The Brandeis Hoot 04/17/2015

Volume 12 Number 10

www.brandeishoot.com

Owner of Milwaukee Bucks Lasry speaks on campus

By Hannah Schuster editor

On Monday, April 14, Marc Lasry, the co-founder of Avenue Capital Group and co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks of the NBA, gave a talk at Brandeis titled “The Business of Basketball” in which he drew upon his experience in both basketball and finance. Lasry was born in Morocco and immigrated with his family to Hartford, CT. Scholarship money was essential for Lasry to attend college. He chose Clark University in Worcester, where he played Division III basketball.

Poking fun at himself, Lasry said, “I thought I was going to play professional basketball, hence why I went to Division III.” After college, Lasry went to law school; however he did not work in law for long. He became interested in bankruptcy and began working at an investment

April 17, 2015

Brandeis University’s Community Newspaper • Waltham, Mass.

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business of basketball

firm specializing in distress. He explains that in his first year, he earned the company $25 million, but when they offered him a mere $10,000 bonus with the

line, “next year’s your year,” he left. Lasry spent several years managing large scale distress funds, and after earning a sizable amount of money he left to work on his own.

“I did what you’re not supposed to do which is invest in only one or two names,” said Lasry. “The thing is when you’re young you always think you’re right.” He was, in fact, successful, doubling his money for five years.

“That’s why you’re hearing this story,” Lasry added. Eventually, he co-founded Avenue Capital where he is currently chairman and CEO managing over $10 billion in assets.

Moving on to basketball, Lasry stated, “I wanted to own a basketball team and the reason is: why not?” He first tried unsuccessfully to purchase the current Brooklyn Nets. A few years later, he purchased the Milwaukee See BASKETBALL, page 2

Commencement speaker announced

By Charlotte Aaron editor

This May, the Brandeis community will welcome Thomas Pickering, a former United States ambassador, to speak at Brandeis’ 64th Commencement ceremony.

Pickering served as an ambassador to Russia, India, the United Nations, Israel, El Salvador, Nigeria and Jordan.

Pickering was high achieving well before he began working for the State Department. He was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship out of college and later enrolled in the Navy where he earned the position of a Lieutenant Commander.

Throughout the course of his life, Pickering has been the recipient of 12 honorary degrees and multiple awards. These awards include the Distinguished Service Award in 1996 and the Distinguished Presidential Award in 1983 and 1986. The United States Foreign Service named Pickering a career ambassador, the highest honor.

“We decided that he is an out-

standing individual, who has spent years working for the benefit of our country,” said Brandeis Trustee Carol Saivetz, chair of the Honorary Degree Committee. “The committee unanimously approved his nomination. The full Board of Trustees also unanimously voted in favor of his receiving an honorary degree from Brandeis,” Saivetz continued. As the chair of the Honorary Degree Committee, Saivetz contributes greatly to the selection process.

The process begins early in the year when a form is released to the public allowing anyone to submit nominations to the Board of Trustees’ Honorary Degree Committee. The Committee consists of nine members and includes one Brandeis student and one faculty member. The nominations are reviewed by the Committee and then looked at by an outside agency.

After being reviewed, the Committee recommends candidates to the Board of Trustees, which then reviews and approves See COMMENCEMENT, page 3

FMLA educates students on sexual violence

By Emily Smith editor

The Brandeis Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance (FMLA) hosted its third annual Sexual Violence Awareness Week (SVAW) with various events to educate students on the serious issue.

“This week will include events focused on beginning a discussion on sexual violence on college campuses, educating each other about sex and consent, and making steps to create a positive culture around consent in order to fight against rape culture on campuses and a safer campus for all students,” stated FMLA in their event description on Facebook. “[Sexual violence] is a really big problem, and it’s not talked about enough,” FMLA President Zuri Gordon ’15 said, describing how confusion about what resources exist contributes to an unsafe campus culture. “As I continue to learn about what it means to be a victim of sexual violence on a college campus, I think its so important to educate other students … I think we need to be there for each other,” she said. She believes Brandeis has made some improvements recently, introducing resources like Sheila McMahon’s Office of Prevention Services and the Rape

Inside this issue:

Crisis Center, which can become a part of SVAW as well.

Throughout the week, FMLA members tabled in Usdan or the SCC to encourage students to take the Empowered Consent Pledge. Students who signed received stickers and pins. Gordon explains that when the FMLA began SVAW, there was not much information about empowered consent during orientation, and though that has improved, she still believes it is important to educate students.

On Monday, April 13, Brandeis’ Sexual Assault Services and Prevention Specialist Sheila McMahon and the Office of Prevention Services led a workshop titled Know Your Title IX. Title IX is the title prohibiting sexbased discrimination in educational settings. A lack of Title IX understanding among students has been a major concern of various groups. The final report of the University Advisory Subcommittee on Sexual Violence noted this is a major issue, stating the university’s Title IX Coordinator and her duties ought to be widely publicized. McMahon sought to educate students on the choices and resources they have including the Special Examiners process, a formal investigation which can lead to sanctions from See SVAW, page 3

soviet cinema

photo by karen caldwell/the hoot

Olga Gershenhorn shares Soviet-era response to Holocaust

‘The Phantom Holocaust’ exposes forgotten Soviet films

By Emily Smith editor

Olga Gershenson, associate professor of Judaic Studies at UMass Amherst, presented a talk highlighting Soviet-made Holocaust films in the Mandel Atrium on Monday night, April 13.

Gershenson discussed the use of art to keep memories of the Holocaust alive in Russian Jews and the various political barriers artists faced in the production and release of these movies.

She presented clips from several

lisa lynch

The next step in Provost Lisa Lynch’s distinguished career will be to lead Brandeis as interim president.

News: Frederick Alt ’71 recieves Rosentiel Award Page 2 Arts, Etc.: The Fantasy Echoes releases debut EP Page 5 Opinion: Sodexo must take real steps to improve Page 14 Features: TYP students remember Stamp Act Page 4 Features: Page 4 Editorial: Support of march appreciated Page 10

movies made in Russia of parts of the former Soviet Union. Gershenson’s talk, titled “The Phantom Holocaust,” was presented by the Brandeis Genesis Institute (BGI) for Russian Jewry.

People are unaware of Soviet Holocaust films, Gershenson argued. “Why is there no Russian ‘Schindler’s List’? The assumption is that in the Soviet Union there were no Holocaust movies or for that matter any other way of commemorating the Jewish loss.” She explained that while there are many Soviet-made Ho-

locaust films, they don’t get as much attention as those made in America and Europe.

Victor Viktin, executive director of BGI, introduced Gershenson and provided background on the Soviet Jewish Experience. “As tragic as it is, the Holocaust, the Second World War and what is known to some people in the audience who actually come from the Russian Jewish background as ‘Great Patriotic War’ played a great role in the formation of the

sead rallies support Students to End Alzheimer’s Disease (SEAD) hosts a week long awareness week to educate students.

Hoot Scoops: Page 9

See FILMS, page 3

NEWS

2 The Brandeis Hoot

April 17 , 2015

Brief: Tuition to rise by 3.7 percent for 2015-2016

By Victoria Aronson editor

In an email sent to the Brandeis community last week, President Fred Lawrence announced a 3.7 percent increase in annual billed charges for the 2015-2016 academic year, a decision approved by the Board of Trustees.

The rise is identical to the tuition increase for the 2014-2015 academic year, according to an article from The Brandeis Hoot published in April 2014.

In the announcement, Lawrence addressed the issue of affordability of a Brandeis education for students.

“We are also maintaining our commitment to making Brandeis accessible to students across the socioeconomic spectrum,” he wrote.

Over 50 percent of undergraduate

students receive need-based financial assistance, according to official numbers on Brandeis’ admissions website.

“Raising funds to support our financial-aid program has been a top institutional priority, and I am proud that we have raised more than $45 million for the Catalyst Fund, an ambitious initiative to secure $100 million for student scholarships,” Lawrence wrote in the email.

Mentioning recent investments on campus to promote student safety, such as the new Rape Crisis Center, as well as the role of the Hiatt Career Center in bringing employers to campus, Lawrence discussed the specific renovations that will be occurring in the near future.

“Our largest dining hall, Sherman, will be entirely renovated this summer, including a much-needed expansion that will provide a won-

derful new deck upstairs on the Stein pub facility. In addition, the Einstein Bros. Bagels/Brandeis Bookstore area will be expanded to a full-service operation.

These changes will dramatically improve your overall dining experience across campus,” Lawrence wrote.

In addition to the dining hall renovations, the email stated that the work

in Ziv Quad residence halls that began last summer will be completed, while first-year residence halls will also be updated, although specific upgrades were not mentioned.

photo by ludi yang/the hoot

Frederick Alt ’71 recieves 43rd annual Rosenstiel Award for Distinguised Work in the sciences

By Hannah Stewart staff

On Monday afternoon, April 13 in Gerstenzang 123, Frederick Alt ’71 was awarded the 43rd annual Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Research. The medallion and accompanying cash prize is awarded to each recipient for their discoveries and contributions to the field of basic medical research.

Alt received this award for his work in the mechanisms behind genome rearrangements in immune and cancer cells. He is now the second Brandeis alumnus to earn this award.

Prior to receiving the medallion, Alt presented a lecture on what may be contributing factors to certain patterns of genomic mutations.

Alt described one of the newest methods to detecting these microscopic changes, “… this approach, which we call High Throughput Genome-wide Translocation Sequencing, or HTGTS … it’s a method that we developed seven or eight years ago now and the goal was to be able to identify endogenous double-stranded breaks in the mammalian genome in high-level resolution and also to be able to map how they translocate to other sequences in the genome and what types of processes contribute to

that.”

Genetic translocation is the process of one portion at the end of a chromosome completely breaking off and moving to a different chromosome. Alt’s research focused on why these pieces break off and move to only certain other chromosomes.

“The basic method is,” Alt elaborated, “you put a break somewhere in the cell … you induce the break, you let it translocate, and maybe just after a period of a day or two … and then you go through a period of other … more or less standard genomic steps to isolate all the breaks … and then, now we can sequence them … in the lab and then basically get this library of genome-wide translocation junctions.”

“The key is,” Alt stressed, “the nucleotide-level resolution. You can use it for all sorts of different assays.”

Nucleotides are the basic building blocks of genetic material while an assay is a type of test that identifies which nucleotides are present in specific locations at each location or locus.

Alt told the story of how a colleague discovered that an enzyme “worked by just converting G’s [guanine nitrogenous bases] to C’s [cytosine nitrogenous bases] in DNA, and that turns on a change of down-

stream events that make the breaks and mutations.”

In a recently published paper, Alt looked at how this enzyme, AID, causes translocations and activates oncogenes. Oncogenes are genes that have the potential to cause cancer. “The most important [study] that we’ve done in collaboration with … UMass,” Alt continued. “What we did there was take progenitor B Cells [a type of white blood cell] … introduced breaks and then looked at how they translocated across the genome … to ask how the organization of the genome … influences how breaks within translocate other sequences.”

