The Brandeis Hoot 02/26/2016

Volume 13 Issue 5

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

February 26, 2016

Brandeis University’s Community Newspaper • Waltham, Mass.

Brandeis and Harvard students protest Gittler Prize recipient

By Hannah Schuster and Emily Sorkin Smith Editors

About 20 students from the Ford Hall 2015 movement and Harvard Law School students protested the recipient of a Brandeis prize, Martha Minow, Dean of Harvard Law School. The Harvard Law students have been occupying a building at Harvard to protest racial injustice at the school. The students find it hypocritical that Minow speaks about fighting for justice while not engaging with Harvard’s Belinda Hall movement.

Minow was awarded the Joseph B. and Toby Gittler Prize, created to recognize “scholarly contributions to racial, ethnic and/or religious relations,” according to the event’s program, which comes with a $25,000 prize. In her talk, Minow encouraged everyone to be an “upstander” as opposed to a bystander, to speak out and challenge bullying and injustice.

Students dressed in black entered the room as University Professor Anita Hill introduced Minow and stood along the far side of the room with signs reading “Reclaim Harvard Law” and “Be-

linda Hall stands with Ford Hall,” among others. Students from Ford Hall spoke at Belinda Hall last week, according to the Ford Hall Facebook page. The group has also shared an article about the law student’s occupation and encouraged everyone to follow Reclaim Harvard Law on social media.

During Minow’s speech, the students began to chant, saying “Injustice is in Cambridge. Your school is racist. Your school is not inclusive. Harvard Law School does not teach justice, Belinda Hall teaches justice. Belinda Hall is inclusive. Belinda Hall is anti-racist.”

Some audience members ex-

Office of Prevention Services expands upon current programs

By Elianna Spitzer Editor

Incidents on South Street as well as climate survey results have recently raised the issue of sexual assault. As a result, they have also highlighted the existing programs that combat the issue. The adjudication process as well as Bystander Training practices are currently being reviewed.

The Office of Prevention Services (OPS) is working on Bystander 2.0 which will put into practice the strategies that a student learns in a training session.

The new training program will be a follow up to the original program in order to build upon past efforts. On Nov. 22, 2015, the Senate passed an amendment requiring all club leaders to participate in the original form of bystander training. Bystander Intervention Training is a program in which peer facilitators use presentations and interactive activities to help students know when and how to intervene in situations where there is potential for sexual

Inside this issue:

misconduct. According to Valerie Timms ’16, Charles River and 567 Senator, “The reasoning behind starting with just club leaders was just to get the ball rolling … ideally in the future we want … every single club member to be bystander trained.”

Timms herself is a bystander trainer, and she noted that the OPS often has difficulty finding a time in which two trainers can meet with a club that requests training. The OPS is looking to increase the amount of trainers on hand, specifically male trainers.

While the original format of bystander training has been successful, the OPS is concerned that it lacks a real-life element. “Something they’re really struggling with is people know this information, they know it’s important to do, but it’s not exactly … happening in the moment when you’re at a party,” said Timms. The goal of both versions of the program is still to increase the safety of students on and off campus. “We want Brandeis to be the best that it can be, the safest it can be,” said Timms.

For students who have ex-

News: “Crop Top Challenge” raises awareness Opinion: Profs. must support female students Arts: Photography investigates many themes Features: Judiciary mediates few complaints Editorial:Admin. must address incidents

Page 3 Page 10 Page 16 Page 5 Page 10

perienced sexual misconduct, Brandeis has many options open to them, including confidential and non-confidential resources. Confidential peer resources include the Rape Crisis Center (RCC), the Queer Resource Center (QRC), Student Sexuality and Information Services (SSIS) and Students Talking About Relationships (STAR). Other confidential resources include the Multifaith Chaplaincy, the Brandeis Health Center and the Psychological Counseling Center (PCC).

The Rape Crisis Center is a peer resource that works closely with Sheila McMahon, a sexual assault services and prevention specialist, to provide assistance to survivors of sexual assault. “As peer advocates, we’ve been trained in crisis intervention and in campus resources, so we’re often the first points of contact for a survivor,” wrote Karen Lengler (GRAD), a peer advocate and communications manager at the RCC, in an email to The Brandeis Hoot.

salseros

See SERVICES, page 4

Salsa club welcomes students to dance the night away

ARTS: Page 3

photo by matt kowalyk/the hoot

pressed frustration with the protesters. “This is an obstruction of someone’s right to speak,” one said.

Student protesters were the first to ask questions during the Q&A that followed Minow’s talk. They asked what she was doing to “up-

stand” against racial injustice at Harvard Law. “I am very honored by your upstanding, and I think you know that I’ve been in many conversations with many of you,” said Minow. “So it’s interesting for you to say that I don’t listen.”

According to Harvard students, however, Minow is “disingenuous” in her talks with student activists, both one-on-one and in groups. They find her to be “comfortable with the status quo” and unwilling to fight for change at Harvard.

Minow also questioned the use of social media and the internet as a way of promoting their activism in her response to the students. “I think the really interesting question is...what does it take to have meaningful face to face conversation when it’s appealing and attractive to post things on websites, to take photographs and to go the the media before actually talking to people that you’re actually trying to convince,” she said.

Harvard students, however, do not see Minow as an ally. As she and the students corresponded back and forth, they began speaking over one another, until Minow See PROTEST, page 2

Brandeis aims to double campus recycling rate

By Max Gould Staff

Brandeis is upgrading its recycling program across campus, according to Mary Fischer, Brandeis’ manager of sustainability. The plan to revamp the system will happen in two steps, the first to be completed by the end of February and the second by the end of March.

The first step of the sustainability project will upgrade the recycling system in the Humanities Quad, Heller and all residence halls. Near the end of March the rest of campus will see the same changes.

The goal of the program is to double the recycling rate at Brandeis by the end of 2016, according to Fischer. The national average recycling rate for universities is 40 percent of waste, but as of 2015 Brandeis’ recycling rate landed at only 20 percent. By doubling Brandeis’ rate, the university’s recycling rate is expected to match the national average.

castle construction

Students should have a say in new residence hall

ARTS: Page 15

The sustainability project plans to meet its goals in three steps.

The first is to match every trashcan on campus with a recycling bin, calling it “bins are besties.”

The initiative encourages the Brandeis community to work together, including contacting facility services if any trash cans are seen without a recycling bin “bestie.” “​ It’s not a question of new bins, actually, it’s simply deploying the bins we already have in more strategic and logical places,” said Fischer in an email to The Brandeis Hoot. “There were very few places where new bins were needed, so this has been a low investment-high impact initiative,” she said.

Second, every recycling bin will be clearly labeled with what type of trash can be recycled.

“Every inch of each sign is deliberate- every picture and every word,” said Fischer. “We are calling the trash ‘the bin of last resort’ to remind people that so much of See RECYLING, page 2

NEWS

2 The Brandeis Hoot

February 26, 2016

Students protest Gittler Prize Ceremony See PROTEST, page 1

told the students she would speak with them on campus and suggested other audience members should pose their questions. At this point, the protesters left the room.

In the fall, students from the group Reclaim Harvard Law issued demands calling on the

school to hire a more diverse faculty and change the law school’s seal which is the Isaac Royall family crest, according the group’s “wordpress” website. The Royalls were a slaveholding family from New England who donated money to Harvard Law School after its inception. Student activists do not want the legacy of slavery tied to the law school.

Unsatisfied with the school’s re-

sponse to the demands, students began occupying Fireside Lounge in the Caspersen Student Center on Feb. 15, though they have renamed the building Belinda Hall for one of the Royall family’s slaves who took the family to court and won reparations for her enslavement, according to the group’ website. Activists at Brandeis renamed the Bernstein-Marcus administration building “Ford Hall”

in reference to the old Ford Hall administration building that students occupied in the 1960s.

An audience member gave a summary of these events for those who were not aware of the context of the protest.

Minow’s speech called attention to the privatization of functions that used to be run by the government, including privately owned prisons or schools. She explained

that contracts made with private corporations often prevent people from filing charges against these companies in court. Because constitutional values don’t apply to the private sector in the same way the do to the public sector, Minow said, consumers aren’t protected.

More than 20 audience members gave Minow a standing ovation. The majority of them were not students.

Brief: Physics building evacuated due to smoke during Wednesday morning classes The Abelson-Bass-Yalem physics building had to be evacuated at around 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 24 due to a mechanical issue that created smoke inside, according to an email from Jim

Gray, the vice president for campus operations.

An issue with equipment in a mechanical room that serves the building and others in the science complex led to the evacuation, ac-

cording to the email sent to students after the incident.

Waltham police and multiple fire trucks from the Waltham fire department arrived at the scene.

They inspected the building, de-

termined the cause of the problem and allowed everyone back into the building once conditions were acceptable.

Buildings “adjacent” to the physics building were evacuat-

ed “as a precautionary measure,” said Gray. There were no injuries resulting from the incidents, according to his email.

Brief: Interim Pres. Lynch gives update on Draft Implementation Plan Points in the Implementation Plan the university and student representatives of the Ford Hall 2015 movement had developed last fall are in the process of being fully outlined and accomplished, wrote Interim President Lisa Lynch in an email to Brandeis community members. The progress described involves students, staff and faculty to address racial injustice and discrimination on campus.

The Draft Implementation Plan for Diversity and Inclusion referenced in Lynch’s email includes

nine different goals, each with a status, timeline and point person.

The statement was agreed upon after students occupied the Bernstein-Marcus Administration Building for 12 days in November and December.

Brandeis is using the search firm Witt/Kieffer to find a Chief Diversity Officer. The search committee is made up of two undergraduate students, two graduate students, faculty, staff and a member of the Board of Trustees, led by Interim Provost Irving Epstein.

In an effort to recruit and retain

more underrepresented faculty and staff, deans have been working on mentoring programs for junior faculty. The Faculty Senate and the Committee on Faculty Rights and Responsibilities is finalizing a plan for Target of Opportunity Appointments.

The Implementation Plan stated that the university would plan to increase the pool of underrepresented applicants and increase scholarships for graduate students, especially Posse scholars and graduates of HBCUs. There has been a 14.8 percent increase

in African-American applicants and an 18 percent increase in Latino/Hispanic students for the upcoming academic year, according to Lynch’s email. A new scholarship, modeled after the Posse scholarship, will be offered through the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, awarding full tuition and a $10,000 stipend to up to five students per year.

Professional ombudsman training was provided for three members of Academic Services, who are now serving as ombudspeople. They are available to speak

confidentially with students about campus-related concerns. Staff at the Hiatt Career Center have received training in multicultural competencies, another issue addressed in the Implementation Plan.

Lynch thanked students for their work to make the university more diverse and inclusive. “This work is part of the fabric of who we have always been as Brandeisians—committed, passionate and resourceful in the pursuit of social justice and equality for all,” Lynch wrote.

