mothers can feel like they know your son/daughter. Include multiple clear photos of your child.”

I want to end this column in the first person by thanking my mother for not being on TheJMom. She may question my brother and me about our relationships but she does not spread our photos around the Internet trolling for spouses to help us give her grandchildren.

Thank you, Ema.

am widely known to order Asia Wok at 3 a.m., but Hot Nosh is a healthier and more economical method of latenight food consumption.

Contrary to popular belief, the food provided by Hot Nosh doesn’t seem too unhealthy. I myself know all the ingredients in the cheese pizza: “flour, water, mozzarella and muenster cheeses, whole peeled tomatoes, sauce, salt, yeast, parmesan & oregano.” There definitely aren’t any preservatives, artificial flavoring or MSG in that. The cheese pizza comes with 215 calories, seven grams of total fat and 12 grams of protein. While that may not be great, compared to Asia Wok, significant differences exist. But don’t get me wrong, nothing compares to sesame chicken with pork-fried rice and crab rangoons.

So when it’s late, your stomach is growling and no dining services are open—most nights at Brandeis— head over to Shapiro Lounge. Let your eyes burn from the blue, glowing back-lit sign, swipe your credit card, make your selection and watch the timer count down. In a few minutes, you can have your very own hot and crispy kosher and preservative-free potato knish or cheesy pizza.

September 23, 2011

IMPRESSIONS 7

The Brandeis Hoot

Much to learn from saves-leader

By Adam Cohen Staff

The extraordinarily ordinary took place this Monday night. New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera quietly put down the three Minnesota Twins batters he faced to seal a 6-4 victory in the Bronx. This, in and of itself, was not a special occurrence: Rivera has nearly perfected the role of closer since inheriting the role from John Wetteland 14 years ago.

He has saved 40 or more games in a single season eight times and has won the American League Rolaids Relief Award five times, the 1999 World Series Most Valuable Player Award and the 2003 American League Championionship Series MVP Award along with many other titles on his way to winning five World Series. What made this save special was that it was save number 603 of his career and made him the all-time saves leader in Major League Baseball. More than that, it proved what many of us have known all along—Mariano Rivera is the greatest closer in Major League Baseball history.

In a season full of celebrations for the Yankees that includes the best record in the American League at 9560, the American League East crown, Curtis Granderson’s league-leading 119 RBI and, most famously, Derek Jeter’s milestone 3,000th hit, Rivera’s record-breaking save is the greatest of them all. Though there is nothing better for Yankees fans than a 95-win season, the division title and the heady smell of October baseball in the air, reaching the post-season is nothing special to the Yankees. Granderson’s excellent season, while worthy of applause, only encompasses a single season. Reaching the 3,000-hit plateau is a hall-of-fame worthy feat for Jeter, already a hall-of-fame shoe-in, but he is certainly not the first to get there (former Houston Astro Craigo Biggio was the last to achieve the feat in 2007). Rivera’s saves record is great for all of the reasons these other accomplishments are not: It is an unparalleled record that reflects on an en-

tire career of greatness and will likely stand the test of time in the way only the greatest records can.

Still, this record has not and will not likely receive as much attention as the others. Naturally, Yankees fans are proud, but their high expectations have ultimately already drawn their attention to the playoffs. They hope—if not demand—that the team writes the next chapter in New York World Series lore. In their defense, their long-time closer is just as doggedly focused on the playoffs (where his dominant 0.71 earned-run average and 42 saves in approximately 140 innings are already the greatest of all time) as they are. It is unlikely that a documentary will be made about Rivera like HBO made for Derek Jeter.

Not that Jeter’s accomplishment and his status as a national and global representative for the sport do not warrant the praise bestowed upon him.

But Rivera deserves just as much.

That there won’t be a parade in his honor should not stop us from lauding his incredible achievement. If anything, it should make us love him more.

Mo, as he is affectionately called, is neither a flashy pitcher nor a macho clubhouse personality. He doesn’t trying to intimidate hitters with the stare-downs of Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon or the crazed, emotional flourishes of Yankees reliever Joba Chamberlain. He’ll neither be in Gatorade commercials nor would ever want to be in one. This is why Yankees fans love him and why he deserves all of the accolades in the world. The combination of his quiet personality, soft features, penchant for deflecting praise and focus on the team effort make him almost as lovable as his unflappable poise and un-hittable cutter, which has bewildered most of the games greatest players for the past 20 years. Mo is, in every sense of the word, a real Yankee, whose character and career of unparalleled achievement make him worthy of our praise, of wearing the pinstripes and of having his name in the history books for all time.

photo from internet source

graphic by steven wong/the hoot

Unabashedly psyched for snow

By Betty Revah

Special to the Hoot

Sometimes it seems as though everyone at Brandeis grew up surrounded by snow while I, the Mexican heathater, grew up surrounded by a sunny paradise. The sun—though a natural friend to many—has always served as my everlasting enemy. I, who yearned for cold weather my whole life, have been forced to live in the tropical land that is Mexico where sunny weather is as certain as crazy weather in New England.

When applying to college, my biggest consideration was the weather. If the sun were going to be my companion for more than a few months ... let’s just say I wouldn’t have it. So I applied to schools where there would eventually be snow and ignored the remarks of my friends and my family. After all, what could be better for life than an everlasting white landscape?

I was surprised, upon my arrival at Brandeis, to find that snow—a concept as foreign to me as I am to Brandeis—is strongly unwanted by most students. They shriek in horror as I note with extreme excitement that the weather is getting colder every day and that, relatively soon, pretty snowflakes will be falling from

the sky.

Hearing the anticipation in my voice, my fellow Brandeisians ask but one question: “You’ve never seen snow before, have you?” to which I’m forced to answer that I have seen snow, but only once, when I was very young, and I can’t remember it very well. They consider my answer for a moment, look at each other with understanding and nod. They always say, “Don’t worry, you’ll hate it in a few months.”

Now, I don’t know if that will be true, all I know is that I want snow so deep that if I drop something in the winter, there will be no hopes of getting it back until the spring.

Sure, with snow I know my addiction to coffee will increase and a hot chocolate addiction will slowly develop, I know I will slip and fall while walking on perfectly smooth surfaces—in funnier, more frequent and more socially acceptable ways than I do now—and I will maybe look like a polar bear walking around campus because, as much as I want it, I’m simply not used to snow.

The only positive comment about snow I’ve heard thus far came from a complete stranger. This week, as I stubbornly tried and failed to pay my cell phone bill online, I accidentally locked my account and had to call a professional for assistance. As

he fixed it, and in an attempt to be polite I suppose, he asked me where I was from. I said Mexico and he responded, “That’s very cool.” I agreed and he immediately asked, “Wait, have you ever seen snow?” He then proceeded to relate, in the most animated language, the wonders of snow and snow-related activities. Needless to say, that phone call was very long and my account remained locked for some time after that.

I know that the snow is coming slowly but surely to Brandeis. I know that I won’t be forced to spend the winter away from the fun of snow fights, snowmen, skiing and sledding and that I’ll be able to buy winter clothes and walk around with colorful gloves, hats and scarfs, as I always imagined I would.

With the promise of snow (and hopefully snow days!) comes the promise of a new beginning in my own new world that is Brandeis.

Those who spent their lives surrounded by snow cannot know the eagerness with which I expect it. I simply can’t wait to see North Quad covered in snow; to feel the cold, watery substance melt in my hands; to look out the window and see my most wanted world of white; I just hope my fellow Brandeisians were wrong and that I’ll still feel this way in March.

No longer bored thanks to longboarding

By Lucas Silva

Special to the Hoot

What in the world is a longboard?

Well, if you’re from any kind of urban background, I’m sure you’ve seen packs of 12 year olds clad in neon shirts tearing up your local street corner. This is nothing new: Kids have been messing around with these things since the ’50s. But maybe you’ve noticed lately that there are whole lot more grownups skating around, going on late-night beer runs or bombing (speeding downhill) parking garages. Maybe you just saw some 40-year-old dude cruising around the park feeding the pigeons.

Whatever the case, you’re probably wondering who let dad have a skateboard. Excuse me, longboard; after all there is a difference. Typical skate-

boards tend to be of a shorter range of length (usually between 28 to 33 inches lengthwise) and due to trends occurring during the last few decades are more designed for technical skating.

In layman’s terms, these boards are made for tricks. This is the skateboarding we all know about, the kind we see most on the streets, and the kind that Tony Hawk and MTV have exploited the ever-loving shit out of.

Longboards have (naturally) longer decks, usually between 33 and 59 inches lengthwise. They also generally make use of bigger wheels and trucks.

You might have seen one already … walking from class you nearly get clipped by a tall, lanky dude in a Sup’ hoodie riding what looks like a comically large skateboard with huge bright purple wheels.

Longboarding has been catching

on in a big way, especially in the last few years. More and more people are picking up boards and commuting to work, class or whatever in style. Why though? Traditional skateboards have always had their appeal, but mostly with a demographic that decides skating blows when they hit adulthood.

“About 85 percent of skateboarders leave the sport by the time they reach 18,” says publisher and editor of longboarding magazine Concrete Wave Michael Brooke. Skateboarding just doesn’t vibe with the older crowd but some of us have work in the morning and the car just sputtered out its dying breath and we’re not going anywhere. Enter the longboard.

Because of the greater size, a longboard offers more stability over long distances and downhill, especially while turning. This allows the board to simulate the experience one would

have snowboarding or surfing but on the sidewalk, which makes it great for commuting and cruising. Of course, it does get more complicated.

Point is, longboarding is way more about the actual boarding as opposed to technical skating. Which means that dad, mom, the old guy down the street and pretty much anyone else can get on a longboard and have a good time, right?

There’s no guarantee you’ll tear up much of anything (except maybe your body a little) but you can definitely cruise along comfortably after trying it a couple times. Ken Perkins of Arbor Snowboards and Skateboards comments in a USA Today article, “It’s not unusual to see 40 year olds commuting on them. During the recent New York transit strike, I saw some Wall Street types riding their boards to work.” Perhaps because of

the relative ease of entry, there is a growing trend among adults (from college kids to aging parents) toward longboarding, whether for fun, transportation or sport. And it’s not too pricey either; a decent to excellent board runs between $150 and $300. As such, more and more people have been catching on, spreading the stoke, talking to anyone who will listen. Brooke estimates that there is now something like 750,000-plus longboarders in the United States alone; that’s not even touching the global longboarding scene. Who knows what’s going to happen in five years, maybe longboarding will fizzle out of the limelight or maybe it won’t, but right now the concrete revolution is totally happening and all you gotta do is a cop a board bra.

8 IMPRESSIONS

The Brandeis Hoot

September 23, 2011

‘Times they are a-changing’

By Sam Allen Columnist

Recently for one of my classes I read a book titled “The Trophy Kids Grow Up: How the Millennial Generation is Shaking Up the Workplace”

by Ron Alsop. Alsop’s book is about how our generation has created a divide in the way offices are run due to the different expectations and values that our generation holds. Conflict about dress in the office was one of things Alsop writes about that I experienced firsthand this summer as an intern. When I came to the office the first day wearing a button-down shirt and slacks, my supervisor—a man in his mid-20s, who was wearing a polo shirt and jeans—told me I didn’t have to come to work dressed like that. When I came to work dressed more casually the next day, an associate, who looked to be in his 50s, told me that I was dressed unprofessionally.

Conflict over formal attire is just one area our generation is changing the way we work. Our generation’s use and reliance on technology and social networks is another thing that can sometimes cause friction in the workplace as well. For my internship I was supposed to comprise a review of our company’s Facebook page and then compare it to our biggest competitor’s. Of course, doing such a thing required the use of Facebook; however, the same associate who

Altered Consciousness

didn’t approve of my casual dress also saw me on Facebook and told me to stop wasting my time. While the company I was working at was starting to embrace social networks as another way to get their brand out there, clearly this older employee was uncomfortable with these changes.