“The basic things that came out,” he summarized, “is that if you have very high frequency double strand breaks, they can drive translocations wherever they are. It used to be thought that genes were organized in domains, and the chromosomes here, there, don’t really communicate or translocate with each other. The actual fact is that … in most sequences at least, some small fraction of the cells are in communication with each other and because of that, if you have breaks that are frequent enough, it will drive recurrent translocation…”

Normally, translocation mutations only occur in parts of the chromosome that are not vital to the survival

of the organism. Additionally, cells do have some mechanisms in place to correct mutations. However, this research is significant because of the concern that these translocation mutations will result in cancer.

federick alt

Alt will be continuing his research at Harvard Medical School, where he is a professor of genetics as well as at Boston Children’s Hospital where he is Charles A. Janeway Professor of pediatrics.

photo from internet source

Recieves reward for research on genome translocation

NBA owner speaks about business ventures and managing professional athletes BASKETBALL, from page 1

Bucks with Wesley Edens. Lasry shared several stories from his time with the Bucks.

When he first met the team, Lasry bet one player that if he (Lasry) made a free throw he no longer had to pay the player, but if he missed he would double the player’s salary. Lasry pretended he was left-handed, missing shots until the player agreed to the bet. Then using his right hand, Lasry easily made the shot, shocking the player, who ultimately won back his salary in a game of PIG. In another bet, a player’s confidence persuaded him to back off, the player making comments such as, “I know you think you

played ball in college.” Lasry also pulled an anecdote from the Bucks’ playoff-clinching game in which he instructed OJ Mayo to “keep shooting,” to which he explained the coach had said to pass. “I know, but I pay you,” responded Lasry.

Lasry took many questions from the audience, speaking about his business experience, his thoughts on international finance, basketball and his personal philosophies. He discussed his view on stress, stating, “I don’t really worry about things I can’t control,” whether that be in business or basketball—when other teams have earlier draft picks, there is no way to change what players are available to you when it comes time.

He discussed his goals for the

new Bucks’ arena. The plan, he explains is for the team to provide half the capital and the city or state to provide the rest. Often, he explains, teams threaten to move to secure financial assistance from the state, but he plans to seek a partnership.

During the Q&A, Lasry discussed his lifelong aspirations, stating, “I was hoping to be able to have some influence in the world,” and shared the advice he would give to his college-self and other students.

“Find the things you really love, because whatever you love you will succeed in,” said Lasry. He believes it’s okay to be undecided or unsure of one’s plans, explaining people in younger generations are always very concerned with “getting from one place to anoth-

er.” He then expressed his view that young people expect people to care about their feelings, whereas members of his generation did not. In an anecdote, on his first day at a law firm, the senior partner called him in for to discuss a special project. He discovered, however, the task was to bring the partner a sandwich every day.

Lasry also disclosed what he looks for in employees. He seeks those who are smart, but “normal,” capable of answering questions so one can understand.

“The greatest skill someone can have is to take complicated situations and simplify them,” said Lasry.

Near the end of the event, Lasry elaborated on the philosophies which he translates into business

and life. He explains that everyone always thinks they’re right, and when one buys or sells stock, one thinks that is the right decision. Lasry emphasizes the importance of this risk-taking, believing it to be paramount to his success.

Explaining how he manages risk, he admits that in business he knows he will be wrong sometimes, but continues to say that, like in basketball, “if you miss, it’s not like you don’t take another shot.” He says one must have the attitude that they are right, that one must be in a position to keep making bets and taking risks. Though many would have stopped working after achieving success, Lasry explained, he affirmed, “I keep working because I love it.”

April 17, 2015

The Brandeis Hoot

NEWS

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Farrell, Kincaid, Vendler and Ottolenghi to receive honorary degrees; Thomas Pickering chosen as commencement speaker COMMENCEMENT, from page 1

candidates. From the approved candidates, Lawrence selects a few speakers and honorary degree recipients. Lawrence’s selections are reviewed by the Board chair, the Honorary Degree Committee chair and a tenured faculty member in the related field. If supported, the candidates are contacted regarding availability for commencement.

While the selection process is long, it has resulted in excellent commencement speakers and honorary degree recipients. Past individuals include, President Harry S. Truman in 1957, Golda Meir in 1973, Nancy Pelosi in 2003 and Yo-Yo Ma in 2011. Although last year there was a controversy regarding giving Ayaan Hirsi Ali an honorary degree, after a student petition was created, Ali was ultimately removed from the list of recipients.

This year, four distinct individuals will be honored degrees from Brandeis: Suzanne Farrell,

Jamaica Kincaid, Helen Vendler and Yotam Ottolenghi. Farrell is a world renown ballerina and the founder of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet in Washington, D.C. While she no longer performs, she has dedicated her life to teaching people around the world the work of Balanchine, her mentor.

Currently a professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, Kincaid has written many novels, essays and short fiction pieces. Her work comments on loss, gender and race, and Kincaid is known for excellent depictions of complex emotions. She won the Reix Femina Étranger for “My Brother” in 2000 and was later inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2004 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009. Her work has been featured in The Paris Review and The New Yorker.

Vendler, a literary critic and professor at Harvard, has written books on famous writers such

as Shakespeare, Keats, Dickinson and Yeats. She reviews poetry and other works for The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Book Review and The New York Republic.

Vendler has judged for the Pulitzer Prize in poetry in the past and is a member of the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was president of the Modern Language Association in 1980.

An accomplished food writer, restaurant owner and chef, Ottolenghi has created many Middle Eastern-inspired dishes.

Ottolenghi writes weekly for The Guardian’s Weekend magazine and has published four successful cookbooks.

Ottolenghi Deli, now in four different locations, is extremely successful.

The Brandeis Commencement ceremony will take place at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 17 in Gosman.

ambassador thomas pickering

photo from internet source

Third annual Sexual Violence Awareness Week hosted by FMLA SVAW, from page 1

the Dean of Students Office and a Title IX investigation, which will not result in sanctions.

In an email to The Brandeis Hoot, McMahon said, “The students who attended asked excellent questions and we had a fruitful discussion.” She said her goal was to “demystify the reporting options,” at the disposal of victims of sexual misconduct. McMahon explained she also wanted to understand more about the “barriers” which keep survivors from filing complaints.

McMahon wrote, “I’m very appreciative of [the students’] insights and am eager to work together to find ways to address these barriers to create a safer campus climate in which students feel able to come forward when they have concerns about possible sexual misconduct by

peers and/or other members of the Brandeis community,” Gordon discussed the importance of Title IX. “It is your school’s job to keep you safe, to make sure you can still go to classes, to make sure people don’t retaliate against you,” she said, listing mean tweets and vandalized dorm rooms as examples of retaliation.

“It’s an important law that people understand, because we do have rights,” said McMahon.

On Wednesday night, the FMLA hosted a screening of “The Hunting Ground,” a documentary film which examines sexual violence on college campuses. The film highlights incidents on several campuses and gets at the severity of a pervasive “rape culture.”

Gordon believes “The Hunting Ground” is an important movie, very “intense” and “triggering.”

Though she believes there are some problematic aspects and neglected issues, Gordon said the film taught her a lot about how processes work on other campuses.

The following evening, the FMLA invited students to attend a talkback on the film.

This event allowed students to respond to the film, to discuss and to ask questions. This event allowed the FMLA to bring up issues the film did not. Gordon discussed how many in-depth cases from the documentary did not feature victims who were familiar with their attackers. Also according to Gordon, it did not focus on gender or sexual orientation. She noted FMLA would like to discuss how capitalism plays into a university’s decision to expel or not expel rapists, explaining they are likely to sue universities and noting that

photo from internet source

Greek life is “a huge money-giving system.”

Today, Friday, April 17 the FMLA invites students to participate in The Clothesline Project. The “interactive art project” began in 1990 according to the Clothesline Project’s website.

Brandeis students will decorate shirts which express the issue of sexual violence and rape culture.

The shirts will be displayed in the SCC.

Moving forward, Gordon hopes the FMLA will continue to host SVAW. In regards to the university’s handling of sexual violence in the future, Gordon stated, “I hope we expel rapists, so people who are victims of sexual violence won’t see their attackers.” Next week, FMLA will co-sponsor the event Take Back the Night with the Rape Crisis Center and Students Talking About Relationships (STAR).

Gershenhorn speaks on Jewish experience in Soviet Union FILMS, from page 1

Soviet Jewish experience.” Viktin, like Gershenson, earned degrees from universities in Russia, Israel and the U.S. Gershenson has studied Russian-Jewish culture in Russia, where she grew up, Israel and the U.S. She decided to pursue the subject of Soviet Holocaust films because she feels that many Russians still don’t think much about the Holocaust. “The country still lives in a state of amnesia,” Gershenson said.

She moved through eras of Russian history in her talk, giving examples of several Holocaust films produced during the time and pointing out general themes. One trait common to many Soviet Holocaust films is the creation of cinematically powerful but historically inaccurate scenes. These scenes, like the execution scene in the 1945 film “The Unvanquished,” were meant more to stir up sympathies for Soviet politics and less

photo by karen caldwell/the hoot

to show Jewish victimization by Nazi soldiers. Pre-war Soviet films would often focus on Jewish doctors being removed from their clinics, as the 1938 film “Professor Mamlock” does. Gershenson explained that this film, like others of its type, portrayed Germans as victims of Nazism, instead of willing participants.

The true heroes of these films, according to Gershenson, were communists.

The post-war era, Gershenson said, found “Jewish victims of war increasingly silenced in the Soviet Union.” Stalinist policy during the time kept filmmakers from pursuing Jewish themes.

The bulk of Soviet Holocaust films were made during the Khrushchev “thaw,” a period during the 1950s and ’60s when Soviet censorship laws and politics became much less restrictive. One movie made during

this time was “The Fate of Man,” released in 1959. The film had much of the imagery common to Holocaust films, like striped uniforms and crematoriums, Gershenson explained. Later, during perestroika, another period of fewer cultural and political restrictions, many more Holocaust films were released in the Soviet Union. These films, however, continued to treat their subjects in a simplistic and universalistic way.

Russian culture still seems uncomfortable with the subject of the Holocaust and the crimes committed on Soviet soil, Gershenson explained. The films made, therefore, tend to externalize the issue, setting scenes in foreign nations or focuses on specific themes. Using the example of the 1990 film “Ladies’ Tailor,” set in Kiev, Gershenson argued that Holocaust films often focused more on Soviet themes.

The scene where Jews march out of town, she said, “actually says more about mass immigration,

mass exodus, of Jews from Russia at the time, than about the Holocaust.”

Gershenson grew up in Russia and received her B.A. there. She later moved to Israel where she received her M.A. and then to the United States to get her Ph.D. She has said that she was, “Jewish in Russia, Russian in Israel and finally an academic in the United States.”

BGI, the event’s presenters, aims to “galvanize the Russian-speaking Jewish community around the world” using three pillars: Community Engagement, Research and Scholarship and Professional Development. Part of their efforts, Viktin explained, is to strengthen Russian-Jewish identity in young adults.

The talk was co-sponsored by the Center for German and European Studies, the Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry, Brandeis Russian Studies, the Brandeis Russian Club and the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies.

FEATURES Spotlight on Provost Lisa Lynch

4 The Brandeis Hoot

April 17, 2015

By Jacob Edelman editor

Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Lisa Lynch has had a busy career in the field of economics, serving in and working for, often in a high leadership position, the Labor and Employment Relations Association, the Department of Labor, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She has served as faculty and other academic positions at Tufts University, M.I.T., The Ohio State University, the University of Bristol and Brandeis University. Now preparing to step into her next role as interim president to fill President Fred Lawrence’s vacancy this June, Lynch has had a long and winding path that led her to this step in her career.

