The Brandeis Hoot 08/23/2019

Volume 16 Issue 13

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

August 23, 2019

Brandeis University’s Community Newspaper · Waltham, Mass.

Univ. responds to employee lawsuit

Summer means activism for Brandeis students

By Celia Young and Rachel Saal

By Celia Young editor

editors

Though he didn’t know it at the time, on June 3 Sagie Tvizer ’19 became one of the first people arrested in a series of protests against U.S. immigration policy—specifically Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) use of immigrant detention camps.

“I was the first person arrested in this protest at Elizabeth, [N.J.], which was the first protest. Now there have been dozens upon dozens over the country,” said Tvizer.

“I felt so empowered participating in this action… [but] it’s also a reflection of the work so many others have done, other Brandeis stu-

A human resources employee is suing Brandeis for over $2 million on three claims of discrimination based on her race, color, age, sex and decision to retaliate against mistreatment.

Counsel for Brandeis University denied all allegations of discrimination in a reply on June 28th.

The suit, filed by former Vice President of Human Resources Robin Nelson-Bailey after a shake up in the Brandeis Athletics department, names not only the university as a defendant See LAWSUIT, page 2

A SUMMER IN PROTESTS

LilyFish Gomberg ‘20 protested immigration detention camps in July.

See ACTIVISM, page 3

PHOTO FROM BOSTONGLOBE.COM

Photos of community members found on white nationalism site

By Celia Young editor

Public safety has uncovered images of Brandeis community members on a thread belonging to the white nationalist website Vanguard News Network.

The thread, which began over

a year ago, focuses on stereotypical Jewish facial features and contains hateful and anti-Semitic language. However, it poses no direct threat to the individuals posted about, wrote Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan in an email to the Brandeis community Monday morning.

“While this situation is obvi-

ously disturbing, Public Safety has investigated and found no direct threat to these individuals or to Brandeis,” wrote Callahan in the Monday morning email. “We do not believe there is reason to be concerned at this time, but Public Safety will continue to monitor the situation.”

A Brandeis community mem-

ber whose photo appears in the thread notified public safety, and the department then notified other community members whose images were found, said Callahan to The Brandeis Hoot in an email.

The images have not been removed, but these students are not likely in any danger, said Callahan.

“These images appear to have

been copied from publicly available articles or other web pages connected to our community members’ scholarship,” wrote Callahan. “Public Safety found no evidence of any presence on campus by members of this online forum, and no direct See WEBSITE, page 5

Brandeis hires three new employees, a new VP of student affairs

By Lucy Frenkel special to the hoot

Brandeis University has hired several new staff members for the fast approaching academic year.

Raymond Ou will permanently replace Sheryl Sousa as the Vice President of Student Affairs and succeeds interim vice provost Bill Walker.

The new senior vice president for communications, marketing and external relations, Dan Kim, will start on Sept. 1, and the new academic advisor working with last names beginning with L-M,

Inside This Issue:

Lakiyah Russell began her position in May. Ou will replace Sousa, who resigned from the vice president of student affairs position—originally named the vice provost of student affairs position—after an investigation into the handling of Brandeis’ men’s basketball coach’s racist and discriminatory treatment of players.

As her replacement, Ou will oversee the Dean of Students Office, the Hiatt Career Center, Community Living, the Center for Spiritual Life, Hillel, Family See NEW HIRES, page 4

News: Brandeis asks for sustainability funds.

Ops: A guide to Brandeis.

Features: Pirates, mystics and scholars.

Sports: Three named as UAA scholar-athletes.

Editorial: Welcome to Brandeis!

RENNOVATIONS:

Brandeis saw several new rennovations this summer.

summer away

Page 4 Page 7 Student athletes abroad.

Page 9 Page 6 SPORTS: PAGE 5 Page 11

once upon a time...

Yikes. Our critic really loves Quentin Tarantino’s latest.

ARTS: PAGE 12

PHOTO BY SABRINA CHOW/THE HOOT

NEWS

2 The Brandeis Hoot

August 23, 2019

HR employee sues for $2 million, Univ. responds LAWSUIT, from page 1

but also President Ronald Liebowitz, Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Stewart Uretsky and Interim Vice President for Human Resources Larry Lewellen.

“I believe that Robin was treated illegally,” said Nelson-Bailey’s attorney, Matthew Fogelman of Fogelman & Fogelman LLC to The Brandeis Hoot.

“It’s my job to advocate for a client, stand up for them, help them to have a voice and try to not only fight for their rights but really, in this situation, help to clear her name because her name has been tarnished.”

The suit claims that Nelson-Bailey, a 43-year-old African American woman, complained of personal issues as early as her hiring in 2016 and was constantly second-guessed, unlike white male employees. The suit alleges that both before and after an investigation into Brandeis Athletics— which resulted in her demotion— Nelson-Bailey was questioned and faced retaliatory conduct when she complained, preventing her from doing her job.

The conduct of the three defendants, alleges the suit, resulted in Nelson-Bailey’s loss of wages and benefits, reputational harm, emotional stress, anxiety and depression according to documents obtained from the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination and Middlesex County Court House.

The case—originally filed with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) on November 19, 2018—was moved to Middlesex County Court on April 23, 2019.

“This case is more appropriately litigated in court. We plan to have a trial in this case one day,” Fogelman said. “We want to try the case before a jury of Robin’s peers, and in the MCAD, you don’t get a jury trial, you just get a hearing by an MCAD officer, which for some cases, can be perfectly appropriate.”

The Hoot contacted Liebowitz, Uretsky and Lewellen for comment before publishing an earlier version of this story. Director of Media Relations Julie Jette responded that they could not comment on a pending lawsuit against the university. The three men are being represented by Greg Manousos of Morgan, Brown & Joy, LLP, according to Fogelman.

To date, Nelson-Bailey is still employed at Brandeis as Assistant Vice President of Special Projects in the Human Resources Department.

Allegations Defendants’

and the Response

The suit alleges that Nelson-Bailey was one of the few women and people of color in Brandeis’ upper administration, and under Uretsky’s supervision, she was constantly second guessed, questioned and interrupted in staff meetings, while male employees were not.

The defense, represented by Manousos, denied this treatment, also denying that a majority of Brandeis’ high-level employees are male, or white or non-black.

Out of the 22 top paid and key salaried employees listed by Brandeis on their 2017 tax filings, 15 are male and seven are female.

But the suit focuses around an investigation into Men’s Bas-

ketball Coach Brian Meehan, how Nelson-Bailey handled that investigation and what happened after the Brandeis community learned of Meehan’s racist and discriminatory treatment of players in April of 2018.

The investigation into Meehan began in May of 2017 when six students authored a formal complaint against the coach.

The complaint alleged that Meehan was engaging in nepotism, racial discrimination and emotionally abusive conduct.

Then Director of Employee and Employer Relations and Title IX Coordinator Linda Shinomoto was assigned the case.

While students had complained about Meehan since 2014, the investigation only began in May of 2017, according to a subsequent independent investigation into the athletics department. Shinomoto and Nelson-Bailey communicated with players in 2017, and Shinomoto compiled information about the coach, eventually providing their findings to Vice President for Student Affairs Sheryl Sousa.

The suit alleges that Shinomo-

tigation into Brandeis athletics.

Shinomoto left Brandeis to take a position at Wentworth Institute of Technology as Vice President for Human Resources and stated in an interview with The Hoot that she resigned from Brandeis. The suit alleges that she was terminated on Oct. 26, 2017, and the defense’s response denied that the use of the word “termination” was accurate.

Shinomoto would not comment if her departure was linked to the HR investigation.

After Shinomoto left, Nelson-Bailey stepped in to communicate with the students who had complained. She informed the players that Meehan was disciplined, though she did not say what that punishment consisted of, according to the suit.

But the HR investigation did not mark the end of complaints against Meehan.

In the spring of 2018, another player came forward with allegations of racial discrimination and after the publication of an article about the coach on Deadspin.com, Liebowitz announced that Meehan was fired on April 5,

Flagel as evidence of discrimination. In their response, the defense denied that male employees such as Uretsky and Locke were not punished and cites the firing of Coach Meehan as an example.

The independent investigation found that Flagel tried to delay or change disclosure of Shinomoto’s finding of student discimination.

In a September 2018 interview, The Hoot asked Liebowitz if Flagel’s departure was at all related to the independent investigation.

Liebowitz replied, “No, it wasn’t related directly to the investigation.” He said the same of Shinomoto’s departure.

After her demotion, the suit alleges discimination continued The suit points to Nelson-Bailey’s replacement with a white male, Larry Lewellen, who allegedly received increased support and resources than she had in the same role, though the defense denies those allegations.

The suit also claims that Lewellen did not provide her with a new job description or professional development plan and

PHOTO COURTESY GOOGLE MAPS

to, Uretsky and General Counsel to the University Steven Locke questioned the need for a written report at the end of the investigation and that in Nelson-Bailey’s meetings with Shinomoto, Shinomoto would ignore Nelson-Bailey and miss deadlines—the defendants deny all of these allegations.

But an independent investigation into athletics claimed that Nelson-Bailey did not support Shinomoto.

“Nelson-Bailey had provided little if any support to her direct report, the HR investigator, in several key meetings.

Nelson-Bailey also undercut the HR investigator’s findings with Sousa,” the report read.

Shinomoto disagreed on the suit’s characterization of her work when she spoke with The Hoot and said that she and Nelson-Bailey had a disagreement regarding the investigation but would not elaborate on what it was.

Shinomoto concluded her report in September of 2017 and found that the six students complaints had merit—complaints which said that the coach had engaged in discrimination based on race and behaved unprofessionally. But because of the close relationship between Meehan and his direct supervisor, Athletic Director Lynne Dempsey, Shinomoto made Sousa the final decision maker and did not recommend in her report that Meehan be placed on leave or terminated—a point both the plaintiff and the defense agree on.

Sousa made the final decision to punish Meehan, giving him a final written warning, according to a subsequent independent inves-

2018 in a community-wide email.

Brandeis hired two independent investigators to look into the handling of the HR investigation and held a campus-wide town hall, where students expressed their frustration, according to an earlier Hoot article.

The Brandeis community would learn more about Meehan in the independent investigation report, released in two parts on Sept. 4, 2018 and Nov. 29, 2018.

That same year in June, the suit alleges that Uretsky suggested hiring a white female assistant vice president to Nelson-Bailey who would be paid a salary of $250,000, a salary higher than Nelson-Bailey’s. The defense denied that the assistant would be paid more than Nelson-Bailey.

A summary report of the investigation was released to students in a Sept. 4, 2018 email.

That same day, according to both the plaintiff and the defense’s cases, Nelson-Bailey was called into a meeting with Uretsky.

Uretsky told Nelson-Bailey she was being demoted, according to both the plaintiff and the defense, because of her involvement in the internal investigation of Meehan, and she was placed on two-week administrative leave.

Nelson-Bailey was not the only woman demoted. Sousa resigned, and Dempsey was placed on probation along with Nelson-Bailey, Liebowitz announced to Brandeis on Sept. 4.

The suit also states that only women were punished following the investigation and cites the lack of punishment of Uretsky, Locke and Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew

prevented her from working on the Human Resources Department Affirmative Action Plan (AAP) through unnecessary delays and ineffective communication, though the defense denies these allegations as well.

Nelson-Bailey appealed her demotion on Sept. 20, 2018 to Liebowitz and Lewellen—a fact agreed upon by both the plaintiff and the defense. But while Nelson-Bailey’s suit alleges she faced retaliatory conduct by Lewellen in the form of increased supervision, questioning of her need for support and lack of communication about office events and meetings, the defense denies that Lewellen acted in this way.

Liebowitz rejected Nelson-Bailey’s appeal on Oct. 17, 2018.

The suit alleges that Nelson-Bailey inquired about the extent of her probation. Liebowitz informed her that he would be applying a policy meant for new university employees called the “Initial Review policy,” a procedure which Fogelmen called “misapplied.”

The defense denied that Liebowtiz applied a policy intended for only new university employees.

In a September 2018 interview, a month before Liebowitz informed Nelson-Bailey of the policy, he told The Hoot about plans to apply it to both Nelson-Bailey and Dempsey.

In November of 2018, Nelson-Bailey filed a complaint with MCAD, and the suit alleges that following that complaint, Nelson-Bailey received less time with her supervisors and a 45-day extension to her six-month probation.

The suit alleges that Lewellen accused Nelson-Bailey of not func-

tioning effectively, collaboratively and cooperatively in her role and that he stated that her employment was contingent on her behavior towards him. The defense denies that they committed any retaliation against Nelson-Bailey.

On March 5, 2019, Nelson-Bailey went on medical leave as a result of the defendant’s conduct, alleges the suit, and returned on May 28, though the defense denies any responsibility for Nelson-Bailey’s medical leave.

Legal

Issues

Involved

The lawsuit alleges that Nelson-Bailey was discriminated against by Brandeis University, violating Title VII; Massachussetts General Law 151B, which details “Unlawful Discrimination Because Of Race, Color, Religious Creed, National Orgin, Ancestry or Sex,” and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), which “protects certain applicants and employees 40 years of age and older from discrimination on the basis of age in hiring, promotion, discharge, compensation, or terms, conditions or privileges of employment.”

The Hoot spoke to Professor Michael C. Harper, Barreca Labor Relations Scholar at Boston University, and while he was unable to comment on this particular suit, he provided The Hoot with background information on Massachusetts law.

“The plaintiff has to prove that race or sex was a motivating factor in her being treated adversely.

She does not have to prove some level of animus or bigotry,” said Harper. “Title VII prohibits any consideration of race or sex. Title VII also prohibits imposing less desirable working conditions when motivated by sex or race, even if there are no direct economic consequences, such as a loss of a job or a pay raise.

However, the plaintiff has to show that the more hostile working environment was severe or pervasive in abuse.”

Harper said that the best evidence is to show that people outside of the plaintiff ’s protected class were treated better.

The suit’s evidence of racial discrimination included that “Ms. Nelson-Bailey was the only black high-level employee during most of her employment.”

“Ms. Nelson-Bailey was also the only woman of color on the leadership team and was the sole Human Resources employee who was singled out and faced demotion after involvement in this investigation,” the MCAD complaint files said.

When asked about other evidence of Ms. Nelson-Bailey’s racial discrimination, Fogelman told The Hoot that it was a difficult question to answer.

“In [a case] involving race, gender, sexual orientation and so forth, it’s rare that you’re going to have a situation that’s blatant,” said Fogelman.

“Often times what you have in discrimination cases is what we call circumstancial evidence. If there aren’t other apparent reasons why someone is being treated a certain way, and they happen to fall into another race or gender or religion or what-haveyou, in certain situations, and we believe that this is one of them, we do think that [that person was] treated differently because of those reasons,” he continued.

