Volume 14 Issue 19
“To acquire wisdom, one must observe” www.brandeishoot.com
Playwright withdrew play after frustration with univ. By Ryan Spencer and Elianna Spitzer editors
home within Kinan Azmeh
See ARTS, page 8.
photo by yarisa diaz/the hoot
and Kevork Mourad did a live multimedia performance to tell a story about the Syrian War.
Faculty passes new general education requirements
By Emily Sorkin-Smith editor
Faculty voted at their Nov. 3 meeting to pass the new General Education Requirements, which, if the Board of Trustees also votes to approve, will go into effect for the class entering in fall 2019. General Education requirements have not been fully revised since 1994, according to the Task Force on General Education’s proposal, published on Sept. 5, 2017.
November 10, 2017
Brandeis University’s Community Newspaper · Waltham, Mass.
The Faculty Meeting was led by chair of the Faculty Senate Susan Curnan (HELLER). “I believe that this debate is really about what a university is, and more importantly is about what we believe Brandeis is and should be,” argued Joel Christensen BA/ MA ’01 (CLAS), whose written statement was read by a colleague at the meeting. Christensen expressed his strong support for the new Gen. Ed. requirements, saying, “Only a rigorous training in the humanities can tell us which futures are just and fair for all hu-
man beings.” Debate of the new requirements centered on the language requirement, which states undergraduates must reach “‘intermediate’ proficiency (at least the level of a third semester of language instruction).” This matches Brandeis’ existing language proficiency requirement. Students are also still allowed to place out of the requirement through test scores, classes taken outside of See FACULTY, page 3
Frustrations with communication from the theater department and suggestions to move the performance off-campus preceded playwright Michael Weller’s ’65 decision to cancel the Brandeis debut of “Buyer Beware,” according to Weller and the play’s director Sam Weisman ’73. Weller wrote “Buyer Beware” after he was offered the Brandeis Creative Arts Award. Despite cancellation of the Brandeis production, Weller will still accept the award in the spring. “The
Award is from the university not the theatre department, so I was persuaded to see the actions of the department as not reflecting the principles or philosophy of the university as a whole, which wanted to award my life’s work,” he told The Brandeis Hoot. A Nov. 6 statement from the university attributed Weller’s decision to cancel the premiere of the play to his feeling that a “growing sentiment among some students in the theater department, might not be conducive to the creative atmosphere desired for a premiere presentation of a new work.” The statement continSee BEWARE, page 2
BCC enacts changes to account for increased demand By Hannah Schuster, Elianna Spitzer and Emily Sorkin-Smith editors
The Brandeis Counseling Center (BCC) is adding staff, expanding hours and increasing group therapy sessions to meet increased demand for counseling center resources this semester, ac-
cording to Joy von Steiger, director of the BCC. As of Nov. 8, 489 students have undergone a “brief assessment” this semester alone. The center serves 591 students as of Nov. 8. Von Steiger could not break that number down to determine which students were returning and which were seeing counselors for the first time this semester. See BCC, page 3
BCJ hosts call-in climate campaign By Celia Young editor
Brandeis Climate Justice hosted a phone call campaign Thursday to encourage President Liebowitz to discuss with the Board of Trustees divesting part of the Brandeis endowment out of fossil fuels. The campaign also included a petition signed by over 500 students. From 10-5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9, Brandeis Climate Justice positioned a table outside Farber Library, handing out stickers and flyers detailing what number to reach Liebowitz at and what to
say. They campaigned for divestment, or the removal of endowment funded investments in companies that support or distribute fossil fuels. The table gained at least 50 visitors, according to Daniel Vilinsky ’18 who was working around 1 p.m. The petition, shared around campus by the student sustainability committee in partnership with Brandeis Climate Justice, also gained over 500 signatures according to Cacildia Cain ’18, a member of Brandeis Climate Justice since her freshman year. See BCJ page 2
Inside This Issue:
News: Title IX office loses more staff members Opinions: Dems triumphantly take seats Features: STAR peer advocates support students Sports: UAA final rounds for women’s volleyball EDITORIAL: ‘Buyer Beware:’ transparency issues
photo by elianna spitzer/the hoot
brandeis climate justice
Kindness Day
Page 2 Students participate in kind Page 13 acts for this annual event. Page 12 Page 15 FEATURES: PAGE 12 Page 11
Students handed out informational flyers for BCJ’s call-in campaign to encourage divestment.
Chamber Singers Twenty-five members deliver powerful vocal performance. ARTS: PAGE 8
NEWS
2 The Brandeis Hoot
November 10, 2017
‘Buyer Beware’ director details frustration leading up to cancellation of play BEWARE, from page 1
ued, “Decisions on how to offer curricular material are made by faculty at universities every day.” Previous statements issued by the theater department called the cancellation a “mutual decision” between Weller and theater department faculty which came after “open and productive conversations with Michael.” Weller told The Hoot that he has had little to no contact with members of the department since Bob Walsh, Associate Professor of the Practice of Theater Arts, suggested edits to the first draft of Weller’s script in June. Brandeis’ most recent statement from Nov. 6 is the first to acknowledge Weller’s decision to perform the play elsewhere. Instead of performing “Buyer Beware” in the spring, the theater department will create a teamtaught course to discuss controversial art, including works of Lenny Bruce. The theater department explored obtaining copyright to use the “Buyer Beware” script in the course, but Weller told The Hoot he will not grant them permission. After being named the Creative Arts Award recipient, Weller came to campus on five separate occasions to interview students before writing the play. The content was pulled from approximately 30 official and 45 to 50 casual conversations he had with members of the Brandeis community, according to Weller. He also spent time reviewing in the Lenny Bruce archives in the library. Weller delivered a draft to theater department faculty on June 3. At that time, the play was set to be performed in November, as part of the fall roster. Walsh emailed Weller shortly after reading the play expressing excitement about the play and calling it a “very compelling journey for the students.” Walsh also told Weller that the play need-
ed to “go a notch deeper” on the “faculty/admin storyline.” Weisman read the email aloud in an interview with The Hoot then sent a copy of this email to a Hoot reporter. A few days later, Weller made changes to add “depth and nuance” to several faculty and administrator characters. Weller gave a new version of the script to the theater department and since has had little communication with faculty. Set design for “Buyer Beware” began over the summer, according to Weisman, who met with Cameron Anderson (THA), the faculty member in charge of set design. Designs had been completed and were awaiting construction, according to Weisman. Around late July or early August, Weisman says he received a message from Walsh. The theater department had distributed a draft of the “Buyer Beware” script to the three Undergraduate Department Representatives (UDR) to, according to Weisman, “make sure there is nothing in there that they object to.” A copy of the draft made its way to other students in the theater department and Brandeis community. The Hoot obtained a copy in September. On Tuesday, Aug. 22, Weisman received a message from Susan Dibble, interim chair of the Theater Department explaining that there were a lot of “problems” with the play. According to Weisman, she did not respond when he called back. Dibble did not respond to inquires from The Hoot by press time. In early September, Weisman says he contacted Adrianne Krstansky, Director of Theater Arts, and Walsh about auditioning students on campus for the play. Walsh and Krstansky warned Weisman not to come to campus, Weisman said. They decided to cancel student auditions and he was told that the play was going to move forward with profession-
al actors. Weisman said it was not clear to him why he should not come. Krystansky declined to comment, referring The Hoot to the Nov. 6 press release concerning “Buyer Beware.” Walsh could not be reached for comment as of press time. Weisman met with Dean of Arts and Sciences Susan Birren to discuss fundraising for the play. Weisman contends that Birren was in support of the play, but Birren declined to comment when approached by a Hoot reporter and directed questions to the Office of Communications. On Sept. 12, Andrew Child ’19, a theater department UDR, wrote a Facebook post sharing “one of several letters” he sent to President Ron Liebowitz. In the letter he describes the play as attempting to “vilify the voices of black students expressing dissent.” On Sept. 29, The Hoot reported that the play would be produced on the Brandeis campus, but in the Spring 2018 semester, accompanied by the course about the play and “other provocative works of art.” Around this same time, Weisman says Walsh suggested to him that the performance be moved off-campus to the Watertown blackbox theater. According to Weisman, the suggestion to move the play off-campus with no set, minimal lighting, ten days of rehearsal and two equity actors for an eleven character play, would be limiting. Weisman called Weller to tell him about the suggestion. In an interview with The Hoot, Weller called this suggestion “an attempt to bury the play.” Weller decided to withdraw the play because “the atmosphere that was developing around this play, made me feel that it wouldn’t be a joyous and happy atmosphere to rehearse in,” he told The Hoot. Weller now intends to stage the play at a professional off-campus location with no association to
photo by hannah schuster/the hoot
photo by matt kowalyk/the hoot
the university. In multiple Facebook posts and emails to the theater department and administration, students and at least one alumni voiced opposition to “Buyer Beware” for its use of the n-word and the way it portrayed black characters and the Black Lives Matter movement. “There are black characters who are written clearly by an older white person who doesn’t really understand the nuances of the Black Lives Matter movement,” Child, who read a draft of the play, said in an interview with WBUR. Child organized a forum for Weller to talk with multiple students during one visit to campus in Fall 2016. Child was named the 2017-18 recipient of the Sam Weisman scholarship before the beginning of the academic year. His name has been withdrawn from the award, according to both Weisman and Child. The university would not disclose any information about the scholarship fund to students, according to an email from Julie Jette, Director of Media Relations. Weisman was not aware of the the decision to fully cancel the play until he received a copy of the Brandeis Arts magazine in the mail. Walsh had interviewed Weisman and Weller for a piece in the magazine, in anticipation of “Buyer Beware’s” debut on campus. The piece did not make it into the final copy of the magazine. “I have been wronged without even having a discussion. It is a mixture of anger, confusion, resentment, and deep, deep sadness,” Weisman told The Hoot. “It appears that my association with the university that dates back decades appears to be over.” In 2016, Weisman directed “Freedom of Speech: Lessons from Lenny Bruce” with a cast of six undergraduate Brandeis actors and an undergraduate stage manager. They performed five times in the Greater Boston area and once in Schwartz Auditorium on the Brandeis campus. The play incorporated comedy routines from Lenny Bruce which used the n-word and other racist and sexist slurs. Each performance was followed by a discussion with audience members about free speech and the contents of the play.
The student actors helped create the play, discussing their personal experiences with discrimination and listening to items from the Lenny Bruce archives, which Brandeis acquired in 2014. Playwright and dramaturg Amanda Faye Martin used the students’ discussions from multiple meetings, facilitated by Weisman, to write “Freedom of Speech: Lessons from Lenny Bruce.” Students were able to give feedback and revise content after Martin distributed the first draft of the script. Yair Koas ’19 participated in the 2016 production and read the “Buyer Beware” script. “I don’t see the two as being connected,” he told The Hoot. He preferred Martin’s writing and argued that the student-led process was a “more appropriate” way to handle the play’s subject matter. “The difference is that the group of Brandeis students who devised this script and put it on were a diverse group. We brought our own experiences to the table,” said Koas. Savannah Edmondson ’20 said that the two plays had “similarities and differences,” but had not read the “Buyer Beware” script. Out of six cast members, she was the only black student in the production. Edmondson said that she “wouldn’t be opposed to putting it on again” if asked to perform in a future production of “Free Speech: Lessons from Lenny Bruce.” Laura Marasa ’20, who also participated, said she might have been interested in auditioning for “Buyer Beware” had it been performed. Another participant, Jacob Kleinberg ’18, said that he came to the understanding that people should “have the right to be offensive and disrespectful and wrong” though they may face social retaliation if they do so. “Words themselves shouldn’t be off-limits,” Kleinberg said. Three student cast members reported a positive experience working with Weisman as a director. None of them expressed concern at the use of derogatory and inflammatory terms in the show. Two student actors could not be reached for comment. Both Weisman and Weller are alumni of Brandeis University. Weisman has taught classes at Brandeis.
