Volume 19 Issue 10
“To acquire wisdom, one must observe” www.brandeishoot.com
November 5, 2021
Brandeis University’s Community Newspaper · Waltham, Mass.
Former Student Union secretary speaks out By Victoria Morongiello editor
James Feng ’22, former student union secretary, spoke to The Brandeis Hoot regarding his impeachment and what he believes are potential alternative motives for why other members of the student union wanted him off of the union. Feng was impeached on Oct. 27 due to “gross neglect” of his responsibilities, according to a previous Hoot article. “I am not disputing the concerns that they raised against my performance. Those concerns were valid, those concerns were legitimate—they were true. In regard to those incidents they mentioned, I definitely could’ve done
better … However, what I take issue with is how they handled the situation and their ulterior motives,” said Feng to The Hoot. According to Feng, the reason other members of the student union “hounded” him for his mistakes and chose to hold him accountable was because of their political bias. Feng acknowledged that the acquisition was “fear mongering” and “conspiracy theory-esque”, but he believed he had “solid evidence” to back up his claim. The first piece of evidence which Feng cited was the fact that the former Secretary last semester, Alex Park ’22, made, what Feng considered, similar mistakes. See UNION, page 2 PHOTO BY THE HOOT
Guest lecturer speaks on foreign service experience By Scarlett Ren and Victoria Morrongiello staff and editor
Dave Harden, a former senior U.S. diplomat with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), spoke to Brandeis students on his international experience at an event held on Oct. 28. Harden presented not geopolitical analysis, but past stories of his that be believed would
help shape and expand student’s knowledge about the world. “This is not an academic discussion. This is more about what I saw as a career foreign service officer serving in the Middle East for a very long time,” Harden began the discussion. Harden shared multiple anecdotal stories to give students a new perspective separate from typical geopolitical analysis on the Middle East, said Harden. Throughout his career in foreign service, Harden has worked in South Asia, including in Ban-
gladesh, Pakistan, India and Nepal, and in Central Asia including Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan as a regional legal advisor for USAID. Harden then began his work in the Middle East in August of 2005. This was just before Gaza disengagement, when Israel removed all their military installations, said Harden. During this time, Harden said he learned about the relationship between economics and security. Harden served as a USAID West Bank and Gaza Deputy
Mission Director. In this position he said that he worked closely with Palestinian authorities, civil society and buisnesses. Concurrently, Harden said he worked closely with Israli military and the Israeli private sector. Concurrently, Harden said he worked closely with Israli military and the Israeli private sector. “I was one of the few people at that time who had the authority and the diplomatic cover to talk to both sides. Normally that’s not how it works in our embas-
sy. Normally you get one side or the other,” said Harden. This offered him a very unique perspective of the situation, said Harden. Under the Obama administration, Harden joined the special envoy team where he was on the ground working on issues. George Mitchell—who at the time was appointed as the lead negotiatory between the Palestinian and the Israelis—“dealt with the five issues between the See GUEST, page 3
Univ. students hang red dresses around campus ByVictoria Morrongiello editor
Multiple red dresses have been hung around outdoor spaces on campus as a part of the REDress Project, a project launched by artist Jaime Black. The red dress project was created by Black to draw attention to the missing or murdered Aboriginal women across Canada, according to Black’s website. “Through the installation I hope to draw attention to the gendered and racialized nature of violent crimes against Aboriginal women and to evoke a presence through the marking of absence,” wrote Black in regards to the REDress Project on her page. The red dresses are hung around campus in discrete locations, according to the REDress Project at Brandeis University page. Students of the “Introduction to Cre-
Inside This Issue:
ativity, the Arts and Social Transformation” course have been tasked with hanging the dresses as a part of the installation. “The dresses call attention to the thousands of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada and the U.S. and ask us to take action in the face of this racialized and gendered violence,” according to the university page. The students in the course will be collaborating with Black in order to “situate and contextualize” the dresses in specific locations around campus, according to the upcoming tab on the University’s Women’s Studies Research Center page. The dresses around campus will act as a re-creation of Black’s REDress Project, according to the page, meant to bring attention to gendered and racialized violence which Indigenous peoples in See RED DRESS, page 3
News: Turkey Shuttles return for students Ops: Has Squid Game hype gone too far? Features: Prof. plants have a home Sports: Women’s vollleyball beats Springfield Editorial: Branvan concerns
Page 2 Page 10 Page 9 Page 6 Page 7
PHOTO BY VICTORIA MORRONGIELLO/THE HOOT
Signature’s of stars
Macbeth review
OPS: PAGE 12
ARTS: PAGE 16
Here’s what your favorite celebreties’ signatures say about them.
Double. double toil and trouble fire burn and caudron bubble