When asked, however, about her rise to prominence in economics and academia, Lynch is quick to bring it back to her origins in Middlebury, CT. She started playing the cello at age five and anticipated until her entry to college that she was going to turn professional on the instrument. “[I] thought I was going to become a professional cellist, much to the chagrin of my parents who were worried about whether I would have a livelihood. The compromise we made was that I would go to a liberal arts school with a strong commitment to [the] creative arts,” Lynch said.

So Lynch set off to Wellesley College. After attending a Yo-Yo Ma concert at Harvard, she and a friend, realizing the high hurdles professional musicians face, made to find a plan B as a fallback to the instrument. Her plan B ended up being economics after a long path looking into various study areas. “The beauty of a liberal arts education is that you can kind of zig and zag,” she said.

In her junior year, Lynch went to the London School of Economics originally to study international relations, but soon found herself studying labor strikes in the British coal mining industry. With her hometown of Middlebury being a manufacturing setting, coal industries were a feature that were omnipresent in the area.

After writing a paper on the frequency of worker strikes and successfully having it published in The British Journal of Industrial Relations, Lynch learned that she desired to invest more of herself in labor and statistical areas, so she returned to the London School to undertake a one year mas-

ter’s degree in economics before staying to complete a Ph.D. Lynch expanded on what an impassioned, in-depth educational experience can do for a student. “It’s that intensity of a learning experience that really changed the trajectory of what I wanted to do … that kind of opportunity to do a deep dive into something that’s very close to your heart, you learn a lot about yourself and what you like and don’t like.”

“It’s such a gift that I have as provost and interim president, … making sure that every student at this campus has the opportunity to have that kind of intensive learning experiences on top of what you do in classes,” she added.

Lynch’s hard work after entry into economics certainly paid off. In 1995, she was asked by the United States Labor Secretary (and future Brandeis faculty member) Robert Reich to become chief economist for the Labor Department in the Clinton adminis-

tration. With a Republican controlled House and Senate, colleagues scoffed, believing that it would be a preposterous idea to go to work in Washington during such a politically contentious time. Lynch accepted the position however, and found herself in D.C. with a three-week-old newborn and very little sleep. “I never got any sleep with a newborn child, which was great because no one in the administration ever slept either!” she quipped.

She recalled that she learned a lot about organizing public campaigns on issues such as increasing the minimum wage, work, trade, worker’s rights and side agreements. Senator Ted Kennedy referred to her as “that economist with all the posters” that he would bring to the Senate floor during speeches made by her. “I was the data nerd. It was an extraordinary time, and we actually got a lot of things done,” Lynch said.

Enabling others to be success-

photo by marian siljeholm/the hoot

ful has been a driving theme behind many of Lynch’s projects. While only holding the office of provost for several months, she’s worked to set aside money for a teaching innovation fund.

The fund allows faculty to apply for small grants that would help to experiment and try new things in class, such as teaching with other colleagues or trying new technologies. More than 44 proposals were submitted for $200,000 in funding this year.

Lynch has also worked to set aside funds for research innovation awards, to grant small amounts of money that would be used to kickstart initiatives.

The awards would energize projects from the “early, green, dirty, messy and confused idea stage,” to the early to full research stage. “The research awards are meant to support people who want to work across traditional boundaries on a research project, where just a small amount of money would let them have access to some

resources,” Lynch said “This is meant to spark the first stage of work. The award would allow things to happen that otherwise wouldn’t have.”

As interim president, Lynch explained that something critical she wants to do during her interim presidency is to make sure that the university does not stagnate its “forward momentum” during the transition period. She listed her top priorities as “recruiting the best students … guaranteeing a terrific learning experience … attracting and retaining top faculty,” who she considers to be at the core of the university’s renown reputation.

More broadly, Lynch also wants to ensure that students are and remain engaged with the presidential search committee for throughout the recruitment process.

Lynch desires the president following her return to provost to be someone who can lift the spirit of the university, as well as someone who is able to connect well with Brandeis activities and be able to give them a voice beyond campus. “I think that sometimes we’re too much of a ‘best kept secret,’” Lynch went on to say.

“There’s so much learning and knowledge creation that goes on at this campus, but the external world doesn’t know enough about it. I’d love to see a president who’s able to amplify it to the outside.”

When Lynch came to Brandeis, she recalled that everyone she met, from students to faculty to staff, spoke of their commitment to social justice.

She asked herself, “How could everybody here be so focused on this?” As she got to know Brandeis, however, she realized that it wasn’t as much of a gimmick as a common commitment, that in fact social justice is something that Brandeisians carry close to heart.

She saw that no two people see or agree on social justice being the same thing, and yet there’s a sense of community in the pursuit of social justice as a common goal. “They do it in different ways, it could be in business, arts, science ... There’s this sense of community, of shared responsibility, of engagement, a caring for each other that’s very special. Every university says that we have a caring community, but there is something [to] this commitment to make art of your life, and a commitment for caring for others.”

As Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Lisa Lynch prepares to step up to the plate as interim president, she looks forward to keeping up the commitment to social justice and forward momentum that will carry our university through to the next president.

TYP students showcase the Stamp Act

By Katlyn Huang

Special to the Hoot

On March 25, Brandeis students may have noticed some of their peers walking through campus wearing colonial-style clothing and white wigs. As part of their recognition and remembrance of the Stamp Act of 1765, students from the Myra Kraft Transitional Year Program (MKTYP) dressed in colonial clothes and reenacted dialogues between famous colonial figures such as Thomas Hutchinson and Benjamin Franklin, both of whom were involved in the Stamp Act, which imposed a tax on American citizens by British legislation. The

Act was met with much protest, thus largely uniting the colonies under an umbrella of anti-British sentiment. By bringing attention to this event, the students hoped to spread awareness and interest in this revolutionary occurrence.

Craig Smith, an American history professor at Brandeis and an instructor in the TYP program, explained that the exhibit was created for the students’ Preserving Boston’s Past: Public History and Digital Humanities spring course. The course, designed around the Stamp Act, inspired students as a historical event that triggered union among previously disjointed colonists in order to achieve a common goal.

“The course was designed around pre-

senting history beyond the textbook.

It gave students the opportunity to gain valuable experience in the fields of public history and digital humanities,” Smith said. Indeed, it did not go unnoticed by their peers that the TYP students were engaging in something meaningful, as they were noticed participating in this exhibit throughout the day beyond the classroom.

TYP student Christian Nunez ’19 describes the Stamp Act as “a unique moment in human progression … how we deal with each other.” Like Nunez, other students similarly felt that the Act’s significance extended beyond its historical content, into their own lives and relationships with one another. Another student in-

volved, John Novas ’19, explained that the exhibit “used everyone’s strength to reach a goal,” just as the protest of British colonization did in 1765. With each student given a separate job, such as writing image descriptions or creating informational brochures, it appears that the theme of teamwork followed the students throughout the time leading up to the display of the exhibit as well.

An untraditional approach to a traditional academic subject, the exhibit and this course left students inspired and interested in pursuing more projects such as this one. Student Kenneth Hong ’19 comments, “People were excited to see students do something different.” Other students were also

thrilled to see their work draw the attention of their non-TYP peers.

Indeed, it seems that the exhibit was a success in part due to its requirement for active participation on the students’ part, as well as its effect on non-TYP students. Noting that everyone who attended the event stayed for the entire time, TYP students were excited to share their collaborative academic knowledge with non-TYP students. “As always, education was the primary goal, but the course was designed to make the students active participants,” remarks Smith. If the active participation of both TYP and non-TYP students alike was any indication of a successful event, then the Stamp Act event was surely a hit.

ARTS, ETC.

April 17, 2015

The Brandeis Hoot 5

The Fantasy Echoes: the new band on the block

By Sabrina Pond Staff

Just before April break, students were treated to a fantastic concert at Chum’s. The lights were dim, the couches were pushed to the back of the room, chatter filled the air and the band—a five-piece calling themselves The Fantasy Echoes—was placed on center stage. Sponsored by SEA (Students for Environmental Action), The Fantasy Echoes performed music they had compiled for their first, self-titled EP in a performance that lasted about an hour.

All but one of the band members are currently enrolled at Brandeis: Austin Koenigstein ’17 plays guitar and is one of the band’s vocalists, Antoine Malfroy-Camine ’17 plays bass, Ryan Gebhardt ’17 performs both vocals and guitar, Elan Wong ’15 plays keys, and Dan Schreiber ’14 is on drums.

They didn’t have to go to great lengths to find each other. Malfroy-Camine and Koenigstein happened to be roommates their first year and would periodically jam out together in their free time. Koenigstein knew Gebhardt through a mutual acquaintance, and the band met its future pianist and percussionist through VoiceMale, an all-male a cappella group at Brandeis.

Although The Fantasy Echoes have cultivated their own sound, the band has noticeable influences, including Cage the Elephant.

When asked about their development as a band, “The sense of direction and overall seriousness we had last year pales in comparison to what we have now,” Koenigstein said.

“I like to think each of us has something special that we can supply to the sound as a whole, but many of our ideas and abilities are still kind of like jigsaw pieces needing to be put together with care.”

The self-titled EP contains diverse song titles like “Those Eyes,” “Battle Cry” and “Chorus of Mimes.” When it comes to music composition, it is always interesting to hear from the band members themselves how they put the music together, where they derive their inspiration and what the finished product—the album—really means to them.

According to Koenigstein, creating the album was very natural, and it shouldn’t necessarily be dissected and analyzed; it is far better to just enjoy the finished product for what it is and remark on the journey it took to get it there.

As a whole, the band was fantastic.

Each member, be they the pianist, guitarist or vocalist, really seemed invested in their individual perfor-

mance.

The excitement and enthusiasm did not ebb for even a moment during the concert, and the event, overall, was instrumental in showcasing Brandeis’ varied talent. As an audience member I noticed how the performers appeared to wield their instruments like extra appendages; their bodies melted into their instruments, which revealed the musician’s comfort level performing in their own domain.

“Ryan and I split writing and sing-

pushing the limit

ing duties on this EP, so I would say that, at least for this EP, themes do vary.

But I like that. Ryan’s songs (and this is only my perspective) seem to be more concerned with the operating of an intimate relationship, while mine might be a bit more interested in my own operating and how I perceive and express things outside of myself,” Koenigstein said.

His apt explanation speaks more to the message of the EP, though I also noted how the songs place their lis-

The Fantasy Echoes release debut EP

teners on a boat and cast them away.

Looking to the future, the band knows that the only way they can go is up: “I would resent myself if I put any boundaries on what I think we can and will accomplish … We have come a long way since we began playing together, so I am optimistic about where it can be headed if we put in the right amount of effort. Sound-wise, who knows what will happen? … I have a lot of faith in this band, and these guys are not afraid to step out of their comfort zones.”

photo from internet source

‘Savage Park’ by Amy Fusselman full of eloquent prose

By Talia Franks Staff

I am not afraid to die. I would be sad to leave the world behind, and for all the people who would mourn me, but I have no real fear of my own inevitable death. Death, after all, is a very important part of life. “Savage Park,” written by Amy Fusselman and published earlier this year, drew me in because it calls itself “A Meditation on Play, Space and Risk for Americans Who Are Nervous, Distracted and Afraid to Die.” As I said, I am not afraid to die. But I am often nervous, and often distracted. I have also never left the United States, or even the East Coast. So I suppose I am an American, for what that label is worth. So when I was given a copy of “Savage Park” with high recommendation I decided to crack it open and give it a shot.