November 10, 2017
Dramatists Guild of America objects to play cancellation By Ryan Spencer editor
The Dramatists Guild of America and the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund (DLDF) issued a statement on Wednesday objecting in “the strongest possible terms” to “Brandeis University’s decision to cancel Buyer Beware.” The statement criticizes the university’s decision to “buckle to student pressure by cancelling its scheduled production of Michael Weller’s ’65 play, Buyer Beware, due to objections over its content,” and argues that Brandeis “has compromised core principles of academic freedom and abdicated its educational responsibility to offer students a wide range of viewpoints regardless of how controversial they may be.” The guild and DLDF have asked “the Theater Arts department to present a clear explanation for their actions in opposition to this basic principle of higher education,” and to present guidelines which will outline “what viewpoints are permitted to be expressed in a dramatic work produced at Brandeis University.” According the university’s most recent statement, “Mr. Weller made the decision to produce [“Buyer Beware”] elsewhere in a professional venue, rather than at Brandeis.” The decision to withdraw the play came after sugges-
NEWS 3
The Brandeis Hoot
tions by faculty to move the play to an off-campus theater in Watertown, according to Weller and Sam Weisman ’73, who was supposed to direct the play. The Brandeis statement, which can be found on the university’s website, cast the decisions made by theater department faculty as normal and not dissimilar to decisions “made by faculty at universities every day.” The statement by the Dramatists Guild and DLDF recognizes that “no school has an obligation to produce a play” but insists that it is a “universitY’s duty to expose its students to a range of views which challenge and discomfort them.” The statement calls the play “a critique of recent events where college students have demanded the silencing of controversial or unpopular points of view.” “Buyer
Beware” tells the story of a fictional Brandeis student who wants to put on a Lenny Bruce inspired comedy performance despite student protests and attempts by Brandeis faculty to stop him. The guild, which serves more than 7,000 playwrights, lyricists, composers and librettists, “believes that a vibrant, vital and provocative theatre is an essential element of the ongoing cultural debate which informs the citizens of a free society,” according to their website. The Dramatists Legal Defense Fund is a legal extension of the Dramatist Guild which was created to provide a “resource in defense of the First Amendment and on behalf of a robust public domain.” Weller is a council member of the Dramatists Guild, according to the guild’s website.
photo from dramatistsguild.com
Search for OPS director narrows By Hannah Schuster editor
The search for a new Director of Sexual Assault and Prevention Services is narrowing, with the top three candidates visiting campus for open interviews this week and next. The university is seeking a replacement for Sheila McMahon, who left this position in mid-July for a faculty position at a school of social work. Brandeis is also seeking a new Survivor Advocate at the Rape Crisis Center (RCC), following the departure of Julia Rickey in August. The search committee working to fill McMahon’s role conducted video interviews and has invited the three finalists to campus for sessions with students, faculty and staff, according to a Nov. 7 campus-wide email from Sousa. “Each candidate will make a brief presentation about their assessment of the results of the Brandeis campus climate survey on sexual misconduct and how they plan to approach their work in this role given the data,” she said. The “majority of time,” however, will be left for audience questions. The university will also ask for attendees to give feedback after the sessions. The first two visits were on Wednesday, Nov. 8 and Thursday,
Nov. 9, and the final candidate will present on Tuesday, Nov. 14 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Shapiro Campus Center Multipurpose Room. Brandeis aims to hire an OPS director and Survivor Advocate by next semester, though these search processes have been staggered to allow the new director to weigh in on the selection of a permanent Survivor Advocate. Multiple interim staff are filling these positions at OPS and the RCC as the searches progress. There are two part-time Survivor Advocates who each work two days a week, in addition to RCC peer counselors. Interim Project Managers are serving at the Office of Prevention Services, and OPS student workers have also taken on a lot of responsibility, according to Sousa and Paul Sindberg ’18, the Coordinator of Community Engagement at OPS. The university listed both the OPS and RCC positions over the summer, but review began this fall. “Positions like these we very much want student input so…it was better for the overall search for that one to wait until we had started back up with school so that we could have everyone actively engaged,” said Sousa. During the transition period, Sousa emphasized, “All services are still available…There isn’t a disruption in services.”
Brandeis Climate Justice and faculty call for fossil fuel divestment
BCJ, from page 1
Vilinsky described the call-in campaign as “a concrete step you can take to go against climate change and tell him [president Liebowitz] that we don’t support that,” in reference to the investment in fossil fuels Brandeis University’s endowment employs. The petition and campaign were in response to the ongoing investment of a portion of Brandeis University’s endowment into fossil fuels. Liebowitz will meet with the board of trustees from Monday Nov. 13 to Wednesday Nov. 15, and Cain hopes that the call-in campaign will encourage Liebowitz to discuss divestment. President Liebowitz has, in the
past, been committed to combating climate change. On Jun. 1, 2017, Liebowitz joined several other university presidents in signing a statement in support of the Paris Climate Agreement. Brandeis University also published a detailed climate action plan under interim president Lisa Lynch, intending to reduce the University’s carbon emissions by 10% by 2018 and 15% by 2020, according to sustainable Brandeis, part of the university’s web site. The 2016 action plan was created by a sustainability task force in order to “reinvigorate the university’s commitment to sustainability by updating the university’s original 2009 Climate Action Plan,” according to the 2016 report. The 2009 plan was revised
because Brandeis’ carbon footprint had actually increased between 2009 and 2016, according to the report. Cain said that the biggest obstacle to successful divestment, a project of Brandeis Climate Justice since 2015, has been a lack of communication and transparency with the board of trustees and the administration. “No one on the board of trustees will say no to us but they won’t say yes either… That prevents us from being able to escalate like do a sit in... We’re constantly in this in between state where the administration or the board of trustees is saying, ‘well do this and then maybe we’ll talk to you.’ And then we do it and then they won’t. Because they don’t want to say no
photo by elianna spitzer/the hoot
to us.” Cain hopes that the call-in campaign will generate some momentum for divestment. In addition, Brandeis Climate Justice is planning a rally on Wednesday, Nov. 15, the last day of Liebowitz’ meetings with the board. The rally will march from the Rabb steps at 2 p.m. to the SCC and on to the administrative buildings. The protest is taking place on the Better Future Project’s day of action, a Boston area organization focused on divestment of fossil fuels. The Better future project is Massachusetts based, and works with campus’ to campaign for clean energy. Cain has received much support from faculty, students, and staff. At a faculty meeting on Oct. 20,
a near unanimous vote in favor of a divestment resolution proposed by the organization, Faculty Against the Climate Threat (FACT), was held. The resolution supported both divestment and Brandeis’ commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement. The final decision on divestment will be chosen by the board of trustees. Brandeis Climate Justice, originally a part of Brandeis Students for Environmental Action, split off in 2012 to become its own organization. The student run group works on a variety of campaigns and lends support to other college organizations in Boston. The group meets Wednesdays at 7 p.m. in Schwartz 103.
photo by allison plotnik/the hoot
4 NEWS
The Brandeis Hoot
November 10, 2017
Virtual data sprint allows students to become citizen scientists for a day By Juliana An staff
At the Nov. 7 ’Deis does Citizen Science event, 55 students participated in a public discussion examining the ecology of herring migration and counted herring in a virtual data sprint as citizen scientists to support the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA). Guest speaker Patrick Herron, executive director of the Mystic River Watershed Association, held a lecture on environmental issues threatening the watershed and on one of the organization’s programs, the Herring Monitoring Program. In his lecture, Herron noted that the river herring migration to Upper Mystic Lake is the largest river herring migration in Massachusetts; however, over the past 20 years, river herring have decreased by 95 percent due to habitat loss, predators, industrialization and other environmental factors. Before 2011, the DCR Upper Mystic Lake Dam blocked river herring migration to the upper lake, but in 2011, the Upper Mystic Lake Dam Rehabilitation project created a fish ladder, allowing passage for the species. Using the newly built ladder as an opportunity for monitoring, MyRWA installed a camera to count the population numbers of herring. According to MyRWA’s website, in 2017, volunteers counted a record number of 91,997 herring across 81 days and 791 counting slots.
After the lecture, students and volunteers gathered for the Virtual Herring Count, which helped MyRWA approximate the number of fish swimming past a certain point in the river. As citizen scientists, students watched 802 videos and counted 13,681 fish at the close of the data sprint. Students participants included those in Biology 23a: Ecology, the Sustainable Brandeis’ “Save Ohno” challenge, and the general student population. In an email sent out to all participants, Liam
Garvey ’18, a teacher assistant for Ecology and an environmental science major, wrote that they exceeded their goal of 500 videos by the end of the event. The Virtual Herring Count allows MyRWA and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries to estimate the total herring population in the Mystic River and to form trends across the Commonwealth according to MyRWA’s website. Beyond the Herring Monitoring Program, the Mystic River Watershed Association also assesses wa-
ter quality conditions, restores the Mystic Greenway, and removes invasive plants. It also oversees the Stormwater Education collaboration, the Malden River Urban Waters partnership, the Lower Mystic Fish Advisory Project and other species monitoring projects in the Mystic River. “Mystic River is a densely populated watershed. There are a lot of watersheds in Massachusetts, but this one only takes up about 1 percent of the land and has about 7 percent of the people living there,” Herron said.
photo by juliana an/the hoot
“Many of its communities have a lot of environmental burdens because of the industry located there. So we have this interesting watershed that is a very human complex but also a wild ecosystem at the same time,” he continued. “We have dual mission of looking out for the environment and the people living there.” Colleen Hitchcock (BIOL), assistant professor of ecology, helped organize the ’Deis does Citizen Science event. Hitchcock has been a longtime advocate for citizen science on campus, according to Garvey. This semester’s event allowed Hitchcock to get the word out about citizen science. With an academic interest in the role of citizen science, Hitchcock plans to organize citizen science events in the future in collaboration with the Brandeis Library once per semester. “In the spring, Environmental Studies at Brandeis [will be] part of a team of organizations sponsoring a regional citizen science project called the City Nature Challenge which will have opportunities to engage the Brandeis community in field research both on and off campus via iNaturalist,” she wrote in an email to The Brandeis Hoot. ’Deis does Citizen Science was co-sponsored by the Environmental Sciences Program and the Brandeis Library with the support of the Biology department and the Brandeis Maker Lab. It was funded by an Experiential Teaching and Learning Grant to engage students in the service of citizen science.
Brandeis hires 22 faculty members across 16 departments By Samantha Lauring staff
There are 22 new tenured and tenure-track faculty members as well as postdoctoral faculty that have joined Brandeis this year. Sixteen different academic departments will gain faculty members as a result of the new hires. Suleyman Dost (NEJS), who has been at Brandeis for a few months, is an Assistant Professor of Classical Islam. He currently teaches Introduction to the Qur’an (NEJS 186a) and Muhammad: From Early Muslim Accounts to Modern Biographies (NEJS 195a). Dost researches classical Islamic history, particularly the origins of Islam through the lens of documentary sources. He is currently working on turning his dissertation into a book and is translating an early 10th century Arabic treatise on the history of the Qur’an into English. He has done his graduate research at the University of Chicago and also had some teaching experience there as a graduate assistant. Dost hopes to “make the critical study of Islam an important component in the department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies.”
Dost says he came to Brandeis because as a research university with a liberal arts focus, Brandeis is a good match for a humanities professor. “When I received an offer I didn’t think twice,” said Dost. “He’s a great professor with a lot of passion,” said Adib Milani ’18, an Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies (IMES) and Politics double major, who is in both of Dost’s classes. “I’ve learned a lot about Islam and how to examine the Qur’an for meaning…His life of Muhammad class has taught me a lot about how the perception of Muhammad has changed over time and you can really see how/when islamophobia began and how its evolved over time,” stated Milani. Leanne Day (WGS/German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literatures), a Florence Kay Levy Fellow in Asian American Pacific Islander Studies, started teaching at Brandeis these fall. She currently teaches The Asian American Pacific Islander Experience: Race, U.S. Empire, and Migration (AAPI 140b) and is teaching Asian American Pacific Islander Literature and Popular Culture (AAPI 150b) next semester. Day currently works in two departments and hopes to “expand the scope of each department in terms of thinking through Asian
photo by allison plotnik/the hoot
American and Pacific Islander history, experiences, and cultural production as a productive field and lens in order to engage questions of the role of literature and how the intersection of gender and sexuality are intimately connected with U.S. racialization.” She defended her dissertation in English in June at the University of Washington, where she also taught undergraduates. Day has also taught at the university level in Thailand as well as at the secondary level in Hawaii. During her campus visit, Day was inspired by the level of students engaged in advocating for a post-doctoral fellowship in Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies. She also came to Brandeis because she wanted to be able to
continue her research and be involved in the implementation of an Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies program, which was reinstated last year. Day’s research is based in literary studies, but she focuses on Asian American and Pacific Islander history and cultural production. She is currently working on revising the tone of one of her dissertation chapters to turn into an article. The article will focus on the mandatory segregation of primarily indigenous peoples in Hawaii, Kanaka Maoli, who were suspected of having leprosy to the island of Molokai. “I am particularly interested in the role of Indigenous caretakers who voluntarily went to the lep-
rosy colony and how marriage (and re-marriage) can be conceptualized as a form of resistance to separation,” said Day. Profs. Paul Musegades (AMST/ MUS), Patricia Alvarez Astacio (ANTH), Sebastian Kadener (BIOL), Maya Eden (ECON), Jean-Paul L’Huiller (ECON), Emilie Diouf (ENG), Muna Guvenc (FA) Max Mishler (HIST), Jonatahn Tououl (MATH), Erin Gee (MUS), Björn Penning (PHYS), Marcelle Soares-Santos (PHYS), Bhoomija Ranjan (IBS), David Weil (HS), Wangui Muigai (AAAS/HSSP), Cory Hunter (AMST), Vivian Solana (ANTH), Manjieh Moradian (HIST), Vanessa Lovelace (WGS) and Shilpa Phadke (SAS) could not be reached for comment in time.
