The Brandeis Hoot 08/25/2017

Volume 14 Issue 10

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

August 25, 2017

Brandeis University’s Community Newspaper · Waltham, Mass.

Campus evacuated for seven hours due to bomb threat

By Hannah Schuster and Elianna Spitzer editors

photo by elianna spitzer/the hoot

evacuation Brandeis

residents were asked to congregate on the playing fields just before 10 a.m. when the campus began evacuation procedures.

Staff, faculty and students were evacuated from the main Brandeis campus after administrators received a bomb threat in an email early Wednesday morning. At 4:50 p.m., close to seven hours after the emergency evacuation went into effect, Brandeis re-opened for residents.

Campus residents gathered on the playing fields while all non-essential staff and faculty left campus for the day. The emergency closing email was followed by an increased police presence around campus. Over the time span of almost seven hours, Brandeis and Waltham police conducted a top down search of the campus. The investigation into the threat is ongoing, and “police will continue to be visible on campus,” said Presi-

dent Ron Liebowitz in a Wednesday evening message to the community.

Brandeis police facilitated the campus evacuation as cars poured out of the main entrance. The university maintains an Incident Command or emergency response team made up of individuals from multiple departments around campus. These individuals are on call whenever an incident such as a bomb threat arises.

Between 9:52 a.m. and approximately 11 a.m., members of the Department of Community Living went door to door in every residence hall on campus. They escorted residents out of their buildings and directed them to the fields. However, police did not reach every occupant during the evacuation and some community members with disabilities did not receive sufficient assistance evacSee BOMB THREAT, page 3

Brandeis receives $50 million gift for scholarships

By Abigail Gardener editor

More Brandeis students will now be able to receive financial aid, thanks to a $50 million donation from the estate of Chicago philanthropists Rosaline Cohn

and her daughter Marcia, the largest single gift Brandeis has ever received.

The Cohns requested that their donation, which the university received in June, be added to the already established Jacob and Rosaline Cohn Endowed Scholarship that will provide financial aid

each year to hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students.

“One can only smile a big smile upon hearing such news,” said University President Ron Liebowitz. “And for it to be restricted for us for financial aid is so fitting and is very much needed.”

The Cohns have a legacy of

giving to Brandeis, although no one in the family ever attended the university or had any official connection to it. In 1951, Jacob Cohn and his wife Rosaline donated $100 to the university, and the family has continued to do so ever since.

When Jacob Cohn passed away,

Rosaline Cohn established the Cohn Fund in memory of her husband with a gift of $32,600, specifying that the money be used to support students pursuing their education.

“Rosaline and Marcia estabSee SCHOLARSHIP, page 2

Partial demolition of Usen Castle continues after summer 2017

By Ryan Spencer staff

Construction of a new residence hall began in summer 2017 on the east side of campus after the partial demolition of Usen Castle.

The project expected to cost about $38 million, financed by bonds.

The new residence hall, which has yet to be named, will house 164 students in single and double rooms, and is planned to be operational by the Fall semester of 2018, according to the Brandeis website. It will be divided into two wings and have four floors.

The hall is expected to house

sophomore students.

Construction of the new residence hall “will have minimal to no impact on student pedestrian patterns around campus,” said Jim Gray, Vice President for Campus Operation, in an email to The Hoot. The construction site will be contained and paths for foot traffic will continue to be open throughout the course of the project.

“A fairly steady flow of [construction] vehicles to and from the site using the loop road,” is to be expected according to Gray.

“Traffic should be manageable See CASTLE, page 2

Inside This Issue:

News: Brandeis featured on two new top ten lists Ops: Evaluting the paradox of tolerance Arts: Satisfying the creative arts requirement Sports: Men’s soccer team gets a new head coach EDITORIAL: Orientation book begins dialogue

Page 2 Page 15 Page 8 Page 12 Page 6

photo by hannah schuster/the hoot

Workers began to demolish part of the Usen Castle over the summer. Crews will continue to work throughout the 2017-2018 school year. demolition

The Rose Art

Tales from abroad

What to expect from this museum’s diverse fall lineup

Brandeisian embarks on adventures while studying abroad

ARTS: PAGE 7

FEATURES: PAGE 4

NEWS

2 The Brandeis Hoot

August 25, 2017

Brandeis ranked 10th most unattractive campus, sixth most committed to service

By Elianna Spitzer editor

Brandeis may not be the most attractive campus, but it is one of the most community service oriented schools, according to the recently released 2018 edition of Princeton Review’s guide to “The Best 382 Colleges.”

Brandeis University earned a spot on two top ten lists, ranking 10th in the “least beautiful campus” in the country and the sixth on the “most engaged in community service,” according to The Princeton Review’s guide.

The lists do not reflect the opinions of the writers at Princeton Review. Instead, they reflect student’s opinions of their own school. The lists are compiled yearly by Princeton Review using an 80-question survey.

For the 2018 edition, Princeton Review received 137,000 surveys from students at 382 schools.

Princeton Review does not release the number of students surveyed at a particular institution.

To determine the least beautiful/most beautiful campus, students at Brandeis were asked, “How do you rate the beauty of your campus?” The survey takers then measured beauty on a scale from “excellent” to “poor.” Though ranked tenth, Brandeis still beat Boston liberal arts college Emerson, which ranked ninth. The least beautiful and most beautiful campuses can both be found in California. Harvey Mudd College in Claremont was ranked the least beautiful while the University of San Diego was ranked the most beautiful.

Brandeis students were also asked how strongly they agreed with the statement, “Students are committed to community service.” Their responses earned Brandeis its ranking as sixth most engaged in community service.

Brandeis ranked better than two other Massachusetts schools in this category, Stonehill College and Clark University.

In 2015, Brandeis earned the number one spot on this list.

A commitment to community service has been key component

of education at Brandeis for a long time. The Waltham Group, an umbrella organization for all community service oriented clubs on campus, celebrated its 50th anniversary during the last academic year.

A new building on campus may affect student’s opinion on the beauty of their school. Major construction occurred over the summer to knock down parts of Usen castle.

Architects at William Rawn Associates will oversee plans and construction of the building. The firm is known for their work on the Cambridge Public Library, Berklee College of Music and Northeastern University Buildings G and H. Construction of a new and yet to be named residence hall will occur over the next three years and is projected to cost $38 million, financed in bonds. Brandeis’ ranking in the Princeton Review may see an impact thanks to the modern look of the building and the environmentally friendly geothermal heating and cooling system within.

photo from penguinrandomhouse.com

New residence hall construction will have minimal impact on campus life CASTLE, from page 1

and not impact life on campus excessively,” he told the Hoot in his email.

Noise from construction may be disruptive at times, especially to residents of East Quad, according Gray.

Renovations to towers A and B of Usen Castle, which were left standing after the demolition, will

continue into the academic year, Gray said.

Cholmondeley’s Coffee House, located on the ground level of tower B, is set to open in September. Renovation of the floors, walls, furniture and equipment in the coffee house were based on student input, and include the addition of restrooms, which the coffee house previously lacked,

according to the Brandeis website.

Between 30 and 40 wells, part of a geothermal system to heat and cool the halls, have been dug and the project is progressing on schedule.

The geothermal system will be partnered with other sustainability features including solar panels on the roof of the residence hall, making the new residence hall

the most sustainable building on campus, according Brandeis’ website.

The construction plans include a large common room, a studio room and a large kitchen area as well as four 8-10 person study rooms and six individual study nooks that will provide additional study space for students. The common areas, referred to by

Gray as the “upper commons” will provide a space for events and for student clubs.

Two updated models of the project will eventually be available on campus for viewing, likely in the lobby of the admissions building.

Construction will continue through the winter months, stopping only for severe weather.

Scholarship donation could benefit hundreds of Brandeis students yearly SCHOLARSHIP, from page 1

lished the Jacob and Rosaline Cohn Endowed Scholarship in 1976 to benefit undergraduate and graduate students at Brandeis,” said chief philanthropic advisor Nancy Winship. “Their estate directed the $50 million gift to be added to this scholarship, which will support hundreds of Brandeis students each year.”

No new fund will be created specifically for the $50 million, but the money will go towards the already established fund. “We needn’t create a ‘new’ scholarship program, but scholars funded by the Cohn Funds, which will go to endowment, can be named ‘Cohn Scholars,’” Liebowitz said.

“The $50 million will generate around $2.5 million for our operating budget and so long as our endowment grows, that $2.5 [million] of funds each year will grow too.”

Because of the Cohns’ history of giving to the university, the actual donation was not a surprise, but the amount was, according to

Liebowitz. “We knew we would be receiving a large bequest for the last year or so,” Liebowitz said. “Before that, we also knew we would be getting a bequest from Mrs. Cohn but…everyone thought it was going to be maybe $4-5 million, not $50 million.

That was a big surprise.”

Although both Rosaline and Marcia Cohn are no longer living, they were unwavering in their support of Brandeis despite never having attended. Rosaline and her daughter were inspired by the inclusivity and dedication to academic excellence of the university, informed by Jewish values, Liebowitz said in a BrandeisNOW article.

The Cohns also attended many Brandeis events and were very involved with the university, especially with President Emeritus Jehuda Reinharz, PhD’72. “I knew Marcia and Rosaline for decades, as did Jehuda,” said Winship.

“They attended many Brandeis events in Chicago and on campus, including the University’s 50th anniversary celebration in 1998.

photo from brandeis.edu

They were gracious and generous women, and it was a privilege to have known them.”

The Cohns’ love for Brandeis and passion for education will

continue to live on through their donation, which will continue to help Brandeis students for years to come. “I was deeply saddened to learn of Marcia’s untimely pass-

ing, but the knowledge that she, her mother and her father cared so deeply about Brandeis and our students brought me great satisfaction,” Winship said.

August 25, 2017

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Student Union prepares for new school year

By Samantha Lauring staff

The Student Union is implementing two new positions this year: the Director of Office of Student Rights and Advocacy (OSRA) and the Union Diversity Officer (UDO). OSRA will be “a resource for students in need of information, support or advocacy regarding their rights as a student at Brandeis,” according the Hannah Brown ’19, Vice President of the Union. The UDO will assess and strengthen diversity and inclusion efforts, stated Jacob Edelman ’18, the Union President.

Both positions will be filled early this fall.

“As we’ve seen on a national level and here on campus, systems aren’t fair to everyone. Sometimes it can be much more than incidental,” Edelman told The Brandeis Hoot.

Brown is overseeing the reimplementation of OSRA, otherwise known as the Office of Students Rights and Advocacy. OSRA fell out of use a few years ago and, with a new director, Brown hopes to make it a place for students to go to when they have a problem and need assistance from the Student Union. The OSRA director will help develop and set goals for the Office. In addition to leading the Office, the Director will

also select and manage a team of OSRA advocates.

If the OSRA director and UDO go as planned, they will be significant positions that will “positively adapt the way the Student Union serves Brandeis in the near future, and in the long term.” Edelman also noted that he plans to implement more intra-Union policies to bring members closer together and create links between new and experienced Union members.