The book opens with Fusselman relating a story about her friend Yelena, who invited Fusselman and her family to spend a month with Yelena’s family at their home in Tokyo. It is when writing about this invitation that Fusselman first starts to talk about space.

I never really thought about space before I read “Savage Park.” I took it for granted, that we are here on this earth and that space is all around us.

Space was just the area in which I existed. Reading Fusselman’s novel has

shown me a new way of looking at the world around me, because space is more than just what surrounds us.

Humans, I have noticed, have a remarkable ability to consider themselves the center of everything, because from our perspective, the world seems to revolve around us. We acknowledge that other people matter and that we are not actually the center of everything, but at the same time we take for granted that which seems inanimate to us. Even more than objects, we take for granted the space.

Through her book, Fusselman has taught me that space itself is a thing that exists just as much as people and things exist; it is only that space is invisible.

“Savage Park” is about much more than space. Throughout the book, Fusselman moves seamlessly between various times in her life, back and forth between the same few years, starting with the time she went to Tokyo and first went to the place that gave the book its title. Savage Park is not the official name of the park, but simply the name that Yelena and her son give Hanegi Park.

Savage Park itself is what one would call an adventure park. Ranged around the park are open fires and various structures that “were clearly not made in any place where safety surfacing had ever been a subject of serious discussion.” The simple reason for this is that the structures were

savage park

Author Amy Fusselman packs emotion into new book. photo from internet source

made by the children who play in the park themselves. Savage Park contains tools and building materials for the children to make whatever they want, creating their own play space.

After she came back from Japan, after experiencing Savage Park, Fusselman started to look into play. As I read I came to agree with her words, “Play is not something we do; it is something that we are.” Something about that line struck me very deeply.

As my first year as a college student

comes to a close, I realize that I have lost much of my sense of play, and I don’t think that is fair. Becoming an adult should not mean that I lose my sense of adventure and ability to live my life playfully. Fusselman does a good job here by reintroducing many of us to the idea of play and how it is not simply an action, but also a state of mind. I haven’t lost my sense of play because of lacking opportunities, but because in my studious ambitions I have forgotten to take hold of it.

I think the most amazing thing about this piece is that Fusselman maintains a steady conversation with the reader about her life and experiences with Savage Park and the people that she connects with because of the park. Her interactions with the park and how it changed her as a person are just as fascinating, if not more so than her ways of looking at play and space.

Fusselman’s approach to death was honest and open without being cruel.

She not only expressed her personal opinions, but also how her young daughter viewed death and showed how children are capable of understanding things more than we think.

This affected me deeply as death is something that I have come to accept in life, but I am often shy about it when I am interacting with children.

Within the novel, Fusselman shares with the reader so many lessons she learned through events that occurred during her time writing this book: taking a two-day class with the famous wire walker Philippe Perit, the birth of her daughter, the tsunami that hit Japan and when the child of a friend died—these are the lessons of life. Every word of prose packed into the 130 pages that I had the privilege to read has most definitely made a difference in my life. I still have no fear of death, but the way that I look at and live in space, the way that I enjoy my life, has changed.

ARTS, ETC.

6 The Brandeis Hoot

April 17, 2015

Maroon 5 thrills in live tour

By Jessica Chow Staff

The Forum in Inglewood, CA, is one of the most well-known music venues in the entertainment industry.

Formerly the home of the Los Angeles Lakers and Kings, the Forum has become a world famous music venue, and some even go so far as to say that is the West Coast equivalent of Madison Square Garden. During spring break, I had the memorable saw Maroon 5’s “The V Tour” in the Forum, getting to be in such a famous venue watching one of my favorite bands perform.

I’ve been to a few concerts, but this is by far my favorite because Maroon 5 is one of the most talented bands in the industry. There’s no denying this— just look at their continued success in the music industry today. Their album has three hit singles (“Animals,” “Sugar” and “Maps”) and “The V Tour” has sold out nearly all of its dates, with shows continually being added. The best part about this concert for me was that the band truly does sound just like they do on their album when they perform live.

The crowd was riled up by two opening acts: Rozzi Crane, an upand-coming hip-hop/pop artist who has opened for Maroon 5 three times before, and MAGIC!, who headlined

photo from internet source

longevity and success Maroon 5 shines on the charts and musically.

the Fall Concert Series at Brandeis last November. I thought that these opening acts, while talented, were unique choices as opening acts for Maroon 5 because the musical styles of each artist are so different. Crane is edgy (and has an incredible vocal range) while MAGIC! is a reggae band. Maroon 5 is very much a pop band, but they performed several songs from their various albums.

Opening with their recent hit “Animals” off of the album “V,” Maroon 5 proceeded to perform several of

their older songs including “Sunday Morning” and “She Will Be Loved” (both off of their album “Songs About Jane”), “Moves Like Jagger” (Crane was pulled on stage to sing Christina Aguilera’s part) and “Lucky Strike” from the album “Overexposed.” The entire time, I was happily dancing and singing along with the entire arena.

The most surprising thing that I noticed at the concert was actually the audience members: Most of them were not teenagers like I expected.

Rather, a majority of the audience was

comprised of adults, especially a lot of people in their 20s, which makes sense since the band was formed 15 years ago.

My favorite part of the concert was when Adam Levine performed “She Will Be Loved” because it is my favorite Maroon 5 song. They slowed the show down a little bit in order to perform an acoustic version of the song. I also really enjoyed the last part of the concert when they performed “Sugar,” one of my favorite songs off of their new album. I loved this per-

formance because it’s a fun song, and I’ve been dying to see them perform that song, especially after watching the music video. However, for this specific concert date, the last song was not “Sugar,” but “I Love LA” by Randy Newman, who came on stage to perform the song with them, featuring a performance by the Laker Girls.

During the performance, thousands of pink balloons were dropped on the audience. This concert experience was amazing, and it was a great start to my spring break.

‘It Follows’ fails to maintain tension

By Jess Linde Editor

“It Follows,” the latest acclaimed feature in the independent horror resurgence, is a specific kind of horror film; it is much more disturbing than it is frightening. The cinematography, music and character arcs all play into a sense of an overbearing anxiety that I have not seen in a while. It is scary, don’t get me wrong, but in such a way that made my skin crawl more than it made me jump. Like the best Italian horror movies, “It Follows” contains a plethora of horrific imagery and otherworldly atmosphere. Unfortunately, it becomes much too reliant on these aspects, and like every Italian horror movie, nearly slips into self-parody.

Maika Monroe plays Jay, a typical teenage girl in middle-class Michigan. One night she goes on a seemingly normal date with a regular guy, with whom she has regular awkward teenage sex with. Then the boy reveals he has cursed her: Jay is now stalked by a shape-shifting demon that only she can see, a silent entity that slowly walks towards her, following her wherever she goes. The only way to rid herself of the curse is to have sex with someone else, and hope that the demon does not kill anyone who has seen it. Jay has plenty of suitors, but

she is hesitant until the demon begins finding and following her everywhere, and she starts running out of places to hide.

There is a lot of sex in “It Follows,” and none of it is pleasant to watch or think about. The film’s conflict is at times a metaphor for the gross terrain of teen sexuality, and at times one for sexual assault and trauma.

Director David Robert Mitchell pushes every uncomfortable button he can, and for the most part, makes the viewer just as helpless and confused as Jay. The sexuality of “It Follows” strips itself of any romance, intimacy or pleasure. The film starts off with no musical cues or ominous zooms to foreshadow the scares, and for a while it is never clear when the monster will show up.

Mitchell also makes great use of long takes, some lasting minutes with lots of people walking in the background, any of which could be the scary thing. I often found myself paying more attention to the background than the main characters, just because I was so uneasy and did not want to be taken by surprise again.

Then about halfway through the film, things go off the rails and cheap CGI sends people flying this way and that. Once more characters be-

come aware of the monster and its approach becomes more predictable, I was acutely aware of the thin plot and could not stop thinking about it.

I instantly knew I had been taken out of the film and never found my way back in, the subtlety and atmosphere completely dissipated. What had been disturbing was now just gross, and what had been a fun, John Carpenter-style score was now a headache.

I found myself wishing for Ti West’s “The House of the Devil,” a movie that takes its time setting up otherworldly atmosphere, packing each scene with tension and unease. “The House of the Devil” is so well-paced within the boundaries of its equally thin plot, that when things turn to 11, it is really, really scary.

“It Follows” creates a real danger and sense of terror almost instantly, and does so very well, trapping the viewer in its fictional environment with the stalking monster. That is until it jumps the gun and turns things to 12 too quickly.

Every scare and twist becomes contrived and obvious. This is a very scary short film that is painfully stretched beyond the limits of its premise. “It Follows” works hard to strike fear into the viewer, while on the other hand showcasing a very talented filmmaker.

Duet By Katherine Selector

photo from internet source

disturbing

The film was directed by talented filmmaker David Robert Mitchell.

April 17, 2015

The Brandeis Hoot

Town restaurant should be added to list of student favorites

By Ethan Saal

Special to the Hoot

Looking for a place to take your parents when they visit, a go-to spot for a special occasion with your significant other or a bar to watch the big game with your buddies? Red Bird on Moody Street is the place. The decor and ambience outdo all of the neighboring restaurants; the lighting gives off a dark, elegant feel while the staff and seating arrangements create a cozy environment. Our party sat in one of the booths situated along the beautifully rustic, white-brick wall, which snugly seated the four of us.

Shortly after we settled in, a waitress jubilantly walked over to hand us menus and the wine list and to recite the daily specials.

Even though The Boston Globe and Zagat label it as New American, the menu contains dishes from all around the globe, such as the slowcooked carnitas tamale with homemade mole, aged cheddar and grilled lime is a Central American inspired appetizer. The homemade potato gnocchi cooked with braised veal, wild mushrooms and Madeira Jus (peppery sauce made with Madeira wine) offers a taste of Italy. Then there is the Austrian influenced pork loin schnitzel with bacon braised cabbage, spätzle (soft egg noodle or dumpling) and gravy. Therefore, if you are someone whose taste buds squirm in fear when you read the word “American” in the food description, do not let them make a false prediction.

After closely analyzing the menu for about 10 minutes (the delightful complimentary bread and butter was a big distraction), we decided on four appetizers. The organic mixed greens salad

was refreshing and had a pleasant addition of broken honey sesame sticks.

Another delightful starter, especially since unprocessed beets are hard to come by on campus, was the beet salad. The added crunch of candied pecans made the small difference that made this mainstream appetizer unique. Since we are not huge veal fans we asked the waitress politely if they could modify the gnocchi dish.

Without any hesitation she accommodated our request with a warm smile. The potato dumplings were cooked “al dente” and the wild mushrooms left our mouths watering for more. Without the veal, though, one of the people in our party remarked that the dish seemed a bit bland and in need of some extra flavor. The last appetizer was the braised short rib, which was a bit on the dry side but the polenta made up for it with its incredibly smooth creaminess.