November 10, 2017
NEWS 5
The Brandeis Hoot
Students wait to feel impact of BCC operational changes BCC, from page 1
The center has experienced a large increase in use of their emergency services. Comparing the period of August to November in 2016 and 2017, there has been a 90 percent increase in walk-ins to the BCC and a 2,000 percent increase in use of the center’s after-hours counseling line, said von Steiger. Other colleges have seen a rise in use of emergency services as well. Von Steiger cited Emmanuel College and Lesley College as having to implement a wait list for the first time. Boston College and Wesleyan University have had a higher volume of mental health emergencies than last year. Boston University experienced a 40 percent increase of students triaged for urgent evaluation, according to statistics on BU’s website. The Brandeis Counseling Center has hired four new clinicians, as of Nov. 8, after discussing staff increases with the administration starting in August. The center anticipates hiring a fifth new counselor in coming weeks, according to von Steiger. The BCC is also expanding hours and will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays, as opposed to 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. the remaining weekdays. During the extra hours, a supervisor and three counselors will be present to hold appointments and brief assessments. The center has also added an additional “urgent care” hour at 6 p.m. on those days, in addition to existing urgent care hours from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Urgent care is for unexpected counseling needs, when someone has “a particularly upsetting day or they’ve had a death in the family or something that they’re feeling like they need immediate support with,” said von Steiger. The wait time for an intake appointment early in the semester was four weeks long. The new hires have helped decrease this time to approximately one week, according to von Steiger. Students may not have felt the impact of these changes yet. Some have expressed frustration at the wait times and overcrowding at the center this semester. Von Steiger emphasized that they
are “constantly evolving and responding,” and also said, “if people have things that they’re concerned about or worried about or aren’t working for them, we want to know.” Students have reported that, after their intake appointments this semester, the BCC told them there was not a clinician available to see them. The Brandeis Hoot spoke with two of those students on the basis of anonymity, though their accounts were verified through email exchanges with BCC staff. For the duration of this article they will be referred to as Student A and Student B. Both students had brief assessments in September. They met with two different clinicians, and both said they were referred to outside services because their cases were not urgent enough. Student A waited approximately three weeks for an intake appointment. The student has seen three different therapists over the course of three years. Her most recent counselor left Brandeis over the summer and now maintains a private practice in Waltham. After taking a break from services, she returned to the BCC for an intake this September, where the clinician encouraged her to seek treatment with her old counselor in Waltham. The student’s main concerns with pursuing this option were that she does not have a car and that she did not want her parents to know she was seeing a therapist. The BCC offers 12 free sessions and even after that is exhausted, Brandeis can work with students whose insurance or financial situation cannot accommodate paying for treatment. Seeing a therapist in the local area would involve possible copays and charges to insurance. Von Steiger said the BCC would consider a student’s ability to pay for outside services when making determinations about referrals. When the BCC is unable to offer one-on-one services, the counselor who completes the intake appointment may refer them to group therapy options at the BCC, counseling options off campus or the teletherapy service, ihope. The BCC may also suggest ihope for students during breaks or while studying abroad.
The center hired a case manager at the end of August who looks for practices in the local community where Brandeis students could see a clinician. This case manager has assisted 17 students “in finding outside treaters” this semester, said von Steiger. The case manager has spoken with additional students who have not begun receiving care at any center. Student B was similarly referred to an outside therapist during the brief assessment, but was concerned about a lack of transportation and about struggling to get off campus based on the student’s mental health. Neither the clinician nor the case manager followed up with that student. “I get really worried that somebody’s going to go there that really needs their help more than I need their help and not get it,” said Student B. Von Steiger encourages students to reach out if they are not satisfied with their experiences at the BCC. Student B emailed von Steiger to express concern at not being offered the option of working one-on-one with a clinician. Von Steiger emailed back after about two weeks, and they had a meeting in which von Steiger explained the staffing issues and increased demand. She then helped Student B connect with a “trainee” clinician at the BCC, who the student now meets with. Von Steiger did not immediately have a figure for how many times intake counselors had to encourage students to seek services in a group setting or outside the BCC. The BCC is not reaching out to students who were referred out this semester, despite new hires, but encourages anyone who may still want services to reach out to them. The BCC is in the process of forming a student advisory committee which will suggest changes based on student feedback. They are looking for students who are interested in “really [helping] us move in the right direction,” said von Steiger. After completing an intake appointment, the clinician also determines with the student how frequently they will be able to come in, with some receiving weekly counseling and some every other week. The BCC employs 24 part-time
clinicians, which von Steiger says is the full time equivalent of 12 employees. When the center opened in 1952, it focused on employing part-time clinicians because experienced counselors wanted to continue their personal practices in addition to working at the center. Prioritizing experience over employment status has led the BCC to maintain the parttime model, according to von Steiger. The center experiences turnover every year, said von Steiger. Four counselors left their positions between May and September of this year, and one postdoctoral fellow who worked as a counselor left after finishing her dissertation. A turnover rate of 2 to 4 people per year is average, said von Steiger. Some of the counselors who leave the BCC continue to have private practices in the area. With a growing staff, the BCC has had to make changes to its set-up in Mailman house. They arranged a new office with multiple desks and couches for therapists to use when they are not meeting with a patient. This frees up more time for sessions in the individual offices. The center has increased the number of groups available to students from four groups last spring to 11 this semester. Existing groups like the Support Group for Survivors of Sexual Trauma continue to have high participation. The center will add more groups in the spring semester, including SOGI: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Group, Men’s Psychotherapy Group and Ourselves and Others. V.O.I.C.E— Asian (American or International) Women’s Group started holding group meetings Sept. 25. Group therapy is beneficial because “one of the most important things that students need to learn at this age is how to rely on each other for care and how to ask peers for help,” said von Steiger. Therapists at the BCC speak six different languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew, Mandarin and Cantonese. There is one counselor, Aileen Lee, who speaks both Mandarin and Cantonese. Lee faces high demand, in part for her language skills and also because she is a very strong counselor, von Steiger said. Brandeis has struggled to hire additional counselors who speak
either Chinese dialect, according to von Steiger. There has been a job posting up for two years seeking another clinician with these skills. Brandeis Students Against Sexual Violence (B.SASV) has called for the counseling center to hire clinicians who speak more languages, citing Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Spanish and Hindi. “It is especially important to be able to support international students given that the added stress of moving alone to a new country is a risk factor for mental illness or psychological distress,” their most recent report reads. Wil Jones ’18, senior representative to the Board of Trustees, has met with von Steiger twice looking to address issues of staffing and meeting the needs of students of color. Students of color are “socialized to downplay the urgency of their needs,” said Jones. He also explained that, with the center only open during business hours, it can be difficult for students who work jobs on campus to come in for appointments. These factors make it harder for students of color to seek and receive appropriate treatment at the BCC. In its list of demands, Ford Hall 2015 called for the BCC to hire additional counselors of color to “provide culturally relevant support to students of all backgrounds.” After Ford Hall, the BCC hired three counselors of color. One of the new hires this year is also a person of color. The Student Union has been working with the BCC to address issues of high demand. Jones and Student Union president Jacob Edelman ’18 have met with von Steiger and been in contact with administrators, including Andrew Flagel, Lisa Lynch and Jim Gray. They are “listening to student experiences,” said Edelman. He and Jones encourage anyone to contact them about their experiences at the BCC. If you have had an experience at the BCC that you would like to share with the Hoot, contact us at eic@thebrandeishoot.com. Edelman and Jones would like to hear student feedback too. Their emails are joneswil@brandeis.edu and edelmanj@brandeis.edu.
Vice President of Human Resources named Interim Title IX coordinator By Hannah Schuster editor
Robin Nelson-Bailey, the vice president of human resources, is serving as the acting Title IX coordinator, following the departure of Linda Shinomoto from this role. Stew Uretsky, the executive vice president for finance and administration, announced in an Oct. 31 campus-wide email that Nelson-Bailey would take on this role. The coordinator job is within the office of Human Resources and this person “helps with filing
complaints against faculty, teaching assistants, administrators or staff,” according to the Brandeis Resource Guide for Sexual Assault Survivors. The coordinator can also provide advice and point people to other resources, the guide says. Staff, faculty and students can report allegations to Nelson-Bailey by email, phone or in person at her office, according to Uretsky’s message. Students can also use an online sexual misconduct reporting form which asks questions about the incident—or the anonymous version of that form. Both are located on the Department of
Student Rights and Community Standards website. Nelson-Bailey was unable to comment as of press time regarding the search for a new Title IX coordinator. Shortly before Shinomoto left Brandeis, Rebecca Tillar left her role as the Title IX Investigator/ Compliance Officer, The Hoot reported on Oct. 27. Tillar’s position reports to Sheryl Sousa, the vice president for Student Affairs. The university did not appoint someone to her role in an interim capacity, but other university employees are able to manage the work, Sousa said. Paula Slowe, an-
other case manager in the office, will continue to reach out to students who file complaints as usual, according to Sousa. Tillar primarily handled two types of investigations, the Special Examiners Process (SEP) and the informal investigation. Special Examiners are investigators from outside Brandeis, selected from a pool of pre-screened attorneys. The SE works with a co-investigator from Brandeis, who is typically the case manager (Tillar or Slowe). There are, however, other university employees with the necessary Title IX training to fill this role, including Sousa, Dean of
Students employees and Kerry Guerard, the Director of Student Rights and Community Standards. University employees from outside Title IX are also equipped to handle an informal investigation if necessary. The university aims to fill Tillar’s position by next semester, Sousa said. “What’s valuable about having a dedicated Title IX investigator,” she said in an Oct. 26 interview, is they can put all their time into the case, while other employees “have to put our other roles aside when we focus on a case because we want to do those in as timely a manner as possible.”
6 NEWS
The Brandeis Hoot
Student Union launches new podcast series By Celia Young editor
The Student Union is launching a new podcast, “Brandeis Buzz,” to better communicate union initiatives, engage students and facilitate easy access to information from the union. The podcast’s first episode, “Brandeis Buzz: Kate Kesselman,” has already been released and is available on SoundCloud, Facebook and the Union website. Callahan Cox ’18, the Student Union Communications Director, produces and hosts the podcasts. Cox controls the Union’s social media accounts and hopes the podcast will ease communication between the Student Union and the students. Cox described the podcast as an easier way to become informed on union news, as reading the union’s emails and Facebook briefings can be tedious. “I do want… to get word out on what we’re doing within the union because I think a lot of times students are kind of blind about what’s happening in the union…I want us to be transparent and I want us to be visible,” Cox said. Cox also hoped the podcast would shed light on the work of the Student Union. “I think it’s hard for us to …show the students how much work is going into these different things…you don’t really see what went behind the scenes...I hope they [the students] can kind of appreciate the Union more as well.” Cox plans to initially focus the podcasts on the Union, but later hopes to move on to other students and clubs around campus as well as the administration. Cox was inspired by other colleges’ communication initiatives in creating this project. She also cited the value the podcast would have to prospective students considering Brandeis. In the first episode, Cox interviews Kate Kesselman ’19, the executive director of outreach and a member of the allocations board. The podcast discusses
Kesselman’s projects, including the Community Emergency Enhancement Fund (CEEF) and marathon, a club funding application period, and allocating a set number of free printing pages for students per semester. In the podcast, Kesselman also focused on the advantages of the union for students. “The union is a great resource to get your voice heard,” Kesselman said. “When you see me, Callahan, Jacob, Hannah…just remember that it’s ok to approach us and we can help you.” Cox plans to interview Zosia Busé ’20 for the next episode. Busé is the ’Deis Impactor Vice Chair and is the director of the office of Student Rights and Advocacy, a newly reformed office this year. The next episode will feature an intro created by Cox and Basement Records, a student run, Brandeis based record label that often partners with students to produce music. Cox is also interested in having a co-host for the podcast.
Jacob Edelman ’18, the current undergraduate Student Union president, also had high hopes for the podcast. “I think that people get most engaged with an organization or with a group if there is somebody recognizable or someone personable that they can hear directly from or see—or just engage with,” Edelman said. “Hopefully by getting some members of the union who have friends who people have heard of… will just really expand our reach beyond people who just read emails or… just look at Facebook.” Edelman also mentioned past communication initiatives, such as the student union YouTube channel lead by Herbie Rosen ’12, a past Student Union president. The podcast is expected to come out every Sunday at around 8 p.m., although, according to Cox, it may come out more often depending on the week’s level of content. The podcast will run anywhere from seven to 20 minutes in length.
executive director of outreach kate kesselman
November 10, 2017
IN THE SENATE: November 5, 2017 • Tal Richtman ’20 explained the Senate had mistakenly derecognized an active club and needed to re-recognize it. • Vice President Hannah Brown ’19 reminded them to raise their hands to speak so they don’t interrupt each other. • The union moved to executive officer reports. Jacob Edelman ’18 spoke to the senate to clarify the contents of University President Ron Liebowitz’s most recent email. Edelman shared an “orb chart” with each member of the union to further explain the new administrative organization on campus. He explained Sheryl Sousa would now report directly to Lisa Lynch, SFS will report directly to the CFO. • Class of 2019 Senator Benedikt Reynolds ’19 asked Edelman if he liked the new administrative structure. Edelman expressed his trust in Liebowitz’s judgement and hopes that the changes will streamline university processes. • Brown said she and Edelman had received an email earlier in the day about the Faculty Senate’s passage of the new general education requirements. They will now go to the Board of Trustees for a final vote. • Brown told the senate about the installation of a new TV for the union office. Spending was around $4,000 for the equipment and installation. They will use it to show information including financial data and agendas at union e-board meetings. Brown shared plans for a union bonding on Nov. 18. • Brown shared plans for a union bonding on Nov. 18. • Brown and Callahan Cox ’18 plan to meet with Chief of Police Ed Callahan and Beth Rogers-Kay to discuss campus accessibility. • Executive Senator Aaron Finkel ’20 reported Wil Jones ’18, student representative to the Board of Trustees, met with the board and discussed staffing issues at the Brandeis Counseling Center (BCC). Jones will be attending the upcoming Board of Trustees meeting and plans to share the information from the BCC meetings with them. • Brown said Edelman had also met with BCC staff. She asked senators to tell anyone who has had problems at the BCC to let herself or Jones know about them. • Brown reported she had met with Lynch about whether school facilities should close early on Jewish holidays. Brown expressed concern about the early closures, given Brandeis is a secular university. • Reynolds, Chair of the Senate Sustainability Committee, reported the addition of “sustainability advisors” to first-year orientation programs. Reynolds said these advisors will be present beginning at mid-year orientation. He had attended a conference for student sustainability leaders earlier that day. • Lizy Dabanka ’20 updated the senate on the Muslim Student Association’s (MSA) fundraising campaign for a slam poet. Dabanka shared that MSA had been reaching out to different departments to ask for support. - Emily Sorkin Smith, Editor
photo from facebook.com
Faculty express concern over language requirements during monthly faculty meeting FACULTY, from page 1
Brandeis or if they are native speakers of a foreign language. Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow, chair of the Classics Department, argued the many benefits of language study and how studying a foreign language is in line with Brandeis’ core values of social justice and tolerance. American Council on Teaching Foreign Languages (ACTFL) studies “have shown that even temporary exposure to language learning makes students more empathetic, tolerant of and engaged in celebrating diversity,” Koloski-Ostrow said. “We at Brandeis praise that as part of our educational benefit too.” The requirements’ emphasis on the humanities drew criticism from faculty across disciplines.
