The Brandeis Hoot 03/04/2016

Volume 13 Issue 6

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

March 4, 2016

Brandeis University’s Community Newspaper • Waltham, Mass.

Faculty discuss executive compensation

By Hannah Schuster and Elianna Spitzer Editors

Perry Traquina ’78, the chair of the board of trustees, disclosed compensation rates for the university president and other senior executives at the Faculty Meeting on Feb. 26.

Interim President Lisa Lynch’s compensation has been notably lower than compensation for former President Fred Lawrence during his final two years at Brandeis. A table comparing presidential compensation between 2013 and 2015 listed Lynch’s compensation at $587,621. However, Lynch took over as interim President on July 1, 2015 and this figure is calculated as if she were compensated for a full year. In comparison, Lawrence’s compensation was $992,726 in 2013 and $1,004,593 in 2014.

In addition to year-to-year

comparisons, Traquina compared executives’ compensation to Brandeis’ Peer Group, a collection of 28 schools including Tufts, Tulane, Vassar and Brown, as well as schools in the American Association of Universities (AAU) and AAU private schools.

Lynch’s compensation ranks in the seventh percentile compared to the Peer Group, whereas Lawrence’s compensation was in the 59th percentile in 2013 and the 46th in 2014.

Professor Sue Lanser (ENG/ WMGS) said she is “shocked” at the discrepancy between their salaries. However, this figure was “a number [Lynch] wanted” and the board “agreed to pay her,” according to Traquina.

The figure listed as Lynch’s compensation also underestimates what Brandeis paid to employ someone in the position of university president in 2015, said Traquina. Last year, Brandeis

jackie cruz comes to brandeis

Netflix Original OITNB

See FACULTY, page 4

Cruz speaks to students about her experience portraying “Flaca” on

photo by matt kowalyk/the hoot

Union proposes changes Ford Hall for Flint draws attention to environmental racism to club marathon

By Elianna Spitzer Editor

A Student Union proposal aims to eliminate some of the stress involved with obtaining club funding. The proposal was presented to the Senate on Sunday, Feb. 28 and outlines changes to several parts of Funding Marathon. On Wednesday, March 2 the Union held a press conference to answer questions about the proposal.

The Union aims to redefine the process to make it easier for both club treasurers and the Allocations Board.

The proposal affects the length of marathon funding sessions. As of now, funding sessions last one week and occur in multiple stages. They are conducted during the semester that the funding will be used, with the exception of early marathon and full-semester marathon. If the proposal is passed, the sessions would instead last at least two weeks and occur once a semester. Vice President of the Union David Herbstritt ’17 feels that this would benefit both clubs and A-Board members. The cur-

Inside this issue:

rent structure does not benefit either. “It’s literally a week of just non-stop activity on the club side and then a week on the A-Board side as well … if there’s a disaster at the end of decisions and they don’t come out for an extra week, it’s a whole lot better if that’s in April and you get the funding in August,” said Herbstritt.

The proposal also seeks to refine SUMS by requiring new, additional documents. Additional documents will expand upon the SUMS in order to provide A-Board with more information about club operations and events. “Currently in the SUMS description fields, there is a limited amount of information you can put in. We want to rectify that and give people a chance to have all of the details that they need put to the A-Board, given to the A-Board,” said Herbstritt.

As of now, SUMS forms themselves will remain unchanged.

“There is a lot of financial history in SUMS. It would be a big change to make and a technically difficult change. If we are going to move See MARATHON, page 3

News: Jefferson introduces ‘Negroland’ Opinion: Recognize Greek life Arts: ‘Intimate Apparel’ impresses Features: Spotlight on International Journal Editorial: Hoot supports marathon changes

Page 4 Page 6 Page 16 Page 11 Page 10

By Abigail Gardiner Editor

Brandeis Climate Justice and the Brandeis Pluralism Alliance sponsored the event “From Ford Hall to Flint: A Conversation on Environmental Racism and Activism” on March 2 in the Mandel Reading Room. The event was a discussion that featured a panel of graduate and undergraduate students, professors and activists.

Saren McAllister ’18 of Brandeis Climate Justice moderated the discussion, which revolved around environmental racism, the Flint Water Crisis and how the Brandeis community can get involved, according to the event’s Facebook page.

Flint is a city in Michigan, north of Detroit, and the entire population (about 100,000 people) does not have access to clean, fresh water. All of their water currently contains toxic amounts of lead, as well as other contaminates such as E. Coli.

According to an information sheet given out at the event, Flint’s water is contaminated because be-

ginning in March 2013, the Flint City Council voted to stop buying water from Detroit, opting to use the Flint River as its water source instead. Soon after the switch, the water became discolored and foul-smelling; the Flint River’s chloride levels had stripped the water of its filtering chemicals and leached lead from the pipes that deliver water to most Flint residences.

This is a huge problem, as every Flint resident was exposed to lead for at least a year and a half, according to the information sheet.

Lead exposure is bad for adults, but it can be severely detrimental to children under six and can lead to lifelong side effects, such as lowered IQ, behavioral problems and developmental delays. Flint had multiple opportunities to switch back to their water supply from Detroit at no additional cost, or they could have paid $100 a day to treat the water so there were no longer any chemicals in it, but the state and local governments chose not to.

According to the sheet, “The concerned students of Ford Hall 2015 stand together with our brothers and sisters in Flint,

Zionism

Sanders

NEWS: Page 2

OPINIONS: Page 5

Panel speaks about Brandeis’ involvement in American Zionism

Brandeis’ support for presidential candidate fading

Michigan currently experiencing an outrageous violation of their human rights with no access to clean water.” #FordHall4Flint is attributing the situation in Flint to environmental racism, which refers to the disproportionate exposure of blacks to polluted air, water and soil. According to statistics gathered by the magazine The Nation, “Race is the most significant predictor of a person living near contaminated air, water or soil.” People of color are two times more likely to live without potable water and modern sanitation and have seen 95 percent of their claims against polluters denied by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

During the event, Danielle Brown, a resident of Flint and Executive Director of the Christ Enrichment Center, a faith-based nonprofit, was Skyped in to discuss the situation. She talked about her daily life without access to tap water, saying that she has to have gallons of water in her home that she heats up in order to cook, See FLINT, page 2

NEWS

2 The Brandeis Hoot

March 4, 2016

Presentations highlight sustainability efforts

By Ryan Spencer Staff

The State of Sustainability, a series of short presentations and talks from multiple Brandeis environmental and sustainability groups, informed the Brandeis Community of sustainability efforts occurring on campus and in the surrounding Waltham Community. The event was hosted by the Senate Sustainability Committee, a committee composed of Student Union members, on Tuesday, March 1. It featured presentations from Waltham Group’s Symbiosis, the Farmers Club, Brandeis Climate Justice, NetImpact, Brandeis Sustainability Fund, Heller Group for Environmental Justice, Students for Environmental Action (SEA), Faculty Against the Climate Threat (FACT), the Environmental Studies Department and Mary Fischer, the Brandeis Sustainability Manager. Each group provided a quick overview of past and future initiatives.

The Senate Sustainability Committee discussed their implementation of dual-flush, water-saving toilets in various bathrooms throughout campus as well as information sessions they held in first-year halls during the North Quad versus Massell Quad Sustainability Contest. Senate Sustainability Committee member and SEA member Rachel Zhu ’18, said people “were happy we could give them more tips on how to reduce their energy usage.” The Senate Sustainability Committee has also drafted an environmental literacy requirement which would, according to Zhu, require that Brandeis students have “some understanding of environment issues and … how to minimize their impact on the environment.” Currently the group is working on a video series which informs viewers about climate change, marginalized communities, the food system and what can be done to work towards sustainability.

Brandeis Sustainability Manager Mary Fischer discussed past sustainability efforts such as the

implementation of solar panels on Gosman Sports and Convocation Center in 2010 and the creation of the Brandeis Sustainability Fund in 2012. According to statistics provided by Fischer, all other small private New England schools are using almost 30 percent less energy per square foot than Brandeis, and all other research institutions in New England are using about 16 percent less energy per square per square foot than Brandeis. Fischer also discussed Brandeis’ signing of the Carbon Commitment in 2009.

The Carbon Commitment was a commitment to reduce Brandeis’ carbon footprint compared to 2008 levels. According to Fischer, the Carbon Commitment meant Brandeis was supposed to reduce their carbon footprint by 15 percent by 2015, but instead Brandeis’ carbon footprint went up by 1 percent from 2008 to 2015.

Fischer also spoke about Brandeis’ recycling goals of having a 30 percent recycling rate by the end of the semester and

Louis Brandeis: once influential part of American Zionism

By Aaron Hersh

Special to The Hoot

Jewish scholars participated in a panel on Tuesday evening called “Louis Brandeis and the Transformation of American Zionism: Vision, Identity and Legacy.” The panel was part of “Louis Brandeis 100: Then & Now,” the semester-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Justice Brandeis’ nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The panel consisted of several academic theorists within the fields of Judaism and Israeli studies who have different points of view on the subject. Justice Brandeis was the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice and a prominent figure in the American Jewish community. Due to this role, he was influential in the Zionist movement, or the push to create a Jewish national state in Palestine.