The waitress told us that the main courses would take a while to come out because of the small kitchen headed by Daniel Stokes. However, our party was too busy chatting in our comfy little booth to notice.

One of the greatest parts of this experience was the homey, yet luxurious feel of the restaurant that provided a terrific escape from our stressfilled college environment. After an enjoyable wait (which is hard to come by in our busy lives) the meat of our meal, arrived.

We ordered three hanger steaks and one salmon. Even though this was the best piece of steak my friend and I have had in a long time, it did not live up to the hype that The Boston Globe review built up. While the inside was chewy and savory, the outside was almost completely burnt. I was able to drown out the burnt taste

with the flavorful bone marrow butter, caramelized brussel sprouts, and their signature torn and fried potatoes.

Their potatoes were such a great balance of crispiness and tenderness that one of the people in our party ordered a side of them after trying one of mine.

Furthermore, one of the steaks was not only undercooked, but also not hot enough (temperature wise). When we told the waitress she immediately apologized and took it back to the kitchen.

To our grand surprise, she brought it back out with a whole new batch (for he had already eaten some of them) of

caramelized brussels sprouts and potatoes. As for the salmon, it ended up being an incredibly savory and healthy option. The soy-maple glaze enhanced the flavor of the already juicy, fresh and well-cooked fish. The highlight, though, as stated by a member of our party, were the crispy cashews in the wild rice.

The grand finale was the chocolate souffle. The rich, warm chocolate on the inside almost made my friend cry from happiness. To cool your mouth down, it is accompanied by the never before heard of graham cracker ice

ARTS, ETC. 7

cream. Just when we thought we could not be in more bliss, we were proven wrong. Next time you are craving a scoop of ice cream, forget Lizzy’s!

The friendly staff would be more than happy to provide you with a couple of scoops of Red Bird’s incredible homemade ice creams if you just walk in and ask please!

It is not the cheapest meal, but definitely a worthwhile deal. The service is top notch, the atmosphere is wonderful, and it is a savory meal. Add a little spunk to your week and take a BranVan out to Moody Street.

photo from internet source

Attendance By Linjie Xu

Surviving Sodexo: A hearty soup

By Charlotte Aaron Staff

Every day for lunch and dinner Sherman serves two homemade soups.

These soups range from Old Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup to American Bounty Vegetable Soup to Navy Bean Soup. While the soups themselves are delicious, oftentimes they are not quite enough to serve as an entire meal. This week’s Surviving Sodexo is the recipe to one of many different soups that can be made with the broth from one of the Sherman provided soups along with different ingredients from around the kitchen. It is enough to be an entire meal and contains almost every food group.

Ingredients 1 bowl of broth 1/3 bowl of either rice or quinoa 1 piece of grilled chicken carrot celery peppers chick peas cheddar cheese (optional) Recipe Fill a bowl 2/3 the way with broth from one of the two provided Sherman

soups. At least one of the soups will have a broth base, as opposed to chili or chowder.

Either rice or quinoa will be available in the “simple servings” or “entree” section of Sherman. If both are provided, choose whichever you prefer, and add one serving of it to the broth.

At the grill, ask for one piece of grilled chicken. On the same plate, add a few slices of pepper, a spoon of chick peas, celery and carrots from the salad bar.

Cut everything, including the chicken, into bite sized pieces. Add this to the broth, and your soup is complete!

If you wish, cheese from the salad bar can be sprinkled and melted on top of the soup for extra flavor. Feel free to add other ingredients to the soup, as the ingredients above are simply a starting point. Enjoy!

ARTS, ETC.

8 The Brandeis Hoot

April 17, 2015

Award-winning artist Stephanie Pierce speaks on campus

By Emma Kahn Staff

On a tour of the Boston area, artist Stephanie Pierce discussed her work with the Brandeis community on Friday, April 1.

Her visiting artist lecture included a preview of her portfolio and all the paintings and drawings she had compiled over the years. Pierce has been the recipient of many awards for her artwork and her teaching of art, receiving grants and funds needed to exhibit her masterpieces. She describes her work as being that of “representational painting.” Her subject matter consists of common sights and experiences, and reflects variability and movement found in these spaces.

Pierce led the audience through her artistic transformation, highlighting key moments and situations which brought about her fascination for the liveliness of still-life art. One important scene was a carnival ground struck by a tornado. The painting of this scene is based on the aftermath that she happened upon, but the finished work takes liberties in time and movement, creating a constantly changing landscape that the viewer feels is impossible to grasp.

Her work generated in the studio suffered for its static quality, and Pierce struggled to find inspiration in what she found in the studio. Several breakthroughs, however, highlight the constant variability not of the objects she observed but of her perception of them. Her earlier graduate school artwork was grid-like, but also

succeeded in creative liberties in the lined space of her studio. Following graduate school, Pierce spent a period of time documenting her bed.

Dozens of pictures of her bed capture unhinging moments and spaces in which shifts of light and time open the space into a moment of chaos so that her audience searches for a fixed image, but eventually must abandon the task. In her personal bio, Pierce refers to her multiple paintings of her bed, stating, “The intimate and almost universal space of a bed has become a platform for metaphors

radiant water

and ideas; it’s a space that can bend towards dream space, landscape, absence or presence.” Pierce seeks to paint confoundingly dense pieces in which both the presence and absence of a form represents the movement of life in a single place.

In her painting process, she struggles to find that moment of chaos that presents itself in her work. She constantly fears “the anarchy hour” in which her painting appears static and lifeless. However, she seldom allows the painting to reach this stasis. “I’ll paint them until I can recognize the

Pierce’s exhibition is currently on display on Newbury Street.

space dissolving and the tangibility is lost,” Pierce said. You can see this dissolution in her piece titled “Yellow Chair,” in which the chair by the window disappears upon closer focus and the space assumes a disarray of warm, inviting colors. Her success lies upon not the unique subject but the unique way in which she places importance upon light and space, and the transformability of the subject.

Pierce surprised her audience at Brandeis with an interesting revelation: Her paintings and drawings are

photo from internet source

largely influenced by the punk culture she grew up with. In fact, she listens almost entirely to a handful of punk albums on repeat as she paints, so much so that the music becomes a methodical piece to her process, allowing certain lengths of time to pass based solely upon the length of the musical tracks. With this announcement she added that the punk music she listens to is surprisingly controlled and calculated, amidst its chaotic sounds.

While the music may have dissonance and takes liberties to avoid conventionality, there is a definite structure behind the punk music she listens to, which always resolves itself in the end.

The organized dissonance and chaos of the music she listens to allows her to get lost in her art and create dramatic emotions for herself and for her viewers. “I can’t control how people respond to my paintings, and I don’t think I should,” Pierce said. “It’s what’s in my heart. Perhaps people relate to them, and I would hope that some of [my work] is universal in association.”

While Pierce ties on personal memories and affiliations with the familiar spaces in her life, she draws viewers in with her uniting interpretations of everyday space. Pierce has created a portfolio ht speaks volumes to all.

Brandeis art students and professors were overjoyed at the opportunity to speak to Stephanie Pierce and receive a sneak peek of her artwork in advance of her upcoming shows.

Pierce’s art is currently on exhibit at the Alpha Gallery on Newbury Street in Boston along with the work of other artists. Her exhibition titled “Radiant Welter” will be on display from April 4 until April 29.

Brandeis’ time machine: Goldfarb World War I poster art exhibit

By Jessica Chow Staff

If you had the chance to go back in time, wouldn’t you go? Brandeis may not have a time machine, but the Goldfarb Library’s current display of World War I poster art delivers a similar effect. If you find yourself looking for a study break as finals approach, take a trip down to Goldfarb 2 and check out “Patriotism & Propaganda: Poster Art in WWI America,” which features several posters from the World War I American home front as well as a few pieces from World War II. The posters take you back in time to the war effort in the early 20th century. Each poster features a unique slogan calling for support of the war effort back home or abroad.

The main poster features four faces: a soldier, a sailor, a grieving woman and Lady Liberty donned in the American flag. These four faces give a complete summary of what the home front experienced as World War I was being fought in Europe. The sailor and soldier represent none other than the men who were drafted to serve America and leave their families and lives behind to fight. The most striking thing about these two characters is their facial expressions. They appear to be proud and happy to serve their country. The grieving woman represents all of the women back in

America who have a husband, fiance, brother, significant other or anyone else they know serving overseas. Her facial expression is a powerful statement that really makes you take a step back and reflect on what it means to be in a war. The pain behind her eyes serves as a moving reminder that war can literally tear families apart and that people go and do not return.

Lady Liberty makes a forceful statement about supporting the war effort.

One of my favorite posters from the exhibit is a white poster of a woman in a work uniform with the slogans “For every fighter, a woman worker,” and “Care for her through the

YWCA.” This poster stood out to me because most of the posters in the exhibit document life abroad from the soldiers’ perspectives. In addition, I like that this poster called specifically on women to join in the war effort. For the time period, women were not supposed to have jobs outside of domestic work, so this poster was very radical. Additionally, rather than your typical early-20th-century “pin-up girl,” a working woman in effeminate clothing is pictured. Like Rosie the Riveter, she serves to empower women and inspire them to find jobs in factories to join the war effort. She sends the message to the

rest of American society that women are strong and can make a difference in the war effort too.

In addition to the poster encouraging women to join the workforce to help the war effort and to compensate for men being gone in the factories, another stand-out poster for me was the small poster on the back wall of a few ships and the slogan “INVEST IN THE VICTORY LIBERTY LOAN.” This stood out to me because I wasn’t actually sure what the slogan meant.

However, in the top right there is a little bit of explanation offered with another slogan, “They keep the sea lanes open.” (After a little bit of re-

searching, I found that victory liberty loans are funds that the public could purchase in order to fund the war effort). This propaganda poster serves to call on the public to purchase Victory Liberty Loans to help fund the war effort.

This exhibit offers a wide range of World War I propaganda posters that advertise for various war causes, from men to join the army to purchasing victory liberty loans. I love this exhibit because of the artwork and the subtle, underlying messages within some of the posters. So take a study break and go back in time to World War I America.

photo by marian siljeholmthe hoot

April 17, 2015

HOOT SCOOPS

The Brandeis Hoot 9

SEAD holds Alzheimer’s awareness week

By Emily Smith editor

Brandeis Students to End Alzheimer’s (SEAD) held an Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Week at Brandeis, rallying the community in support of those who suffer from the neurodegenerative disease. Over five million Americans currently have Alzheimer’s, but the disease affects many more people than that. SEAD, a new club on campus which started just this semester, hosted the “Alzheimer’s Research Award Ceremony” for Professor Angela Gutchess (PSYC) and held other events to build support and awareness.

Arielle Keller ’16, founder and co-president of SEAD, spoke to The Brandeis Hoot about the club’s awareness week. She explained that the group hopes to open up a dialogue about Alzheimer’s among young people on the Brandeis campus. Their efforts, she said, are “important not only for raising awareness about the cause, but also for forming a supportive community for those affected.”

SEAD aims to raise awareness for Alzheimer’s by involving the Brandeis Community in the Alzheimer’s Association’s events like “The Longest Day,” providing on-campus outreach to students affected by the disease and supporting research both at Brandeis and in general. They plan to hold a bi-weekly journal club in the coming fall semester, which will allow students to discuss new findings in Alzheimer’s research.