“It’s fairly common in my department to have concern about the extent of the language requirement and about the freshman writing experience,” Susan Lovett (BIO) said. Lovett expressed concern that language-learning pedagogy has not changed in many years, and many other attendees began to express their disagreement, forcing Curnan to call the meeting to order. One professor shouted, “Have you ever been to a language class at Brandeis?” David Powelstock (GRALL), a member of the Task Force, argued for a basic training in liberal arts, invoking the example of climate change. “We have all the science,” Powelstock argued. “What we don’t have is people who are leaders in our political democracy
who are capable of standing up… and making smart policy.” Faculty at the meeting also debated the merits of the University Writing Seminar (UWS) requirement, criticizing whether it is useful to students and improves their writing. Dawn Skorczewski (ENG), Director of the University Writing program, argued in support of the UWS program, saying, “When I came here I observed that Brandeis students seem to be excellent students but the writing that I saw did not seem to reflect that excellence...I thought that how they wrote did not represent their intelligence.” Skorczewski explained the UWS program is undergoing review and significant changes, including additional science-focused courses.
The program hired a new lecturer, Elissa Jacobs, to teach a UWS course titled “Darwinian Dating: The Evolution of Human Attraction.” Jacobs has a Ph.D. in biological anthropology. John Burt (ENG), a member of the Task Force, argued the new requirements give departments flexibility and empower them to strengthen their students’ writing abilities while recognizing how writing differs across disciplines. The new curriculum states the Writing Intensive courses, part of the “Foundational Literacies” requirement, should be taken within each student’s area of study. “If the department is unhappy with the way writing is taught by UWS,” Burt said, “they can also remedy that in their own person, in their own course.”
The Task Force stated in the curriculum proposal its “understanding of Brandeis as a mid-sized research university with a focus on liberal arts undergraduate education and with a commitment to social justice and inclusion and the use of our knowledge to repair the world.” The requirements are intended to reflect these values. The number of required courses for undergraduate students rose from 11 to 13. The Task Force reviewed the requirements at Brandeis’ “peer institutions” and found most of them to have at least 12 required courses. The new requirements are split into five categories: Brandeis First Year Experience, Foundational Literacies, Schools of Thought, Health, Wellness and Life Skills and Global Engagement.
ARTS
November 10, 2017
The Brandeis Hoot 7
Brandeis welcomes new director to the Rose By Noah Harper staff
This past summer, Brandeis welcomed Luis A. Croquer to campus as the new Henry and Lois Foster Director of the Rose Art Museum. Croquer, originally from El Salvador, brings both international experience and an impressive knowledge of the art world to the Rose. I recently had the opportunity to speak with the new director about modern and contemporary art and his vision for the on-campus institution’s future. “I was always very curious,” Croquer said. “I was always really interested, before I became a curator, in figuring out who was the first person that thought Picasso was great, and why did they think that?” He said he found this question extremely compelling. “Who has the nose to be able to define what’s there? That’s what brought me to this profession.” It’s obvious that Croquer has been passionate about art for some time. After studying anthropology and communications at Goldsmith College, he received
a master’s degree in modern and contemporary art history, theory and criticism at SUNY Purchase. He has received fellowships from the Fulbright Scholar Program, the Guggenheim Museum and the Warhol Foundation. In describing his role as a curator, “It’s a discipline like anything,” he said. “We try to stay abreast of who’s coming up—artists are very important in telling us who they’re looking at… sometimes it’s by visiting artists’ studios, by visiting galleries but also keeping your ears open.” The benefit of such a practice could be buying early works from a young artist like Andy Warhol. “That’s what our work is about,” Croquer said, “The idea of taking calculated risks, risks that rely on our knowledge and our expertise, that’s something that I hope to continue.” The Rose is a museum focused on modern and contemporary art—art that not all people are particularly fond of. I asked Mr. Croquer what he might say to those that eschew latter-day artistic works. “We’re not here to convert anybody,” he replied, “But we are here to provide a bridge, a kind of window into what’s hap-
pening out there in the world.” He added that, “Artists are very good ambassadors for their work.” Obviously, one of the highlights of focusing on modern and contemporary art is that oftentimes the artists are still alive. “I think it’s important to come and see the shows but also to keep track of what programs go with the shows, because that’s when you really have an opportunity to come and listen to the artist… This is the good thing about living artists, they’re continuing their career just as you are.” The Rose has an especially important role as a gathering place for community—something that Croquer seems keen on fostering. “I’m interested in seeing how the Rose can really be a point of intersection,” he said. “I think that’s what the world is about, you should be in a place where you’re meeting not only the people that study with you but also the people from other art institutions, other art lovers, it’s a good place to kind of develop community, community around art, and have the kinds of conversations that artists are asking people to engage in.” There’s also the opportunity for return visits. The fact that
photo courtesy the rose art museum
the Rose has free admission and is conveniently located on campus offers students the chance to come back. “I love the slow burn,” said Croquer. “There are things that have immediate gratification—people see something they love at the shows—and there are other things that are a little more difficult.” The benefit of the Rose is that “you’re able to return again and again…there are things that
are challenging that develop inside of you over time.” He extended the invitation to Brandeis students: “I think the museum’s here for you during the week, and it’s such a wonderful thing to be inside with a lot of people, but it’s also very special to have these very personal moments when you can be there by yourself.” The Rose is open Wednesday to Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Marvel’s ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ exceeds expectations By Noah Harper and Jonah Koslofsky staff
This week in the Hoot Arts section we’re trying something a little different. As both of our critics-atlarge, Jonah Koslofsky and Noah Harper, saw Thor: Ragnarok this weekend, we figured we’d try something a little bit more discussion-based to cover the film in the place of a traditional review. This format is a work in progress, and we welcome any and all feedback! Jonah: So, “Thor: Ragnarok.” It’s pretty good. It’s easily the best of the solo “Thor” movies, but that’s a pretty low bar to surpass. If I had to rank it within the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe offerings, I’d say this is better than “Ant-Man” or “Guardians of the Galaxy 2,” but it’s not up there with the first “Iron Man” or last year’s “Civil War.” More than anything else though, it’s a Marvel movie, and we all know what to expect: it’s going to be funny, the villain won’t leave much of an impact, and you’ll leave the theater with a smile. One of the reasons Marvel is so freaking successful is this formula, because it leans so heavily on compelling characters. That’s why the first two “Thor” movies were so underwhelming: Thor just isn’t as interesting as Captain America or Tony Stark. “Ragnarok” was a big step in the right direction in terms of Thor’s characterization. Chris Hemsworth is back as the notquite-god, but he’s much more self-aware than we’ve ever seen him before, and as a result a lot more entertaining. He also has a terrific cast with him: returning Marvel players Tom Hiddleston and Mark Ruffalo are as incredible as ever as Loki and the Hulk, respectively, and newcomer Tessa Thompson is great as the almost-Han Solo of the mov-
photos from imdb.com
ie, Valkyrie. Jeff Goldblum also makes his Marvel debut, and he is used to great effect. I can’t help but feel, however, that a lot of my enjoyment was based on my pre-existing investment in the Marvel movies and universe. That’s why I’m really intrigued by what you thought of it, Noah, because you haven’t seen a Marvel movie in a few years (or either of the prior Thor solo outings). What did you think? Did the movie work for you? How invested were you? Noah: Let’s be honest here Jonah, I don’t think Marvel movies require that much investment. Admittedly, this was my first Marvel movie since “Ant-Man” (and my first “Thor”), but came at it from a different angle. I’m a big fan of the director, Taika Waititi, and I’ve seen all his films. He’s from New Zealand, and he’s done all of these quirky indie movies that I’ve loved, and part of the fun of seeing this movie was seeing how well (or terribly) he could fit the Marvel movie mold. Like you said earlier, there’s a formula to these things, and any time you bring in anyone with pre-established creative vision, there can be conflict. So I watched
“Thor: Ragnarok” with that in mind: could it be a Taika Waititi movie and a Marvel movie? My biggest complaint about these kind of franchise movies is that they naturally have constraints. You’re going to need a big battle with faceless minions at the end—but Waititi worked within these constraints, making me forget (most of the time), how restrictive they can be. And, for the most part, it felt like a Taika Waititi movie and a Marvel movie, which is no small feat. But was it too “out there” for you, Jonah? Jonah: Well hang on there, I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss all the Marvel movies. I think the constraints (i.e., not having total creative control) exist with really any movie that isn’t a tiny indie movie. And here’s what I’ll say for the Marvel movies as a whole: people like them because on the whole, they keep getting better. It took them three tries, but they finally made a good “Thor” movie. “Dr. Strange” was better than “AntMan,” and each of the “Captain America” movies is better than the last. Don’t get me wrong, there are some bad Marvel sequels, but in general, I think they have im-
proved better since 2008 when this whole thing started. Part of that improvement has to be that they have taken more risks; that’s correlated with a lot of their success. So to answer your question, no, the movie definitely wasn’t too out there for me. Waititi is great, and I thought his specific brand of humor fit well into the Marvel mold (if we have to call it that). One of the things I think Waititi brings that helps this movie is that the first act moves extremely fast. There’s no time to be bored, even though a lot is being established (the first act also has that great Matt Damon cameo). The energy continues through act two, which is where this movie shines. What Waititi can’t really fix is the third act, which does end up devolving into cookie-cutter Marvel action. There’s two-thirds of a great movie here, and I wish they could have stuck the landing. My only other critique is that Waititi doesn’t quite have a knack for directing action sequences, and I found a lot of them to be somewhat dull. But still, the film is entertaining, has two great acts, and is one of the better Marvel movies. I’m ex-
cited to see where Thor goes next, which is not something I would have said before this movie. Noah: I think Waititi was much more successful than I thought he was going to be. What “Thor: Ragnarok” proves to a cynic like me is that the Disney/Marvel movie industrial complex doesn’t necessarily have to destroy the artist. There was an interview in the Verge where Waititi said that Marvel let him do whatever he wanted. I’m sure he was exaggerating things, but for the most part the movie feels free (except for that third act, and I’d say, some of the first), and takes risks and gets pretty weird. I like weird, which is why I think this might be my favorite Marvel film—I don’t think you can get more out there than this. But still, it feels grounded, and, like you said, I came to care more about Thor (and his relationship with the Hulk), than I ever thought I would. So, in conclusion, “Thor: Ragnarok” gets a thumbs-up. I hope that more studio films in the future have the freedom to be this creative for $180 million. I might have to actually go see more Marvel movies now.