Our generation is not just changing the way Americans work, we are also forcing society at large to change based on our values. Earlier this week, the United States’ military policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” regarding gay and lesbian servicemen and women was abolished. Countless soldiers were finally allowed to serve and defend their country without compromising who they are. While instances of homosexual discrimination are bound to continue, the end of this policy, as well as the legalization of homosexual marriage in New York state, are signs that, as a country, we are entering a new era where the values of our generation are slowly being implemented in society at large.

According to the latest Pew Research Center study, there is a 30-point gap between the Millennial generation and seniors on the rights of gays and lesbians. While 62 percent of Millennials think gays and lesbians should have the right to marry, only 31 percent of seniors think the same.

Strikingly, 44 percent of evangelical Millennials support gay marriage, compared to just 12 percent of evangelical seniors. The fact that nearly 50 percent of evangelical Millennials

graphic by steven wong/the hoot

support same-sex marriage means that the culture war over same-sex marriage is soon going to be over.

During the next few years, as more Millennials reach voting age and more seniors pass away, more states

Columnist

The uprisings taking place in the Middle East during the last couple of months have upended the region and shaken a status quo that has been characterized by political inertia for decades. Uncertainty, unrest and instability have become the new norms, as sclerotic regimes are toppled and the voice of the proverbial Arab

sues are currently being countered by groups like the Tea Party, which is overwhelmingly made up of older white people, it is inevitable that our generation is going to change America to be more in our collective image.

Supporting Israel in times of trouble

graphic by steven wong/the hoot

By Rick Alterbaum

are bound to legalize gay marriage.

Accepting people regardless of their sexual orientation is just one area in which our generation is imprinting itself upon America. While our generation’s views on other is-

Street becomes more defiant. Perhaps the clearest result of these trends has been the dramatic changes that have occurred regarding Israel’s geostrategic position.

Since its creation in 1948, Israel has attempted to ingratiate itself with its neighbors in its quest for peace and acceptance. Historically, despite nonexistent relations, numerous wars and armed conflicts, the Israelis never lost hope that they could at least come to a common understanding with their neighbors. In this sense, the Jewish

state, while constantly prepared to defend itself, always held out an outstretched hand for peace.

Ultimately, Israel did find some success. In his attempt to release his country from Soviet domination, gain American aid and reacquire the Sinai Peninsula, Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat signed the 1979 peace treaty with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. In 1994, King Hussein of Jordan, a relatively pro-Western leader, followed suit. During the 1990s, Israel initiated the Oslo peace

process with the Palestinians. Additionally, Israel, forming what was termed the alliance of the periphery, sought to forge relations with countries and non-state actors that had not succumbed to Arab nationalism, including Turkey, Ethiopia and even Iran before the 1979 revolution.

Therefore, Israel did manage to resist complete isolation despite unremitting Arab hostility and rejectionism. This progress, however, has been reversed as of late and alliances with previously-friendly nations have deteriorated considerably.

The most obvious example of this is Turkey, under the rule of the Islamist Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A formerly moderate, secular country with membership in NATO, among other organizations, Turkey is now threatening to send warships to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, which the recently-released U.N.-produced Palmer Commission Report ruled as a legal measure of self-defense. Additionally, Turkey has withdrawn its ambassador and cut off military ties with the Jewish state.

Egyptian-Israeli relations have also been dealt quite a blow. The military junta that has ruled Egypt since Hosni Mubarak’s overthrow has pandered to the Egyptian population’s virulent anti-Zionism by enhancing the country’s ties with Hamas and Iran and questioning the peace accords President Sadat signed three decades ago.

This is not to mention the awful attack on the Israeli embassy in Cairo by an Egyptian mob. Things will only get worse when elections inevitably produce a parliament composed of the Muslim Brotherhood, Salafists and other anti-Israel ideologues.

Also, the Palestinian faction Fatah has shed its thin veneer of moderation by signing a unity agreement with Hamas, which rejects and actively seeks to negate Israel’s existence, and by violating the Oslo accords in abandoning bilateral negotiations in favor of a unilateral United Nations bid.

Make no mistake: A future Palestin-

ian state would only exist in order to implement a two-stage, as opposed to a two-state, solution. That is, it would serve as a base to continue the war to destroy Israel, either through terrorism or military, economic, legal and, in the form of the refugee return, demographic means.

Add these troubling developments to other woes for Israel, including Iran’s continual progress on developing weapons of mass destruction; instability in Jordan that threatens to topple the moderate Hashemite regime there; a Hezbollah-dominated Lebanon; a volatile Syria; a possible Islamist resurgence in Libya and Yemen; and incessant hostility and suspicion emanating from the Europeans and President Obama.

Some say that these problems are Israel’s fault. If only Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were less intransigent or if the country stopped building homes in territory east of the 1949 armistice lines, then all would be well.

I resolutely reject this view. Instead, Israel’s isolation is primarily driven by the increasing anti-Semitism, radicalization and Islamization of Middle Eastern populations and, in the case of countries like Turkey and Iran, regimes. In regards to the former, the Arabs in particular have, for reasons ranging from indoctrination by state-controlled media to increased Wahhabi influence, turned inward and backward instead of embracing peaceful coexistence with the Jews.

Furthermore, the anti-Israel sentiments of these people are now influencing policy in places like Egypt as they have never done before.

All Israel should do now is stay strong, enhance its deterrence capability, reaffirm its right to exist in international forums, solidify and expand currently-existing alliances, present a positive image and try to reach out directly to the Arabs. Hopefully, it can endure in these tumultuous times.

September 23, 2011

The Chosen Rosen

The driving dilemma: home vs. campus

graphic by steven wong/the hoot

By Ricky Rosen Columnist

If you tried to reach me at any point this summer, there’s a good chance I was driving—to work, to meet friends, to baseball stadiums, etc. In fact, I spent more money on gas this summer than on anything else. By the time I was ready to go back to school, I was thrilled that I would not have to

Call Me, Tweet Me

IMPRESSIONS 9

The Brandeis Hoot

drive anymore. Not only was I tired of throwing away $50 a week on gas, I was just plain sick of driving.

It wasn’t just the excessive driving or the gas allowances that created a wall between me and my car. I was tired of anxiously having to remember when I last changed my oil or whether I should check my air pressure. Also, I ran out of gas one night and had to walk for miles with my

friends to find a gas station open at 3 a.m. in a thunderstorm.

The night before I left for Brandeis, I pulled my blue Chevy Cavalier into my garage, took one last look at it in all of its glory and closed the door, knowing that I wouldn’t be driving it again until I returned home.

A few of my friends couldn’t bring themselves to part with their cars, so they elected to take their cars back

to school. But, having been back at Brandeis for nearly a month, I can say without a doubt that I am glad I didn’t bring my car to school with me.

Aside from paying the monthly fee to keep my car on campus, I just don’t think it’s worth it to have a car on campus. For those of us living on campus, having a car is just another thing to worry about. In the back of your mind, you’ll always worry about where to park and wonder if you got a ticket—a fear that’s with us whenever we park our cars outside our driveways.

Aside from parking, you’d also become preoccupied with maintaining your car. This includes filling your gas tank, checking your oil levels and tire pressure, monitoring your washer fluid levels and keeping your car clean. It’s just too much to worry about, especially when you could have just left your car at home.

Aside from the stress of having a car on campus, I do not feel like there’s any real reason to bring a car to campus. First of all, the way our college campus is constructed, you don’t need a car to get around. You can walk anywhere on campus and get there within minutes. Granted, many people are not thrilled about having to go all the way from Ridgewood to Usdan or North Quad to Spingold, but it’s certainly doable.

On other, larger college campuses, it makes sense to have a car, but not at Brandeis.

Additionally, we rarely have any reason to go off-campus for anything.

We have our own little city here, complete with dining halls, a cafe, convenience stores, a sports complex, a health center—in short, everying!

That is, unless you want to go into Waltham to buy groceries or just explore, in which case you can either walk or take the BranVan. But 95 percent of the time, if you need a service, you can find it on campus.

Additionally, it’s a well-known fact that it’s healthy to walk. A lot of col-

lege kids love the fact that they walk around so much, because it keeps them in shape; you get to burn off the dreaded Freshman 15.

If you’re still unconvinced, consider this: The university provides more than adequate transportation if you ever need to go off-campus.

Whether your phone breaks and you need to go to the Verizon Store, or you want to visit a friend at a different college, there are multiple ways to do that without your car. There’s the BranVan, the campus shuttle or the Boston/Cambridge shuttle on the weekends. You can even bike to Waltham with the university’s free rentals. Since we’re paying a fortune to go here, shouldn’t we be making use of all of the university’s facilities, rather than paying for our own transportation with a car?

Plus, a lot of people take the commuter rail or the T-Line into Harvard Square, Porter Square or Boston.

It’s really not hard to use them after you’ve gotten some practice. When I first came here, I couldn’t tell the Red Line from the Red Carpet, but I can now navigate all of the lines myself, with directions of course.

Nevertheless, driving is something I look forward to when I come home for breaks. I run home, pull my car out of the driveway and take a joy-ride to Taco Bell. That first drive makes me feel so limitless and free. But if I drove everyday, I wouldn’t feel that way; I’d probably get sick of it like I did this summer.

Now I’m not saying there are never any circumstances where we would need to have cars on campus. Just the other day I had my friend give me a ride to Target in Watertown. How else was I supposed to get to Target during the week? The BranVan only goes into Waltham and the Boston/Cambridge shuttles don’t run during the week. So I do understand that there are circumstances when having a car on campus would be convenient, but it’s just not worth it when nearly your entire life in college happens on foot.

In Troy Davis case, where’s the context?

By Leah Finkelman Editor

Welcome to my new column! Although I don’t claim to be an expert about anything related to communication, I have studied it through the lenses of American studies, anthropology and journalism. I also text and tweet a lot, so that might count for something. After all, you can only fully understand something if you are immersed in it completely. With that said, I’ll remind you that I’m not claiming to be an expert. I’m simply here to give you my take on the world of communication—human communication, the media, advances in technology and whatever else tickles my fancy.

In “Elements of Journalism,” a 2001 book about the state of journalism, Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel explain that “journalism’s obligation is to the truth.” But what is truth?

Sounds like a philosophy question, right? The answer could simply be “something that can be proven” or it can get a lot more complicated.

Lying to protect oneself or others is part of human nature but that’s not what Kovach and Rosenstiel were warning against. Accuracy, or the truth, is something readers expect from journalists and it’s an integral part of journalism as a whole. In a survey of journalists’ values and expectations of themselves and their peers, each journalist answered “get-

ting the facts right.”

Telling the factual truth, however, is only part of that obligation, Kovach and Rosenstiel say. For journalism to hold up to those standards, the writing must be “substantively true,” Professor Maura Jane Farrelly (AMST) explained to the students in my class, Culture of Journalism.

It’s not enough for a journalist to be a “mere recorder of events,” they write, quoting 1920s journalist and political commentator Walter Lippmann: “News and truth are not the same thing ... The function of news is to signalize an event ... The function of truth is to bring to light the hidden facts, to set them into relation with each other, and make a picture of reality upon which men can act.”

In layman’s terms, saying something happened isn’t enough. Keeping in mind journalism’s goal of improving citizen’s ability to participate in a democracy, a good journalist must provide context so the reader understands the historical, cultural, social and political significance of the event.

The example Farrelly brought up in class was the death of four-year-old Marchella Pierce. Her mother, who allegedly beat and starved her, was charged with the murder. Later, two employees the Administration for Children’s Services were charged with criminally negligent homicide on the grounds that they neglected their

duties and let Carlotta Brett-Pierce’s abuse of her daughter escalate to her murder.