“One of the things that is always so remarkable about Brandeis is his relationship between idealism and practicality,” said Yehuda Mirsky, associate Professor in the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies (NEJS) department. According to Mirsky, this attribute was evident throughout Brandeis’ activism in American Zionism.

In his introductory remarks, Rabbi David Ellenson, acting director of the Schusterman Center, brought up the importance of Brandeis’ role “not only in the creation of a Jewish state, but also in the creation of an American version of Zionism.” Ellenson further said that Brandeis’ stance toward Zionism related strongly to his progressive views and politics.

Each of the panelists broke down these facts. Professor Jonathan Sarna, the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, remarked how Brandeis did not become involved with Zionism and Judaism until the second half of his life, when several events could have inspired this turnaround. One of these could have been his encounter with Eastern European Jews after a cloakmakers’ strike in 1910, as

well as the rise of anti-Semitism.

But Sarna believed that the most practical reason for Brandeis’ involvement in Jewish life and Zionist activism was the emergence of hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from World War I. Brandeis felt the need to create a home for the Jews where they could live without fear, there could be education and where “all is possible, which we [Americans] had pictured to ourselves as desirable.” This became Brandeis’ vision of Zionism.

Mirsky continued, explaining how Brandeis suddenly became active in the Zionist movement.

He said that Brandeis was part of the “paradigm of return” to Judaism. He was “deeply engaged in the life of his time and involved in society,” but something happened that led him to discover his connection to Judaism, and he chose to act on it. Once Brandeis had this realization, he also discovered, through talking with his student Horace Kallen, that American ideals lead to a “broader and richer harvest” of identity.

Furthermore, he thought about how the American idea itself is about pluralism, while still keeping Zionism in mind.

Professor Melino spoke on the subject of national homes by bringing up the Irish “home rule” concept and explaining how Brandeis related the struggle of the Jews to that of the Irish. When the Irish came to America in the late 19th century, many of them, including nationalist Charles Stewart Parnell, tried to raise money throughout the United States to fight for “home rule” in their country, or an independent government. At this time, the British Parliament ruled over Ireland from England. After much effort, Parliament passed an act in 1914 for an Irish Home Rule. The series of events not only inspired Brandeis to picture an independent government for the Jews, but also to write on a pamphlet about the Jewish problem that the Jews “look forward to home rule.”

Melino concluded that this parallel that between the Irish and Jew-

ish struggles brings about another parallel between nationalism and Zionism, which Brandeis clearly realized.

When asked to share thoughts about Brandeis and his views about the Arabs then living in Palestine, Rachel Fish said that he never discussed the Arab community in any meaningful way or thought about the relationship between the populations. This became clear when Brandeis mentioned in a 1929 speech, while the Jews and Arabs were in conflict in Palestine, that American Jews should support Zionists in Palestine. He also called for defense by the Zionists to increase Jewish police in the land. However, Brandeis never took into account that there was tension emerging in the state and the negative interactions between the two cultures. He was more focused on the the establishment of Jewish sovereignty in Palestine, while in contrast, many other Zionists were more in favor of Zionism becoming “universalistic” rather than “nationalistic.”

All four panelists agreed that as an American and individual, Brandeis had a very distinct approach to Zionism compared to many other world Zionists. Those Zionists across the world, including Chaim Weizmann, believed that Zionism was more “cultural” in the sense that it is just as important for the Jews to respect and get along with the non-Jewish communities in Palestine as it is for the Jewish people to have a safe place there. On the other hand, Brandeis was more concerned about the nationalistic concept of Zionism, or solely the development of a home for the Jews. This could have been because Brandeis was using his American values, taking into account that the Americans wanted to establish sovereignty and be free, so they created a country for themselves and other cultures were not of too much concern. In fact, Sarna said that the Americans view Zion through their own experience of See ZIONISM, page 4

Brandeis’ relaunching of backof-house composting in the dining halls. According to Fischer, back-of-house composting has increased Brandeis’ composting rate from about 3 tons per month to about 3 tons per week.

Brandeis Farmers Club gave a brief presentation on tackling food justice. The presentation discussed the rationale and process behind the creation of the farm on the roof of Gerstenzang as well as Farmers Markets which the club put together.

Symbiosis, one of the groups under the Waltham Group, discussed their efforts in environmental education of youth in Waltham Community. “If we can teach these kids to love the environment then maybe they can help improve the environment in the future,” said the Symbiosis spokesperson.

Brandeis Club Students for Environmental Action discussed their three semester initiatives at Brandeis: Create an environmental component during first-year orientation, collecting and creat-

ing maps of walking and hiking trails in the Waltham area and raising awareness for recycling.

Brandeis Climate Justice (BCJ) discussed their continued efforts to get Brandeis to divest from fossil fuels. BCJ mentioned that they planned to hold rallies as well as continue to cosponsor events with other sustainability clubs on campus.

Brandeis Faculty Against the Climate Threat (FACT) also discussed their divestment efforts mentioning that a faculty fossil fuels divestment petition submitted by FACT in February of 2015 has 149 faculty signatures.

The Heller Environmental Justice Group discussed their efforts to have a global impact because, as Heller Environmental Justice Group member Huong Le puts it, “A lot of students from the Heller School are from around the world.” The group joined a Global Bazaar to help people from around the world share their products.

OITNB star visits ’Deis

By Abigail Gardiner Editor

Actress and singer/songwriter Jackie Cruz came to speak at Brandeis on March 3. The event was sponsored by Brandeis Television (BTV) and was held in Schwartz Hall. Cruz plays the role of Marisol “Flaca” Gonzales on the critically-acclaimed Netflix original TV series “Orange is the New Black.”

Cruz spoke to an auditorium full of students, telling of her path to stardom and how she got into acting. Born in the Dominican Republic to a teenage mother, she was raised by her mother and four aunts.

At age 16 Cruz and her mother moved to Hollywood so she could pursue her dreams. Cruz attended Hamilton Music Academy, where her determination was tested; she had a teacher who refused to cast her in any plays. Cruz said, “I wasn’t in any plays in high school.

She didn’t believe in me. I was like ‘All right, you know what, I’m still going to try.’”

Cruz could not be deterred from pursuing her dreams, no matter what obstacles were thrown her way. When she was 17, she got into a major car accident. The driver lost control and the car flipped over three times and sent Cruz, who wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, through the windshield. She was taken to the hospital, where she had brain surgery.

“I woke up two weeks later, not knowing what happened, with a tube down my throat,” Cruz said.

Looking in the mirror in the hospital, she said, “I try to smile but I can’t because my face is paralyzed.

Right then I was like, my dreams are done.”

In the hospital, Cruz struggled.

“It was really scary,” she said. “I had to learn how to walk … I couldn’t even smile. I’m crying every night.” While in the hospital, Cruz met an eight-year-old girl who had also had brain surgery. Although Cruz had to learn how to walk again, this little girl

would be paralyzed for the rest of her life, and she said she had been sent to cheer Cruz up.

“That little girl changed my life,” said Cruz. She continued to get better in the months following the accident; she was able to walk and smile again. Eight months after the accident, she returned to Hollywood, just as determined to follow her dreams as ever.

Although she focused on acting at first, the jobs were few and far between. She focused on her music, because she had always loved to sing. After moving to New York, she released an EP in 2010.

She said, “I still haven’t made a dollar from music yet … that’s okay. I just love to sing.”

Even though the EP did not launch her music career, once again Cruz did not become discouraged. She had started to miss acting, so she got her first audition in five years, for a Netflix show called “Orange is the New Black.”

“Now I get to be a part of this amazing show created and directed by mostly women, not the stereotypical beauties I grew up watching. I never saw myself on TV. Now we get to watch ourselves on TV and I think that’s why my show is so popular, because … nothing like that has been created,” said Cruz.

Before ending her story, Cruz wanted to give a message to the audience. “Everyone has been through dark times, and I go back and I think about the times that I wanted to give up on everything; trust me that all those things happen for a reason. You don’t know what it is at the moment, but eventually you’ll find out, and it just made me so strong,” she said.

“I just want to let you know, if you leave with anything today, to leave with this: no matter where you come from, or what hardships you’re going through right now, you can do it.”

Cruz stayed for a meet and greet after her talk to answer questions and pose for pictures with students.

March 4, 2016

The Brandeis Hoot

FACULTY, from page 1

paid Lawrence $492,000 for the first half of the year and Lynch $281,000 for the second half, totaling $773,000 in presidential compensation. Lawrence continues to be paid his salary while on sabbatical this year, said Traquina in response to a faculty member’s question.

Traquina also disclosed compensation for Brandeis’ senior executive team: 15 positions including the provost, deans and Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel. For fiscal year 2014-15, Brandeis paid its executives $4,978,000. This is in around the 45th percentile compared to the “market composite” for compensation, the 37th percentile compared to AAU schools and the 13th compared to AAU privates.