In addition to working on OSRA, Brown plans to work with the Executive Board to improve campus resources like the health center and counseling services and make them more accessible.

This year is the Union’s bi-annual constitutional review. Brown will be managing a team of Union members to make needed adjustments to the constitution and bylaws to “fix inconsistencies, clarify club recognition and chartering procedures, review finance guidelines and make the documents more practical and relevant.”

As Student Union President, Edelman has three tasks that he would like to focus on, which are transparency, inclusion and service. To remain transparent, the Union will be focused on student engagement, fulfilling promises like budget transparency and gathering student input, says Edelman. “We’ve already begun pushing the university and our-

selves to go the extra mile and strike down unnecessary barriers to equality and success and adding more student voices into University decision making.”

Edelman formerly worked for The Hoot newspaper and often became frustrated while covering the Union due to a lack of transparency and directness between Union leadership and students.

“Proactive outreach, info campaigns and inviting all members of the community to provide input via conversation, survey and more will be what keeps us accessible,” said Edelman. He also notes that he will do more to invite members of the campus media to cover some Union meetings that have typically been closed.

“Our student body is an incredibly impressive, diverse and dynamic group of people. Representing all of us is a serious trust to give, and I am thankful every day to be doing it,” stated Edelman.

The International Student Senator is another new position within the Union, which will be held by Linfei Yang ’20. “First and foremost, my responsibility as the new senator for international students is to make sure that our voice goes unheard no longer,” said Yang.

The biggest challenge facing the international student community is integration, noted Yang. “To work towards integration is to

fight against the harmful culture of generalization. Generalization is erasure.” Yang said clubs, especially those geared towards students with international backgrounds, should be more accessible and open to international students and that this is an effort where the Student Union can provide assistance.

One of Yang’s main goals will be to bring the ISSO and ICC closer to the international student community in order to increase attendance and participation in events held by these organizations. Additionally, Yang wants to make campus resources, such as guidebook, web pages and posters more user-friendly to international students.

Benedikt Reynolds ’19 will serve as the Class of 2019 Senator.

This will be Reynolds’ first year as a Student Union officer, although he was a member of the Sustainability Committee last semester and will be co-chairing the committee this semester.

Reynolds has spent the summer organizing workshops for the committee, adopting and creating frameworks for prototyping an idea’s feasibility, while keeping in mind student volunteers’ time and the Brandeis sustainability Fund’s (BSF) annual budget.

Shaquan McDowell ’18 will serve as the Senator at Large. “As a representative of the student

body, it’s my job to make sure that when students can’t be at the table, their voice is still being heard and included,” said McDowell. In the past, McDowell has served as committee chair for COW-G (Campus Operations Working Group) and intends on continuing to work with the committee this year. Last year COW-G and several campus organizations formed an initiative to provide free menstrual products on campus. McDowell plans to focus on continuing this initiative.

Aaron Finkel ’20 will serve as the other Senator at Large. Like McDowell, Finkel has served as the chair of COW-G. He was also the senator to the Class of 2020 last year. As Senator at Large, Finkel would like to continue projects started last year, which include “organizing renovations for first-year residential areas, expanding access to affordable menstrual products on our campus and planning events and convenient students services, like our holiday shuttles, and the Midnight Buffet.”

“As a governing body, we should be conducting all of our business with an emphasis on inclusion, accessibility and transparency.

Our work is more meaningful when everyone is positively impacted,” said Finkel.

Brandeis evalutes emergency alert system in wake of evacuation

BOMB THREAT, from page 1

uating, according to a Thursday afternoon email from Liebowitz.

His message spoke to multiple concerns raised about the effectiveness of Brandeis’ emergency alert system. Some community members did not receive the alerts or did not receive an email and a phone call, despite having requested to receive alerts both ways. Others commented on the university’s Facebook posts that the text alert should say more than simply “bomb threat.”

Brandeis spokeswoman Judy Glasser said the university had “identified areas for improvement [Wednesday],” but declined to provide specifics. Liebowitz also met with the school’s Incident Command Team on Wednesday and Thursday.

As she introduced herself to members of the Brandeis com-

munity on the playing field, Provost Lisa Lynch told students that administrators were being “overly cautious.” Around 12 p.m., after public safety personnel swept Gosman and confirmed it was safe, students moved to the gymnasium. They were provided with food and water on the field and inside the gymnasium. “I was a little freaked out, I called my parents but…I think Brandeis did a really good job with moving everyone and getting everyone food and water,” said Demi Ingraham ’20. Throughout the day, students checked in with family and friends to say they were safe.

Brandeis administrators made themselves available for questions but would not comment on the status of the bomb investigation.

Students were not forced to remain in Gosman but told not to return to campus.

Around 1 p.m., Brandeis an-

nounced the campus would remain closed for the day. They said public safety personnel had not concluded their search of the campus, but the administration was hopeful that those students on campus would be able to return to their dorms to sleep. The university will announce a plan to house students overnight should it become necessary, but Judy Glasser, Interim Senior Vice President for Communications, said she was not prepared to speak publicly about the plan at this time.

The first of four move-in dates for the Fall semester is Aug. 25, but approximately 250 students are currently being housed on campus, including Orientation Leaders, Community Advisors, Roosevelt Fellows and international students participating in an English intensive program before classes begin. The first-year class

moves in this Sunday and all returning students will arrive by Tuesday, Aug. 29.

Many parents expressed worry and prayers for everyone’s safety in comments on a Brandeis Facebook post. However, others expressed concern that the university’s information was too vague and that relocating all the students to the field made them a target.

Throughout Wednesday, some on Twitter raised the possibility that the threat could be connected to Brandeis’ history as a university founded by the Jewish community, but the university confirmed on Thursday that no “reason or motivation” was given for the threat.

There have been more than 100 threats made against Jewish centers this year as well as instances of vandalism. In March, an Israeli teen was arrested in connection to

bomb threats made against Jewish Community Centers (JCC) and schools around the country. The Holocaust memorial in Boston has been vandalized twice this summer.

Similar bomb threats were sent to the Waltham Public Library one day earlier, but police have not linked the two instances.

In a Wednesday evening email to the community, Liebowitz listed the safety protocols in place on campus—such as police officers on duty 24 hours a day, more than 100 closed circuit cameras and 70 of the “blue lights” which provide connection to Brandeis police— as well as 12 campus resources including the Brandeis Counseling Center, ULifeline and the Chaplaincy.

He also thanked all those who assisted during the evacuation, including police, Facilities Services and food service workers.

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August 25, 2017

A Hygge Summer Abroad: Books and Bars

By Charlotte Aaron editor

Students typically say goodbye to each other for summer break, but for senior Danielle Simms ’18, the break was an opportunity to say hello to a new set of friends and a new city. At the start of July, Simms embarked on a journey from her hometown of Chattanooga, TN to Copenhagen, Denmark for a fiveweek economics program along with 13 other Brandeis students.

“I was hesitant before we left,” said Simms. She realized at the pre-trip meeting she did not know any of the other students on the program, though she is active on campus. Simms is a buddy for the Gateway Scholars Program, the Membership Development Officer and Social Media/PR Chair for sorority Alpha Pi Phi and an active student in the Economics Department. “I didn’t have any friends going, so I was nervous.”

Yet, as the plane to Copenhagen crossed the Atlantic, Simms’ fears were left behind.

The students, who Simms explained “wouldn’t really be friends with each other … at school,” began developing relationships that grew over the course of the summer, from time spent together in class, out on excursions in Denmark and even at local clubs and bars.

There were two upper-level economics courses offered on the program, according to Simms: Behavioral Economics, taught by a local Danish Institute of Study Abroad (DIS) professor, and Money and Banking, taught by Brandeis professor Scott Redenius.

Simms, who had previously taken Macroeconomics with Professor Redenius at Brandeis, explained that because there were only 13 students in his class abroad, he truly got to know each student.

“We had a few meals and field trips … that he would come with us to,” Simms said. “He was very into learning the Danish culture.”

One of the Danish terms Redenius introduced to the students was “Hygge,” Simms explained. “I don’t really know how to explain it. He wanted us to have experienced hygge.” In her best effort to translate the Danish word, Simms explained that it means “cozy, comfort. You’re with your

friends hanging out and experiencing the environment.” To put the word in context, Simms recounted a time when the group looked up which bar was the most hygge. “It was this place Charlie’s Bar. He [Redenius] would always ask us, ‘Have you been to Charlie’s Bar yet? Is it very hygge there?’”

While Simms enjoyed learning about the Danish culture, it was the Behavioral Economics class that stood out to her as a highlight of her academic experience.

“We were a lot more hands on in the Behavioral Economics class.

We would literally just stop in the middle of class and be like, ‘Okay now you guys are going to run this experiment. So go out in the street, and find people, and do it,’” Simms explained.

One experiment run by the class examined whether strangers are more likely to help individuals whose behavior that stranger supports, explained Simms. To do this, the students ran two scenarios. In both scenarios, a student would yell at another student for littering.

However, in Scenario A, the littering student would drop his books, and in Scenario B, the yelling student would drop his book.

Were strangers more likely to help pick up the books of the littering or the non-littering student?

“That was a hard one to do ourselves… we couldn’t keep a straight face half the time!”

Simms explained that because the area they were conducting the experiment in was smaller, they had to wait to make sure there were new groups of strangers for each round. “We had to make sure people were not watching these kids just keep dropping things and yelling at each other,” said Simms.

Although they were not able to collect enough data to confirm anything, the process of running the experiment was a good learning experience, said Simms.

Though official experiments stopped when classes ended each day, Simms learned about the Danish culture by simply spending evenings out with her classmates, particularly at The Australian Bar, or “A Bar.” “It’s right next to where we have classes which is kind of funny, and you get in for free with a DIS student ID,” said Simms. “A Bar,” the first they went to as a group, ended up becoming the group’s

photos courtesy danielle simms

go-to spot. “Everyone secretly liked it!” Simms said of the club.

One of the biggest differences Simms noticed between “going out” in the United States and in Denmark was the behavior of young party-goers. “In Copenhagen, they like to party, but you don’t see people belligerently walking around out in the street like you might in the U.S.,” she explained.

“It’s a cultural thing. They’re not

in each other’s business. They’re respectful of personal boundaries … so I guess when they’re being social and partying they keep that same thing when they are out in the streets. They just keep to themselves whereas in the U.S. it’s very loud out in the streets.”

Though Simms enjoyed the program, she is excited to return to campus with more friends than she left it. After visiting the Tivo-

li Gardens Amusement Park in Copenhagen and Denmark’s Legoland together, “we were talking about how we should go to Six Flags in New England,” said Simms of the group’s plan to continue spending time together. With two requirements for her economics major complete and memories from a fun summer abroad, Simms looks back on her summer in Copenhagen with fondness.

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August 25, 2017

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Australia, Nova Scotia and the mindful lifestyle

By Zach Cihlar editor

Early in the summer, Ethan Saal ’19 deplaned in Sydney, Australia, to begin a six-week study abroad program complete with a course, an internship experience and, of course, a ton of outdoor adventures.

Saal lived in a hotel in the heart of Sydney provided by Arcadia University, the institution belonging to the abroad program.