The Brandeis Hoot will keep you updated on further developments.

August 23, 2019

NEWS 3

The Brandeis Hoot

Students protest immigration detention camps ACTIVISM, from page 1

dents, other young Jewish people.”

“And it’s not about me,” Tvizer continued. “It’s about the 144,000 people in American concentration camps in 2019.”

Over 144,000 migrants, the largest number in 13 years, were apprehended or denied entry to the country in May, according to a Texas Tribune article.

But Tvizer was not the only Brandeis student to protest against ICE policies this summer.

Two juniors, LilyFish Gomberg ’20 and Rachel Steinberg ’20 were arrested together at a protest of detention camps on July 2.

“These are concentration camps in America,” said Steinberg. “In the Jewish community, we often say never again, and I think it should mean never again for everyone, not just for Jews.”

Earlier this summer, multiple news outlets reported on poor conditions in ICE detention centers, including bad smells, high heat, overcrowded conditions and no access to hot meals or showers, according to a USA today article.

The protests were a part of Never Again Action, a newly formed organization of Jewish people protesting ICE policies.

“We’ve been taught the signs by our ancestors,” reads Never Again Actions home webpage.

“As our government runs concentration camps, and rounds up and cages our neighbors, we are called to speak out.”

While the grass-roots organization is operating nationwide, these three Brandeis students took action closer to home in both New Jersey and Boston, M.A. Sagie

Tvizer

’19

Tvizer graduated in May after a long history of student activism at Brandeis, including advocating for gun control reform after a shoot-

ing at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 2018.

And as a post-graduate, his activism has continued. Tvizer was part of one of the first Never Again Action protests against a detention center in Elizabeth, N.J. When he arrived, Tvizer said, the detention center had all of its windows covered with mylar blankets and that Tvizer could not see a single detainee.

“That means that there is no natural light entering, that there is limited ventilation with the outside, most importantly it means that the detainees cannot see the outside world,” Tvizer said.

“That’s not how we should be treating people who are seeking asylum.”

When he was arrested, Tvizer said that he was charged with obstructing the public passage, or the road to the detention center.

“The Elizabeth police claim that I was obstructing the public passage,” Tvizer said. “That is, I along with 35 other Jews and allies in our protest shut down a road to a CoreCivic private detention facility. This private facility just houses youth.

It is contracted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the road that we shut down only leads to this facility—so we weren’t actually harming anyone else.”

Tvizer is proud of his and Never Again Action’s activism but also felt the conversation on immigration was derailed by a debate on whether or not detention camps can be called concentration camps.

“The mass concentration of people in a detention center who (one) haven’t committed a crime and (two) don’t pose a threat.

That literally meets the definition of a concentration camp,” said Tvizer. “The idea of taking that history and misusing it, appropriating it for any cause, I think disgusts some people and rightfully so. The problem is these are

PHOTO FROM BOSTONGLOBE.COM

concentration camps, and this is different from a death camp.”

But from what Tvizer has heard and seen from both his friends and Never Again Action, he is optimistic about their activism.

“Jewish Americans will not accept these conditions,” Tvizer said. Outside of Never Again Action, Tvizer remains active in local politics in Waltham, M.A., working as the assistant field coordinator for Jonathan Paz’s campaign for Waltham City Council.

Rachel Steinberg and LilyFish Gomberg

’20 ’20

Just one month after Tvizer’s arrest, Steinberg and Gomberg were also arrested protesting for the same cause, just in a different city: Boston.

For Steinberg, it was her boyfriend’s visit to the remnants of a concentration camp in Po-

PHOTO COURTESY SAGIE TVIZER

land that helped the issue of immigration detention hit home.

“My boyfriend was actually in Poland the day I got arrested, and the day before I got arrested, he visited Auschwitz. So there is a very clear connection for me between what is happening now in America and what happened during World War II.” Gomberg was inspired by seeing other protestors being arrested and marching and decided to join the team willing to be arrested in Boston.

She also said that her Jewish ancestry played a part and reconnected the story of some of her ancestors who died because others failed to treat them as humans. She felt she needed to help.

“In Boston, the ICE detention center has windows, and it is actually one of the only ones in the country where the people who were protesting were able to see the people inside,” said Gomberg.

“The detainees were holding up signs that said their names, help or lockdown.”

When Steinberg arrived at the protest, she only had three things in her pocket, she said: $40 in cash, identification and a handwritten note saying that she had a connective tissue disorder, which meant that if officers handled her too roughly, her bones would dislocate, she said.

The June 2 protest began at the New England Holocaust Memorial, said Steinberg, and those who were taking the risk of being arrested were driven to the front of the march.

“We were all just fired up.

We went and we sat on the steps in front of the station, and we sang,” Steinberg said.

Very quickly, said Stein-

berg, she was arrested and with her hands zip tied behind her back, she was placed in a police vehicle with Gomberg.

While in the vehicle, said Steinberg, her wrists began to dislocate. She was able to prevent a full dislocation, and said that the police officer who zip tied her made an effort to make sure that the zip tie wasn’t too tight.

At the police station, Steinberg was fingerprinted, booked and placed in a jail cell with two friends, including Gomberg, she said.

They remained in the cell for eight to nine hours, said Steinberg, and though the cell was loud and the toilet did not flush, when they were released Never Again Action provided legal support for a quick hearing dismissing her charge of trespassing, and the charges of the other 18 people who were arrested.

Steinberg had never been arrested before but said she would absolutely do it again. She also encouraged others to participate, and said that no matter someone’s ability, there are many different ways to get involved.

“I want to make sure I’m doing everything I can. I don’t want to look back and say I could have done more,” Steinberg said.

“Whatever experience I had would be nothing compared to what these children are going through.”

“I know I have friends who came to this country in maybe the not most legal ways, and they don’t deserve that. Nobody deserves that,” she said.

Outside of her activism over the summer, Steinberg took a screenwriting and an art history class.

Gomberg volunteered with Keshet, an organization fighting for equality of LGBTQ Jewish people.

Website not a threat to Univ., says Public Safety WEBSITE, from page 1

threats were made in the posts.”

Public safety is monitoring the situation on the thread and on social media, said Callahan.

He continued “There is no evidence that any member of the group has a connection to Brandeis. These photos were likely copied from public-facing articles and webpages.”

The Hoot was able to confirm one Brandeis community member—a participant of the Hornstein Jewish Profession-

al Leadership program—whose photograph had been posted on the website by the founder of the thread, though there may be more. The thread contains hundreds of photos—ranging from celebrities to private figures—that were posted as recently as Tuesday. The thread began in June of 2018 after the original poster, likely using a pseudonym, asked users about a Jewish journalist who wrote an article about her decision not to get surgery on her nose. The author, writing in The Jewish Chronicle, discussed how

a plastic surgeon had called her Jewish nose attractive, making her realize that surgery would do more than just change her face.

“While I finally understood that there was no single ‘Jewish’ face, I was acutely aware that so many others are not conscious of this fact,” wrote the author Katie Grant. “For me, allowing Mr. S to operate would have involved validating this damaging outlook and sacrificing my cultural identity. I would have been cutting my nose off to spite my— and every other—Jewish face.

Why should I feel pressurised to distance myself from my Jewish roots in order to be considered beautiful?”The original poster, using the name Stewart Meadows, asked users if Grant had made the right decision and why Jewish people’s “appearance is traditionally considered ugly in the West.” The thread quickly devolved into anti-Semitic slurs and hateful language against many minorities, including African Americans and Asians.

This is not Brandeis’ first run in with white nationalism and

white supremacism. In December of 2018, posters with the logo or name of a white supremacist group were found on campus and removed. In 2017, swastikas were drawn on two whiteboards outside students rooms, and in 2016, a driver shouted anti-Semitic slurs at Brandeis students on South Street, according to an earlier Hoot article.

The thread that is now being monitored by public safety contains over 20 pages of posts, and the thread’s founder was active and posting as recently as Tuesday.

4 NEWS

The Brandeis Hoot

August 23, 2019

Brandeis makes $263 million in tuition, fees, provides $100 million in financial aid editor

billion, up from the beginning of the year at around $977 million.

Brandeis University has filed and released their tax returns, as the university does every year, disclosing the salaries of Brandeis’ top paid employees, how much money is made in fundraising and other university financials.

Brandeis made over $263 million in tuition and fees, according to the documents. Expenses included around $150 million in employee salaries and wages, and about $18.7 million in dining services. Brandeis also spent around $100 million in university funded financial aid.

“Our financial health is solid.

This has been further reiterated by our recent debt rating letters from Moody’s and S&P,” wrote Brandeis Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer Sam Soloman to The Brandeis Hoot, referring to two credit rating firms.

In part of the form titled Endowment Funds, the university listed a year end balance of just over $1

Individual Salaries 376 individuals received more than $100,000 in reportable compensation from Brandeis in 2017.

The highest paid individual at Brandeis is University President Ronald Liebowtiz, who reported compensation of $847,332 for the 2018 fiscal year, which refers to the 2017 calendar year.

This salary comes from his $664,974 base compensation plus other compensation, retirement and deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits.

Liebowtiz also received an estimated amount of additional compensation from Brandeis or related organizations of $104,961, coming to a total of nearly a million dollars.

This salary, however, is lower than former president Frederick Lawrence, who led Brandeis from 2011 to 2015, according to his university webpage. During his last calendar year as president, in 2015, Lawrence was paid $858,782

By Celia Young

plus an estimated amount of additional compensation at $146,984, resulting in a total of $1,005,766.

But Lawrence was also paid in 2016, after he had stepped down as president on June 30, 2015, according to a Hoot article from February 2015. Lawrence was listed as “faculty” for the 2016 payment, which was just under $1 million, including Lawrences’ additional estimated compensation.

Lawrence was also listed on Brandeis’ tax forms for the 2017 fiscal year, where he was listed as “former president” and reported a compensation of $185,000.

“As part of his Presidential contract Fred Lawrence received payments as a faculty member after he stepped down as President,” wrote Soloman to The Hoot. He also mentioned that payments after a university employed individual leaves Brandeis are a common practice in higher education.

“When some employees leave the university, either their salary is paid on that prior calendar year, or [there] may be an accrued agreement paying the person

for a short period of time after they leave day-to-day operating roles at the university,” he wrote.

“This is a common practice.”

Brandeis changed its compensation policies in early 2014, at the same time the university president before Lawrence, Jehuda Reinharz, left Brandeis with a $4.9 million payout won through deferred compensation and for untaken sabbatical, according to a 2014 Inside Higher Ed article. Lesser payments reported by smaller media outlets caused over $1,000 Brandeis community members to sign a petition advocating for fair executive pay.

Lawrence received no deferred compensation in 2017, $26,500 in 2016 and $76,500 in 2015.

Deferred compensation is common at universities, according to the Inside Higher Ed article, to help presidents plan for retirement and to encourage university presidents to stay at their current institution. Payments can be tied to goals or have tax advantages.

The 2014 policy change, according to Inside Higher Ed,

required all members of the Board of Trustees to see all executive compensation agreements.

According to the Board of Trustees bylaws listed on Brandeis’ website, the executive committee—made up of the chair of the board, the vice chair, the university president, one faculty representative appointed by the chair and the chairs of the standing committees—sets the president’s compensation.

The tax filings also touch on contributions and grants made to the university, which were down this year from about $80 million to about $45 million. Brandeis received a $50 million gift in 2017 from the estate of two chicago philanthropists—the largest gift in Brandeis’ history according to a BrandeisNow article—and a $10 million grant in 2018 from alumnus Toshizo “Tom” Watanabe ’73 to create an international scholarship program to assist students from Japan to study at Brandeis, according to an earlier Hoot article from November 2018.

Univ. asks for donations for sustainability fund

By Celia Young editor

Brandeis parents, alumni, grandparents and donors received emails this June asking for donations for the Brandeis Fund for Green Initiatives and Campus Sustainability, a fund dedicated to improving carbon-footprint initiatives at Brandeis.

The fund was created in June to exclusively support initiatives that reduce Brandeis’ carbon footprint, according to Vice President for Administration and Operations at the Office of Institutional Advancement Elizabeth Crabtree.

The letter that was distributed was signed by University President Ronald Liebowitz and listed examples including renovations, replacing lighting fixtures and educating the Brandeis community as initiatives Brandeis has undertaken to reduce the university’s carbon footprint.

“Over the past two-plus years, I have heard from a number of you asking about the university’s commitment to reducing our carbon footprint and lessening our impact on climate change,” the letter began. “I am writing to share some of our progress and to ask you to consider participating in a new program...a fund dedicated exclusively to support carbon-footprint reducing initiatives at Brandeis.”

The fund is overseen by the Office of Institutional Advancement, wrote Crabtree to The Brandeis Hoot. Though Crabtree did not respond before press time what specific projects the fund will support for the 2019-2020 academic year, she did say that the fund is part of an ongoing effort to improve campus sustainability.

“Support for this fund will help move forward energy efficient projects, such as the introduction of solar panels, upgrading lighting, insulation and HVAC systems and educating students

and faculty about proactive conservation,” wrote Crabtree to The Hoot. “Anyone can make a gift to this fund of any size and at any time via the online giving form.”

In the letter sent out to potential donors, Liebowitz stated that Brandeis had reduced its carbon footprint 12.6 percent since 2015, but much more remains to be done.

“At our Board of Trustees meeting in November, I committed to convening a group of interested faculty, staff and students during the 2019-2020 academic year to update the campus sustainability study and provide a new set of recommendations that will build upon our recent successes in carbon emissions,” the letter read. “In the meantime, we will continue pursuing an upgrade of our campus facilities and energy use policies to minimize our role in climate change.”

The Office of Sustainability is not involved in the fund, but some of the initiatives mentioned

in the letter that have helped to reduce Brandeis’ carbon footprint—such as the lighting projects and education programs— can be attributed to the office.

In the summer of 2018, lighting fixtures in the Shapiro Campus Center (SCC) were replaced with LED bulbs in a $200,000 project to provide more light to the building and improve the SCC’s energy efficiency, according to an earlier Hoot article.

The project was estimated to reduce 60 tons of carbon production per year, or 0.3 percent reduction in the Brandeis campus’ carbon footprint, said Manager of Sustainability Programs Mary Fischer in an earlier article. The project was also estimated to save Brandeis $40,000 a year in electricity costs, meaning the project will pay for itself in just under five years.

And as for education programs, a series of information sessions called “Let’s Talk Trash” endeav-

ored to educate Brandeis students about how to properly recycle and to correct some myths about recycling at Brandeis, according to an earlier Hoot article.

The Green fund comes after Brandeis partially divested from fossil fuels after a Board of Trustees vote in late 2018. Brandeis will no longer directly invest endowment funds in companies and partnerships whose “principal business is the mining of coal for use in energy generation,” as part of the university’s new policy, according to an earlier Hoot article.