For FY 2013-14, Brandeis paid its executive team $4,947,000, which is in the 50th percentile compared to market composite, 49th compared to the AAU and 15th compared to AAU privates.

Total executive compensation—including the job of president—has been about 1.5 percent over the past few years, give or take less than 0.1 percent.

Prof. Sabine von Mering (GRAL/WMGS) does not think the use of “percentiles” provides the most important comparisons, preferring to see how executives’ compensations compares to faculty and staff compensations “from the bottom up.”

The average total compensation for a full-time Brandeis faculty member is $168,000, according to a study from the American

Association of University Professors (AAUP). This is compared to $176,300 at Vassar, $193,400 at Tufts, $206,500 at Brown and $191,600 at fellow Waltham university, Bentley.

The Board of Trustees is having conversations about compensation for faculty, addressing the concern that faculty may leave for better-paying jobs at other schools, said Provost Irv Epstein at the Faculty Meeting. Other faculty members also expressed concern about employees not be-

Panel examines Flint Water Crisis FLINT, from page 1

and that she showers with the contaminated water but is reluctant to wash her face because the chlorine levels in it are either too high or too low.

The EPA still says the water is not okay to drink. “It’s hard to think every time you turn on the water fountain, ‘Are you going to use it today?’” Brown said.

Panelist Carl Williams, staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Massachusetts, said, “Air and water are the two most essential things to human life. That people don’t have water at a city in the United States is incomprehensible.”

The #FordHall4Flint campaign began in February and since then they have collected over $2,000, as well as supplies for the Christ En-

richment Center and the Community Foundation for Greater Flint.

Brown says that at this point they have been sent more than enough water; what they truly need now is for people to continue paying attention to the issue and educate themselves so they can continue to help in the long term.

“One of the things I believe we really need are people who are educated, who are going into fields that can help communities, to choose to live in those communities,” Brown said. “We don’t have a quality range of elected officials.

This community and communities like ours need educated people who have a desire to be a leader, who know how to utilize their voice in powerful ways to impact change that happens when people are impoverished by great numbers.”

ing paid a living wage of at least $15.05 an hour. Although the board voted to raise the minimum wage, this does not apply to outsourced workers such as Sodexo or mailroom employees.

Traquina has been giving this report for the past three years.

“I’m unaware of any other private college or university that discloses this data so ahead of what is legally required,” he said. Brandeis began disclosing this information as it does after an uproar when The Boston Globe leaked the compen-

NEWS 3

sation rate for president emeritus Jehuda Reinharz, according to a Brandeis Hoot article from January 2014.

Also at the meeting, Lanser briefly examined the status of emeritus faculty, indicating that low salaries for longtime, full tenure professors may affect retirement rates. According to a report from the fall of 2014, 48 percent of all tenured faculty are over 60 years old and 32 percent of tenured faculty are over 65. The report outlined recommendations

to better facilitate faculty retirement. Recommendations include all-campus parking passes and medical/dental benefits.

The university is also in the midst of search processes for positions such as Vice President for Diversity and Chief Operating Officer, said Epstein in his Provost’s Report. Several administrators also participated in emergency preparedness training, said Epstein, helping them to develop action plans in situations such as a tornado.

Proposal extends marathon sessions See MARATHON, page 1

beyond SUMS we want to have a really solid plan. We just currently don’t,” said Herbstritt. Thus there are no current plans to revise SUMS forms.

Changes to Marathon sessions arise from a need for improved convenience and effectiveness. It is not unusual for funding to be denied to a club on the grounds that SUMS forms were not properly filled out. “We want to make our policy decisions based on policy not how SUMS can be temperamental,” said Herbstritt.

As of now, A-Board has three office hours per week available to answer questions about forms.

Herbstritt stated that this may not be enough time for club leaders to address problems with the forms.

The new proposal adds drop-in sessions over several dates before the marathon sessions. At these drop-in sessions, club leaders will have 15 minutes to ask questions about forms and ensure that they

are being filled out properly. The Union hopes that this will reduce the amount of clubs that have their funding rejected as a result of incorrect forms. The Union also recognizes that there may be drawbacks to the proposed changes, as problems may arise while switching over to this new session structure. Herbstritt indicated that the new drop-in sessions may help the process run smoother.

If passed, the new semester-long marathon funding sessions will begin in November of 2016. The November marathon in the fall semester will be conducted to fund the 2017 spring semester. The drop ins and the increase in session length would take effect immediately. They would be in place for early marathon at the end of this semester. “We want to get the most effective short-term solutions put in place as soon as possible,” said Herbstritt.

The Union is also seeking to change the emergency and ap-

peals sessions. “Currently, appeals and emergency are their own marathon periods. We want to expand emergency to be not only for expenses that came up for a given event that people didn’t know about, but also to help clubs along if they have an event that could not have possibly been planned for in advance,” said Herbstritt.

Changes to the appeals and emergency sessions are not currently included in the proposal.

The Senate could vote on this proposal as early as Sunday, March 6. Herbstritt emphasized the importance of reaching out to senators with concerns prior to a vote. Though unconventional, there may be a forum before the upcoming vote. “We encourage anyone with concerns to attend this Senate Meeting. We are welcoming and encouraging student input because this doesn’t just affect A-Board, it affects club leaders [and] it affects people who go to club events,” said Herbstritt.

Students can now access physical therapy services

By Samantha Lauring Staff

Students will now have access to paid physical therapy services on campus according to an email sent by Sheryl Sousa, senior associate vice president for student affairs. Sports and Physical Therapy Associates (SPTA) will have an office in the Gosman Sports Center twice a week. All services require

payment either by insurance or out of pocket, directly to SPTA. Benji Kemper ’19 is a member of the men’s ultimate frisbee team, TRON, and says the new physical therapy services on campus are “very helpful, especially for people on club sports teams because varsity team members were the only people to have access to physical therapy services before SPTA.” Kemper says that TRON has

a high injury rate and accessible physical therapy services are very beneficial. Kemper suffered from a high hamstring strain and has started going to SPTA twice a week. “I’m making gains and looking forward to going back and beasting on the field. My first visit was helpful and informative,” said Kemper to The Brandeis Hoot.

Physical therapy services on campus are accessible to Brandeis

students, faculty and staff. Therapists will be available for appointments Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Before scheduling an appointment with SPTA, you must receive a prescription for physical therapy.

Students who have experienced injury and would like to be evaluated by a member of the health center can call Brandeis University Health Center at 781-736-3677 for an appointment.

To schedule an appointment with SPTA, students can call 781-444-514 x0 and identify as a member of the Brandeis community. Before your appointment is confirmed, you must provide the SPTA office with your insurance information. New patient paperwork can be found on the SPTA website, www.sportsandpt.com.

This information must be filled out before your first appointment.

NEWS 4

The Brandeis Hoot

M arch 4, 2016

Jefferson’s memoir more than personal

By Ryan Spencer Staff

Brandeis alumna Margo Jefferson ’68 returned to Brandeis to discuss her critically acclaimed memoir “Negroland” on March 3 at the Brandeis Faculty Club. The memoir talks about Jefferson’s life particularly as it pertains to her identity as an upper-middle class black woman brought up in Chicago’s South Side, an area she dubbed “Negroland” and titled her memoir after. “Negroland” is a New York Times Bestseller and was listed on The Washington Post’s “10 Best Books of 2015” and the New York Times “100

ZIONISM, from page 2

own experience of Cowboys and Indians, where the Cowboys are the Zionists and the Indians are the Palestinians. “The Indians make various skirmishes and act up once in a while and the Cowboys have to remind them who is boss,” Sarna said. “Nevertheless the Cowboys still respect the Indians.” He further said, “Brandeis wanted nothing more than to raise up those Indians and to turn them into equal inhabitants of

Notable Books of 2015.” Jefferson has also won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1995 for her work as a critic with The New York Times.

The event featured an interview with Jefferson by Jasmine Johnson, assistant professor in the Department of African and Afro-American Studies and the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program at Brandeis.

In an interview with The Brandeis Hoot prior to the event, Jefferson described her writing of “Negroland” as a movement away from her past as a critic saying, “I wanted to try things, in terms of writing technique, in terms of subject, in terms of challenges, that I haven’t done before.” Despite this goal, Jefferson confessed, “You

never can renounce or completely bury the kind of way you’ve been working.” She also accredited the death of her sister in 2010 and their life together as another driving force behind the memoir, saying, “This was always a big part of the book: girls, three years apart being shaped by very particular ideologies of gender and race.”

Jefferson described the title of her memoir, “Negroland,” as a reference to a time period in the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s when “Negro was a word that became the honorable, the sanctioned, the preferred word” before it was replaced with “black.” Jefferson further described the term “Negroland” in juxtaposition with other lands, saying “a land is also bor-

the land.” Sarna then once more brought up Brandeis’ idea of a “utopian” society in Palestine, where all inhabitants have equal share and opportunity under the same government. Ultimately, Brandeis did not understand the concepts of interacting with the Arabs so that they could work together toward this equality, the way that cultural Zionists did.