In most coverage of the trials, little attention was given to anything besides the basic facts of the case. It wasn’t until May of this year, nine months after Marchella’s body was found in September, that Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes called for an investigation into “evidence of alleged systemic failures” in ACS. These “failures” were mostly related to the state of the lives of former ACS employees (who resigned shortly after Marchella’s death) Damon Adams and Chereece Bell: overstressed, overworked and under-appreciated.

As tragic as Marchella’s death is (I left class feeling more depressed than I had since a field trip to a funeral home last year), the real story here, the context that should have been initially uncovered by journalists, is the state of New York’s children’s welfare.

A long-awaited look at ACS shows that there were many more factors at play than what was initially presented as a caseworker’s incompetence.

Another story lacking important context is an example of what journalists call an “ongoing concern”: a problem or story that lasts more than a few days and has no specific conclusion.

In 1989, Troy Davis murdered a police officer in Georgia. Two years later, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. He remained on death row until two days ago, when he

was executed by lethal injection.

In the 20 years after his conviction, Davis’ execution date was pushed back three times, and The New York Times reported, “The attempt to save him came to rival the most celebrated death row campaigns in recent history.”

“

Journalism has the ability to enable us as activists, and the ability to help us form our own opinions.

”

All courts, however, maintained his guilt despite the appeals, petitions and requests for clemency, which came from prominent figures like former President Jimmy Carter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and 51 members of Congress.

The day after the execution, Brandeis students walked around campus with duct tape gags reading “I am Troy Davis” and signs taped to their shirts reading “A man was lynched today” to show their disapproval of the execution. Some believed, like much of the American public, that Davis was an innocent man, and many were also attempting to show their condemnation of the death penalty.

While I applaud those students for taking part in a protest for what they feel is a violation of the justice system, what I saw disappoints me and

reminds me where journalism has failed.

Journalists write and report about the death penalty when something they deem newsworthy happens: Someone involved in a high-profile case is sentenced or executed. The death penalty, as shown by students today, is something of which people disapprove, but why aren’t journalists keeping it part of the national dialogue throughout the year? They give the bare-bones, factual truth about Troy Davis, but not the larger context, only aiding the trailing off of dialogue and debate in the days following coverage of an execution.

Those articles, and the people associated with them, deserve any and all relevant information included in the coverage.

We as American people take pride in our country because we have rights that are not available or accessible around the world. Included on that list is the ability to become an activist: We are able to have our own opinions, our own religion and (within reason) we are permitted to say whatever we want. Journalism has the ability to enable us as activists and the ability to help us form our own opinions.

By writing and publishing articles that don’t have enough context, we learn the factual truth about the world we live in. Unfortunately, we are often deprived of the substantive truth and the opportunity to use that truth to better the world around us.

10 The Brandeis Hoot

ARTS, ETC.

September 23, 2011

Candlepin bowling: mastering the New England art

By Candice Bautista Editor

Last weekend marked my first venture in candlepin bowling. My friends and I originally found out about candlepin bowling when we wanted to go bowling for my birthday. Upon arriving at Sacco’s Bowl Haven in Somerville, we were appalled to notice that, not only was there a pretty fancy looking restaurant attached to the bowling alley, the bowling itself was bizarre. Why were the pins so skinny? Why were people throwing skeeballs down the lane? What do you mean I need a reservation? My friends, who are also not native New Englanders, were just as confused as I was. We walked out dazed and made a resolution to return one day and figure out this sport.

Last weekend, we decided to go back to Sacco’s Bowl Haven. This time I called ahead for an 8 o’clock lane and also put my name on a list for tables at the adjoining restaurant, called Flatbread Company. On the phone, the woman explained that “call-aheads” did not guarantee a lane at the time, but we were welcome to hang out in the restaurant until a lane was free.

We arrived at Sacco’s at 7:30 p.m.

Being in Davis Square, the atmosphere had a hip vibe emanating from every part of the place, whether it was from the hostess with a tattoo sleeve of the Yellow Brick Road or the wall drawings featuring organic onions and tomatoes. We were still bewildered, but we tried to hide it as we were brought to a table for dinner.

Flatbread, a classy pizza place, first came off as a bit pretentious and inspired many snarky comments from my friends and me. Our waitress talked on at length about how organic their vegetables were and, when she asked if we had any

graphic by steven wong/the hoot

questions, it took all our willpower not to say, “And I’m going to ask you one more time—it’s organic?”

(Viewers of “Portlandia” will get that reference.) We soon bit our tongues, however, once we had our first taste of the pizza. All that organic stuff must have some legitimacy; the pizza, which came in both a personal and a shared size, was one of the freshest and most delicious things I’ve ever had. It helped that the chef was spinning the pizza dough in the air—just like in the movies!—no more than 10 feet away from me, while the actual brick oven in which

the pizza was baked was just 20 feet away from our seats. To top it all off, the food was a pretty good price considering how delicious it was and the fact that the restaurant was connected to a bowling alley. Flatbread is a place I would go to regardless of whether or not I was bowling; it’s not the place you’d settle for simply because it’s there.

Waiting for our lane at Flatbread did become uncomfortable. Though 8 p.m. came and went, we didn’t mind because we were eating and having fun. By 9 p.m., however, we were getting a little antsy as our

waitress came to our table and said, “I’m really sorry about this, but the next lane should be available by 10 p.m. You guys are around third on the list, but there are a couple of people who called ahead for 6 and 7 p.m. and they’ll be given priority if they show up.” This is clearly a faulty system; we had checked in at 7:30 p.m. but, if the 6 p.m. people decided to show, they’d be given a lane first?

We did end up getting a lane at 10 p.m.—two hours after our original time—but we were too excited about finally candlepin bowling to

care. At first, we were still accustomed to regular bowling. In the first frame, my friend threw a ball down the lane five times waiting for the pins to reset. Embarrassed, we sat down and pretended to look at something while actually observing the other lanes in action. The girl in the lane next to us bowled with great poise and hit the button on the ball-rack. Oh. Then I gave up and went to a hostess for help. She gave

See BOWL, page 13

Self-released ‘Evilution’ lacks intelligent design

By Adam Hughes Staff

If you had told me yesterday that I would be writing an article about First Born for this week’s paper, I wouldn’t have argued with you. I wouldn’t have scoffed and I wouldn’t even have said you were crazy.

I would have simply asked, “What on earth is First Born?”

I was introduced to the music of First Born at around 9 o’clock last night as I walked through the Shapiro Campus Center. Sitting on the newspaper box were three or four copies of the same CD, shrinkwrapped in plastic and scattered among the campus publications.

Below the band’s name was the title, “Evilution,” and three skulls: one Australopithecan, one Homo sapien, and one distorted and alien.

I picked up a copy and checked the back; the copyright was issued to First Born Sons Music, so it was clearly self-published.

Deciding they must have been left as a sort of guerrilla marketing, I took one home and quickly resolved to write a review—I had no other article ideas, and I think the group should be rewarded for providing free merchandise and catching my attention. My hopes, however, weren’t high. Every element of the

packaging recalled the laughable death metal albums that my brothers used to torture me, from the tacky pun of the title, to the ghostly inside cover, to the gruesome song titles (“Repeater of Slaughter,” “Feed the Insane”).

Searching for more information about the band proved difficult; their official website has an expired domain, and I was unwilling to wade through the hundreds of bands on Myspace whose names are similar to “First Born.”

What I did find, however, proved heartening. They list their influences as speed metal bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest and prog metal bands like Fates Warning, groups that are much closer to my musical tastes. While I’m definitely no metal head, I do enjoy some metal music, and I think heavily-distorted guitars and double-bass drums can be fascinating additions to a band’s sonic palate. As with all music, however, the meat and potatoes of successful metal music is melodic creativity, and some bands foreswear that in favor of empty shredding and cartoonish posing.

Even better, the few reviews that I could find on comprehensive metal websites praised “Evilution,” dispelling my fears that this was a completely amateur effort. First Born has played together for 20 years, and they must have picked up a few

tricks in that time. Oddly, the band is based in Tampa Bay, Fla., and the reader’s guess as to how and why their album ended up in the SCC is as good as mine.

The first song, “Dimensional Traveler in Time,” opens with a slow instrumental build-up, which caught me from the beginning and exceeded my expectations. The sound quality is pristine; in this day and age, a self-produced album doesn’t imply that the band doesn’t know what it’s doing.

By the end of the song, however, my enthusiasm was tempered; the band just didn’t offer me anything I hadn’t heard before. Where First Born’s sound does resemble the aforementioned groups, the differences just highlight the reasons why it hasn’t found greater success. They lack the instrumental acumen that speed metal requires, making their songs too sluggish and their tempos too uniform. Their vocalist wants to sing like Bruce Dickinson but he doesn’t have the pipes for it.

As the album passed the half-way point, I was more than ready for it to end. The songs all blend together in a mass of professional but uninspired riffing and generic sciencefiction lyrics. “F.O.D.,” the third-tolast track, tells a slightly different story: The singer complains about his girlfriend, who piles him with demands while all he wants to do is

photo from internet source

play music. The fresh subject matter breaks the monotony and “Evilution” makes a turn for the better from that point forward. “Nibiru (The Destroyer)” takes its cue from the monolithic epics of Black Sabbath and “Demons Gate” is a delightfully over-the-top closer with the catchiest riffs of the album.

All told, it adds up to a very solid

third of an album and makes me want to give the rest another chance.

Maybe I’m simply not enough of a metal fan to appreciate its charms; if you are, I advise you to run down to the campus center and grab a copy before they’re all gone. I still think, however, that the broader music community will find little to enjoy in “Evilution.”

September 23, 2011

ARTS, ETC. 11

The Brandeis Hoot

Ignore the ‘New Girl’: much-hyped sitcom disappoints

By Sean Fabery Editor

If you happened to mosey onto the Internet at any point in the last month, you were guaranteed to encounter an ad for “New Girl,” the new FOX sitcom starring Zooey Deschanel. A barrage of ads also cropped up on TV as the show’s Sept. 20 debut approached, and FOX even took the unusual approach of putting the premiere episode online a full two weeks early. In other words, FOX really, really wanted people to check it out.

Normally, that kind of insistence would be grounds for a restraining order. Instead, I caved and watched the premiere of “New Girl” with high hopes.

I was sorely disappointed.

Deschanel plays the titular new girl, Jess Day, a bubbly 20-something who enjoys singing to herself and making goofy faces. After she discovers her boyfriend is cheating on her, she moves out of their apartment and finds a new place courtesy of Craigslist. It’s a beautifully furnished apartment complete with three male roommates: lovelorn bartender Nick (Jake Johnson), self-involved “douchebag” Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and stoic, socially-inept Coach (Damon Wayans Jr.).

In the first episode, the three men attempt to get Jess out of her post break-up rut—a rut which involves alternately bawling and watching “Dirty Dancing” on repeat.

The premise of “New Girl” isn’t anything revelatory. Its formula differs little from past comedies like “Friends” or “Three’s Company,” which also focused on friendships.

That means the show has to rely on its cast and humor to sell the show to its audience.

Unfortunately, the show simply isn’t very funny, choosing to regurgitate the kinds of jokes you’ve heard on countless network sitcoms

photo from internet source

‘new girl’ Zooey Deschanel stars in the FOX sitcom “New Girl” with (from left) Lamorne Morris, Jake Johnson and Max Greenfield.

rather than conjuring anything original. Considering how much critics have hyped the show, it proves surprisingly generic, with Deschanel’s presence being the only thing that distinguishes it from other raunchy comedies.

As a character, Jess is all over the

place—there’s little consistency in how she’s portrayed. One moment she’s calm and collected, and you catch glimmers of a woman who could conceivably be a schoolteacher, albeit a very silly one. The next moment she’s camped out in front of the TV, watching Patrick Swayze

dance for the umpteenth time as her face comically mimics tears. Granted she’s recovering from a break-up but does she need to be so cloyingly over-the-top? And, considering that she’s supposed to be something like a contemporary Marlo Thomas or Mary Tyler Moore, why does it take

the intervention of her male roommates to convince her to get her act together?

