The Brandeis Hoot - 3/1/13

Volume 10 Number 6

www.thebrandeishoot.com

Brandeis University’s Community Newspaper • Waltham, Mass.

March 1, 2013

Facing high taxi fares, students organize their own rides

By Debby Brodsky Editor

photo by ally eller/the hoot

tuition The Board of Trustees will soon vote on a proposed four percent tuition increase.

Flagel: Board to vote on proposal for 4 percent tuition hike

By Jon Ostrowsky Editor

One year after a tuition hike made Brandeis the second most expensive college in the state, university officials plan to submit another 4 percent tuition increase as part of their budget proposal at the Board of Trustees

meeting next month, Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel said.

Because of last year’s hike, the Boston Business Journal ranked Brandeis second behind only Williams College and ahead of Boston College, Boston University and Babson College. But speaking to reporters at a briefing in

the Shapiro Campus Center Thursday afternoon, Flagel said the anticipated increase is in line with peer institutions and nationally, Brandeis is actually no longer in the most expensive bracket.

Flagel said he expects the current See TUITION, page 2

Unlike students of Boston schools, Brandeis students face the unique dilemma of finding transportation at odd hours. As Brandeis is not located on the T, students are forced to work around the limited operation hours of the Commuter Rail and shuttle busses. In addition, only a small portion of Brandeis students have cars on campus. To remedy this frustrating problem, students have begun start-up companies of their own.

Rafael Abramowitz ’14 is the current president, owner and a driver for Rachel’s Rides, a student-run car service exclusively for Brandeis students. He took over for Rachel Karpoff ’12 who founded the company in 2009 to provide a cheaper alternative to cabs and a more convenient alternative to public transportation.

“Rachel’s Rides is a licensed livery service with all the proper insurance

and is also incorporated through the state of Massachusetts,” Abramowitz said. “It is legal in every way.”

Rachel’s Rides currently employs four drivers, including Abramowitz, and serves up to 74 customers a week. Its peak periods are the weeks leading up to Brandeis break periods. Rachel’s Rides is unique among taxi services, however, because it serves Brandeis students exclusively, and it boasts the lowest prices guaranteed.

“We go out of our way to bundle students together. This does two things: since our rates decrease with each additional customer, bundling helps our fellow classmates obtain the cheapest rates possible,” Abramowitz said. “Secondly, bundling random students together who otherwise would have taken separate cabs helps the environment by taking dozens of cars off the roads each year.”

When Abramowitz took over Rachel’s Rides, he spent an entire summer remodeling the business, including its See TAXI, page 2

Andrew Lubin talks on the way ahead for Afghanistan

By Theresa Gaffney Special to the Hoot

Author, defense analyst and embedded journalist Andrew Lubin spoke to Heller students in the Coexistence and Conflict Program on Wednesday afternoon about the current situation for U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Lubin has had seven embeds-overall 13 months-in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. During this time, he has learned the ways of the villages, interacted with the people and observed how the U.S. Marine Corps work to help create a safe environment for the citizens.

Lubin started his talk with a briefing of the geography of Afghanistan, then focused in on his area of expertise, the Helmand Province. Located in the south, the province is a hot desert with one main river running down the middle. In a casual manner, Lubin told the room about the months he spent there in 145 degree weather.

Students also got a glimpse of the preview for the PBS documentary Lubin is currently making. The documentary will present the work of the U.S. troops through Lubin’s lens, as he followed them in their aim to help Afghanistan improve the safety of their people.

The focus of the talk was to pres-

ent a different side of how relations work between U.S. troops and the people of the villages. “They love us,” said Lubin. He spoke of success stories he’d participated in throughout the scorching desert with which he became so familiar. “If you want a picture of how it could be, go to the Helmand Province.”

He told one story of citizens who started improving their village by borrowing scrap metal and wood from the U.S. troops, and soon were asking to borrow their forklift. The villagers had built a waterwheel, and wanted to install it in the river to creSee AFGHANISTAN, page 3

Graduate students seek prestigious teaching opportunities

By Rachel Hirschhaut Staff

When students choose their classes, they’re looking for a chance to learn and delve into engaging topics. But classes serve as education for more than the undergraduate students who choose them: they become valuable training for graduate students who teach them before becoming professors.

According to the registrar, 36 classes at Brandeis this semester are taught by a graduate student. Most University Writing Seminar (UWS)

Inside this issue:

classes, a requirement for first-years of all majors, are taught by a graduate student in the related field. More than two-thirds of the 36 are UWS classes.

Departments as varied as history and mathematics choose graduate students to teach some of the introductory classes under 100-level. Often times, the number of graduate students teaching varies with the staffing needs of the department. It also helps graduate students build their curriculum vitae, which is important to those seeking a future in academia.

Aaron Wirth, a Ph.D. student in history who is teaching the course

Editorial: Tuition increase unreasonable Week in photos: Carnavale at Brandeis Arts, Etc.: Professor writes Lincoln text Opinion: Cookies create businesswomen Sports: Men’s basketball ends season with loss

Page 6 Page 16 Page 11 Page 15 Page 5

“Madness and Medicine in the Modern Age,” says teaching has been a crucial experience for him, personally and professionally.

“Teaching my own course has been incredibly beneficial,” Wirth said. “Thanks to the liberal arts atmosphere that Brandeis provides, my teaching tends to be student-centered and more communicative than larger schools. My students have more opportunity to speak and, as a result, we have a chance to give each other See TEACHING, page 3

peace through music Heartbeat! brought together Israeli and Palestinian youth through music Wednesday in Levin Ballroom.

History to theater

First place wins

Arts, etc.: Page 11

Sports: Page 4

Visiting professor discusses the impact of Athenian history on Greek tragedy.

Men’s and women’s fencing teams each take first place overall in competition.

photo by ally eller/the hoot

news

2 The Brandeis Hoot

Students start car companies for peers

March 1, 2013

Board to vote on 4 percent tuition increase TUITION, from page 1

proposal to include about a 4 percent hike for both returning and incoming students. Last year, the Board voted to increase tuition on returning students 4.1 percent and incoming students

4.85 percent. Officials justified the tuition hike as necessary to pay for the reopening of The Rose Art Museum and the Linsey Pool, along with maintaining their commitment to student financial aid. New students paid more to account for pilot programs and more first-year seminars.

photo from internet source

TAXI, from page 1

website and his own car. Abramowitz’s hard work paid off almost immediately, because during the first semester of Rachel’s Rides’ operation, business increased by an average of 360 percent each month.

“When I took over, Rachel’s Rides had nothing more than a basic website to its name. This bothered me.

Brandeisians deserved and needed a full-fledged car service to best serve their transportation needs,” Abramowitz said. “I spent my entire summer remodeling Rachel’s Rides. I stripped the website bare and rebuilt it myself from scratch using wix templates. I then commissioned a graphic designer to create the smiling car logo that has been the face of my company for nearly a year. Once the website and logo were

done, I purchased a car, incorporated my company to become Rachel’s Rides Co., obtained livery insurance and replaced my car’s regular New Jersey license plates with Massachusetts livery ones,” Abramowitz said.

Like Rachel’s Rides, SplitMyTaxi, run by David Zodak, a Brandeis MBA graduate, offers students in the Boston area a cheaper transportation option in the evening hours.

“Since there’s no public transportation at night in Boston, my only way to get home is by taxi. So whenever I need to get home, I try to find someone going the same way. SplitMyTaxi makes it much easier! Also, when going to the airport with a suitcase, it’s much easier to take a taxi than to carry your suitcase around trains and buses,” Zodak said.

SplitMyTaxi is similar to Rachel’s Rides because it encourages the bundling of riders in order to lower each

rider’s individual transportation cost.

This method of bundling promotes both a social and a wallet-friendly taxi atmosphere for students on a tight budget. “[SplitMyTaxi is] the best way to save 50 percent on your fare and meet new people,” Zodak said.

Zodak is looking forward to launching SplitMyTaxi’s business and website within the next several days.

Although transportation options remain limited at Brandeis, Rachel’s Rides and SplitMyTaxi are excellent examples of student-run car services that cater exclusively to students.

In addition to student-run car services, the Student Union regularly offers Turkey Shuttle services to students before break periods at reasonable prices to popular destinations such as South Station and Logan Airport in Boston and Penn Station in New York City.

photo by ally eller/the hoot

Fung Wah bus service ordered to suspend operations

By Lassor Feasley Editor

The popular transportation service, Fung Wah Bus, has been ordered to cease operations effective immediately. The company, which has perennially suffered regulatory issues concerning the safety of its vehicles, was well loved by commuters between Boston and New York. While Fung Wah has managed to sustain a skeleton fleet of buses chartered from other companies, it is unlikely that operations will ever be restored.

Fung Wah Bus is the most popular of the many Chinatown bus services which are notorious for questionable safety practices. Many patrons of the buses are more than willing to tolerate these concerns due to the companies cut-throat rates, which generally run around fifteen dollars for the four hour ride between New York and Boston.

Since 2006, Fung Wah’s fleet of 28 buses have been subject to random spot checks by the federal government. The majority of Fung Wah’s fleet were deemed unsuitable for the road by Massachusetts authorities on February 23, but then, last Tuesday, the remainder of the Buses were ordered off the road by the Federal Transportation Department.

The company first received regulatory complaints in 2006, when one of

its buses rolled over on an exit ramp in Boston. These issues persisted, as many of the buses could not pass subsequent random safety inspections.

Then, last January, a Fung Wah bus struck two pedestrians near the Manhattan Bridge in New York.

Despite these many setbacks, loyal customers have continued to request Fung Wah’s services, lining up at the ticketing station on Canal Street.

Many remain determined to make the journey, which typically boards curb side in Chinatown and disembarks near South Station.

Many Brandeis students are also patrons of Fung Wah, and will be struggling to find a new mode of transit come March break. Other options typically include Amtrak, which generally starts above 60 dollars a ticket one way. More established bus companies charge around 40 dollars for the trip, meaning that many cost-conscious students will see their transportation costs multiply.

photo from internet source

March 1, 2013

NEWS 3

The Brandeis Hoot

Lubin speaks on future of Afghanistan war AFGHANISTAN, from page 1

ate electricity. They did this, and Lubin said it “gave them ownership of their village.”