Throughout his time in Australia, Saal got to experience the urban life of Sydney and explore the terrain and wildlife on its outskirts.

At the start of the program’s orientation, the presenters led the students through a brief descrip-

possibility for exploration and the interesting (and frequently dangerous) wildlife. “During orientation,” he recalled, “they told us that if we ever see anything that crawls, it can probably kill you.”

For the first few weeks of the program, Saal took a course that focused on the economic relationship between Asia and Australia. “It was about how the two nations worked through difficulties to build the strong relationship they currently have,” he said of the course. Though interesting and highly informative, he described the coursework as a damper to some of the other adventures he went on while abroad.

Though the class was not a highlight, the internship portion of the program proved to be one

Saal worked directly with Sydney’s youth as part of his internship with the City Community Tennis Project. city community tennis

tion of the wildlife that is unique to Australia, including insects, koalas and kangaroos. An outdoorsy and adventurous person himself, Saal was drawn to Australia by the scenic, picturesque landscape,

of Saal’s favorite things about his time in Sydney. A member of the Brandeis men’s tennis team, Saal was able to incorporate his love of tennis into his internship experience at City Commu-

nity Tennis Project in Sydney.

Besides working directly with youth, he also redesigned the organization’s website, gaining new skills while also refining those that he had already established.

Paired with an avid yoga and meditation practitioner like himself, Saal and his boss, Sylvia DeAngelis, worked to establish after-school tennis programs for underprivileged youth in Sydney. Saal gained experience in marketing for the program as well as working directly with the youth the program aimed to serve. He expressed great appreciation for the staff he worked with, especially DeAngelis.

Saal’s program ended in mid-July, leaving a month left of summer that he intended to use as more time to explore. Once home, he quickly set off abroad again, this time with his two siblings. Saal and his older brother and sister set off to Nova Scotia, where he spent ten days cycling through a significant portion of the province. The idea occurred after the three of them collectively decided a sibling trip was necessary in light of the transitional times each of them were experiencing during the summer.

With just their bikes and the help of the Internet, Saal and his siblings set off through a “picturesque terrain, eating freshly picked blueberries and plums from a local farm” and stopping to talk to the locals along the way.

As an athlete, Saal was prepared to travel between 40 and 50 miles on a bike everyday; however, it daunted his siblings, who he admits always turned to him to ask about physical activity and healthy habits. Acting as a “motivational personal trainer,” Saal led the way. The three of them

photo from tourism nova scotia

After returning from Sydeny, Saal and his siblings embarked on a bike trip through Nova Scotia. nova scotia

took to the bike lanes, carrying packs holding muscle-recovery gear and a great attitude, Saal said.

The two experiences meshed perfectly for Saal. From experiencing Australian culture and food to living off packs and bicycles, the junior learned that it doesn’t take much to live a happy life. “I grew up around people that always want more and more: the latest technological gadget, the healthiest super food, the newest car models,” Saal said. “In Nova Scotia I noticed the beautiful simplicity of all the towns and lifestyles of those that lived there.”

Going into his junior year, Saal said that the greatest lessons were those he learned with people he loved and the experiences he lived outside the classroom. Be-

sides calling breakfast “brekkie” and using a bike more often, Saal is determined “to make an effort to live a less fast-paced lifestyle,” such as that of Nova Scotia, and incorporate it into his daily life.

“It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle at school,” he said. “However, I believe my best self comes out when I slow things down and live a more mindful life. The culture in Australia and Canada served as a great example of the type of life I’d like to lead.”

Saal’s summer traveling granted him a new perspective on life which he hopes to maintain at Brandeis. Through his study abroad experience in Australia, he will return with new skills and connections that will help him both in and out of the classroom.

Constructing a summer internship

By Polina Potochevska editor

For some, summer is the perfect time to relax and unwind after a long school year full of homework and studying. For others, like Renee Korgood ’20, it is the perfect opportunity to keep busy while also gaining work experience through a summer internship. Korgood hopes to major in History and Politics with minors in Legal Studies and French, and so this summer, she interned with OHL North America in New York City.

OHL North America is the North American division of Obrascón Huarte Lain, a contracting and construction company that is headquartered in Madrid, Spain. They specialize in the design and construction of highways, bridges, schools and more.

Korgood interned for the branch based in New York City but says that there are projects “all over the country.”

On a daily basis at her internship with OHL, Korgood worked alongside the Communications Manager to maintain and update their website and social media pages. She also helped with handling and drafting all internal communications. Korgood mentioned she was tasked with “creating a plan to communicate [OHL’s] rebranding efforts to people in the company” and also

coordinating meetings between executives to create a new mission statement.

Korgood found her internship with OHL North America through a family connection within the company. Her main goal for the summer was to be productive, but once she “got into the swing” of things, she added another major goal, she said. This new project was completing her rebranding plan, and the mission and vision statement that Korgood “took a lot of responsibility for.” While her latest task is not yet complete, she will be working part-time over the fall semester to “ensure its completion,” extending her internship into the school year.

Korgood said her most fulfilling achievement from the summer was creating a communications plan that was ultimately approved by the company. But a close second was designing an advertisement for the company that was published in a trade magazine.

Korgood “took the featured photo, drafted the copy and designed the layout,” she said.

Having this type of work experience should help Korgood secure future positions, as well as help her in her extracurriculars at Brandeis, she said. As the Director of Public Relations for the Brandeis Academic Debate and Speech Society (BADASS), she will be able use her new commu-

nications skills to advertise the team and work with other clubs.

Korgood explained that she doesn’t think she would like to work permanently for a company like OHL, because “the industry isn’t something I’m deeply interested in.”

Despite that, Korgood said that she learned a lot about communications, the construction industry and how construction affects urban communities like those in New York City. The internship helped her realize her love for communications, and she would consider taking a communications position at a different company.

For those who are considering applying for an internship in the future, Korgood says that it’s helpful to “be open to anything, and try not to pre-judge whether you will like the internship you’re doing.” Her own opinion of OHL changed over the course of the internship. Be open-minded, put yourself out there and don’t be afraid to ask for help, are some pieces of advice from Korgood.

By setting goals and working hard to achieve them, you can craft a wonderful summer experience for yourself that is full of growth, learning and success, she concluded.

If you are interested in applying for a summer internship next year, Brandeis has many resources available through the Hiatt

photo courtesy renee korgood

photo from ohl north america

Career Center. You can arrange a meeting with a counselor to help brainstorm different possibilities for internships and put together your application materials. Their website also includes links to many internship posting sites and databases such as Handshake, and has updated information on upcoming job and internship fairs on campus.

Summer is the perfect time to relax under the sun, but it’s also a beneficial time to gain work experience and knowledge through internships without having to balance schoolwork on top of it. As Korgood learned, an internship can teach you many things about yourself and your interests as well as help you figure out preferences for future jobs and internships.

EDITORIALS

6 The Brandeis Hoot

“To acquire wisdom, one must observe.”

Editors-in-Chief Hannah Schuster Emily Sorkin Smith Senior Managing Editor Allison Plotnik Senior Editor-at-Large Zach Phil Schwartz Editor-at-Large Charlotte Aaron Senior Copy Editor Sarah Terrazano News Editors Abigail Gardener Elianna Spitzer Arts Editor Katie Decker-Jacoby Opinions Editor Katarina Weessies Features Editor Polina Potochevska Sports Editors Zach Cihlar Sarah Jousset Photo Editor Karen Caldwell Layout Editor Candace Ng

Volume 14 • Issue 10 the brandeis hoot • brandeis university 415 south street • waltham, ma

STAFF

Faria Afreen, David Aizenberg, Emily Altkorn, Jordan Brodie, Ryan Bunis, José Castellanos, Kevin Costa, Elizabeth Cayouette-Gluckman, Anindita Chanda, Leah Samantha Chanen, Brianna Cummings, Shea Decker-Jacoby, Sanin Dosa, Jacob Edelman, Daniel Freedman, Ally Gelber,, Emma Gutman, Noah Harper, Sophia He, Daniel Kang, Jonah Koslofsky, Matt Kowalyk, Samantha Lauring, Santiago Montoya, Katharine Mound, Faiyaz Rahman, Ryan Spencer, Lily Wageman

MISSION As the weekly community student newspaper of Brandeis University, The Brandeis Hoot aims to provide our readers with a reliable, accurate and unbiased source of news and information. Produced entirely by students, The Hoot serves a readership of 6,000 with in-depth news, relevant commentary, sports and coverage of cultural events.

Recognizing that better journalism leads to better policy, The Brandeis Hoot is dedicated to the principles of investigative reporting and news analysis. Our mission is to give every community member a voice.

SUBMISSION POLICIES The Brandeis Hoot welcomes letters to the editor on subjects that are of interest to the community. Preference is given to current or former community members and The Hoot reserves the right to edit or reject submissions. The deadline for submitting letters is Wednesday at noon.

Please submit letters to letters@thebrandeishoot.com along with your contact information. Letters should not exceed 500 words. The opinions, columns, cartoons and advertisements printed in The Hoot do not necessarily represent the opinions of the editorial board.

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UNSOLICITED SUBMISSIONS We welcome unsolicited submissions from members of the community sent by e-mail to eic@thebrandeishoot.com. Please limit submissions to 800 words. All submissions are subject to editing.

I

August 25, 2017

New student book forum starts an important conversation, but community must keep it going

ncoming first-years will participate in the Undergraduate Orientation Book Forum, the only time the entire class reads the same book and participates in a discussion together with the author. This year, administrators selected acclaimed poet Claudia Rankine’s “Citizen: An American Lyric.” Rankine’s book takes a deep and critical look at race relations in America, and The Brandeis Hoot believes that it is important first-years are exposed to a work like this and will be encouraged to take a close look at race relations in their new community here at Brandeis.

“Citizen” is a lyric poem that draws on experiences of the author and stories she received from others about racial prejudice in America. She writes about racism with striking clarity, writing in a matter-of-fact tone to emphasize the reality of racism on a day-today basis. The book is interspersed with short “scenes” describing the effects of racial basis, like a coworker telling the narrator he doesn’t understand why a person

of color has to be hired when there are so many other great candidates, or the narrator going to her therapy appointment and being shouted at to get off the property before the therapist realizes who the narrator actually is. The later half of the book also delves into the issue of police brutality, with several shorter poems acting as memorials to people of color killed by police.

Choosing this book shows that Brandeis is taking steps to help its community engage in important conversations about race and inequality that students have been pushing us all to have. Asking the whole class of new students to read a work which describes the author’s experience with racism is a positive step in making Brandies a university that lives up to the social justice ideals of its namesake in modern times. It is also valuable that Rankine will appear in person for the book forum, so that students can hear firsthand her motivations for writing the book.

Time will also be reserved for a question and answer session, furthering the engagement be-

tween the author and students who thought critically about the material.

This is a step in the right direction, and first-year students should take a lot away from the book forum but must still continue engaging with material like “Citizen.” However, they should not take the book selection to mean that Brandeis has no issues with racial equality or injustice of all kinds. Instead, first-years should be critical of their new administration and know that racism is a problem at Brandeis.