8 ARTS
The Brandeis Hoot
November 10, 2017
Mourad and Azmeh blend music and painting in live performance ‘Home Within’ By Noah Harper staff
Ghostly figures appear on the projector screen, their arms stretched up to the sky. A spotlight fades in on the center, highlighting the lone clarinetist who begins to play a slow, haunting melody. The image suddenly catches fire, and the entire painting is engulfed in flames. This is the beginning of the first movement, “a sad morning, every morning,” from Syrian-born artists Kinan Azmeh and Kevork Mourad. Their joint work, “From Syria: Home Within,” a live, multimedia performance was presented at Brandeis last Saturday evening. For almost sixty minutes, Azmeh and Mourad blended haunting visuals and powerful music. Mourad’s work was projected on a large screen, the audience seeing firsthand how he constructed his images using a unique water and pigment technique. The images appeared live as his spectral hand danced over the screen, the visuals perfectly complemented by Azmeh’s brooding clarinet compositions. It was a seamless and stirring live performance. Mourad’s style reminded me of Picasso, specifically “Portrait of a Woman” (1910). He walks a fine line between representational art and abstraction—his style of depiction creating efficient images that are more than the sum of their parts. As we studied his painting on the screen, people, places and objects appeared—almost immediately, as if he had willed the abstractions to represent something. I was struck by
photo by yarisa diaz/the hoot
the way he drew people: hooded figures, ghostlike, writhing. They were almost all faceless, and yet easy to empathize with. Over the course of seven movements, Mourad painted 13 live paintings. I was amazed by his skill, how he was able to deftly create such moving imagery. This is the hallmark of a great artist: effective execution of a vision. Besides the faceless figures, another recurring image for Mourad was of a city. Country and civilization have particularly poignant meanings for Mourad and Azmeh. They are both from Syria—Azmeh is from Damascus, Mourad from Aleppo—and their work directly engages with the violence and destruction that continues to rage in their home country. I saw the depiction, multiple
times, of a city falling apart, collapsing in on itself, or completely dissolving—Mourad would use his water-based pigment to wipe the buildings away. These powerful images, matched with Azmeh’s beautiful score, worked perfectly together. The final movement, titled “and we are all optimistic,” first featured Mourad’s painting of a crowd of people trying to collectively pull a cart with an entire city, mosques, parapets and apartments on top of it. Then Mourad slowly pulled it off of the projector, the screen adding a motion blur that made it look like the people were somehow able to pull their heavy load. Azmeh then walked over next to the screen, standing in profile against the white background. As he began to play—this piece perhaps the least discordant,
hopeful, even—a city started to grow out of the mouth of the clarinet. The buildings continued to multiply until they took up the entire screen. Then, Mourad drew a gate in front, and both stepped forward to either side and pulled the doors wide open. The screen zoomed forward through the doors, until everything was black. A title card appeared: “Dedicated to 500,000 Syrians… and still counting…” The audience, a full house at the Slosberg Music Center, rose for a standing ovation. After a brief intermission, in which Syrian food from Boston-based Tarboosh was served, Mourad and Azmeh gave a brief Q&A. “The Middle East is a place for storytelling,” Mourad said. “We wanted to show what’s going on in our country in a poetic way.”
“We’re not trying to tell the Syrian story,” Azmeh said, “We’re trying to document at different times how we have felt about the Syrian revolution…part of it is raising awareness that if the Syrian tragedy is not in the news it does not mean it’s not happening.” But Mourad and Azmeh expressed that they felt differently about the future of their country. “I was optimistic until not too long ago. I do not have hope,” Mourad said. “Syria has changed forever.” Azmeh said he was more hopeful, translating a quote from an Arabic poet: “‘We have been condemned by hope.’” He later said, “Having hope gets people into being pro-active…Syria is going through an evolutionary period.” However, both artists said that their work was part of a desire to fill the cultural gap left by years of devastating war and mass migration—wanting to express the feelings of the dispossessed, of a ruined country. But, Mourad said, “This is a project inspired not by Syrian tragedy, but by human tragedy.” Mourad and Azmeh’s work was both powerful and tragic. Through a seamless combination of mutual artistic skill, they were able to effectively tell a story in a beautiful way. Although the performance is over, some of Kevork Mourad’s other work can be viewed on campus at the Rose Art Museum. Titled “Immortal City,” I would recommend that any interested students visit the gallery. “Home Within” was a combination of beautiful art styles that profoundly resonated and provoked deep contemplation on the nature of human suffering, civilization and resilience.
Chamber Singers perform songs with great energy and deeper meanings By Rebecca Goldfarb staff
Brandeis Chamber Singers blew the audience away in the Slosberg Auditorium on Sunday, Nov. 5. Under the conduction of Robert Duff, the powerful vocal delivery of each of the 25 members allowed the messages behind every song to be conveyed to the audience with clear, strong emotion. The Chamber Singers opened their concert with “Will You Harbor Me?” The performance brought out the lower vocal tones that the choir possessed. The song itself conveyed a message that reflects current political times in America. This song was an excellent choice for an opening song because it introduced the concert’s overall theme, as well as serving as a contrast for the more dynamic songs that would be performed later in the concert. The second song in the program, “Iraqi Peace Song,” featured a very well articulated cello solo by Tianqi Li ’21, as well as solos performed by altos, Rachel Geller ’18 and Miranda Hurtado-Ramos ’19. The dark contrasts performed on the cello by Li and professional keyboard collaborative artist, Daniel Padgett complemented the
voices of the solo and the rest of the singers. The next song was “A Hymn To The Morning,” which was previously sung by the Chamber Singers during their Family Weekend Sample Performance. The background behind the song is fascinating. The lyrics are derived from Phillis Wheatley, a slave who lived in Boston in the mid to late 1700s. Her owners allowed her to learn many elite languages and affairs due to her incredible language skills, including Greek and Latin. As a result, Wheatley was the first African American, and was one of the first women, to publish poetry. The lyrics of this particular song regards the poetic talent by the Greek muses, as if she was asking them to sanctify her works. The opening soprano note of this song immediately captured audience members’ attention. This song was very dynamic, featuring big crescendos followed by soft hums to summarize the song and tie it all together. “I Am The Great Sun” followed, which also stood out from the rest of the program with the featured dynamics. The whispering in the middle of the song added an interesting twist as well. “Stars” was by far one of the most outstanding highlights of
this program. The singers held water glasses to serve as the instruments of the piece. The water glasses created a smoothly continuous, zen sound that really captured the affection of the song, and played off the existence that the song describes. “The World Of Our Dreams” song preached for peace, featuring well executed solos from BU student Katrina Kwantes on the oboe, Padgett on the piano and soprano Sarah Salinger-Mullen ’19. The final song, “Be For Me The Earth/A New Benediction,” was divided into two parts. The first part featured lower vocal tones while the second part featured contrasting vocals between the bass and the altos. The general ambiance that both parts of the song presented served as a stellar way to close the program. “Our favorite songs to perform are ‘I Am the Great Sun’ and ‘Stars,” said both Annabelle Hu ’21, an alto singer in the group, and Jensen Clardy ’21, a tenor. Additionally, Hu said, “I also enjoyed singing ‘The World of Our Dreams’ because it reminds me of a tune I learned as a kid.” Both Hu and Clardy recounted their positive experiences with the Brandeis University Chamber Singers. “This might be sort of cliche, but for me, Chamber
photo by katie decker-jacoby/the hoot
Singers is all about making music together. We had an awesome retreat earlier this year where we bonded and sang together. Ever since then, each of our rehearsals has been like a miniature retreat, where I can leave my worries at the door and embrace music in good company,” said Hu. “I made a lot of friends that I would not have met otherwise,” Clardy added. This positive ener-
gy and enjoyment of being a part of the group shines through while they perform. The overall enthusiasm of the singers on stage really enhanced the show. Ultimately, the Chamber Singers delivered an incredible and impressive performance. The conduction, melodic accompaniment vocal variety and solos blended well together to create a superior musical display.
November 10, 2017
WEEK IN ARTS PHOTOS
photo by katie decker-jacoby/the hoot
the rose
Mourad.
The museum displays “Immortal City,” a new exhibition of paintings by Syrian-Armenian artist Kevork
photo by katie decker-jacoby/the hoot
Powerful voices and messages fill Slosberg Auditorium in the group’s concert. brandeis chamber singers
photo by katie decker-jacoby/the hoot
Tianqi Li ’21 performs a beautiful cello solo in the Brandeis Chamber Singers’ rendition of “Iraqi Peace Song.” brandeis chamber singers
photo by yarisa diaz/the hoot
false advertising
The improv group puts on its “Spooktacular: Reduce, Reuse, Recykill” show in Chum’s Coffeehouse.
photo by yarisa diaz/the hoot “home within” Artist Kevork Mourad and clarinetist Kinan Azmeh collaborate on a live performance on the conflict in
Syria.
The Brandeis Hoot 9
photo by katie decker-jacoby/the hoot
the rose
The museum decorates its walls with artwork on both floors.
10 ARTS
The Brandeis Hoot
November 10, 2017
‘Stranger Things’ season two: it’s still (probably) exactly what you want (spoiler free) By Jonah Koslofsky staff
People want more of what they like. That’s the clear trend in pop culture today: Audiences want more of what they already know fits their taste. We see it in movies, where every successful blockbuster seems to be a reboot or a sequel. We see it in music: The last few years of Bruno Mars’ stardom have been defined by his ability to make an old sound new. I can even admit that I love my favorite show “Mr. Robot,” because it’s basically an update of “Fight Club,” a movie I already love. But most of all, we see this love for the comfort zone in the unexpected popularity of Netflix’s “Stranger Things.” Maybe audiences have always gravitated towards the familiar, but now what everyone wants is something that will be similar enough to what they already like, and simultaneously add something to it. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” for example, which essentially had the same plot as 1977’s original “Star Wars,” also introduced genuinely new and interesting characters. The movie made more than two billion dollars at the global box office, because it combined a lot of old with just enough new. That balance, between the familiar and the original is what people want, and that’s what “Stranger Things” does so well. But there’s a key difference between the success of “Stranger Things” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” The latter had one of the largest marketing campaigns in film history, while the hype for “Stranger Things” was generated solely through wordof-mouth. This was just another Netflix series uploaded in the summer of 2016, but what made it so magical is that it ended up being exactly what people wanted: familiar eighties atmosphere alongside a sleek, original sci-fi story. “Stranger Things” has that balance we all crave, but there
were no billboards or YouTube ads telling people to watch it. So where does this leave the second season of “Stranger Things?” The show doesn’t have that same buzz, because now it’s a known quantity, but it maintains that same familiar, extremely likable vibe with a solid plot. At the end of the day, it’s more “Stranger Things,” and that’s great. Creators Matt and Ross Duffer know exactly what they’re doing, and while the Duffer Brothers are clearly huge fans of Steven Spielberg, they’re operating in a medium Spielberg has largely steered clear of: television. This means that instead of only two hours, the Duffers have nine hours in season two to tell a story, and that they can complicate a lot of our pre-existing notions of eighties archetypes. Season two isn’t a step down from season one, it’s just a little less special because we don’t get to discover it this time. Season two picks up about a year after the end of the first season, with Will back from the upside-down and fan-favorite Eleven MIA. The beginning of season two is a bit slow, but that’s mostly because the show genuinely wants to take the time to dwell on the trauma the characters endured in season one. One of the things that makes “Stranger Things” so great is that there are the perfect number of episodes: eight in the first season, nine in the second. There’s no fat that needs to be cut, and structurally, this means two episodes are spent doing a lot of setup and enjoying that “vibe” the Duffer Brothers have such a knack for crafting, and then get into the plot later. However, there is a clear structural flaw in season two, mainly around episode seven. Remember how I said it took the plot some time to get moving? By episode six things are chugging along, and there’s some real narrative momentum…that grinds to a halt when all of episode seven is focused on a character that doesn’t have a ton of relevance to that momentum (please excuse the
photos from imdb.com
vague language, but I’m trying to be spoiler free here). Did the character in question deserve the attention the episode gave her? Absolutely. Did that attention have to jarringly take away from a really gripping point in the story? Absolutely not. There has to have been a better way to structure the back half of this season. The good news is that the last two episodes are fantastic, and do a lot to restore that momentum, bringing the season to a fantastic conclusion. But my favorite aspect of the second season of “Stranger Things” is the redemption of Steve Harrington. Everyone’s seen
an eighties movie with a jock in it before, and it’s not a flattering role. But in “Stranger Things,” the jock is three dimensional, as are the nerds, the weirdo and the cop. That’s why this show is special: It uses that image you have in your head of the jock, but makes him into a real person, one you end up rooting for. Again, not wanting to spoil, but Steve became my favorite character in season two, and considering some of the shenanigans he pulled in season one, I found myself so impressed at what the Duffer Brothers were able to do with this character. But again, that’s the “Stranger Things” promise: start with the familiar
(the surface jock archetype) and add something new. No wonder everybody seems to like this show. There’s a lot I didn’t get to talk about here that I would have loved to. This is the only show on television that successfully captures exactly how kids interact, which is an equal testament to the writers and the cast. I also wish I could talk more about how effective the new characters introduced in season two are, considering I was very skeptical of them at first (with the exception of those in episode seven). But maybe it’s not that complicated. “Stranger Things” is just a really good show, and it’s just as good in season two.