At the end of the discussion, when President Lynch asked Fish to summarize the important takeaways from the panel, a few of her more remarkable points were that

one can interact with building opportunities while retaining idealism, and “to be Zionist is not in contrast with Americanism.”

Along with Mirsky, Professor Jonathan Sarna, the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis took the stage. Meanwhile, Fran Melino, the Sophia Moses Robison Professor of Jewish Studies and History at Wellesley College participated, as well as Rachel Fish, associate director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis.

Castle renovation will not alter class sizes

By Daniela Michanie Special to The Hoot

On Jan. 25, the administration announced plans to tear down most of Usen Castle to make way for new residence halls that will accommodate approximately 60 percent more students, according to Lisa Lynch’s email to the Brandeis community.

Usen Castle has been home to Brandeis undergraduates since the 1950s. According to Tim Touchette, the director of the Department of Community Living, the estimates for housing demand correlate with overall enrollment.

“Brandeis currently houses over 80 percent of our undergraduate

students,” said Touchette.

The Brandeis Hoot reached out to DCL for details about how the renovation will affect the undergraduate community.

For the past two years, Brandeis has been able to accommodate the undergraduate population of about 3,550, with additional housing capacity left in the spring after all mid-year, transfer students and waiting list students were accommodated.

After carefully evaluating the trends in enrollment and housing demand, the DCL determined that if housing demand remains steady, the loss of the 100 beds that the Castle provided should not require any shifts in class size

for the fall or spring, and the same percentage of students will be able to remain living on campus. Students who reside in the castle in the fall of 2016 and want housing for the spring of 2017 will be offered alternate living arrangements.

As for changes in enrollment, the administration recognizes that even a slightly larger first year class or an increase in returning students could potentially place more pressure on space the following year. This situation is being carefully monitored by the DCL and may result in Brandeis having to limit the housing offered to new transfer students for one semester.

Diversity conference provides platform for inclusion and unity

By Ryan Spencer Staff

Brandeis hosted the Diversity Conference on Saturday Feb. 27, featuring presentations, workshops and performances from students, faculty and others outside the Brandeis community.

The conference ran throughout the day with events occurring in various locations on campus.

According to the Brandeis Diversity Conference website, the conference aims to “help students recognize the complex problems of today, empower them with knowledge to instill a sense of importance in these issues, and motivate them to be the wave of change as they are leaders in their

respective communities.”

This year the Brandeis Diversity Conference featured keynote speaker Justin Kang. Kang is the Executive Director of a nonprofit organization called City Awake which focuses on building an ecosystem of civic engagement and social innovation throughout the Boston area. The conference also featured speakers such as Jamele Adams, the Dean of Student Life, Bronte Velez ’16, Student Union President Nyah Macklin ’16 and Ricky Orng, spoken word poet and Communications Director at EMW Bookstore.

Santiago Montoya ’19, a student involved with running the conference, told The Brandeis Hoot via email that he chose to be involved with the conference because “I

think it serves as a platform to encourage inclusion and unity in our community” and “in the year that I have been [at Brandeis], I believe the student body works extremely hard to bring another side of the diverse student body.”

Montoya said he did not feel that the conference had one particular highlight because “the conference went great from the very beginning.”

Montoya told The Hoot that the Diversity Conference brought people from “varied places, such as Tufts, Trinity College, Harvard, etc.,” and that the conference “made me feel very proud of Brandeis for their great efforts to change the rules of the game and for being so welcoming.”

dered by and infringed upon and permeated by and defending itself against other lands.”

“This was by no means just a personal memoir,” said Jefferson, instead describing her book as a “cultural memoir.” Jefferson said she specifically fought against “the convention of a single voice” when writing “Negroland” because “in a memoir that single voice is associated with you and I wanted to present this ‘me’ as a series of personas, performing certain roles [and] inhabiting certain roles.”

The memoir dedicates a brief chapter to Jefferson’s time at Brandeis, but Jefferson says “I didn’t write that much about [Brandeis] in the book.” In her

interview with The Hoot, though, Jefferson described Brandeis as “very caught up in the new left, anti-Vietnam [and] civil rights” during her four years on campus. “[My time at Brandeis] was very intellectually intense and there was a lot of angst,” Jefferson said as she recalled going to demonstrations as well as her involvement as one of the original members of Brandeis first black student organization. Jefferson was also involved in theater during her first and senior year at Brandeis. Looking back on her time at Brandeis, Jefferson said she wishes she had been “more courageous” and encourages current students to “find your constituency and be as independent as you possibly can.”

Senate Box: Feb. 28, 2016 -The Student Union Historian took a group photo of the members of the Senate.

-Senate Dining Committee Chair Hannah Brown ’19 raised an interest brought by the Graduate Student Association for a graduate student-focused meal plan.

-Currently there is no meal plan for graduate students, so

the Dining Committee will be examining the feasibility of

developing a plan alongside the GSA. -The mandatory candidates’ meeting for those seeking to run for a number of Union offices will be held on Wednesday, March 9 at 9 p.m. in the Student Union office.

-A bylaw change was proposed by Student Union Vice President David Herbstritt ’17 to adapt how the marathon process functions.

-The change would reform the process to create a single

marathon in one semester that would then go on to fund

all club activities through the next semester.

-Several Senators, including Mitchell Mankin and Matt

Smetana, raised a number of inherent pitfalls of the pro

posal, such as concerns about forcing clubs to plan and

budget their events a semester in advance, and creating a

potentially inflexible system.

-Herbstritt announced that he would be holding a press

conference to explain further detail about the proposed

changes to be held on March 2 at 5 p.m.

-Senators submitted their committee reports.

-Lorenzo Finmare ’18, Senator At Large, reported that

the Club Support Board is “working hard to make Brandeis

great again” and is continuing to meet club needs.

-Hannah Brown reported that the Dining Committee is

considering holding an open meeting, advertised as a pub

lic “dining forum” where they could hear concerns of stu

dents in-person.

-The Senate Dining Committee is also working in partner

ship with the Services and Outreach Committee to start a

“Brain Break Night” in the dining halls, where students

could decorate cookies, color, make origami and craft pet rocks.

-Charles River Quad Senator Valarie Timms ’16 proposed a Student Union-member talent show, to boost the Union’s public relations with the student body, to be held in late March or early April.

By Jacob Edelman

March 4, 2016

OPINIONS

Bernout: Brandeis’ drop in enthusiasm for Bernie Sanders

By Katarina Weessies Columnist

Super Tuesday was bleak for Bernie Sanders fans. Although Sanders did take the majority in a few states—Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Vermont— it looks like Hillary Clinton will win the Democratic nomination.

This is hardly unexpected. Hillary Clinton is a seasoned politician who has been vocal in D.C. since her husband’s presidency. Sanders is a new face in politics; most Americans hadn’t even heard the Vermont Senator’s name until he announced his presidential bid in 2015. In fact, it is amazing that Sanders has made it this far. His Democratic Socialism and emphasis on social justice is controversial but incredibly appealing to educated millennials, many of whom were disappointed with the Obama administration’s inability to follow through on many of its more liberal promises. Sanders’ campaign is a more intellectual echo of Obama’s “Hope and Change” platform during the 2008 election. However, Sanders takes his liberalism a step further than Obama by openly acknowledging his socialist economic stance.

When Sanders first launched his extremely liberal campaign, Brandeis students were thrilled.

Many felt that with Sanders as

an option, their presidential vote would no longer be for the lesser of two evils but for a candidate who they felt was genuinely well-intentioned and beneficial for the country as a whole. For months, it seemed that most every Brandeis student’s laptop was plastered with Bernie 2016 stickers and every dorm room had Bernie posters up on its walls.

Of course, Brandeis students’ political views are not monolithic.

Even during the height of the Bernie Sanders fervor, many Clinton supporters and even a few scattered Republicans roamed the Brandeis campus. That being said, enthusiasm for Sanders was far more visible than for any other candidate. But recently, the drive to elect Bernie Sanders has subsided.

Wandering through the library, I see far fewer laptops decorated with the Bernie 2016 logo. When students discuss the election, there is less emphasis on the Sanders candidacy, with most students preferring to voice their hope that a Democrat, any Democrat, will win the presidency over Trump. It is difficult to still find any of the intense enthusiasm that Brandeis students had for Sanders during the first stages of his candidacy.

This decline in enthusiasm is practical, not ideological. With the Super Tuesday results in, Brandeis students have to ac-

cept that Sanders probably won’t win the nomination. They have switched from their focus on electing Sanders to a sort of damage-control mode, where the focus is on avoiding a Republican (read: Trump) presidency. They no longer have the long-term goal of electing Sanders, although many feel that he still has the best ideological platform.

Especially after her sweep of many state primaries, a good portion of Brandeis students are genuine Clinton supporters. Most of them cite Clinton’s robust political experience, foreign policy and realistic goal-setting as their reasons for supporting her. All three of these justifications for supporting Clinton are the reverse of Sanders’ most apparent weaknesses. Despite the increasing support for Clinton, Brandeis’ eagerness to elect her is lukewarm compared to the excitement previously demonstrated for Sanders.