Prior to “New Girl,” I’d been a fan of Deschanel, the quintessential See GIRL, page 12

‘The Playboy Club’ playful but pedestrian

By Yael Katzwer Editor

There are a lot of new shows this fall and most of them seem perfunctorily mediocre. So I wasn’t expecting gold when I stumbled across NBC’s new series “The Playboy Club.” And I didn’t get gold, so no dashed hopes.

What I did get was a fun, entertaining hour. It is not the best show I have ever seen, but it was also not the worst—close to the worst, but still just shy of that prize.

“Playboy” takes place in the 1960s at Hugh Hefner’s original Playboy Club in Chicago, where high-rollers threw money at beautiful girls in skintight unitards and floppy ears, a.k.a. bunnies. The show centers on Bunny Maureen (Amber Heard), the new girl at the club, who accidentally murders a mob boss who is trying to rape her—all in the first 10 minutes. From there, a very handsome lawyer, Nick Dalton (Eddie Cibrian), helps her dispose of the body and provides her an alibi.

The show does not have a very powerful storyline, but what it does have is fairly skilled actors, who fit their roles to a T—and they aren’t hard on the eyes either. Heard aptly portrays a young girl who is a nervous wreck—probably due to the murder—yet remains at the club due to her hopes and aspirations for stardom. While Heard could have played this role in the stereotypical naive, new-girl fashion, she instead

photo from internet source

‘playboy club’ Amber Heard, Naturi Naughton and Leah Renee Cudmore star in NBC’s new drama “The Playboy Club.”

plays a moderately intelligent young woman who is simply in over her head.

Cibrian’s Nick Dalton is, in a word, charming, which is really all

his character needs, at least this far into the show.

Some of the best actors on the show, however, are in bit roles. David Krumholtz of “Numb3rs” fame,

who plays the club manager, delivers each line with an irritated weariness that displays Krumholtz’s acting talent and the character’s eternally exasperated personality. Criticizing

Dalton for desiring an intellectual woman, Krumholtz quips, “You’re the only man I know who puts his hand up a girl’s skirt looking for a dictionary.” This line from anyone else probably would not have had the same panache.

Similarly, Leah Renee Cudmore of absolutely no fame is endearing as Bunny Alice. Often when actors try to portray someone sickeningly saccharine and trusting, they come off as sickening. Cudmore gives the doltish Alice a level of heart and sweetness that makes her truly delightful and a bona fide scenestealer.

While the acting is not a problem for this show, the script is. Attempting to become the new “Mad Men,” the writers fell flat. While the dialogue is entertaining and elicits a few appreciative chuckles here and there, it has nowhere near the amount of witticisms that the “Mad Men” dialogue has. The truly sad thing is that they really tried.

One thing that makes “Mad Men” so spectacular is the witty wordplay framing the antics of the 1960s.

“The Playboy Club” did not set itself up for this. “Playboy” makes similar comments about the ’60s with similar waggishness but it feels out of place due to the noticeably un-’60s-

See PLAYBOY, page 13

12 ARTS, ETC.

The Brandeis Hoot

September 23, 2011

Newborn ‘Up All Night’ formulaic but promising

By Sean Fabery Editor

Newborn babies are rife with comedic possibilities. Don’t believe me? Just think about the many TV shows and films that have gotten laughs at the expense of messy diapers and frazzled parents. Granted, many of them aren’t actually worth watching, but the new NBC sitcom “Up All Night,” which explores similar territory, actually manages to be kind of good, thanks in part to a stellar cast.

Christina Applegate and Will Arnett star as Reagan and Chris Brinkley, a couple who’ve just had their first baby together. Chris, a lawyer, chooses to stay at home with their newborn Amy, while Reagan returns to her job as a producer for a talk show starring her flighty friend Ava (Maya Rudolph).

The first episode covers pretty standard fare: With Chris at home and Reagan at work, conflict arises when they can’t find time for their anniversary celebration; craziness ensues when they subsequently decide to party with Ava. The second episode, meanwhile, delves a little more deeply into the couple’s anxieties over parenthood when a hip, slightly androgynous couple moves in next door. Can parents engage in a fulfilling social life or are they condemned to remain in the margins of society?

Unsurprisingly, the show’s best asset are its three, uniformly good leads.

Since the show focuses equally on Reagan’s home and work life, Applegate—best known for her roles in “Married… with Children” and “Samantha Who?”—receives the most screentime and she makes great use of it. Her Reagan is downto-earth and even a bit mellow by sitcom standards.

Arnett also does a great job as a first-time dad. He’s been consistently stellar in all his projects, including his regular role as the self-obsessed magician GOB on “Arrested Development” and his guest stints as comically maniacal Devon Banks on “30 Rock.”

His Chris is very different from his previous parts; while Arnett has

photo from internet source

‘up all night’ Christina Applegate and Will Arnett star in the new NBC sitcom “Up All Night” as new parents.

created a string of over-the-top quasi-caricatures, Chris is much more level-headed and intelligent, albeit painfully insecure at times.

Rudolph, the star of an impressive array of “Saturday Night Live” sketches and this summer’s “Bridesmaids,” turns in typically strong work as spacey Ava but, whereas Reagan and Chris almost feel like real people, her Ava never feels like anything less than a TV character.

That’s not necessarily a terrible thing, but Ava needs to be sketched out in future episodes.

While the cast is strong, “Up All Night” feels disjointed as a result of its uneasy, bifurcated set-up.

The show’s strongest scenes are easily those set at the Brinkley household. Applegate and Arnett

have an easy chemistry, allowing their relationship to feel real and lived-in; you can see them as actually having been married for seven years.

With a premise so focused on parenthood, I worried that the show would try too hard to work the couple’s newborn into every story. The second episode allayed those fears, as the baby took a backseat to Reagan and Chris’ personal insecurities.

Still, with only two lead characters, it seems likely that the show would quickly run out of fresh material if it focused solely on their home life, which is probably why they also incorporated Reagan’s work life into the show.

Unfortunately, the segments focused on Reagan’s work aren’t near-

ly as funny as the rest of the show. In fact, these parts feel like a cheap “30 Rock” knock-off, with Rudolph’s Ava serving as a stand-in for Jane Krakowski’s Jenna Maroney. Alas, Ava is nowhere near as funny as Jenna, partially because she’s nowhere near as crazy.

Occasionally, Ava does get some good lines. When Chris arrives on the set, she looks at him cautiously and asks him if her dress “makes [her] look too thin”; later, when baby Amy rejects Ava’s attempts at kindness, she wonders aloud if “this baby has never been around a person of color before.” Still, these lines are pretty weak compared to the genius “30 Rock” has to offer, and it seems like the writers think Ava is loopier than she actually is.

To amp up the show-within-ashow aspect, Ava has been given two minions: Calvin (Nick Cannon), Ava’s sidekick on the show, and Missy (Jennifer Hall), Ava’s hapless assistant. Neither provides any real laughs and both feel unnecessary.

Still, the show’s much funnier than you would have expected based on the premise alone. Considering I was expecting tired jokes about baby weight and poop, I was pleasantly surprised by how wellexecuted the show is as a whole. The show suffers from a few kinks and needs to remedy its unevenness, but there’s certainly a lot of potential. At any rate, Arnett and Applegate will make watching a few more episodes worthwhile.

FOX’s ‘New Girl’ proves disappointing GIRL, from page 11

hipster-indie girl, even enjoying her work in films that otherwise left me unsatisfied, like “500 Days of Summer.” Since this show rests almost entirely on her shoulders—it may as well be titled “The Zooey Deschanel Show”—I expected to like her here even if I didn’t like the show as a whole.

But she’s part of the problem, as she does nothing to rein in the insufferable cutesy-ness of the character, mugging too often for the camera. Some of the cringe-worthy ads for the show tout Jess as being “simply adorkable,” but it’s possible to make a character too precious.

The series gives the supporting cast even less to work with. Of the bunch, Johnson—as Nick, a bartender who was similarly dumped by his long-time girlfriend—is easily the most enjoyable. He possesses a genuine everyman quality and shares the most comedic chemistry with Deschanel, with Nick serving as Jess’ straight man. Unfortunately, he doesn’t leave a huge impression with the material he’s given.

Greenfield’s Schmidt—a man who eagerly takes off his shirt for every woman who enters their

apartment—is supposed to be a lovable cad, but he just comes across as unfunny and irritating.

Wayans, as temperamental Coach, has a few funny bits in which he tries to calm down Jess but instead yells at her; as he later tells her, he has no idea how to interact with women.

Wayans, however, only appears in the pilot episode, as he’s contractually-bound to resume his role in the unexpectedly renewed ABC comedy “Happy Endings.” Lamorne Morris will make his debut in second episode as Coach’s replacement.

Of course, it’s difficult to judge a series based solely on its first episode. Many of this decade’s best comedies—think “The Office” and “30 Rock”—had weak openings but quickly roared to life.

Between the tired premise and thinly-sketched characters, “New Girl” doesn’t have much going for it aside from Deschanel’s name. There are a few good bits—the men keep a Douchebag Jar to which they give a dollar for every douchey thing said—but they’re few and far between. Fans of Deschanel may be able to look past the show’s many shortcomings but, devotees aside, it’s best that you avoid this “New Girl.”

photo from internet source

let’s hear it for the girl Zooey Deschanel stars in “New Girl,” which premiered on FOX on Sept. 20. From left, Hannah Simone, Max Greenfield, Jake Johnson and Lamorne Morris also appear.

September 23, 2011

ARTS, ETC. 13

The Brandeis Hoot

In wake of film, revisiting the novel ‘One Day’

Arts Recommends film

By Dana Trismen Special to the Hoot

In the last month, the movie “One Day” came and went, quickly fading at the box office despite being based on a bestselling book. Published in 2009 by author David Nicholls, the novel became an international bestseller, topping the charts three times.On the other hand, the film— directed by Lone Scherfig, best known for 2009’s “An Education”— plummeted rapidly, grossing only $5 million its first weekend (“The Help,” by comparison, profited $20 million despite being in its second weekend). By now, the indie romance staring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess is a faint memory in most people’s minds, a sort of, “Oh, was that a movie?”

As the school year began, I toted “One Day”—the novel—to Brandeis in order to finish reading it. Despite homework and the intensity of my ultimate Frisbee team, I often found myself reading it into the late hours of the night.

The story concerns itself with the lives of two people, Dex and Emma.

Beginning with the night of their college graduation, the novel narrates their lives on a single day—July 15—in the following 20 years. Dex is unlikable and immature, while Emma is poetic and charming; yet you end up rooting for them anyway. Their inevitable union takes the better part of the novel, but Nicholls manages to create some wonderful character portraits along the way. I loved the novel but, as for the movie, what went wrong there?

You could cite many a reason for the film’s lackluster performance.

Anne Hathaway has a dreadful British accent for one and Jim Sturgess has a funny haircut for another.

Though Nicholls himself wrote the script, it seems to lack substance and skips key scenes. Emma is meant to lose her way in her 20s.

‘Pierrot le fou’

photo from internet source

one fine day Jim Sturgess and Anne Hathaway star in director Lone Scherfig’s film adapta-

tion of “One Day,” a novel by David Nicholls.

She becomes stuck in a minimum wage job, almost marries a man she doesn’t love and has an affair with her boss. The movie, perhaps in the interest of time, focuses more on Dexter’s self-destructive behavior and skims over Emma scenes. Instead of watching Emma emerge as a character, you find yourself only appreciating how the makeup artist makes her look older from scene to scene.