Keller argued that many students

are interested in Alzheimer’s research but didn’t have many opportunities. “A lot of people have asked us, ‘Why hasn’t this happened before?’ and want to get involved with the club,” Keller said.

The club began their awareness week with a “Wake and Shake” outside of Usdan, where club members gave out coffee and donuts to passing students and encouraged them to take pictures showing their support for the cause. They hosted a “Cupcakes for a Cause” event later that day.

The event gave students the opportunity to decorate purple cupcakes in support of Alzheimer’s.

SEAD hosted other cupcake decorating events throughout the week as well.

On Wednesday, SEAD hosted a phone bank in the Castle Commons where students could volunteer to call those who have donated to Alzheimer’s research and thank them for their help.

They will also be hosting a “Promise Garden” in the Fellow’s Garden all day on Friday. SEAD will be telling students about their “Longest Day” team and encouraging them to get involved with their fundraising and awareness efforts.

Gutchess, an associate professor of psychology, was honored for her work in Alzheimer’s research in a ceremony on Tuesday. She works at Brandeis’ Volen Center for Complex Systems.

Gutchess’ lab for Aging, Culture and Cognition has published several works and, according to their website, explores “the effects of age and culture on memory and social processes using function-

alzheimer’s research honored

Professor Gutchess speaks about her research of Alzheimer’s at a cermony on tuesday, in which she was honored. .

al magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and behavioral measures.”

Gutchess received her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Michigan.

SEAD’s Alzheimer’s Awareness week worked to address a lack of knowledge about the disease in the general population. “Our goal this week is to get the word out that Alzheimer’s disease is a prevalent, deadly, and grossly under-recognized disease.”

The club’s Facebook page, as part of the awareness week, featured Brandeis students and researchers sharing their stories.

One of these stories came from Jonathan Jackson, a post-doctoral research fellow at Brandeis and Massachusetts General Hospital.

He explained, in an interview with club member Sarah Lipitz ’17, the delay between when someone first develops Alzheimer’s and when he or she is diagnosed with the disease.

“Imagine what your chances of survival would be if cancer or heart disease were overlooked for 20 years. Once we close that gap with AD—and we already are— we will succeed in ending Alzheimer’s disease before the first day

photo by andrew elmers/the hoot

of forgetfulness,” Jackson said.

Fear and lack of knowledge about Alzheimer’s, Jackson explained, gives the disease more power. He argued that people are afraid to talk about Alzheimer’s because of the stigma that comes with mental illness. Part of why the awareness week is so important is the impact that having a strong social circle has on combatting the effects of Alzheimer’s.

SEAD will continue to work to build support for those who suffer from Alzheimer’s and those who are affected by the disease.

This week in Arts: Adagio Dance Company

See more photos on page 15!

photo by sasha ruiz/the hoot

EDITORIALS

10 The Brandeis Hoot

April 17, 2015

“To acquire wisdom, one must observe.”

Editors-in-Chief Dana Trismen Andrew Elmers

Univ. support for Take Back the Night one of many needed steps

Senior Managing Editor Victoria Aronson Managing Editor Theresa Gaffney News Editors Emily Belowich Jess Linde Arts Editor Michelle Kim Sports Editor Sarah Jousset Opinions Editor Kevin Healey Features Editor Jacob Edelman Deputy News Editors Charlotte Aaron Hannah Schuster Deputy Hoot Scoops Editor Emily Smith Senior Copy Editors Mia Edelstein Julie Landy Copy Editor Allison Plotnik Senior Layout Editor Sasha Ruiz Deputy Layout Editor Ludi Yang Graphics Editor Linjie Xu Website Editors Zak Kolar Zach Phil Schwartz

Volume 12 • Issue 10 the brandeis hoot • brandeis university 415 south street • waltham, ma

Founded By Leslie Pazan, Igor Pedan and Daniel Silverman

STAFF

Clayre Benzadon, Ethan Berceli, Rachel Bossuk, Robin Briendel, Sharon Cai, Karen Caldwell, Shikha Chandarana, Jake Greenberg, Talia Franks, Emma Gutman, Emma Hanselman, Curtis Zunyu He, Emma Kahn, Shayna Korol, Joe Lanoie, Nabi Menai, Monique J Menezes, Joon Park, Lisa Petrie, Sabrina Pond, Emily Scharf, Hannah Schuster, Marian Siljeholm, Chesta Singh, Eliana Sinoff, Hannah Stewart, Michael Wang, Sophia Warren, Katarina Weessies MISSION As the weekly community student newspaper of Brandeis University, The Brandeis Hoot aims to provide our readers with a reliable, accurate and unbiased source of news and information.

Produced entirely by students, The Hoot serves a readership of 6,000 with in-depth news, relevant commentary, sports and coverage of cultural events. Recognizing that better journalism leads to better policy, The Brandeis Hoot is dedicated to the principles of investigative reporting and news analysis. Our mission is to give every community member a voice.

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O

n Thursday, April 16, Dean of Students Jamele Adams sent an email to the Brandeis community to inform them of Tuesday’s Take Back the Night walk. The annual event, a march across campus, is a show of solidarity with survivors of sexual assault and takes a stand against rape culture on campus.

The event drew new controversy in 2013, after unidentified students shouted taunts at the marchers from dorms in North Quad, but its symbolic importance has only grown following student-led achievements such as the Rape Crisis Center. Take Back the Night is essential in helping survivors of assault and sexual violence see that they are not alone and are supported by their peers. The email from Dean Adams, co-signed by Andrew Flagel, Sheryl Sousa and Sheila McMahon, shows that the administration also recognizes this.

A common theme of The Brandeis Hoot’s editorials over the past academic year has been to encourage the administration to meet students halfway on important issues and to give tangible support. Student activists have been unhappy for a long time with the university’s handling of sexual assault, as evidenced by the silent protest at the Light of Reason dedication and activists interrupting a Board of Trustees meeting last semester. Administrators’ consistent appearances at the opening of the Rape Crisis Center and other recent events show that they have been listening. To actively advertise the Take Back the Night march with definitively supportive language in the email is a great way of showing that Brandeis does care about the safety of its students, even in controversial situations. Hopefully, this show of support can help to bring Brandeis’ community closer to a

united fight against sexual assault and violence.

There is of course always more to be done.

The Hoot reiterates its past suggestions of more unequivocal support for education and prevention services and a perpetual series of measures to make survivors and students in general feel safer on campus. However, we do applaud the administration for promoting Take Back the Night and other initiatives in such a widespread and public way.

Until sexual assault and sexual violence are completely eliminated from college campuses, universities such as Brandeis must be trailblazers in the field of prevention. This week’s email is a very encouraging step, but it is just one step. Brandeis’ administrators must continue working with students in order to confront these issues, in order to finally achieve our moral goals.

April 17, 2015

SPORTS

The Brandeis Hoot1 11

Baseball manager Varney reaches 700 career wins against Worcester

By Sarah Jousset Editor

Baseball Head Coach Pete Varney earned the 700th win of his coaching career on Wednesday, April 7. The win came against Worcester State

University at home, by a score of 7-2.

This is Varney’s 34th year coaching baseball at Brandeis. He is the 13th active coach in Division III to reach the milestone, and 29th overall amongst the NCAA. However, Varney is only the fourth coach from the New England Division III ranks to

reach 700 wins. As of Tuesday, April 14, Varney’s overall career record is 700-522-6.

Sam Miller ’16 threw his third complete game of the season to get Varney the win, allowing two runs, one earned run, three hits, three walks and a career-high six strikeouts. After

photo from internet source

pete varney

a two-out error in the top of the first inning, Miller retired 12 batters in a row, and after a bunt and stolen base in the fifth, the Lancers wouldn’t get another runner past first base.

Worcester started off with the lead, scoring both of their runs in the top of the first inning off one hit. With one out, the Lancers’ left fielder drew a walk and stole second base. Worcester’s right fielder then doubled to right-center, scoring the left fielder from first. Then when the Judges’ second baseman booted a ball, the runner on second scored at home, giving the Lancers their second run.

The Judges put runners on in each of the first four innings, but it wasn’t until the fifth inning that the Judges would get one home. With two errors

by Worcester in the fifth inning, the Judges took advantage, as Brian Allen ’15 got on base after an error to start off the inning. Kyle Brenner ’15 then crushed a double to right-center, which allowed Allen to score from first. Connor Doyle ’16 then not only moved Brenner over with

a sacrifice bunt, but reached first on an error by the pitcher. Brenner was then thrown out at home on a ball hit to third base, after stealing third earlier, for the first out of the inning.

Ryan Tettemer ’17 then doubled to bring in Doyle, tying the score. The Judges later pulled ahead 4-2 when a walk put Nick Falkson ’18 on base, followed by Ryan Healy ’16 singling up the middle, bringing home both runners.

Brandeis added three runs to secure Varney’s 700th win in the seventh inning when Greg Heineman ’16 contributed an RBI single and Ryan Pocock ’18 came on to pinch hit and hit a two-run double. Miller silenced any retaliation by the Lancers, retiring six of the last seven batters he faced.

Brandeis’ bats came alive as the Judges were paced by Heineman and Brenner, who each stroked three hits.

While five different players drove in runs, Pocock led the team with multiple RBI. Brandeis baseball plays again Tuesday, April 21 at Gordon College.

Brandeis tennis dominates multiple opponents at home

By Sarah Jousset Editor

On Wednesday, April 9, the men’s tennis team defeated Babson at the Rieger Tennis Courts, 9-0. Brandeis went up three to zero after doubles.

At No. 3, Ethan Saal ’18 and Eric Goldberg ’18 opened the day’s play with an 8-5 win. The No. 1 and 2 spots each earned comeback wins in close matches against Babson. Jeff Cherkin ’17 and Michael Arguello ’17 trailed 7-6 in the number 1 spot, before coming back and beating their opponent 9-7.

In the number 2 spot, Brian Granoff ’17 and Danny Lubarsky ’16 were down 6-5, but won three in a row for a win of 8-6.

Brandeis dominated in singles play as the number 1 and 2 spots crushed their competition. In the number 1 spot, Granoff won 6-0, 6-4, while Arguello won 6-2, 6-1 at the second singles spot. The middle of the lineup saw some closer games with Lubarsky’s win in a tiebreaker with a score of 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) in the number three spot.

At No. 4 Alec Siegel ’15, also went into a tiebreaker in the second set, winning with scores of 6-3, 7-6 (73). In the Number 5 spot Cherkin earned Brandeis a win at 6-4, 6-2, while Kevin Dupont ’16 won 6-1, 6-4 over his opponent.

Women’s tennis faced off twice at home over break, against Wheaton College and Simmons College.

Brandeis dominated in doubles losing only one game of three doubles matches against Wheaton. At the No. 1 spot Carley Cooke ’15 and Haley Cohen ’18 won 8-1 over Wheaton while both Dylan Schlesinger ’15 and Maya Vasser ’16 and Charlotte Aaron ’18 (editor on The Brandeis Hoot) and Sarita Biswas ’17 and swept the competition 8-0 in the No. 2 and 3 spots.

Cooke and Cohen played in singles matches for Brandeis. Cooke beat her opponent 6-3, 6-3, while Cohen finished out the day with a 6-0, 6-2 win.