Although the obstacles faced by Sanders supporters are likely insurmountable, Brandeis students ought not give up on politics. Bernie Sanders probably is not going to be president, but that does not mean that his supporters cannot advocate for the reforms he promotes. Even without Sanders as a rallying point, students still have the capability to display political fervor and enthusiasm throughout the upcoming election.

The Brandeis Hoot 5

Senior tears: Turning in your ‘athlete’ card

By Theresa Gaffney Editor

As a second semester senior editor on The Brandeis Hoot, I get to write an opinion piece at the end of the year reflecting on my time at the newspaper and how it has helped me to grow as a person. This is not that piece, yet.

However, it is me using the paper to reflect on something that has, amazingly, taken up even more of my time the past four years: Brandeis University Swim and Dive Team (BUSDT).

As a senior in high school, Brandeis was my top choice for schools. I liked the academics and everything fine, but it was the swim team that really drew me in. I knew I wanted to continue competitive swimming in college and was looking to commit. And despite the terrible financial aid package we received, I believed that Brandeis was my destiny, especially after learning that the renovated pool had reopened on my birthday. It was obviously a sign.

I have spent every birthday since then at Linsey Pool for at least a few hours. I have done four “birthday swims”—a 50 yard butterfly swim with the rest of the team creating tidal waves around you with their kickboards. I remember one year when practice went longer than expected and instead of having a birthday dinner with my friends, I had to run up campus in the snow, grab a to-go box, and head straight back down to the pool for my lifeguard shift.

Being a collegiate athlete is not easy, and I would argue with all 16 pages of this newspaper if I could that swimming is the most

difficult varsity sport at Brandeis.

And people like to tell you that you won’t remember the hard times. You’ll just remember all the friendships and the laughs! But I don’t think that is true with swimming. I’m going to remember that lonely birthday dinner. I’m going to remember the time I was tethered in place with a snorkel and told to sprint for 20 minutes straight, and cried my goggles full of water. I’ll remember packing up my bags the day after Christmas to come back to campus for practice. But to say I survived (and enjoyed?) that experience with my teammates is something that I am immensely proud of.

I’ve been spending most of my free time at a pool for about 15 years now. Since high school, swimming has taken up more time per week than the part-time jobs most of my friends had. I worked my own jobs around the pool—lifeguarding, teaching swim lessons—so that it would be easier to get to swim practice. And now, with my collegiate swim career officially over, I find myself with an extra 25 hours per week to fill.

It’s a weird thing to do something your whole life and then all of a sudden have it be over. I still haven’t wrapped my head around the idea that I’m supposed to work out now just because it’s good for me. No more cut times to make or points to score or tapers to train for. No more incentive to wake up before sunrise other than the junk food I no longer feel justified to eat whenever I please. Anything I do, I’ve got to just do for me. So far, I haven’t done anything.

See SWIM, page 6

photo by matt kowalyk/the hoot

Brandeis dining does good work with themed events

By Zach Phil Schwartz Editor

Sodexo, Brandeis University’s food provider, does not always deserve the criticism it constantly receives. There are definitely ways for the service to improve, but lost in the complaints are events that engage the campus and attempt to bring the community together through food. Through themed events and other special promotions, Brandeis and Sodexo are able to provide a dynamic dining experience that, while at times unpredictable, can provide welcome change and enjoyment to a stressed student body.

The college experience can be characterized by a roller coaster of stress and frustration, and all of our campus services attempt to make that experience easier.

Brandeis Dining Services is no different. For those interested, it provides food, drink and in the dining halls, a social space to unwind and destress. Alas, the same options every day may make for a stale distraction that is decreasingly able to serve in its ability to alleviate the stresses of everyday life.

Enter dining hall events: Sodexo’s most interesting and yet lesser known programs. They

serve to change up what can be a bland daily food cycle in Sherman and in Usdan as well as to provide a welcome diversion from daily life: something (however minor) to look forward to. After all, a simple distraction that could be a dining hall event may serve to better someone’s day.

Last semester, for example, Sodexo brought in university chefs from all around the Boston area to compete in a local cook-off, where Brandeis students were able to have a variety of different foods while at the same time enjoying a friendly competition. Such events are common in Brandeis’ dining halls, but they do not always receive the recognition they deserve, or the marketing they need.

On March 2, a few of my friends and I gathered to celebrate a birthday in Sherman, where we had made reservations in advance for its “Stone Steakhouse Elite Event.”

The food was excellent and it only

cost $6 extra in points to boot, but yet not very many students seemed aware of or interested in the event.

Why is it that such events go unnoticed? Much like with other campus problems, a lack of communication, causing a sort of apathy, is to blame. Without proper channels of communication, news of elections, campus events and Dining Services’ initiatives will continue to go under noticed and deserved recognition not given. In terms of promoting campus awareness for activities like dining hall events, a simple uptick in communication and outreach will go a long way.

In order to increase awareness of dining hall events and campus events in general, there needs to be a greater advertising presence on campus. There were notices for the March 2 steak event in the dining halls, but not in many other locations. Students spend most

of their time in academic buildings, campus/student centers, the library and in the residence halls.

These would be the most ideal locations to increase awareness.

I do not advocate the wasting of paper resources to disturb the beauty of these areas and destroy the environment in the process.

University services can still better its advertising presence through strategic placement and maintain a commitment to paper conservation. There is no reason why campus announcement boards cannot be in more visible locations and why some of them go unupdated for long periods of time. The proper utilization of these amenities will go a long way toward promoting awareness.

Another way to promote awareness is through campus email, which is a completely environmentally friendly way to increase communication. It is plausible that due to the sheer volume of

photo from brandeis.edu

emails sent and received that there exists a lack of interest in campus email, which can logically explain the problems with turnout in recent Student Union elections. However, students still check email for classes and for important developments. Framing campus event announcements in an easy to view and user friendly way may help resist the problems that the university faces with email apathy.

The general apathy for campus functions makes it so that they go underappreciated and in some cases unnoticed. Many of these events are programmed for the benefit of the students: to destress, to provide a relaxing social environment and to—in rough terms—provide a distraction from the tumult of everyday life.

Services like Brandeis Dining that receive a lot of criticism from community members tend not to garner the same level of attention for their positive aspects, such as its brand of programming geared towards student enjoyment. Perhaps through a widening and better utilization of campus communication channels, many of the problems characterized by apathy and a lack of prior knowledge— like with Student Union elections and with subpar event attendance—will become solvable.

6 OPINIONS

The Brandeis Hoot

March 4, 2016

Find meaningful solutions to housing problems

By Nicole Porter Columnist

Ziv, Rosie, Ridgewood, East, Castle, Mods, Grad, Massell, North and Village: the places we have seen many times and maybe even dreamed of living in during our time at Brandeis. When you are an incoming first-year you have no choice of where you end up living. You barely know the difference between Massell and North and all you can do is cross your fingers and hope you don’t get the dreaded “forced triple.”

As my first year slowly creeps towards its end, though, I have a choice of where I get to live next year. But what seems like a great opportunity to live in a nice place with friends can turn into a night-

mare of hoping for a good number and fighting for decent housing.

The housing lottery at first seemed like a mystery to soonto-be sophomores like myself.

But after the barely successful mass chaos of the spring semester course selection, I’m not optimistic. The housing lottery seems to be Hunger Games for shelter.

You hope not to get a high number, but if you do you are thrown into a battle for decent housing or, if you are a junior or senior, any on-campus housing at all. Sophomores have it easy; the worst-case scenario is a single back in Massell or North. Upperclassmen risk having to search Waltham and the surrounding area for housing.

Even if you do get housing

you could end up paying around $8,000 a year for a small room you share with another person, no air conditioning and constantly changing heat. That same price will also land you four showers and six toilets to share with 22 other people. Although the Department of Community Living is at least attempting to fix the system by suggesting new proposals, like the “Loyalty Plan,” they all seem to fall short of what we need.

One solution that seems simple enough if implemented over a long period of time is to simply fix the “bad” housing and increase the number of residence halls on campus.

With the imminent dismantling of the Castle in the spring and summer of 2017, Brandeis is

offered a unique opportunity to help fix its housing problem. At the moment the Castle can house around 120 people. When the university builds a new residence hall in the Castle’s place, it could build one similar in size and occupancy to the Village to nearly double the number of occupants in the Castle area.

In addition to building new residence halls, DCL should take the initiative to renovate the older ones. No one should have to live in a dorm that is considered “bad.”

Just by adding air conditioning and better heating systems, updating the showers and getting rid of the “East bugs” could improve the standard of living in residence quads like East, North and Massell significantly. “Bad” housing

should not be a problem at this university; each dorm should be relatively up to date and enjoyable to live in.