Yet, despite critic’s bad reviews and its low domestic gross ($13 million), I personally didn’t find it too terribly offensive. Hathaway and Sturgess at least have chemistry, and the first time they kiss onscreen is actually moving. Hathaway plays both geeky Emma and sophisticated Emma very well, while Sturgess somehow gets away with being a loveable jerk. Many witty lines from the novel remain, including an exchange in which Emma and Dex discuss rules for vacations: no skin-

ny dipping and no scrabble. While it may not have been a perfect adaptation, did it deserve to get clobbered purely on merit?

A more pressing problem may have had nothing to do with the movie itself. It had the misfortune of opening on a weekend when both “The Help” and “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” proved strong holdovers. Maybe the film’s distributor should have paid closer attention to the novel’s details: After all, it focuses on July 15—why not open on that date?

The main problem, in my not so expert opinion, is that film adaptations are simply never as good as the books. They can never recapture the exact feelings I had while reading or invest me as much in the plot. Books I can’t put down, while movies always pale in comparison.

I advise you to pick up “One Day” the novel because, in this case, the written word easily wins.

photo from internet source

Few directors can claim to have reinvented the language of cinema, but director (and l’enfant terrible) Jean-Luc Godard has tried to do just that with all his films. Among his best is his “Pierrot le fou” (1965), one of the best French New Wave films out there.

“Pierrot le fou” follows the adventures of Ferdinand (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and Marianne (Anna Karina), two Parisians who flee their bourgeois existence and become outlaws in the countryside. Escape isn’t so easy, however: Ferdinand leaves behind a wife and kids, while Marianne, it turns out, is on the run from Algerian gun smugglers.

These problems are further compounded when Ferdinand and Marianne realize they’re tired of each other’s company.

Godard is at his most playful with “Pierrot le fou.”

Voiceovers describe the darkly comic nature of lust and life, while flashes of Renoir paintings and comic book panels—of high and low culture—occasionally overlap the action. Marianne and Ferdinand launch into impromptu musical numbers.

Visually, the film is gorgeous, awash in vivid primary colors. Belmondo and Karina are at their sexiest and most alluring here, both possessing a French cool that you’ll wish you could emulate. They never lose their sense of the romantic, even as their situation loses all its romanticism.

sean fabery, editor

books

A night at Sacco’s Bowl Haven

‘Inkheart’

photo from internet source

BOWL, from page 10

me a score-sheet and a little table of rules. Things were beginning to make sense!

I recently watched the Indian movie “Lagaan,” in which an Indian village learns to play cricket in order to defeat the English imperialists and thus keep them from paying another three years’ worth of taxes, or “lagaan.” The village learns by watching the English play from afar.

While candlepin bowling, I couldn’t

help but notice similarities between the movie and the evening. We were foreigners trying so desperately to understand a game that these natives seemed to play so flawlessly.

As I struggled to figure out how to mark the score-sheet, the people next to us bowled a strike. As my friends tried to figure out exactly how many pins had fallen, the people in the next lane drunkenly managed a spare. True, we were not playing to keep imperialists from taxing us but we, like the Indian village, were playing for our pride. We

wanted to prove to New England that we were just as capable of doing everything that they could do.

By midnight, we knew the rules of the game and all the possible markings and combinations of situations that would allow us to return to Sacco’s in the future and blend in as natives. Overall, Sacco’s was a pretty fantastic place with interesting people, good food and many fun times to be had. I’m definitely going to go back soon, ready to fine-tune my game—I’m just going to call ahead for 6 p.m. this time.

photo from internet source

“Inkheart,” by German author Cornelia Funke, may be a children’s book, but that is no reason to discount it. Like “Harry Potter,” which is technically a series for children, “Inkheart” resonates with an older audience just as strongly. The fantasy novel follows Meggie Folchart, a preteen girl whose father has the ability to read characters and objects out of classic books, one of them being Funke’s fictitious book-within-a-book, “Inkheart.”

The story follows Meggie as she struggles to maintain what little family she has in the face of terrifying villains brought into her life by her father’s tongue, a cute boy read from “Tales from the Thousand and One Nights” and her own burgeoning powers. This gripping tale is peppered with truly memorable characters—not all of them likeable—but all of them impressive and perfectly fitting. If you are someone who loves the written word, this book is for you. Funke is clearly a bibliophile and wrote “Inkheart” for like-minded readers.

And, if you do read and enjoy “Inkheart,” have heart— there are two phenomenal sequels.

yael katzwer, editor

14 ARTS, ETC.

The Brandeis Hoot

September 23, 2011

‘Playboy Club’ proves to be trashy fun PLAYBOY, from page 11

like nature of the show.

Despite repeatedly saying that the show takes place in the ’60s and the occasional references to racial tensions, nothing about the show feels groovy. The costumes could be from the ’60s but if you saw someone walking down the street wearing one, you wouldn’t give them a second look. (Well, maybe the bunny costumes. But that would be more because half-dressed women with pom-poms on their buttocks are walking down the street.

That usually gets a few looks.) The dialogue does not indulge in any ’60s slang and the general vibe is 2011.

One of the few 1960s motifs is that Bunny Maureen is the Cigarette Bunny at the club, meaning she walks around with a tray of cigarettes, selling them to the customers. While this certainly dates the show, the fact that we almost never see anyone smoking on screen counteracts that.

Now I don’t want you to get the idea that “The Playboy Club” is horrible, because it

isn’t. It simply has some kinks—such as setting and dialogue—to work out. With time, the show could get better. First episodes are notoriously rocky as writers struggle to introduce viewers to brand new characters, introduce a gripping story line to last for the entire season and still flow along at a steady clip.

“The Playboy Club” was an enjoyable diversion. If you are looking for something highbrow and historically accurate, go watch the History Channel. It was also not smutty or gratuitous in the sex department. If you want that, go watch HBO. This is the show to watch if you are looking for your next guilty pleasure.

I know that I will be watching “Playboy” next week to find out what happens next because, even though it isn’t spectacular, do we need spectacular all the time? This is the kind of show that is best watched at 2 in the morning when all you want is an easy-to-follow plot and pretty people to gaze at.

Of course, you can watch it earlier; it airs Mondays at 10 p.m. on NBC. But act quickly, as it will probably be canceled midway through its first season.

photo from internet source

‘playboy club’ Eddie Cibrian and Amber Heard (center) lead the cast of “The Playboy Club.”

Aide for boy with autism Aide needed to work in home with 8-year-old boy with autism. Parent will be in home to assist or answer questions. No experience needed, just an interest in kids and willingness to learn to interact with our son. Eleven dollars per hour, some flexibility in hours.

On Francis Street which is about a mile from campus. Please e-mail dariagere@gmail.com.

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EDITORIALS

September 23, 2011

"To acquire wisdom, one must observe."

Editor-in-Chief Alex Schneider Managing Editors Destiny D. Aquino Sean Fabery Yael Katzwer Jon Ostrowsky Senior News Editor Nathan Koskella News Editor Leah Finkelman Features Editor Morgan Gross Impressions Editor Gordy Stillman Sports Editor Alana Blum Hoot Scoops Editor Savannah Pearlman Copy Editor Steven Wong Graphics Editor Leah Finkelman Production Editor Nafiz “Fizz” Ahmed Photography Editor Ingrid Schulte Photography Editor Emily Stott Layout Editor Debby Brodsky Deputy News Editor Candice Bautista Deputy Arts Editor Suzanna Yu Deputy Copy Editor

Volume 8 • Issue 17 the brandeis hoot • brandeis university 415 south street • waltham, ma

Founded By Leslie Pazan, Igor Pedan and Daniel Silverman

Shortage of candidates a sign of wasted potential

W

e believe the Student Union can have a lasting and measurable impact on campus if properly staffed. Several union positions have remained vacant for multiple elections. This apathy for filling these positions is simply a symptom of a much larger problem.

Over the past few years, the Union has been filled by too many members allowing themselves to get caught up in the red tape and bureaucracy that often comprises their weekly meetings. It is no surprise that students don’t feel an urgency to run for positions when the Union is not making any substantial difference in their lives.

If the Union wishes to attract qualified candidates it needs to create visible change that will entice incoming class-

Mission As the weekly community student newspaper of Brandeis University, The Brandeis Hoot aims to provide our readers with a reliable, accurate and unbiased source of news and information.

Produced entirely by students, The Hoot serves a readership of 6,000 with in-depth news, relevant commentary, sports and coverage of cultural events. Recognizing that better journalism leads to better policy, The Brandeis Hoot is dedicated to the principles of investigative reporting and news analysis. Our mission is to give every community member a voice.

SUBMISSION POLICIES The Brandeis Hoot welcomes letters to the editor on subjects that are of interest to the community. Preference is given to current or former community members and The Hoot reserves the right to edit or reject submissions. The deadline for submitting letters is Wednesday at noon. Please submit letters to letters@ thebrandeishoot.com along with your contact information. Letters should not exceed 500 words. The opinions, columns, cartoons and advertisements printed in The Hoot do not necessarily represent the opinions of the editorial board.

STAFF Rick Alterbaum, Emily Breitbart, Adam Cohen, Haley Fine, Jeremy Goodman, Edwin Gonzalez, Paula Hoekstra, Adam Hughes, Gabby Katz, Josh Kelly, Christina Kolokotroni, Ariel Madway, Estie Martin, Connor Novy, Anita Palmer, Alexandra Patch, Lien Phung, Andrew Rauner, Alexandra Zelle Rettman, Ricky Rosen, Nate Rosenbloom, Imara Roychowdhury, Aaron Sadowsky, Jessica Sashihara, Alex Self, Brian Tabakin, Ryan Tierney, Alan Tran and Ariel Wittenberg

connect phone • (781) 330 - 0051 e-mail • editor@thebrandeishoot.com online • thebrandeishoot.com twitter • twitter.com/thebrandeishoot facebook • facebook.com/thebrandeishoot

The Brandeis Hoot 15

es to become one of them. They need to identify problems both large and small that can be tangibly impacted by their work over one year such as former President Andy Hogan’s cell phone signal amplifier in lower Usdan.

When impeachments and a lack of progress make more conversation than actual senate projects there is a serious problem. The Hoot Editorial Board believes the root of this problem is communication. The Union needs to implement better tactics for communicating with students about their needs as well as the Union’s successes.

The Union needs to recruit by example and that means making the most impact with the senators they do have.

Followed by making sure the students know about and see those changes.

We believe that in order for the Union to become something of which students are proud, the Senate, the president and his executive board need to follow through on promises made during campaigns and become a presence with their constituents on more evening than just the Midnight Buffet.

We praise the president for his initiatives yesterday with the “Cash Cart” and his attempt at increased Union visibility, but in order for the Union to become the prestigious university organization it should be, it needs to concentrate on more than fun.

Hopefully, the newly elected senators and representatives will recognize the responsibility and power they have to bring meaningful change to student life.

The Internet could work, we’ve seen it happen

T

his board may as well be crafting this editorial under a pre-incandescent bulb while our photo staff work with negatives in the darkroom for all the pride in technological advancement we feel as we publish Brandeis’ community newspaper. We speak of course of the utterly unreliable Internet access on parts of campus; reader, we hope you can get this on Friday morning.

The university last spring announced a nearly $6 million technology upgrade, primarily, students were told, to upgrade the … utterly unreliable Internet access on parts of campus.

There are not only still plenty of kinks, but some areas of campus where access for students—the Usdan, um, Student Center and the Shapiro Campus Center—are some of the most

troublesome. Whether “secure,” “open” or whatever else LTS wants to call the multiple networks, none of them are consistent, uninterrupted or anything close to what students need to trust to get them through a Brandeis term paper. (Or a newspaper.)

We hope the university is spending those millions wisely, even if the results just have not panned out yet. Incessant refreshing, reconnecting and rebooting tells us the attempted technology upgrade needs to try harder to avoid becoming a “Windows Vista” situation.