Astronomy Club hosts an out of this world event with live music
By Katie Decker-Jacoby editor
Astronomy Club held its first event of the school year this past Saturday, Nov. 4, on Chapel’s Field. “Stargazing and Live Music with Astronomy Club,” as it was named on the club’s Facebook event, featured live music from a student band called Congress of Babs, with band members Max Halpern ’20, Hena Germaine ’16 and Astronomy Club events co-coordinator Nic Neves ’20. Eli Trout ’20 and Jordan Mudd ’20 continued the musical entertainment after the Congress of Babs. Event attendees could enjoy hot chocolate and blankets for their evening under the stars. Attendees could search for stars using the wide, standing telescopes provided by Astronomy Club, which were equipped with tracking systems. “If you set the telescope to focus on something, then it’ll fol-
photo by katie decker-jacoby/the hoot
low that object. With a telescope that doesn’t have this feature, you would have to keep moving it yourself,” Physics major and Astronomy Club events co-coordinator Becca Rogers ’19 explained. However, despite the live music, hot chocolate, blankets and high-tech telescopes, the sky was ultimately too cloudy for anyone
to spot stars in the sky. The event was still a success, according to Rogers, who joined Astronomy Club in the spring of 2016. Astronomy Club usually has meetings every Thursday. Some weeks the meetings are just for the club’s e-board, some weeks the meetings are for feedback and planning events and some weeks
they have viewings. At the viewings, club members will search for stars, but sometimes they plan to look out for a specific planet like Saturn and its rings. The general meetings take place in the lower part of the observatory area in Abelson and the viewings in the upper area where the telescope resides. However, one must be well trained in order to operate the telescope. President of Astronomy Club Liana Simpson ’18 has mastered operating the telescope and also offers training to those who would like to learn how to use it. For those who are not familiar with astronomy, it is not to be mixed up with astrology. Astronomy is more science-based and explores topics such as black holes and dark matter. Astrology is more philosophical and spiritual, covering subjects like horoscopes. In regards to the astrophysics scene on campus, the physics
department offers a beginner’s course called Introductory Astronomy, which addresses topics like stars and galaxies. The Physics department also offers two other relevant courses: Astrophysics and Introduction to Astrophysics. The club additionally covers astrophotography, which, as its name suggests, is the capturing or recording of objects in space, including stars, planets or other celestial occurrences. In terms of upcoming Astronomy Club events this school year, the club is in the process of planning a potential visit to the Museum of Science in Boston, specifically looking at the Gilliland Observatory. Club members and interested newcomers are welcome and event goers definitely do not have to be physics majors to join the club or participate in its events. The best way to get involved in Astronomy Club is to join the club’s listserv to learn about the club’s next meeting or viewing.
EDITORIALS
November 10, 2017
“To acquire wisdom, one must observe.” Editors-in-Chief Hannah Schuster Emily Sorkin Smith Senior Managing Editor Allison Plotnik Senior Editor-at-Large Charlotte Aaron Senior Copy Editor Sarah Terrazano Deputy Copy Editor Emily Botto News Editor Elianna Spitzer Deputy News Editor Celia Young Arts Editor Katie Decker-Jacoby Opinions Editor Katarina Weessies Features Editor Polina Potochevska Senior Sports Editor Sarah Jousset Sports Editor Zach Cihlar Photo Editor Yarisa Diaz Layout Editor Candace Ng Editor-at-Large Ryan Spencer
Volume 14 • Issue 19 the brandeis hoot • brandeis university 415 south street • waltham, ma
STAFF
David Aizenberg, Juliana An, Jordan Brodie, José Castellanos, Anindita Chanda, Sabrina Chow, Kevin Costa, Shea Decker-Jacoby, Daniel Freedman, Natalie Fritzson, Ariella Gentin, Rebecca Goldfarb, Noah Harper, Kevin Healey, Daniel Johnston, Daniel Kang, Jonah Koslofsky, Matthew Kowalyk, Samantha Lauring, Sara McCrea, Jerry Peng, Joseph Silber
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.
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The Brandeis Hoot 11
Univ. lacks transparency on ‘Buyer Beware’ controversy
he Hoot is raising issue with how the Brandeis administration and theater department faculty handled the “Buyer Beware” situation and about Brandeis’ stance on important issues and academic policies. In The Hoot’s coverage of “Buyer Beware,” by Michael Weller ’65, and its developing situation, the faculty of the theater department failed to be transparent and distorted the truth. In response to questions from The Hoot and others, the Brandeis theater department released a statement which said, “following open and productive conversations with Michael [Weller], we have mutually decided that his new work would best be premiered off campus by a professional company.” This statement, at a minimum, was a skewed version of the truth. Reporting by WBUR and later by The Hoot revealed there had been minimal communication between the playwright and faculty leading to the playwright’s decision to retract his work. However, the university has yet to acknowledge these attempts by the theater department to conceal the truth from its students. The theater department has declined to offer their side of the story, outside of short statements, and has remained silent, with only their student representatives offering information.
Information the administration released by email on Nov. 2 supported the decisions of the theater department despite the department’s lack of clarity and straightforwardness. By casting the theater department faculty as “our community’s educational and pedagogical experts,” without pointing out their failure to adequately inform the student body of the situation, the Brandeis administration has asked the student body to accept the department’s decisions and decision-making processes without criticism. The administration, through this email, weighed in on “Buyer Beware,” but they revealed little about the timeline of events or their opinions on the situation. The administration is not absolved of responsibility to be involved and open about the decision-making process just because faculty made those decisions. Information that the administration has released, whether in interviews or email statements, has been vague and not rooted in a firm viewpoint. Senior vice president of communications and external relations Ira Jackson notes in a Nov. 2 email, “Deciding how to engage with this material was a decision made by Brandeis faculty...This was not, and should not have been, the administration’s call.” In the Nov. 6 press release post-
ed on BrandeisNOW, “University’s statement related to the Creative Arts Award and ‘Buyer Beware,’” the university notes that, “The administration does not and should not interfere in these pedagogical matters.” Instead, they deflect the decision to Weller, saying that, “as an artist, Mr. Weller has the right to determine how and where he would like his work presented.” While Jackson’s Nov. 2 statement went out as a campus-wide email, the Nov. 6 statement—the first to provide any concrete details about these events—appeared on the university’s website without any announcement. Neither the administration nor the faculty made the final call on canceling “Buyer Beware.” Weller, the playwright, made the decision to have the play performed off-campus. Despite numerous weeks of reporting on “Buyer Beware,” questions still remain unanswered. If this was truly a pedagogical issue, then why did faculty show early support for the play? Where does Brandeis stand on important issues of speech and academic freedom? When decisions are made following student dissent, other students should be allowed to inquire. At a university with the motto “Truth even unto its innermost parts,” faculty and administrators should not make it so hard for students to learn the truth.
FEATURES
12 The Brandeis Hoot
November 10, 2017
Kindness Day spreads positivity on campus By Polina Potochevska editor
For the past eight years, Nov. 9 has been known as Kindness Day at Brandeis. Kindness Day gives students the chance to send personalized cards to their friends, show appreciation for faculty and staff and spread positivity on campus. Michaela Cabral ’19, one of the two co-coordinators for Kindness Day, is a triple major in Af-
photo by yarisa diaz/the hoot
By Sara McCrea
rican and Afro-American Studies (AAAS), Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WMGS) and Creative Writing. In addition to helping coordinate Kindness Day on campus, she works at Phonathon, sings with No Singer Clef Behind, is in Companions To Elders within the Waltham Group and is an orientation leader. Cabral has been involved with Kindness Day since her first year at Brandeis. She originally joined as a kindness catcher, or a volunteer, but was later asked to join as a volunteer coordinator. Since her sophomore year she has held the position of co-coordinator. Cabral’s job as a co-coordinator is to ensure that “everything goes smoothly and comes together.” There is a student and a staff committee that hold meetings, so the co-coordinators attend both and relay information to the entire group. Cabral and her co-coordinator, Miriam Krugman ’20, also reach out to various clubs on campus who might like to participate in Kindness Day. Essentially, they make the “connection between students and departments.” Planning for Kindness Day started at
the beginning of the semester with the forming of committees, although some ideas for events start developing from the year before. One popular annual event that takes place during Kindness Day is the signing of kindness cards, where students can fill out cards with nice notes to their friends that will then be delivered to their mailboxes. “It’s always amazing… people take stacks a few inches thick because they have so many friends to send them to,” Cabral exclaimed. Other events included painting rocks with kind messages, a kindness chain and a wall of compliments on sticky notes in the SCC atrium. One of Cabral’s favorite events was the lunch that they put on for facilities workers with the help of Sodexo, DCL and students who donated meal swipes for the event. Every year different clubs get involved and host events as well, so there is always a new way to spread kindness. Kindness Day is important to Cabral because “it’s like an act of self care and caring for others… I think people really enjoy an opportunity to be kind when
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it’s presented to them in such an accessible way.” Also, it sets off a chain reaction where one act of kindness can lead to another. Cabral hopes to be involved in Kindness Day next year as well. Some goals for next year include holding even more events, as she said, “The more things we can get done, the more we can infuse the campus with kindness.” This year a goal was to ensure that students couldn’t possibly miss the events going on during the day
@brandeisuniversity
all around campus and she hopes to continue with that next year as well so everyone can participate. Cabral praised the purpose of Kindness Day and why it’s worthwhile. “It’s not just Kindness Day, but we want to give kindness today and everyday. You’re creating a lifestyle where you’re kind to others and challenging yourself to be kind all the time.” Features Writer Sara McCrea served as Faculty Coordinator for Kindness Day.
STAR addresses peer counseling needs
staff
Students Talking About Relationships (STAR) defines “relationship” in the broadest sense of the word. Whether a student needs to talk about their relationship with a friend, roommate, boss, professor or themselves, the STAR members are Brandeis sophomores, juniors and seniors who act as peer support for the Brandeis community. The STAR center, located on the third floor of the SCC, is open Sunday through Friday from 1 to 7 p.m. for students to drop in and get support from the trained peer advocates. “I know that some students can have difficulties reaching out to an adult. It can be a little intimidating, so for students who have trouble going to the BCC [Brandeis Counseling Center] and approaching a
therapist or are unable to find one immediately, STAR can be a great resource,” STAR member Lauren Puglisi ’19 said. STAR member Ceara Genovesi ’18 added that because of the stigma surrounding students seeking a therapist, they may feel more comfortable seeking out peer advice. To apply to volunteer for STAR, students fill out an online application and do a 30 minute interview with another member. According to their website, members undergo a rigorous 35-hour training from professionals at the beginning of the semester to be trained in topics including but not limited to: general counseling skills, campus resources and procedures, domestic and dating violence, rape crisis and sexual assault, pregnancy options and STD/STIs, alcohol and drugs, eating disorders and body image, LGBT topics, religion, men-
tal health, suicide and self-harm. Each member holds office hours in the center for two hours a week. “I want to go into clinical psychology and this is the most direct experience I’ll have in college related to what I want to do,” Puglisi said. “I really enjoy helping people and talking to them.” STAR is a confidential resource, meaning that they will only report what is discussed in conversations with students if the student expresses any intents to harm themselves or others. Otherwise, members will not share the information of anyone who enters the center. “To maintain anonymity and confidentiality, we never take down names or force anyone to share their names and we do not take anything discussed between counselors and counselees outside of the room unless they are in danger of harming themselves or others,” STAR Co-Coordinator Rachel Portnoy ’18 said. “We
can discuss very general topics with the other counselors in order to offer support to one another, but we never discuss specifics.” “STAR is such a wonderful resource, and it’s unfortunate that it’s so underutilized,” Puglisi said. “I know the BCC is very overbooked and that’s been very difficult for students, so I hope to get the word out about STAR and hopefully provide support to people on campus who are otherwise missing it.” Though STAR members cannot take the place of a trained counselor or therapist, the group hopes that they can be a resource for students who are struggling to get treatment. Puglisi talked of students having to wait weeks for appointments at the BCC. “When there’s something going on that’s really distressing, two weeks is a very critical time,” noted Puglisi. “It’s sad to see that mental health on this campus isn’t
doing so well because of that.” Puglisi added that the BCC needs to be hiring more counselors to help prevent extended wait times. This year, wait times for students seeking intake appointments at the BCC have been up to four weeks, according to Joy von Steiger, the director of the BCC. The center has so far hired four new counselors with plans to hire a fifth soon, though the BCC has not yet publicized this information. Genovesi said that peer support is helpful for students because they know that the person listening to them has gone through similar experiences. “With talking to peers specifically, they can be more understanding,” Genovesi said. “Sometimes professionals are older and they don’t quite remember what it was like to be in college. The climate, from politics to media, is so different now than it was when older adults were in college.”
SSIS advocates for sexual health and education By Polina Potochevska editor
The Student Sexuality Information Service, otherwise known as SSIS, is an important student resource tucked away on the third floor of the SCC in room 328. While it might be slightly difficult to find your first time searching for it, SSIS offers a wide variety of services concerning sexuality, sexual health, peer counseling and more. SSIS was started in 1973 by a group of students who were “passionate about sexual health and education,” according to an email to The Brandeis Hoot from SSIS. Although now in the SCC, it was once located in the Airplane Lounge in East Quad, proving its lasting presence on campus. “There are no other groups that offer the amount and variety of safer sex services that we are proud to. We try to embody Brandeis values of social justice by advocating for every student
on campus, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity and beliefs.” SSIS provides many services to students, some of which include access to “discounted safer sex products,” peer counseling, referrals, other resources and “a fun library.” The office is open this semester on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Tuesdays and Fridays from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. The outer portion of the office is where students can find the library and a resource table. In the private inner office there are “two or three counselors sitting… where our products are located.” Some of the products that SSIS provides are a “wide variety of condoms, lubes and other barrier methods such as dental dams and internal condoms.” In addition, SSIS sells body-safe sex and masturbatory toys, including vibrators and a masturbatory sleeve, three different types of menstrual cups, pregnancy tests, blindfolds and kegel balls.