While campus activists for divestment found the new policy to be a good first step, the policy was not full divestment, and Brandeis Climate Justice (BCJ) continued to protest the university in May 2019 by hanging a banner outside of Gosman Athletic Center in May 2019, read an earlier Hoot article. The banner read, “Fo$$il Fuel$ or Our Future” with the hashtags “#divest” and “#reinvest.”

Univ. hires new vice president of student affairs

NEW HIRES, from page 1

Engagement and Communications, the Counseling Center, the Health Center and the Prevention, Advocacy and Resource Center.

In an interview with The Brandeis Hoot, Ou stated that he was aware of the investigation into athletics at the time of his application process, but he is reassured and confident that he will be able to build trust with students from the beginning of his tenure at Brandeis, especially while working with key campus partners.

Ou is aware of the “enormous courage” that it takes for students to speak up. He has stated that if students come to him with complaints, he will direct them to, and work in conjunction with, the newly formed Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO), which will oversee any investigations and direct students to needed resources.

Ou has received three degrees from Johns Hopkins University, including a master’s of science in clinical counseling. “I have already asked him to begin this fall semester a holistic review of mental health needs and support deficits on our campus,” said Provost Lisa Lynch in a university-wide email.

Ou reiterated that his goal for the first few months is to have as many meaningful interactions with as many constituencies as possible and attend social events both during and after traditional work hours, in an interview with The Hoot.

Ou joins Brandeis after, most recently, being the senior associate dean of student affairs at Tufts University. In that role, he was in charge of around 125 professional staff members, according to a BrandeisNow article. Before that, he held leadership positions in student life at Yale University, Simmons University and his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University.

After a national search, President Liebowitz named Dan Kim as the new SVP for communications, marketing and external relations in a community-wide email on Aug. 6. Kim will also be part of the president’s leadership team.

Kim sees his biggest challenges as learning about how to be effective in his new role, learning about the Brandeis culture and understanding the role of the communications office in the context of President Liebowitz’s Framework for our Future, he said in an interview with The Hoot.

“Dan Kim will bring a deep history of innovation and excellence in communications and marketing to our senior leadership team and to Brandeis,” said Liebowitz in an interview with BrandeisNow. “I am confident that, under his leadership, our communications team will be able to enhance our communications strategy and execution and to elevate our institution’s profile across the country

and the world.”

Kim said he was impressed by President Liebowitz’s Framework of our Future, in an interview with The Hoot. He stated that in his years of working in higher education, this was the first time he had seen “such an understandable and inspiring vision for the future as [President Liebowitz’s].”

Kim has stated that he is excited to be a part of a research university that is working hard to solve major problems society faces.

During the interview process, he enjoyed learning more about the university as well as seeing the campus, meeting with faculty, students and the president’s leadership team. Kim is excited to meet students, faculty and more of his colleagues in the communications office.

Kim comes to Brandeis from his role as the vice president of communications at the College of the Holy Cross. Prior to that, he held positions at West Virginia University, University of Michi-

gan, Detroit News and Free Press and the American Bar Association in Detroit. He received both his bachelors’ and Juris Doctor degree at the University of Michigan.

Similarly, Russell is excited to meet and get to know students during the upcoming school year.

She joined the Brandeis community after working at Emerson College as a residence director for a year. Before Emerson, Russell received her Master’s degree in higher education from Merrimack College.

Russell likes that Brandeisians are recommended to explore their interests before they choose their majors and plans to encourage her advisees to pursue a holistic experience during their undergraduate careers.

Russell has had a passion for academic advising since her own undergraduate years, working as a peer advisor (Roosevelt Fellow equivalent) at Westfield State University, her Bachelor’s alma mater.

SPORTS

August 23, 2019

The Brandeis Hoot 5

Emily Bryson nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year

By Sabrina Chow editor

After running both cross country and track for the past four years at Brandeis, Emily Bryson ’19 graduated this past May as one of the most decorated athletes in Brandeis history with four national titles and nine All-American honors. It was also announced on June 26 that Bryson was one of 585 female athletes that were nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year. Nominees span all three divisions of the NCAA. Following the general nomination process, each conference in the United States will select up to two nominees from the given pool, according to NCAA.org.

There were a total of five UAA female athletes that were nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year.

It was announced on July 3 that Bryson and Casandra Laios from Case Western Reserve University were selected as the UAA representatives for NCAA Woman of the Year.

Bryson said she is extremely proud to be representing Brandeis and the UAA with her NCAA Woman of the Year nomination.

“Brandeis athletics and the entire Brandeis community has given me so much over the past four years, supporting me through every moment of my career, so the opportunity of representing them with this nomination is such a privilege and a rewarding and exciting way for me to cap off my Brandeis career,” she said in an email to The Brandeis Hoot.

Bryson committed to running for Brandeis when she was still in high school. “I chose Brandeis because I felt that it would give me the best opportunity to succeed as a student and an athlete,” she wrote. “As a biology major, I really liked Brandeis because of its strong programs in the sciences along with its many research opportunities. As an athlete, I instantly connected with the coach-

es and my future teammates on my recruiting visit and knew that Brandeis would allow me to compete at the highest level possible while also pursuing high level academics.” She also emphasized the support that she felt the Brandeis community would provide to help her balance academics and athletics.

Coach Sinead Evans, who has been the head coach for both the women’s and men’s cross country and track teams for six years and was Bryson’s coach for her entire Brandeis career, saw the potential in Bryson when she was still being recruited.

“She is a really hard worker and really determined athlete,” said Evans. “Not only did she do the work, but she really listened and trusted the coaching and backed off and rested when she needed to.”

Bryson told The Hoot that the best advice she ever got from Evans was “to trust in the process.”

Evans always reminded Bryson that “if I trusted in the process, worked hard and made the sacrifices I needed to be a great athlete, success was possible,” said Bryson. “She always had so much confidence in me, sometimes more than I had in myself, and it was always so inspiring and motivating to know how much she believed in me.”

The defining moment of Bryson’s career came during her first NCAA title in the 3000 meter. This also happened to be one of Evans’ proudest moments of Bryson. “At the time, the win was really unexpected for me, and so I felt like that moment was the turning point for me in my running career and a moment that instilled in me a lot of confidence going forward as a runner that I could compete with the best in the nation,” Bryson said.

Evans explained that she told Bryson that she was capable of winning. “I don’t believe she thought she could win, but she went with the plan and ran a brilliant race to win the title,” said

Evans.

While at Brandeis, Bryson majored in biology and health: science, society and policy with a minor in French and Francophone studies. She said that she often struggled with balancing the workload of being a student and an athlete, especially with juggling lab courses and getting to practice. Bryson credits the help of her friends and the Brandeis community to help her through.

“My teammates were always there to offer me advice in managing certain classes and in supporting and motivating me through the overwhelming moments in balancing the demands of both,” Bryson said. “My coaches were also incredibly accommodating of the days I had to miss practice, as Coach Evans would often come in early to time me in workouts on days when I would miss working out with the team.” She said professors were also extremely understanding of her situation and helped accommodate her the best they could.

After cross country season in the fall, Bryson said that she mainly ran the mile, 3000 meter and anchored for the distance medley relay (DMR) during indoor track season. In outdoor track, she focused on the 1500 meter but also ran the 800 meter and 5k race.

Bryson also served as a co-captain for both the cross country and track and field teams during her junior and senior years. Evans cited how her work ethic and dedication made an impact on her teammates. “She was really supportive of every athlete on the team, which created a really strong team culture,” said Evans.

Bryson’s proudest moment outside of academics was the role she played as captain of the cross country and track and field teams, whether it be giving advice on classes or helping them through personal hardships. “These moments made me realize that contributions to the team went far beyond just athletic performance,”

PHOTO FROM BRANDEIS.EDU

Bryson told The Hoot. “As sometimes these moments where I truly felt like a leader and a mentor for my teammates were more rewarding and valuable.”

She also told The Hoot that her proudest moment in her running career was her recent win at the NCAA championships in the DMR with her twin sister Julia Bryson ’19, Doyin Ogundiran ’19 and Devin Hiltunen ’22. “It was incredibly special to get to share such an emotional moment with them, especially my twin sister, knowing how hard we all worked all season to make that moment happen,” she said. Bryson also added that many of their teammates came out to support them during the race and felt the win was more than a win for their relay team but for their entire track and field team.

To all aspiring and current college athletes, Bryson urges them to “surround yourself with a supportive network of people who will push you to be a better athlete, student and person.” She truly believes that her support network was the key to her success as a student and as an athlete.

“Enjoy the process and have fun with it,” Bryson would tell her teammates, having graduated. “In

spite of all the pressure you may feel on race day, just have fun with it and embrace the opportunity to represent Brandeis, as doing so is such a privilege and should never be taken for granted.”

Since graduating, Bryson is currently pursuing a job in clinical research in Boston.

According to NCAA.org, the NCAA Woman of the Year award was established in 1991 and “recognizes graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.”

Following Bryson’s UAA nomination, the Woman of the Year selection committee, which is made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will select the Top 30 honorees, 10 from each competition division. Nine finalists, three from each division, will be announced in September, where the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics will decide on the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year. All the Top 30 honorees and the winner will be honored and named at the annual ceremony in October 2019 in Indianapolis, I.N.

Student-athletes abroad for the summer

By Emerson White staff

At Brandeis, student-athletes are taking advantage of the summer off-season to study abroad across the world, immersing themselves into the cultures of countries around the globe.

One of the hundreds of Brandeis students abroad this summer is Sydney Goldman ’22. Goldman, a member of the Brandeis Women’s softball team, chose to spend her summer in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Goldman left for Mexico after a standout freshman season for the Judges, in which she was named to the All-UAA first team and was selected as UAA pitcher of the week multiple times.

Goldman is not only performing well on the softball field but is also an exceptional student.

She is on the pre-med track and plans on majoring in Health: Sci-

ence, Society, and Policy (HSSP) and biology, as well as minoring in Hispanic studies. This summer, Goldman took part in the Institute for Study Abroad (IFSA) Butler Medical Spanish Terminology and Contemporary Public Health Program in the Yucatan. In this program Goldman got the opportunity to live with a host family in the city of Merida in Mexico for five weeks.

In discussing her study abroad experience, Goldman said she chose this program because “it perfectly incorporated two of my passions: medicine and language.”

Furthermore, she explained that she chose to study in Mexico because, as a Hispanic studies minor, she “wanted to gain conversational fluency in Spanish.”

When reflecting on her time abroad, Goldman said her favorite part of her experience was an excursion in which she spent four days in Cuba. She discussed how she was able to speak with a local doctor and learn more about the

PHOTOS COURTESY SYDNEY GOLDMAN

Cuban medical system, and Cuba’s prevention-focused healthcare system.

For Goldman, the Medical Spanish Terminology and Contemporary Public Health Program was the perfect fit for her.

The program related directly to her personal career interests be-

cause she hopes to pursue orthopedic surgery in the future.

She mentioned her goal is to work very closely with athletes, but she does not want to have a barrier with athletes that do not speak English.

Goldman believes that by enhancing her knowledge of Span-

ish, she will be able to reach a whole new audience of people with whom she could not previously communicate.

Goldman also expressed how her experience as a Brandeis student athlete prepared her for her time abroad. She said being a student athlete has allowed her to be comfortable outside of her typical surroundings. She mentioned that “as an athlete we have to adapt to the weather or different playing conditions on the fly.” And during her time in Mexico, Goldman realized her preconceived notions were different from her actual experiences.

Overall, Goldman said her time in Merida and in her study abroad program was an incredible experience, and she wishes she could go back.

To see more summer spotlights on other Brandeis student athletes check out the Brandeis Athletics website. And be sure to see the Judges in action this fall in the Gosman Sports Center.

6 SPORTS

The Brandeis Hoot

August 23, 2019

The road to victory: USWNT

By Camila Casanueva staff

The United States Women’s National Soccer team (USWNT) made some noise this summer when they brought home the World Cup Championship.

Not only did they accomplish the main goal, but the women did it fearlessly and in style.

After filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation for equal pay before the World Cup, many believed it would be a distraction to the team or add additional pressure.

However, these women thrived under the circumstances.

In their first match against Thailand, the U.S. put on a dominant 13-0 performance. 13-0.

That is more goals than what the U.S. Men’s National Soccer team scored in all of the World Cup games combined.

These women have earned and deserve equal compensation.

They continue to prove their dominance at the national stage and inspire many along the way.

It is more than just soccer; these women use their platform to speak up against the gender pay gap, to voice political displeasures

and, most importantly, to unite a nation.

These women represent our America and are not afraid to challenge everyone to be better.

They are on a relentless pursuit to be the best team they can be, while ensuring we reach a place where eventually the next generation of women will be paid what they deserve and not a penny less than the men’s team.

That being said, with all the critics constantly trying to belittle their success, the women’s national team continue to shine.

In the semifinal, it was a nail biter against England; a save by goalie Alyssa Naeher preserved the team’s 2-1 lead.

That would turn out to be the USWNT’s biggest challenge as they dominated the Netherlands in the final.

They outshot the Dutch 17 to five with 10 shots on target to one.

Megan Rapinoe broke through for the team’s first goal off a penalty kick, and Rose Lavelle sealed it with another goal eight minutes later.

Rapinoe won the Golden Boot, which is awarded to the best player of the tournament.

She finished with six goals and three assists in the tournament,

PHOTO FROM WASHINGTONPOST.COM

giving her the edge over fellow teammate Alex Morgan.

However, Alex Morgan still brought home some hardware with the Silver Boot, alongside Rose Lavelle, who was awarded the breakout star of the tournament.

The team’s success in the tour-

nament brought out all sorts of chants at the post game ceremony.

But the one that was most profound was those chanting and demanding “equal pay.”

It has been a long road for the USWNT. In their pursuit of a championship, they overcame many chal-

lenges.

While many athletes and teams typically shy away from politics and advocacy, the U.S. Women’s team has fully embraced their role as advocates for both women’s soccer and women being paid unfairly around the world.

Three named to UAA President’s Council

By Jesse Lieberman staff

Three Brandeis Judges were named to the 11th annual University Athletic Association (UAA) President’s Council Scholar-Athlete Team for both their athletic and academic achievements during the 2018-2019 school year.

To be selected, an athlete must receive first-team all UAA recognition while maintaining at least a 3.5 GPA throughout his or her playing season.

Three Judges are part of a record 116 recipients named to the Scholar-Athlete team. The team is comprised of athletes from 12 men’s sports and 11 women’s sports and represents all eight UAA universities.

