Volume 15 Issue 8
“To acquire wisdom, one must observe” www.brandeishoot.com
March 23, 2018
Brandeis University’s Community Newspaper · Waltham, Mass.
Seven students elected to top Union positions By Hannah Schuster editor
PHOTO BY MATTHEW KOWALYK/THE HOOT
VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES
Vidit Dhawan, Benedikt Reynolds and Aaron Finkel debated for the vice president position.
Hannah Brown ’19 will serve as next year’s Student Union president, having campaigned on plans to address Brandeis’ affordability and accessibility and to promote collaboration with the administration. Brown is this year’s vice president and has been a member of the Union since her first year. Brown, who ran unopposed, earned 892 out of 1097 votes cast in the presidential race, according to election results from the Student Union. There were 205 votes to abstain or for write-in candidates. The election on Tuesday, March 20 filled seven posts on the Union including vice president, treasurer and junior representative to the Board of Trustees. Brown’s campaign for president
focused on Brandeis’ tendency to “nickel and dime” students with additional costs and fees tacked onto an already steep tuition bill. She wants to talk about overdue library fees, the costs of printing and laundry and the use of purchased course materials like Sapling. When it comes to clubs, Brown emphasized the need for groups to collaborate. She described herself as “middle of the road” regarding the question of whether Brandeis has too many clubs, but argues collaboration will help pool students’ time and resources. Brown also argued that while the barriers to becoming a club are high, the barriers to staying a club are low and that these should be more even. During the campaign, Brown highlighted the strong relationSee ELECTION, page 2
Wellness vending machine to offer free Plan B By Celia Young editor
Brandeis Pro-Choice will be installing a wellness-vending machine that will be stocked with free Plan B, as well as other products that will be available for pur-
chase, in the second-floor gender neutral bathroom in the Shapiro Campus Center (SCC). The installation is expected to take place in three weeks. Brandeis Pro-Choice received a $5,000 grant from Planned Parenthood’s national college program, Planned Parenthood
Generation Action, in October of 2017. Susannah Miller ’19, the president of Brandeis Pro-Choice, applied for the grant and won against other college groups affiliated with Planned Parenthood. The grant was to fund a vending machine with a year’s supply of Plan B. Plan B, or the morning-af-
ter pill, is an emergency contraceptive available at the health center from 9 a.m. through 5 p.m. on weekdays with a clinic visit. The pill is effective when taken within three days of unprotected sex. The vending machine was originally set to be installed in the first floor of the SCC alongside
the other food and drink vending machines. The organization has changed their installation plan slightly since then, however, and it will now be going in the second-floor gender neutral bathroom of the SCC. Miller citSee VENDING MACHINE, page 2
Barry Shrage to join Hornstein Jewish Leadership program By Celia Young editor
Barry Shrage, the president of Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP) of Greater Boston, has been appointed the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program’s professor of the practice, according to an announcement from President Ron Liebowitz on Wednesday, March 21. Shrage is stepping down as CJP president to join the program. Shrage has served as the president of CJP since 1987. The Boston Globe reported his plans to step down on March 23, 2017.
Inside This Issue:
Shrage has a master’s degree in social work from Boston University and in 2017 was awarded an honorary degree by Brandeis University. After announcing the degree last April, Liebowitz commented on his work. “[Shrage] has built a Jewish community here, through the philanthropic work of Combined Jewish Philanthropies, which is unusual in how porous it is, how open it is to all denominations of Judaism but also the non-Jewish world, as well,” he told The Brandeis Hoot in April. See SHRAGE page 3
Page 3 News: Brandeis holds active shooter drill Page 8 Ops: Don’t suspend kids from school Page 5 Features: Students form new majors Sports: Emily Bryson ’19 talks NCAAs and future Page 11 Page 10 EDITORIAL: Reform housing selection process
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Four-legged friends
Dogs of Brandeis provide stress-relief and companionship. FEATURES: PAGE 5
The UTC’s production of Beauty and the Beast opens in the SCC theater. PHOTO BY EMILY SORKIN SMITH/THE HOOT
Into The Woods Theater department musical captures audience’s full attention. ARTS: PAGE 16