We should not be sitting in the cold hoping that the university turns on the heat or hoping for a low enough number to actually live on the campus where we go to school. We should not have to fight for a place to live and there should not be any place on campus that is not considered a decent place to live. The Department of Community Living is trying to create quick fixes for those who are opposed to the housing lottery when instead they should be focusing on fixing the housing problems on campus. Until they fix these problems, all we can do is hope and wait.

photo from brandeis.edu

Find a club or team you love and stick with it SWIM, from page 5

I’m not sure what to do next. I know swimmers that have graduated and gotten super into running marathons. I know others who have gotten super into their jobs, and a few who really enjoy just sitting on the couch. With a few months left before I graduate, I feel like the end of my swim career is a test run for adult life.

How will I do without the structure of a team? Can I stay fit on my own?

I would say that everyone

should try to compete in varsity athletics to gain the same great experiences, but I don’t think that’s true. It is not for everyone,

but there is something for everyone—I urge any young underclassmen who haven’t already to join a club that you think you

could stick with for four years. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a collegiate athlete at Brandeis. The leadership skills

I’ve gained will help me in the real world more than most of my English classes, and the friends I’ve made will be friends for life.

photo by theresa gaffney/the hoot

Admin. should recognize Greek Life

By José Castellanos Special to The Hoot

In 1986, the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity founded a chapter at Brandeis, becoming the university’s first Greek organization. In its early days, the fraternity was met with much resistance, since Greek life was banned on campus due to administrative fears over their exclusive nature. Waltham Group refused to allow brothers to donate blood and anti-Greek articles were published in campus publications. However, despite the resistance, Alpha Epsilon Pi only grew. Now, 30 years later, Greek life at Brandeis thrives despite remaining largely underground, with the six fraternities and four sororities present on campus being largely unable to perform various on-campus activities due to the same ban.

Approximately 12 percent of the student body belongs to a fraternity or sorority, and the Greek Awareness Council allows for

greater outreach from the Greek community in their various philanthropic efforts. And yet, the administrative continues to insist that Greek life not be recognized, largely due to the inherent exclusivity of Greek organizations.

However, this sentiment in and of itself brims with hypocrisy. There is a plethora of organizations on campus that maintain a degree of exclusivity, such as the myriad improv comedy troupes and a cappella groups on campus; these organizations maintain a degree of recognition from administration, even if they are not chartered groups on campus.

So why does the administration refuse to recognize Greek life? Many may point to the parties often thrown by fraternities, stating that because underage drinking often occurs at these events, it would be unreasonable for Brandeis to recognize organizations that participate in such activities. Though it is perhaps the worst-kept secret at Brandeis that a staggering number of orga-

nizations throw similar unofficial parties, with no backlash from administration.

It is expected that, at one point or another, college students are going to drink. This is why there is an alcohol awareness session during orientation and why the Department of Community Living has posted various “Know Your Buzz” and “Make Good Choices” flyers in most every residence hall. It is therefore unreasonable to only hold Greek life accountable for the alcohol culture on campus.

Greek organizations also hold a high degree of risk management, with most, if not all, having mandatory bystander training for their new and old members alike.

Though there is a national issue regarding sexual misconduct, Brandeis Greek organizations are overall taking the appropriate steps to prevent the same problems from occurring on and off campus. This shows not only a determination to educate members on the issue of sexual mis-

conduct and how be an active bystander, but also a dedication to the safety of Brandeis students.

Even accounting for this, Greek life is about much more than just partying. Every organization has a respectable degree of philanthropic activity, with each organization forming teams for Relay for Life, as well as hosting various individual events, such as Alpha Epsilon Pi’s semesterly Pie-a-Pi, which directly supports organizations such as the Israel Children’s Cancer Foundation and Gift of Life. Delta Phi Epsilon also hosts annual charity events that support organizations such as the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders.

So what argument is left to be made? By allowing for Greek recognition, administration not only allows for a greater potential in Greek philanthropic efforts, but also allows for a greater degree of safety and accountability for the various events held by both fraternities and sororities. Additionally, these organizations

would benefit largely from the additional resources presented to recognized organizations, such as an increased rate of on-campus outreach and a larger ease of reserving spaces for events. By allowing for recognition of Greek life on campus, there is also an opportunity to begin cooperation between campus administration and Greek organizations, potentially allowing for an increase in philanthropic activities and improving both of Greek life and of the Brandeis community as a whole.

Essentially, the ban of Greek life on campus is pointless and counterproductive. By not providing recognition, the ban effectively shows a Brandeis administration that is unwilling to work together with a student populace that has, overall, been more of a benefit than a liability to the university despite the administration’s best attempts to hinder its growth.

March 4, 2016

OPINIONS7

The Brandeis Hoot

Admin. not doing enough to combat South Street incidents

By José Castellanos Special to The Hoot

Since mid-November of 2015, there have been six incidents of indecent exposure and one attempted assault near the Brandeis campus, ranging from Walgreen’s to the power plant to the Charles River Apartments. The description of the suspects have wildly varied, from a male described as, “Approximately 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet tall, possibly Hispanic,” to a “light-skinned Hispanic male, approximately 5 feet 7 tall, thin build with broad shoulders, in his mid-20s.” Every subsequent email has promised that every individual incident will be investigated and that Brandeis is working with Waltham police in order to take steps to prevent future incidents.

The situation has, however, only worsened, culminating in an attempted robbery and assault on Feb. 19.

To say that these incidents are deplorable would be putting it lightly. Many Brandeis students have been sexually harassed or

otherwise assaulted in incidents that are still inexplicably occurring. Although it is highly unlikely that the same individual is the perpetrator behind all of the indecent exposures, it is nonetheless important that authorities take higher measures to prevent future incidents because frankly, it seems that not enough is being done if the incidents have continued to occur until as recently as Feb. 23. This is especially critical due to the fact that it is unlikely that a member of the Brandeis community is behind the exposures, given that the suspects are often described as being between their mid-20s to early-30s.

Obviously this is not a simple issue to combat given the likelihood that there are multiple suspects that represent a deeper societal problem that makes them believe that indecent exposure is acceptable behavior. However, there are still multiple steps that can be taken, especially given that two of the incidents have occurred by the Charles River Apartments. It is critical to find solutions to this issue, given that many students

are now wary of walking down South Street unaccompanied.

“I don’t feel very safe on South Street,” said Katarina Weessies ’18. “Higher visibility on South Street would definitely make me feel more safe. Obviously this is a difficult issue for administration to address but it would be helpful if they helped students feel more safe.” So what can be done to prevent further incidents?

As Katarina said, higher visibility would be a step in the right direction, and understandably so. Often times, there are swaths of South Street that have less-than-optimal visibility conditions, especially between the power plant and the elementary school, where two separate incidents were reported. By increasing visibility, possibly by adding more street lamps to the area, the likelihood of any future attempts would decrease, as there would be a higher risk of the perpetrator being identified by whomever they may attempt to harass.

Additionally, the placement of more blue emergency lights around the outskirts of campus

can allow for a shortened report and response time, perhaps making it more likely that the perpetrator may be caught. That being said, it is worth noting that parts of that land belong to the City of Waltham and not Brandeis University, and both of these solutions depend on heightened cooperation between the two. However, this is not wholly unreasonable to ask, as preventing further incidents of indecent exposure is in the best interests of both the university and the City of Waltham.

And lastly, an increase in patrols of both the Waltham Police Department and Brandeis’ Department of Public Safety would add a heightened sense of security, and would increase the likelihood that the flashers may be caught.

None of this is to say that administration does not have the safety of students at heart. Rather, this is merely an expression of the opinion that not enough is being done, due to the fact that the incidents are still occurring and no arrests have yet been made. Solutions must be presented beyond “be mindful of your surround-

ings” and “walk without distracting headphones or ear phones.”

The administration needs to show that it has the safety of students at heart by implementing measures such as these to ensure that Brandeis students can once again feel safe walking around their campus.

photo by matt kowalyk/the hoot

Musings on the workings of a univ.

By Jacob Edelman Editor

Brandeis is an immensely intricate operation to keep running 24-hours per day. Think about it: tens of outdoor spaces, dozens of buildings, hundreds of rooms, thousands of students, faculty and staff in and out constantly and millions upon millions of dollars being taken in, processed and spent. Wrapping my mind around how this institution keeps going so constantly gives me a logistical migraine. The university

is a system that is, by nature of its complexity, ultra-prone to carelessness, misuse and waste.

On any given day, we can do amazing things as students here.

I can connect my computer to a powerful, usually dependable wireless network that is normally active across the entire campus. I will attend classes that are, more likely than not, taught by a worldclass faculty member and that will open my mind to new perspectives on the topics that interest me the most. I will eat food from a dining hall or purchased from a nearby grocery store and remain

healthy while doing so, and I feel safe going to bed at night knowing that my residence building is safe and that my friends are well taken care of.

Each day, there are important things to notice, highlight and take issue with. For many students, the bills from Brandeis are unsustainably high. Dining hall food often isn’t nearly comparable to home cooking. Workdays can run too long, and the weekends can seem too short. It is on all of us to keep these community-impacting issues at the forefront of the dialogue.

It is important to keep in mind that students are the backbone of this institution. The university was built for students. The university is paid for by students.

