The Brandeis Hoot, Best of

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Volume 18 Issue 2

“To acquire wisdom, one must observe” www.brandeishoot.com

Brandeis University’s Community Newspaper · Waltham, Mass.

August 2020 - March 2021

Univ. releases anti-racism draft plan

Panel on Uyghurs Zoombombed By Victoria Morrongiello, Celia Young, Teresa Shi and Emma Lichtenstein

By Victoria Morrongiello, Sabrina Chow and Celia Young

editors and special to the hoot

editors and special to the hoot

A panel discussing the Uyghur people—a Muslim-Turkish ethnic population living mainly in the Xinjiang region of western China—was disrupted by Zoom users who wrote “FAKE NEWS” and “Bullshit” on a presenter’s slides and played China’s national anthem, according to students who attended. Attendees and presenters alike were displeased with the results of the panel, according to interviews with The Brandeis Hoot. The panel, held on Friday, Nov. 13, focused on Uyghur Muslims living in Xinjiang, China. The

The university’s draft plan to address systemic racism focuses on examining policing at Brandeis, student financial burdens and faculty and staff hiring, salaries and promotions, according to a Nov. 10 email from President Ron Liebowitz. Liebowitz called for feedback to the draft, which intends to increase diversity, education and training on racism to ensure a campus free of discrimination. The draft plan is a compilation of action plans created across three major parts of campus: public safety and human resources, community living, resi-

See PANEL, page 3

PHOTO BY SABRINA CHOW/THE HOOT

See ANTI-RACISM, page 7

BAASA event gives healing space for students affected by Anti-Asian racism By Victoria Morrongiello editor

Student leaders of the Brandeis Asian American Student Association (BAASA) put together an event on Anti-Asian racism and violence which has esca-

lated in the United States, days after the attacks in Atlanta, offering a place for healing for students affected by the trauma. The co-presidents of BAASA Juliana Hyojoo An ’21 and Ellie Kleiman ’21, and Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM) coordinator Grace Wang ’23 spoke about Anti-Asian racism

and creating a safe space in our communities for people of color. “There is the violence that we are actually seeing which is the physical assault of Asian folks, versus the violence that we don’t see as explicitly like poverty, houselessness, unemployment, et cetera,” said Wang during the event. Anti-Asian racism is structural

and systematic and it goes past the physical assaults being reported. The “invisible violence” hit hard with the COVID-19 pandemic, since South Asians have one of the highest test positivity and death rates in New York City, according to Wang. Anti-Asian racism is also seen in structural inequalities like housing and food security.

Wang added that many frontline workers are also likely to be from the Asian American community which puts them at a higher risk for developing COVID-19. Wang discussed the increased Anti-Asian violence occurring in the United States in big citSee BAASA, page 8

Professors strike to protest racial injustice in higher ed. By Teresa Shi editor

Brandeis faculty members joined professors across the country in a two-day strike to draw attention to racial injustice in American higher education on Sep. 8. Professors walked out of their academic duty and implemented their educating roles about racism in non-traditional settings, such as social media, Youtube and other discussion platforms. Professor Dorothy Kim (ENG) wrote to The Brandeis Hoot in an email that her strike experience “was mostly concentrated on social media and particularly Twitter to share these resources and materials specifically about Anti-Blackness, police violence, and

Inside This Issue:

#BlackLivesMatter.” The technology-based strike provided a platform to be more participant-driven and knowledge-exchanged, according to Kim.“Since so many of us are now teaching remotely and it’s difficult to do in-person teach-ins and demonstrations, I think the effort towards digital media—[Facebook], Twitter, Youtube—allows us to highlight the range of topics, teach-ins, and education that highlight these issues that can be shared and used with faculty and students throughout the world,” said Professor Kim. Some Brandeis professors have also adjusted the class materials to acknowledge racial injustices, according to Kim. She assigned the entire book “Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code” to students, changing

News: Award winners contribute to vaccine Ops: The Hoot’s favorite study spots Features: Sweetest way to be charitable Sports: Brandeis Athletics discusses racism Editorials: Vote.

the original plan from only reading the introduction and the first chapter. The book talks about how technologies can reinforce racial inequality and white supremacy. She hoped to discuss the topic when returning to the classroom and provide the students with an option to reflect. While not participating directly, some other professors acknowledged the strike and shared resources about the Black Lives Matters movement. The Scholar Strike was “an action inspired by the NBA, WNBA, Colin Kaepernick and other athletes,” according to the strike’s official website, in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, WI, on Aug. 23. It started with a tweet on Aug. 26 by Anthea Butler, an associate professor of religious

Quarantine

Page 6 Page 18 What coming out of quarantine feels like. Page 15 Page 9 OPS: PAGE 20 Page 11

studies and graduate chair at the University of Pennsylvania, who stated, “I would be down as a professor to follow the NBA and Strike for a few days to protest police violence in America.” In the early stage of the strike, Inside Higher Ed revealed that over 600 professors had committed to strike on Aug. 28. On Sep. 7, Butler told Washington Square News that “more than 5,000 people have signed up and expressed interest in participating.” The strike was entirely online because of the coronavirus pandemic. The official YouTube channel released 58 short videos featuring professors across the country that discussed a wide range of related topics from “Black Muslims and State Violence” to “Scripture in Racial Projects.”

South Park The COVID-19 Edition. ARTS: PAGE 22

Inside Higher Ed reported that “few institutions have openly endorsed the Scholar Strike, but colleges and universities haven’t gone out of their way to discourage faculty or student participation, either.” According to Washington Square News, the dean of Steinhardt in New York University sent an email to the Steinhardt community stating that “I want to recognize those members of our community who may choose to participate in the upcoming #ScholarStrike.” Co-organizer Kevin Gannon, a historian at Grand View University, said that he was paying attention to institutional responses to the strike since many institutions issued statements of support for the uprisings this summer.


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