In play against Simmons College, Brandeis women’s tennis took an 8-1 victory, dominating in singles, not losing a single set. Vasser won 6-0, 6-0 at the No. 3 spot, while Sarah

Chung ’18 contributed a similar win in the No. 6 spot. Cohen, in her first appearance in the No. 1 spot, won 6-3, 6-0. Simone Vandroff ’15 won 6-3, 6-2 in the No. 2 spot. Meanwhile, Aaron won at her highest match this

season with a 6-2, 6-4 win in the No. 4 spot. Biswas rounded out the day in the No. 5 spot with a 6-2, 6-2 victory.

The Judges had a 2-1 win in doubles action against Simmons College.

In the No. 1 spot, Cohen and Cooke

won, 8-1, while Emily Eska ’16 and Danielle Simms ’18 won, 8-1, in the No. 3 spot. Simmons snatched their only win of the day in doubles at the No. 2 spot, with a score of 8-4.

Men’s tennis will finish off their

MENS AND WOMEN’S TEAMS Tennis teams beings to wrap up regular seasons with wins

season this Saturday at home against NYU at 2 p.m. Women’s tennis ends their regular season this Saturday at home against NYU, starting at 10 a.m. Both teams leave for the UAA tournament next Wednesday.

photos from internet source

OPINIONS

12 The Brandeis Hoot

April 17, 2015

Univ. should focus less on business programs

By Andrew Elmers editor

Institutions always look to have some sort of identity—a brand, a slogan—something marketable. If someone wants a nice car, they’re going to look at a BMW or Mercedes even if they don’t know anything about cars, just because those brands have an established place as high-quality luxury automobiles. The same idea holds true for Brandeis.

Ask any prospective student on any campus tour what Brandeis is, and most will tell you its the “social justice” university.

While the validity of that title is often up for debate, that is what defines the university. Yet recently, the university appears to have shifted its focus. A few different examples of policy are favorability being shown towards the International Business School (IBS), and business curriculum in general, among current students, incoming students and faculty.

With pre-registration opening for the Fall 2015 semester, a special registration period was held for IBS undergraduates a day before other students were allowed to register.

Obviously undergraduates in other majors would not be all that affected

by IBS students getting to pick their courses a day earlier, since there are most likely very few higher-level

business classes that non-majors are interested in. This also might have been in response to general problems with previous IBS registration sessions, though it still shows favoritism.

Also, according to recent faculty senate meetings, a new dean position has been approved for IBS, as well as a process of reworking their faculty structure to appear more attractive to potential faculty hires. The university is again showing a willingness to help IBS over other programs, trying to make them more competitive in attracting students and faculty, presumably in an attempt to grow and develop the graduate school to become a more well-known and well-respected institution.

The future of Brandeis is being affcted by this as well. The incoming class of 2019 has been offered the opportunity to pursue a joint BA/ MA in International Economics and Finance with IBS upon entering. This offer comes with a stipulation that would allow incoming students who choose to follow this path a savings in the total tuition cost for the program, once again trying to attract students to IBS in order to expand the graduate school.

While it is smart to actively work on building up IBS and making the overall quality of an education from there better, the university has to be aware of how this then affects the rest of the

graphic by katherine selector/the hoot

school’s identity. Brandeis has relied on a lot of rhetoric over the years of being not just the social justice university, but also the home to a great amount of student activists. Some of

the most quintessential Brandeisian moments have involved students getting their voices heard and enacting change on campus, and that is what the school should be focusing on at-

tracting more of, or at least maintaining the status quo. Business students should not be as heavily recruited, because, while still a vital portion of the community, they typically don’t adhere to the same notions of social justice and activism that, we are led to believe, is what truly defines this school.

Many other schools have good business schools and attract those students that want to get into the business or finance world. Brandeis isn’t one of them, and shouldn’t be trying to become one.

We should let these other universities hold this corner of the market while we can continue to attract students interested in the liberal arts.

Students who wish to work for notfor-profits and NGOs after graduating or those who will head off to professional schools after graduating to become doctors or lawyers are the ones that have defined Brandeis for the past 70 years, and should continue to do so for the next 70.

While it may not look good for college statistics when graduates’ starting salaries are lower than those of other schools that produce the next venture capitalist or stock broker, the school should be proud to be the home to activists and policy makers who have affected the world for the better instead of people just out looking to make some money.

Massell Pond needs to be cleaned

By Zach Phil Schwartz editor

With a harsh winter over and admitted students day just around the corner, the university has been hard at work patching up the grounds to make campus safer and more appealing. The steps by Sherman are on the mend, grounds crews are hard at work refurbishing the campus vegetation and repairs are in short order for the borderline-condemnable castle. With all of this refurbishing going on, it makes you wonder why Massell Pond is so disgusting.

Presumably the byproduct of being a low point on a campus where there’s a lot of water to run off to, Massell Pond is essentially a storm basin that can house a large volume of water so that other parts of campus don’t flood. Whether this was the pond’s original true purpose or if it originated as an effort to get rid of what would’ve been a swampy and oft flooded area is unclear, but its disgusting nature is beyond doubt.

Nowadays, you can walk around the pond and observe what lies below, given it’s an adequate day for water quality, and even that doesn’t happen much. At the end where storm drainage enters and by Sherman, you can see fish (where did they come from?) in the muddy water with some litter thrown in here and there along with a strange orange area where microbes surround a patch of hot water releasing a slightly disturbing plume of steam unto the quad. You may see a dog hopping in to cool down. On a good day, the running fountain and the constant inflow of drainage keeps that half of the pond relatively clean, but as the water moves towards Deroy Hall, it stagnates and for all intents and purposes, putrifies.

On the Deroy half of the pond, the stagnating water slowly makes its way towards an underground waterway that flows towards H Lot and off campus, where it collects grime, dumped objects and layer upon layer of beyond putrid stuff. If you look

photo by sharon cai/the hoot

closely, you can see at least five dead glowsticks caught near the waterway below the discolored layer of stuff.

Needless to say, Massell Pond is filthy and needs cleaning, but strangely the university isn’t doing anything about one of its more glaring problems.

As the weather gets warmer, the prevalence of insects is going to increase significantly, especially in Massell Quad due to its proximity to both Massell and Chapels Pond. The prospect for insects only increases further

in stagnant and nutrient rich waters, which are positively correlated. Unfortunately, mosquitoes also reproduce in these conditions, and the prospect for insect bites and related illnesses only increases with Brandeis’ indifference to the issue.

The risk of illness associated with the water is unnecessary, especially given that the propagation of insects and proliferation of pathogens is so easily preventable with a simple cleaning and an attempt to keep the

water from stagnating, perhaps with a more central, stronger or even another fountain.

Massell Pond is currently an eyesore, especially to those living in the quad. Perhaps this is a reason why campus tour guides sidestep the pond by showing off Usen Hall after Sherman before proceeding towards Chapels Field, keeping prospective students’ eyes off of more than 75% of the quad.

It could, however, be a strength

with just a little maintenance and cleanup. It wouldn’t take much to fix the stagnation problem causing the waste build-up as well as the general trash cleanup. Instead of a disgusting pool students oft berate, the pond could be a crown jewel of lower campus: something for the campus tour guides to show off to prospective students. Instead, the university pretends it doesn’t exist while the risks associated with its continued deterioration continue to rise.

April 17, 2015

The Brandeis Hoot

From the Hoot Archives: Univ. budget woefully non-transparent

By Kevin Healy editor

Over the next two weeks, I plan on writing two pieces regarding the operating budget of the University. since most student don’t know where their tuition goes, how it’s used, or anything related to the Universities financial system. When I first set out to write this article, i assume that was mostly due to disinterest, and that many student’s just didn’t take the time to educate themselves. However, after spending the last week trawling the internet, campus publications, and the minutes of the last three years of faculty meetings, I’ve realized that these problems might be caused instead by a financial system so non-transparent it is impossible to ascertain exactly what the university spends our money on.

I hope that these two pieces can help students understand the universities financial situation, and where they fit into that picture.

This week, I plan to focus on the most exciting part of every college student’s life: paying tuition! Though we’re not the most expensive university in the country (we’re actually only 37th most expensive, according to CampusGrotto.com!), the costs to attend Brandeis are far higher than many other universities. Our current tuition rate is $47,702 a year (at least according to the tuition calculator on our website, because there are slightly different figures in different places). Add in other necessary fees like housing (and the now-required meal plan that comes with it), and prices rise even more.

However, Brandeis didn’t start as the most expensive college in America.

In fact, given its commitment to so-

cial justice you’d expect that it would take steps to make itself affordable, instead of forcing out those in lower socioeconomic classes. Despite that lofty goal, our tuition continue to rise at a staggering rate. Tuition in 2010 was $37,530, while today it stands at $47,702. That represents an increase of 27% over the last five years- almost 10x the current inflation rate.

If this continues, then by 2050 the cost of attendance at Brandeis will be $254,192 a year- mpre than the current price for an entire diploma. This rate of tuition increase is unsustainable and ultimately destructive to the university.

The argument typically made to support these price increases is that the University lost a significant amount of money in the 2008 financial crisis, and we now need to rebuild our schools endowment.

Though it is true that the University lost significant sums of money in 2008, the argument is untrue. Our total endowment has risen from $407 million in 2005, as reported by the Hoot, to an estimated $870 Million today, according to Dow Jones & Company. This means that the university is operating on an endowment 213% larger than in 2005, and it’s unlikely we need such massive increases in those funds. In fact, the strategic plan advocated by President Reinhartz in 2005 called for only a budgetary increase of $15 million by 2012, but we actually increased budget size by far more than that- a value closer to $100 million.

This increase in tuition is in part explained by the slight increase in financial aid awards to students.

Although the Brandeis admissions website proudly proclaims that 70% of students receive financial aid, this

graphic by linjie xu/the hoot

doesn’t actually tell us how much they receive. Last year, there were 5, 825 students enrolled in courses at Brandeis, among both graduate and undergraduate levels and all schools

and programs. We spent $88,767,000 on financial aid, equivalent to an expenditure of $15,238 per student (obviously not all students receive aid and different students receive differ-

OPINIONS 13

ent amounts, but this is a useful average). In comparison, in 2010 there were 5,642 Brandeis students and a total expenditure of $70,100,000, equalling $12,424.

It is truly a good thing that Brandeis has increased access to financial aid awards, especially due to our core beliefs about social justice and the value of accepting students from all walks of life to attend college here. However, this modest increase in aid spending isn’t enough. In 2010, tuition was $40,514, but today it is $47,702. this means that students today on average have to pay $3,500 more out of pocket each year to attend our university.

For those of you who aren’t receiving aid, $3,000 might seem like a drop in the bucket compared to the $200,000 you’ll be paying for your four years here at Brandeis, but for low-income families that $3,000 can be the tipping point that prevents them from affording to attend.

In addition, the majority of the money taken in through tuition hikes doesn’t go toward assisting with financial aid, but to all kinds of other things. We spend more now on faculty, on staff, on facilities, and on basically everything else than we did 10 years. I hope to explore exactly what we’re spending our money on in a piece next week, but I’d like to end by reminding people what Brandeis’ mission actually is. We may be a private university, and we may want to boost the size of our endowment as much as possible, but that isn’t our goal.

We are here to promote social justice and equality. We were created because other prestigious universities created an artificial barrier to meritjewish quotas. Don’t let rising tuition be the next artificial barrier that society creates.