Every trash can to have recycling bin ‘buddy’ See RECYLING, page 1

what we use on campus every day is recyclable.” The signs will also contain facts on the economics of recycling (half as expensive to haul as trash) and a reminder to remove liquid or food scraps from items before recycling.

The lids of recycling bins are also going to be removed in the new initiative. Fischer explained that bin lids with different slots confuse recyclers and do not properly explain that every bin can take all recyclable waste, thanks to a process called single-stream recycling.

Students have picked up on the university’s issues with recycling.

“I feel like there aren’t a lot of places to recycle,” said Chaya Shapiro ’17. Shapiro also thought that

Brandeis should “provide more recycling bins in the dorms and dining halls.”

Laura Broffman ’18, an environmental studies major, thinks the current recycling program could be upgraded. “It definitely works but is not accessible everywhere on campus,” she said. Broffman believes the new program would be a welcomed improvement, saying, “I think the new program sounds great, and solves the problem of there being trash cans available and not recycling.”

The new initiative will continue Brandeis’ practice of single-stream recycling, which has been the focus of some controversy in the past. In 2008 Brandeis began single-stream recycling, which allows for paper, plastics, metals and all containers to be mixed in bins, according to a

Hoot article from March 2015.

The waste is then separated later between recyclable and non-recyclable materials. This can lead to a lower rate of recycling due to contamination or mistakes in the sorting process, according to The Hoot’s article. However, because all products go together, it makes the process simpler.

Fischer is the first consistent sustainability coordinator that Brandeis has had since 2012 when the position was filled shortly by an interim coordinator. Brandeis did not appoint another coordinator after the interim coordinator until Fischer arrived this past July.

“Nothing about Brandeis is average, and our sustainability initiatives should not be an exception,” said Fischer.

Students received an email on Feb. 22 about the new recycling program which made it clear that the success of the program is largely dependent on the cooperation of the Brandeis community.

“Everyone must do their part,” wrote Fischer.

In the message, she set a semester goal of increasing the recycling rate at Brandeis to 30 percent by this summer. “Simply communicating the fact that our performance in this very basic, simple action is far below our peers has been key to opening people’s eyes that we need to start paying attention to our personal impacts,” said Fischer.

“Everyone knows recycling is good, what I think the school needs to do is raise awareness of the importance of it and provide reminders to recycle,” said Broffman.

photos by hannah schuster/the hoot

February 26, 2016

The Brandeis Hoot

Two students set off social media challenge to raise awareness of climate change

By Abigail Gardener Editor

Carly Chernomorets ’16 and her best friend Abbie Goldberg ’16 posted a picture on Facebook on Jan. 30 that started a movement: the Climate Change Crop Top Challenge. In the picture, both Chernomorets and Goldberg are glowering into the camera and wearing crop tops in the middle of winter. Chernomorets captioned the picture, “CLIMATE CHANGE CROP TOP CHALLENGE: every time that it’s too warm for the season (or when it’s above 32 degrees in the middle of winter) wear a crop top. because you can and because the world is literally ending,” along with the hashtags “#aninconvenientbellybutton, #tummyskinforclimatejustice and #climatechangecroptopchallenge.”

The challenge dares students to wear crop tops every day that the weather is unseasonably warm to spread awareness about climate change.

Chernomorets, who started the movement at Brandeis, posts a picture of herself and Goldberg wearing crop tops along with a fact about climate change every time the weather is warmer than it should be. So far they have posted five pictures.

“The purpose of the Climate Change Crop Top Challenge is to bring awareness to the changing climate, to keep people thinking about our rapidly decaying Mother Earth and to end climate change using the only tools we know how: social media and skin,” said Chernomorets in an email to The Brandeis Hoot.

Chernomorets said she originally tried to start the movement at UMass, but had better luck at Brandeis, where more people knew her and were eager to participate and show their support.

As the challenge caught on, people began nominating their friends to bare their midriffs and post a Climate Change Crop Top Challenge picture the next time the weather reached above 32 degrees.

“The challenge has spread like wildfire! We’ve seen belly buttons of every race, creed, religion and gender identity. People we’ve never even met are doing it,” Chernomorets said. “We’ve seen belly buttons as far away as Canada, and it’s not only college students who are baring their midriffs for climate justice. We’ve seen grads, yuppies and even our parents rock crop tops for the cause.”

The challenge has made a significant impact so far. The pictures may be somewhat amusing, but many people who are participating are posting serious facts about climate change to spread the message about the gravity of the situation.

Brandeis Climate Justice posted a Climate Change Crop Top Challenge picture to their Facebook page on Feb. 4. The group photo depicts members of Brandeis Climate Justice wearing crop tops, with part of the caption stating, “In solidarity with all who are already severely being affected by climate change globally, Brandeis Climate Justice participates in the Climate Change Crop Top Challenge.

While many of us undoubtedly appreciate the pleasant weather that has graced our university campus for the past few days, we cannot help but remember the

Students elected to judiciary board and final seat on the Senate

By Samantha Lauring Staff

Students were elected to fill two vacant seats in the Student Union last week. This election was held to fill any vacancies from the Midyear Election, which was held in January. Open positions included senator for Rosenthal Quad and an associate justice seat on the Judiciary Board.

Nathan Schneider ’18 was elected as senator to Rosenthal Quad.

Schneider decided to run for a position on the Union because he feels that “there is a strong disconnect between the senate and the people they represent.”

As the new Rosenthal Quad senator, Schneider would like to reach out and connect more with his fellow residents, specifically via email. “I would inform them of my office hours, request feedback for things in our quad that people would like to see change and relay information that may impact people in the quad,” said Schneider.

Schneider would specifically

like to improve the cooking facilities within each building. “There are no ovens in Rosie, which poses a major inconvenience for people trying to make food,” said Schneider. Schneider believes as the Rosie Senator he can contribute to the Student Union as a whole by providing unique perspectives within the Senate and representing the people in Rosie quad with an unbiased opinion.

Tremaine Smith ’18 was elected to fill an Associate Justice seat on the Judiciary Board. The Judiciary Board is the judicial branch of the Student Union that is composed of four Associate Justices, one Chief Justice and one Clerk of the Count.

The Judiciary is in place to mediate conflicts in the Student Union. According to the Brandeis University Student Union website, “This includes, but is not limited to conflicts between: two clubs, a club and the Union, two Union members or a Union member and the Union.” Additionally, the Judiciary is the main source of constitutional interpretation for the Union.

NEWS

3

photo courtesy carly chernomorets

magnitude of disaster that the ongoing rise in mean global temperature means worldwide.”

Chernomorets is not planning on giving up on the challenge anytime soon. “It works by using

the power of the internet to affect atmospheric temperatures. Also by rallying armchair activists to take one more step in their journeys to almost making a difference,” she said.

photo courtesy carly chernomorets

“We will ph0tograph our midsections until climate change drives us to our inevitable demise.”

In The Senate: Feb. 20 • The Cantonese Culture Club appeared before the Senate for recognition -The club’s mission is to serve as a representative to the student body, and to raise awareness of Cantonese culture.

-The club plans to hold bi-weekly events, including Cantonese language classes and “Cantonese table,” which would be a primarily Cantonese-speaking event or dinner to help club members practice use of the language.

-Additionally, representatives of the club stated that they plan to hold events throughout the year that include Cantonese cooking, art, game and movie nights, dim sum and more, hopefully in partnership with BAASA and other groups.

-The Senate briefly debated whether a separate culture club should be formed for each group that requests recognition.

“There is a point when you have 7,000 cultures on the planet, and we can’t have 7,000 clubs,” said Class of 2017 Senator Matt Smetana.

-Following debate, the Senate unanimously voted to recognize the Cantonese Culture Club.

• The ad-hoc Committee on Club Organization (COCO) presented their findings.

-Class of 2019 Senator Nathan Greess reported that there isn’t a single complete database of all clubs.

Some clubs fall into a category of the Senate not knowing whether they’re still active, chartered, or recognized. 50-72 clubs are lacking a constitution in the university’s database.

-The committee announced that they would send an email to all club leaders requesting them to submit any missing constitutions before a certain date.

-The committee also released recommendations for actions to be considered against clubs that do not respond to their request, which include potential loss of accreditation.

• The Brandeis Turkish Students Association appeared before the Senate for chartering.

-The club reported that they serve Turkish food at meetings, and that group members personally have paid for the food; however chartering would relieve members from having to pay in the future.

-The Senate unanimously voted to charter the Brandeis Turkish Students Association.

• Student Union President Nyah Macklin ’16 presented updates to the Senate.

-New Senators Nathan Schneider ’18 (Rosenthal), Cacildia Cain (Class of 2018), Ryan Tracy (Class of 2017) and Gwen Fraser (Ziv) were sworn in.

Spring elections mandatory candidates’ meeting will be held on March 10.

The Student Union will be co-sponsoring debate watch parties with the Brandeis Democrats and the Brandeis Conservatives in an effort to bring the campus community together.

Senators gave their committee and personal reports.

-- Jacob Edelman

4 NEWS

The Brandeis Hoot

February 26, 2016

Senate sub-committee seeks constitutions from all clubs

By Hannah Schuster Editor

The Student Union is seeking to ensure that every club at Brandeis has an up-to-date constitution as a means of determining which clubs are active and which are not.

This is part of a larger club reorganization initiative.

The aim is to “get a handle on how many clubs we have and what each one of them does and that’s really difficult when we don’t have constitutions,” said Nathan Grees ’19, chair of the Senate’s ad hoc committee on club reorganization, a subcommittee of Club Support.

The Union has been working throughout this year to examine clubs with overlapping purposes and find ways for groups to collaborate on events or activities.

However, when not all of them have constitutions, the senators are not able to determine their function and thus cannot see if another club has a similar one, said Greess.

Fifty clubs do not have a constitution published on their “Google site,” available through the Student Activities web page, according to a report from the subcommittee.

This is 18 percent of clubs, or 20 percent including the 22 groups whose status is “unknown,” ac-

cording to the report. These are groups the Senate has “lost track of,” said Greess. They do not have a Google site available.

Article VIII Section 8.1.3 of the Union’s bylaws requires that all clubs have a constitution. “[This initiative] is enforcing what we’ve asked for already,” said Greess.

The Union contacted clubs without published constitutions and asked them to submit a copy, according to Greess. Clubs that do not respond by Feb. 28 risk losing their accreditation—that is, their charter or recognition—according to the recommendations section of the report.

More than a dozen clubs had submitted constitutions, as of Thursday, many of whom just did not have the document on their site, said Greess yesterday in an email to The Hoot.

The clubs that have been in touch and do not have a constitution are being given time to write one. Senator-at-Large Lorenzo Finamore ’18, chair of the Club Support committee, will be helping them.

Senators are also attempting to ascertain whether the “status unknown” clubs are still active, said Greess. They are aware that some are, such as Tron, the men’s ultimate frisbee team, which was placed on the list because on the

Student Activities’ page, their name links to the Tennis Club’s Google site.