Reliable Internet access on a college campus is vital to educational performance and just common modern competitiveness. Six million dollars would be a good investment if it actually had improved the Internet experience on campus, which is best of course when

the issue is forgotten—you never think about technology when it’s working perfectly. But we don’t find that it has.

And our experience is probably typical, as we’ll reliably, journalistically confirm once we can access our e-mail again.

Perhaps this is the university’s way to clamp down on illegal, downloading?

We’re sure there’s been none of that as of press time Thursday night. This board disapproves of all illegal activity—no really, just check our websi—oh yeah, you probably won’t be able to do that if you’re reading on campus.

If the university fixes the Internet access, properly, spending the money it was supposed to spend, we promise not to harp on about this again: If it gets fixed, we’ll assume they listened.

If it doesn’t, we’ll assume they couldn’t access this editorial page.

Give a Hoot, Join The Hoot!

Writers, editors, photographers, layout designers and copy staff wanted!

It isn’t too late to join Brandeis’ community newspaper!

Stop by our offices on the third floor of the Shapiro Campus Center on a Thursday or send us an e-mail at join@thebrandeishoot.com

16 The Brandeis Hoot

Features

September 23 , 2011

This Week Students stand united with concerned citizens in History Brandeis

2005 Information and Technology Services (ITS) and the University Libraries combine to create LTS. 2007 Residents of the Village are evacuated from their building after a kitchen fire in Village 2A.

Massachusetts

1847 Springfield-born

Charles and George Merriam publish “The American Dictionary of the English Language.”

1952 Rocky Marciano, a

Brockton native, defeats “Jersey Joe” Walcott to win the World Heavyweight Championship.

United States

By Morgan Gross Editor

Starting on Sept. 17 and continuing on even through today, American citizens from across the nation, have flooded into the financial district in Lower Manhattan to participate in a somewhat mysterious event titled Occupy Wall Street.

This protest—modeled after past demonstrations in global cities, such as Cairo, Barcelona and Athens—sought to unite the American public and transcend partisan lines, to promote the importance of a universal interest in the creation of a truly democratic and representative government in The United States. Event organizers explained that “we are not limiting ourselves by affiliating with a specific movement.

We comprise elements of many ‘progressive’ social movements: the environmental movement, education reform, the food movement, the campaign finance reform movement, the fair-labor movement, and the anti-globalization movement. We believe these movements are all intricately connected, and we are now acting on that belief.”

The event has been facilitated by a group titled the “General Assembly,” an organization which serves as a forum to unite Americans physically based on common ideals and investment in the American public. The group is governed directly and democratically and is dedicated to open membership- and consensus-based organization.

Literature distributed by event organizers explained that they were motivated to organize the event, based upon a collective belief “that

Protesters attempting to occupy Wall Street gather in Zuccotti Park Sunday afternoon.

our government has been co-opted by moneyed interests.” They go on to explain that the organization denounces “the way big businesses and banks dominate the political and economic sphere.” Ultimately, they “demand” the creation

photo by ariel wittenberg/the hoot

of a “government by the people and for the people, not in the interests of corporate America and the richest 1%.”

Organizers of the protest explain the impor See WALL STREET, page 17

View From the Top

1779 John Adams is ap-

pointed by the Continental Congress to travel to France to negotiate peace with Great Britain.

1957 Nine black students

enter all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., as the first students to be integrated.

World

1580 English sailor Francis Drake returns home after becoming the first British navigator to sail around the world.

2005 The Irish Repub-

lican Army, the military arm of a nationalist political party, disarms completely.

Sports fan reflects on Brandeis bucket list

By Kyle Mangan

Special to the Hoot

I never thought I would write for a newspaper.

My friends are probably laughing right now. But I was recently asked, extremely politely, to write an article about myself (since I am such an interesting person) and my senior year experience at Brandeis. If you know me at all, you know that I am my absolute favorite thing to discuss.

I considered discussing how great my adviser is and how all of you should be Economics majors because all of the teachers are awesome.

Then I remembered my politics class and my history class, which made me remember that there is no way you can go wrong by coming to Brandeis. With a million things to offer, you can use a Brandeis education to make a ton of money, make the world a better place or both.

Then I thought about writing on the experience

of joining a fraternity and how that made me a better person, but I realized that’s not for everyone and would rub some people in the wrong way. So finally, that led me to reflect on my time here as a whole and all of the options available to students.

When I was pledging my fraternity, I asked every brother about something they had never had the opportunity to do. Unsurprisingly, the most common answer was skydiving; even more unsurprisingly, there’s a Brandeis club for that.

What I found out later was that most of their answers were activities available for Brandeis students. Realizing that, I created my Brandeis Bucket List. That list encompasses everything I’ve ever wanted to do, whether it’s available here at Brandeis or it’s something a Brandeis education will allow me to accomplish one day.

From skydiving to shooting a .50 caliber bullet, everything I could possibly think of doing

photo courtesy of kyle mangan

was on that list. I tried kosher bacon and this stuff called Gordon’s Vodka (which I’m still convinced is rubbing alcohol). I even tried eel and subsequently got to hang out with BEMCo for a few hours. Aside from food, Hiatt helped me get a masshole’s dream job at the Red Sox division of New England Sports Network (NESN). I also tried blogging, day-trading stocks, selling real estate, and playing squash and every intramural sport Brandeis offers.

Working at NESN was an unbelievable experience. I got to attend four Sox playoff games and hang out with RemDawg (or Jerry Remy, the Sox announcer) in the booth. If you’re from Bahston, come find me to shake the hand that shook his hand. Since I was involved with the advertising side of the business, my projects were mostly focused on putting together highlight tapes that showed Pedroia going yard over See SENIOR, page 17

September 23, 2011

Students participate in Occupy Wall Street

A protester stands at the edge of Zuccotti Park trying to attract the attention of a tourbus as Police look on.

WALL STREET, from page 16

tance of the format of the “The protesters in Liberty Plaza are a heterogeneous, ambiguous group, as they were in the Cairo, Barcelona and Athens protests of 2011. Why? Because collectively we represent no political party or organization—we only share a common set of ideals.”

A group of Brandeis students organized an effort to make the trek to New York City—the site of Occupy Wall Street—to assist in efforts and to join the movement. One of these students—Shea Riester ’13—traveled to New York before the protest, to dumpster-dive for food to support protesters and prepare for the demonstration.

He described that as a participant in the protest, he was part of a “2,000 humanstrong march down Wall Street, where we chanted ‘Show me what democracy looks like? This is what democracy looks like!’”

Riester explained, “It was the most democratic thing I’ve ever been a part of. It’s a

myth that we have true democracy in the United States—we’ve never experienced it.”

Participants in Occupy Wall Street spanned all varieties, a General Assembly Facebook event for one of the day’s demonstrations announced: “We are calling for public artists of all varieties to join us—if you can make it or create it in a public space, then we want you there. We have many activities including spoken word, drum circles, performance pieces, and participatory art planned so far, but all are welcome.”

This involvement of all types of people was fostered due to the universality of the event’s message. Riester explained in an interview, “Democrat, republican, independent—it doesn’t matter what your party is, the truth is the same: The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the education and social welfare programs that benefit 99% of Americans are being cut in the name of austerity. We’re supposed to be ‘of the people, by the people, and for the people,’ but we’re simply

Senior recognizes opportunities available at Brandeis

senior part one Mangan as a high school senior.

FEATURES 17

The Brandeis Hoot

photo courtesy of kyle mangan

photo by ariel wittenberg/the hoot

not anymore.”

Riester was inspired to participate in the rally by a belief that “the people who are supposed to represent the common interest are primarily elected by money, and secondarily elected by citizens. That means that they will primarily represent the moneyed, corporate interests, and secondarily represent the citizens of the United States.” Riester believes that “we have to wake up to the reality of this country!” and his participation in Occupy Wall Street was his way of doing, just that.

Occupy Wall Street is a demonstration that is still going strong, with demonstrations in solidarity cropping up all over the country—including in Boston.

Event organizers have made it clear that the movement is nowhere near over. They have commented: “We’re still here. We are growing. We intend to stay until we see movements toward real change in our country and the world.”

SENIOR, from page 16

the Green Monster’s Ace Ticket advertisement against Rivera—the Yankees still suck. That home run never gets old and I’ve probably watched it 500 times.

By last summer I had to get down to business and find a job that I could potentially turn into a career. One of my good friends and fraternity brothers, Jesse Klebanow ’09, started selling real estate while he was still in college and got a few kids in Phi Kappa Psi jobs at the company when he left. One of them got me a job over the summer at Think Real Estate Services in Newton Centre. We had a blast working together and made a little bit of money.

If it taught me one thing, it was never to accept a job that is 100 percent commission-based, because that nice big check can quickly disappear at a bar.

Being a Brandeis Economics major, I saw an opportunity in the stock market to make some money. During the summer you may remember the Republicans deciding they wanted to approve a new budget without raising the debt ceiling. I began day-trading stocks and commodities with the income from my real estate job. It was a blast making educated guesses about how gold, silver and the bear market indexes were going to perform. Hopefully, I’ll be able to turn that into a career once my time here is over.

The most surprising discovery was finding out that I had actually learned something every day in college. See Mom? That $50,000 a year did go somewhere! From SpringFest first year listening to Asher Roth tell me not to “pass out with my shoes on” to Harry Coiner (ECON) explaining how the apples grown on the farm two miles from my house affect the banking industry in New York City, there have been a surprising amount of productive things to do here every day. So get off your bed, stop playing Call of Duty/FIFA/Madden, go out and do something you haven’t done before. It’s going to be fun and, if it’s not, you probably have a good story about it that you can use to make a new friend at a party. I’m about halfway through my list of things to do and now I can cross off getting published.

You Know We’re Right

Friends with benefits rules, rights and restrictions Dear Morgan and Leah, At the beginning of the semester, I started hooking up with a friend of mine. At first, it was just a thing that would happen randomly but soon we fell into a pattern of hooking up regularly and things started feeling a little serious for me.

I had never considered being in a relationship with her, but all of the sudden it seemed like a possibility.

We tried to talk about it and define the relationship, and it kept coming up that she was uncomfortable with the fact that I am interested in hooking up with both boys and girls.

We decided not to talk about it and continued to hook up for a few days; then she caught me flirting with her suitemate …

Later that night, she pulled me aside and told me that as long as we are “having relations,” I cannot hook up with men.

As someone who is interested in actively hooking up with both guys and girls, this kind of prohibition is something I have never experienced before, but am afraid will follow me throughout my life. Never before had I thought that a problem would arise from my various sexual desires.

Is this fair? How should it be? How can I deal with this? Is this going to be a problem for my entire life?

Love, The Boy Who Wanted Everything Dear Boy, It was a wise man that once said, “You can’t always get what you want; but if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need.”

In situations like this, where you are casually hooking up for the sake of fun and convenience (and without real feelings), it is easy to find yourself in intimate situations with people who you are seriously not compatible with. This isn’t to say that they aren’t good friends and generally awesome people, it is simply that you look for different things in friends than you do in romantic partners.

Sometimes you are able to reconcile these differences when the overall desire to hook up, outweighs the discomfort of the other person. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.

If your friend really isn’t comfortable with hooking up with you while you’re hooking up with boys, then there is nothing that you can do about it.

There’s nothing wrong with your friend’s feelings and you totally can’t make a value judgment on her because boundaries are intensely personal things.

We have a few words of advice to help you avoid this situation in the future.

Think before you act It’s fun to hook up with your friends, but it sometimes can be a difficult maneuver to execute successfully.

Because there is already a relationship at stake when entering a friends-with-benefits situation, it’s smart to think a little more intently before acting than you might think with something less at risk.