Women’s tennis: Lauren Bertsch ’21

Bertsch played number one doubles with recent graduate Olivia Leavitt ’19 and number four singles, led the Judges to a 12-7 record. The Judges earned their first NCAA Division III tourna-

ment berth this past season. At this tournament, they made it to the regional final before falling to Wesleyan, who won the national championship.

The Judges finished the year ranked 10th but were ranked as high as eighth during the season, a program record.

Softball: Scottie Todd ’20

Todd, who was named UAA pitcher of the year, led the Judges to a 29-7-1 record and their second appearance in the NCAA Division III tournament. Todd had a 13-5 record along with 68 strikeouts and a 2.13 earned run average. Todd was also a force at the plate, leading the team with six home runs and 27 runs batted in.

leg in the Distance Medley Relay (DMR). In the UAA outdoor championships, Bryson was part of the 4x800 meter relay team, which broke a school record.

Bryson also earned her second All-America honor during the Division III National Championship, where she ran the 1200 meter leg for the Brandeis DMR team, which placed first at nationals.

LAUREN BERTSCH

SCOTTIE TODD

PHOTOS FROM BRANDEISJUDGES.COM

Women’s Cross Country/ Track and Field: Julia Bryson ’19

Bryson, who also earned the honor last year, was part of several championship teams for the Judges this season.

At the UAA indoor championships, Bryson ran the 1200 meter

PHOTO FROM BRANDEIS.EDU

DMR NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

From left to right: Julia Bryson, Devin Hiltunen, Doyin Ogundiran, Emily Bryson.

The newest NBA power duo

By Sophie Trachtenberg editor

By the end of the NBA’s summer trade deadline, the league no longer looks as it did during the 2018-2019 season, as contracts have ended and major trades have been made. Some of the league’s biggest superstars will now wear different jerseys this year, play in conferences on the opposite side of the country and play in front of new fans that cheer for unfamiliar franchises.

When the NBA season begins every October, each roster is slightly changed, but this summer bore such substantial shifts that it seems as if the league will simply

be transformed in the upcoming year. This all comes back to the trades made amongst the NBA’s biggest stars, which in my opinion make the league a bit more of an even playing field, giving basketball fans something to look forward to watching this season.

With Kawhi Leonard and Paul George heading out to Los Angeles, Russell Westbrook moving down south to Houston, Anthony Davis joining Lebron on the Lakers and Kyrie and Kevin Durant trying to revive the Nets, the NBA’s two-man game is being taken up a notch.

The Oklahoma City Thunder took quite possibly the biggest hit during the offseason, losing the most prominent face in their

short franchise history: the beloved Russell Westbrook. After seeing Kevin Durant leave the city in 2016 and join the power team that was once the Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City (OKC) fans could not have dreamt to experience another heartbreak within the business that is professional sports.

But, in a different fashion than the Durant episode, loyal Thunder fanatics are not experiencing the same anger and shock that came with their last prominent roster swap.

Instead, the inhabitants of OKC are reminiscing on the team that could have been, as Russell Westbrook was the last symbol of the original squad that pulled the

team to so much success in such a short amount of time. So, as Westbrook makes his way to Houston to be reunited with former teammate James Harden, OKC fans can find a sliver of comfort in the loss of their once cherished, truly fearless leader.

In addition to saying goodbye to Westbrook, George was also traded away to the Los Angeles Clippers, joining Leonard after he left the Toronto Raptors. In total, Oklahoma City received young guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and crafty forward Danilo Gallinari. They also got first round draft picks for 2022, 2024 and 2026, two first round picks from Miami, and first-round pick swaps in 2023 and 2025 accord-

ing to NBA.com. The Clippers received only George, who had a brief stint in OKC after being acquired from the Indiana Pacers in 2017.

As the Oklahoma City dynasty that once was a championship contender has officially come to a close, that of the Golden State Warriors has also acquired a new look, with Kevin Durant starting anew in Brooklyn to tag team with Kyrie Irving and sixth-man Andre Iguodala being traded to Memphis.

Along with the other duos mentioned above, the NBA is welcoming a new and balanced face lift for the upcoming season, granting more fans hope that their hometown team can go all the way.

August 23, 2019

OPINIONS

The Brandeis Hoot 7

Brandeis 101

By Sasha Skarboviychuk editor

Starting college is scary. It’s like playing a board game that you’ve never played before, but without the instructions. I, personally, am not great at figuring things out without making a mistake or two.

Although you have a lot of advisors and equally clueless people around you, you will have to figure almost everything out on your own. A year later, there are a few things I wish I knew when I first came to Brandeis.

General Before you even get to Brandeis, join all the Brandeis Facebook groups, and not just the Class of 2023 Facebook group. There are a lot of them, including: Travel Arrangements, Textbook Sale and Exchange, Free Food, Housing, General Items for Sale and some fun ones like Overheard or Overseen at Brandeis. The notifications from these groups might be annoying at times, but they will keep you in the loop and provide you with many valuable resources.

Figure out how to use Sage and LATTE! You will be using these two websites a lot throughout your college career. Sage allows you to check pretty much anything: your GPA, class schedule, the status of your degree, the general and major requirements you need to complete, any outstanding fees, emergency contact information and a lot more. This is also where you will register for classes. LATTE is where you will see assignments, readings, essentially everything that is related to your classes. Course grades are also posted there.

While you are exploring Brandeis sites, look at the medical patient portal too. When you are sick, the last thing you want to be doing is figuring out how to make an appointment at the Health Center. You can make an appointment online using the medical patient portal or over the

phone. Make sure you know what you need appointments for: right now, walk-in appointments are for cases of vaccines, tuberculosis screening tests, emergency contraception, and urinary tract infection. Walk-in hours are Monday to Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Everything else will require an appointment.

At orientation you will be given a lot of phone numbers, particularly for emergencies. Write them down. My thoughts were similar to what a lot of yours might be: I will not need these numbers, and even if I do, I can find them online. But if there is an emergency, the last thing you will want to waste time on is looking for those numbers. At least save the Brandeis Police and Emergency Medical Corps numbers.

The Brandeis Emergency Medical Corps (BEMCo) is an organization of volunteer students who are certified EMTs, who work everyday on campus. If you have a medical emergency that you do not think you can handle on your own, call them. Most students are reluctant to do so because they are afraid to get in trouble, but the largest concern for everyone is your own safety. Furthermore, Brandeis has a Medical Amnesty Policy (it can be found in the Rights and Responsibilities), which provides amnesty to students who are involved in or who report emergencies.

Download the BRANDA app. It has times of when the dining area, library and gym are open, tracking of the shuttles, the calendar of events and much more.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Everyone needs help and there are many people there for you at Brandeis.

Academics Look into the requirements of the majors that you might be interested in. Nothing is set in stone but being aware and familiar with the requirements will help you navigate the process of making

your class schedule.

As school is your first priority, (or at least it should be), making your schedule carefully is crucial. Although it is important to explore your options and try out new fields, it is even more important to not overwhelm yourself. I was the person who did not explore; I planned all my majors and minors in advance, and to this day, I haven’t taken a class that isn’t a requirement. I am not complaining, but I do not think that I am a good example—you really should explore.

While it is a good idea to explore different fields and take classes outside of your intended major, you should make sure that you are on track. After all, you don’t want to be that person starting their junior year and has a bunch of random classes that cannot add up to a major (at Brandeis, that’s truly an achievement). I recommend taking some classes that will fulfill your general requirements, some for your intended major and some for exploration purposes.

You have to complete certain requirements for all majors, and that is something you need to be aware of; you cannot graduate with that major in the usual four years if you cannot fulfill them.

It is important to recognize that for majors with more required courses, you might need to limit the number of classes taken for interest if you want to graduate in eight semesters.

However, that is not to scare you out of exploring, and that is exactly what shopping period is for. Shopping period is when you can freely go to classes without enrolling in them, add new ones, and drop them without having it on your record. That is exactly what I will be doing at the beginning of this semester, and who knows, maybe you’ll see a philosophy major in a biology class.

With the amount of freedom you have, it is very important to take advantage of shopping period and try to go to classes that may be of

interest to you.

Another important thing to remember is if it sounds like you are going to hate a class, chances are you will. No matter how many times I tried to tell myself that you cannot judge a class by its description, I never truly enjoyed a class that sounded boring to me. If you hated history in high school, chances are taking history in college will not become any more enjoyable. But keep in mind that some classes are a lot more fun than their description sounds, so don’t judge a book by its cover.

Once you figured out your schedule (or at least a preliminary version of it), take the time to find where your classes are before the first day of class. First impressions matter, and you do not want to be the person who walks into class ten minutes late on the first day.

This is especially important if you only have ten minutes in between your class, you will not have time to run around looking for your class, and let’s be honest, Brandeis is not the easiest place to navigate.

It took me two weeks to figure out where the dining halls are and around a month to find them without a map. Another fun thing to do is to take someone with you and go looking for classes together: you get to bond while doing something useful. Do not worry if you think you are the only one who is lost, almost everyone is.

During orientation, your orientation leaders are there to give you a tour of campus and help you find your classes, so don’t be afraid to ask them.

Be prepared for class. If you are certain that you will take a class, get the textbooks for it. You can get textbooks at the Brandeis bookstore, Amazon or sometimes there will be a copy of the book available in the reserved section at the library. The reserved section is where professors reserve the books for their students; you cannot check them out, but you can use them at the library. You can also rent textbooks at the

Brandeis bookstore. Before you buy the textbooks, I would check the Brandeis Library OneSearch for the textbooks: sometimes they have digital versions available for free (especially for older books).

If you want to save money (and who does not want to do that) check the for sale Facebook groups or the Textbook Exchange, lots of students sell their used books there for a fraction of the price at which they are sold at the bookstore. Talking to people who were in the class you are going to take is also a good idea, as they might have textbooks they want to sell. You can also sell those books to other students when you are done with them.

However, sometimes even though there are required books posted, the professor will say you do not really need it, or post the readings on Latte. It’s pretty unpredictable. I would also wait until you’re certain that you are going to stay in the class before getting the books: I know a lot of people (myself included) who spent hundreds of dollars on textbooks for classes they ended up dropping. This is especially bad for books you rented.

Taking advantage of office hours is a classic: you hear about it everywhere. And there’s a reason for it, it’s crucial to your success in a class, especially one that you are struggling in. Meeting with your professor outside of class not only gets you the help you need to succeed but also helps to establish connections for mentorship. It’s okay if you are uncomfortable with doing that, most people are.

I still have to force myself to go to office hours.

But be mindful; don’t just go to office hours just for the sake of it.

If you are going to go, at least have some questions to ask the professor; don’t go in there with nothing to say.

Hopefully this is the beginning of an instruction book, but remember, everyone writes their own.

Bye bye beach

By Emma Lichtenstein editor

When you grow up in Florida, you learn a few things. First, if you’re being chased by an alligator, run in a zig-zag instead of a straight line. Second, any temperature under fifty degrees is FREEZING. Third, the beach is incredibly overrated.

The beach is hyped up to this fantastic place. It’s got beautiful waves, cheap food, sunshine, people looking sexy in swimsuits. All of that is a lie.

Sure, the waves are nice, but the water is either ice cold or lukewarm. To be honest, I’m not sure which is worse. The cold is at least refreshing on a warm day, while lukewarm water just makes you feel like you’re swimming around in pee. Which you kinda are. The whole ocean is the bathroom for fish. Of course, that’s if you’re even bold enough to get in the water. Half the time, it’s all covered in seaweed or has some sort of bacteria or full of dead fish.

The cheap food is only there if you know where to look. Sure, you can get an ice cream cone for a dollar at one place, the other will

charge you five bucks for a single scoop. Forget about getting a real meal on the boardwalk. Everything is outdoors, with no fans, so you just sit there sweating. And then what, you’re gonna eat hot food? People do it, but it’s honestly a miserable experience.

Taking sips of water every thirty seconds to try to cool down, sticking to the chair because of sweat, gripping utensils extra hard because hands are so sweaty, scooting every couple of minutes to stay in the shade and avoid the sun.

The sunshine is definitely nice at first. It brings warmth and a potential tan. After five minutes though, that warmth turns to excruciating heat. A cloud can offer temporary relief, but soon enough it floats away. Sunburns are the actual worst. They take forever to fade, they hurt so much and they look so bad. They look especially bad if sunscreen isn’t rubbed in all the way, leaving weird spots of red that look like an abstract painting gone wrong. The sea breeze might help a little with the heat, but that just blows sand all over.

Sand is the worst part of the beach, hands down. No matter how hard you try to avoid it, you will end up covered in sand. Sand

PHOTO BY EMMA LICHTENSTEIN/THE HOOT

is a menace, refusing to come off after it latches itself to something.

Legs, hair, elbows, in between toes. Brushing it away barely helps, resulting in lots of beach goers that look more like sand castles.

People look most unattractive at the beach. Sure, they might look great in a swimsuit, but that won’t last long. One jump in the ocean, and hair is a straggly mess from the salty water. The heat brings a

natural flush to everyone and intensifies that with a sunburn. Bye, bye, tan skin, hello lobster people!

Since it’s so hot outside, everyone starts to sweat, and there is literally nothing attractive about sweat.

The one thing the beach has going for it is the beauty. The waves crashing along the shore are pretty, and the smell of saltwater is oddly soothing. The first twenty minutes are actually relaxing, just lying on a towel without a care in

the world. It really does make for a great Instagram moment.

But honestly, just go to the pool instead. The perks of the beach wear off too fast for it to be worth it. The pool still has swimsuits and water and tanning opportunities but with easy access to the indoors and no sand.

The photo op might not be as good, but it’s definitely not bad either. Same idea, just a different body of water.

8 OPINIONS

The Brandeis Hoot

August 23, 2019

More than a cultural immersion

By Sabrina Chow editor

After attending the study abroad fair in late September of my freshman year, I knew I wanted to go abroad. But I also knew that it would be practically impossible, based on what I had heard from older students. You always hear how students studying the “hard sciences” (chemistry, biology, physics, etc.) on the pre-medical track never get the opportunity to study abroad because their college life is full of course requirements, labs and internships, trying to seem appealing to medical schools in their applications. And you’re 100 percent right. Having all the necessary course requirements, volunteer experience and general well-roundedness is very important toward boosting your medical school application. But that’s not everything—something that really sets candidates apart from each other is the uniqueness of one’s application.

I’ve realized after two very humbling years in college, medical school applications, and college for that matter, is so much more than a list of classes and a high GPA. A GPA, at the end of the day, is just a number that may help you get into a school. But dwelling too much on this number will do much more harm than good in the future.

College should be one of the greatest times of our lives. Traveling on the weekend, joining clubs and making friends that will last a lifetime. It took me almost halfway through college to really start enjoying everyday while I was in school, rather than burying myself in school work. I start-

ed appreciating the little things and took more time for self-care.