Next week, the Union will search for representatives of the “status unkown” clubs, although there is no deadline attached to this process as Greess said it’s unclear how difficult it will be to track them down.

“At this time, I do not predict the Senate will be prompted to revoke the recognition or charter status of very many clubs,” said Greess on Thursday. “I am very glad club leaders have been so cooperative and responsive to our requests and inquiries and look forward to continuing to support their work.”

Also as part of this project, Shuying Liu ’16, the Student Union’s secretary, will send an email to all clubs, via the club leaders listserv asking everyone to submit the most recent version of their constitution.

Most clubs’ constitutions outline a process for approving amendments, often a vote of active members. There are, however, two changes which the Senate must vote to approve. These are name changes and changes to purpose.

The documents clubs submit at this time, whether they need to update them or not, will be

Students have confidential and noncofidential resources in sexual assault cases From ASSAULT, page 1

a peer advocate and communications manager at the RCC, in an email to The Brandeis Hoot.

Peer advocates at the RCC are confidential, though some resources on campus are not.

Non-confidential resources include the Dean of Students Office, the Title IX Coordinator and Student Rights and Community Standards.

Confidentiality may mean something different depending on the center. At the RCC, peer advocates are not “responsible employees” under Title IX. “We are strictly confidential 100 percent of the time,” said Lengler. She further clarified that RCC workers may seek guidance from McMahon or Julia Rickey, survivor advocate and education specialist, who are also not considered “responsible employees” under Title IX. “The only scenario I can imag-

ine in which a peer advocate would disclose a case to someone else is if they feel they need to find Julia or Sheila for support in serving a survivor. In that case, the survivor’s name would not have to be disclosed, and Julia and Sheila would be there to best prepare the advocate to support the survivor,” wrote Lengler in an email to The Hoot.

OPS staff do not uphold confidentiality when there is impending harm to self or others. In this situation, a student’s case may be reported under Title IX. McMahon clarified this clause. “It means that if someone has an active plan to commit suicide or homicide and they disclose that to us, we can’t ethically keep that to ourselves. We would coordinate with the PCC to make sure the student has the necessary support to be safe,” wrote McMahon in an email to The Hoot.

A student whose case is reported under Title IX has two options: a Title IX investigation or a Spe-

cial Examiner’s Process. Rights & Responsibilities outlines the adjudication process and is updated yearly. The actual process itself is up for review. “The campus wide task force will be reviewing R&R in upcoming meetings regarding possible policy changes,” wrote McMahon.

Advocates at the RCC are available to walk students through the adjudication process. “Reporting sounds like a really intimidating alternative, and most students don’t know the ins and outs of the process—the RCC is there to inform them of that and make sure they wouldn’t have to go through it alone,” wrote Lengler.

Confidentiality remains an important factor for the peer resources available on campus.

“Our focus is always going to be on the survivor and what they feel comfortable disclosing, and to whom,” said Lengler.

photo from brandeis.edu/rcc

used in the Union’s ongoing exploration. Senators want to put constitutions “side-by-side,” said Greess, and see where they can encourage collaboration or avoid “double funding” two similar events put on by different clubs.

“And we don’t want to have outdated constitutions so [that] we’re making decisions based on stuff that they’re not actually doing,” he said.

Club leaders themselves are not always at fault for a missing constitution, however. Some may be lost due to a technical issue or a miscommunication between the Union and Student Activities.

Club leadership also changes from year to year, Greess noted.

“There’s a lot of places where the constitutions could’ve dropped out,” he said. “That’s why we’re hoping to give [clubs] some leeway before just cutting them out.”

Spoon University, for example, was chartered in October, at which point they submitted a constitution to the Senate. However, it is not online. For some reason the constitution did not make it to Student Activities or online, said Greess, though he knows the club does have one.

Some confusion is also due to name changes. Students for Accuracy in Israeli and Palestinian Affairs (SAIPA) was listed as

“status unknown,” but the group changed their name to Judges for Israel. The group still did not have a constitution online, however it was uploaded in response to the Union’s request on Feb. 23.

The Union members exploring club reorganization include Greess, Finamore, Vice President David Herbstritt ’17, President Nyah Macklin ’16 and others.

They have discussed ideas such as encouraging clubs to form umbrella organizations like the Waltham Group for community service or Behind the Scenes, a collective of tech teacher groups.

They have noticed that some clubs host similar events, such as certain cultural or holiday events, with the Allocations Board struggling to fund them all.

“What ends up happening is we’re giving a little bit of money to two different [clubs] and neither of them have enough money to do what they want to do,” said Greess in a January interview with The Brandeis Hoot. However, the Union does not want to force partnerships between clubs with important differences, said Greess, citing some of the Israeli clubs as examples.

The push to obtain accurate constitutions is one part of what will be a long-term project for the Student Union.

Students, faculty and staff to compete in sustainability contests

By Ryan Spencer Staff

Two new sustainability contests will begin at Brandeis over the next few weeks in an effort to raise awareness on how students, faculty and administration can work together to conserve energy, according to Mary Fischer, Brandeis’ sustainability coordinator. Following the North Quad vs. Massell Quad contest held last semester, there will be a “cross-campus” sustainability contest between office and academic buildings as well as and a competition between Ziv Quad, Ridgewood and the Village.

The winner of last semester’s contest, Gordon Hall in North Quad, reduced their average daily electricity use by 10 percent.

Fischer hopes participants in the upcoming contests can do even more, she said in an email to The Brandeis Hoot.

The cross-campus contest is set to begin on Feb. 29 and will continue through March 13.

This cross-campus sustainability contest involves the buildings Shiffman, Olin-Sang, the Mandel Center for the Humanities, Lown, Kutz Hall, Heller-Brown-Schneider, the Administration Complex, 480 Old South Street and 60 Turner Street.

The residence hall contest will start on March 7 and end on March 20. As part of the contest, there will be an Instagram takeover where students share how they are conserving energy, with the 10 residents who post the most receiving TapBrandeis water bottles and the quad whose residents share the most receiving 10 kilowatt hours off their final result. To participate in the Instagram contest, residents of the Quads must use #brandeis and their quad’s special hashtag:

#bgreenziv, #bgreenridgewood or #bgreenvillage.

The winning building and quad will receive a party with locally-sourced apple cider and cider donuts as well as their their building or quad name on the sustainability trophy.

Interim results on participants progress will be available on the Brandeis Sustainability website, said Fischer in an email to The Hoot.

Posters about the contest suggest many ways students may save energy in their residence halls.

Students can, for example, turn lights out when sunlight is sufficient or when the lights are not in use, power off and unplug computers and gaming consoles when they are not being used, and use less hot air on things such as hair driers and space-heaters.

Mary Fischer, Brandeis’ sustainability coordinator, explained in emails with The Hoot that the sustainability contests aim to educate, raise awareness and show that the Brandeis community is able to make a difference in our daily energy usage.

The Brandeis campus “uses approximately 45 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year, at a cost of about $6 million,” said Fischer.

The university uses around 25 percent more energy per square foot compared to similar college campuses, said Fischer, even factoring in points such as size, age and climate zone.

“Part of the reason is simply how we use energy individually.

We have control over that, and we can really make a difference.”

“Competitions are f​un, first of all. But they are a​ great way to​ show that individual actions add up, because they make the results very aligned with their short-term change in behavior.”

OPINIONS

February 26, 2016

NEWS 5

Profs: encourage female students to speak up more in class

By Katarina Weessies Columnist

In one of my politics classes (which will remain unnamed), men speak up far more frequently than women. In an informal tally recording how often men and women spoke in class, about eight male students spoke up per every one female student. This is in a 40-student, gender balanced classroom led by a female professor. On a few occasions, the professor has even deliberately asked women to answer questions or give their viewpoint. When this happens, one female student usually raises her hand to contribute before the class discussion quickly returns to being dominated by male students. Even when discussing women’s rights issues, the discussion is monopolized by men.

Similar patterns are apparent in other classes. In English classes, most of which are majority female, I’ve observed that the few men in class often overtake the discussion and are usually more likely to make comments that disagree with the professor or another student. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. Smaller classes can undergo enormous changes in dynamic based on the personalities of students. A few assertive women in a small class can make a big difference in the

usually unbalanced gender dynamic. But despite the ability of women to alter the gender imbalance of small classes, the majority of classes feature discussions that are dominated by male students.

This problem ranges far wider than Brandeis. It is far larger than universities in general. This is part of an enormous trend in our society in which women feel afraid or unable to assert themselves in public situations. The reason for the disparity between male and female classroom speakers is the societal expectation put on women to be passive people­-pleasers.

Speaking up in class, especially to assert an opinion or argue with another student, requires a level of assertiveness that defies gendered expectations and learned behaviors for college-­aged women. Despite the robust, assertive feminist community at Brandeis, it is not easy for female students to simply unlearn these societal norms and expectations.

Obviously, Brandeis’ student body includes far more diverse gender identities than just men and women. While I don’t have any data about the discussion habits of nonbinary students in Brandeis classes, it is likely that they face similar problems to cisgender women when it comes to speaking up in class, since nonbinary people are silenced similarly to and often more intensely than women.

This is a huge problem when it comes to the future of gender equality. Unfortunately, the habits that lead women not to speak up in class are the same ones that lead them to remain quiet in their personal and professional lives.

How can we expect women to assertively negotiate salaries or run aggressive political campaigns at the same rate as men if it is not even socially acceptable for them to raise their hands in class at the same rate as men?

This is not an easy issue to solve.

“

in a classroom and hold the power to ensure that women feel safe and confident to speak up in their classrooms.

Gender disparities are not the professor’s fault. Professors cannot singlehandedly change the effects of the culture in which their students were brought up. For the most part, students will fall back to whatever classroom participation habits they learned earlier in life. But if professors are able to recognize that a gender imbalance exists in their classroom dis-

of classroom gender disparity, students may be more motivated to fix the problem and speak up more often. While it might seem like a waste of class time to verbally encourage people to participate in discussion, the few moments required to advocate for students is worth the time because a more ­diverse class discussion will likely lead to more developed and varied ideas, vastly improving the educational situation of the entire class.

Hopefully, as gender equality

A more ­diverse class discussion will likely lead to more developed and varied ideas, vastly improving the educational situation of the entire class.

In order for women to speak up in class as often as men, they would have to completely erase the psychological effects of a culture that teaches them to be docile and pleasing. However, we should not ask women to do this on their own. Professors, regardless of gender, are the ultimate leaders

cussions, there are some ways that they can remedy it.

The simplest way to help combat this imbalance is to first make students aware of it. Many students probably don’t realize the extent to which they are not speaking up in class. If they think about their participation in the context

”

advances, more people will feel able to assert themselves more often in the classroom and eventually in their careers. For now, the ridiculous domination of white cis male speakers will likely continue, but we should always be conscious and try to take steps to remedy this, even if just a little bit.