Lubin admits that while relations are going well between Americans and the Afghans now, the state of the country is up in the air come 2014.

“It’s up to Karzai.” The current president of Afghanistan has a few options in shaping the fate of his country. If he decides to change the constitution, Lubin predicts, then foreign aid from countries such as the United States would stop instantly.

Lubin was passionate in his pre-

sentation, arguing that the Americans are doing the right thing in regard to the training and resources that U.S. troops are providing the Afghans.

“Training people isn’t a question of money, it’s a question of time,” he says. The students in the room matched his passion, unafraid to ask questions throughout the presentation—eager to jump at the opportunity to spar one-on-one with an expert in the field.

An elderly audience member questioned why the United States was aiding Afghanistan when there were still people with needs in America. “We can’t take care of the whole world,” he asserted. But Lubin disagreed on

this point. “It all comes back to 9/11,” he said to the audience member, “remember that.”

“Development is essential for this mission,” Lubin reinforced. He is confident in the “new profession” of the military, where they do not always have to shoot a gun to make a difference. “Do we want to win the war, or do we want to succeed?”

Lubin’s presentation is part of a series of presentations sponsored by Heller’s Coexistence Program. The next program in the series will be on Friday, March 8, where speaker Deborah Kolb will talk about gender issues in honor of International Women’s Day.

College Notebook

Emory President in trouble over column on Three-Fifths Compromise

photo from internet source

By Charlie Romanow Staff

photo by ally eller/the hoot

TAs compete to teach classes with Univ funding TEACHING, from page 1

constant feedback throughout the semester.”

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) students undergo a rigorous application process to be selected as instructors. They apply annually for the University Instructor Prize (UPI), which awards a $6,000 stipend to students to design and teach upper-level courses in their field of research.

Wirth was a winner of the history department’s annual Departmental Instructor Prize (DPI). To apply, he had to create a course syllabus based on primary and secondary sources, along with material from his original research, and explain why Brandeis students would benefit from the chance to take a course on the subject.

Wirth believes that students learn differently from having a teacher who is close to them in age.

“This is the second time I have taught “Madness and Medicine in the Modern Age” now, and the same sentiment is evident in both classes: after a few weeks, my students gradually become more relaxed within the atmosphere I create,” Wirth said.

“There may be several variables at play here: my age, the fact that most of them know that I am still a graduate student, the openness that I pro-

photo by coco tirambulo/the hoot

vide in the classroom.”

“I certainly believe everyone would benefit if more [graduate students] were teaching. The passion a graduate student can bring to the classroom can make a profound difference in what and how students learn,” he added.

Students, however, still have mixed feelings about taking classes taught by teaching assistants (TA).

“I was initially surprised to be

having a grad student teaching me a course at Brandeis, especially because I recall Brandeis saying that no courses were taught by grad students,” said Lily Montagna ’15, whose introductory math class was taught by a TA. She says that although the teacher could be difficult to understand at times, “Because he was a grad student, it made it easier for me to relate to him as a student and a young adult.”

The President of Emory University, James Wagner, has recently been criticized for his column about the Three-fifths Compromise of the Constitution that counted slaves in the South as three-fifths of a person in determining how much Congressional power each state was apportioned.

“Some might suggest that the constitutional compromise reached for the lowest common denominator—for the barest minimum value on which both sides would agree.

I rather think something different happened. Both sides found a way to temper ideology and continue working toward the highest aspirations they both shared—the aspiration to form a more perfect union. They set their sights higher, not lower, in order to identify their common goal and keep moving toward it,” President Wagner wrote in the Emory magazine article.

He compared the aims and success of the compromise with lack of compromise regarding Congress’ present difficulty in such a polarized Congress.

Professor Maura Jane Farrelly (AMST), an Emory alum, believed that there are many other more pertinent and appropriate political compromises in America’s history that would have illustrated his point.

“It was historically inaccurate for him to insist that the Three-fifths Compromise allowed for the creation of a “more perfect union,’” and that “The country was hardly unified during the first 90 years of its existence, and the reason it wasn’t unified is that race-based slavery had been to continue in a nation that was founded upon the principle of individual liberty,” Farrelly wrote in an email.

Professor Chad Williams (AAAS) agreed.

“From a strictly historical perspective, what the Emory president said made little sense. The Three-fifths Compromise was a failed compromise,” Williams wrote in an email. “If anything, it ensured that the issue of slavery would remain a sectionally divisive issue. The Civil War represents the ultimate example of why this compromise failed. If he wanted to make a point about compromise in American history, there are much better examples he could have used.”

Emory University is a highlyranked university that competes with Brandeis in the UAA and in admissions for students. What has given this incident more notoriety, are the

recent slew of incidents of insensitivity in the Emory community. These matters include sweeping cuts that happened this past September, which many think unfairly target programs that are popular with minority students. Problems have also arisen over the school intentionally reporting false data to the Department of Education and U.S. News and World Report; the debate of whether or not to allow Chick-fil-A, a large donor and voice against same-sex marriage to operate on campus; and a fraternity’s choice to sport a Confederate flag.

Questions have arisen over Wagner’s understanding of the Threefifths Compromise among academics and professors. This has all taken place in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area where 32 percent of the population is African-American, and in the city of Atlanta where 54 percent of residents are African-American. It is estimated that 31 percent of Emory students are members of a minority group. An article was published in Emory’s newspaper discussing the editing process of the President’s statements.

Professor Farrelly wrote that “A number of people did read the column before it went to print. An administrator there said that the problem … was that all of the people who read the column beforehand had been white. I must say, I found that explanation to be inadequate and somewhat offensive. It implies that white people like me, don’t see—and can’t see—how stupid the column was because we are white; That you need to be a member of a marginalized racial group … to recognize that the Threefifths Compromise was a tragedy.”

President Wagner has since apologized for his statements.

“Certainly, I do not consider slavery anything but heinous, repulsive, repugnant and inhuman. I should have stated that fact clearly in my essay,” he posted in an online statement.

“I am sorry for the hurt caused by not communicating more clearly my own beliefs. To those hurt or confused by my clumsiness and insensitivity, please forgive me.”

The president of the Black Student Alliance at Emory has said that she forgives the president for his statements but is not surprised that incidents such as this occur. The magazine incident happened soon before a reception was held at Emory to honor the work of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference after the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences decided to delay a decision on sanctioning the president, but have voted to censure him.

sports

4 The Brandeis Hoot

March 1, 2013

Baseball team leaves Florida with 2-4 record

By Charlie Romanow Staff

As spring training began in the MLB, Brandeis’ baseball team also spent quality time in Florida. The Judges played six games last week in Central Florida as part of the Russ Matt Tournament, leaving with a record of 2-4. Brandeis faced a variety of competitors from the NCAA as well as the NAIA. Three of the losses were against Augustana College.

During the most recent game on Feb. 24, the Judges played the Rochester Institute of Technology.

The RIT Tigers led the game into the eighth inning but gave up four runs to allow the Judges to win 6-5.

The bulk of these runs were driven in by senior Chris Ferro’s loaded double, which drove in all three runners. Brandeis played well, recording 15 hits. Kyle Brenner ’15, Rob Trenk ’15, Pat Seaward ’13 and Zach Bardwell ’15 each had two hits, with first-year Liam O’Connor ’16 leading with three. Trenk and O’Connor each scored twice, while Ferro led with four RBIs. The Tigers had a few players score multiple hits but were not able to take advantage of them, leaving seven runners on base. Dylan Britton ’13 started for the Judges with six innings of solid pitching, allowing Craig Rothenberg ’16 to get the

win and Kyle Brenner the save. The Brandeis pitching staff was unable to strike anyone out. RIT’s pitching was led by Ethan Humbert who pitched 6 and one-third innings while only allowing one earned run.

Brandeis’ game on Feb. 23 against the Augustana Vikings left the Judges on the losing side of a 6-0 shutout.

The Judges used many of their players, with 13 players getting a chance to bat, one pinch running and five taking the mound. Dave Maher ’16 had two hits for the Judges, while the Tigers’ Jacob Van Duyne went 4-4 with two runs and two RBIs. Kurt Schmidt also helped the Vikings with three hits and two RBIs. The Judges’ starting pitcher Elio Fernandez ’15 only lasted two-thirds of an inning with Jesse Link ’13 pitching one-third before having Colin Markel ’14 pitch six and one-third, striking out four and allowing two runs. Augustana’s pitching staff dominated with 10 strikeouts and allowed only seven hits.

The close game on Feb. 22 was against Augustana College, ending in a 5-4 loss for Brandeis. The Judges’ starting pitcher Mike Swerdloff ’13 went on a streak of 10 straight outs.

Brandeis’ success began in the seventh inning with two runs followed by another two in the ninth. As with the following game, the Judges tried out many players with 12 players get-

ting at-bats, and another three position players getting into the game.

Nick Cortese ’13 and Brenner each had two hits, with the latter contributing two RBIs. The game was tied going into the bottom of the ninth but was lost after giving up a hit, making an error, intentionally walking a batter and hitting the final batter. Neither team was able to get any extra-base hits. Brian Ing ’14 was left with the loss after allowing two hits and zero earned runs.

The first matchup against Augustana was a close one ending at 3-2 in favor of the Vikings. It was a pitcher’s matchup as each team scored with solid old-fashioned hitting. As with the following game, the Judges lost a close one on a silly mistake. This game ended with a runner being picked off.

Cortese and Trenk each had two hits. Bardwell had a good eye, getting on-base with two walks. Brenner received the loss, pitching six strong innings giving up 10 hits, but only two runs. Augustana was led by Jacob Van Duyne, who was 4-5 with two runs.

They had three other players achieve multiple hits with one hammering a solo home-run. They also had effective pitching from starter Jared McIntosh who put in eight innings, giving up on six hits and two runs, allowing their closer to get the save.

Brandeis’ first loss of the season

came against Southeastern University; the Judges lost this game 4-1.

Brandeis came out with an early lead in the first, but was unable to add any more runs. While out hitting the Southeastern Fire, the Judges were unable to move runners up due to grounding into seven double plays in the game. Each team struck out six times. The Judges left seven runners on-base, while the Fire also had trouble moving runners to home, leaving eight runners on-base. Daniel Mims of Southeastern hit a two-run home run and scored twice. The Judges put six pitchers on the mound with Britton starting the game with four and two-third innings and four strikeouts while also recording the loss. Ing pitched two innings of no-hit ball later in the game. Southeastern utilized three pitchers, ending with a successful save.