I started to do work that opened my eyes to new perspectives, meeting new people and producing things that I am proud to call my own. Studying abroad was one of the best decisions of my college career because it allowed me to do just that.

But echoing the words of former Editor-in-Chief, Sarah Terrazano, you don’t have to find yourself abroad. I decided to apply to go abroad in the summer two weeks before all the applications were due. During this time, I filled out two different application forms and made too many frantic phone calls ensuring that my application would be filed even without some of the documentation. But the main reasons that I chose to go abroad when I did was that I didn’t get any summer internships. And that is totally fine. Internships are extremely competitive and not getting one does not necessarily say anything about you.

It was never my intention to study abroad. It was always just a thing in college that everyone seemed to do, except for most hard science majors, apart from the few that manage to go abroad.

It was something so far reaching that everyone said is a must to do in college, but I thought was never attainable. But I made it happen.

I studied this summer in Dublin, Ireland at University College Dublin (UCD) through the Boston University Study Abroad Program. While at UCD, I took one course on contemporary Irish society and did an internship fulltime 4 days a week. Looking back on my two months in Ireland, I would not have changed this ex-

PHOTO BY SABRINA CHOW/THE HOOT

perience for the world.

The phrase “cultural immersion” came up countless times in my application. “This experience is going to be a great cultural immersion,” I wrote, despite not knowing what it really meant until I was knee-deep in Irish culture.

Was my experience in Ireland a cultural immersion? I’d say yes.

Taking the bus every morning to work alongside millions of Irish working class people made me feel empowered. Seeing people who were clearly tourists roaming the streets of Dublin completely lost made me feel like a real Dubliner, able to navigate the streets without constantly looking at my GPS. Taking a class on contemporary Irish society and understanding their catchphrases and words made me feel closer to my co-workers. It was some good craic (Craic is fun in Ireland).

But more than that, I accomplished so much both in and out of the program. I traveled almost every weekend, exploring almost

all of Ireland and other European countries. It gave me insights into how different cultures can be in a country that is roughly the same size as South Carolina. How accents can change so differently and how Gaelic (Irish), is really the national language of Ireland, and how some communities are desperately trying to hold onto their roots.

Going abroad is 100 percent a cultural immersion. It’s kind of hard to not be ingrained into a new culture after living in a foreign country for two months.

But my experience was so much more than a cultural immersion.

It was an introspective look into myself to look into my own independence as an individual and an adult.

Did I find myself abroad? I don’t think so. But did I learn more about myself and my strengths and what I need to work on for the future? Definitely. I learned about being independent. I learned about how to balance school and work. But most importantly, I

learned that it was a blessing in disguise that I didn’t get any internships in the U.S. this summer.

That missed opportunity gave me another brand new opportunity that I wouldn’t trade for the world. It gave me the opportunity to explore a new side of the world and gain insight into my field of interest in a foreign country.

My study abroad experience was both a professional and personal growth opportunity. I learned more about my future career path but I also learned more about myself and how I will act in the future as an adult.

To all my hard science major friends, going abroad is so worth it. Take a summer off, even if it’s after college, to travel, to explore. I learned so much from interactions with local folk, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

To all college students, if an opportunity is put in front of you, take the opportunity because it may be a once in a lifetime opportunity. And those don’t come twice.

A life-saving proposal

By John Fornagiel staff

Do you ever have those days that are supposed to be perfect but then everything goes wrong and your perfect day turns into your perfect nightmare? Well, my fourteenth birthday was a day like that. I do not know why I was so excited to turn fourteen, but I was.

I think a large part of my excitement was the fact that my parents decided to take me and my family to this really good wings place.

What could be better? Gifts, cake, family and, of course, wings.

I couldn’t wait for lunch time to have some perfectly cooked BBQ wings. When we finally got to the restaurant and ordered, I was overfilled with excitement. However, my luck changed as soon as

my wings came. I barely had time to take my first bite when a man at the table next to ours jumped up and began clutching his throat.

It took me about a minute to figure out what was even going on. When I finally realized he was choking, well, it did not help me much. Most people around me reacted to this by panicking and running around like chickens with their heads cut off, while others decided it would be wise for them to start yelling. I, on the other hand, decided that sitting there frozen would help the man breathe.

Unfortunately, as I later found out, contrary to popular belief, neither of these techniques are effective at saving someone’s life.

Shocking, right? I did not give it too much thought at the time, but when I did, I realized that medical emergencies such as this

PHOTO FROM 1STHEALTHINSURANCEQUOTES.COM

one can happen anywhere and at anytime—at the dining hall, the street, class and even at home.

It eventually dawned on me that even though I wanted to help that man, there was not much I could do, mainly because I did not know what to do. And I did not want to cause further harm to the man, since I was unsure of the actions I should take (at least I get points for not causing any panic, right?).

Today, I find it crazy how there is a constant threat of an emergency, but knowledge on how to react to these emergencies and basic first aid is uncommon.

I understand why only one person (who ended up being a doctor) went to help that choking man: everyone else just did not know what to do.

This phenomenon is very dangerous; someone could die because of this lack of education.

This situation on my birthday was what ignited my dedication for becoming a doctor, and this summer, I became a certified Emergency Medical Technician (EMT).

There is no doubt that, for me, becoming an EMT has been and is continuing to be a very rewarding experience. Learning to deal with medical emergencies has sparked a passion in me for medicine, and one of my goals is to spread medical knowledge and maybe spark this passion in like-minded people.

However, I also understand that not everyone shares my passion for medicine or is made to be a doctor, but this does not mean

that they should not have the basic skills to save someone’s life. In an ideal world, these skills should be taught at school, but in our reality, the responsibility of acquiring this knowledge is on us.

The paradox in which people want to help others in medical emergencies, yet don’t out of fear of harming the victim can only be realistically combated through education.

This education is really flexible since it is mainly self-taught.

There are also a lot of different education options available to Brandeis students that students can take advantage of.

The most rigorous of these options, which is the option that I chose, is to become a certified EMT. Boston University teaches a class during the spring semesters that allows you to become EMT certified. They are at the club fair, which happens early during the fall semester, so if this is a possibility that you are interested in, be sure to sign up for the listserv there. I can personally vouch for the program at B.U. The program is widely respected across many Emergency Medical Service (EMS) companies and is full of really awesome teachers.

If you are not looking for a program quite that rigorous, then Brandeis Emergency Medical Corps (BEMCo) offers a CPR and first-aid class twice a month.

This class is around five hours or so and does not really take up too much time. However, taking into account the short time investment put into this class, it is

priceless. Not only does it teach invaluable knowledge and skills that can help save a life, but it also fills one of the three physical education requirements.

Other than these two classes, the world is your oyster. You don’t even have to take one of these classes if you are interested in learning about medical emergencies. In this day and age, any morsel of information that you could possibly want is at your fingertips on your phone or computer. A few articles and YouTube videos can go a very long way in terms of gaining knowledge. However, it is important to check multiple sources for the same information just to verify that what you are reading is correct. Mayo Clinic is a very reputable source of information that covers a wide range of medical information. They consolidate information very well and break down medical emergencies in an understandable.

Once you have educated yourself if you decide to, you should encourage others to also get educated, or share some helpful tips with them. By educating others or by talking about the proper steps to take, you are taking part in a movement that seeks to spread medical knowledge in hopes of increasing survival rates of emergencies, such as choking, cardiac arrest and seizures.

If we all work together and spread the knowledge, we can mitigate the constant threat of a medical emergency and, with any hope, make the world a much safer place to live in.

FEATURES

August 23, 2019

The Brandeis Hoot 9

Pirates, mystics, scholars and more

By Jennifer Cook editor

When focusing on a time period in history, scholars usually focus on the big names and events.

While those things are obviously important, it is also important to document and understand the lives of people scholars do not typically focus on. This was the reason that the assistant professor of classical Islam at Brandeis, Professor Suleyman Dost (NEJS), created his new class, “Pirates, Mystics and Scholars: Travel Literature from the Islamic World” (NEJS 193A); to show “the true diversity of the medieval Islamic world,” according to Dost.

Dost’s class was born out of his “fascination with travel accounts from the medieval period and their candid, vivid descriptions of pre-modern human condition” and what he said was the “need I felt for a class that addresses the history of the Near East from the viewpoint of everyday people, simple believers, non-elite or the silent majority (however you might want to call them), the voices of whom you hardly hear in religious texts or official court histories.”

But he also joked that his motivation for creating the class was that “Any excuse to talk about Mediterranean pirates is a good

one for me!”

Besides teaching students about the history of the Near East through the eyes of less-published people, this class will teach students a lot about the mixing of religions, which historians usually do not focus on.

Regarding this, Dost explained that looking at travelogues from the medieval Islamic world “reveals moments of eclecticism and subversion that would understandably annoy the religious scholars and the guardians of orthodoxy for all religious communities.” For example, some of the readings for this class consist of “Muslims bringing their children to the church for baptism” and “Christians visiting the tomb of a Muslim saint for healing or mosques with pictures of Jesus in them.”

The blending of religions outside of typical religious norms is not the only thing that these travelogues reveal.

“At the same time, these texts show the incredible linguistic unity of the Islamic world and the commonality of medieval practices of mobility and hospitality in distant geographies. For example, a 14th century Muslim traveler took off from modern-day Morocco and visited a large part of the known world at the time, including the Muslim Near East, parts of eastern Europe, India,

China and Africa, for 25 years. He was able to survive with no jobs and just speaking Arabic!”

Although Dost seems excited about the entire syllabus, the part which he is most looking forward to teaching is “the second half of the class, when we will talk about European prisoners of war and slaves taken captive by Muslim pirates and privateers in North Africa. Miguel de Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote, was one of them. He lived as a slave in Algiers for five years until his parents ransomed him. We will read two of his plays that are set in Algiers and reflect his experiences in this Muslim city.”

The only thing Dost said he had to be “constantly mindful” of while creating “Pirates, Mystics and Scholars: Travel Literature from the Islamic World” was the fact that the class will be covering such a vast geographical area over a long span of time without “properly learning about its history at every turn.” He added that “students will hear the names of so many people and will have to acquaint themselves with the geography of the Muslim Mediterranean. I think we are going to need a historical map of the Near East hung in the classroom at all times to follow the dizzying itineraries of our pirates and travelers!”

For those wanting to look at the history of the Near East during

PHOTO COURTESY SULEYMAN DOST

the medieval period from a different perspective, this class could be for you. The class will take place during the Fall 2019 semester on

Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:30 p.m. to 4:50 p.m. in room 302 of the Lown Center for Judaic Studies.

Representation for Asian Americans

By Shruthi Manjunath editor

Imagine moving to a new country where you do not speak the language fluently, and therefore you cannot communicate properly with others. You must not only seek out work, but raise a family and provide better opportunities for them. Your children face racism and discrimination because they are different from others, and you experience many hardships that make you question your decision to immigrate to this new country. Your children struggle to understand their identity.

Although many steps have been taken and challenges overcome to increase the representation of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, there is still work to be done to educate people on the hardships that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have faced.

Specifically, this fall, Brandeis welcomes a new course titled “Asian American History” (AAPI/ HIS 163a) taught by Professor Yuri Doolan (HIST/WGS), which allows students to understand the contributions that Asian Americans have made to society and the challenges that they have faced.

In addition, this course will also allow Asian American students to connect with their heritage.

Professor Doolan explains his own experience as an Asian American whose mother married a military officer based in South Korea and then immigrated to the United States. He highlights that while in school, he was “othered,” or treated as a foreigner that didn’t fully belong. In high school specifically, he describes an instance in which, while asking about how the Jim Crow laws pertained to the Asian Americans, his teach-

er told him that “there were no Asians back then and if there were there weren’t enough to matter.”

As a result, Professor Doolan believed that “[h]istory taught me that Asians were insignificant and that we didn’t matter—I believed my teacher.” This displays the way in which Asian American history is often times ignored in schools and as a result, Asian Americans feel a sense of isolation from others.

Now Professor Doolan realizes that “before I took Asian American History as a college student, I lacked the language and critical thinking skills necessary to fully articulate or understand my own marginalization in U.S. society.”

As a college student, Professor Doolan was able to understand the fact that Asian Americans were not properly represented in school or in society, which is why he previously thought that he was unimportant in society. He no longer believed that “Asians were insignificant.”

Professor Doolan believes that the most difficult aspect of Asian American history is the diversity of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Every Asian American has a different story, which makes it difficult to include everyone’s story in the syllabus.

Therefore, he plans to tailor the class towards the students who enroll in the class. He hopes that his students understand and feel connected to their heritage.

The course ends with a digital oral history project in which students interview an oral history narrator, record the interview in writing, and then create a digital archive for the interview. The archives will be put online so that other individuals may read them.

Professor Doolan is most excited about the energy that the students will bring to the class. The

PHOTO BY SABRINA CHOW/THE HOOT

addition of this new class is due to the students’ dedication and persistence for the representa-

tion of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the community.

Professor Doolan is thrilled to

be educating students who are so passionate about Asian American history.

10 FEATURES

The Brandeis Hoot

August 23, 2019

A feminist perspective on bioethics

By Sabrina Chow editor

Sociologists and researchers have long looked into the disparities and inequalities that lie in health care, oftentimes looking into the differences depending on socioeconomic status and location.

However, with the changing viewpoints on gender and sexuality in the United States and around the world, scientists are also looking into the ethics behind these practices.

Professor Beth Clark’s (WGS) new course—Feminist Bioethics: Social Justice and Equity in Health Care, gives an introductory look into the feminist perspective of bioethics and looking at current health care issues through this perspective.

Bioethics, according to Clark, is a field that is focused on addressing any ethical issues that are

related to “health care, medical research, biotechnologies and the environment.” Feminist bioethics brings about a feminist perspective to address these bioethical issues, Clark said in an email to The Brandeis Hoot.

“It is grounded in feminist critique of mainstream bioethics, surrounding exclusion of issues, identities, values and moral perspectives relevant to women and other marginalized groups.”

She told The Hoot that this course is very connected to her own passions and research.

“The main focus is on feminist approaches to ethical issues in health care...and the health of transgender people,” she said.

Clark’s previous work as a clinical ethicist, health care provider and transgender health researcher helped inspire her to design this course. She said that it was created “to support exploration of ethical issues in health care, specifically from a feminist perspective.”

The course is split up into three parts. The first part looks at “current issues in bioethics and the philosophical traditions and research ethics scandals that have shaped North American bioethics,” Clark wrote in an email.

The second part looks at the emergence of the feminist bioethics field and leading feminist bioethicists. The final part looks at specific ethical issues such as maternal mortality, gene editing and forced sterilization.

“The overarching theme of the course is how we can use feminist approaches to bioethics to promote social justice and health equity for marginalized and underserved populations,” Clark said.

She is very excited to not only teach her students but also learn alongside her students.