No institution is perfect, and for first-years and transfer students, this should only be the beginning of questioning the administration, criticizing injustice and confronting the country’s long history of racism. Students should see this book as an introduction to the types of questions they should be seeking out throughout their tenure at Brandeis—taking a AAAS class or the new course on the Asian American experience, attending a diverse array of events on campus.

ARTS

August 25, 2017

The Brandeis Hoot 7

Fall exhibitions promise powerful messages across many mediums

By Katharine Mound staff

At the start of a new semester at Brandeis, you can expect to see a flush of fresh faces on campus, returning students catching up with one another and, at the Rose Art Museum, an exciting new display of visual arts to explore.

The Rose’s Fall 2017 exhibitions are part of the most anticipated changes of the upcoming school year as the museum will be updating several of its wings with works from outside artists and pieces from its permanent collection. On Sept. 8, patrons of the museum will be able to enjoy video art from John Akomfrah and paintings by Kevork Mourad, as well as treasures from the Rose’s own collection.

In addition to the September unveiling, the museum will be participating in a sort of dual-launch with the second half of the Fall 2017 exhibitions opening on Oct. 15. These exhibitions will feature the works of Joe Bradley in the Lois Foster Gallery and a site-specific project

by Tony Lewis in the same stairwell where Sarah Sze’s “Blue Wall Moulting” resided the year prior.

Much like the exhibitions at the Rose Art Museum, the faces of the Rose are also undergoing

a change. In May, the museum announced that it would be welcoming Luis A. Croquer as the new Henry and Lois Foster Director to replace former director Christopher Bedford. Croquer has previously held high-ranking positions at the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington in Seattle and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.

Croquer believes museums like Brandeis’ “must be more engaged with the fabric of their communities, to act as places for inclusive dialogue and valiant inquiry,” according to a May press release from President Ron Liebowitz.

For its September exhibitions, the Rose Art Museum will inaugurate the fall semester with an even mixture of outside artists and treasures from the museum’s own collection. “Body Talk” will display selections from the Rose’s holdings to demonstrate surrealist artists’ ideas about and understandings of the body, featuring works from André Masson, Max Weber and others. Joe Bradley, an artist who will be among those in the October opening, will also choose pieces from the museum’s collection that he believes to be “masterworks and lesser-known gems” to be exhibited in the September opening under the title “Buckdancer’s Choice.”

Alongside pieces from the

Rose’s collection, artists Kevork Mourad and John Akomfrah will have works in the first installment of the museum’s Fall 2017 exhibitions. Akomfrah, a Ghana-born British film artist, will feature his two-channel video “Auto Da Fé” (2016). The film chronicles instances of mass migrations incited by religious persecution over the past 400 years. Mourad’s works also integrate a similar concern for persecution and tragedy, although his elaborate, dynamic paintings are centered in the context of his Syrian-Armenian heritage.

On Oct. 15, the Rose will introduce the second part of its Fall 2017 exhibitions with works from Tony Lewis and Joe Bradley. Lewis’s site-specific mural will be in conversation with concepts of race, memory and language. What distinguishes the piece from others in this semester’s exhibition, however, is that it will be created on-site in collaboration with Brandeis students, fostering a more tangible connection between artists and the museum’s main attendees.

Joe Bradley, who also selected works from the Rose’s collection to be displayed in the September opening, will have a notable exhibition alongside Tony Lewis’s mural in October. With twenty-four pieces to be shown in total, Bradley’s exhibition at the

Rose will be the first ever largescale museum exhibition of his work in North America. His drawings and paintings evoke a deep appreciation for modern art in all of its nuanced iterations

there isn’t an excuse not to walk over and take a look. “Body Talk” and “Buckdancer’s Choice” will be on view from Sept. 8 to Jan. 28; the works of Kevork Mourad and John Akomfrah will be ex-

‘mother and child’ Artwork by Joe Bradley (2016)

while maintaining a minimalist, yet almost rough-edged aesthetic.

With a fall semester loaded with exciting new attractions at Brandeis’s very own museum,

photo from brandeis.edu

hibited from Sept. 8 to Jan. 21; Joe Bradley’s exhibition will run from Oct. 15 to Jan. 28; and Tony Lewis’s mural will be on display from Oct.15 to June 10.

Tyler, the Creator continues to break the mold on his first truly excellent album

By Jonah Koslofsky staff

There’s been no shortage of great music in summer 2017. In June, Jay-Z released his groundbreakingly personal “4:44,” and shortly after, Lorde exploded back into our eardrums with the excellent “Melodrama.” But for me, the standout of the summer has to be Tyler the Creator’s “Flower Boy,” an album that finds the 26-yearold rapper finally committing to saying something. But what

ture Wolf Gang Kill Them All), immediately stood out as this group of underground rulebreakers in a time when hip-hop was dominated by the cookie cutter sounds of rappers like B.o.B. The video accompanying Tyler’s first lead single, “Yonkers,” featured the rapper eating a cockroach, a move that in many ways perfectly encapsulates the beginning of Tyler’s career: unlike anything you’ve ever seen before, but not necessarily in a good way.

The “Yonkers” video went vi-

photo from xxlmag.com

makes “Flower Boy” so compelling is that the journey—Tyler’s struggle to communicate—is just as interesting as the content and message he’s trying to get across.

Tyler’s career up to this point has produced uneven, bloated and (at times) disgusting work, but it’s always been unique. Tyler, at around age 19, made a name for himself as the founder and leader of the hip-hop collective Odd Future, which burst onto the rap scene around 2010 and included the now-successful solo artists Frank Ocean and Earl Sweatshirt (and a bunch of other, significantly less-talented members). Odd Future, or OFWGKTA (Odd Fu-

ral, and soon Tyler’s first studio album followed: “Goblin” (2011).

Six years later, “Goblin” still isn’t exciting. It’s uncompromising and unbearably long, and it’s all too edgy. Much of the lyrics are rampant with misogyny and homophobia, but by the release of “Goblin,” Odd Future’s fans had figured out what was going on.

The whole point of the offensive lyrics was to shock: Every angry blog post or loud dismissal of Tyler was making him a bigger and bigger name. He wasn’t eating cockroaches because he liked the taste of insects, he was doing it to be provocative. And in general, it’s a strategy that paid off.

Odd Future became famous not through some record deal or constant corporate promotion, but through its own internet stunts, and as a result, the group never had to compromise the content of its music to appeal to a broader audience.

But in the half a decade since, it looked like Tyler might be better at creating controversy than quality. “Wolf,” his 2013 follow-up to “Goblin,” was a refinement of much of the same shock-rap territory. It’s better, but it’s still about five songs too long and not really saying anything (with the exception of a couple songs, to be honest, I really like a lot of “Wolf ”).

Meanwhile, Tyler’s third album, “Cherry Bomb,” (2015) was a pretty huge misfire. Like “Wolf,” it has a few great songs, but in general, Tyler’s own production drowns out his voice, and a lot of his same schtick just isn’t as shocking or interesting as it used to be. His “rule breaker” persona had run its course, and worse, many of the members of Odd Future had gone their separate ways. A lot of what Tyler relies on during “Goblin” and “Wolf ” is a little help from his friends, and in his first solo outing, he’d largely fallen flat, unable to lean on constant self-referential Odd Future references and guest verses.

Which brings us to “Flower Boy,” Tyler’s second, and much more successful, truly solo album. It really feels like Tyler has abandoned much of his shock-rap tendencies, but that’s not to say that he’s lost his ability to shock.

Tyler dominated headlines again earlier this summer with the revelation that after years of using homophobic language, he himself might be gay, apparently coming out of the closet on the song “Garden Shed.” The extremely personal track finds Tyler confronting

and reflecting on his sexuality through a deep metaphor, struggling to articulate that he may not be straight in a way that will be taken seriously. After all, had Tyler just explicitly come out of the closet, it likely would have been dismissed as just another example of his shocking persona.

Tyler does remark on his sexuality at other points (there’s a great bar later in the album: “Next line will have em like woah/I’ve been kissing white boys since 2004), but “Flower Boy” is much more about Tyler’s meditations on his past loves and loneliness. The opening track, “Forward,” gives us a glimpse at the latter—the lyrics illustrate Tyler’s isolation, anxieties and finally, nostalgia, and these themes are also addressed on the fantastic “See You Again,” which is as catchy as the feelings Tyler describes. But it can’t be said that Tyler has lost his ability to craft some great bangers: “Who Dat Boy” (which has this awesome intro) finds Tyler as boisterous as ever, and “I Ain’t Got Time” is just a really fun song.

But for the first time in his career, Tyler balances the fun with

some real depth, especially on the back half of “Flower Boy.” There isn’t really a narrative here, but following “Garden Shed” comes “Boredom” and “9/11 / Mr. Lonely,” which (at least thematically) lead into the resolution of “November.” It’s likely the most meaningful track in Tyler’s entire discography, finding the formerly invulnerable rapper just wanting to go back to better times. In the song, he worries he doesn’t have any classics, but the 26-year-old jack-of-all-trades shouldn’t fear— with “Flower Boy,” Tyler’s success is abundant and apparent. It took me two full listens to really appreciate what Tyler’s crafted here, to soak up all of the pretty instrumentals and digest the complex metaphors, and anyone with even a passing interest in Tyler should bear witness to his maturation.

It’s clear even in terms of the album’s length: All of Tyler’s prior outings have overstayed their welcome—“Flower Boy” is his first work that leaves the listener wanting more. The production is as awesome as ever, and Tyler the Creator finally has something to say that isn’t meant to offend.

photo from deadendhiphop.com

8 ARTS

The Brandeis Hoot

August 25, 2017

A guide to fall classes that meet the creative arts requirement

By Katie Decker-Jacoby editor

Are you looking to fulfill the creative arts general university requirement, but you aren’t sure what to take? Are you new to Brandeis and don’t really know what the School of Creative Arts has to offer? Are you a senior who still hasn’t taken a creative arts class yet? Well, there’s no need to stress because there are plenty of options with spaces to enroll.

One of Brandeis’ general university requirements is a class from the School of Creative Arts.

The creative arts requirement enables students to try something new, improve their skills, step out of their comfort zones and express themselves through various media. Even students who are not particularly interested in the arts can find a class that stimulates their inner creativity. And since Brandeis has a “shopping” period in the first few weeks of each semester, it’s not too late to be browsing the course catalog. Here is a glimpse of several artsy finds for the fall of 2017.

1. FA 40A The Gift of the Nile: Egyptian Art and Archaeology “Who doesn’t love mummies and ancient curses?” said Professor Andrew Koh. FA 40A The Gift of the Nile: Egyptian Art and Archaeology, taught by Professor Koh, unravels the art, archaeology and architecture of ancient Egypt.

“Ancient Egypt is certainly at

the core of this class, but it is also the ideal material to have conversations about how we perceive the cultural past in the modern day,” explained Koh. One unique element of this class is its trip to the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston. Students will then use their acquired knowledge from the museum visit to help them write essays. “The ancient world matters today and it’s often stranger than fiction, which is what makes it so fun,” Koh added.