New residence hall needs Brandeis flair

By Andrew Elmers Columnist

The Brandeis administration has always looked for feedback from students in their effort to appear transparent. Whether it’s a town hall meeting or lunch with President Lynch or a survey sent out about redesigns to the website, there have been multiple opportunities for the greater community to make their voices heard. Hopefully this policy

ridgewood quad

doesn’t change with the eventual construction of a new residence hall where the Castle now stands, and the student body will get a chance to offer input on the design for the building.

Other than incoming firstyears, no students are automatically assigned to a specific residence hall or room. While the housing lottery process right now is flawed, and the proposals for change DCL presented this past month aren’t ideal either, students still have a choice as to where to

The most recent residence quad to be constructed.

live. Therefore they should also have a choice in how their residence halls will look. Even if it is on a matter as simple as the color of the walls, the student body will appreciate the building much more if they feel that they had a part in its construction.

I wasn’t here the last time a completely new residence hall was constructed (the Ridgewood Quad was completed in January 2009), so I don’t know if students who attended during Bush 43’s administration had any say in

Ridgewood’s design. Either way, the new residence hall should certainly consider student input during its construction. Most likely the university has already contracted an architectural firm to design the building, and if the administration wants to appear transparent, the community would eventually see these plans.

The aesthetics of the design should be opened for discussion.

Things like exterior and interior colors should be chosen by current students, some of whom

might wind up living in the building once it’s completed. Probably the most important part of the design is the actual style of living arrangements the residence hall will offer. Will it consist of mostly single and double rooms—similar to the Castle—or will there be mostly suites? This decision might have been made already, but if it hasn’t, then the student body should play a large part in the final decision.

Other design features, such as the See NEW RESIDENCE HALL,

photo from brandeis.edu

6 OPINIONS

The Brandeis Hoot

February 26, 2016

DCL housing proposals fail to address lowered capacity

By Zach Phil Schwartz Editor

On Feb. 9, the Department of Community Living released a poll gauging student opinion on their new room selection proposals. Both proposals seek to solve problems stemming from the current housing lottery system, but at the same time fail to take into account the changes that will be taking place on campus between 2017 and the latter part of 2018.

The announcement of the Castle’s impending shuttering and demolition did not just pull on the heartstrings of students and alumni; it created a logistical problem that will take effect the day the doors close.

Because of the demolition and planned construction of a new residence hall, the university will lose another 120 beds for three semesters. This problem is compounded by the fact that students living in the Castle during Fall 2016 will need to move out by

the castle awaits demolition

Spring 2017. Brandeis, a school that already struggled with a high student-to-housing space ratio, will therefore be faced with a 120 bed shortage for at least three semesters, beginning in the spring of 2017, which will push more upperclassmen off campus.

The first proposal that the Department of Community Living released on Feb. 5 offers a new system in which any sophomore, junior or senior can choose to live anywhere on campus (save the required first-year quads, Massell and North). Seniors could choose to live in East and Rosenthal while Sophomores can choose to live in Ridgewood and Ziv, for example. Seniors would also get exclusive housing in Ridgewood C and in the Mods. This plan would essentially make all upperclassmen quads “moist,” as many juniors and seniors can drink, but underage students will still not be able to consume alcohol in those quads.

Although this plan looks inter-

esting at face value, it will push the process in favor of rising sophomores. It is important to remember that sophomores will still be guaranteed housing under these proposals, as it is equally important to remember that a 120-bed sophomore quad will be shuttered in two semesters. Seniors and especially juniors would find significant hardship finding on-campus housing regardless of this plan, because at the end of the day, there’s just simply less space available.

The second proposal, which attempts to reward those that have consistently stayed on campus with better housing numbers than those who have not, attempts to tweak the existing system: a bandaid to a problem of capacity without putting forth a real solution.

These proposals seem more to be shake-ups of the current system than they are vectors for any positive change in the selection process. The university needs to do more than alter the pecking

order of the current system; it needs to consider making major changes.

There exists a major problem that drives many students off campus: high housing costs plus mandatory meal plans. These together can at times exceed the costs of living off campus, thus many students choose to do so.

Mandatory meal plans, which will take full effect for the entire student body next semester, seem to be driving students away; their unpopularity makes them unfavorable investments for the university. Terminating mandatory status for those living in residence halls with kitchens may stand to bring student money back into the housing system.

Ending mandatory meal plans is not enough to correct the problems plaguing student retention in the housing system. The school has had trouble with capacity since before the Castle’s impending closure announcement, and the new residence hall that will

The loss of the Castle squeezes capacity by 120 students.

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD Write a letter to the editor to express your views on our writers opinions and see yourself featured in next weeks issue! Submit to letters@thebrandeishoot.com Have a piece you want published? Submit it to us at eic@thebrandeishoot.com Have an idea for a column? Contact join@thebrandeishoot.com

stand where much of the Castle is today will not hold many more students than the latter does today. It is time for the university to invest in more alternative housing (like 567 South Street and Charles River) nearby.

Through offering on-campus housing in an off-campus setting with subsidized on-campus prices, both the school and its students can benefit. Brandeis can earn money from those students technically living “off-campus” while students can enjoy the benefits of lower-priced housing and independence.

This kind of investment can seriously alleviate the capacity problem that plagues the university.

Simple shake-ups to the housing lottery program will not make DCL’s housing problems go away; it will take real change—such as mandatory meal plan cutbacks and off-campus investments—to make a real difference.

photo by sharon cai/the hoot

SUBMISSION POLICIES The Brandeis Hoot welcomes letters to the editor on subjects that are of interest to the community.

Preference is given to current or former community members and The Hoot reserves the right to edit or reject submissions. The deadline for submitting letters is Wednesday at noon. Please submit letters to letters@thebrandeishoot.com along with your contact information. Letters should not exceed 500 words.

The opinions, columns, cartoons and advertisements printed in The Hoot do not necessarily represent the opinions of the editorial board.

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

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February 26, 2016

OPS 7

The Brandeis Hoot

Students should have say in new residence hall design NEW RESIDENCE HALL, from

common areas that will be in the building and the outdoor landscaping, should also get feedback from students.

According to the Castle project website, construction on the new residence halls won’t begin until

June 2017, roughly 15 months from now. That leaves plenty of time for surveys to be formulated and advisory groups to meet to determine what the finished building will actually look like.

There haven’t been any updates posted since Interim President Lynch sent the letter to the community announcing the future of the Castle, so hopefully the ad-

ministration is taking this time to plan out the best ways to incorporate students’ voices in the final product. Even if it includes letting art students paint murals or hang their work in the halls, having some indication that students were part of the process would be ideal.

Opening up the conversation to students will increase the sense

of community the building will create. The future residents of the hall will feel a greater responsibility to keep the building clean and fresh. And while a large majority of the current undergraduate population will never have the opportunity to live in this new residence hall, it would still be nice to come back and visit campus in the future, knowing you

had a say in the construction of an entire building. Our campus is losing the majority of the Castle, the most iconic building on campus by far. We need something to replace the symbol it holds for the school, and getting students involved in the design of it would be a good first step to creating a memorable building.

photo from bostonmagazine.com

Does Brandeis do enough for mental health?

By Gabriel del Carmen Columnist

The state of mental health care on Brandeis’ campus is better than at most other schools. Unfortunately, though, most schools do not do reach the minimum threshold to be declared adequate. Many Brandeis students are unable to answer very simple questions about the mental health resources we have on campus: What does the “PCC” stand for?

What is in Mailman House? (“Is that where the mailroom is?”)

Where do Brandeis students go if they are experiencing a mental health crisis?

The Psychological Counseling Center, or PCC, is located in Mailman House near Gosman. It is a fantastic resource for those who are experiencing excess stress, a crisis of mental health, symptoms from a mental illness and more.

These resources are available for each and every student. Brandeis has even gone as far as to offer 12 free counseling sessions for each student as an incentive to go there. These wonderful resources exist within the walls of our campus. But how many students know about them?

Because of the unique barriers that come with accessing treatment for mental health (stigma being one of the most salient), Brandeis needs to go above and beyond that which is considered adequate mental healthcare for its students. It would be awful if the average student did not know where the Health Center was, or that it even existed, but the problem becomes exponentially more serious when talking about problems of mental health. Stigma can only be uprooted if we stop perpetuating ignorance about mental illness. Brandeis, a university that proclaims itself as one at the forefront of social justice, should strive to begin those changes on

its own campus. That is to say, a school cannot rightfully say that it causes social and political change if it does not begin within its very own confines.

It is therefore worrying that Brandeis has included very little in its orientation to discuss the

mailman house

PCC, its hours and other important aspects to mental health coverage. When it was covered, it has done so with brevity and was not given the due diligence it deserves. While topics such as sexual health and safe alcohol usage are certainly pertinent to the life

of college students (perhaps not as much as many college students would want), high stress environments such as university settings are petri dishes for mental health problems. We need similar orientation focus on mental health, which is just as serious.

The Psychological Counseling Center is located in Mailman House, next to Squire Bridge.

Do not mistake this, however, as an indictment of Brandeis’ ability to handle its students’ welfare. It is rather a call for positive change, for improvement. Because this improvement affects more than just the students at Brandeis—it affects all of us.

photo by marian siljeholm/the hoot

8 The Brandeis Hoot

WEEK IN PHOTOS

February 26, 2016

photo by adam lamper/the hoot

music and art

Don’t they just warm your heart?

photo by nathan taber/the hoot

photo by karen caldwell/the hoot

photo by adam lamper/the hoot

February 26, 2016

The Brandeis Hoot

not as much snow as last year­, but why?

Due to global warming, temperatures are already rising. Here’s some snow we did get.

WEEK IN PHOTOS 9

photo by amanda huang/the hoot

photos by adam lamper/the hoot

stick a fork in them, they’re done

Brandeis senior swimmers celebrate the end of their career with a treasured tradition.

photo courtesy brandeis swimming and diving team

EDITORIALS

10 The Brandeis Hoot

“To acquire wisdom, one must observe.”

Editors-in-Chief Theresa Gaffney Julie Landy

Senior Managing Editor Jess Linde Senior Copy Editor Allison Plotnik News Editors Hannah Schuster Emily Sorkin Smith Deputy News Editors Abigail Gardener Elianna Spitzer Arts Editor Sabrina Pond Opinions Editor Zach Phil Schwartz

O

February 26, 2016

Police should do more to prevent future incidents on South St.

n Wednesday of this week, the Brandeis community received another email from Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan about an incident of indecent exposure on South Street. This marks the seventh time that students have been harassed just off campus this year. Six incidents were “indecent exposure,” while one was an attempted robbery and assault.

While the emails reporting these incidents are piling up, Callahan has not once followed up with a report on how Brandeis Police are working with Waltham Police to stop these incidences from happening, though he does say generally that they are investigating. How long are students going to have to walk in fear

before something is done? We understand that bureaucracy often slows action, but the community still has a right to know what plans are being made.