“One of the objectives of this course is to communicate ideas in multiple formats, including various forms of writing, oral presentation and visual commu-

nication,” she said. “I am looking forward to sharing ways in which arts can be integrated as tools to communicate within the health sciences, and to mentoring students as they explore ethical issues relevant to their lives and career paths.”

Clark also emphasized the importance of taking ethics courses.

Systemically exploring different ethical issues gives individuals the opportunity to think differently and consider new perspectives, she explained. “This course supports critical examination of intersecting issues within health care settings, in particular race, class, gender, colonization and ability,” she said.

Clark hopes that this course will help students prepare to better understand ethical dilemmas that they may face later in life and learn methods to better handle these dilemmas. “Practicing ethical analysis and communicating ethically sound approaches to

pressing problems can prepare us to work more effectively toward social justice,” she said.

This course satisfies the Focal B: Social and Behavioral Dimensions of Health and Illness in the Health: Science, Society and Policy major and an elective in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality major. It also fulfils the social science general university requirement.

Clark is currently a Allen-Berenson Fellow in WGS department whose research focuses on ethics and transgender healthcare, she wrote in an email.

“My current research looks at the role bias plays in health care for marginalized and underserved people,” she said. “And the ways that we can work toward more ethical practices and greater health equity.”

Her past research has looked into access to health care and medical decision-making for transgender youth.

More Than Words supports local youth

By Polina Potochevska editor

For young people, entrepreneurship is a constantly innovating and exciting area that offers the chance to be creative and independent. As business booms in the greater Boston area, organizations like More Than Words help these young entrepreneurs succeed in the cut-throat field.

More Than Words (MTW), founded by Jodi Rosenbaum in 2004, is a non-profit social enterprise that helps young adults take charge of their lives by taking charge of a business. Nadia, a Youth Partner at MTW, explained that the organization employs youth who are “system-involved: court-involved, homeless, out of school, working with the Department of Mental Health, and in the foster care system.” Currently, nearly 400 Boston-area young people, ages 16-24, are working with MTW. “Few of the young people who come to MTW are employed or have a high school diploma. Afterward, 90 percent are productively engaged in work or school at least 15 hours per week! 94

percent have or are on track to receive their high school diploma and 82 percent are now working,” Rosenbaum said in an interview.

Nadia, who has been working at MTW since January of 2019, was unemployed before starting at MTW and originally heard about the program through her family therapist. “It was intriguing because it was both a job and a chance to work on myself.”

Since starting, she has learned valuable skills such as “how to give and receive feedback, lead shifts of my peers, make a resume, open a bank account, and look at options for college and career” and built her confidence in leadership roles during the process. She has also noticed that more and more young adults are coming in to apply for jobs and learn more about the program. Now entering her senior year of high school, Nadia is thinking about her future. “Given all the strengths and leadership I’ve uncovered in myself at More Than Words, I know that I want to be in a career that involves good communication, responsibility, and leadership!”

Nadia and other students working at More Than Words get paid to work two jobs: the “business job” and the “YOU job.” The first

is MTW’s used book-selling business. Students “source donated books, scan through them, put them in inventory, and ship them out to customers all over the world.” The second job, the “YOU job,” helps the employees focus on themselves, set and achieve goals, and gain skills. “We work on finding new jobs, choosing career paths, and making plans for education,” Nadia explained.

Nadia’s goals with MTW for the rest of the year is to earn a promotion from Partner to Senior Partner, the highest promotion she could get which would show her leadership talents. “I’m also

looking forward to continuing to help More Than Words can be the best business and organization it can be and training new youth who come on board.”

This year, More Than Words won eBay’s Small Business of the Year. eBay is a substantial part of MTW’s online book sales, and is easy for people to access. Overall, More Than Words earned three million dollars last year.

“It is huge recognition for a youth-run business to be the Small Business of the Year! It means that they are taking youth and our efforts seriously,” Nadia said.

PHOTO COURTESY NAOMI PARKER

A better understanding of sleep

By Sabrina Chow editor

Eight hours. The magic number that doctors recommend to sleep for maximum function, eight hours. But how much do you really know about sleep? Alycia Bisson’s (GRAD) course—“Exploring Sleep: Interdisciplinary Perspectives” (PSYC 80a) is a snapshot into better understanding sleep through the examination of theories on why humans sleep, what happens in our body during sleep and how sleep can be improved, according to Bisson’s syllabus.

This course is one of seven courses that were selected as University Prize Instructorships (UPI), an award presented by the Brandeis Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS). Bisson had heard about UPIs when she initially interviewed for the Ph.D. program at Brandeis and

she wanted to apply since then, she told The Brandeis Hoot in an email.

Bisson created this course because of her fascination with sleep. She said that she’s been studying sleep for almost a decade and learning new things every day. “I think sleep is an especially important topic for college students,” said Bisson. “Because sleep is so vital to learning memory … college is the perfect time to understand the importance of sleeping well and developing good sleep habits that can be continued into later life.” She is also excited to share her love of sleep with her students and hopes to inspire some of them, as she was inspired as an undergraduate. Students taking this course will also be given the opportunity to assess their own sleep throughout the semester and reflect on their sleeping patterns and seeing how they can improve. At the beginning of the semester, all students will take as-

sessments of sleep. “We will then review common sleep problems in college students and discuss strategies to combat those sleep problems,” Bisson explained. At the end of the semester, students will retake the assessment to see if their sleep has improved.

This course will also give students the opportunity to partake in an independent research project. They will develop individual research questions that they will be able to answer with a dataset that is publicly available. “Throughout the semester, we will work together to download and clean the data and pick the right statistical test to answer the research question they developed,” said Bisson. Students will also have the opportunity to present their results at the end of the semester. “People should take this course to better understand how their own sleep habits affect their day-to-day lives and to develop strategies for improving their

sleep,” explained Bisson. She also commented that this course will help to increase understanding of the research process. “I want them to build skills to become independent, scientific thinkers—questioning results they see presented in popular media and be able to form and answer a research question they’ve created,” she said.

Bisson is currently a fifth year Ph.D. student in the psychology department and works at the Lifespan Developmental Psychology Laboratory, which is run by Dr. Margie Lachman (PSYC). Bisson’s research for her dissertation looks at the importance of sleep with day-to-day functions and how sleep can be improved. “I am particularly interested in how engaging in physical activity can improve sleep,” she said. “Another focus of my research is how sleep changes across the life course and how these changes predict changes in memory as one gets older.”

Following the completion of

As Rosenbaum said in an interview, “Our work selling on eBay is the backbone of our operation, helping vulnerable young people gain concrete skills and see that their actions matter in this world.

There is something incredibly tangible and empowering about taking a book, listing it on eBay, and then coming back the next day to see that someone else has bought it.”

Nadia said that there are a lot of young adults in Boston and MetroWest who can benefit from the program at More Than Words, which helps balance work with real life. She also mentioned the generous and engaged community in the area who both shop in the store and donate books, helping it to thrive.

If students at Brandeis are interested in getting involved with More Than Words, they can help volunteer (Brandeis’ VolunteerFest has worked with MTW in the past), donate books, or shop their online and in-person stores.

Any book in good condition can be donated. The More Than Words store on 56 Felton Street in Waltham offers both books and gift items made by other non-profits, so it is worth the visit!

her Ph.D., Bisson hopes to pursue a postdoctoral research position and eventually become a professor with her own research lab.

Applicants for the UPI submit their course ideas for review by a faculty committee, which evaluates the course based on syllabus, recommendation letters and teach fellow evaluations, according to the GSAS website. Each respective department chair then determines if the proposed course will be a good addition to the courses already being offered.

“The University Prize Instructorship is a win-win for Brandeis,” said Eric Chasalow, Dean of GSAS, in the official press release of the 2019 winners. “Not only does it provide our graduate students with an exciting resume-building opportunity, but the award enables the University to offer novel courses for our undergraduates taught by instructors who have already demonstrated a talent in the classroom.”

EDITORIALS

August 23, 2019

“To acquire wisdom, one must observe.”

Editors-in-Chief Candace Ng Polina Potochevska Managing Editor Emily Botto Senior Copy Editor Natalie Fritzon Copy Editor Jennifer Cook Senior News Editor Celia Young News Editor Rachel Saal Arts Editors Jonah Koslofsky Opinions Editor Sasha Skarboviycuk Features Editor Shruthi Manjunath Sports Editors Sophie Trachtenberg Layout Editor Sabrina Chow Social Media Editor Emma Lichtenstein

Volume 16 • Issue 13 the brandeis hoot • brandeis university 415 south street • waltham, ma

FOUNDED BY Leslie Pazan, Igor Pedan and Daniel Silverman

T

Last year in the headlines

o the incoming class of 2023, The Brandeis Hoot’s editorial board would like to welcome you to Brandeis! The Hoot is Brandeis’ community newspaper, written about, for and by the Brandeis community.

Our school has had its fair share of controversy and activism since its founding in 1948. We wanted to provide you, the incoming class, with some snapshots of big events that happened during the 20182019 school year.

Ongoing: Brandeis University President Ron Liebowitz released results from the initial independent investigation into members of the faculty in the Brandeis athletic department in September of 2018, carrying over from the 2017-2018 school year. The investigations originated with accusations of discrimination against basketball Coach Brian Meehan, who was fired on April 5, 2018. Liebowitz released additional documents from the independent investigation in late November of 2018. The investigation resulted in resignations and demotions for a number of Brandeis faculty, and a virtual reconstruction of the Brandeis athletics lead faculty.

The fallout from the investigation has led to an ongoing discrimination lawsuit and delays in Brandeis Athletics activities and sports, continuing through spring 2019 and this coming semester.

April 2019: Accompanying these events in spring 2019 was the intro-

duction of classes for the upcoming Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) minor into the Brandeis curriculum. Brandeis Asian American Student Association (BAASA) and Brandeis Asian American Task Force (BAATF) have been advocating for an AAPI studies program since December 2015. Brandeis hired Professor Yuri Doolan (HIST/ WGS) as the first professor on a tenure track for the program, and he aims to help ensure its success at the university and pave the way for future AAPI professors. The first classes that will count toward the upcoming AAPI minor are being offered this semester.

April brought an additional change for the student body in the form of a Student Union amendment, which mandates all secured clubs to register a “Club Consultant.” According to the Union, the intention is to eventually require a faculty advisor for all Brandeis clubs. The media-based clubs at Brandeis argued against this measure, claiming that this could cause censorship of Brandeis students.

January 2019: Accessibility was another hot button issue in the spring semester. A community forum was held on campus to express concerns about the lack of accessibility on Brandeis’ campus. Issues raised at the forum ranged from problems with transportation from housing to dining halls. Students expressed disappointment with these shortcomings, claiming that they

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The Brandeis Hoot 11

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felt sidelined in their own community. A letter from Liebowitz on Jan. 28, 2019 announced the formation of The Task Force on the Student Living/Learning Living Experience at Brandeis, co-chaired by Associate Provost Kim Godsoe and Professor Sara Shostak (SOC/HSSP), to address structural improvements on campus. More accessibility updates are expected soon.

November 2018: The Board of Trustees announced that Brandeis would engage in fossil fuel divestment, namely restricting investments in companies whose “principal business is the mining of coal for use in energy generation,” according to a previous Hoot article. They also stated that they would pursue opportunities to invest in renewable energy technology. These changes do not mean full divestment from fossil fuels, but they are a big step toward this eventual goal.

October 2018: Liebowitz announced A Framework for our Future, claiming it to be a new vision for the university, which led to the establishment of three task forces: Student Learning and Living, Supporting Research Creativity and Collaboration and Honoring Brandeis’ Founding Values.

Many of these issues are ongoing, and this article is meant to keep you up-to-date so that you can both benefit from new opportunities and be aware of social justice issues, which have long been the priority of the Brandeis community.

ARTS

12 The Brandeis Hoot

August 23, 2019

‘Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood’ is a desperate bid for transedence

By Jonah Koslofsky editor

Is there any American director with a brand-name that can rival Quintin Tarantino? For the last 25 years, this uncompromising auteur (or: stubborn misogynist) has been the loudest voice in violent, independent cinema. But not for much longer. “I think when it comes to theatrical movies, I’ve come to the end of the road,” he told GQ Australia in July, reiterating plans to retire from filmmaking after completing his next feature. But why? Why would such a successful storyteller walk away from his oh-so beloved medium?

The answers lie in his most recent motion picture, the chunkily-titled “Once Upon a Time …

In Hollywood.” We follow Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), an aging actor. Dalton’s had an all right career playing TV cowboys, carving out a mid-level celebrity status to finance his nasty drinking problem. Still, things aren’t all bad, as Dalton cruises around Tinsel-Town with his sometimes stunt man and constant best bud, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt).

It’s a life Dalton would be happy to keep on living, but change is on the horizon—or perhaps it’s already here. The year is 1969, and American culture is in the midst of a major seismic shift.

The young people have arrived, be they Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha) and Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), or Charles Manson (Damon Herriman) and his gaggle of zoned-out “hippies.”

But early reports that the movie would center around the tragic Manson Murders were thoroughly misinformed. Instead, Tarantino has used the period to put his anxieties on screen, painting a picture of a world in-flux not so different from our own. It is, in effect, his most mature movie since “Jackie Brown,” an examination of what happens when we get too old even to make silly art.

After all, Hollywood was not immune to the massive changes of the late 60s, with cardboard, oldschool actors being pushed aside for the method “serious” screen presences that would dominate 70s cinema (think Dustin Hoffman, Marlon Brando, etc). Where does a guy like Rick Dalton fit into this brave new world?

It’s a question Tarantino is really asking about himself: “Rick Dalton” is nothing more and nothing less than an obvious representation of the director. For change has come again, with our modern Hollywood presently in-flux as well. Whether you believe apocalyptic New York Times articles proclaiming the imminent death of the theatrical viewing experience, with streaming services on

the rise and fewer “original” movies releasing every year, the industry is definitely changing.

It’s already changed for Tarantino, a man who spent more than two decades working closely with a sexual predator and a monster (his name is Harvey Weinstein, maybe you’ve heard of him).

Tarantino himself is no longer the biggest name in cinematic cool the way he was in 1992, and his last movie, “The Hateful 8” released to a particularly tepid response from audiences. Pointless conversations about whether or not Tarantino should be “canceled” will continue ad nauseam.

Regardless, the man knows he is not the filmmaker he was 20 years ago, just as Rick Dalton knows his days as a leading man are dead and gone.

But Tarantino’s view of that which will replace him is surprisingly well-balanced. On the one hand, there’s the evil Mansons, and the chaotic meaninglessness they generate. Then there’s Sharon Tate, here framed as a beautiful, vibrant burst of youthful energy. She’s just happy to be here, and Robbie simply shines in the role, making a strong impression, as we watch her go about her life.