The mystical aspect of the study of ancient Egypt certainly makes this area of study unique and captivating. Plus, The Gift of the Nile satisfies the non-Western requirement as well, allowing students who take this course to kill two birds with one stone.

2. FA 164A The Re-Invention of Art If history is your forte, then perhaps take a look at an art history course such as Professor Peter Kalb’s FA 164A The Re-Invention of Art. This class spotlights works produced in the 1960s and 1970s from America, Germany, England, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, Senegal, Japan and other smaller art hubs. “The course presents art as the intersection between politics, aesthetics, history and issues of personal and group identity,” Professor Kalb explained. “As an art history course...The Reinvention of Art focuses on ideas expressed in things we can see, not words we can read. There are lessons in the art of the 60s and 70s for how we might make art

and engage the world in our own time,” Professor Kalb added.

3. FA 57 Paris/New York: Revolutions of Modernism FA 57 Paris/New York: Revolutions of Modernism is another art history class that is definitely worth a good look. “The assignments and scope of the course are ideal for people new to art history,” said Professor Nancy Scott. FA 57 will explore an array of notable artists including Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Picasso, Matisse, Georgia O’Keeffe and more.

Pieces studied in this class range from 19th century French art to Warhol. Throughout the semester, FA 57 students will work on several assignments based on a piece they choose from the Rose Art Museum.

One class will even be held in the Rose. “This is also a good course to connect new students to what’s happening at the Rose, and why the works on view have a specific context,” said Professor Scott.

FA 57 will discuss the American and French revolutions and their ties to Neoclassicism, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. This class wraps up the semester with the Rose’s own pieces that fall under Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art.

4. AMST/MUS 38A American Music: From Psalms to Hip Hop If you are a big fan of music, check out AMST/MUS 38A American Music: From Psalms

to Hip Hop, taught by Professor Paula Musegades. You can join this class whether you’re a music or non-music major—it’s open to everyone! AMST/MUS 38A touches on folk, popular and art music in America starting in the 18th century and ending in contemporary hits. “This class offers a look at American history through a musical lens. It provides a new perspective on our understanding of American society, politics, beliefs, business, and technology. By gaining this broader viewpoint, we have a better grasp of American culture from both today and in the past,” said Musegades. At the end of the semester, students will get to choose specific styles of music or particular musicians to explore and analyze in more detail. They will then create podcast and video essays to share with their classmates. This final project will allow students to learn a bit about numerous genres and figures in the sphere of music and how they impact American culture, history and identity. “I hope my students develop the skills to listen critically and the vocabulary to talk comfortably about music from a wide variety of genres,” Musegades added.

5. FA 192A Studies in Modern and Contemporary Art Last but not least, FA 192A Studies in Modern and Contemporary Art turns the Rose fully into its classroom. This fall’s topic will be “Making Meaning: Close looking at the Rose Art Museum Collection,” with “Flesh and

Blood” as the class’ subtitle. This semester, Professor Gannit Ankori selected a diversity of pieces that are all connected to “visual articulations of the human body, as a site and sight of identity, or rather intersectional identities.”

Students will launch dialogue on the politics of the human body, specifically gender, race and sexuality, while also reflecting on how art can act as an agent for “making meaning.” Students have the opportunity to examine pieces from the Rose’s own collection within the very confines of the museum.

This factor will expose students to curatorial practices as well as allow students to come face to face with rarely exhibited art, rather than learning from mere reproductions, according to Ankori.

“This kind of experiential, unmediated study of art is something I have wanted to do for a long time,” said Ankori. Students will also get the chance to chat with Kevork Mourad, an artist whose work will be displayed in the Rose this fall. And later in the semester, students will experience music by Kinan Azmeh, whose work goes hand and hand with drawings and videos by Mourad.

This fall semester undoubtedly offers a multitude of fascinating, thought-provoking, hands-on art classes that also satisfy the creative arts requirement. If you are on the hunt for a top-notch arts class or to complete the creative arts requirement, take a look at these courses. All of them have vacant spots and would love to have you.

The Brandeis Hoot is looking for writers, copyeditors and photographers !

Interest Meeting Sunday, Sept. 3 at 3:30 p.m. in the BMC, 3rd floor of the SCC!

August 25, 2017

ARTS 9

The Brandeis Hoot

Students speak: summer internships in the arts Summer—a time for college students to catch up on the hours of sleep that slipped away during the school year, a time for ice cream and cold drinks with old friends; a time for challenging, yet rewarding summer jobs and internships, a time for learning “how to adult,” a time for adventures near and far. For Brandeis students Anna Craven ’18, Michelle Dennis ’18 and Emma Hanselman ’18, summer 2017 was a time for internships within the spectacular realm of arts. Each student took a moment to share her own unique experience.

By Katie Decker-Jacoby editor

The Rhode Island International Film Fest - Providence, R.I.

By Anna Craven Hi y’all! My name is Anna Craven and I am a rising senior from Boston! I am double majoring in Film, TV & Interactive Media and Creative Writing, with a minor in Legal Studies. This summer, I had the opportunity to intern at the Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF), an Oscar-qualifying film festival that takes place every year in Providence. I worked as a Sponsorship & Development Associate, meaning I researched leads for potential sponsors and worked with current sponsors to help coordinate events like Opening Night, ticketing and our screenwriting workshop. In addition, all interns and staff members judged and sorted through the 6,000+ films submitted to the festival, narrowing down the final selection to just over 250! Out of these 250 films, RIIFF will nominate three for

the Oscars: a short documentary, a short animation and a short narrative film. I absolutely loved working with RIIFF, and would recommend any students interested in pursuing the film industry to look into working with film festivals. I found working at a film festival gave me insight into the lives and journeys of independent filmmakers, while also allowing me to see how everything lined up behind the scenes. My advice for future students interested in art-related internships would be to apply early and thoroughly research what is available. While many arts-related internships are often unpaid, Brandeis has a lot of resources for students in regard to unpaid internships. I applied in February for internships and was able to be accepted as a WOW (World of Work) fellow. I would recommend interested students pursue the same opportunities and talk to other Brandeis students about their past internships!

opening night Anna

Craven ’18 and her fellow interns on Opening Night

photos courtesy anna craven

Light for Children - Kumasi, Ghana

By Michelle Dennis

photos courtesy michelle dennis

ballet basics Michelle

ballet.

Dennis ’18 teaches her students the fundamentals of

My name is Michelle Dennis and I am a Biology major entering my senior year. As much as I believe in physical health, I concurrently believe in the sustainability of mental health and the significant role that the arts can play in its maintenance. I was introduced to ballet at the age of four and I have relied on it as a form of expression ever since. Dance has taught me how to express myself when verbal language does not justify my thoughts or emotions in their totality. Dance movement is powerful in its ability to translate ideas into motion, relay stories, transcend audiences and encourage further discussions on thoughts provoked by performances. This summer I wanted to find a way to incorporate dance with a health internship. I also wanted my work to be geared towards youth since I am aspiring to be in the field of pediatrics and am interested to find ways in

which I can intertwine my love for dance with youth advocacy.

Light for Children, located in Kumasi, Ghana, is a multifaceted organization that works with many local schools as well as children who are either directly or indirectly affected by HIV/AIDS. This organization supports the kids in the community through library reading programs, immunization awareness programs, health screening clinics and sexual abuse workshops. Light for Children’s mission of satisfying many essential needs of children in the Kumasi area attracted me to apply for an internship with its staff.

I interned with Light for Children for eight weeks. During this time, I had the privilege of teaching introductory ballet to students of five partner schools in the Kumasi area as well as volunteered in a local hospital. Each class that I taught contained between 15-20 students. Many of my students had not known of ballet prior to this summer and it was interesting to watch them develop their own

relationship with this art. Initially, the students seemed thrilled to learn ballet because it was a novel dance form. Over the course of the summer, however, it seemed that their excitement matured to specifically dancing and learning ballet technique. I would like to think that there were many transferable skills that were obtained from their brief ballet education, one example being the determination to will their bodies to assume (in many cases) unnatural and uncomfortable positions.

I think many people often appreciate an art for its aesthetics but not for the value that is integrated into learning and even mastering that art form. Although I only spent a very short time with my students, I saw the worth in the experience of learning, even if there was not enough time to master the art form. Aside from the art itself, it is the learning process and commitment that accentuates a person. If there is a gift or art form that you’re passionate about, share it with others.

Museum of Fine Arts - Boston, M.A.

By Emma Hanselman Hi Hoot readers! My name is Emma Hanselman and I am a rising senior studying Art History with minors in French and Francophone studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

On campus, I am a Gallery Guide at the Rose Art Museum, Co-President of the Adagio Dance Company, and Class Coordinator for Hooked on Tap. This past summer I was fortunate enough to intern at the

Museum of Fine Arts Boston as a School Programs Intern in the Education Department. My main responsibility included assisting the manager of School Programs in developing curriculum for the coming academic year.

As my supervisor is responsible for training the 135+ Gallery Instructors who offer 20 various touring options to school groups, the summer months are filled with lots of planning and research for the coming year.

I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to see the inner work-

ings of the education department within a large-scale institution and am thrilled that all of my work this summer will allow students to have positive, engaging museum visits in the year to come.

My best advice for those interested in arts-related internships is to seek mentors who love what they do within a field that excites you Additionally, if you have not had a chance to visit the MFA, I could not recommend it more! Plus, Brandeis students receive free admission with their student IDs Come check it out!

mfa intern Emma

Hanselman ’18 getting some fresh air in the courtyard of the MFA.

photos emma hanselman

10 ARTS

The Brandeis Hoot

August 25, 2017

HBO’s ‘Room 104’ blazes the trail for anthology shows and deviates from TV norms

By Noah Harper staff

I gave up on watching “Game of Thrones” this year. I was half a season behind, and when I started trying to catch up, the episodes were just so long and the number of installments left too daunting, so even though I’d been invested in the series for years, I decided I just couldn’t do it anymore. It’s just another in a growing canon of critically-acclaimed, hourlong dramas—dubbed “Prestige TV”—that are starting to feel more onerous than entertaining.

However, there’s another HBO show in its freshman season that I’ve discovered is the perfect antidote to my “Prestige TV” fatigue.

“Room 104,” created by kings of mumblecore Jay and Mark Duplass, is the antithesis to the popular—and cumbersome—hourlong drama, and an indication of just how far television has come in the present Golden Age. Let’s first back up a bit and think about our current TV moment. It’s generally agreed that “The Sopranos” kicked off the new Golden Age of television. A monolithic, sixty-plus hours saga about a mobster with family problems and unshakeable existential despair, “The Sopranos” showed that TV could be “serious” and began the spate of sprawling, multi-season shows.

This show, and the hallowed and revered ones that followed it (“Breaking Bad,” “Deadwood,” “Mad Men”) are all cut from the same cloth. Though thematically similar—it’s already been observed that these all explore male-dominated power structures—Prestige TV is homogenous just from a format perspective. These shows, with their long arcs, are often sixty-plus hours in their entirety and are full of characters whose narratives develop and overlap.