Additionally, we find the vague nature of the reports unsettling. Each incident is referred to as “indecent exposure,” in which a man “exposed himself ” to the party. While it’s hard to hear about the details of these upsetting occurrences, somebody can “expose” themselves in different ways.

Particularly, students should be aware of how aggressive these exposures were. The more we know, the more we can protect ourselves on the sidewalk while Public Safety and Waltham Police talk about what they might do behind

closed doors.

While it is fair to assume that permanent solutions to this problem—finding the culprit or culprits, installing more light fixtures on the dark stretches of South Street—will take more time, there have to be more immediate steps Public Safety can take to protect students.

All of the incidents have happened around the same time of night, mostly between the Foster Mods and Shakespeare Road. Is stationing a Brandeis or Waltham Police officer in this area for a few hours per night out of the question?

We suggest that Brandeis Public Safety hold a public forum to answer students’ questions on the attacks and any other ongoing solutions.

Features Editor Jacob Edelman Sports Editor Sarah Jousset

Surf ’s Up

Copy Editor Sarah Terrazano Photo Editor Karen Caldwell Deputy Video Editor Matt Kowalyk Editors-at-Large Charlotte Aaron Mia Edelstein Lisa Petrie

Volume 13 • Issue 5 the brandeis hoot • brandeis university 415 south street • waltham, ma

Founded By Leslie Pazan, Igor Pedan and Daniel Silverman

STAFF

Clayre Benzadon, Rachel Bossuk, Sharon Cai, Zach Cihlar, Amanda Ehrmann, Andrew Elmers, Talia Franks, Zachary Gordon, Emma Gutman, Curtis Zunyu He, Sophia He, Alana Hodson, Daniel Kang, Emma Kahn, Naomi Klickstein, Adam Lamper, Nabi Menai, Monique J Menezes, Santiago Montoya, Joon Park, Nicole Porter, Albert Reiss, Emily Scharf, Marian Siljeholm, Eliana Sinoff, Ryan Spencer, Hannah Stewart, Michael Wang, 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.

SUBMISSION POLICIES

The Brandeis Hoot welcomes letters to the editor on subjects that are of interest to the community. Preference is given to current or former community members and The Hoot reserves the right to edit or reject submissions. The deadline for submitting letters is Wednesday at noon. Please submit letters to letters@thebrandeishoot.com along with your contact information. Letters should not exceed 500 words.

The opinions, columns, cartoons and advertisements printed in The Hoot do not necessarily represent the opinions of the editorial board.

CONNECT phone • (781) 330-0051 e-mail • editor@thebrandeishoot.com online • thebrandeishoot.com twitter • twitter.com/thebrandeishoot facebook • facebook.com/thebrandeishoot

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Writers, editors, photographers and graphic artists wanted to join The Brandeis Hoot, your weekly community newspaper.

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UNSOLICITED SUBMISSIONS

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

By Naomi Klickstein staff

Across 1. Per 5. Timid 9. Place to kneel 14. Kenyan god 15. Oft-mispronounced berry 16. Ascend 17. Ding-____ 18. Perhaps forgotten 19. Give the slip 20. One way to surf 22. Tokyo, formerly 23. “You ___ here” 26. Deadly seven 29. Limit 31. One with apnea 34. Ratify 37. Nebraska hub 38. Another way to surf 39. Boob tube 41. Open-mouthed 44. Larval Pokemon 46. Business deg.

47. Throb 48. The first Gulf War (abr.)

49. Demure 51. A third way to surf 58. “How Good Is Your Love” singer 60. Peak 61. First human to die 62. Wan 63. Classy ride 64. Center 65. Pretty rock 66. Browse

67. Latin for “the way” Down 1. Support 2. Greek contest

3. Locale where Han shot first 4. Lofty 5. Former African empire 6. Common Brandeis major (abr.)

7. Eggy holiday 8. Caused to soar 9. Prayer answer 10. Adore 11. Last living Rhynchocephalian 12. Plus 13. e.g. 66 21. Sigur ___, Icelandic band 24. Discuss 25. Pitcher’s stat.

27. Word of agreement 28. Burn 30. Groupie’s burden 32. PBS science series 33. Ultimate Greek letter 35. Text sign-off (abr.)

36. May be cotton 39. Not one 40. Country within South Africa 42. Flipper 43. Vendor 45. Friendly prefix 46. Near-sighted 50. White gems 52. More than want 53. Pitch 54. Disaster relief org.

55. Neuron part 56. Indian queen 57. “____ got a problem” 58. Coffee table obj.

59. Enzyme suffix

FEATURES

February 26, 2016

The Brandeis Hoot 11

Spotlight on the Student Union Judiciary

By Jacob Edelman and Zach Phil Schwartz Editors

The Brandeis University Student Union, our student government, has many functions and branches, such as club allocations and legislation. However, the organization also has organs that do not receive nearly as much attention as do its central functions.

The Student Union Judiciary is a vitally important organ to the community, but many are unaware of what it does.

Brian Levi Dorfman ’16, a double major in Psychology and Theater and chief justice of the Judiciary, attributes his involvement in the organ to his tendency to act as a mediator when he was a part of his high school’s student union.

The role of the Judiciary, according to Dorfman, is to mediate conflicts between two parties, which the Student Union website defines as conflicts that can be between clubs, the Union itself and its members.

Unlike other branches of the Union, the Judiciary is “not supposed to step in and create policy,” says Dorfman. “When a policy is unpopular or is challenged, we need to come in as an unbiased body to make sure that it’s dealt with in a way that’s fair to both parties, to the [alleged perpetrator] and the alleged victim.”

Although the branch’s role is not to enact new legislation, Dorfman explains how the Judiciary “can help two parties arrive at actions they can take to help move forward, reverse legislation if need be, can find some kind of punitive measure, remove people from their positions on the Student Union if it comes to that.”

The Judiciary also has the power to handle intra-union conflicts and is able to “hold a trial for impeachment” if need be, says Dorfman.

According to the Student Union website, complaints are delivered to the Clerk of the Court. If the case is accepted, the Court will hold a trial within five academic

days, unless both parties agree on a later date. Despite this extensive system, a current lack of knowledge about the Court is causing huge variation in how many cases that it hears.

According to Dorfman, “the year before I got involved there [were] something like 70 complaints brought to the judiciary, and they only took one trial, which resulted in negligible action. Last year there was one complaint which was investigated and not brought to trial.” This year, he explains, there have been no complaints brought to the Judiciary thus far.

The Court is well aware of the lack of student knowledge about

its functions, so much so that its greatest difficulty has become the absence of complaints. According to Dorfman, due to this problem, the Court has started to actively seek out complaints— but it is encouraging complaints, not for people to find something to complain about. He stresses that the Judiciary should be a “channel where people can complain if they feel their voice hasn’t been given fair say.”

The Chief Justice acknowledges this problem and explains that the Court is looking to spread awareness, which it has done in the past through a letter to the rest of the Student Union and through brief emails to the student body. He be-

photos courtesy brian levi dorfman

lieves that the Judiciary can further spread awareness by sending a full letter about what it does as well as creating a constitutional consultant for the rest of the Union through the amendment process.

This year, the Judiciary set up an email, judiciary@brandeis. edu, in order to further expand its awareness on campus. Despite the problems that the Judiciary faces, Dorfman feels good about what the organ does for the student body. He explains how it is satisfying that “there is a body that can help people; that we can help students who feel that they aren’t being satisfied by the Union.”

brian levi dorfman

SEA highlight importance of recognizing environmental issues

By Albert Resiss Staff

Currently, Students for Environmental Action (SEA) is the largest environmental group on campus that “brings various environmentalists together in an effort to make Brandeis more green,” said Rachel Zhu ’18, co-president. Participation in SEA allows fellow Brandeis students to both make an environmental impact on campus and beyond, in addition to talking with like-minded students.

Some of the responsibilities of the club include “implementing new sustainable projects/initiatives, educating the Brandeis community and working with groups to further environmentalism both state and nationwide,” said Zhu. Given SEA’s large size,

it is able to take on projects that will have a significant impact on campus. Among its environmental initiatives is a sustainability project to reduce the use of plastic bags and paper cups on campus.

Apart from its sustainability initiatives, a large part of SEA’s mission has been devoted to increasing the Brandeis student body’s environmental literacy. Being inundated on a daily basis by news reports decrying environmental catastrophes means that education is of the utmost importance to understanding both these environmental phenomena as well as their impacts. As Zhu pointed out, “Environmental issues are terrifying, but often, the general public does not see them as imminent threats. SEA is a stepping stone to mitigating environmental degradation.” Becoming more educated about the environment

through SEA can give Brandeis students the tools necessary to address these problems in the future.

Those interested in joining SEA are in for an active time. Emilia Boess ’19, another co-president of SEA, commented, “SEA is a fantastic space for anyone with anywhere from a slight to tremendous interest in environmental action. It is a great opportunity to not only learn about sustainable efforts, but also voice your own ideas to increase sustainability on campus. It is also a fantastic opportunity to collaborate with administration and essentially learn about how an institution tackles environmental issues.” No matter the amount of time available or knowledge about the environment, the SEA has a place for all interested Brandeis students.

What makes SEA rather unique

is that after discussing environmental issues affecting the Brandeis community, ideas are eventually put into practice and implemented with real policies.

Boess in particular noted how, “When I joined SEA in my first semester, I was surrounded by such enthusiastic people and I could tell that the members were passionate about ways in which to make this campus more sustainable.” Indeed, what drew her to the club was “the mere fact that rather than simply discussing environmental issues and brainstorming ways to spread sustainability, SEA took those ideas and implemented them.”

Zhu also commented how it’s “incredibly rewarding to join SEA, thinking that you’ll just be talking about your love for the environment but then, at the end of the semester, seeing all the work

you’ve done with the administration and the campus.” Many environmental issues affecting the greater Brandeis campus and student body can be impacted by participating in SEA. SEA is also a great place for students looking to combine environmental learning with a rewarding and fun atmosphere.

For example, the club hosts various hikes and trips to Boston, as well as hosting their annual SEA Coffeehouse, which is intended to bring “all sorts of on-campus talent under one roof,” explained Zhu. This Friday, Feb. 26, SEA will be hosting a dance party called We Got the Beet, and next Monday, Feb. 29 is an event with Net Impact Club called Good Earth Nepal. Students interested in SEA or learning more about environmental issues are invited to attend.

SPORTS

12 The Brandeis Hoot

February 26, 2016

Swim team finishes season with UAA tournament

By Sarah Jousset Editor

This past weekend the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams concluded their seasons at the University Athletic Association championships at the University of Rochester.