Communication is key Make sure all boundaries of the situation are clearly laid out before putting your friendship on the line.

Make it clear that it’s important to you to be able to explore your sexuality and hook up with anyone you want to—assuming that you aren’t being monogamous.

If your potential partner isn’t comfortable with that—don’t ignore it; just stop before things get too complicated.

Look for the right outlook in future partners It is important, now that you’re on the way to figuring out your sexuality, that you’re on the look-out in your life for someone who is able to accept you for you.

Now that you’re aware of what is important to you, you will be able to seek out a partner who is able to do just that.

We know that you can do it!

Good luck!

Peace, Love and Great Advice, Leah and Morgan Have questions that you want answered by the lovely ladies of The Hoot? Submit your questions to advice@ thebrandeishoot.com or at formspring.me/leahandmorgan! They will be answered by Leah Finkelman ’13, Features Editor, and Morgan Gross ’14, Impressions Editor. We’re so excited to hear your questions!

18 The Brandeis Hoot

sports

September 23, 2011

Volleyball goes 1-2 over week; win streak snapped at five

By Gordy Stillman Editor

photo by alex patch/the hoot

The weekend looked to be another great one for the women’s tennis team.

Before any matches on Saturday the team had a four-game winning streak that included three shutouts. After a win against Emmanuel College, the Judges ended the day on the wrong side of a 3-2 match against ColbySawyer College. The Judges’ slide continued Tuesday with a loss to Tufts for their first home loss of the year and first shutout loss since Sept. 7.

Saturday started well with their match against Emmanuel College, 3-1. The Judges started off strong with scores of 25-9 and 25-15 in the first two sets. Set three did not go as well for the Judges, with Emmanuel taking the set 25-14, but the final set was a close win for the Judges, 25-23 to take the match.

During the match many of the Judges earned impressive stats. Outside hitter Liz Hood ’15 had 18 kills as well as three aces and six digs. Setter Yael Einhorn ’14 had 33 assists along with four kills and six digs. Outside hitter Susan Sun ’13 added to the offense with seven aces. Defensively, libero Elsie Bernaiche ’15 led the team with 23 digs.

The second match began positively with a 25-17 Judges win in the first set. The second set ended with a 26-24 loss for the Judges, but they bounced back for a 25-22 win in the third. Colby-Sawyer took the match away with a 25-17 win in the fourth

set, and a 16-14 win in the fifth and final set for a match score of 3-2 for Colby-Sawyer.

In the afternoon match Hood achieved a double-double with 16 kills and 12 digs. Outside Hitter Si-Si Hensley ’14 also had a double-double with 14 kills and 13 digs. Einhorn had an impressive 44 assists to go along with 11 digs, while Bernaiche led in defense with 24 digs during the match for just under a third of the Judges’ combined total digs.

While the loss to Colby-Sawyer was very close, going to a fifth set, Tuesday’s match against Tufts was a different story. Tufts showed the Judges why they were unbeaten when they handed Brandeis its first home loss of the season.

Tufts started off strongly with an early 12-4 lead in the first set after going on a 7-0 run to tear open the lead. When they were down 16-7, the Judges made a good attempt at catching up with a 4-0 run involving two Tufts errors and two kills by Hood.

After a quick time out, the Judges momentum slipped as Tufts went on a 9-1 run to end the set.

The second set was much closer with an early 3-1 Judges lead. Tufts was able to tie the game on the way to an 11-7 lead. The Judges went on many runs to cut the lead, but Tufts kept trying to pull away, never getting more than a four-point lead. After a 4-1 set, including a kill by Einhorn, the score was 19-18. Tufts pulled away, thanks to a couple of Brandeis errors, to win the set.

In the third set Tufts took an early 7-4 lead facing tough opposition from the Judges. Brandeis took a 9-8 lead off of a kill by blocker Becca Fischer ’13. Tufts responded with a threepoint run. Later in the match, down 19-15, Fischer managed another three kills and, along with an ace by Sun, tied the game. Tufts closed the game on a 6-1 run, thanks in part to an error against the Judges.

For the match, Hood led the team with 10 kills, followed by Fischer with nine. Einhorn had 29 assists and 11 digs, resulting in a double-double.

Bernaiche had the team-best with 12 digs.

The Judges next face Amherst at the Amherst Classic tonight at 7 p.m.

Volleyball Team

UAA

All

Washington

0– 0

14 – 0

Emory

0–0

13 – 1

Chicago

0–0

11 – 1

Case Western

0–0

10 – 4

NYU

0–0

10 – 4

Rochester

0–0

9–4

Brandeis

0–0

7–4

Carnegie Mellon

0–0

8–5

Box Scores Emmanuel

Win

3–1

@Colby-Sawyer

Loss

3–2

Tufts

Loss

3–0

Women’s soccer breaks streak with 3-1 victory

By Brian Tabakin Staff

In a non-conference matchup against Gordon College on Tuesday afternoon, the Brandeis women’s soccer team snapped a four-game skid with a 3-1 victory over the Fighting Scots. The win improved the Judges to 3-4 on the season.

After a midday rainstorm, the field was extremely slick and conditions were very poor. The slippery field allowed the Judges to get on the board when, at the 3:32 mark of the first half, the ball skipped off a Gordon defender and into their own net.

Already disheartened from the selfinflicted wound, Gordon struggled for the rest of the half to maintain possession and regain momentum.

Gordon managed to stop eight shots by the Judges to keep the game manageable. Brandeis entered halftime with a 1-0 advantage.

Less than two minutes into the second half, the Judges tacked on another goal. Ali Maresca ’12 headed a corner kick from Alec Spivack ’15 into the back of the net to put the Judges ahead 2-0 at the 46:46 mark. The goal was Maresca’s first of the season and third of her career while the assist was Spivack’s first collegiate point.

The lead would be further extended just under eight minutes later when back Kelly Peterson ’14 drove home an unassisted direct kick from 35 yards out to put the Judges ahead 3-0.

Despite the seemingly insurmountable lead, the Scots still battled for the rest of the game. The Scots bounced back from what had been a lackluster performance, with consistent offensive pressure in the Judges’ zone.

The Scots broke up the shutout at the 64:13 mark when junior Karina Scavo drilled a low shot off an unassisted direct kick past the Brandeis defenders and keeper Francine Kofinas ’13 to

trim the Judges lead to 3-1.

Gordon goalie Kari Christensen finished the contest with 12 saves against three goals, while Brandeis goalie Kofinas stopped five shots against just one goal.

Earlier in the week on Sept. 17, the Bowdoin College women’s soccer team rallied in the second half against the visiting Brandeis Judges, scoring a pair of goals to defeat the Judges 2-1.

Brandeis controlled the tempo of the game for the majority of the first half, taking seven of the game’s first eight shots. Bowdoin had an offensive charge toward the end of the first half as Bowdoin senior Ellery Gould had three fantastic shots on goal that just missesd the mark. Gould’s final shot barely missed the back of the net, hitting the post instead and sending the game into halftime in a scoreless tie.

Bowdoin came back onto the field for the second half and continued where they left off: peppering the Brandeis goalie Michelle Savuto ’15 with shots on goal. Bowdoin scored twice in a span of 9:26 to take control of the tempo of the game for good.

Bowdoin junior Stacie Sammott put the Polar Bears on the board at the 59:46 mark, following through on a bouncing ball in the box. Gould gave Bowdoin a crucial insurance goal at the 69:12 mark after she finished off a fantastic centering pass from Bowdoin’s Amanda Kinneston to make it a two-goal game. The goal moved Gould within just two tallies of tying the program’s all-time scoring mark.

Brandeis cut the Bowdoin lead in half with just under seven minutes left to play. Sapir Edalati ’15 accepted a long cross-pass from Corrine Bortniker ’15 and angled the ball inside the far post at the 83:31 mark. While the goal snapped a three-game scoreless streak for the Judges, they could not cut further into their deficit. Savuto allowed two goals against four

saves in 73 minutes of playing time.

Kofinas replaced Savuto for the final 17 minutes of the game; Kofinas allowed no goals and had two saves in her time on the field.

Since 2005, Bowdoin has had a 4-3 advantage in the seasonal matchup between the two teams.

Even earlier in the week, on Sept.

15, the Judges fell to host Roger Williams University 2-0. The win was the first for the Hawks against the Judges since a 1-0 victory back on Oct. 27,

2008.

In what had been a common theme for the Judges, the Hawks struck first in the game when RWU’s Hannah Noel headed in a cross-pass from the left side by RWU’s Katie Fusaro in the 11th minute to put the Hawks ahead 1-0.

Throughout the first half, the Judges had numerous opportunities to tie the contest but could not convert. In the 20th minute, forward Hilary Andrews ’14 attempted a shot from the

photo by jingfei chen/the hoot

left side of the box but Andrews could not put enough angle on the shot and it deflected off the side of the goal.

At the 40:47 mark, midfielder Mary Shimko ’14 let loose a precise shot up the middle, but the shot was negated by an offsides call.

Early on in the second half, the Hawks had multiple opportunities to double their lead. In the 57th minute, Noel fired a bullet off of RWU’s See SOCCER, page 19

September 23, 2011

SPORTS 19

The Brandeis Hoot

Women’s soccer goes 1-2 See SOCCER, page 18

Alexa Maher’s corner kick; however, defender Maresca made a kick stop to prevent a sure goal. Just seconds later, Maresca stopped another attempt by RWU’s Kristen Tetreault to prevent the Hawks from widening their lead.

Effective defense from the Hawks prevented Brandeis from getting on the board in the second half. Halfway through the second half, Maher helped preserve the shutout by sliding in front of a shot by Edalati, getting enough of her foot on the ball to affect its trajectory and enable RWU goalie Stephanie Jacques to make the save.

In the 71st minute, RWU’s Taryn Roussel denied Andrews who was making an attempt in the box.

In the closing seconds of the contest, RWU’s Tory Benoit tallied her third goal of the year off a cross-field pass by senior Devon Leighton to put the game on ice.

Jacques made a career-high 10 saves during the match for her second straight shutout. Brandeis goalies Kofinas and Savuto each recorded one save against one goal.

The Judges will return to action Tuesday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. when they host Wellesley College.

Women’s soccer Team

UAA

All

Emory

0– 0

5–0–1

Washington

0–0

7–1

Case Western

0–0

5–1–1

Carnegie Mellon

0–0

5–2

Rochester

0–0

5–2

Chicago

0–0

4–2

NYU

0–0

4–2

Brandeis

0–0

3–5

Box Scores Emmanuel

Win

3–1

@Colby-Sawyer

Loss

3–2

Tufts

Loss

3–0

photo by nate rosenbloom/the hoot

Lee Russo ’13 lifts men’s soccer past MIT

By Brian Tabakin Staff

The Brandeis men’s soccer team continued their early season excellence in a 2-0 victory against the visiting MIT Engineers. The game marked the fourth time in the first five games that Brandeis goalie Blake Minchoff ’13 has recorded a shutout. With the win, the Judges improved to 4-1 on the season, while the Engineers fell to 4-2 after two consecutive losses.

Brandeis dictated the tempo early in the game as the Judges consistently kept the pressure on MIT senior goalie Dylan Rankin. Rankin made a sensational save to keep the Judges off the scoreboard in the 11th minute, diving to his right at the far post to deflect the first shot of the game, a free kick by midfielder Joe Eisenbies ’13.

Lee Russo ’13 managed to score a few minutes later, in the 18th minute.

Forward Sam Ocel ’13 made a spectacular cross through the goal to Rus-

so, who headed it past an outstretched and diving Rankin at the 17:03 mark to give Brandeis an early 1-0 lead. The goal was Russo’s second of the season and his 13th collegiate goal.