Politicians must reform to re-engage college students

By Nabi Menai Staff

Last week the first Republican nominee for President, Ted Cruz, gave a speech at Liberty University.

During his speech he highlighted many of the reforms he would endeavor to put in place while in the oval office. These included repealing the Affordable Care Act, eradicating the Common Core educational curriculum and rolling back on environmental policy pertaining to climate change.

This sampling of beliefs alone ostracizes Mr. Cruz from a prodigious number of American citizens who identify both with the Republican Party and the Democratic Party.

There is an instrumental group of people, however, that Mr. Cruz’s comments alienate even more; college students. Maybe not the ones at a Christian school like Liberty University but definitely elsewhere.

Most politicians upon Capitol Hill seem to have a tenuous understanding of what the average college student’s experience is like. They understand the onus of student debt very well and the increasingly fading concept of social mobility within America, but at the heart of the modern college experience lies something even more important.

A palpable sense of liberal ideology and activism is seeping through university life here in the United States and the rhetoric of politicians such as Mr. Cruz is only fueling this phenomenon.

To elucidate this consider a few examples. In the 2012 election, 60% of 18-29 year olds supported Barack

Obama, whereas 36% supported Mitt Romney. In 2013, the results of a Gallup Poll showed that 67% of Americans aged 18 – 29) endorsed the legalization of Marijuana, a sizable increase from the previous year as well.

It is widely accepted that most college students are becoming increasingly liberal in their views. It is hard to fault the students when the face of the Republican Party is associated with contentious ideas such as the refusal of global warming, something that contradicts basic scientific principles and has been empirically proven.

Therefore, when politicians such as Mr. Cruz make statements drawing parallels to global warming alarmists and “flat-earthers” (people who used to believe the Earth was flat) they not only distance many college students but also exacerbate their disdain for national politics.

Debates between Democrats and Republicans on the merits of climate change, same-sex marriage, and marijuana legalization are becoming arcane and the budding lawyers, doctors, and engineers of this country expect more. Moreover, they realize that collective action is no longer an obstacle .

The protests against the Keystone XL last year demonstrated this when hundreds of college students were arrested in front of the White House.

Campuses across the country are now home to numerous organizations dedicated to an eclectic mix of causes.

Some are political but a prodigious number are “social justice” oriented focusing on global issues such as Justice in Palestine.

photo from internet source

These clubs offer students a safe space for dialogue that they previously could not afford. As a result, collective action is taken for granted for almost any cause and students want to see progress.

This week’s fervor seems to be focused on a new Indiana law concerning religious freedom. Officially titled the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” many people argue that the law essentially makes it acceptable for businesses and employers to discriminate against gays and lesbians on the grounds of religion.

Whether or not they are correct is

another matter. What is important is the reaction to Mike Pence’s actions, the magnitude of which cannot be overstated.

Not only have college campuses reacted but so too have other liberal bastions such as Silicon Valley. Executives from Tech behemoths such as EBay, Airbnb, and Twitter have all signed a statement urging legislatures across America to “to add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes to their civil rights laws and to explicitly forbid discrimination or denial of services to anyone.”

Many colleges such as Duke University have publicly opposed the new law as the final round of the NCAA’s March madness heads to Indianapolis.

Mr. Cruz’s comments and Mr. Pence’s actions are not new and they are not representative of the entire Republican Party but they are part of a recurring trend.

This trend is taking its toll on the youth of America who are growing disaffected from the political realm.

Voter apathy can be attributed to just apathy but there must be something deeper spurring it. Perhaps it is this.

14 OPINIONS

The Brandeis Hoot

April 17, 2015

Sodexo must move beyond change in name only

By Emily Smith Editor

Much has been written about Sodexo’s inability to provide good-tasting, healthy food. It is true that they have made some progress, or at least that they have tried to convince us that they have. By hosting theme nights, like their recent Harry Potter dinners at Lower Usdan and Sherman, they have created an impression that they are trying and that we should be appreciative. These dinners, while a change of pace, are no better, no healthier and no more creative than usual. Brandeis students are spending thousands of dollars each year to eat over-salted collard greens, overcooked and flavorless chicken and soggy Greek salads. Sodexo, and the Brandeis administration, need to stop taking advantage of the student body’s inability to eat anywhere else and provide some long-overdue upgrades to our mealplans.

Providing food for as many students as Sodexo does cannot be an easy task, and their workers clearly work hard to feed us. It is not the fault of the chefs who work behind the counters at Usdan and Sherman that the ingredients they are provided are not good, or that the recipes they use are lacking in any kind of spice or flavoring. They are not the ones to blame for the miserable food that we are all forced to spend thousands of dollars on. There are, however, people whose job it is to advocate for the students, and these people are either completely ignoring the situation at hand or are just incapable of asking Sodexo for better

photo from internet source

quality food.

At the recent Harry Potter theme night, which had been advertised just like all the other equally disappointing theme nights, students arrived to find the same, sad food as usual, but could at least be consoled by the maroon napkins that were left at random places in the dining hall. There was a cake, but because it could not be cut until 30 minutes before closing, most students did not get the chance to eat it. Spending time and money on these theme nights that provide nei-

Eliana’s Advice: Coping with required meal plans

By Eliana Sinoff staff

Dear Eliana, Next year, I’ll be living in a dorm with a kitchen as a junior. I’m really excited to finally be able to cook for myself, but I’ll be required to get a meal plan. Which should I choose?

– Mad About Meal Plans Dear Mad, If there is one thing at Brandeis that will always bring up controversy and questions, it is the dining services. The Campus Card Office website displays the current meal plan options, which gives you a rundown of the different meal plans and their prices. I would suggest one of the cheaper ones with fewer meals if you are planning on cooking for yourself most of the time.

If you don’t think you’ll want to cook all the time, maybe go for a plan with a few more meals or points. I’m also sure any current upperclassmen that are in similar situations would have some good insights, so maybe talk to some of them. Happy eating!

-Eliana Dear Eliana, I’m having trouble working with someone who is the only person who can do something for me. He enjoys making me do unnecessary things to complete the task. How do I work with people who let small amounts of power go to their heads?

– Guy Just Trying to Get His Work Done Dear G.J.T.G.H.W.D., Just because a person does you a favor, it does not allow him to push you around. In order to show him that he is not all-powerful, you will need to assert yourself and stand up to him.

That doesn’t mean aggressively confront him, but calmly explain that you appreciate his help, but you want to be as efficient as possible, and that some of his methods are unnecessary.

Try to offer alternative solutions and be direct.

If he still doesn’t get it, and there is really no one else who can help you, then it might be easiest to just ride it out and let him have his quick little power trip. Hopefully, he’ll listen to you and realize that he’s being difficult. Be strong!

– Eliana Dear Readers, If you can’t already tell, this is an advice column, and I’m here to help you with any questions that you might have! If you want more exciting questions, send them in, and I will do my best to answer them. Whether it’s relationships, social problems or just life in general— send them here.

I can’t wait to start hearing about everyone’s problems (how often do you hear people say that? Oh yeah, never). Send questions to elianasadvice@gmail.com.

Thanks! -Eliana

ther better food nor a more interesting atmosphere is a waste of energy that would be better spent on providing decent food on a regular basis.

There are some simple fixes that Sodexo could work on to make its dining a little bit less depressing.

Lower Usdan should use its grill, and not just for Curritos. Like Sherman, they should use the grill to provide students with grilled chicken, vegetables and tofu. They should make use of all of their stations, instead of opening some up only on random

days to serve popcorn or tiny portions of salad. They should find a way to accommodate the flood of students that come in during lunch and have to walk laps around Usdan trying to find a seat. They need to find a way to provide their customers with a product that is, at the very least, satisfying. This is not a lot to ask from Sodexo and from Brandeis.

Having tasteless, fattening food is not an uncommon complaint among college students. Brandeis students are not asking for all organic food

or an unreasonable variety of food, but we do deserve decent food. We deserve to eat food that tastes good— or at least not bad, options that are healthy enough to give us the energy we need to be successful. We deserve to have administrators that are accountable and considerate of our needs. Brandeis is an incredibly expensive and well-regarded institution, and it should learn to take the needs of its students into account instead of just taking our money and giving us nothing to show for it. s

Approach debate with sincere interest

By Jess Linde editor

Brandeis really cannot please anyone. Less than a month after Thomas Pickering was announced as this year’s commencement speaker, the Internet has pounced once again.

Already, conservative website TruthRevolt published an article criticizing the school for hosting an “Israel hater” like Pickering after withdrawing an honorary degree from Ayaan Hirsi Ali last year. Despite the facts that Ali has rejected outstanding offers to speak on campus in order to further a false narrative, that I do not find Pickering’s statements on Israel to be as radical as some people who have spoken here and that my own politics drift far to the left, I have to say I kind of agree with the criticism.

Over the course of my three years at Brandeis, I have heard the phrase “vigorous debate” more times than I can count, usually in a sentence lamenting that debate is being silenced by the political and social views of one person or another. The most I ever heard it thrown around was during last year’s “Israel Apartheid Week,” when some students were angry that the event existed at all, and others claimed that their opponents had no interest in debate at all. I saw the same fight happen during the Ayaan Hirsi Ali controversy, and the most recent uproar during winter break. I participated in several of the online debates, got mad several times and realized too late that “vigorous debate” does not exist at Brandeis right now.

Again, I have far-left beliefs, and my character has been treated with utter contempt by people I disagree with politically simply because I say I am a liberal.

But I have done the same thing.

And despite my calling for reasoned

photo from internet source

and vigorous debate on comment threads, I have rarely entered a conversation with the intent of exchanging ideas. The few people I am friendly with who have differing political beliefs are people I never talk to about politics, and there are students who I have turned my nose up at based purely on their politcal reputation.

The choosing of Pickering as a commencement speaker shows a similar indifference on the part of Brandeis.

There is no doubt that some students may be uncomfortable with Pickering’s invitation considering his strong criticism of Israel, an issue that is fiery to say the least. If TruthRevolt and other conservative sites are to be believed at face value, it is actions such as booking Pickering that increases

these students sense of isolation and fear of expressing their opinions. And if that is true, I cannot really blame them for taking their concerns to the Internet, even if I find the publications they contact abhorrent.

As a person who believes very strongly in the power of democratic debate, it is upsetting to see my peers enter conversations with their fists already raised, particularly when I am also guilty of assuming the worst about someone based on their beliefs.

I have no solution for it, and I am not sure that one exists as long as most of the debate remains impersonal and on the Internet. All I can suggest for now is that my fellow students acknowledge these inherent biases, and at least try not to rush in guns blazing.

April 17, 2015

adagio dance company dance

ARTS, ETC.

company performs in spring semester show

The Brandeis Hoot 15

photos by sasha ruiz/the hoot

16 The Brandeis Hoot

barbeque

THIS WEEK IN PHOTOS

photos by emily smithi/the hoot

Hillel hosts a celebration on the Great Lawn

find your light

israel week

The SCC adversitses an event

Students celebrate Israel week on the Great Lawn

photos by emily smith/the hoot

massell pond

food line

Students wait for food

Spring brings birds back to the pond

photos by emily smith/the hoot

hillel

April 17, 2015

photos by emily smith/the hoot

photo by sharon cais/the hoot

Student leaders celebrate Israel week

photos by emily smith/the hoot