The women’s team saw a successful championship as they set records in both women’s freestyle relays. The Judges set a mark in the 400 free relay on day one and in the 800 on day two. The 800 free relay team of Joanna Murphy ’17, Maya Saar ’18, Amy Sheinhait ’18 and Kylie Herman ’19 broke the record which had stood since 2008, shaving two seconds off with a time of 8:05.37. On day three the women’s team achieved the relay record in the 400 and 200, the team consisting of Herman, Ariana Traub ’18, Sherry Tu ’18 and Sheinhait. However, the records set by the swim team only earned them eighth place in the UAA competition.

Herman was the only woman to reach the final rounds of the tournament. In the last individual event of the competition, Herman

The Brandeis Swimming and Diving team finished their season with the University Atheltic Association championships this past weekend at the University of Rochester. uaa finish

finished 20th in the 200 yard butterfly with a time of 2:13.65. With this time she achieved the fourth fastest time in Brandeis program history. Herman added a 22nd place finish in the 200 yard free-

Men’s basketball drops games over break

style, with a time of 1:56.90 to her overall finished in the tournament. Her freestyle time was four-hundredths of a second off from a school record put in place seven years ago.

photo courtesy brandeis swimming and diving team

On the men’s team Edan Zitelny ’17 was the top overall individual for Brandeis University. Zitelny earned two top 20 finishes on the last day of the competition, improving his third best time in

the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:55.23, which put him in 18th place overall. Zitelny also swam a 1:58.27 in the 200 butterfly, earning him 20th place. Zitelny also broke a record standing since 2002 with a time of 25.06 seconds in the 50 yard backstroke of the 200 yard medley relay.

Brandeis distance swimmers held their own as women’s record holder Joanna Murphy finished 14th overall, but first in her heat of the mile swim with a time of 18:01.65. Editor-in-chief of The Brandeis Hoot Theresa Gaffney ’16 finished 23rd for the women in the mile with a time of 19:31.40. Meanwhile for the men’s team, Zach Diamond ’18 scored three points in the mile with a time of 16:46.75. Diamond also earned the Judges a point in the 400 yard individual medley with a 24th place finish and a time of 4:14.67. This finish improved Diamond’s fifth best time in program history. As for Brandeis diving, Sam Zucker ’18 placed 11th on the three meter board and 13th in the one meter diving competition.

Overall Brandeis finished in eighth place with a women’s score of 331 points, while the men finished with 310 points.

Softball team starts of season in California

By Sarah Jousset

By Lily Wageman staff

Over February break the Brandeis’ men’s basketball team, despite best efforts, still struggled to secure a win. So far this season the men’s team has a record of 9-15 with an average of 68.3 points per game. Since last weekend the team has played against Emory University, Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Chicago.

The Judges started the break by spending Valentine’s Day in Atlanta, GA against Emory. During the first half the Judges fell behind 23-14 after a three-pointer was made by the Eagles at the 6:35 mark. Then thanks to Robinson Vilmont ’17, who had five points, three rebounds and two assists in the run, Brandeis rallied with a 14-4 run over the next 5:34.

However, Emory took a 31-28 advantage at the break with a free throw and a late three-pointer, and eventually went on to close the game on a 12-4 run to take a 66-58 UAA victory. Highlights for the judges were: Jordan Cooper ’18 leading with 16 points, 11 coming in the first half; Jack Fay ’17 scoring nine of his 11 in the second stanza, while Vilmont scored five points in each half to finish with 10. Vilmont also led the Judges with five assists while Colby Smith ‘16 earned eight rebounds, a season high.

Returning home on the Feb. 19, the Judges went against Washington University in St. Louis.

Individually, Brandeis was led by Cooper, who scored 12 points

and a career-high five steals. He also tied for team-high honors with four rebounds. Guard Tim Reale ’17 added 11 points and four assists. Smith led the Judges with five assists off the bench.

Carlin Haymon ’18 and Ian Roach ’19 earned the team eight points, which was a career-high for Roach. But despite best efforts WUSTL outscored Brandeis 8862, causing the Judges to fall 9-14 overall and 3-9 in the UAA. The last game Brandeis men’s basketball played was against the University of Chicago this past Sunday as most students were returning from their break. Cooper once again led the Judges with a game high of 20 points on 9-of19 shooting while Roach earned himself another career-high of 15 off the bench. Roach shot 6-of-12 overall and 3-of-7 on three pointers. Meanwhile Reale achieved a team-high eight rebounds and Haymon led the team in assists with four apiece. In the second half, with 8:32 remaining the Judges were closing in on the Maroons, 52-50, on a jumper by Michael McReynolds ’19. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough since they did not score again until a last-possession layup by Reale.

The Judges conceded to the Maroons, 62-52, slipped 9-15 overall, and just 3-10 UAA. This Sunday, Feb. 28, the Judges will play their final regular season home game against NYU at Red Auerbach Arena. The women’s team will start at 1 p.m., followed by the men at 3 p.m. In addition, the seniors on the Brandeis basketball teams will be honored as part of Senior Day, so be sure to come out and show your support.

Editor

The women’s softball team began their season with three games in California over the recent break. On Tuesday, Feb. 16 the Judges played a doubleheader against the No. 18 team in the NAIA Division I, Vanguard University. The Judges split the games, winning the first game against Vanguard 3-2 and then dropping the second game, losing 9-3.

Vanguard was the first to strike in the first game, scoring in the second inning. It wasn’t until the fourth inning that Brandeis’ Madison Sullivan ’16 reached first on an error and stole second on an overthrow. Classmate Danielle Novotny ’16 bunted back at the pitcher who threw home to catch Sullivan; however, Sullivan slid under the tag to even the score at 1-1. Both teams battled after that with multiple base runners; however, the teams remained tied for the remainder of regulation.

In the eighth inning, the Judges put Leah Shapiro ’17 on second.

Rookie Keri Lehtonen ’19 bunted to move Shapiro to third while Lehtonen reached first. Lehtonen then stole second to put two players in scoring position. Sullivan then launched a ball to left field on a sacrifice fly, which allowed Shapiro to score giving the Judges a 2-1 lead. However, the lead was short lived, as Vanguard earned the run back in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Novotny started the ninth inning on second base. The Vanguard pitcher started the inning with a strikeout against Madi-

Danielle Novotny ‘16 was the winning run for the Judges in their first game of the season against Vangaurd. starting with a win

son Gagnon ’16, but the catcher dropped the ball and overthrew it to first base, allowing Novotny to score and Gagnon to reach second. The Judges were able to hold the 3-2 lead, as pitcher Melissa Soleimani ’17 retired three Vanguard batters in a row. Soleimani threw her first collegiate game, with nine hits in nine innings, two strikeouts, one walk and one earned run.

The Judges weren’t as successful in the second game, losing 9-3 to Vanguard. The Judges struck early, with two runs in the top of the first inning. However, Vanguard answered back in the third inning with three runs and continued to add to their score with five runs on three hits and three errors.

Vanguard opened the bottom of

photo from internet source

the fifth with a home run for their last run of the game. The Judges tried to come back in the sixth, loading the bases with two outs.

The Judges played their last game on the road against Cal Lutheran University on Wednesday, Feb. 17, losing 4-1. The game was cut to six innings due to rain.

The Judges don’t play again until March 5, when they travel to Altamonte Springs, Florida for the UAA conference tournament March 8 through 13. The Judges will take on Penn State-Brandywine and Austin College in Orlando, FL before taking on the UAA tournament, which will consist of some of the most important games of the team’s season. The Judges head down to Florida with a record of 1-2 so far this season.

February 26, 2016

ARTS, ETC.

The Brandeis Hoot 13

Trio Emet brings new life to chamber music

By Adam Lamper Staff

Chamber music, a division of classical music known for its scarce instrumentation, has long been the preferred form of classical music for harboring an intimate relationship between performers and audience. No exception to this was Slosberg Music Center’s concert, “brb,” performed by one of Brandeis’ own chamber music groups, Trio Emet.

Deriving its name from the Hebrew “emet,” meaning truth— which also happens to be found on the Brandeis University seal— undergraduates Jacob MacKay ’16 and Natsuko Yamagata ’17, and graduate student Eric Elder, founded the group in the fall of 2014 in order to pursue their passion of gaining exposure to music of all types with intent to perform concerts of their own as a trio in the future. Having performed only

at outreach concerts off-campus, it was not until this performance that the musicians had truly made their unique mark on campus as a group, though each performer undoubtedly has spectacular skill in other aspects of musical performance as well.

Standing for Beethoven, Rota and Brahms, Trio Emet’s “brb” featured a wide selection of widely popular pieces of chamber music, such as Beethoven’s Trio in B-flat major, Op. 11, and lesser known pieces like that of Nino Rota, who won an Academy Award for his work composing for “The Godfather.” Though dynamic and variant in both style and feel, all songs performed displayed similar qualities such as the repetition in phrasing and perfectly distributed harmonies typical of the chamber music genre, though with the use of a clarinet in place of the more traditional violin.

MacKay, the cellist of the

group, has an extensive musical background beginning at age four when he first began studying violin, ultimately converting to the cello at age seven. On working with Yamagata and Elder, MacKay says, “My peers (like Eric and Natsuko) have encouraged me to delve deeper into the music and understand what the composer’s intentions truly are. I have also been lucky enough to learn from musicians who do not play western classical music.” This extensive education and experience within the world of music is definitely evident in MacKay’s performing, as his music seems to wring every ounce of emotion possible from the black and white notes of the sheet music. MacKay states, “In my brief introduction to the music of other cultures, I have learned the importance of spontaneity in performance, and a genuine emotional connection between players, and to the music itself.” A double major in Environmental Studies and Cello Performance, MacKay, while he struggles to find academic overlap between the two areas of study, suggests the importance of maintaining an active musical education. “Music has been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember, and has influenced my work ethic, personality, and worldview in more ways than I am probably aware,” he says, “It has allowed me to meet extraordinary artists from all over the world, and connect with audiences and colleagues on a fundamental level.”

Though all performers shown equally as bright that night, Yamagata, with no disregard to the estimable ability of MacKay or Elder, undoubtedly seemed to leave the greatest impression on audience members, seemingly acting as the figurative glue of the pieces, as many unsung pianists of triplets do, while still maintaining an outward presence in the pieces. Having started performing around age three, as she mentions is commonplace in Japan, as well as having deep-seated family roots in piano music, Yamagata expresses a “ready-to-go” toward music performance. While she expresses an impressive amount of rhythmic tact, she surely does not let that take away from the the emotion and perceivable imagery of the music. A pre-med student with interest in Chemistry and Francophone Studies, Yamagata remarks how, though the workload is incredibly intensive, music still remains a vital part of her

life. “I really enjoy each and all of them. If it weren’t for all the music opportunities, I in fact would have crashed mentally,” she says.

“Although I love the sciences and I hope for a medical career in the future, such life is non-existent without music.”

Though occurring on the same night as the infamous “Superbowl Sunday,” Trio Emet’s phenomenal performance undeniably provided a sensory experience far superior to that of seeing your favorite team score a touchdown.