The university is driven by the constant buzz of students. Every issue that affects many students can be changed by the action of one or a few. It doesn’t always take a movement to make real change, and it doesn’t always take a major change to start a movement.

Running a university is a complicated operation prone to oversight and waste, and students should always continue to hold

the university—one that they spend thousands, tens or hundreds of thousands of their (and their families’) dollars to attend— accountable for doing right unto its students. The university needs to always be mindful; however, the reality of the way the system works is that the entirety of the process of discovering, highlighting and righting all wrongs can’t logistically be left to the university alone. As the past year has shown, the singular and collective voices and actions of students can be the most effective change-making elements on and around campus.

8 The Brandeis Hoot

the mist

WEEK IN PHOTOS

Campus can certainly get spooky sometimes.

an important message

Don’t forget, The Hoot loves you!

we don’t know, either

You probably had to be there.

March 4, 2016

photo by adam lamper/the hoot

photos by amanda huang/the hoot

March 4, 2016

sunrise, sunset

photo by amanda huang/the hoot

We aren’t sure which, but isn’t she lovely?

brandeis flocks to flaca

fee fie foe fum

WEEK IN PHOTOS 9

The Brandeis Hoot

photo by matt kowalyk/the hoot

An inspirational talk and some sweet overalls.

Here’s a fallen tree.

photo by jacob edelman/the hoot

intimate apparel

A strong performance.

photo courtesy mike lovett

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 Features Editor Jacob Edelman Sports Editor Sarah Jousset 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 6 the brandeis hoot • brandeis university 415 south street • waltham, ma

March 4, 2016

We said yes! to the new Marathon proposals

T

his week, the Student Union announced a new proposal designed to reform the club finance Marathon process by having a single two-week session per semester, rather than two separate week-long Marathons per semester. At a press conference held this Wednesday, Union Vice President David Herbstritt ’17 explained his belief that the changes will smooth out the Marathon process, by both giving clubs more time to decide and the Allocations Board more time to make decisions.

The Brandeis Hoot supports this proposal and hopes that the Union will support it moving forward. Throughout this year, clubs have expressed great frustrations at the funding process and, as always, at some funding outcomes.

If the process for all funding began a semester

beforehand, we believe that much of the stress and pressure would be alleviated for students and A-Board alike.

This proposal would make the process less confusing for students, because they wouldn’t have to choose which Marathon to participate in. Currently there are many Marathons per semester: early Marathon, full-semester Marathon and regular Marathon.

Under the new proposal, just one Marathon would take place in a similar way as what is now full-semester Marathon. This would require clubs to plan the entire semester before it starts, which would benefit A-Board because they would get to see all the clubs’ requested allocations at once, rather than consider some clubs during early Marathon and others a few

weeks later.

Because A-Board would be able to see the requests for the entire semester at once, they would be able to plan more accurately for the semester. They could also avoid giving too little funding to clubs during early Marathon, since they would no longer have to make sure to save enough funding for regular Marathon.

If some clubs may not be able to plan so far ahead into the semester, emergency Marathon should still exist for unforeseen financial situations.

Although adopting a new proposal may be confusing at first, we believe the benefits of Marathon changes would greatly outweigh any difficulties and make the allocations process much easier for students.

In loving memory: Zimeng ‘Boots’ Xue

By Emily Sorkin Smith and Hannah Schuster editors

Zimeng “Boots” Xue ’18 died Feb. 29, 2016 at age 20. She was born on Feb. 14, 1995 in Beijing, China. Boots fenced foil for the Brandeis women’s fencing team and was a gifted artist and beloved member of her community.

Boots graduated from the Affiliated High School of Peking University in Beijing before moving to Boston to attend Brandeis, where she studied art and biology.

A diligent student, Boots spent much of her

time at fencing practice and sketching pictures of her friends. She filled sketchbooks with pages of pen drawings capturing scenes from her daily life.

She was a valued member of the fencing team, excelling in tournaments, supporting her teammates and showing profound dedication to the sport.

Boots loved basketball and was a loyal fan of the Golden State Warriors. When working at her desk, several posters of star player Stephen Curry watched over her.

She was a genuinely kind and considerate person, who, despite an initial language barrier, was nothing but friendly and open to those she

met. She patiently taught her friends phrases in Chinese and the origins of her nickname.

Boots never hesitated to help her friends, and was always available with a smile and a hug. Though she took her studies very seriously and would often be days ahead on her homework, Boots was also silly and fun and an excellent dance partner.

She loved Chinese hot pot—an expert on the best restaurants in Boston’s Chinatown— the TV show “Criminal Minds,” playing basketball and being with her friends.

Boots will be loved and missed, and her memories will be cherished by all those who were honored to call her a friend.

Founded By Leslie Pazan, Igor Pedan and Daniel Silverman

STAFF

Rachel Bossuk, Sharon Cai, Zach Cihlar, Amanda Ehrmann, 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.

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By Naomi Klickstein

Baby

staff

Across 1. Linen plant 5. Financial method 9. Plant parts 14. Fairytales 15. Particle physics lab.

16. Characteristic 17. Desktop image 18. Rental company 19. Major artery 20. Bae-by 23. Airport security (abr.)

24. Chemical suffix 25. Cry-baby 28. Clamors 32. Tavern order 35. Supermarket section 36. Some compasses 37. Saddle piece 39. Past 40. Girl Scout cookie variety 41. Energy type 43. Nonverbal “yes” 44. Cheese that is made backward?

45. Newborn baby 46. Musician Reed 47. Relaxing place 50. “Baby” 57. Dote on 58. Repeated twice, Tahitian island 59. Central Asian sea 60. Large intestine 61. “And others” 62. “Girls” creator Dunham 63. Ties 64. Valley

65. Commotions Down 1. Woo 2. Living las Vidas ____ (masc.)

3. Fragrance 4. Warrior princess 5. Feces 6. Yelp offerings 7. Pharmaceutical company 8. Motivate 9. Ogle 10. Horse pace 11. Merit 12. Bug 13. Night light 21. Ancient Christian council locale 22. Sum 26. Black gold 27. Standoffish 28. e.g. Shih Tzu 29. Some wills

30. Prefix meaning one billionth 31. Winter transport 32. Church recess 33. Laundry unit 34. Austen novel 36. Dr. Seuss turtle 38. Sailor tattoo word 39. Forbid 41. Leo Dicaprio until 2016 Oscars 42. Equivalent, as a position 45. Charged particle 46. Property claims 47. Rend 48. May be grand 49. Map collection 50. Dicaprio role 51. Noodle type 52. Alone 53. Fast walk 54. Small bit 55. Hay unit 56. Ras-related protein type (abr.)

FEATURES

March 4, 2016

The Brandeis Hoot 11

Prof. Habibi recalls exciting, fulfilling experiences in economics

By Albert Reiss Staff

Prof. Nader Habibi (ECON) is a professor in the Economics department at Brandeis. Prof. Habibi’s scholarship focuses on the Middle East region, where he investigates the economies of countries in the geographic area. In addition to being a member of the department of Economics, Prof.

Habibi is affiliated with the Crown Center for Middle East Studies.

Initially, Prof. Habibi started his academic life planning to double major in mathematics and computer science at Eastern Washington University. However, a riveting introductory microeconomics course sparked Prof. Habibi’s interest in economics. “During the second semester of my freshman year I took an introductory microeconomics class as an elective course. I was so attracted to the topics and methods of analysis in this class that I decided to take an introductory macroeconomics class the next semester. By the time I finished that class I was hooked on economics and decided to double major in Economics and Mathematics,” said Habibi.

Eventually, this would lead Habibi to earn a Ph.D. in Economics from Michigan State University.

Professor Habibi came to Brandeis initially from a back-

prof. nader habibi

ground as the director of economic forecasting and risk-analysis for the Middle East region at a consulting firm near Philadelphia.

What drew Habibi to Brandeis

photo from brandeis.edu

was the opportunity to work as an “applied economist with a research concentration in the economies of Middle Eastern countries.” Unlike his previous career

choice, Prof. Habibi was now in a strictly academic position.

Currently, Prof. Habibi is studying how university graduates from the Middle East are faring in the labor market. Specifically, Habibi is researching a condition known as ‘over-education,’ where there is a mismatch between job applicant skills and skills required for jobs.

According to Habibi, “Employment statistics show that in recent years the unemployment rate among university graduates has increased and in some countries it is higher than the rate of unemployment for high school graduates.” By studying this phenomena, Habibi hopes to make policy recommendation that will bring more stability to the “supply and demand for university graduates.”

Prof. Habibi is also collaborating with colleagues from Egypt, Turkey and Iran to help find solutions to this modern economic dilemma.

In addition to studying over-education in the Middle East, Prof.

Habibi has also studied other issues related to the Middle East. In 2011, he wrote about the economic consequences of the Arab Spring.

Additionally, Habibi has written extensively on the economic effects of sanctions imposed on Iran by the United States.

Occasionally, Prof. Habibi will collaborate with other faculty members from the Brandeis com-

munity. Habibi noted that his affiliation with the Crown Center— with faculty from disciplines such as political science, economics, history and anthropology—which affords him the benefit of working with colleagues from various disciplines. An example of this was in 2010 when he wrote a paper on Turkish trade relations with the Arab world with a visiting professor.