Brandeis started the season with a 12-3 win over the hometown Warner University Royals. The Judges dominated most of this game adding six runs in the fifth, and another three in the sixth after Warner came out with an early lead. Brandeis had a slew of impressive performances with Cortese and Ferro each going 3-6 with two runs, and Brenner, Dan Gad ’14, Tom McCarthy ’15 and Bardwell each having two hits. The Royals committed six errors while having two play-

ers contribute multiple hits. Markel started for the Judges, pitching five and two-thirds, allowing four hits and one run, with Swerdloff ending the game with two innings, allowing one run.

While a 2-4 record is not what the team had hoped for going into the tournament, it seems that they have successfully used these early season games as a warmup for future UAA competition. The Judges had 16 players get an at-bat during the week, with an additional two getting a chance in the field and 10 being able to take the mound. Hopefully, the team has seen what combinations of players will work and will be able to adjust in further games.

Colin Markel ’14 also agreed with this sentiment.

“I really feel positive about the direction that the team is headed in.

Obviously our most important games take place during our UAA trip to Florida because it’s league competition, but every game and really every inning counts toward a successful season,” Markel said. “We are really starting to feel good out there on the field and starting to play with a lot of confidence. And, individually, if everyone steps up and does their job, collectively we’re going to flourish.”

The team has a break from games until March 9.

Men and women’s fencing both win 1st place overall

photo by jessie kirshner/the hoot

March 1, 2013

SPORTS 5

The Brandeis Hoot

Men’s basketball suffers disappointing end to season

By Charlie Romanow Staff

The men’s basketball team had a disappointing final week of games with losses to Washington University and New York University on Feb. 17 and Feb. 24. The Judges had beaten both teams last month but were not able to continue the hot streak to salvage an NCAA tournament berth.

Brandeis lost 76-60 to the Washington University Bears and 59-57 to the NYU Violets.

The final game against the Violets pitted the 14-10 NYU team against the 17-7 Judges in New York. As Brandeis’ last game of the regular season, there was a lot of pressure on the team to win and increase their chances of a postseason bid. The Judges did come back from a large halftime deficit but were not able to make up

completely for the first-half shortfall.

The team was led by Gabriel Moton ’14 who put up 14 points and a gamehigh six assists. Youri Dascy ’14 led the team with eight rebounds as well as 11 points. First-year Kevin Trotman had a career-high nine points.

While down by 10 early in the second half, the Judges were able to keep the game within reach for most of the duration. After a 10-point deficit, Trotman came up with five quick points and a 3-pointer by Moton brought Brandeis within two. The Violets came back strong reinforcing the lead before the Judges were able to take the lead with nearly five minutes left. Only three points were made in total by the two teams in the last two minutes. This cold streak left the Judges on the wrong side of the loss, with an unsuccessful last chance attempt with 0.4 seconds left.

As is the trend during the last few weeks, the Brandeis team was about

even with its opponents in the main statistical categories. The Judges were not as successful in the paint, but shot better from beyond the arc as compared to NYU. Brandeis led the Violets in bench scoring by a margin of 20-7. What cost Brandeis the game was most likely the 10-18 performance from the free throw line with a couple of more successes from the line giving the Judges the lead or sending the game into overtime.

NYU’s strong duo of Devin Karch and Cory Stockmal each had 19 points with Karch contributing six rebounds and Stockmal eight. The Judges have struggled in shooting efficiently during the past few games, failing to shoot above 40 percent in their final four games. The Judges leave the weekend 17-8 overall and 8-6 in the UAA, while NYU leaves 15-10 overall and 5-9 in conference.

The game against 17th-ranked Washington University was not as close as the NYU game. The Judges lost their Senior Day matchup 76-60 at home. The home team was unable to shoot effectively during the first half, which they left with an 11-point deficit. Brandeis shot only 27.6 percent from the field in the first and only 18.2 percent from 3-point range.

These numbers rose to 40.6 percent and 33.3 percent in the second half.

Brandeis moved a bit closer to the Bears at the start of the second but was not able to maintain enough momentum to catch up to Washington University. The Bears’ largest lead of the game came to 19 points.

Scoring double digits on the Brandeis side, Moton put up 11, Freeman, 12, and Dascy led the team with 17. Dascy also contributed eight rebounds while Moton had six assists. The Bears’ lead in rebounding continued against Brandeis, out rebounding the Judges 43-30. Washington University’s Ben Hoener led the game with 25 points, while Chris Klimek and Alan Aboona put up 14 and 10, respectively. Matt Palucki led the game with an impressive 12 rebounds.

While having moments of success, the Judges were unable to play consistently well during the entire game, a problem that has surfaced and resurfaced numerous times this season. Brandeis left the game 17-7 overall and 8-5 in conference before

photos by paula hoekstra/the hoot

heading off to New York. The Bears left the game 19-5 overall and 9-4 in the UAA. Washington University finished their regular season at home against the University of Chicago with a decisive win that left the team with an automatic postseason bid and the 22nd ranking in the country— although they were tied with 13thranked Rochester and Emory at 10-4 in conference play. All three teams are advancing to the NCAA Division III tournament.

Coach Brian Meehan believes that the team was in a good place for a postseason bid but was not able to step up and make that extra step.

“We are obviously very disappointed. We felt we had positioned ourselves well for post season selec-

tions but came up just shy. We can point to injuries and sickness late in the season but the truth of the matter is we still had enough talent to win the games we needed but we just didn’t step [up] when the time came,” Meehan said.

“As we move forward to next season I believe we need to change the culture of the team quite a bit and focus on working harder and [making] a big commitment to individual improvement of each player,” Meehan added.

The NCAA tournament will begin on Saturday. Two of the Judges’ early season competitors, 16th-ranked Rhode Island College and 2ndranked Amherst College have each earned bids to the tournament.

Women’s basketball goes 2-1 in final stretch of season

By Dani Chasin Staff

The women’s basketball team brought their season to a close during the February break with two wins and one loss: the Judges beat the University of Chicago, vindicating a loss earlier in the season, and fell to Washington University in an emotional Senior Day on their home court the next day.

Their final game at New York University resulted in a victory, solidifying an overall record of 10-15 and a conference record of 4-10.

Against the University of Chicago, the Judges had a quick start and put the Maroons under tremendous pressure on offense. Nailing the first seven points of the game, the Judges scored 33 points in the first half and 35 more in the second half to bring their winning score to 68-50. The Maroons, also contesting shots on offense, found themselves one step behind the Judges the entire game and went 40 percent in shooting while the Judges went 43 percent.

The Judges’ offensive highlight of the game was guard Janelle Rodriguez’s ’14 standout performance with

a career-high 22 points. Nailing four 3-point jumpers and shooting 66.7 percent from the field, the third year veteran from Massachusetts recorded 10 points in the first half and added 12 more in the second half. She even managed to achieve another teamhigh with six assists while also contributing five rebounds.

Behind Rodriguez in scoring was forward Erika Higginbottom ’13 who scored 10 points. Both junior center Nicolina Vitale and senior forward Courtney Ness had eight points apiece while Ness also led the team with 10 rebounds. Altogether, the Judges forced 19 turnovers on the Maroons while giving up 14.

Higginbottom said that beating Chicago the second time around was a rewarding experience for her team.

“Beating Chicago felt like we’d finally gotten that win we deserved.

We’d been working too hard and coming so close. It was nice for it to finally pay off against Chicago,” Higginbottom said.

In the game against the Washington University Bears, the Judges played for the last time on their home

court for the season while dedicating the match to the senior players.

Unfortunately, the contest resulted in a tight 62-57 loss for the Judges, but their performance in this match drastically improved from their previous matchup with the Bears where they lost 60-28.

Higginbottom said that Senior Day was both bittersweet and emotional for the team.

“All of the seniors felt like our day came too soon but we all went out and played hard. I couldn’t be more proud of our team and even though we didn’t win on my Senior Day, I am very happy with how we played,” she confessed.

Although the Judges took an early 7-6 lead into the game, the Bears managed to contest their shots and break away in the first half by as much as seven points. Ending the first period with a tight score of 26-25, the Judges lagged a bit behind on offense in the second half, gaining 32 points compared to the Bears’ 36 points.

With just more than two minutes left in the game, the score was tied at 54-54 after a layup by guard Hannah

Cain ’15. But the Bears unrelentingly nailed two 3-point jumpers to break away from the Judges and win the game.

Cain had an impressive career-high performance for the Judges, nailing 17 points and going 53.8 percent in field goal shooting. Both guard Kasey Dean ’14 and Higginbottom tied for 10 points apiece while Dean also led the team with five assists. Rodriguez led the team with six rebounds off the board.

The final game of the season against the NYU Violets resulted with an 11-point win for the Judges with a score of 72-61. At halftime, the Judges were down 28-36, and had to regroup in the second half to come back from their eight-point deficit. After battling back in the second half, the Judges added 44 points while only allowing 25 more from the Violets.

With nine minutes left in the game, both teams were tied 47-47. A quick 3-point jumper by Rodriguez sparked an offensive rally by the Judges that lasted until the end of the game.

Brandeis, shooting 34.4 percent in the first half, largely improved their

performance in the second half with a 42.9 shooting percentage.

Nearly all five starters for the Judges achieved double digits in scoring for the game. Higginbottom led the Judges in scoring with 16 points in which two baskets were hit from downtown.

Both Rodriguez and forward Samantha Anderson ’13 scored 12 points apiece. The other two starters, Dean and Cain, both recorded nine points apiece while Cain also led the team with seven rebounds.

Now that their season is over, the Judges can look back at everything they have accomplished. Playing on the road four times and battling through 25 games, 14 of which were against UAA competitors, never seemed to stop the Judges from bringing their hearts on the courts.

“The things that I’ll cherish most from my basketball experiences at Brandeis didn’t happen on the court.

My teammates and coaches have made this such an amazing journey for me. I won’t remember the games forever but I have met some people that I’ll be friends with for a lifetime,” Higginbottom said.