Rankin made two saves on Russo in the 21st and 23rd minutes to keep his team in the game. In the 40th minute, Rankin came out of nowhere to deny Tyler Savonen ’15 a goal. The Engineers finally managed to get a shot on goal in the 42nd minute; however, Minchoff made the save to maintain the Judges 1-0 lead at the half. Brandeis outshot MIT 8-3 in the first half and held a 3-2 advantage in corner kicks.

Rankin made two early saves in the second half to once again keep Brandeis off the board. However, Minchoff arguably had the save of the game in the 57th minute. Minchoff got in front of a rocket off the foot of MIT forward Zach Kabelac, MIT’s leading scorer. Minchoff deflected the shot across the goalmouth and then made a diving save on sophomore

Jonathan Tebes, who had gained control of the rebound, to preserve the shutout.

Brandeis and MIT continued in a tug-of-war match with each team going back and forth between their respective offensive and defensive zones. MIT added an extra forward to the field in an attempt to gain an offensive advantage; however, Brandeis relied on their defense to successfully counterattack MIT’s extra offensive pressure for the majority of the second half.

Russo added his second goal of the game with just 1.7 seconds remaining when he arched a kick into the air from midfield. Rankin scrambled back to his net but the ball bounced across the goal line as time expired.

Minchoff finished the game with four saves and Rankin finished the game with seven. For the game, Brandeis outshot MIT 15-8 while corner kicks were even at 4-4. Brandeis improved to 28-24-3 against MIT alltime. The two teams have split their

Underachievers: MLB busts of 2011

By Louis Berger

Special to the Hoot

At this point in the season, there are definitely some fans who are disappointed that their beloved team won’t be making it to the playoffs.

Some fans should be disappointed, but others would’ve been wiser to take the season off because their team never had a chance in the first place. It’s easy to spot the players who were the biggest disappointments—just look at their salaries and compare them to their production (or lack thereof in this case). If you spent $80 for seats where you couldn’t tell the shortstop from the third-base coach, then think of these players the next time you’re going to buy tickets. These are my biggest busts of the 2011 season: 5. Rafael Soriano, New York Yankees: Rafael Soriano went from being the American League leader in saves in 2010 to the guy who pitched the seventh inning for the Yankees—and not especially well. Soriano signed a generous three-year, $35 million deal this past off-season and it made him the highest paid set-up man in baseball. In 2010 Soriano had a sparkling 1.73 ERA; this year his ERA more than doubled to 3.7293, and his walk total is higher than last year even though he has pitched about half as many innings as last year. To make matters worse, Soriano was sidelined for two months with an arm injury this summer. Maybe next time Yankee ownership will listen to GM Brian Cashman when he says, “Don’t pay the set-up man closer

money.”

4. Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins: The only player on the list who wasn’t a free agent this past off-season was Hanley, who is currently in the middle of a six-year, $60 million contract, making him by far the highest paid player on the Marlins. In his last four seasons, Hanley had hit at least 20 home runs and batted .300. This season, Hanley is batting .243 with just 10 home runs and 45 RBI. This is far from his career averages and Rookie of the Year season that got him famously nicknamed “El Niño.” Two weeks ago Ramirez underwent season-ending shoulder surgery but the Marlins hope to have him back by the start of the 2012 season. This year El Niño didn’t bring devastating hurricanes, just a few showers.

3. Jayson Werth, Washington Nationals: How’s this for a scary thought: You just signed an outfielder to a seven-year, $126 million contract and in his first season he hits .230 with 56 RBI. You might find the worst part of that thought is being part of the Washington Nationals organization but, in all seriousness, Jayson Werth was a huge disappointment for the Nats. Jayson was coming off a year with the Phillies where he batted .296 and led the league in doubles, but on the Phillies he was just a good player on a great team. The Nationals asked him to be the superstar player on a rebuilding team, but Jayson didn’t play up to his Werth.

2. Carl Crawford, Boston Red Sox: I doubt there was a single critic of the sev-

en-year, $142 million deal between the Sox and Crawford when it was signed. He was coming off a season in which he batted .307, stole 47 bases and had 90 RBI. Crawford also led the league in triples but now he probably just leads the league in times pushed down the lineup. This season he is only batting .255 with 53 RBI and has shockingly stolen only 18 bases. Crawford’s OBP of .292 is his worst since his rookie season and, if that weren’t bad enough, he plays for a team that probably had the highest expectations in baseball this year. Now Crawford isn’t known as the fastest man in the American League anymore, he’s just the most scrutinized player in Major League Baseball.

1. Adam Dunn, Chicago White Sox: What in the whole wide world of sports happened to Adam Dunn? From 2004 to 2010 he averaged 40 home runs per year, 101 RBI and had a solid average of around .250. This year, after signing a four-year, $56 million contract, Dunn is batting a horrendous .167 with 11 home runs and 42 RBI. These are the worst numbers Adam Dunn has had in his entire career, and it is so shocking because he’s only 31 years old and gave no indication of decline last year with the Nationals. It’s been painful for everyone to watch Dunn struggle because he’s such a friendly guy and true professional, but I’m sure baseball fans will be pulling for him in 2012.

Every baseball player falls from grace eventually but, at least for these underachievers, they landed in a big pile of money.

last six meetings 3-3.

Brandeis will travel to Babson College Saturday for a non-conference contest at 1 p.m. The Judges will return to Brandeis to host Wentworth Institute of Technology on Tuesday, Sept. 27.

Men’s soccer Team

UAA

All

Washington

0– 0

7–0

Case Western

0–0

6–1

Brandeis

0–0

4–1

Chicago

0–0

5–1–1

Rochester

0–0

4–2

Carnegie Mellon

0–0

3–3–1

NYU

0–0

3–3–1

Emory

0–0

3–4

Box Scores MIT

Win

2–0

Gordy’s game guesses: week three

By Gordy Stillman Editor

New England Patriots at Buffalo Bills San Francisco 49ers at Cincinnati Bengals Miami Dolphins at Cleveland Browns Denver Broncos at Tennessee Titans Detroit Lions at Minnesota Vikings Houston Texans at New Orleans Saints New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles Jacksonville Jaguars at Carolina Panthers New York Jets at Oakland Raiders Baltimore Ravens at St. Louis Rams Kansas City Chiefs at San Diego Chargers Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears Arizona Cardinals at Seattle Seahawks Atlanta Falcons at Tampa Bay Buccaneers Pittsburgh Steelers at Indianapolis Washington Redskins at Dallas Cowboys Last Week’s Record: 9-7 2011 Season: 18-14

20 The Brandeis Hoot

hoot scoops

September 23, 2011

AFTER ’DEIS:

Recent graduates discuss the job market

photo courtesy of kayla cronin

photo courtesy of shauna blum

graduate Kayla Cronin ’11 and Evan Glickman ’11 receive their diplomas.

graphic by steven wong/the hoot

By Alana Blum, Editor Given the choice, most students would not choose to enter the job market in the middle of a recession. Some have opted to stay in school, hoping to wait out the economic downturn. Others have chosen to travel abroad or get an unpaid internship.

But some students are unable to afford any of these options. Others might be unsure of which field they want to enter. Whatever the reason, these Brandeis graduates spent this summer rigorously job searching, hoping that a small window of opportunity might open somewhere.

The class of 2011 was sent off into the real world with words of optimism and hope.

Each commencement speaker had their words of advice to offer the anxious graduates. New York Times writer David Brooks helpfully suggested that the graduates stop searching for a career and instead ask themselves: “What problem is life summoning me to tackle?”

Brandeis President Frederick Lawrence similarly maintained that the graduates have every reason to remain optimistic. Four months later, Brandeis graduates have had time to experience the job market for themselves. Now they can see for themselves what hope the real world has to offer them.

Early in her senior year, Kayla Cronin ’11 made the tough choice between going straight to law school and taking a year off to live in the real world. Hoping to gain legal experience and stand out in her law school application, Cronin decided to take time off before applying to law school.

“I also wanted to make sure it’s what I want to do. I don’t want to go through law school and find out after three years that I don’t like the field,” Cronin said.

Unfortunately, finding a law firm that is hiring has proven to be the most difficult part. Although Cronin began applying before her senior year ended, most firms did not even get back to her. Many of the law firms require a certain amount of prior ex-

perience, which recent college graduates simply don’t have.

Eventually Cronin decided to create an online profile on job-search websites such as Monster and Craigslist. A recruiter contacted her and found her a job at a call center but Cronin ultimately decided that job wasn’t for her. Cronin is still focusing her energy on finding a job at a law firm and remaining optimistic. She plans on making use of the Hiatt Career Center, which offers career help for Brandeis students and alumni.

She plans to remain persistent, realizing that in today’s job market, finding a job right away isn’t always likely. Cronin knows it is too early to become completely discouraged, but has compared the search to finals week at Brandeis.

“Based on my experience so far, I’d prefer the stress of doing tests and papers compared to having the stress of job searching and having loans to pay every month when you have no income,” Cronin said.

Jennifer Silverberg ’10 also decided to turn straight to the job market. After graduating in December, she, like Cronin, decided to wait for graduate school.

“I was looking into applying [to graduate school], but although I was pretty positive I wanted to do social work, I wasn’t 100 percent sure. I guess I didn’t want to go straight to grad school without full time work experience in the field first.”

Silverberg was glad she made the choice to gain real world experience first because, after working for a short time at a psychiatric hospital, she began to dislike the field.

She felt that she was lucky to be able to find a job so quickly and believed that her college internships definitely helped her stand out from other applicants. The psychiatric hospital, however, did not seem like the right fit and Silverberg eventually decided to leave.

Upon returning to the job market, Silverberg realized that most employers do not get back to applicants.

“The job market is really dead,” she said with a laugh.

She soon heard, however, about a temp agency called “Professionals for Non-profits,” which matches applicants with jobs at non-profit organizations. She visited the agency on a Friday and received a job by the following Monday.

“I would definitely recommend those type of agencies. Most of them don’t work very well, but if they work it’s great because they give you a job … and you get to see what you like and don’t like about places without having to commit,” she said.

Like Cronin and Silverberg, Evan Glickman ’11 decided that it would be in his best interest to enter the real world first before going to grad school.

“I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do.

What if you spend eight years getting your doctorate and then you decide you don’t want to do it? It would be a waste of all that time and money. Figure out if it’s worth it,” Glickman said.

During his final semester at Brandeis, Glickman sent out many applications and received few responses. He decided to take a new approach during the summer. Rather than trying to land job interviews, he instead began going on informational interviews. He started meeting with real estate employers to learn more about the field.

After attending between 15 and 20 informational interviews throughout the summer, Glickman felt more knowledgeable about the real estate field. The interviews helped him become more familiar with real estate terminology and when he started going on job interviews, he felt as if he knew what he was

talking about. As a result, he began receiving job offers by the end of August. He now works at a real estate company in Philadelphia.

In Glickman’s opinion, Brandeis seniors should start researching their prospective fields by the fall semester of their senior year in order to begin formulating a plan.

“First you have to have an idea of what you want,” Glickman explained, “Just having a plan is a quarter of what you need to do.

It would be hard for me to imagine getting a good job without having a plan that went back at least a year.”

Glickman works 11-hour days but considers himself lucky to have found a job so quickly. He explained that when the country is in an economic recession, a lot of people are laid off from their jobs and must reenter the job search. College graduates are therefore competing with people who have had years of experience. Since it’s expensive to train new people, employers would rather hire laid-off workers rather than students fresh out of college and the unemployment rate of recent college graduates remains quite high.

It’s no secret that today’s job market is tough and stressful. Unemployment rates remain high and those who are able to find jobs that they actually enjoy consider themselves lucky. When David Brooks instructed the class of 2011 to search for a problem that life is summoning them to tackle rather than a career, it certainly sounded helpful at the time. Four months later, however, college graduates are beginning to realize that they cannot afford to be so picky—at least not yet.

graphic by steven wong/the hoot