Though attracting only a meager amount of audience members that a free performance of this caliber should have, and being a group of performers this spectacular, Trio Emet is sure to have events in the future that match the excellence of “brb.” Likewise, be sure to be on the lookout for each of the performers as they play in other ensembles around campus, and are definitely class act you will not want to miss.

photos by adam lamper/the hoot

Kanye West grasps at straws with ‘The Life of Pablo’

By Conor Amrien Staff

“The Life of Pablo” by Kanye West was released as West’s seventh studio album on Feb. 14.

The album itself fights cohesion wherever possible, reflecting West’s confused creative process.

Angry Kanye, Publicity Stunt Kanye, “Sweet” Kanye and even the elusive Emotionally Intimate Kanye are constantly fighting for creative control. This struggle the artist faces to reveal intimate details by compensating with a misogynistic, angry, attention-seeking persona is put at the forefront of this album. The beats and overall vocals are excellent at points, but this confusion is largely present in West’s lyricism; the lyrics themselves are particularly weak in comparison to his past work.

The sound of “The Life of Pablo” even alludes to “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” at many points, but fails to live up to the sharpness West displayed in that album’s bordering-on-genius lyricism.

photo from pitchfork.com

West himself proclaimed “The Life of Pablo” as gospel album.

At some points, West does in fact achieve this goal. The opening track “Ultralight Beam” discusses his Christian faith. It opens with a particularly eye-opening sample of little girl Samoria Green preaching against the devil and

photo from www.thisblogrules.com

for God. While the track itself is catchy and largely positive, with some impressive vocals from West, it is Chance the Rapper’s verse that really owns the track.

Chance brings in an excited vibe, almost like a kid version of Kanye himself. West goes so far as to compare himself to the biblical Joseph and Kim Kardashian to Mary in the track “Wolves.”

West continues to mention his faith in “Father Stretch My Hands Pt.1” and “Pt. 2,” discussing his struggle with balancing fame, materialism and his faith and even referencing the death of his mother. Here, Kanye finally gives intimate details of his life among all the flashes of fame.

Immediately after giving listeners a brief look at the raw emotions going through his head, West dons his publicity mask once again with “Famous,” inciting controversy in the lines, “I feel like me and Taylor may still have sex/ Why? I made that bitch

famous.” The track itself is quite catchy with Rihanna bringing her star power and a killer hook.

However, these lines seem to be West’s desperate plea to maintain unnecessary publicity and a false image compared to certain glimpses we get into his mind.

West seems obsessed with former and current relationships with women in many tracks, such as referencing former girlfriend Amber Rose as well as rekindling a feud with Wiz Khalifa. He often mentions his current relationship with Kim Kardashian, and his often intense need to bring up women seems to be a result of wanting to maintain a former image despite being married. West actually realizes this about himself in the song “FML,” a song about “fucking” his old life. One of the first lines is actually “For my lady,” providing an alternate meaning on the title.

Lyrically and musically, West delivers his most powerful rap verse in the track “No More Parties in LA,” along with rapper Kendrick Lamar. West delivers

amazing and introspective lines reminiscent of the lyricism in “Yeezus” and “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”: “a 38-year-old 8-year-old”; “When I get on my Steve Jobs, somebody gon’ get fired/ I was uninspired since Lauryn Hill retired” and “My psychiatrist got kids that I inspired/ First song they played for me was ‘bout their friend that just died/ Textin’ and drivin’ down Mulholland Drive.” Many lines in the album show a vastly different West from his early career. West holds a legacy in hip-hop and rap for changing the industry and inspiring new talent.

“The Life of Pablo” is not a technical masterpiece, but it is a vastly different work than we’ve seen from Kanye before. It is extremely disorganized but contains enticing vocals and raw tracks along with continued experimentation. He does not play it safe with any of these tracks, and many stand far above the rest.

“The Life of Pablo” is definitely worth a listen to get you inside the head of the “mad genius.”

photo from www.businessinsider.com

14 ARTS

The Brandeis Hoot

February 26, 2016

Salsa club spins, twirls and kicks its way to glory

By Emma Kahn Staff

Each Tuesday evening in the SCC Multipurpose room, students drop their backpacks, shed their coats, kick off their shoes and join in on salsa warm ups.

Some learn new steps while others build upon the instructor’s directions with hand motions or extra flare.

Each releases an infectious grin as they master the instructions, with the music and their movements complementing each other in new ways. Salsa club is full of excitement, making practice seem far from a chore. As the group divides into pairs, alternating on the instructor’s call, they learn with each other, adapting to their partner’s rhythm and learning collectively. The room reverberates with love for both music and dance.

Andrés Giraldo, professional instructor of dance company Salsa y Control, comes to Brandeis each week from his Boston studio. A Colombia native, Giraldo, together with his brother and later joined by his wife, founded the first salsa dance studio in Boston and has even been recognized by the mayor of Boston for his commitment to the Boston Salsa Festival. Giraldo has been teaching salsa lessons at Brandeis for several years, evidenced by the relaxed and natural environment he establishes. He works with each individual’s level and pace, taking the time for questions and the explanations of technical terms.

Giraldo fits in perfectly among the students and might even be mistaken for a Brandeis student by an observer.

Salsa Club takes their dancing outside weekly lessons and hosts three socials per semester, bring-

Sizzle and spice! Salseros club performs for an offf campus charity event.

ing a cultural element to the dance and allowing for the practical application of learned salsa skills.

This semester, the theme is “Rueda de Casino”—loosely translated as Casino Wheel—named after a type of event originating in Cuba.

Dancers gather in a giant wheel on the dance floor, and a dancer in the center calls out each step that the wheel then responds to. With these events come a wide range of music and a blend of Latin American food brought in from restaurants around Waltham. Although the origins of salsa are vague and often contested, the tradition of “Rueda de Casino” brings a feeling of place and belonging. In addition to Salsa Club’s socials, a performance team was started last semester that has already performed one show off campus and one on campus.

“We take what we learn here— we take what we learn at salsa clubs and wherever we can learn salsa—and merge them into our own dance,” says President Angela Balcom ’18. The Salsa Club’s performances have even included brand new members who picked up salsa dancing over a semester. “We just want to introduce the idea that salsa is a fun way of trying something new [while] still engaging with people in ways you would otherwise,” Balcom says.

The club aspires to perform at more events, incorporate a wider range of music and see more dance partners participating; however, the main purpose of Salsa Club is to provide its members with a fun and less conventional way to express themselves and get to know other people. Most members have never been introduced to salsa, or to any dance form at all, notes Balcom. Although some have been exposed to salsa before, there is a large difference

photos by angela balcom/the hoot

between their former experiences and Salsa Club.

“You have to have an open mind when you come in, [because] you can really be thrown off your steps,” says Balcom.

“There is a large difference between salsa as a dance and salsa as a social event.”

Outside of regular lessons and Salsa Club events, members travel together into Boston to take full advantage of the city’s salsa community and find various clubs and venues in Boston that play salsa music and attract salsa dancing groups.

Brandeis Salsa Club branches out, gaining experience outside the realm of campus to learn more, to apply their skills and to just enjoy the hobby on the weekends.

“My biggest ‘yes’ moment,” says Balcom, “is convincing someone to go out dancing in Boston. I like helping people figure out what speaks to them most,

and then taking that out of our club [and] into a community, seeing how you can bounce off each other and make a personality out of that.”

Open-mindedness is surely a dominant trait of the Salsa Club.

There is no right time to join the club, as its members will help integrate new participants and, before anything else, encourage group learning.

Salsa Club meets once per week but is a community of Brandeis students who are always involved in salsa, whether getting the song stuck in their heads, traveling to new locations, bringing in new music to try or performing for an audience. Between socials, occasional outings to Boston and weekly lessons, Salsa Club reflects the active and passionate, hands-on nature of the Brandeis community.

Salsa Club offers both beginner and advanced lessons.

Contemporary Korean art dazzles in on-campus exhibit

By Alana Hodson Staff

From Feb. 6 to March 26, the Slosberg Music Center will house a beautiful and captivating art display called “Landscapes of the Soul: Contemporary Korean Art.” It will be in conjunction with its musical counterpart, “From Korea: Gugak—Soundscapes of the Soul,” showing from March 19 to 20.

The stunning pieces of Korean art give a tranquil atmosphere to the Slosberg lobby as each piece features a unique aspect of Korean culture.

The collection contains works of several different media, including photography, painting, sculpture, pottery, ink and decorated fans. Viewing the gallery is especially wonderful while the bands are practicing music in the main auditorium.

There are no descriptions to go along with any of the pieces, nor very many artist names, but one can still grasp the richness of tradition, history and landscape embedded into each piece. One of the first items one encounters upon entering the lobby is a standing sculpture in the shape of Korea.

It is decorated on both sides with a design molded into the glazed clay; the front side illustrates a crane flying down towards a body of water and the back side shows a map of Korea. Other sculptures in the exhibit were a set of ceramic dishes with designs like fish and flowers carved into them,

and a jade-green celadon ceramic sculpture of a woman’s torso. Korean pottery is a major aspect of the history of Korean art, dating as far back as 8000 B.C.E., and celadon wares are considered the classic wares of Korean porcelain.

Beautifully created paintings were also a main focus of this exhibit, depicting a wide range of subject matter from nature to cityscapes to people. One painting illustrates an intricate view of an indigenous species of pine tree, its branches gracefully intertwined and its needles fanned out in shades of emerald green.

In the background, birds can be seen soaring through the sky.

Pines are often a component of Korean art and culture; in fact, the Jeongipum Pine Tree is a national monument of Korea, a 600-year-old tree which stands as the symbol for Mt. Songnisan.

Other paintings feature a young, bald individual with calm, mintgreen eyes carrying a wooden boat on their head. The painting is strikingly contrasts with a cerulean background as a wave-like texture overlays the entire portrait, giving the tranquil effect of flowing water.

In fact, this color blue seems to be a popular theme in contemporary Korean art, as another painting depicts a white mountain landscape set within a blue sky, as its traditional ink style gives off an antiquated and majestic feel. A fourth painting displays a scene of an old village in the setting sun.

Rustic and warm, the painting is

reminiscent of the impressionistic style, drawing great emphasis to the effect of light on the plastic

walls of the houses, their metal roofs and the dirt road winding throughout the tightly-packed vil-

photo by alana hodson/the hoot

lage.

Other fascinating components to the exhibit were a set of three paper fans, each intricately designed with ink-style illustrations of cherry blossoms, forests and mountains. The scenes only take up a small portion of the fans while the rest of the space is white, highlighting the complexity of the design compared to its white background. Another incredibly interesting piece was a colorful combination of both paint and brightly-colored string, and although the piece was somewhat abstract, the overall appearance seems to be of an outstretched hand.

What makes this piece so different, however, is that the thread is stitched throughout the entire painting, neat and tightly knit in some places while haphazard and loose in others. By the thumb of the hand, long lengths of the string actually drape down from the canvas, allowing this piece of art to interact with its environment.