6 The Brandeis Hoot

“To acquire wisdom, one must observe.”

Editors-in-Chief Jon Ostrowsky Emily Stott Connor Novy News Editor Victoria Aronson Features Editor Dana Trismen Features Editor Lassor Feasley Opinion Editor Morgan Dashko Copy Editor Nate Rosenbloom Photography Editor Ally Eller Photography Editor Jun Zhao Graphics Editor Rachel Hirschhaut Deputy News Editor Senior Editor Debby Brodsky

Volume 10 • Issue 6 the brandeis hoot • brandeis university 415 south street • waltham, ma

Founded By Leslie Pazan, Igor Pedan and Daniel Silverman

staff

Shota Adamia, Emily Beker, Emily Belowich, Dani Chasin, Dori Cohen, Gilda DiCarli, Ally Eller, Lassor Feasley, Ben Fine, Evan Goldstein, Maya Himelfarb, Paula Hoekstra, Brittany Joyce, Ari Kalfus, Sarah Sue Landau, Rebecca Leaf, Nathan Murphy Needle, Aliya Nealy, Alexandra Patch, Max Randhahn, Brendan Reardon, Zach Reid, Zoe Richman, Charlie Romanow, Alex Self, Alec Siegel, Diane Somlo, Sindhura Sonnathi, Jennifer Spencer, Matthew Tagan, Alison Thvedt, Yi Wang, Shreyas Warrier, Pete Wein, Lila Westreich, Linjie Xu, Suzanna Yu

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.

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

ADVERTISE

Advertising in The Brandeis Hoot helps spread your message to our readers across the Brandeis campus, in the Waltham community and beyond through our website.

All campus organizations receive a 25 percent discount off our regular prices. We also design basic ads for campus organizations free of charge.

To reserve your space in the paper, contact us by phone at (781) 330-0051 or by e-mail at ads@thebrandeishoot.com.

GIVE A HOOT, JOIN THE HOOT!

Writers, editors, photographers and graphic artists wanted to join The Brandeis Hoot, your weekly community newspaper.

To learn more, send us an e-mail at join@thebrandeishoot.com, or visit our website http://thebrandeishoot.com/join. unsolicited submissions

We welcome unsolicited submissions from members of the community sent by e-mail to eic@thebrandeishoot.com. Please limit submissions to 800 words. All submissions are subjected to editing.

editorials

March 1, 2013

Tuition increase in discord with Univ’s mission of social justice Brandeis administrators need to take college affordability much more seriously.

The proposed four percent increase in tuition does not correspond with Brandeis’ mission of embracing social justice and accepting students based on academic excellence, not financial ability.

If Brandeis wants to be perceived as an institution that can be easily accessible to those who can contribute to the school’s vision, it needs to guarantee tuition will remain the same for matriculated students.

That isn’t going to be easy. Social justice never is. But it is the right thing to do.

A four percent increase may be relatively small for one year’s tuition, but the current student body planning

to enroll next year will experience more than an 8.85 percent tuition increase over two years because of last year’s 4.85 percent increase. It places the current undergraduate student body at a disadvantage if we should expect four percent increases each year because by the time we graduate, we will have paid a substantial amount of money more than we intended to when we first enrolled.

The administration’s plans to reevaluate the budget and to cut spending are important, but their primary focus should be committing to give any student the opportunity to come to Brandeis, regardless of ability to pay, should he or she be accepted. The continual increases in tuition hinder that effort.

As a young institution, it is understandable that Brandeis is challenged

with having a much smaller endowment than its competitors. But if Brandeis wants to continue to stand out as a school whose mission is to provide an education along the principles of social justice, it must act.

So promise to keep tuition costs constant for current students. At The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., students will not experience any changes in tuition or financial aid for five years after enrollment, provided they remain in good standing.

This template would continue to allow the university to raise costs to keep with inflation pressures from its peers, but also lock students into the same rate for their entire college career.

Students can’t be allowed to go broke in order to pay for college. Now is the time to act.

Arts, etc.

March 1, 2013

The Brandeis Hoot 7

Alum Aaron Ritzenberg discusses his new book: ‘The Sentimental Touch’

By Dana Trismen

the way that literature responds to social change.” Ritzenberg has found a way to combine his love of English and history through examining these Alum Aaron Ritzenberg, who grad- societal movements in his book “The uated with his Ph.D. from Brandeis Sentimental Touch: The Language of in 2006, claims, “I love to think about Feeling in the Age of Managerialism.”

Editor

ritzenberg After earning his PhD at Brandeis, Ritenberg works at Columbia and writes.

Ritzenberg believes his passion for literature started at an early age. “I have always loved reading and talking about books,” he said. “In third grade I wrote a book called ‘The Greatest Dog,’ which was basically a rip-off of a book called ‘Cross-Country Cat.” He

photo from internet source

went on to write for his high school newspaper, but mentions that many of his articles were written in a joking tone. True to form, Ritzenberg today says playfully, “I think ‘The Sentimental Touch’ (my next book published 25 years later) is better than ‘The Greatest Dog’ … That said, ‘The Greatest Dog’ has way more pictures—all drawn by me.”

Now the Associate Director of First Year Writing at Columbia University, Ritzenberg recalls that it took him six years to earn his Ph.D. “By far my favorite part of graduate school was teaching,” Ritzenberg said.

“I had so many great students—superinteresting, super-smart, really intellectually curious.” Ritzenberg boasts of the merits of the Brandeis English Ph.D. program. “I think the English department is very good,” he said. “I learned a lot.”

At Columbia, Ritzenberg is a lecturer in discipline in English and Comparative Literature. He focuses on writing pedagogy and has published articles on icons such as Harriet Beecher Stowe, Sherwood Anderson, Charles Chesnutt and the like.

“The Sentimental Touch” explores the fate of deep and thought-provoking literary conventions between the 1850s and 1940s, and how despite increasing technology and urbanization, these forms of language were still able to endure.

“I’m interested in the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century because of the massive social upheaval that was happening in the United States at that time,” Ritzenberg said.

At a time where American culture became increasingly detached and businesslike, sentimental language

somehow managed to hold its own.

“The world of profound emotion seems to oppose the world of business management,” said Ritzenberg. “But, as I explain, our feelings are themselves subject to economic and cultural systems. Sentimentalism forces us to confront the facts that our emotions—what we experience as coming from deep within ourselves—may in fact be programmed and mechanical.”

Combining feelings with industry and English with historical facts, Ritzenberg’s text is an impressive feat.

Ritzenberg said that the book was not an easy labor.

“When I was working on the book, I would try to write every day (even if just a little),” he said. “But I would occasionally step away from the book for months at a time.” He mentions that this allowed him to “return to the project with renewed energy.”

As for advice for students who long to become authors, Ritzenberg reveals insightful advice.

He himself was aided by camaraderie and friendly input, saying, “Over the summers, I met with a couple friends once a week who were also working on writing projects.” Ritzenberg also advises, “Write about something that you’re deeply and sincerely interested in. Write about an intellectual problem that you can’t quite figure out or that your mind keeps returning to.”

He urges students to “remember that writing is a powerful way of thinking … don’t write when you already have the answers. Write when you need to figure stuff out.” As this alum solves questions about the use of sentimental language in centuries past, perhaps he will inspire current undergraduates in their own writing.

Sparks delievers great casual read in ‘Save Haven’

By Emily Beker Staff

As the recent theatrical version of “Safe Haven” hits the big screen, the Nicholas Sparks novel has been heavily advertised and mentioned in conversations. During break, while looking for a book to read, I saw “Safe Haven” on the Kindle store, listed under the most popular recent books. Always a big fan of Nicholas Sparks, I knew it would be a fun read and easy to digest while relaxing over break.

The book, as expected, was as enjoyable as could be. The main characters, Katie and Alex were stereotypical Nicholas Sparks characters. They were easy to fall in love with and root for when they were kicked down. Alex, the main male character is your typical everyday man. But the twist on his character is that he’s a widower.

Most of Sparks’ male characters have gone through a tragedy, but this one has a different storyline that makes Alex a character for which you root.

The fact that he is a single father and runs the family business, is a new storyline for Sparks. His personality is not unfamiliar, however, as Nicholas Sparks relies on stereotypical male protagonists. Sparks maintains his style with this character even though he has gone slightly outside his lines.

Katie, the female protagonist in “Safe Haven” is an even more interest-

ing character. She has a strong and upsetting backstory, but given the way this novel is structured, we see her as a strong woman at first glance. It is not until almost the middle of the novel that we find out she is running from something. The drawn-out ambiguities about what or who she is running from made me not only want to read on, but also sympathize with her.

As with every Nicholas Sparks novel, the romance is understated and it is a struggle for the main characters to be together. As I read the novel, I began to feel for them and wanted their relationship to work out. There was resistance from Katie, again another typical feature of Spark’s books.

The star-crossed lovers theme is expected from Nicholas Sparks, and that definitely has a prominence in this novel.

As with other Sparks novels, there is a third character that stands in the way of the characters. This novel takes that character to the extreme.

Kevin, Katie’s dark past, only emerges halfway through the book. In “Safe Haven” Sparks changes perspectives in different chapters. The constant change in perspective is confusing at first, because it is not expected.

He takes Kevin’s character as the victim to an extreme I have yet to see in the different novels I have read.

Kevin has hateful thoughts that he eventually acts upon, putting the main

save haven film Nicholas Spark’s novel is popular enough to hit the big screen.

characters in danger. As a big threat, he adds a level of excitement to the close of the novel. Readers are aware of his intentions, so Sparks creates a bit of dramatic irony. As Kevin gets closer to reaching his ultimate goal, audiences start to fear for the characters we have come to love, who remain

unaware.

The minor roles played by Alex’s two young children is not unfamiliar, but on the scale of occurrences, children played a much larger role in Spark’s other recent hit, “The Lucky One.” The added characters give an added layer to Alex and Katie’s rela-

photo from internet source

tionship. The fact that there are children involved makes readers’ desire for their relationship to work all the greater.

This novel is an epitome of Nicholas Sparks, but remains a purely enjoyable read for the beach or a casual weekend.

8 The Brandeis Hoot

This week in photos

March 1, 2013

Ski Team Hits the Slopes

photo by ian roy/the hoot

theater Theater season kicks off with “Rabbit Hole.�

photos by maya himelfarb/the hoot

arts, etc.