There’s nothing particularly wrong with these TV shows— they’re among my all-time favorites—but they can be fatigue-inducing, and they’re not easily conducive to watching socially.

Another structural problem with Prestige TV is the time investment. Unlike watching a movie, knowledge of the deep backstory is required to really

enjoy a show. You have to put in the hours of getting to know the characters and the plot; it’s not very fun watching a show with your friends who are three seasons in when you’re a newcomer.

The previous investment factor is one reason why I think movies are still popular, but with the advent of “Room 104” and other similar shows, TV is starting to adapt to this problem.

TV as a medium is elastic: Episodes don’t have to all be the same, and it allows writers to try out different things. “Room 104,” and the relatively recent anthology trend, however, take this to a whole new level.

Starting with “Fargo” and “American Horror Story,” the cable channel FX has pioneered the anthology trend of having shows that wholly reinvent themselves every season. This gets rid of that annoying need to catch up on years of past episodes to get into a show, because every new season is a blank slate.

But if FX popularized this trend for TV shows, HBO has elevated it to a whole new level with shows like 2016’s “High Maintenance” and this summer’s “Room 104.”

Both shows have half-hour episodes, meaning that they’re more efficient than the typical hourlong drama, but what makes these two shows fascinating examples of the present TV moment is their outright rejection of building an overarching narrative.

While “High Maintenance,”

which features a series of character portraits of the idiosyncratic in NYC, has tangential connections (each story features at least an appearance from bike-riding weed-dealer “The Guy”), the only constant in “Room 104” from episode to episode is the space itself. Each episode happens in the same motel room, but besides that, each episode is completely different. These kinds of anthology shows are built to tell extremely inventive short-form stories, while lacking any sort of season-long narrative arc, making them extremely easy to just jump in and start watching at any point.

Of course, this makes “Room 104” and “High Maintenance”

extremely difficult to describe to people. I’ve received plenty of skeptical looks when trying in vain to explain the two shows.

However, these shows are TV in its most nimble, accessible form; plus utterly addicting and novel.

“Room 104,” like most anthology shows, is best without any prior introduction. A few weeks ago, I was on a road trip with my family and I just put it on. We were all captivated: The first episode was about a babysitter trying to take care of a boy with an insane doppelganger living in the bathroom, the second about a couple including a pizza delivery boy in their sadistic love games, and in the third, a woman participates

in her cult’s exclusive “transcendence ceremony.”

Every episode is different, a surprise, a mystery—and if you don’t like one, you can just skip to the next.

I’m not done watching traditional Prestige TV (I’ll get around to catching up on “Game of Thrones”), but I am excited by the emerging diversity in the TV landscape. For a show to be able to thrive in an environment with over 500 other scripted shows in competition, it has to do something to truly set itself apart. Anthology shows like “Room 104” have already done that, and I’m excited to see what other surprises are in store.

photo from imdb.com

photo from slashfilm.com

photo from indiewire.com

photo from imdb.com

‘Wind River’ stuns with portrayal of Native American murder investigation

By Zachary Sosland staff

“Wind River” is the directorial debut of Taylor Sheridan, the screenwriter of “Sicario” and “Hell or High Water.” The film revolves around a local game tracker named Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner) who must work with a rookie FBI agent named Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen) to solve a murder that occurred on a Native American reservation in Wyoming. I loved the last two movies that Sheridan wrote and was excited to see what he would do behind the camera. Upon finally seeing the movie, I can safely say that “Wind River” is another exceptional summer indie worth seeing.

On a technical level, this film is mostly amazing. Ben Richardson’s stunning cinematography brings out the snowy, rural landscapes of Wyoming and makes this loca-

tion feel as if it’s a character. For a first-time director, Sheridan knows how to inject suspense into the scenes that need it, with help from editor Gary Roach, especially one in a meth house. The camera is unnecessarily shaky during a few scenes, but it’s not a constant throughout the film. Additionally, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis craft a somber musical score that adds to the film’s feeling of isolation.

The characters and performances are also worth mentioning. Jeremy Renner excels as the stoic protagonist who’s haunted by a past tragedy, which gives more weight to the story. One scene in particular where Cory comforts Martin Hanson (Gil Birmingham), the father of the murdered woman, stands out because it shows how well he knows this reservation and its people. After impressing me in “Ingrid Goes West,” Elizabeth Olsen delivers yet another great performance this year. Jane first arrives in the

Wind River reservation from the FBI office in Las Vegas and is unprepared for cold climate, demonstrating her naiveté. In many ways, Jane represents us as an audience because despite her determination to solve this case, she seems inexperienced with an environment that’s so close yet so far. That distinct dynamic between the two main leads is what truly carries this film.

Sheridan proves once again why he’s one of the best screenwriters working today. Where “Sicario” deals with the war on drugs and “Hell or High Water” deals with post-Recession America, “Wind River” shines light on the hardships that many Native Americans face. Sheridan handles this subject respectfully and the film never once feels manipulative.

Similar to his last two produced screenplays, “Wind River” takes its time in making us care about the characters. Aside from one or two moments, the pacing is most-

photo from imdb.com

ly seamless at a 107-minute runtime. And anyone looking for a feel-good movie will need to look somewhere else.

“Wind River” doesn’t stick with me the same way that “Sicario” and “Hell or High Water” did, but

it’s still great nonetheless. It’s a stellar directorial debut with compelling characters and evocative commentary on Native American reservations. Between this film and “Detroit,” awards season is coming early this year.

SPORTS

August 25, 2017

The Brandeis Hoot 11

Four athletes named to All-UAA Scholar-Athlete Team

By Zach Cihlar editor

Four Brandeis student-athletes were named to the University Athletic Association President’s Scholar-Athlete Team this July.

Athletes must achieve higher than a 3.50 GPA and receive first-team All-Association Honors in order to be given the recognition. Three graduated seniors in the class of 2017 and one rising senior in the class of 2018 were recognized.

The recognition originated in 2009, when the UAA sought to establish a greater recognition for both athletic and academic excel-

lence. Prior to 2009, all athletes with higher than a 3.30 GPA were awarded Academic All-American recognition, which extended to nearly 56 percent of eligible student athletes in the UAA. With the President’s Scholar-Athlete recognition, the award more directly recognizes “the combination of academic and athletic excellence that is the core of the UAA philosophy,” said Dick Rasmussen, a UAA Executive.

Brian Granoff ’17 received the recognition for his success on the men’s tennis team at the No. 2 spot last season. The player’s illustrious career included 106 total wins (the second all-time in

head coach Benjamin Lamanna’s tenure) and leading the team to it’s highest ranking since 1989 at #19 as the team’s captain. Granoff graduated with a degree in economics and a minor in business, exiting his Brandeis academic career with a 3.65 GPA. Mitchell Hutton ’18 was named to the Scholar-Athlete Team after achieving first-team All-Association Honors in cross-country.

Hutton ran a time of 24:54.34 in last October’s conference championships, which secured him the fourth place spot as well as the All-Association Honors. The rising senior will be starting his final season soon, entering the year

photos from brandeisjudges.com

By Kevin Costa

with 3.77 GPA and double-majoring in biology and business.

Leading the women’s basketball team in scoring, steals, rebounding, and blocked shots, Maria Jackson ’17 also secured recognition to the President’s Scholar-Athlete team. She helped her team to a 13-12 record for her senior year season, and her successes earned her the first-team AllUAA forward/center. The alumna graduated Brandeis with a 3.66 GPA, majoring in Linguistics with a minor in French.

Cidney Moscovitch ’17, who led the women’s soccer team to its first ever Final Four berth, also secured a position on the President’s Scholar Athlete Team. She scored seven goals, and had five assists in her final season, where the team finalized their season at

16-3-3. Against UAA opponents, Moscovitch was very successful last season, scoring four goals and helping out with two other assists, which led the entire UAA in points. Moscovitch also finished her career fourth in Brandeis athletics history in game-winning goals, earning ten throughout her four years on the team. She graduated with a GPA of 3.65 and degrees in biology and anthropology and a minor in chemistry.

The UAA is a particularly strong conference academically, with the average cumulative GPA of its athletes approximately equal to the average cumulative GPA of the entire student population.

The recognition Granoff, Hutton, Jackson, and Moscovitch received is one of the highest distinctions in the scholar-athlete realm.

Patriots gear up for new season

staff

This past Saturday, the Patriots faced the Texans in week two of the preseason. The outcome was 27-23, in favor of Houston. The final score for these exhibition games, however, barely attracts a great deal of interest when every team is focused on hitting full stride the moment the regular season starts.

To get into rhythm in time for September, most of the starters for New England participated in the game for a couple of series. Tom Brady started the first two drives and capped off his appearance with a 22-yard touchdown pass to

running back Rex Burkhead, according to ESPN. Brady finished his 16-snap allotment completing 6-9 for 67 yards. Surprisingly, Rob Gronkowski made an appearance, though small. Usually, Belichick rests the injury-prone tight-end during the preseason to keep him healthy for when the games really count. Gronkowski was limited to 15 snaps and did not receive a catch. He did exit the game injury-free, a plus considering the tight-end missed the latter part of last season to undergo spine surgery.

According to Patriots.com, Gronkowski commented on his first preseason appearance since 2012: “It felt good to be out there, get my feet wet…We expect to play every game no matter when

it is, even if it is preseason.”

The limited starting time for first stringers is typical for a second preseason game. In this exhibition game, the stage gave way to the players vying for a spot on the 53-man roster. As Belichick looks to finalize his roster by Sept.

2, CBS sports reports, the most pressing concern involves the defensive end position. According to USA Today, the position lacks depth after Rob Ninkovich’s retirement last month and rookie Derek River’s season-ending injury last Wednesday. Rivers, New England’s top pick in the draft, selected in the third round, tore his ACL in a joint practice with the Houston Texans. Geneo Grissom could supply the missing piece to the roster. A third-year end who

was bumped up to active roster midway through last year, Grissom is as versatile a player as one can get. Belichick gave praise to Grissom, mentioning his experience at linebacker and on special teams and his work ethic, fanragsports.com reports. It is likely Grissom will secure a place on the final roster.

On Friday, the Patriots will play their third preseason game against the Lions at Ford Field. However, the focus will likely be on preparing the starters for a regular-season matchup. According to ESPN, Coach Belichick tends to play his first stringers will into the third quarter to build their stamina.

Tom Brady expressed the importance of these types of games to NESN.com: “The rhythm of prac-

tice is very different, and the only way to simulate the game is to play.” For the experienced quarterback, this upcoming game will allow him to fine-tune his timing with newly-acquired weapons, most notably wide receiver Brandin Cooks and running back Rex Burkhead, says NESN.com.

For Belichick, these last two weeks before the Sept. 7 season-opener against Kansas City are the busiest time of the year.

According to Musketfire.com, the long-time head coach is performing a juggling act, preparing for the Detroit game and managing his final roster while keeping an eye on the Chiefs and their roster cuts. And expectations are high for the defending champions to live up to their success last season.