In addition to coming to the office, SSIS has an anonymous and confidential texting hotline (586-ASK-SSIS), where “folks are welcome to text any questions and comments and an SSIS member will respond within 24 hours.” The number may also be used by students who want to request an appointment during their off-hours. The SSIS mission statement states that it is a “student-run, not-for-profit, volunteer-based service organization” that promotes sexual health with “peer counseling, educational outreach, quality products, referrals and a library of resources.” Furthermore, it states that SSIS is dedicated to maintaining both confidentiality and professionalism relating to the services it provides for the Brandeis community. Services are provided regardless of “race, disability, political or sexual orientation, gender, sex, religion or creed, enrollment status, age, sexual experience or preferences,” so students
can feel comfortable entering the office and getting the assistance or information they need confidentially and respectfully. Ultimately, SSIS’ goal is to “empower and educate members of the community in a safe, tolerant and non-judgmental environment.” All the members who volunteer at SSIS are trained peer counselors, who receive training “by both internal Brandeis organizations and local external organizations.” An email written to The Brandeis Hoot also clarified that although the SSIS members are not certified, “all SSIS members are trained and educated by professionals in issues of sexuality, sexual health and wellness.” SSIS is non-hierarchical instead of being run by an executive board, so “all members have an equal say in group decisions.” The SSIS Facebook page frequently posts updates on office hours, new products available for purchase and upcoming events. This semester, SSIS will be using
feedback from the Brandeis community to plan events that interest students, and are “excited to continue to uphold our values of confidentiality and distributing safer sex information and products to anybody who seeks them!” So far in the semester, SSIS presented during First-Year Orientation, as they do annually, and hosted a Kinky Crafts Night in October. One more large event will be held by the end of the semester. To become more involved with SSIS, there is an application process that begins in the spring semester “around early March.” The application process itself involves both a written application and an interview. The Student Sexuality Information Service is “happy to serve the Brandeis community” in a wide variety of ways. The members are well-trained and prepared to help students with whatever services they need. They “welcome all of you to check out our office and other resources anytime!”
November 10, 2017
By Joseph Silber columnist
The political gridlock in Washington today has reached unprecedented levels. On one side of the aisle, you have Donald Trump blowing up the Republican Party, taking it into an unfamiliar and uncomfortable populist direction, thus forcing two high profile GOP senators, Bob Corker (R-TN) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ), to announce their retirement. On the other hand, the Democratic Party is in even worse shape, as seen by former Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Donna Brazile’s remarks in her new book, “Hacked.” Brazile revealed that the DNC had reached a joint fundraising agreement with Hillary Clinton in August 2015, six months before the 2016 primary season even began, reigniting an old feud between Bernie Sanders’ supporters
OPINIONS
We need more politicians like Charlie Baker
and the Democratic Party establishment. The civil wars within both parties have many Americans feeling hopeless about the government as a whole. But in Massachusetts, things are different. In what’s a heavily Democratic-leaning state, Massachusetts voters surprised many by electing Charlie Baker, a moderate Republican, as their 72nd Governor in 2014. Three years later, Baker stands as the most popular governor in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with the latest Morning Consult poll (released Oct. 31) putting his approval rating at 69 percent in the Commonwealth, with just 17 percent disapproving. You may ask: how is a Republican governor in a deep blue state so popular? The answer is simple: he puts his constituents first. Whether it’s reaching across the aisle to work with the Democratic-controlled state legislature, or leading the opposition to the Congressional
Republicans’ failed attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Baker has shown that it’s possible to be an effective politician that operates from the political center. Peter Ubertaccio, a professor of political science at Stonehill College, gave his assessment of Governor Baker’s performance in an interview with the Boston Globe: “He’s not an ideologue, and voters here, at least in their governor’s office, prefer managers and problem solvers…He strives folks as a decent guy and a good manager, and that just fits the moment.” Baker, who is widely favored to win reelection in 2018, has played the role of a fiscally conservative, yet socially progressive governor, something widely popular amongst wealthy states such as Massachusetts (6th wealthiest), New Jersey (4th), and Maryland (1st), all of which vote Democratic on the national level yet have Republican governors. As Governor, Baker has opposed efforts by the Democrat-
ic-led legislature to enact a socalled “Millionaire’s Tax,” which he argued would drive business out of the Commonwealth. But at the same time, he’s worked tirelessly to pass common sense gun control measures, including a bill last Friday to ban the sale of “bump-stocks,” which became known to many after last month’s tragic shooting in Las Vegas. Unlike Congressional Republicans, who remain fixated on passing purely partisan legislation, Governor Baker, along with other moderates in blue states like Larry Hogan (R-MD), have shown that working with Democrats to advance the interests of their constituents is widely popular amongst the general public. Hogan is right behind Baker as the second most popular governor at 66 percent approval. One could make the argument that Baker and Hogan represent liberal states, and that it’s easier for them to reach across the aisle than most Congressional Repub-
The Brandeis Hoot 13
licans. What that theory ignores is that most voters want to see bipartisanship, regardless of state: ruby red states such as Louisiana and Montana have centrist Democrats serving as governor, for example. In addition, swing states like North Carolina have two Republican senators and a Democratic governor, while Michigan has two Democrats in the Senate and a Republican governor. Whether it be conservative states like Louisiana, swing states like North Carolina, or liberal states like Massachusetts, voters are willing to split their ballots in order to elect the best possible candidate, rather than simply vote based on party affiliation. The successful tenure of Governor Baker should send a powerful message to the strictly partisan members of both parties in Congress: stop running to your corners and start working across the aisle for the benefit of the American people.
America isn’t falling for rebranded bigotry By Katarina Weessies editor
Journalist Gary Younge says that he took a “risk worth taking” when he decided to interview famed white supremacist Richard Spencer. The interview happened last July at a conference of white supremacists, and revealed that Spencer’s brand of “professional” white supremacy was beginning to fray at the edges. Spencer is notorious for his ability to promote racism marketably and eloquently. He can usually be found sporting fitted suits, a condescending grin and a set of seemingly pre-written arguments to levy at any protestors. However, the Gary Younge interview showed a much less polished Spencer. Spencer comes off as incoherent and unhinged. His responses to Younge’s questions avoid any pretense of an argument and resort directly to anger-baiting. Typically, Spencer is a polariz-
ing figure, but after a clip of the interview went viral this week, public opinion was squarely on Younge’s side. Some of the public shock, particularly that of white viewers, was spurred by the fact that Spencer was comfortable spouting his racist arguments to a black journalist. At one point, Spencer looks Younge directly in the eye, condescending grin intact, and tells him that Africans have “contributed nothing to civilization.” Later in the interview, he doubles down on his racist claims with the assertion that “Africans have benefitted from white supremacy.” These statements are a departure from Spencer’s usual style of racism, where he couches racist ideas in academic language. Younge himself described Spencer as “ignorant, historically illiterate, incoherent and personally insulting. The reason I called time on the interview was because Spencer was spent – beyond baiting me, he had nothing to offer.” It’s clear that Spencer’s infuriat-
ingly marketable racism has begun to falter. From Trump to Spencer to other alt-right figures like Milo Yiannopoulos, the TV-friendly race-baiter has enjoyed a horrifying renaissance in America. Fortunately, Spencer’s interview with Gary Younge is just one piece in the slew of evidence that this type of racism is beginning to break down. In particular, this week’s state elections show that Americans just aren’t falling for their act anymore. Virginia elected a Democratic governor, Ralph Northam, and its first transgender lawmaker, Danica Roem. Roem is a particularly important victor in that she beat out Trump-like incumbent Bob Marshall, Virginia’s self-appointed “chief homophobe” whose campaign hinged on bigotry. Governor-elect Northam won against Ed Gillespie, a Republican who was trying to cash in on pro-Trump fervor in his state. The New York Times has
referred to Gillespie as “Trumpified,” and Slate, New Republic and Time Magazine have drawn similar comparisons between Trump and Gillespie’s platforms. Outside of Virginia, anti-racist and anti-Trump figures are also winning elections. Notably, Democrat Phil Murphy won the governorship of New Jersey, which had previously been under Trump endorsee Chris Christie for eight years. These elections, as well as the shift in public opinion against altright figures like Richard Spencer, show that the suit-clad, eloquent racist has lost his appeal. Faced with shrinking audiences, racists like Spencer might try to change up their strategy. We might see the next generation of white supremacists take a grittier angle, which would probably shrink their audience even more, with racists who deem themselves “respectable” distancing themselves from the movement. More likely, as long as the public keeps pushing against them, TV-friendly racists will be-
gin to disappear from the public eye. They’ll still be speaking and organizing, as they always have, but their message will gradually move out of the mainstream. The outrage against white supremacist figures is starting to change elections, which means we might see fewer people like Spencer speaking at colleges or winning political office. Whether or not people like Spencer are moving out of the mainstream, the recent election results reveal optimistic possibilities for America’s future. Since Trump was elected, Americans have been protesting nonstop, with events like the Women’s March showing up in nearly every city. When Spencer or Milo Yiannopoulos try to speak at colleges, the whole community pushes back against them. So far, it seems like these protests are winning. Hopefully, the American public will continue to push racist demagogues off our streets and out of office. SUBMISSION POLICIES
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SPORTS
14 The Brandeis Hoot
November 10, 2017
Soccer teams round out Quin, Carminucci earn gold season against NYU medals in fencing season opener By David Aizenberg staff
After a hard season of work, the Brandeis women’s soccer team was rewarded with a berth in the NCAA Division III tournament. The team’s two regular goalies were injured for the season, leading the team to host open tryouts and bring on three new goalies this fall. The Judges (11-3-3) took on the NYU Violets in their final game of the regular season. The NYU women share the same UAA conference record with the Judges, having gone 2-3-2 in the UAA throughout the regular season. With neither team giving an inch in the first half, a goal by both teams in the second half resulted in a 1-1 draw. The lone goal for the Judges came from a junior player, but a rookie goal scorer, Julia Jaffe ’19. The goal came off a Hannah Maatallah ’19 assist. Junior captain Maatallah lobbed the ball to Jaffe in the 77th minute and Jaffe put the ball in the back of the net to even the game at one goal apiece. The Judges outshot NYU 16-13, including a 5-2 advantage in shots on goal. Prior to the start of the game, the Judges honored their two seniors: Samantha Schwartz and Haliana Burhans. Both players have been instrumental in the Judges’ success throughout the past four seasons. The women take on Stevens
By Kevin Costa staff
The Celtics have shown tremendous resilience after losing Gordon Hayward and a 0-2 start. Through three weeks of play, the team holds the NBA’s best record at 9-2. Their most notable win was over the Thunder in Oklahoma City, when the team rallied after trailing 18 points in the second quarter to win 101-94. The team’s success in the second half was due in part to their defensive-minded coach, Brad Stevens. He decided to start Marcus Morris in the
celtics
Tech in Williamstown, MA at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 11. The Brandeis men’s soccer team closed out their regular season (13-4) with a 1-0 victory over the visiting New York University (NYU) Violets. The Violets have yet to win a game against a University Athletic Association (UAA) conference opponent despite boasting a winning record of 8-7-2. Despite a closely played first half, the game remained scoreless going into halftime. Just two minutes after halftime, forward Andrew Allen ’19 received a pass from midfielder Alex Walter ’20 that Allen handled and scored to gain the lead for Brandeis. With an aggressive mindset the entire game, the Judges outshot NYU 16-8, with six of those attempts being on goal. After Allen scored the goal in the 47th minute, the Judges did not allow another shot on goal the rest of the contest. With the victory, the Judges’ regular season came to a close, and thus began the postseason preparation. Shortly after, the men were awarded a NCAA Division III national tournament berth for the strong season they posted. On Saturday, Nov. 11, the Judges open their tournament with a home game against Western Connecticut State at 5 p.m. This is the Judges’ sixth straight national tournament berth. Following last season’s dream run to the semifinals, the Judges look to continue their postseason success on Saturday.
By Sarah Jousset editor
This past weekend the men and women’s fencing team began their season with the New England Fall Collegiate Championships at Smith College. The combined men and women’s teams took home eight medals at the invitational. The men’s fencing team took home five medals at the invitational, one gold and four bronze. The winner of last year’s NEIFC, Ian Quin ’20 took home gold for the Judges for the second year in a row. Quin went 6-0 in pool play and earned sixth seed. In Quin’s first match-up of the invitational, he defeated his opponent from Boston University 15-2 before edging out teammate Trevor Filseth ’20, 15-4. Quin managed 15-12 wins over his next two opponents from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Boston College in order to secure a spot in the semi-finals. Quin moved past another foil fencer from Boston University, 15-6, to ensure his gold medal in the men’s foil competition. The rest of the men’s medals were bronzes across the three weapons, foil, epee and saber. Elishua Litle ’18 tied for third in foil, taking home a bronze for Brandeis. Meanwhile, top seed Leon Rotenstein ’20 and 18th seed Garrett Tordo ’21 both made it to the semifinals in saber to bring
ian quin
home two more bronze medals for the Judges, tying for third. Tenth seeded Hunter Stusnick ’18 tied for third in men’s epee action for the last bronze medal for the Judges this past weekend. For the women, Joanne Carminucci ’19 won gold in the foil bracket, while the Judges earned a bronze in both epee and foil. Carminucci reached the quarterfinals last year in the same invitational and earned the fourth seed this year, going undefeated in pool play. In the opening round of direct elimination, Carminucci edged out her Dartmouth opponent 15-13, before beating out a Sacred Heart fencer, 15-8, in the second round and earning a berth in the quarterfinals. It was in the semifinals that Carminucci met the top seed from Boston College.