March 1, 2013

The Brandeis Hoot 9

Heartbeat musicians transcend conflict

By Vihn Nguyen Staff

An hour and a half into Heartbeat’s Wednesday concert in Levin Ballroom, all nine Israeli and Palestinian musicians placed their instruments to resting position. With violins held to the side, drumsticks quieted and sound placed down, each member took front stage; sharing their stories to shed light on the experiences of youth caught in-between the IsraeliPalestinian conflict.

The members then proceeded to open the floor to the audience, where they were met with the question, “How is the government responding to your efforts?” A question to which Heartbeat’s violinist, Siwar Mansour answered, “Nothing, but we are doing what they think we can’t do.”

Indeed, founded in 2007 under a Fulbright-mtvU award, these talented musicians are doing something that their governments sometimes can’t seem to do: transcend conflict by coming together—and doing so through music. Since Heartbeat’s inception nearly five years ago, the organization has brought together more than 100 young Israeli and Palestinian musicians to use music as a way of enacting change toward a better future in the Middle East.

This is Heartbeat’s debut tour in the United States, traveling across much of the East Coast to bring an ensemble of Arab and Jewish musicians, ages 17-22, to perform at various venues, communities and universities. Brandeis marks the sixth spot on their tour and was brought to campus through Hillel. Jake Altholz ’15, as the Israel Programs Coordinator of Hillel’s student e-board, played a major part in bringing Heartbeat to the Brandeis campus.

“Heartbeat represents a group of people who are from different backgrounds showing unity between the two, and is an opportunity to see both sides coming together,” said Altholz on the

importance of Heartbeat coming to Brandeis.

On the stage, the nine young Jewish and Arab artists truly did show Brandeis both sides coming together and expressing through music what words sometimes fail to do. The Heartbeat musicians played all origi-

Arts Recommends

photo from internet source

By Dana Trismen Editor

“Silver Linings Playbook” is an Oscar darling with a win for best actress, Jennifer Lawrence. It was nominated in all seven Oscar categories. This isn’t the reason audiences should flock to “Silver Linings Playbook,” however. The film is for people who have struggled with anxiety or have felt hopeless, which—let’s face it— describes every college student. It’s a movie for those who feel like outcasts in their families. Specifically, it is for

photos by ally eller/the hoot

passion for music Young artists share musical talents and personal historys with audiences.

those who try to identify with their father’s interests just to get him to approve of their actions. “Silver Linings Playbook” is not a stereotypical Oscar favorite with regality and honor such as “The Kings Speech.”

Instead, it is a movie in which actors frequently swear and Bradley Cooper jogs around in a garbage bag and enters a dance contest. Although the film deals with realities such as bipolar disorder, there are many comic aspects as well. I will grant a concession to the Academy Awards: Jennifer Lawrence is my new idol.

nal songs of which they wrote based off of their own personal narrative of living in the conflict. One such song, called “The Wall” spoke about the dividing wall in Israel. Despite being physically divided by the wall, the people on either side still share the same sunlight, music and air that made them similar. The song was powerful in the deeper message it conveyed of coming together through shared identity. The songs that the group performed were mostly in Arabic and incorporated some English.

Nonetheless, band members introduced every song and gave a short description so that the message could be understood even if the language was not.

Stylistically, their performance blended together traditional melodies with modern beatbox and rap elements to produce a sound that was fresh and upbeat. Mohammed Kablawi was memorable as the group rapper and beatboxer in the way he was able to hum, slur and oscillate his lines to make them sound remarkably percussive.

All the members were great in the ways they complemented each other musically. This was clear in that despite having such a mix of instruments—from violas, to the oud and guitar, both acoustic and electric— the members were able to create a sound that was well-balanced and colorful in timbre.

In their last two songs, the ensemble asked the audience to sing along, teaching the lyrics to them. Then, the audience was divided into two halves where one half was asked to clap out straight beats while the other a more syncopated rhythm. Although the two rhythms seemed different, they fell perfectly in time when clapped together to create something much more dynamic and musical. Similarly, Heartbeat reminds us that this idea

a night of song Students join to spread a message of peace.

can be translated to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict where two seemingly clashing forces can come together in perfect harmony.

From this, as Sarah Copel ’15 noted, the Heartbeat performance “shows the Brandeis community a creative

way to promote peace by reaching people through a medium that everyone can understand: music. Brandeis was founded on being accepting and appreciative of everyone, and Heartbeat showed us how achievable and beautiful that can be.”

10 ARTS, ETC.

The Brandeis Hoot

March 1, 2013

WSRC artist presents emotion of social change through ‘Burka Fittings Across America’

By Victoria Aronson Editor,

Capturing the array of emotional responses witnessed when individuals across the nation were asked to don a traditional burka, artist Marie Rim presented “Burka fittings across America” to the Brandeis community at the Women’s Studies Research Center on Tuesday. Through her work, Rim seeks to pursue the question of whether “art can inspire empathy and bridge cultural divides.”

Initiating the presentation with videos depicting the reactions of participants who tried on the burka, Rim’s work as an artist is manifested not only in her physical creations, but in the social responses she observes and collects. Upon trying on the garment, participants along the street were asked to view their reflection in a mirror and share their immediate reactions.

Amid exclamations of, “I’m yearning for peripheral vision” and the common sentiment, “You can’t express who you are,” one participant reflected, “Oh my God, I look like a threatening creature from Star Wars.”

The overwhelming response of participants demonstrated a deeply embedded sense of unease, although some approached the experience with a sense of humor or self reflection.

As a garment often linked with connotations of female oppression, particularly in the Western world, the burka is reaped with controversy.

Rim, however, explains that her original desire to engage in this project as stemmed from personal rather than political motivations. Originally, she had been pursuing work within television, film and theater industries as a costume designer and scene artist.

During this time period, she recalls her emerging fascination with torsos and plaster body casts as a medium for her art.

Following an emotion-laden breakup, she obtained a second-hand wedding dress, which she proceeded to immerse in gallons of primer before sewing it to a drop cloth. Using this as a template for her work for the next year, she explains, “this was a grief-stricken body of work.”

She began incorporating movement within her work, collaborating with her dance instructor to bring the growing number of wedding gowns to life. Asserting that “art is an encounter,” she began to use the dresses as a means of facilitating connections, holding fittings directly on the street. As men and women alike stopped to try on her artistic dresses, her art coincided with debates surrounding same sex marriage and was hence described as an excellent initiative for gay rights.

Rim traces her original fascination with the burka to her experience while viewing the film “Circumstance,” depicting two female lesbian lovers in Iran.

Describing her own struggles with sexuality, she recalls the desire to empathize with the women further, fueling her decision to order a burka.

Intriguingly, she says her immediate reaction to wearing the burka was one of terror, although this emotion was later replaced by a sense of calamity. Capturing this transition, she reflects, “It felt so good not to feel visibly gay for a second.”

Acknowledging her personal motivations for initiating the burka project, Rim explains, “As an artist, my intention is not to put out a public service announcement, but to inspire dialogue.” Originally, she associated the burka with female oppression and subsequently felt sympathy for women who don these garments. How-

burka fittings across america Artist Marie Rim explores American attitudes towards the burka.

ever, she explains how these associations have become more complex, as she began sympathizing with women who willingly choose to wear the burka, yet must endure political connotations of victimization as a result.

Having worked in costume design, she reveals, “I was very aware of the power of clothing, the transformative power that goes on for actors.” As she began to dabble with the notions of burka street fittings, this power became all the more apparent.

As a consequence of her work, Rim confesses she has been criticized for using the burka for her own artistic and personal reasons. After conducting her street fittings of burkas, she reached out to scholars to attempt

to make sense of the perplexing array of reactions she witnessed and to explore whether the project could be expanded as an empathetic practice.

The responses she received were conflicted, including a statement from a professor of African American art history and visual culture who equated the project to, “reducing other cultures to play through imitation,” blatantly stating, “I reject such projects.”

Rim’s work has been further criticized for its limited scope and potential to spread prejudices surrounding Islamic culture. Having only utilized citizens who do not wear the burka, Rim has neglected to ascertain the motivations and beliefs of women who willingly choose to wear the bur-

ka. Instigating a brief disagreement among audience members, one woman provided valuable insight, stating her reaction to a woman in a burka and a woman half naked in a bikini were no different. She described how some women might regard the burka as, “empowering, it’s a fashion statement. Who am I to judge?”

Still, issues were raised regarding the relative safety of burkas from a purely practical perspective, given the concealing nature of the garment and the lack of peripheral vision. Comparing the burka to western articles of clothing, another member interjected, saying, “to move in high heel shoes with a miniskirt is also a skill.”

Inspired, other participants suggested

photo by ally eller/the hoot

utilizing the context of agency as a means of further elaboration for the project to attain a deeper understanding of the burka beyond its reputation as a mechanism of oppression.

Recalling a humbling experience in her life during which she abandoned her apartment in order to return home to live with her parents due to financial reasons, Rim explains, “I felt like I was broken open in such a way that I could reach out to others.”

Although this desire culminated in criticism surrounding her work with burka fittings, Rim states, “you know when at your most vulnerable all you have is your authenticity and desire to reach out to other people, that’s what was behind my urgency.”

March 1, 2013

ARTS, ETC. 11

The Brandeis Hoot

Professor potrays one of America’s favorite presidents

By Dana Trismen Editor

Professor John Burt’s (ENG) recently published book “Lincoln’s Tragic Pragmatism” is garnering great critical acclaim—a high honor given that Burt wasn’t sure it would be published in his lifetime.

“I had to say, I never really thought I was going to finish it, never mind that it would make such a splash,” Burt said. Yet, “Lincoln’s Tragic Pragmatism,” an impressive work totaling 832 pages that Burt spent 26 years completing, has been published even before Burt’s retirement. Instead of viewing Lincoln as a political or historical icon, the book instead paints him as a figure in political philosophy.

Burt’s interest in the Civil War era stems from Robert Penn Warren, an American poet and novelist from the South, whom Burt admires. Burt mentions Warren’s focus on the morality in the South, which he saw as a static society. “Warren’s view of Lincoln really interested me,” Burt said.