Red Sox battle Yankees for top spot in AL East

By Sarah Jousset editor

The Boston Red Sox faced the New York Yankees this past weekend in a timeless showdown between the two rivals.The Red Sox have steadily led the American League East for the past few weeks, competing with the Yankees this season to secure the top spot in the AL East which gives them an automatic spot in the playoffs. The race has been close between the two teams, with both teams just above the .500 mark, the Red Sox with a 72-52 record

this season and the Yankees with a record of 67-57.

The Sox took two out of three games from the Yankees this past weekend, pulling away in the standings with the Yankees now five games back in the standings.

The three game series kicked off on Friday with a 9-6 win for the Red Sox over the Yankees. The game was dominated by homers with Rookie Rafael Devers starting the scoring off for the Red Sox in the bottom of the second inning with a 2 run shot. Christian Vasquez continued the scoring for the Red Sox in the bottom of the 5th inning with a solo shot home run.

It wasn’t until the 6th inning that the Yankees managed to get on the board with a two run homerun to left-center field by Todd Frazier. The Yankees came back in the top of the 7th inning, with scoring started by a homerun from Gary Sanchez. The Yankees scoring exploded, earning them a 6-3 lead going into the bottom of the 7th inning. Unfortunately for the Yankees, the Red Sox answered with 4 runs in the bottom of the 7th inning and clinched their victory with two more runs in the bottom of the 8th inning for a 9-6 win.

The Red Sox weren’t as lucky against the Yankees on Saturday

with a close 3-4 loss. The loss went to the Red Sox’s star pitcher, Chris Sale, who has 14 wins and five losses this season, while the Yankees powerhouse pitcher, CC Sabathia earned the win. The Yankees struck early, with a three run homerun by Tyler Austin in the second inning. The Red Sox finally answered in the 5th inning with two runs to put them on the board, but the Yankees’ Todd Frazier answered back in the 6th inning with a solo home run for insurance. The Red Sox couldn’t muster up more than a solo homerun in the 7th inning

by Rafael Devers, handing the Yankees a narrow win.

The Red Sox ultimately took the series Sunday with a comfortable 5-1 win over the Yankees. The Red Sox chipped away at their win, with 2 runs in the 2nd inning, 1 in the 6th inning and 2 in the 8th inning. The only run for the Yankees came in the top of the 5th inning when Brett Gardner hit a solo homerun over the right field wall. However, the Yankees couldn’t seem to get ahold of anything from Red Sox starting pitcher Rick Porcello who went 6 innings in Sunday’s game.

The Red Sox face the Yankees again August 31st in a four game series at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York.

12 SPORTS

The Brandeis Hoot

August 25, 2017

Men’s soccer prepares for another successful season

By Emily Sorkin Smith editor

After one of their most successful seasons to date, the Brandeis Men’s Soccer team will return to the field on September 2 to take on SUNY Cortland. The Judges come into the season with top rankings, number 4 among New England Division III schools and number 10 in the division as a whole, according to the United Soccer Coaches’ (UCC) newly published rankings.

Gabe Margolis, long-time assistant coach, was recently named head coach of the team, taking over from Mike Coven, who lead the team for 44 seasons. Margolis has been with the judges since 2005 after working as an assistant coach at Boston University and Northeastern. He lead the Judges for 11 seasons as assistant coach.

The Men’s Soccer team took home 13 wins last season, securing them a spot in the NCAA DII tournament, where the progressed to the final four.

The New England Soccer Journal (NESJ) placed the Judges at number 2 among DIII schools, just behind rival Tuft’s. Goalkeeper Ben Woodhouse ’18 was named second on NESJ’s player list. Woodhouse saved 88 goals

ben woodhouse

Goalkeeper Ben Woodhouse, second on NESJ’s player list, makes a save.

this last season, starting 23 out of 23 games. Other standout returning players include Josh Ocel ’18, a midfielder with six goals last

season, and defender Stephen DiPietto.

Andrew Allen ’19 was able to shine a light on the current team

photo from brandeisjudges.com

and upcoming season. “Our first goal is always to win the UAA, and after is to make the NCAA tournament. If those can happen

the next goal is obvious: to win a National Championship,” Allen told The Brandeis Hoot.

With the added strength of four first-year and two transfer students, the team hopes to match last year’s success. They will work to keep the team cohesive, integrating the new players and coaching staff, and encouraging “the new kids to buy into our philosophy that every has a role. Once everyone knows that their role on the team is important, from being a starter, to first off the bench, to someone who doesn’t see the first, then we have success,” Allen added.

“Tactically we still do the same things that we always did to give us success,” Allen told The Hoot about the transition of Margolis to the Head Coaching position.

He shares the loss of Coven is “certainly a loss of a big personality”, but is confident the team will succeed under Margolis. He says, “The culture has stayed the same for a while,” giving everyone the confidence in Margolis and the rising upperclassmen to continue the traditions of Brandeis Men’s Soccer.

Midfielder Christian Hernandez ’18, Woodhouse, and Josh Berg ’18 will lead the team as captains.

Five athletes, one team to be inducted into Hall of Fame

By David Aizenberg staff

The Brandeis athletics program has produced many greats over the years. There are athletes have have walked through the doors at Brandeis and accomplished feats that to this day remain unmatched.

The university announced in June that five athletes and one team will be inducted into the Brandeis Athletics Hall of Fame come next October.

The 2017 Brandeis Athletics Hall of Fame inductees include: the 1989 Men’s Tennis Team, Jon

the 1989 men’s tennis team

Fobia ‘73, Greg Steelman ‘91, Michael Mayer ‘94, Marshall Goldman ‘03, and Sara Albert ‘04.

In 1989, the men’s tennis team was led by coach Tom Foley. Foley not only led his nine-man team to an impressive 13-1 record, but also achieved two first-time accomplishments for the program: a University Athletic Conference (“UAA”) title along with berth in the 1989 NCAA tournament. The whole team will be inducted at the ceremony during Homecoming in October.

Jon Fobia participated in the highly coveted soccer program at Brandeis. The 1973 graduate was an an All-New England selection in each of the three seasons he

played in—and at the time, allstar teams included Division I, II and III.Despite not having played for legendary soccer coach Mike Coven (who announced his retirement in December after 44 years), Fobia will be remembered as one of the top soccer players in Brandeis history.

A true “work horse” would be the proper term to describe Greg Steelman. Steelman holds three Brandeis track and field records in throwing: the discus, shotput and 35-pound weight throw.

Along with holding individual track and field records at Brandeis, Steelman won a national championship in 1986 (while setting an NCAA discus record

during the same tournament).

The Brandeis Fencing team was guided by the saber of Michael Mayer. Mayer’s accomplishments included two UAA titles and a fourth place finish in the saber his junior year.

A number four finish in the saber was best finish in the event for Brandeis at the time.

Mohammed Ali’s famous quote “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” stands true for 2003 graduate Marshall Goldman. One of the top butterfly swimmers in Brandeis history, Goldman participated in the NCAA championships in an astounding three of his four seasons swimming the butterfly. Goldman holds ten

school records (not too shabby), and, to this day, he remains in the university’s top three butterfly swimmers.

How about some love for the softball team? Sara Albert remains of the great softball players to take a swing for the Brandeis softball team. Albert’s power will remain ingrained in the softball program for years to come; she is second in school history in total triples, home runs, runs-battedin and slugging percentage. Junior year, Albert made her mark as first-team All-New England.

That season, Albert was top in the country in home runs, RBI’s, and slugging percentage.

photo from brandeisjudges.com

August 25, 2017

WEEK IN PHOTOS

The Brandeis Hoot 13

photos courtesy gwen fraser

Evacuated students wait for further instruction after a bomb threat was emailed to the university.

photo by elianna spitzer/the hoot

bomb threat

closing banquet

training.

Orientation Leaders and Community Advisors enjoy a banquet dinner to celebrate the end of their fall

photos by emily sorkin smith/the hoot

Demolition of the Usen Castle continues, bringing cranes and other heavy equipment to the crowded campus. castle

OPINIONS

14 The Brandeis Hoot

August 25, 2017

Patriotism and Nationalism in the Boston Common

By Katarina Weessies editor

I attended at the anti-white supremacy rally in Boston on Aug. 19. The rally involved about 40,000 counter-protesters responding to a group of only about 40 neo-Nazis attending a “Free Speech” event. The protest was peaceful, though there were a few skirmishes between individual protestors, especially after the rally had died down. The counter protest was a huge success, driving out the neo-Nazi group in under an hour.

One moment of the protest was particularly striking. A woman on the “alt-right” side of the fence (the opposing groups were separated by a guarded fence) faced the counter protest holding an American flag. She clearly assumed that her display of the flag would offend the counter-protest-

ers, whom she sees as unpatriotic.

An agitator walked through the rally wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat and an American flag as a cape on his back.

Both of these agitators thought that their perceived patriotism would offend the crowd.

What neither likely realize was that the American flag was displayed at the anti-racist rally as well.

During the protest, both sides saw themselves as the side that was more “patriotic” or “American,” despite having views that were completely opposite each other. This disconnect is explained by the groups’ divergent understanding of who counts as American.

The white supremacist and neo-Nazi ideologies that make up the “alt-right” define patriotism narrowly. To them, “whiteness” defines ethnically American and all other races are excluded from

this American-ness due to their perceived inferiority. They apply the same idea to sexual orientation and religion, where heterosexuality and Protestant Christianity are not only unquestionably superior, but the only truly American identities.

American identity is also wrapped up in strict gender politics, where men and women who are truly American subscribe to traditional gender roles. When white supremacists describe themselves as patriots, they are signifying their blind obedience to their bigoted conception of American-ness.

The counter-protest had a vision of patriotism that was more critical and realistic. The rally was focused primarily on support for racial diversity and equality.

It was organized in large part by Black Lives Matter and similar racial justice movements. These groups are not blindly loyal to

the government, typically refrain from displaying the flag and are critical of and protest unjust laws.

This understanding of patriotism is a much better fit for the reality of American demographics and history. America is a diverse country. The 2010 US Census found nearly 37 percent of Americans were non-white, and the General Survey Society found about five percent of Americans identify as gay or bisexual.

Neo-Nazi recruitment is limited to straight, Christian whites, a shrinking portion of the population.

On the other hand, anti-racist ideology fits the actual story of America, a country with a history of genocide, bigotry and imperialism. The anti-racist protest understood that America was not found, invented or built by whites, but rather settled on Native American land and built by African slaves. It accounts for the ob-

vious racism displayed throughout America’s history, and the role of critical patriots who worked to improve the country rather than remaining loyal to its violence.

This form of patriotism does not require allegiance toward or appreciation for America. It instead requires that the “patriots” work to actually improve the country and the lives of its citizens.

At the protest in the Boston Common, anti-racism won the day. But this did little to fight white nationalism throughout the country.

Trump is still president, and we still have white nationalists working at every level of government, from the Cabinet to the police. In order for anti-racist patriotism to gain primacy in American government, anti-racists will have to fight harder to expose white nationalism. Hopefully, more cities and towns will follow in the footsteps of the Boston protesters.