Two other works on display were textile pieces, representing both the color scheme and style of traditional Korean cloth.

While not extensive, “Landscapes of the Soul: Contemporary Korean Art” is certainly worth a stroll to Slosberg, especially if you plan on viewing it with the Korean music concert also showing in March. Who knows, it might spark an interest in Korean culture, or you might even be inspired to create some art of your own.

February 26, 2016

ARTS 15

The Brandeis Hoot

Dufresne recounts the absurdity of art at artist talk strokes and the immersion of splayed colors in the background.

It retains an abstract, illusory feeling with various unrealistic elements, especially because the background remains undefined and wholly vacant.

Contrary to the commonly held conception that everything in a painting is intentional, Dufresne explained that although she may have a specific intention at the onset of her painting, it doesn’t always turn out the way she intends. When this happens, instead of fighting the way that her work comes out, she explained that, “It just happens and I accept it.” Other times she says that she doesn’t know exactly how a painting will come out, so she lets it come to her during the painting process. In another painting, two girls squat together and pee on the floor. As Dufresne described it, she had no idea when she first started paint-

By Sabrina Pond Editor

“If you looked at my paintings, you’d think I was the biggest perv on the planet,” Brooklyn-based artist Angela Dufresne exclaimed in the middle of her artist talk on Wednesday, Feb. 24 in Goldman-Schwartz Arts Studios. This comment was made based on her repertoire of work; of the various paintings and videos that she showed in her PowerPoint presentation, many included naked figures in sexualized postures.

Most often, her work showcases the female anatomy in all its glory. She has even gone so far as to star in some of her own videos without a stitch of clothing.

Though some might simplify her art as nothing more than the result of a troubled psyche, there’s so much more to it than that, as she described her work as “a translation that fails” and “not pure, it’s a bastard.”

The absurdity of the image is something that deeply fascinates Dufresne; it transfixes her so much that she attempts to parody herself and her surroundings to the point of humiliation. She finds herself constantly trying to test the boundaries, though there does not seem to be a boundary that Dufresne is incapable—or unwilling—to break down. Even so, I would hesitate to call it true “humiliation” because Dufresne doesn’t seem to view it that way.

She is not abashedly distraught with her own antics, but more of what society would view as such.

After earning her MFA from the Tyler School of Art and her BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute, Dufresne has been developing her artistic finesse for many years, which is apparent when comparing her work through the years. Many of her paintings are difficult to parse and seem in-

Dwarf, Woman, Man, Goat and Head

credibly random—kind of like a strange dream that, in retrospect, makes little sense. In a way, that is Dufresne’s aim: to puzzle, intrigue and engage the audience.

Her 2014 creation “Dwarf, Goat, Woman, Man and Head” showcases a woman, standing awkwardly straddling a goat in a blue and red bikini; alongside her is a naked dwarf whose genitalia inelegantly hangs as he stares at the folds of her bikini bottom. If nothing else but performative art, the downright bizarre nature of her paintings, with their combination of random objects and the naked human form, aren’t necessarily supposed to unlock some grand, hidden, underlying meaning. To think that they are kind of

ing the girls that would be what they were doing—it came to her while she was painting, so she went through with it and created one of her grandest works.

The 47-year-old artist has so far led a very extensive career, having been in a multitude of gallery shows to showcase her work both individually and with others. She has earned eight major awards in the art realm since 1992. She is like a chameleon in the sense that she paints, draws using charcoal, sings, creates videos and has a teaching career underneath her belt. Dufresne is currently an assistant professor at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Dufresne retains a degree of fearlessness that is noteworthy and that continues to make her extremely relevant in the artistic realm. Her future works will only continue to add to this wonderful legacy.

photo from angeladufresne.com

Dufresne’s artwork both puzzles and enchants.

defeats the point.

Oftentimes mocking the idea that there are certain things that should not be said if they aren’t “politically correct,” Dufresne would mutter as an afterthought, “Did I just say that? Sorry, not sorry.” A woman who is outstandingly unapologetic of her work, she described it as “charmed and affectionate transgression” that she needs in order to remain in the studio. In another startling image, “Flip Bitch with Wolf,” the main focus of the painting is a naked female figure whose body is upside down, legs sprawled wide open, and whose hand is touching herself. A wolf head looms near her vagina, and the painting overall displays large, sweeping brush

photo by jackie hammond/the hoot

Deadpool delivers action sequences, sex jokes and juvenile gore

By Jess Linde Editor

Tonally, “Deadpool” is very similar to two movies I do not like at all: 2010’s “Kick-Ass” and last year’s “Kingsman: The Secret Service.” Both of those movies are ultra-violent and in your face with immature humor, bright colors and general wildness. But they are also very mean-spirited, almost begging for attention with their antics and becoming unpleasant and cruel as a result.

“Deadpool” on the other hand, is a film made with a lot of love that, for the most part, succeeds.

Based on a relatively obscure Marvel character known for his personality and self-aware nature, “Deadpool” could have very eas-

ily taken this lazy route. I thought it would.

“Deadpool” sometimes demands attention through sex jokes and juvenile gore, but with a level of self-awareness the aforementioned movies do not possess. It just is what it is. And that is a story about Wade Wilson, a wise-cracking mercenary (Ryan Reynolds) who goes under an experimental cancer treatment and subsequently gains near immortality from a healing factor, enhanced strength and martial skills, as well as becoming horrifically disfigured. When Wade is left for dead by the person who gave him powers (Ed Skrein) and his wife (Monica Baccarin) is kidnapped, he becomes Deadpool, a sword-swinging anti-hero,

photo from www.foxmovies.com

and sets out to get her back. On the way he is joined reluctantly by familiar faces from the X-Men franchise.

Essentially everything about “Deadpool” is over the top violent and silly, with nothing taken very seriously and the fourth wall constantly broken from the beginning. All this works both for and against the movie, because the juvenility of the humor leads to many casual sexist remarks and lazy, “Family Guy” level jokes about sexual orientation.

Then again, I also found myself genuinely laughing hard multiple times, particularly whenever teenage X-Man Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) was on screen, and some of the action scenes are pretty bril-

liant. If anything else, the lazily offensive parts made the good parts look better but were still jarring and unnecessary and only detracted from the film.

This is not to say that the entirety of “Deadpool” is so insensitive as to be ignored. Again, there are some great jokes and quotes, and references and characters from the larger Deadpool and X-Men mythos are worked into the story very cleverly. My favorite X-Man, Colossus (Stefan Kapicic), is done right for the first time in the history of the franchise, and is done so with some impressive effects. I am glad the movie was made so clearly with love for the character and universe, because after Deadpool’s disastrous treatment in “X-Men

photo from screenrant.com

Origins: Wolverine,” I had my worries.

By the time that I am writing this review, “Deadpool” has had a sequel greenlit and broken lots of box office records, leading to speculation on whether or not we will see more R-rated comic book movies in the future. This misses the point of “Deadpool’s” success, which I would credit to the aforementioned love and respect the movie was made with.

Despite its problems, “Deadpool” never demands attention by being “edgy” or anything but what it is.

It’s a fun, engaging movie that just happens to be rated R. Hopefully, any sequels will clean up the sexism and queerphobia, and we’ll be clear for landing on a truly great new franchise.

16 The Brandeis Hoot

ARTS, ETC.

February 26, 2016

Brandeis art students’ photography and sculpture explores diverse topics The time to exhibit work crafted by students in sculpture and photography classes has come.

The exhibition in the Dreitzer Gallery of Spingold Theater Center is now available Monday through Friday.

The exhibition showcases 3D sculptures, digital photography and other forms of art that express the intellectual curiosity and knowledge that influences, inspires and impassions its creators, many of whom happen to be Brandeis students. When the viewer steps into the gallery, they have to admire the variety and color palette of the different subjects of interest that manifests

photo captures the reality of what virtually every town in this nation deals with: poverty. It is especially important that the image captured an African American living in poverty, as it signifies that it is especially difficult for minorities to find success in American society.

The other photographs represent something distinct about Waltham. Ethan Shi’s photos display nuanced viewpoints, one of which in particular shows the upper sections of two red bookshelves full of colorful books.

The photo communicates that humanity’s intellectual discovery and curiosity are wide, broad and do not end at the end of a bookshelf — they continue from there to infinity.

Another addition includes the

through the students’ artwork.

A set of photographs taken by various students highlights the idyllic places of Waltham as well as its less inviting areas. One of the photographs, taken by Qianli Zhu ’16, shows an African American man sitting on the steps of what seems to be a public building. He is sleeping and gives the viewer the impression that he is homeless; with his arms crossed, the body language communicates that he is cold and miserable. The

picture of a rusty and abandoned car in the midst of nature, around Waltham, which was taken by Aviv Glick ’16.

Others show Brandeis students walking around Moody Street in Waltham and inside the Los Primos Barbershop on 459 Moody St., owned by Dominican residents, while a student is getting a haircut, all taken by Tristan Ramirez de Haro ’17. In addition, there is a similar photo to Ramirez de Haro’s that shows a man, of advanced age, in a red shirt wearing khaki shorts. In this photo taken by Wenyi Zhang ’16, the man is crossing the street and looking to his right, watching out for cars passing through, also on Moody St. All these pictures yearn to demonstrate and tell how interesting the city of Waltham is.

There is a rich history around every corner and street sign; for example, that abandoned, colorless car with no tires may have a compelling story: How did it ever get there in the first place? There is also the evidence of the presence of diversity and uniqueness in the town; when

By Santiago Montoya Staff

photos by nathan taber/the hoot

did the first immigrants come to Waltham? From where did they arrive? And what about the life of the man in the red shirt who is crossing the street? These are all interesting questions that images can trigger the viewer to think upon.

Aside from the exhibition of photographs, there was an ingenious presentation of colorful, big-sized and creative cubes with the faces of several controversial figures on them, such as President George W. Bush, drug dealer Pablo Escobar and billionaire and presidential candidate Donald Trump, among others. Every side of the cube had the portrait of the public figure and their faces were filled with different combinations and explosions of colors, implying that behind the countenances of these public figures, there is more than one form of thinking and feeling. In other words, these viewers may feel they know these figures well because they have read or heard details about them, but they are more complex than imagined.

Another subject that is highlighted in this art exhibition is the love of film and comics, which basically signifies humanity’s

consumption of popular culture, a big part of nearly everybody’s life.

There are a few pieces that display comic characters, film props such as mini Oscar statues and gigantic 3D glasses, all representative of different messages.

Some of these pieces may represent the artist’s longings for the future—maybe winning an award? Or the zenith of success?

The exhibition displays the cre-

ativity and driving passion that motivated several of the students to craft them.

The art pieces also hold different messages; nonetheless, it is a message the viewer must attempt to decipher on their own.

The exhibition did more than just display art, forcing its visitors to transform into active viewers.

After all, that is what art is all about: finding the true meaning behind it.