“He was a white Southerner that had at one point sponsored racial integration and then changed his mind about it, and this insight about Lincoln was very valuable to think about.”

Burt also states that he is an ‘Americanist,’ a scholar of American history and culture. “The big story of the United States is the story of its confrontation with the history of slavery and the history of racism,” said Burt.

“So the central event is the run up to the Civil War and the extended consequences that still exist today.”

The New York Times describes “Lincoln’s Tragic Pragmatism” as “a

work that every serious student of Lincoln will have to read,” a text that portrays Lincoln as a philosophical and moral man. “Lincoln is hugely treated as a political figure or a historical figure,” Burt said. “It is not usual, though not unheard of, to treat him as a figure in political philosophy.”

Burt follows in the footsteps of Harry Jaffa, who portrayed Lincoln similarly in his book “Crisis of the House Divided” in 1959.

Yet, critics are arguing that Burt’s book has finally been the one to surpass Jaffa’s. Burt’s book focuses on Lincoln’s ability to morally compromise. “The problem with taking in a really morally strenuous position is that it tempts to the belief that you are different morally in kind from your opponents,” said Burt. “It was very important of Lincoln not to lose sight of the humanity of his opponents.”

Burt mentions some of the concessions and compromises Lincoln made. For example, his idea of gradual, compensated emancipation. “He did not imagine himself terribly different from the slaveholders,” Burt said.

He went on saying that Lincoln admitted that if he had been born in the South, he probably would have been against the end of slavery, or at least not have known what to do about the issue. “He felt obligated to offer what he thought were reasonable concessions to them.”

A large amount of Burt’s text concerns itself with the debates between Douglas and Lincoln. Burt argues that these are key historic moments because, “Lincoln had to defend himself against an opponent in these

debates … Douglas was a formidable opponent … he wasn’t humiliated; he held his own.” Burt mentions that in that era, political debates were more vicious than the ones held today. “[They used] lots of extremely lewd tactics against each other,” said Burt. “That said, they also came to grips with some very important issues.” Lincoln’s performance in these debates proclaimed what exactly his moral compass and views were. For Burt, these debates were a way to examine Lincoln thoroughly. “They were a place where most politicians had to articulate what democracy really meant to them,” Burt said.

Burt is a professor of English at Brandeis, but argues that history and literature are intertwined. He believes you cannot teach a text without mentioning its historical backdrop. “First, when you’re teaching American literature, you’re always responding to the culture and politics of that era,” he said. Burt also argues that literature has a lot to do with history. “My reading of Lincoln is not a straightforward historical one because my evidence is literary,” said Burt. “I read his speeches with an eye for subtext and nuance and suggestion, and that kind of reading is essentially a literary way for reading.”

Burt also mentioned the literary concept of negative capability in terms of Lincoln. The president “followed out intuitions that he himself did not fully understand at the time,” an interpretation that, again, Burt argues is a “literary concept.”

As the Civil War recedes further and further into the past, Burt argues that its legacy still endures. “We con-

photo from internet source

john burt English professor produces monumental text.

tinue to fight Civil War issues straight through to the present,” he said. “Certainly through the Jim Crow era, our politics were completely distorted by the failures of reconstruction.” Burt went on to mention President Johnson in the 1960s, whose policies led the Democratic Party to change their allegiance on the issue of racial integration. Burt believes this was an “echo of the politics of the Civil War era.”

Twenty-six years in the making,

Burt’s book is a well thought out portrait of one of America’s favorite presidents. “Now of course, it’s not that I didn’t publish anything else, I published enough to keep my hand in [during that time],” said Burt. “But this book I chewed over and chewed over and rewrote for 26 years.” Burt’s time and effort have paid off: He has succeeded in bringing to life an extremely influential, morally conscious man, one who was always respectful of his opponents.

Brown professor talks on classical studies research

By Zoe Richman Staff

Brandeis’ Interdepartmental Program in European Cultural Studies welcomed Johanna Hanink to campus Wednesday to speak about her research in classical studies. Hanink studied classics at both the University of Michigan and the University of California Berkeley, and received her Ph.D. from Queens College in Cambridge. She is now an Associate Professor of Classics at Brown University in Providence, R.I. Hanink’s research passions include examining how classical tragedy was received in ancient times and how and why only a limited number of plays have survived to the present day. She also has a rooted interest in “Greek theatrical production, performance in and of classical Athens, and in the interrelated poetics and politics of the Great Dionysia and the Athenian epitaphios logos,” she said.

Currently, Hanink is in the last stages of completing her first book, “After the Death of Tragedy: The Theatrical Past in Fourth Century Athens,” which will be published by Cambridge University Press.

Upon introducing herself on Wednesday, she acknowledged that her lecture was not only a discussion of her book for the classics-invested audience. In addition, her outline of Athenian history and the development of her work would also serve as a tool “to remember what [she] was trying to argue while writing the book.”

Hanink reflected that, as she began, she “decided to just start writing in an area [she] was comfortable in.”

As a result, the book took a different turn upon further research and analysis. She advises students to follow a

johanna hadink Brown professor argues Greek tragedy is still relevant today.

similar path, letting their motivation guide them in the writing process.

“After the Death of Tragedy: The Theatrical Past in Fourth Century Athens” is based on relationship between the history of the third-quarter of fourth century Athens and its influence on the development of Greek tragedy.

The book discusses how the direc-

tion of Athenian history dictated that only a slim number of Greek tragedies would survive into the modern era.

Hanink began her lecture by framing the history of Athens in the thirdquarter of the fourth century. She posed the question, “Can theater save a city?” In answering this question, she described the opinions and works of a distinct cast of characters, includ-

photo by nate rosenbloom/the hoot

ing Philip of Macedon, Alexander the Great, Demosthenes, Aeschines and Aristotle. This collection of scholars was “all aware of each other, interacting either indirectly or directly,” she said.

She then sketched the Athenian theatrical landscape, referring to famous playwrights including Carcinus II, Theodectes and Chaeremon, who

were all mentioned in the work of Aristotle. However, she noted, no fourth century tragedy has survived.

Hanink’s lecture was both engaging and thought-provoking. The questions she posed against the backdrop of Athenian history not only drew in the audience but also highlighted the continued relevance of Greek tragedy in our own society and culture today.

12 The Brandeis Hoot

opinion

March 1, 2013

Popular music: battlefield or cohesive genre?

By Lassor Feasley Editor

It’s Saturday afternoon and as you are watching hours of uninterrupted relaxation fly by, a thought occurs to you. What would enhance this gorgeous afternoon better than a sampling of today’s popular music hits?

You switch on the boombox radio (a staple of every modern college dormitory room) and tune it to the hits station. Just your luck! They’re playing the top 20 countdown. You smile to yourself in anticipation for the serenade of which you are about to bear witness.

The top 20 most popular songs in America. Who could devise a more coherent set of tracks? After all, there must be some sort of common theme governing the chords that resonate with mass audiences. You hum along with a familiar Taylor Swift song, thinking it’s bound to be a classic.

Rihanna follows that up with a slow, soulful melody, a perfect segway into “Hey, Ho,” the runaway success from the debut band “The Lumineers.”

Nothing could soil these hours of perfectly coordinated musical intonations, you think to yourself as you revel in the sonic waterfall that has come to fill your afternoon. The track comes to a close and you wait in baited breath for the next. You are starting to hear a pattern; there seems to be a rhyme and reason uniting each song, a common link between the hits.

Suddenly, “Thrift Shop” blasts out of the speakers. You jump up in shock, clearly there’s a mistake. You fanatically try and connect the incessant trumpet and sharp rap of Macklemore to the tracks, which until now had followed one another in perfect harmony. As you search for the missing link, the track comes to an end

Self Shelf

photo from internet source

and suddenly the room is filled with Baauer’s earth-shattering track “Harlem Shake.”

Another anomaly. It has no relationship to any of the previous tracks.

And here you thought that the top 20 was going to be a harmonic walk in the park. As Swedish House Mafia’s “Don’t You Worry Child” erupts into the room, it dawns on you: Popular music is no longer a coherent genre, it’s a war between disparate forces, each vying for the top of the chart.

And what you thought would be a peppy way to lighten up your afternoon has just turned into a battlefield.

Come to think of it, the Billboard Top 20 hits have not had had a sense of continuity since the late 80s. Back then, popular America knew what it wanted. Flawless vocals punctuated by synthy beats. Moralistic, patriotic, nostalgic messages were interwoven within the lyrics, which flowed seamlessly with loud, instrumental tunes.

For the majority of the Billboard Hot 100 list’s six-decade history, the hits were cohesive enough to fit under

one genre, “popular music.” An afternoon spent listening to the hits could be enjoyed without the disjointedness of today’s seemingly uncoordinated top 20 list. Popular music used to evolve. You could trace the tunes of Led Zeppelin to the Rolling Stones, the Stones to the Beatles, the Beatles to Ricky Nelson and Nelson to Elvis Presley.

But since the late 80s, popular music has consisted of a hodgepodge of disparate genres and artists. Rather than developing from one another, songs seem to clash in a desperate bid to win the hearts and minds of the listening public.

What does this mean? Has the development of music ceased to be a constructive and collaborative effort?

It seems that we demand so much novelty from pop that musical trends are deemed cliche before they ever mature into a common trope. Under such strenuous conditions, how can a common language of musical intonation form? If the creation of pop music is no longer constructive, is it

degenerative?

One explanation for the lack of coordination in pop music could be that, where in the past, pop catered to one mass market, today, several different constituencies of listeners have a hand in deciding what makes a song popular. In other words, the listeners that make a Jay-Z song popular are different from those that make a Justin Bieber song rise in the charts.

While this statement may not seem controversial, if true, it represents a major shift from how hits were made in the past. Where once composing a popular song meant making something for everyone, today, songwriters cater to a specific niche, targeting their song to a faction of popular listeners.

The reason this trend is so perverse is that even if a song is built for a fraction of the popular audience, it is heard by everyone. In order for a song to achieve glory on the charts, it has to play well on hit radio stations. These stations struggle to remain well-rounded in an increas-

When humor crosses the line

By Alex Self Staff

Like millions of other Americans, I watched the Academy Awards on Sunday night. Having been brought up in a family that placed “Entertainment Weekly” in the same magazine pile as “Time,” I grew up wellversed in movies and other popular culture along with the news of the day. Watching the Oscars is something of a holdover from my younger days, when I used to gather around with my entire family to cheer on the movies I liked. This time, I looked forward to doing the same with good friends and good takeout.