Continue efforts to revise mandatory system

By Anindita Chanda and Daniel Freedman columnists

Back in April, we wrote about the issues with the policy change that mandates all students to pay for a meal plan. In the past, on-campus students could opt out of the meal plan if their housing came with a kitchen. Now, unfortunately, upperclassmen—in addition to sophomores who live in the Charles River apartments or Ridgewoods—must pay for a

meal plan even if it is more convenient for these students to make their own food. On top of that, students have continuously expressed their dissatisfaction with the quality and availability of food that Sodexo provides, and the lack of transparency behind such policy changes.

Since the last time we wrote about Sodexo and the mandatory meal plan we received a lot of commentary—both in person and in writing. The overall consensus expressed frustration, confusion and a sense of being

neglected as a student body mandated to pay for a meal plan, without an understanding of why we have to do this. Given the shared discontent among Brandeis undergraduates, we brainstormed the ways in which we could reach out and formally express everyone’s frustration.

We started out by creating an online petition and sending that out to Brandeis-related Facebook pages as well as to other people/ students that we know. So far the petition has 312 signatures. While this is a fair amount, 312 signa-

tures is not enough to create real change. From the conversations that we have had with people, it is clear that students are still unhappy about the mandatory meal plan and would like to see it changed—but for that to happen, students cannot rely on a petition or op-eds in The Hoot; individuals should consider taking initiative as well to respectively reach out to the administration, Student Union or anyone who will listen.

We reached out to a member of the Student Union who explained that this is a topic that

the Student Union has addressed with President Ron Liebowitz and the administration. We hope that President Liebowitz recognizes the flaws in the mandatory meal plan system is open to reevaluating our contract with Sodexo.

Unfortunately, this is an issue that likely will not be fixed in the near future—sorry fellow seniors, but it’s still in the works to be dealt with eventually. The reality we must face is that we likely will not change anything for ourselves, but we do have the potential to make improvements for future classes.

Bannon has revealing interview with Brandeis professor

By Daniel Freedman columnist

An unsurprising wave of white-nationalism and neo-Nazism has swept the country, euphemistically covered under the alt-right banner. No one following the rhetoric of Donald Trump prior to his election should be surprised. There is understandable uproar as the highest office in the land is occupied by a self-admitted racist, drawing false equivalencies between hate groups and their opponents. However, I would like to suggest a few radical ideas in the wake of the president’s “Declaration of Impudence”—that we have witnessed.

Trump’s message resonates with his core base and his constituents not because it is a kowtow to the racism of the silent majority, but because ignorant yet well-intentioned listeners get lost in identity politics. A large swath of the country does not follow the news closely, they just hear the headlines: white-nationalist group clashes with antifa, followed by the president proclaiming there is “blame on both sides.” The issue is that a political movement needs to be easily accessible and understood to gain traction.

Antifa sounds like an obscure special interest group that can fall to derisive and demonizing presidential attacks in the court

of public opinion. In truth its name is a truncation of “Antifaschistische Aktion,” an anti-fascist group that traces its origin to the German Communist Party that challenged the Nazis. While the movement boasts a rich history of countering fascists, its name makes it too easy to dismiss as a fringe “alt-left” group.

On the other side are malicious groups branding themselves as innocuous movements equally deserving of free speech and expression. Neo-Nazis become white nationalists, white nationalists become ethno-nationalists and ethno-nationalists become consorts of the alt-right, accepted into mainstream politics. The branding, followed by false equivalency from the president and conservative media, is how Nazis make traction against egalitarian protesters.

The president is a Neo-Nazi apologist but he does not have a thought-out master plan behind his race-baiting, save the joy of being unhindered from any semblance of political correctness.

However, that cannot be said for all members of his party. The recently jobless Steve Bannon made clear that he approves and applauds the national dialogue around identity politics.

Bannon discussed his ambitions in a phone interview with Heller School professor Robert Kuttner.

Kuttner published the interview in the magazine he co-founded, “The American Prospect.”

One of Bannon’s central claims was “the longer [the Democrats] talk about identity politics, I got ’em. I want them to talk about racism every day. If the left is focused on race and identity, and we go with economic nationalism, we

the president of the united states

can crush the Democrats.” While this is politically savvy in the most terrifying way, it is at least a step away from using ethno-nationalism as a political ploy—something that even Bannon himself decries. Yet that is exactly what the protesters in this nation are doing, advocating for politics from 1930s Germany—and Ban-

non is happy to benefit from their incitement of the liberal left if it distracts them from coherent policy and helps the Republicans win elections.

This national debate is not an issue about which two decent people could disagree. There is unequivocally a right and wrong side.

photo from wikimedia commons

August 25, 2017

OPINIONS15

The Brandeis Hoot

The Boston protests and the Paradox of Tolerance

By Carolyn Rodgers columnist

There is a comic floating around the more liberal parts of the Internet entitled “The Paradox of Tolerance” that makes the argument that it is immoral to tolerate intolerance. “When we extend tolerance to those who are openly intolerant,” it says, “the tolerant ones end up being destroyed. And tolerance with them.” This argument came to mind this past Saturday, Aug. 19 at the counter-protest on the Boston Common.

The purpose of the gathering was to protest a self-professed “free speech” rally happening in reaction to the white supremacist rallies that occurred in Charlottesville, NC, the previous weekend. The “free speech” rally consisted of several dozen people who all fit inside the Boston Common bandstand. The counter-protest, kept away from the original rally by a police perimeter, consisted of at least 15,000 people according to Newsweek, though the Washington Post reports upwards of 20,000 protesters. Suffice it to say that security and police escorts for the rally-ers were not superfluous.

For the most part, marching in the counter-protest was an excellent experience. It felt like nourishment for the soul. It was satisfying to be outside with other people who validated my disgust with the current state of our political climate, and the sheer number of people who turned out

gave me hope that those of us who disagree with the values of the Trump administration and the followers it attracts really could make a difference, or at least make our voices heard.

The catch came when the free speech rally-ers started to disperse. As one man walked through the crowd of angry counter-protesters surrounded by his police escort, people started first chanting “Go home!” and then “Boston hates you!” The former was appropriate but redundant; he was leaving. The latter went too far for my taste. I was struck by the hypocrisy of people carrying signs that said, “Love trumps hate” or “Hate is unwelcome here,” and also screaming “Boston hates you!” at a man walking peacefully through a public park.

It’s easy to justify this particular variety of hatred. “He deserves it,” we say, “because he is a Nazi.” Or a white supremacist. Or a member of the KKK. I am inclined to hate these people, but I also feel conflicted about the concept of hating anyone. I am angry with these people, too. I feel sad, sick and sometimes personally threatened when I hear them speaking, and I definitely do not want them in my community. But I also cannot help but feel repulsed by hatred— towards anybody. I feel bad about hating the man walking through the park because hate is so inherently ugly. But then I remember what this man stands for, and I feel bad about feeling bad.

It simply does not make sense

to me that hating anyone would be a viable way forward. Actively hating someone does not just feel ugly; it is also an ineffective strategy for changing someone’s mind.

How can we expect that man to listen to what we have to say? How can we expect him to join our side of the fight? How can we expect him to want to share the cause of the angry crowd telling him that his city hates him? Hating not only brings the morality level of

our counter-protest closer to the level of the people we are protesting, but it also makes it more difficult to spread our message of love, peace and acceptance to the very people who need to hear it the most.

We can refuse to tolerate hatred without stooping to the level of hatred ourselves. Recognizing the inherent worth and dignity of each person, even if they are a Nazi, does not mean that we

also have to ignore the paradox of tolerance. It just means that we express our intolerance in a different way, and the counter-protest on the Common used these alternative means as well. Refusing to listen to bigoted rhetoric, pressuring hateful people to take their discriminatory practices out of our public spaces and preaching tolerance are all methods I can get behind. Hating them back is where I draw the line.

photo by katarina weessies/the hoot

The downsides to a great study abroad experience

By Matthew Kowalyk columnist

Studying abroad can reward you, but be aware of how much work you will have to do given what little support you receive from the Office of Study Abroad.

Know why you are going.

I spent the last year away from Brandeis on the London School of Economics (LSE) General Course program, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in history, economics, management, finance or otherwise. There is nothing I could complain about with LSE other than what someone could take issue with at most other schools, like the workload or the hit-or-miss food served at some of the housing. LSE only has exams once at the end of each academic year, and there is an huge amount of reading. At times it can be difficult, and it is not a program meant for leisure, though you can certainly will have fun if you plan well. I found the courses, professors and the traveling I did in Europe to be incredibly rewarding.

While making the choice to go, I was not fond of the Office of Study Abroad’s push toward an experience in which I could “find myself.” My alternative plan was a semester in Singapore at the Singapore Management University, which I learned during my decision process in fall 2015 was newly opened to Brandeis students. I thought the treatment of culture was a bit strange, though, given the preference for programs that are not academically rigorous and which prioritized self-discovery. The U.K. was not ‘different’ enough from home; too safe, apparently. I wanted to go in order

photo by matthew kowalyk/the hoot

to study at the LSE, but it would seem that a “feels” journey is encouraged over an academic one, especially in what one might consider an alien culture. Considering the mantra and general attitude of our university, it seems a little strange. I am one to not take such things as deathly seriously, but the cognitive dissonance is interesting regardless.

Despite my resistance to wanting to “find myself ” abroad, I did learn a bit more about what I might want to do in the future and myself while doing some traveling in the U.K. and elsewhere. Though it is true that travel broadens the mind, I am not going to begin consulting on the subject of discovering oneself against the background of another culture. I think the negative aspects of this atti-

tude are neglected when students travel, fostering a pretentious reverence for the countries they visit. That in itself creates an image of the other which could impede cross-cultural learning and association, and certainly is not the basis for making new friends.

It does not help either that the office may push for semi-spiritual experiences abroad, while only certain programs offer real support while you are away from home.

That’s the central issue I had; I planned effectively as much as I could with packing and payments, but the program seemed like more of a free-for-all than I had hoped. Other Brandeis students and I had trouble obtaining visas, and the office was not helpful with the process. Once we

were abroad we only checked in with them a few times.

The abroad office should not be overly paternalistic, but other schools offered programs to bring students together while abroad: Students from The George Washingtn University, for example, had planned events and gatherings to keep everyone together in London, while most Brandeis students rarely saw each other in the same city.

Maybe this is nitpicky, as I could see the want for students to be independent, not to mention the fact that tickets and venues are not cheap. However, some people, like me, were gone for a long time.

It was my choice to do so, which could mean that I take the consequences of not being at Brandeis for a long period of time, but at

the same time there are things that could have kept us in the fold.

You should most definitely still go abroad despite this. The personal and professional benefits are enormous.

One should be ready to do all of the hard paperwork yourself, be realistic in your expectations, try to genuinely engage with the people you meet and know why you are going abroad. It would be better if the abroad office would support us in some ways like other schools’ programs do. I am sure there are practical constraints to this, though I hope that they can be, in the future, more up front about that fact. Despite my criticisms, I could very well call my experience an adventure, though a lot of the worldview expansion I did was sitting in the LSE library.

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The Brandeis Hoot

August 25, 2017