Criticism that Tarantino has sidelined the character and the actress is entirely misguided: this is a thoughtful and optimistic look at a person who should have her

PHOTO FROM IMDB.COM

whole life ahead of her.

In fact, the whole cast turns in quality work. DiCaprio proves he’s got some real comedic chops and successfully channels Dalton—and Tarantino’s—insecurity, in a performance far better than his work on “The Revenant.” Brad Pitt dissolves into the contented Booth, although there’s a detail regarding the character’s past that really tripped me up on first watch. It’s also weird when Tarantino depicts Bruce Lee as a punchline and wholly indulges his … interest in filming bare feet.

But on re-watch, I found myself really enamored with “Once Upon a Time.” With a runtime

of over two-and-a-half hours, this is an uncompromising and generally quiet, if consistently entertaining, exploration of the era.

Tarantino’s trademark ultra-violence doesn’t burst onto the frame until the last half-hour. But if you have any interest in this filmmaker—and whether or not he can still make something that lives up to “Pulp Fiction” or “Inglourious Basterds”—I can’t recommend this movie enough. Tarantino won’t be making movies for much longer, and he just wants us young people let him stick around for a few more years. Looking at “Once Upon a Time,” I’m inclined to let him.

‘The Bachelorette:’ the feminist story we all need

By Maryam Chishti special to the hoot

Let’s get one thing straight here: “The Bachelorette” is not the right way to find love. It is an imperfect show and inherently flawed. At its core, “The Bachelorette” is a sociological study: to ask one women to figure out from a pool of 30 contestants the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with in the course of two months is a recipe for disaster.

When your only chance to evaluate somebody’s character and compatibility is through a few one-on-one dates, conversations and moments that are all filmed, (meaning you are both only portraying your best selves), how can you determine the real relationship questions?

Do they clean up after themselves in the kitchen? Do they have a strong work ethic? What if they voted for Trump?! You have to simply make these decisions in a quick gut reaction, and that gut feeling can change in a day’s time.

But suddenly the show needs to wrap up, and it’s “proposal day.”

So twenty-nine guys go home and one stays, there you are. And damn. That’s just fascinating to watch.

I’ve been a fan of “The Bachelorette” for a while now, for all the reasons I mentioned above.

It’s also just a really great way to make friends and have a bit of an escapism moment during the work/school week. But there was something different about this season. And it’s all because of this year’s Bachelorette: Hannah Brown. Up until this past year, Hannah was a pageant queen.

She was Ms. Alabama, and even

competed in the Ms. America pageants. And it showed. When she was a contestant on “The Bachelor” last season, she was unable to form sentences, to let her guard down and be genuine.

It was as if she only knew how to “look and talk pretty.” There is a super-cringe moment when she was on her first one-on-one date, and the Bachelor (Colton) asked her to make a toast. “How do I do that?” she whispers. “Just say something from the heart,” Colton says, looking at her nervously. But Hannah was at a loss for words.

Later that night, she admitted to Colton that she has always felt the need to be “perfect,” which filters into her romantic relationships.

The poor girl doesn’t know how to say anything else besides “God Bless America.” Colton urges her to let her guard down and try to be more real. She stayed on the season for a few more weeks before being sent home.

Sitting in the car after her elimination, the car seat where most eliminated girls start sobbing, Hannah calmly said in a tone totally different from when she started the season, that “The desire of my heart is to be loved fearlessly by somebody. I will not allow myself to settle until I feel chosen every single day. And I’ll wait ’til whenever that is.”

On this season, the unconfident Hannah began to fade, and a new Hannah emerged. While clearly nervous on the first night, giggling awkwardly as she meets her suitors, an hour later she unapologetically kicked a guy out when she found out he had a girlfriend back home. And she held onto the notion of “I deserve better” the whole season. She immediately

hit it off with a contestant called Luke P., a boy from Georgia with a similar southern Christian faith background, who she later said was the first “love at first sight” moment she’d ever had.

However, as the season progressed, Luke P. began to show a lot of red flags. He demanded additional time with her, said judgmental things about her to the other men (and then denied it), and got mad when she went on other dates, especially if he found out she had kissed another man.

As Hannah started to gauge this possessive side of Luke she expressed her doubts to him, and he would then apologize and say he would change.

Finally, with only three other contestants left, Luke ended up telling her that he had become a “born again virgin” and wanted her to be one as well. If she had been intimate with any of the other guys, he would forgive “a slip up,” but he didn’t want it to happen again. Shocked, Hannah started to form her words together: “I’m kind of mad because the way you just said that is… Why do you have the right to do that?

Because you’re not my husband...”

At that moment, it all seemed to click for her.

Throughout the season, Hannah struggled with whether she should keep Luke P. around. She admitted that she was so nervous when first doing the show that nobody would like the real her, and that when Luke showed up night one she was so relieved, clinging onto that feeling. But, as she later started to doubt her decision, she prayed for clarity on this relationship. And it was clear she finally got it. Hannah stood up for herself in the most brave and hon-

PHOTO FROM ETONLINE.COM

est moment this often superficial show has ever seen, right before sending Luke home, using her faith as her defense.

“To ignore all the red flags for how I feel, to have this, and to have you say this about me and make me feel like you would look at me any differently and judge me. Or make me feel like you would not think of me as a woman of faith—like I am—and that we weren’t on the same page.

You’re holding people to a standard that you don’t even live by.”

Hannah cited the passage from the Bible in which Jesus questions those who would stone a woman for adultery and claimed Luke was doing the very same to her. As he left that night, Hannah reinforced to herself and to America that she can be both a woman who engages in intimacy and a women who loves God, saying “I have had sex.

And Jesus still loves me.”

And then Jed happened. The man Hannah chose in the end wound up having gone on the show not only to “further his music career” but with a secret girlfriend as well (who he assumed he would be coming back home to). When Hannah confronted

him about it, he told her he was sorry and still wanted to be with her. She looked him in the eye and calmly told him how she felt lied to and that she expected more from a husband. And even though Jed said he still wanted to stay, Hannah made the choice to end her journey as the Bachelorette alone.

There was something really moving about watching Hannah on her journey this season. I felt like a lot of young girls could relate to her. We all know guys like Luke, like Jed, and people in our own communities who make us feel badly and pass judgements on our romantic and sexual decisions. But we don’t have to accept that. Hannah showed me that certain behavior I have seen in my life from men is not acceptable, and I do not have to stay in a situation with the hope that the person I am seeing will change or because I am too scared to be alone.

In fact, it’s more than okay to go on a dating show with the sole purpose of finding love and then decide you are actually better off on your own.

That’s how you give a toast.

Cheers.

August 23, 2019

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The Brandeis Hoot

Koslofsky’ Corner #1: and we’re off!

By Jonah Koslofsky editor

Hello! Welcome to the Arts Section of The Brandeis Hoot! My name is Jonah, and I’ll be your arts editor for this coming year. I’m a senior studying English and film.

Criticism, especially film criticism is a real passion of mine. I just finished a summer internship at “Film Comment Magazine”— one of the few earthly publications that can give The Hoot a run for its money. I got my start writing about movies and pop culture for The Hoot when I was a freshman. The newspaper—and thenarts editors Emma Khan ’17 and Katie Decker-Jacoby ’19—is really responsible for nurturing my interest and eventual love of writing criticism. Thanks, Hoot!

The plan is to pay it forward. I

want this arts section to be a place where Brandeis students can write about pretty much whatever they want. Got some burning thoughts about “Love Island?” I’ll run your article. Think Chance the Rapper’s latest album is actually good?

Well, I disagree, but I’d be happy to publish your take! Obviously, there are limits, but if you care about a relevant piece of pop culture or a Brandeis arts-related development, I want your words!

It’s as simple as that.

Next, I want to address the future. I am happy to attend an institution where the students hold each other accountable and to a high standard. That’s one of the things I love about Brandeis. That being said, I can nearly guarantee that at some point doing this job, I will make a mistake. Or print something that people don’t agree with. It has happened to many

I am not a professional nor have I ever edited a publication before.

So when these mistakes happen, all I can say is that I will work as hard as possible to find solutions.

PHOTO BY JONAH KOSLOFSKY/THE HOOT

an arts editor before me, and it would be arrogant to assume that under my leadership, this section will dodge controversy entirely.

All I ask is that you understand that I am doing my best (the same, I think, can be said for the rest of the staff here at The Hoot).

I also want to explain this column right here. I’m calling it “Koslofsky’s Corner,”—it’s a little spot where I’ll be sharing my overflowing thoughts on a weekly basis. I watch too many movies (about five per week), and I don’t have time to write full, formal reviews of all of them, so I might talk about them here! Or maybe there’s a comic book I recently devoured that I just need to write about or a streaming show or a video game that I want to recommend.

I might share some spoiler-filled thoughts that wouldn’t fit into a traditional review or respond to some “breaking” entertainment news. Criticism is a weird art

form, and it’s got a lot of potential outside of arguments recommending or not recommending something, a pool of potential I’m just starting to dip my toes into. In other words, I promise it won’t be weekly, endless pontifications on Frank Ocean.

Finally, I’d like to take a second to shout-out how great of a section we’ve assembled in just the first week.

We’ve got the debut of Maryam Chishti ’20 and her thoughts on the latest season of “The Bachelorette” and returning music critic Chris DeMena ’20 on British visionary/recluse Jai Paul. There’s also blockbuster connoisseur Joshua Lannon ’22 on the IMAX experience and Hoot mainstays Emma Lichtenstein ’22 on the current state of Taylor Swift and Sabrina Chow ’21 on the Rose Art Museum. So read on, dear reader, and on for the rest of a great year!

Jai Paul: back to save the universe

By Chris DeMena staff

In April of 2013, a collection of demos from British artist Jai Paul appeared on Bandcamp. Via his otherwise dormant Twitter, Paul stated, “To confirm: demos on bandcamp were not uploaded by me, this is not my debut album.

Please don’t buy. Statement to follow later. Thanks, Jai.” That was the last we heard from him until this June.

Over those six years, Paul became an underground legend with a catalogue just 16 tracks deep, almost all of which were unfinished. Between then and 2018, Jai was so reclusive that we only had two real pieces of confirmation that he was still alive: a sighting by a reporter at XL Records headquarters and an Instagram post by singer Miguel. Yet Paul accrued a loyal following including soon-to-be higher profile artists like Anderson .Paak and Lorde.

Meanwhile, on his own subreddit, half of Paul’s fans can’t point him out in group photos. Those photos, by the way, are of members of the Paul Institute, a label Paul started with his brother, AK, that began releasing music produced by the two at the end of 2017. But now Paul is releasing music again, dropping two new singles “Do You Love Her Now” and “He” and, interestingly, releasing the

leaked Bandcamp album under the name “Leak 4-13 (Bait Ones),” the album that helped Paul earn his reputation.

The mystique of Paul and the leak is only amplified by the nocturnal ballads that appeared on that album. Tracks like “BTSTU,” “Jasmine,” “Zion Wolf ” and “Vibin’” portrayed Paul as a shadowy, almost mystical figure. There were prophetic lyrics about returning after being gone for a long time.

There were lyrics on learning wisdom from kings. The ship narrative of “BTSTU” was fitting because there were many points on the album where it felt like you were slowly being whisked out to sea. Then on tracks like Desert River, Paul would go up-tempo and proclaim himself “the face of the Earth itself.”

It all bled together to create an incredible volatility between and within the tracks. For each mysterious ballad, there was an explosive song like “Genevieve,” where Paul came off as confident, with an attitude.

The abrupt and absurd way samples were interpolated is something I hadn’t heard again until JPEGMAFIA’s “Veteran.”

And then there was just a cover of Jennifer Paige’s “Crush.” The mix was abrasive in a way that an official release may not be able to be. Even in 2019, the album still seems ahead of its time. Released in 2013, it was like finding some-

PHOTO FROM PITCHFORK.COM

thing from the future that a time traveler had left behind in a dusty old barn.

But instead of giving us some “finished” version of that album in June, Paul gave us a twist. The album is almost entirely unchanged from the April 2013 version. The biggest difference is that samples that couldn’t be cleared (like a

PHOTO FROM DAZEDDIGITAL.COM

Harry Potter scene) are replaced with silence. I can’t emphasize this enough: even the cover, a photoshopped image of Paul with an assortment of animals and footballers backing him, is the same. Any image they couldn’t get the rights to, they just pixelated.

In a message to fans, Paul described the decision to leave the album as it was “surreal.” And that’s understandable. An artist expends so much energy into their pieces and, in Paul’s case, he is now resigning himself to releasing the equivalent of a sketch. In this same message, he details that the leak caused him so much trauma that he “withdrew from life in general,” and his hiatus coming to an end was only possible through therapy. His ultimate rationale to leaving the album unaltered was that “there is no way to put that shit back in a box.” And he’s right, as “Leak 4-13” has taken on a life of its own. That year it appeared on many best of the year lists (and one of the decade list). The story of Paul and the leak became something like folklore, with r/ JaiPaul adherent to the legend.

Rereleasing the album as it was does that legend service, leaving all of the album’s mythos and added meanings intact.

For instance, beyond being a fantastic piece of music, it opens a debate about how we should deal with leaked/stolen art or

when art leaves the artist’s hands and its value or quality are determined by the audience. Paul being denied the opportunity to finish his album is wrong. But I think at some point (that should hopefully be under the artist’s control) art belongs to the present and the consumer. It’s hard to say what the finished album would’ve been, but I think at this point that question is better left unanswered.

Paul released his first finished tracks in years that same day, but even those are apparently recordings that were in-progress from the time of the leak. What present day Jai Paul will give us is almost anyone’s guess.

On his new website, Paul also posted a version of his old single “Jasmine” that has been augmented with a technology called Bronze. With it, artificial intelligence generates different iterations of the song, with one iteration blending seamlessly into the next.

The song goes on forever, independently of Paul or anyone else.

Maybe its pure coincidence that Paul would be one of the first people to try this. But what’s more interesting is the possibility that this is evidence of Paul having a totally different perspective on the artistic process now. And maybe the way Paul will reshape music next isn’t sonic but by reconceptualizing the artist’s role in its creation.

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The Brandeis Hoot

August 23, 2019

Rose Art Museum showcases inaugural summer exhibitions

By Sabrina Chow editor

The Rose Art Museum opened its doors for the first time this summer for their inaugural summer exhibitions. Since its founding in 1961, the Rose Art Museum has always been closed during the summer months, coinciding with the summer break for Brandeis students. This summer was the first summer that the Rose had work on display, according to a press release by the Rose. The press release also stated that the Rose would be open during major holidays as well.