I knew that Seth Macfarlane was hosting and I was interested to see the mix of eccentricity, hilarity and outrageousness he would add to, what had been in prior years, a painfully boring show. My expectations centered around a mix between the outlandish humor of “Family Guy” and the more conventionally unobtrusive humor that had become the hallmark of the Academy Awards. I guessed that Seth Macfarlane would take the Jon Stewart approach, i.e. nothing that went too far. This impression lasted all of three minutes into the show, at which point, Macfarlane launched into a full out Broadway-ized ode to actresses’ buxom upper halves bared on the silver

ingly polarized popular environment.

They need the Bieber fans to put up with Jay-Z and vice versa, otherwise popular music would cease to live up to its name and collapse into several respective genres.

So what? You might ask. If there is no longer demand for a unified genre of popular music, what is lost? I think it is important that the popular music tradition stay alive. The realm of popular music is where there has always been the most innovation. In addition, having a coherent popular consensus helps us to keep a pulse of what the world is really like. When I want to know what it was like in the 50s, I often listen to the hits of that era. Knowing what the broad public deemed fit for mass listening helps me comprehend the texture of the cultural fabric of that time.

When historians of the future look back on today’s popular culture, what will they see? A cacophony of seemingly unrelated sounds. When they ask, “Who were the people of the early 21st century,” no cultural ambassador will step forth to receive them with an answer. Will we be lost?

A culture completely unknowable for all eternity? I don’t want that. And I think most people would agree.

So what can we do about it? Obviously there is no central authority governing what is popular from one day to another. We can only hope that our culture makes up its mind to consolidate and form a stronger sense of coherence. I tend to think that the mechanics of popular culture will inevitably move in this direction. Sooner or later people will collectively decide what genre will carry the day. Fads will die out and the truly timeless artists and songs will prevail.

Hopefully, when the dust settles, we will finally have a cultural consensus with which everyone can identify.

photo from internet source

screen.

This initial foray struck me as juvenile, although not terribly offensive.

I thought that here was the predictable “Family Guy” style of humor and that the rest of the show would run smoother. One could imagine my surprise, then, when this number turned out to be the tenor of Macfarlane’s performance. What followed were three and a half hours peppered

with misogynistic, homophobic and anti-Semitic jokes. After the Academy finally wrapped up the ceremony by atoning for its egregious snub of Ben Affleck for best director by awarding “Argo” best picture, I went to sleep rather disappointed by the ceremony.

This all led me to ponder where the bright line should stand in regard to humor: When should society condemn a joke? I personally grant a fair

amount of leniency to comedians in regard to content. I believe that one of their most important functions in society is to push the boundaries of good taste in order to further societal discourse and test societal mores. Comedians like Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor and George Carlin all helped push the boundaries of acceptable dialogue in society. This change, overall, helped pave the way for a more

progressive society. For example, George Carlin’s “Seven Dirty Words” did more for free speech in America than most lawyers do during their entire lifetimes.

Often, these comedians used language and or ideas that would have been considered offensive at the time in order to make their points. In that context, I think that offensive language should be publicly tolerable.

Additionally, in general, I am a large proponent of free speech. I feel that the police power of the state is a terrible weapon and ought to be used only when absolutely necessary to protect society or to protect others from direct harm. Yet, I do feel that the boundaries of good taste must be drawn somewhere.

It may be legal to make a blatantly homophobic joke on television in front of millions of people, but you probably should not try to do so unless you are making some sort of deeper point. Macfarlane’s problem was that he really was not making any deeper point or at least not one that I (or apparently any other critics) could readily identify. In the end, the jokes seemed tired, pointlessly offensive and, at times, just plain boring.

Society as a whole is no better off for having to hear yet another joke about Jewish people in Hollywood.

See MACFARLANE, page 14

March 1, 2013

SECTION 13

The Brandeis Hoot

Slam dunk contest not an all star weekend highlight

By Charlie Romanow Staff

The NBA All-Star Weekend recently took place in Houston from Feb. 15-17.

Some of the most anticipated events on Saturday included the Shooting Stars Competition, Skills Challenge, 3-Point Shootout and Dunk Contest.

The Shooting Stars Competition involved three professional players (one current, one past NBA player and one WNBA player) shooting from a variety of pre-designated spots on the court, which progressively become more difficult at each location. The last spot was from the half-court mark.

While those that promote the competition contend that efficient shooting from all of the spots are necessary to win, statistically that does not seem to be the case.

In this year’s competition, there was a .88 correlation between the number of attempts from the half-court line and the total time that the trio took to make all six shots. This correlation is a highly positive correlation, as a correlation of 1.0 is the strongest. From this statistic, it is obvious that the majority of the competition results in the skill or luck that follows from making a half-court shot.

One bright spot of this contest is that it has continuously attracted players of the highest caliber, with current young stars Chris Bosh, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Brook Lopez as well as well a group of WNBA players who have gathered a total of 20 All-Star appearances and nine WNBA championships. Seven-time champion Robert Horry participated as well as Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins.

Bosh, Cash and Wilkins took home the trophy.

During the Skills Challenge, the league’s best point guards ran through an obstacle course type of setting by dribbling, passing and shooting. This event also included a long shot to be made, although it was only just in front of the 3-point line and beyond the paint. The correlation between how many attempts it took to make that jump shot and the competitors’ total course time was .88, as it was with the Shooting Stars Competition.

It’s clear that the larger part of the skill in this competition was shooting, even though it was a “skills challenge,” which was meant to test a point guard’s

photo from internet source

most vital skills. This competition also included a litany of young stars with the average age of only 24. The contest included up-and-comers Jrue Holiday (the first person to play in the NBA born in the 1990s) Brandon Knight, Damian Lillard, Jeremy Lin and Jeff Teague, as well as last year’s winner, Tony Parker. Lillard took home first place.

The third competition was the 3-Point Contest. As with the previous events, this event heavily involved shooting, although in a more direct sense than the others. Competitors had one minute to shoot a maximum of 30 3-pointers. This year’s shootout included All-Stars Paul George and Kyrie Erving, as well as Steve Novak, Stephen Curry, Matt Bonner and Ryan Anderson. Erving was the winner.

The final and generally most anticipated competition was the Slam-

Dunk Contest. During the past few years, the contest has been known for including athletes that are not the greatest dunkers and for the resulting number of attempts that it takes the players to make a dunk. Years ago, the best of the best wanted to participate in the contest but that sentiment has strongly faded. This year’s competition included Gerald Green, Terrence Ross, James White, Eric Bledsoe, Jeremy Evans and Kenneth Faried.

Faried was the MVP in the Rising Star’s Challenge after scoring 40 and grabbing 10 rebounds. Ross won the contest with 58 percent of the fan voting. The game is meant to be a “Who’s Who” of the top players, but instead leaves the viewers asking “Who is Who?” as the players have not had strong careers and have not made their names notable. The games’ best players and best dunkers, including

Kevin Durant, Lebron James and Kobe Bryant, were not participants in this year’s contest.

Of those three, Bryant is the only one to have participated, although in 1997. The participants averaged only 16 minutes per game and six points per game during the regular season, hardly warranting for All-Star Weekend participation. The most noticeable dunks were those that were completed through one attempt, as a common theme was the recurrent dunk, which were attempts that lessened the excitement and buzz around the competition.

What made this event slightly amusing was the broadcasters’ commentary, particularly Hall of Famers Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley, who had coached each of the teams in Friday night’s Rising Stars Challenge.

The commentators had the same thoughts about the lack of talent and abundance of slam dunk attempts as the audience did. They were trying to hold back their laughter at the negative comments about the participants and the lack of playing time that the players receive during the regular season compared to the abundant attention that they receive during the Slam-Dunk Contest.

The All-Star Game was played as usual with the West winning the game for the third consecutive year, and Chris Paul being crowned the game’s MVP. In a related note, K.C. Jones, NBA Champion and Hall of Famer for the Boston Celtics was the coach of the Brandeis men’s basketball team from 1967-1970 and went on to win two NBA Championships and coach the Eastern Conference to two AllStar victories in 1984 and 1986.

Signs of liberal hope in Obama’s speeches

By Roy Fan

Special to the Hoot

A little less than two weeks ago, President Obama gave his State of the Union address, 24 days after being sworn in for a second term. This annual, constitutionally-mandated event, once again affords us the opportunity to reflect upon not only what we Americans have thought of the term that had recently ended, but also upon the outlook for the next four years under the Obama administration.

Last November, after a long and bitter campaign, Barack Obama was re-elected president with 51 percent of the popular vote and 332 electoral votes. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party strengthened their majority in the Senate. Even then, Americans were probably justified in feeling a little underwhelmed and disappointed with Obama’s first four years. Obama made history in 2008 by becoming the first black president after running an

organized and spirited campaign that inspired a generation. Despite his efforts, he only ended up being stonewalled by a united and increasingly conservative Republican opposition in Congress on a number of key initiatives.

Sure, the fact that the Republicans were so unwilling to compromise and so willing to undermine the president at any cost is not the fault of the Obama administration. There is no hiding the fact that he made a string of promises to the American people in 2008 and has thus far struggled to keep many of them.

Because of a sputtering economy, undelivered promises and an almost continuous state of deadlock in the nation’s capital, some expected the president to struggle for re-election or, at the very least, for the Democrats to lose control of the Senate. Yet, that did not happen. Obama’s campaign used the advantage of incumbency to build an early—albeit slim—lead See OPTIMISM, page 14 photo from internet source

14 OPINION

The Brandeis Hoot

March 1, 2013

Did Seth Macfarlane go too far?

MACFARLANE, from page 12

If anything, these jokes only serve to entrench stereotypes that should have disappeared long ago. Thus, insofar as these jokes are actively harmful in promoting these stereotypes and have no redeeming value, they merit condemnation.