The Celtics’ strong defense
second half, despite the fact that the forward was recovering from a knee injury. The switch allowed the Celtics to better defend against the Thunder’s small-ball lineup. While the defense prevented the Thunder from running away with the score, Al Horford and Kyrie Irving found an offensive rhythm in the fourth quarter, leading the team to victory. Horford, according to espn.com, finished the game five-for-five shooting with three 3-pointers. Since the end of last season, Horford has shot nearly 50 percent from beyond the arc, establishing himself as a three-point threat. Irving struggled in the beginning, missing
Boston Celtics in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
eight of nine shots. He did not score until two minutes left in the second quarter. After halftime, he led the offense, scoring 22 points out of 13 shots. Espn.com reports that Irving scored or assisted 37 of the team’s 64 second half points. When the team needed him most, he stepped up. With the Celtics clinging to a one-point lead with 4:15 left to play, Irving hit a three-pointer off of Horford’s screen while drawing a foul by creating contact with Russell Westbrook. He missed the free throw but got his own rebound and laid it in, which resulted in a five-point play and increased the lead to six points. The Celtics
photo from nba.com
were able to secure the victory after that point. The Celtics can attribute much of their success to defense. After the Celtics made blockbuster acquisitions this summer, it was clear the team had upgraded on offense. Yet, after trading away Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder, it was unsure whether the Celtics had sacrificed their strength on defense as a result. The Celtics have improved on defense and have the best defensive rating (95.9) since the 200405 Spurs, who finished their season with a 95.8 rating, according to ESPN. The team has improved in this statistical measurement from last season by 9.6 points, the biggest improvement in the league. The Celtics might have lost defensive skill, but they have made up for it in size. Last year, opponents were able to exploit Boston’s height disadvantage, especially with Isaiah Thomas on the court, who is the shortest player in the NBA. This season, the team is more capable of switching defensive assignments without getting caught in mismatches. Irving’s performance on the defensive end of the court is part of the reason the Celtics lead the league in defense. Irving, who now leads the NBA in steals, was criticized throughout his six-year career for not staying disciplined on defense. Before putting on a Celtics jersey, Irving had an average defensive rating of 106.9, according to ESPN. This season, that number is down to 95.5 points. Second-year Jaylen Brown, after replacing Avery Bradley, has
photo from brandeisjudges.com
Carminucci easily defeated the top seed on her way to the finals, with a 15-6 win before beating a fencer from Sacred Heart in a 1510 victory to win the gold. The win was Carminucci’s second career gold medal. Two other Judges on the women’s fencing team brought home medals. Hannah Mui ’20 made it to the semifinals in the foil bracket. Mui was seeded 10th going 5-1 in the invitational. Liz Feller ’18 was the other women’s fencer to earn bronze. Feller, seeded eighth, reached the semifinals in the epee bracket to take home third place. The men and women’s fencing team will compete at the first Northeast Fencing Conference of the season at Brown in two weeks, on Nov. 18.
stepped up to his defensive responsibilities. It is still early to compare Brown and Bradley in terms of on-ball defense. But Brown, at 6 feet 7 inches, has a height advantage over Bradley, which allows the second-year player to better handle switches and bigger opponents. Rookie Jayson Tatum has replaced Jae Crowder at the small forward position. Though Tatum lacks Crowder’s size and physicality, he makes up for it with effort and offensive contributions. According to boson.com, Tatum is sinking 81 percent of his three-pointers from the corners and 52.9 percent of his shots beyond the arc overall, tied for seventh-best in the NBA. He has hit them in pivotal times, a few in the narrow 110-107 victory over the Hawks and one in the comeback win against the Thunder over Carmelo Anthony. Al Horford is still the anchor on defense. He is allowing 0.733 points per play or 107 points on 146 plays defended, according to espn.com, which ranks him seventh in the league. This does not account for the fact that the Celtics have gone against offensive superstars such as Giannis Antetokounmpo, LaMarcus Aldridge, Kristaps Porzingis and LeBron James. Hayward’s injury hurt the Celtics and their chances to beat Cleveland and reach the NBA Finals. Though it is early in the season, this Celtics resurgence indicates they still have a chance. Plus, there is a slim chance that Hayward returns before the postseason. In any case, things are looking up in Boston.
November 10, 2017
By Zach Cihlar
Volleyball takes No. 9 Carnegie Mellon to five sets in UAA tournament
editor
Brandeis women’s volleyball opened up the final rounds of the University Athletic Association (UAA) conference tournament with an impressive push against the top-seeded team Carnegie Mellon University on Friday, Nov. 3. In compass draw format, the team played three matches total to determine where the teams fell in UAA standings. The format required Brandeis, ranked eighth in the UAA, to play the first seed in the tournament. In host school Emory University’s gym in Atlanta, GA, Brandeis capitalized on an early lead against the first-seeded team, earning the first set win off a kill by outside hitter Shea Decker-Jacoby ’19, who would rack in 15 kills in total. In a closely held second set, neither team was able to gain more than a two-point lead on the other. Brandeis had three set-point opportunities to push their momentum forward to a two set lead. The Judges couldn’t convert the set points, however, and ended up dropping the dramatic back-andforth second set 28-30. Brandeis and Carnegie Mellon split the third and fourth sets to force the tight game to a 15-point fifth set. Reaching two hours
By Robert Banks
SPORTS 15
The Brandeis Hoot
and four minutes long, the Judges pushed the score to 6-5 in the fifth set before Carnegie Mellon secured the lead and ran away with the match 15-8 in the fifth. The final score resulted in 21-25, 30-28, 25-17, 24-26, 15-8 to Carnegie Mellon. Right-side hitter Marissa Borgert ’21 put up an impressive game with equally impressive stats, earning a triple-double with 20 kills, 15 assists and 13 digs. One of the team’s main setters Marlee Nork ’19 offered over 30 assists for the fourth time this season with a total of 33. Despite Carnegie Mellon holding the first seed, Washington University in St. Louis ended up taking home the trophy, defeating Emory University in the finals of the UAA tournament. A first round loss put the Judges in the first round of the consolation bracket against fifth-seeded Case Western Reserve University later that same day. Brandeis, however, could not hold onto the momentum from a well-played main draw match, and fell in three sets to Case Western, with the final score tallying at 16-25, 18-25, 19-25. For their final UAA match, the Judges filtered into the second back draw to play New York University (NYU) for the seventh place spot in UAA competition. The Judges previously lost to NYU in the UAA Round Robins,
hoot writer and outside hitter shea decker-jacoby
but they hoped to take the momentum from Friday morning’s game against Carnegie Mellon into the Saturday morning game against NYU. Brandeis was on a roll in the first set, trumping NYU 25-13 in controlling fashion. In the second set, the Judges extended their lead to 2-0 in sets after winning by a closer margin 25-21. The third set was tight up until 19-20, when a few attack errors from Brandeis hitters offered an opportunity to NYU to snatch the third set. The New York team rode the third set victory through the fourth and fifth, stealing the seventh spot from the Judges in another tough
photo from brandeisjudges.com
five setter. The final score read 2513, 25-21, 20-25, 21-25, 9-15 in favor of NYU. Though the Judges left Atlanta in the eighth place position in the UAAs, Brandeis women’s volleyball exited the season with a winning record of 15-14, a great improvement on last season’s 7-21 record. More good news arrived for the Judges on Monday, Nov. 6, when the team received an invitation to the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) regional tournament, extending their season through the Nov. 11 weekend. First round of play occurred on Wednesday, Nov. 8. Brandeis
hosted Brooklyn College for a mid-week match, which resulted in a Judges win in quick fashion. The women defeated Brooklyn in three sets, allowing no more than 16 points to the visiting team in a single set. Borgert helped the Judges reach a decisive victory with five kills, 20 assists and eight digs. Captain Yvette Cho ’19 also put in a solid effort, earning a match-high 13 digs. The Judges will play their next round of the ECAC tournament on Saturday, Nov. 11 against Frostburg State University. They will travel to Frostburg, Maryland to compete in the 5 p.m. match.
Out with the old, in with the new: Cora new Sox manager
staff
In 2007, former Red Sox utility man Alex Cora was part of the World Series championship team alongside staple players like Dustin Pedroia. Ten years later, Cora hopes to achieve the same goal—as Pedroia’s manager. On Nov. 6, Dave Dombrowski, Red Sox president of baseball operations, made the news official. With a firm handshake between the established executive and new manager, the reigns to the Red Sox were passed on to Cora, representing the start of a new chapter in Boston baseball history. Coming off a solid year in which “they won 93 games and their second straight division title,” the Sox far from underperformed last season under former manager John Farrell (weei.com). After being ousted from the postseason by the eventual World Series champion Houston Astros in the American League Divisional Series (ALDS), however, Farrell’s second consecutive loss in the ALDS evidently overshadowed his 2013 World Series triumph. This inability to perform to the organization’s lofty standards in the past few years, combined with Farrell’s ineffectiveness in engaging the veteran core of the team (as was the case with All-Star starting pitcher David Price, regarded by weei.com’s John Tomase as “the unhappiest $217 million man on the planet” while playing under Farrell) led to the manager’s demise. As Tomase bluntly puts it, faced with the decision whether to keep their star pitcher or manager around, “the Red Sox chose David Price over John Farrell” (weei.com).
In Cora, the Red Sox have found a highly capable manager with an impressive baseball I.Q. and the ability to relate to his players. Serving as the Houston Astros’ bench coach this past season, Cora is “not long removed from being on the other side of the white lines,” in more respects than one (nesn.com). Playing his last game in the MLB as recently as 2011, Cora provides the perfect foil to former manager Farrell’s strict, no-nonsense managerial policy. With the ability to bring an entirely “different voice and… different approach from John Farrell,” Cora’s addition to the Sox clubhouse represents “a change that was needed” in the Sox pursuit of multiple World Series titles in the near future (nesn.com).
alex cora
In line with his plan is to “enjoy the moment...to win a big league ballgame is hard enough,” Cora is regarded as “a player’s guy” by current Astros center fielder and former player under Cora’s coaching George Springer (nesn. com). This positive approach to the game and clubhouse is likely what attracted the Boston front office to their new skipper. With 13 years of MLB experience under his belt and a well-trained, tested baseball mind above it, Cora has the ability to cultivate greatness within Astros youngsters Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman by teaching from his own experiences as a small fish in the large Big League pond. This ability serves to promote the notion that Cora will be able to do the same within
Boston’s young core. The Red Sox front office will be hopeful that Cora can help the Red Sox young talents (outfielders Andrew Benintendi, Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr., along with infielder Xander Bogaerts) ascend to stardom. Despite Cora having never served as a Major League manager before (he was the Astros’ bench coach, not the manager), Dombrowski was impressed with his new leader’s baseball intelligence, stating, “It was apparent with [Cora’s] intellect and feel for the game that managing at the Major League level was not a major obstacle” (mlb.com). Legendary two-time World Series champion and former Red Sox manager Terry Franco-
Dave Dombrowski officially welcomes Cora as new manager of the Red Sox.
photo from bostonherald.com
na, who led the Sox during Cora’s entire tenure as a player on the squad, is said to have known “more than a decade ago… [that] Alex Cora would one day occupy a Major League Baseball manager’s office” (nesn.com). The Red Sox front office is optimistic that Cora will reproduce his former manager Francona’s genuine care for his players, with Cora openly admitting that “having that good relationship with players is not bad [because this allows you to] get the best out of them.” The office is justifiably confident that Cora will be able to use his experience as a player to relate to his new team and ultimately lead the Sox to glory in the near future. Excited to embrace the city of Boston once again, new hire Alex Cora is ready to embark on his new journey as manager of the Red Sox. From his days as a player, Cora knows how special the city of Boston is, recounting, “There’s something about this place that pushes you. If you need something to push you… you look around and the fans are going to be here… [to] push you to be your best” (bostonherald. com). Just as the Red Sox faithful will support their new manager to the ends of the Earth, granted he brings the required results, Cora must be able to support his players with unconditional genuineness in a manner former manager Farrell failed to. Holding firmly to his special ability to relate to his players and understanding of baseball, Cora is set to achieve his ultimate goal of bringing more World Series championships to Boston in the near future.
November 10, 2017
WEEK IN PHOTOS
photo by emily sorkin smith/ the hoot
photo from facebook.com
Community Advisors of East Quad gathered for the “Falling for East� quad event, which included an ugly flannel contest, a photobooth and pumpkin decorating with residents. falling for flannels
fall has arrived
Lown?
photo by sarah terrazano/ the hoot
Brandeis Women of Color Alliance (WOCA) gives out flowers in Upper Usdan on Kindness Day.. kindness is in bloom
the impending Thanksgiving holiday.
Have you seen these trees while staring out the window in
photo courtesy anthony manzi
starting the day with kindness
Kindness Day.
East Quad Community Advisors hand out cider donuts, hot chocolate and apple cider for
photo by emily sorkin smith/the hoot
photo courtesy giselle santillana
are you surprised that we have turkey pictures?
The Brandeis Hoot 16
One of many turkeys spotted on campus pondering the onset of fall and
double trouble
Two turkeys making their way down South Street.