According to Rose Director and Chief Curator Luis A. Croquer, “We want to reaffirm our role as a local anchor where modern and contemporary art, as well as a place where open dialogues about creativity and the issues of our time are always available,” he said in an email to The Brandeis Hoot. “The best way in which we can do this is being accessible year-round, so that no matter the date, there is something stimulating and expansive on view at the

Rose.”

This past summer, there were two new exhibitions on display at the Rose: “Maya Watanabe: Liminal” and “Into Form: Selections from the Rose collection, 19572018.”

“Maya Watanabe: Liminal” was curated by Caitlin Julia Rubin, the assistant curator at the Rose. According to Croquer, the Rose has given now-famous artists the first show in their careers.

Watanabe is an emerging artist from Peru who is currently based in the Netherlands. “We are extremely proud to present the North American premiere of her most recent work, Liminal,” Croquer said in an email.

“She filmed at the excavations of mass graves for victims of Peru’s two-decade long internal armed conflict,” said the press release.

“A widespread and prolonged era of violence, the 1980s through the late 1990s were defined by atrocities perpetrated both by the insurgent guerrilla groups Sendero Luminoso (or Shining Path) and Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru and by military forces of the retaliating Peruvian

government.”

The film is on an hour-long loop, in which Watanabe’s camera looks across “terrain, tightly-framed and textured layers shifting in an out of focus,” according to the press release. The camera-work is seen to blur distinctions between the landscape and bodily remains. “While of the body, Watanabe portrays these elements in transition, a reflection of their liminal status,” said the press release. “Awaiting forensic identification, they are remains on the threshold of subjecthood, suspended between the status of ‘missing person’ and an officially declared death.”

The exhibit is supported by the Henry and Lois Foster Exhibition Fund.

“Into Form: Selections from the Rose collection, 1957-2018” was curated by Croquer himself. This exhibit features on rarely seen works and recent additions to the museum’s permanent collection, said Croquer in an email. In the almost 60 years that the Rose has been open, the museum has been collecting the early works of many different artists. “‘Into Form’ highlights the international and multidisciplinary scope of the objects that are in our care, which should be more recognized and valued,” he explained.

According to the press release, “drawn from the museum’s exceptional postwar holdings, ‘Into Form’ examines the ways in which artists from the late 1950s to the present have sought to break boundaries by questioning representation and notions of medium specificity.”

The press release also comments on the strength of American art in the Rose’s permanent collection, but the “international and multidisciplinary scope of the museum’s holdings—a testament to both curatorial zeal and the visionary donor base that has helped to establish the museum—is lesser known.”

PHOTOS BY SABRINA CHOW/THE HOOT

“Into Form” contains 34 different works, which are in all different mediums, including paper, painting, sculpture and video.

The artists also span many generations and looks into the struggles of artists to connect artistic practice to natural phenomena.

The exhibit is supported by the Rose Exhibition Fund.

“Liminal” will be on display at the Rose until Aug. 25 and “Into Form” will be at the Rose until Jan. 5, 2020.

It was also announced in June that three major works were added to the permanent collection at the Rose: Betye Saar’s mixed media assemblage Supreme Quality (1998), Ralph Coburn’s multi-part painting Random Sequence Participatory Composi-

tion (1962) and Joe Overstreet’s monumental sculptural painting “untitled” (1972) from the Flight Patterns series, according to a press release.

These three works are among the 15 total works that have entered the permanent collection at the Rose. The press release also stated that two-thirds of the works were made by women and over half were works by artists-of-color.

Croquer added that “these pieces add greater depth and new perspectives to our holdings, while contributing to diversify them with ideas, approaches and experiences that make them more reflective and responsive to the world around us” in the press release.

‘Godzilla: King of Monsters,’ let them fight Joshua Lannon staff

The most recent addition to Legendary Entertainment and Warner Brother’s Cinematic Monsterverse, “Godzilla: King of Monsters” is a perfect example of a movie that must be seen in theaters. However, the film does suffer from a truly outrageous plot and bad writing.

The main plot centers around Dr. Emma Russel and her daughter Madison, played by Vera Farmiga and Millie Bobby Brown, respectively, as they are taken from a research lab by an eco-terrorist group bent on awakening the Titans (i.e. other monsters like Godzilla), in order to re-establish the natural order of the world. At the same time, Mark Russel, played by Kyle Chandler, tries to rescue them and teams up with the monster research group “Monarch.” In addition to this already complex narrative following two interlocking storylines, there’s an unnecessary plot twist in the first half of the movie that further muddles the plotlines and creates more questions than it answers.

Furthermore, some of the character motivations are at points unclear, and the dialogue can feel out of place. For example, O’Shea Jackson Jr. plays Officer Barnes, a soldier working for Monarch, who mainly serves as comic relief. At certain points, Barnes utters some choice comebacks and one-liners, however, these often occur at inopportune moments and take away from the gravity of being near a giant monster. That being said, Jackson does a good job of providing comic relief in an overly dark film.

The film’s biggest flaw is that it tries too hard to be meaningful and emotional when the audience really just came to see Godzilla fight King Ghidorah. This was also a problem in 2014’s “Godzilla.” In that case, most of the film was centered around the human characters and the titular monster was teased throughout but only appeared for one big fight scene at the end of the movie. While keeping an unknown creature unseen for suspense may work for some movies, in a film like “Godzilla” the audience wants to see Godzilla. In this regard, however, “Godzilla: King of Monsters” actually improves upon its prede-

cessor despite the overly-convoluted plot. There is not just one but several intense and epic monster fight scenes, which are undeniably entertaining.

Although the film’s plot has some structural flaws, it serves mainly as a reason to have giant monsters fight each other, and this is not necessarily a bad thing.

This film excels the most when Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah and Rodan are on screen. The excellent CGI work and amazing effects are breathtaking to watch. In my case, I was fortunate enough to see it in an IMAX theater, with top-of-the-line sound and visuals. I can personally attest that I was on the edge of my seat every time I heard Godzilla roar.

It was a fantastic movie to see in theaters with the huge screen and advanced sound system.

But, after leaving the theater and thinking back on the movie, its flaws became more evident.

If someone was to see the movie at home rather than in a theater, they would most likely have a very different, if not negative experience with the film. So much of the film’s entertainment value relies on conveying the epicness of its monsters and special ef-

fects. Viewing the film outside of a theater capable of emphasizing its strengths downgrades the film from an exhilarating thrill ride to a moderately entertaining monster movie.

Overall, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” is undeniably an entertaining movie that does the titular legendary Kaiju justice.

Even its flawed writing and plot cannot overshadow its excellent fight scenes. Furthermore, several fantastic performances help sell this convoluted plot. In particular, Millie Bobby Brown’s performance is captivating, as well as Ken Watanabe, who reprises his

PHOTO FROM THEHOLLYWOOD.COM

role as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa. Of course, the real stars of the film are the monsters and, for better or worse, their clashes are the highlight of the film. I would recommend “Godzilla: King of Monsters” to any longtime Godzilla fan and anyone looking for action packed entertainment that does not require a degree in film to enjoy. Unless you have a stellar home theater, however, the effect of the film might be somewhat diminished when shown on BluRay or streaming services. Regardless of how you view the film, it is undeniably entertaining. So just sit back, and let them fight.

August 23, 2019

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The Brandeis Hoot

‘Dora and the Lost City of Gold’ is a meta-modernist masterpiece

By Dane Leoniak staff

Before we begin this discussion of the live-action Dora the Explorer movie produced by Michael Bay, I’d like to introduce you all to the term “meta-modernism.” Essentially, it’s a development in aesthetics and philosophy that sort of combines elements of modernism and post-modernism.

Basically, it refers to the simultaneously genuine and ironic presentation or enjoyment of something. For example, look at the “Lego Movie.” It’s literally a commercial, has campy jokes, and aggressive ironic songs like “Everything Is Awesome,” but in the end, it has a real, heartfelt message about family and friendship.

Anyway, now that we have the definition of an artistic movement out of the way, we can talk about “Dora and the Lost City of Gold,” which is in my opinion, a meta-modernist masterpiece. The film opens with a scene showing our heroes, Dora and Diego, going on a childhood adventure through the wild with all their classic friends from the series. Map remarks, “I’m a talking map!” Backpack comments “I’m a backpack with a mouth!”

Then we cut out of the fantasy and see really, this adventure was just two kids playing in a cardboard box. Dora even looks off into the distance to ask, “Can you say delicioso?” to her father’s (Michael Pena) confusion. “She’ll grow out of it,” he says before quickly looking back to make

PHOTO FROM HOLLYWOODREPORTER.COM

sure there’s really no one there.

Already, the film has shown us it knows how ridiculous it is to base itself off a semi-surreal children’s show about learning Spanish. It knows, and it is going to revel in it.

To give a quick plot rundown, Diego moves away from “the jungle” where he and Dora grew up, and then there’s a time skip.

Now, teenage Dora must move to “the city” because her professor parents are going on a long quest for “The Lost City of Gold” and can’t bring her. Dora experiences a different jungle: high school.

But then things go south when she and a few classmates are kidnapped by mercenaries, who want to use her to track her parents. They escape and brave the jungle on their own.

The film strikes a perfect tone throughout, playing up the ridiculousness of the cartoon with an unrelenting, childlike and optimistic teenage Dora, who still exists in her own fantasy world, while the people around her call her out for being insane. She makes up songs to make tasks like pooping in the woods more fun. She talks to Boots (who in this world is just a domesticated monkey) like he can understand.

Dora always carries survival gear with her, even in high school.

Everyone else, rightfully, makes fun of her for these attributes. Diego is embarrassed by her. Again, the film acknowledges the ridic-

PHOTO FROM DENOFGEEK.COM

ulousness.

And yet, as it progresses, the characters grow fond of Dora’s ways. They embrace her campiness and find that it helps them cope with their perilous situation, even singing a song to Dora when they’re worried she’s catatonic.

They begin to admire Dora and look to her and her attitude for guidance. There’s a transition in the characters from ironic outlook on Dora to a genuine appreciation for what she is and how she views the world. It’s perfectly executed and shows the audience that sure, things like singing about pooping is dumb, but it’s also fine to enjoy

it and find catharsis in it as well.

There are other things I love about the movie, with its cheeky and clever set-ups and pay-offs and generally great humor (at one point, Diego ruffles her hair and takes her headband so she’ll stand out less in high school, and she asks,“Is this to help me fit in with the indigenous people?”), and a brilliant animated segment.

Basically, I recommend this movie to anyone and everyone, especially people with that Gen Z, meta-modern sense of humor.

Also “Swiper” can talk and no one acknowledges that it’s weird.

For a healthier option, stream ‘Lover’

By Emma Lichtenstein editor

If you’re reading this, it’s August 23rd! The Brandeis Hoot is back for its first issue of the new school year, but more importantly, the new Taylor Swift album just dropped. I haven’t even listened to it yet, but I’m positive that it’s the best album of 2019. Needless to say, I’m incredibly excited for this release. “Lover” is being released much faster than Taylor’s typical album cycle of two years, and far sooner than “Reputation,” which took three years. Despite the quick turnaround, this album seems to be just as good (better?) than all her other albums.

Back on April 26, Taylor shocked the world by dropping “ME!” featuring Brendon Urie. I still don’t think I’ve fully recovered from the power that these two working together have. The other collaboration on the album is with the Dixie Chicks, one of her mother’s favorite bands, but that doesn’t take away from the immediate success of “ME!” The song broke numerous records, including the 24 hour Vevo Record, most streams on Amazon Music and most voice requests using Alexa.

Her next single, “You Need To Calm Down,” dropped about two months later, celebrating Pride Month. The star-studded music video featured LGBTQ icons of all backgrounds, matching the song about being unbothered in the face of criticism. It’s playful and political. This single might not have had the booming success of “ME!,” but it’s undeniably a better song, full of sassy lyrics

PHOTO BY EMMA LICHTENSTEIN/THE HOOT

and catchy hooks, and has left a longer-lasting impression on fans.

Jack Antonoff, who helped Taylor make hits like “Out Of The Woods” and “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things,” helped produce the third song we heard off of “Lover,” and he has shown once again that he cannot make a bad song. “The Archer” is not the next single (as Taylor made sure to mention in an Instagram live), but it is a glimpse into the other side of the album: slow, sad, soft. The production of the track is haunting, sounding as if Taylor is far away, just an echo. It tells the story of Taylor’s insecurity in relationships, a classic track five song.

Track five is usually the saddest song on the album, but attendees of this era’s secret sessions (listening parties for fans at Taylor’s houses) tell a different story. They claim that track ten is actually so sad that the entire room was in tears after listening to it.

The most recent single from

“Lover” is the title track, which fans have taken to calling “little Lover.” Released a week before the actual album (which fans are calling “big Lover”), this is a love song through and through. This song is lyrically stunning, with what might just be her best bridge ever released. The production is soft, but in a different way than “The Archer.” Instead of a melancholy feeling, this feels like floating on a cloud, or watching newlyweds cut the cake, or any other warm and fuzzy feeling.

“Lover” is eighteen songs, making this album the longest Taylor’s ever made (not including deluxe versions). Already we’ve gotten to see so many different sides of the album, from pure bubblegum pop to songs that make you want to cry. This matches the releases she did with her previous albums.

For “Reputation,” the first single was “Look What You Made Me Do.” It was dark and angry, taking aim at the media’s treatment

PHOTO FROM PITCHFORK.COM

of Taylor. The song was lyrically weak, but incredibly catchy (just like “ME!”). The next song we got to hear was “...Ready For It?” It was not necessarily dark or angry, but this song was edgy, featuring a heavy bassline throughout the whole song and sassy lyrics (hi, “You Need To Calm Down”). The third song to drop wasn’t a single, just a glimpse into a lighter side of the album. “Gorgeous” was pure bubblegum pop, and nothing like any of what we had heard before (do I even need to say it?).

The fourth song that was released before “Reputation” was “Call It What You Want.” This slow ballad was strong lyrically, and had a rather country feel, making it feel like it could have fit in some of her older albums (her mind scares me sometimes). The parallels between these two continue in that both of the lyric videos feature home videos of Taylor.

The rest of the album remains a beautiful mystery. The tracklist is

full of long titles, like the opening track “I Forgot You Existed” and “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince,” which is rather unusual. The secret sessioners have described it as her best album yet, full of incredible lyrics, and oddly sad. They say it has the lyrical quality of “RED,” the sonic cohesiveness of “1989” and the feel of “Speak Now.” Taylor herself described it as “a love letter to love, in all of its maddening, passionate, exciting, enchanting, horrific, tragic, wonderful glory” in an interview with “Vogue.”

So basically, I have no idea what to expect, other than something fantastic. By the time you’re reading this, I’m sure I’ve already listened to the album the whole way through… probably twice. Stay tuned for a full review of the album next week!

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The Brandeis Hoot

August 23, 2019