The next day, I woke up to find that most of the world had taken a similar tack on Macfarlane’s performance. I don’t think that his performance was the most offensive thing that took place in the past week—that honor goes to “The Onion” for calling a nineyear-old a word that I cannot print (which, in all fairness, they dutifully apologized for)—but it struck me as

the embers of a dying set of tropes. I would argue that the reaction to this event, including social networks and the media at large, shows that this form of tired, harmful humor is starting to peter out in terms of popularity.

This is an encouraging sign. There is no way to end these stereotypes but to actively reject them as a society. Otherwise, they will continue to perpetuate themselves. I think that comedians like Macfarlane are well-meaning and simply want to make people laugh. If society shows that it is not laughing, he and other comedians like him will move on from these archaic tropes.

Hopefully, this reaction will help continue to spur society in the right direction.

photo from internet source

Reason for optimism in Presidential address OPTIMISM, from page 13

that was never relinquished. Senate Democrats pounced on several mistakes made by Republicans in order to strengthen their position in the Senate, the result of which has sparked debate among political commentators. Did Obama simply run a smarter campaign operation? Was Mitt Romney too boring, too out of touch and too fundamentally flawed as a candidate to beat a president who naturally had more charisma and personal appeal?

While the answers vary greatly across the spectrum, the results seem to indicate that although voters were indeed somewhat dissatisfied with the first term, Romney and the Republicans had simply drifted too far right to appeal to the majority of voters as a viable alternative. Nevertheless, when all is said and done, the second term has begun and administration must now contemplate how to move forward.

I, for one, believe that Obama should take a firmer approach to his second term. Since he no longer has to worry about re-election, Obama

can focus his energy on pursuing initiatives to which he is truly committed. As his Senate voting record demonstrates, Obama is a liberal-minded politician, and he should now be more free to be himself and to stick to his own principles.

The Inaugural Address and the State of the Union show encouraging signs of this. Even though I’m sure the Republicans had already prepared their critical remarks even before Obama wrote the two speeches, the president stuck to his liberal position in both.

In his Inaugural Address, Obama reaffirmed his support for equal treatment of gay couples and advocated for increased investment in education.

In the State of the Union address, he proposed raising the minimum wage to $9 an hour as well as instilling more programs to renew America’s infrastructure—all of which, liberals would be quick to support. The president should continue in this vein and govern more with his instinctively liberal conscience throughout the next four years.

Naturally, there are hurdles with this approach—as there are with any.

The Republicans saw their continued

majority in the House as vindication of their extreme conservative positions and have made it clear that they will continue to be unyielding and uncompromising in their quest to chip away at the size of government.

If Obama pushes forward with liberal initiatives, bipartisanship is evidently not going to get any easier. I would, however, argue that given the state of the modern Republican Party, bipartisanship is practically impossible without doing something that would harm the country.

Sure, bipartisanship is a noble ideal to which to aspire, but an administration with sound policies that gets things done should not be sacrificed for it. Let’s not forget that the American people re-elected Obama after he instituted nationwide health care, banking reform and the allowance of gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. I encourage the president to call the Republicans’ bluff, for I believe that if the president sticks to the progressive policies that the country needs with a united Democratic Party, then the country will eventually come to recognize the good that he has done.

photo from internet source

The housing hassle: Is there really a better way?

By Emily Scharf

Special to the Hoot

Anyone who hopes to call one of Brandeis’ on-campus dorms home next year knows that lottery numbers were distributed via email on Friday the 22nd. While current first-years lament an 800-and-something number and upperclassmen fret about the possibility of residing in a tent on Chapel’s Field next year, the question that begs to be asked is: Isn’t there a better way to get housing? Many Brandeis students have already expressed their frustration with the completely random lottery system employed by the Department of Community Living, but most seem to have few ideas as to how to improve the flawed system. It is the general consensus, however, that allowing luck to decide one’s housing placement should not be the only way.

Some might want housing to be based on academic achievement. I, myself, sometimes think that those who do well should be rewarded with first choice housing, but there are other factors to consider. How do you differentiate the GPAs based on killer science classes versus a bunch of easier liberal arts classes (I think

we can all admit that the premed kids just have it harder)? How do you make a such decisions when mental disabilities like dyslexia can impede someone’s academic performance? As much as it would be wonderful to get a tangible reward for your hard work, it just isn’t fair to hold everyone to the same standard.

What, then, can we use to determine how worthy someone is to be able to choose their place in the hierarchical ranking of housing selection? It isn’t as if there is some formula to dictate how much one person’s need is compared to another’s. No matter what system is employed, there will always be someone complaining about getting picked last (gym class flashbacks, anyone?). The truth is, we clamor for a way to gain housing based on something other than chance or luck, but is there really no better way? Some schools do housing selection online in which your dorm arrangements are dependent on how quickly you can maneuver the website before the server crashes. Just recall the frenzy of course selection on SAGE earlier this year, so it’s clear that this is not a better option.

See HOUSING, page 15

photo from internet source

March 1, 2013

OPINION 15

The Brandeis Hoot

Changes needed to housing lottery HOUSING, from page 14

Perhaps what we need is not a way to be picked first but a way to not always be picked last. First-years get housing based on the date of their enrollment deposit. Those who were less certain about coming to Brandeis or those who had to negotiate for financial aid were therefore stuck with the worst housing a firstyear can have: the forced (or lofted) triple. To even it out, those with poor housing one year should be given the gift of a better lottery number the next year. But this is too subjective!

How could one determine what exactly qualifies as worse housing? In reality, the quality of the housing is largely dependent on the student’s preference. An introvert would likely find Rosenthal Quad an undesirable place to live; whereas, the more outgoing student would find it to fit their needs perfectly.

What we need then is not to give preference but perhaps, to allow stu-

dents to show a preference. Let’s think of the housing lottery in much more concrete terms. Supposed that for every year at Brandeis, a student is granted 25 slips of paper with his or her name on it to put in the large abstract “housing lottery” bowl (or perhaps a swimming pool would be a better place for these many, many slips).

Suppose that this represented your chance of being selected. Well, let’s say you want to live in the Castle—an option only for sophomores—more than anything Well, then you would have the choice to put more slips of paper in for your sophomore year housing lottery, thereby increasing your chances of getting a better number for that one year. Then, for the next two years, you would have fewer slips to place within the metaphorical swimming pool of the housing lottery. The downside to this theory, however, is that no matter how many slips you put in, there will always be someone picked last despite attempts to increase his or her odds.

No matter which way you slice this

puzzle, the Department of Community Living has seemingly employed the only fair way of allowing students to choose housing. While the lottery system isn’t perfect, it is fair. It is left purely to luck and chance, and while that is perhaps unacceptable to those with bad numbers, those with high numbers will praise their good fortune. The fact of the matter is that not everyone can have a good number.

Someone will always come first, and someone will always come last, with many more in-between. I think the real question here is: Why should our numbers matter? Why can’t we have enough dorms to house our students, and why can’t all of our dorms be nice enough to want to be picked first?

The heart of this issue is not the system but what we are left with for residence options. If Brandeis supplied its student body with enough residence halls of comparable quality to one another, then our lottery numbers simply wouldn’t matter, and all the stress associated with them would vanish faster than you could groan, “874.”

photo from internet source

Don’t call them cute.

They’re businesswomen.

photos from internet source

By Ally Eller Editor

Every year, Girl Scouts as young as five and as old as 18 sell the oh-so delicious Girl Scout cookies that we can’t seem to get enough of. The boxes come in every color of the rainbow and contain not only cookies, but also tools for girls to develop business skills. The cookie program has been refined since I was a Girl Scout, and now focuses on five skills: goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics. When cookie season is over, girls and their troop leaders are able to talk about and reflect upon what they have learned, and what they can change to make the next cookie season even more successful. Girl Scouts who complete cookie sales can proudly show off their skills through pins and patches attached to their uniforms.

It’s tempting to buy cookies from Girl Scouts, especially Daisies and Brownies, who are in kindergarten through third grade, because they’re cute. But we should really buy them because doing so shapes the business-

women of the future. Some day, the skills learned through cookie sales will enable girls to run companies, maybe even start their own businesses. Cookie sales are building the future.

Goal setting is the first skill girls learn when preparing for cookie sales.

Girl Scout leaders talk to their troop about the basics, such as how much a box of cookies costs, and thinking about how many boxes they think it’s possible to sell. For younger girls, this is often done visually, through a chart they can color in as they sell boxes.

This skill is key not only in business, but also in life as a whole. Girls learn about the hard work that goes into achieving a goal. Learning goal-setting at a young age helps girls think about what they want to become as they grow up.

Decision-making is the next piece of the Girl Scout cookie puzzle. Once girls have made a collective decision about goals, they have to decide what the money will go towards. Sometimes, the girls don’t agree and have to talk it out, and learn that it’s okay when they don’t get their way. This is crucial for girls to learn as they get older. Too often, parents don’t ask their daughters to make decisions – they indulge their children without having them make choices. Making decisions shows girls that they have a choice, and that they are responsible.

They won’t always have a parent, or another adult, to help.

When you’re selling cookies, you need to learn about making money, and how to manage that money. With girls from ages six to eight, my troop leaders and I had to get creative when teaching girls who are just learning basic math skills. By making cardboard props of coins, our Daisies and

Brownies were able to identify coins and their values, and figure out what combination of coins equaled different amounts. Teaching girls these skills enables them to be financially responsible and being to manage their own money.

Girl Scout cookie sales bring out the personalities of even the shyest girls. Girls need to be able to talk to people about why they’re selling cookies. Customers ask them questions, like what their favorite cookie is or what they like about being a Girl Scout. If the girls have positive interactions with customers, they sell more and build confidence at the same time. This confidence stays with them and can make them more successful in school, and later in the workplace.

Finally, girls learn about business ethics when selling cookies.

They understand what it means to keep a promise, and how a business can be hurt if someone doesn’t keep their word. As a leader, I help my Girl Scouts apply this to friendships and other relationships, so that they understand it’s important to keep a promise in every situation.

As cookie season comes to a close, I’ve seen troops in the SCC selling cookies, and there will undoubtedly be more troops there in the next week and a half. When you buy cookies from them, don’t just tell them they’re cute. Encourage them to add your total, and ask them questions. After all, we’re trying to create the leaders of the future.

16 The Brandeis Hoot

this week in photos

March 1, 2013

Carnavale Comes to Brandeis

photos by ally eller/the hoot