Currently, Prof. Habibi teaches Intermediate Economics and Economics of the Middle East. When asked which course he prefers to teach, Habibi commented, “I enjoy teaching both of them but if I have to select one I would select the Economics of the Middle East because my research activities as an economist are focused on the economic conditions of the Middle East region.”

When asked about the most rewarding part about being an economist, Habibi replied, “I enjoy the challenge of dealing with current events and trying to understand the interaction of political, social and economic institutions in a country that I am studying. It is impossible to predict the course of economic developments in a country without understanding these interdependencies. I often have to consult with my colleagues who are studying the same country as a political scientist or sociologist.”

Brandeis International Journal publishes student perspectives on the world

By Jacob Edelman Editor

The Brandeis International Journal is an entirely undergraduate run, written and published International Affairs publication, according to the description on their website. Once per semester, the club releases an issue that contains thoroughly researched articles, written by students, regarding global affairs and a wide variety of dilemmas and perspectives.

Zach Kasdin ’18, an International & Global Studies and Politics double major from the suburbs of Philadelphia, is the North American Section Editor at the Brandeis International Journal.

Part of his duties are to recruit students interested in writing for the journal and editing the contents that go on to appear in the North America section of the semesterly edition. Additionally, Kasdin attends meetings among the editors and club administrators to take part in the decision making process of much of the club’s activity and organizational planning.

“Editors are tasked with reaching out to people who we think could contribute interesting things to the journal, and sometimes we also ask professors to suggest students to us who they think would be interested in contributing something,” said Kasdin, explaining the process of finding

prof. rosenberger speaks at a journal event

writers for the multi-step process of creating a publication.

Kasdin joined the Brandeis International Journal in the spring of 2015, but since joining, the journal has been trying to raise its name recognition and develop its reputation on and off campus. “This semester we’re trying to hold more events and are also getting more in touch with other clubs cooperatively,” Kasdin commented, describing cooperating both with the Brandeis chapter of Amnesty International and future plans to cooperate with the Brandeis Quiz Bowl Team on an international-themed trivia night.

The Brandeis International Journal is divided into pieces about different regions of the

world with two or three articles per section, along with a centerfold themed section. The themed section includes in-depth articles about one specific topic that was chosen by the editorial board. Last semester, the themed section examined topics concerning global migration. The remainder of the articles appearing in each regional area do not revolve around one specific theme.

The main event that the club holds each semester is a publishing event in which three or four professors or experts in that semester’s theme area will be invited to a panel to speak about the theme. At the event, new copies of the Brandeis International Journal are distributed, and authors,

editors and interested individuals can congregate.

Apart from the publication event, the Brandeis International Journal also hosts occasional roundtable discussions with one or two professors speaking in a less formal question and answer session regarding a specific subject matter.

Kasdin hopes that as a result of what the Brandeis International Journal publishes, students will become more informed about issues of international scope, and writers will be given a useful opportunity to delve into a topic deeply and experience a unique writing process. “All of our articles are heavily researched, and go through two rounds of editing.

photo courtesy brandeis international journal

We’ve got very well done articles that give in-depth perspectives on a lot of issues,” said Kasdin.

Asking about where writers tend to draw their interests, Kasdin noted that not all are focused exclusively on political affairs. “It’s wide reaching. We have people write about technology and other impacting areas. It’s not necessarily all [international relations] people or politics people. Our articles come from a bunch of different directions.

To find a copy of the Brandeis International Journal, Kasdin noted that students should keep their eyes open when walking through open public areas such as Mandel and the SCC atrium.

SPORTS Judges close out season with tough loss

12 The Brandeis Hoot

Curtis He Zunyu staff

After a four-month journey, the 2015-16 season has finally come to an end for the Brandeis men’s basketball team. The Judges suffered a 71-50 loss at home on Saturday in their last game of the season. The Judges finish the season with nine wins and 16 losses, which did not qualify them for NCAA tournament. NYU earned the chance to continue further on their road to NCAA with a record of 20-5 after their victory at Brandeis.

The NYU Violets started the game with a 9-2 run which forced the first time-out for the Judges.

The height advantage granted the Violets an early dominance in the paint as forwards Evan Kupferberg and Costis Gontikas scored seven points out of nine. “We definitely were at a height disadvantage. Those two big guys are both first team all-league and very good players,” said guard Tim Reale ’17. With players up to six feet nine inches tall, they continued to utilize their height to score and rebound under the basket as they combined 31 points and 10 rebounds in total. The Judges also spent a lot of effort on driving to the basket and drawing fouls. The Judges’ hustle earned them seven offensive rebounds and forced three turnovers and four fouls on

Gontikas.

However, when the Judges tried to cut down the lead after a 11-0 run, the starting guard for NYU knocked down five three-pointers and led the Violets to an amazing 8-14 shooting performance outside the three-point line. But for the Judges, the basket seemed to have a cover on it, as the Judges struggled outside with only three three-pointers made. “Three-pointers aren’t really my strength. I think shooting is something we can improve on as well,” said Reale. “As for our three point defense, I think we did a good job applying ball pressure so that NYU didn’t get many easy looks.” Reale contributed 11 points on Saturday.

On the offensive end, the Judges executed their game plan by delivering the ball to forward Jordan Cooper ’18. He had an amazing second half with 4-5 shooting performance and eight points to try keeping the Judges in the game. However, Cooper did not have the chance to initiate scoring runs for the team to cut down the lead, as the Violets have prepared well on how to defend Cooper.

Every time after Cooper hit a jump shot, he was double teamed and forced to commit multiple turnovers. In the end, Cooper led the team with 15 points, five rebounds and two steals. He was also recently named second team All UAA with outstanding perfor-

mance and incredible progress.

“I think Jordan is the best player in the league and it’s a joke that he wasn’t first team all UAA. He started off the year struggling but worked extremely hard and ended up having a great season.

We’re planning on having a great year next year and Jordan will be a huge piece as he steps into more of a leadership role,” commented Reale.

The game on Saturday was also the final game for the team’s only senior, guard Colby Smith ’16.

Smith scored four points and gathered three rebounds. Colby stunned the crowd with a sensational block on NYU center Gontikas in transition defense.

“It’s tough seeing Colby graduate because he was such a good teammate and was everything you want in a basketball player …

[I want to] thank him for teaching all of us how to approach the game of basketball with passion and intensity day in and day out,” said Reale on Smith. Smith came out of the game with a little over a minute left and was met by a long hug from Coach Meehan, teary-eyed teammates who congratulated Smith on his career with Brandeis, and a thunderous applause as well as a standing ovation from many of the fans in the crowd.

Smith finishes his career with 99 games played, 2,197 minutes played, 394 points scored and 215

Brandeis baseball welcomes new head coach

By Zach Cihlar Staff

The Brandeis baseball team started their season in Florida at the RussMatt Invitational over the February break. It was their first game with new head coach, Derek Carlson, for the 2016 season. This will be his first season coaching the team. He succeeds Peter Varney, who held the position for 34 years with over 700 wins before retirement.

Carlson is a Brandeis alumnus, graduating in the class of 1991.

During his career for Brandeis, he played in the position of catcher, starring as senior captain in his final season. Varney also happened to be Carlson’s coach while Carlson attended Brandeis as a student. During the course of his four seasons playing for the Judges, Carlson earned UAA AllStar selection for three years and Greater Boston League All-Star two times.

Carlson has 13 years of head coaching experience at Roger Williams University, beginning in 2002. At Roger Williams, he achieved 261 wins. The team played in the Commonwealth Coast Conference with Gordon College, Curry College and seven other schools in the Northeast region. Carlson earned four Commonwealth Coast Conference Coach of the Year awards since his tenure in 2002, earned in 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2014. Be-

Ryan Tettemer ‘17 slides into home during the team’s first game under new Head Coach Carlson. starting it off right

fore his coaching career at Roger Williams, Carlson first gained experience working as an assistant coach at Wheaton College for six seasons.

The Judges are currently 3-0 for the season coming off their trip to Florida, scoring 16 runs total over the three games. They were undefeated in the Invitational. Carlson looks forward to seeing the players restore a “winning tradition” to Brandeis baseball. The team will return to Florida to put their winning tradition to the test. They will play in the UAA tournament, playing eight games over eight days in a row. The tournament will include Case Western, NYU, Emory, Washington University and Rochester.

Looking ahead for this season and beyond, Carlson seems optimistic. “Our first goal each year is to compete every day—not just on game day. Compete at every drill, every pitch and every swing,” he says. He and the team are focusing on competing and challenging each other in every practice and

photo from internet source

in every game and the wins will follow.

Carlson seems to have a positive impact on his new players.

Daniel Schupper ’19, a pitcher on the team, says, “His door is always open and you can’t walk by his office without seeing a group of players in there joking around with him. He is a player’s coach and will always tell you that he’ll answer any question you have.”

When comparing the Brandeis baseball teams from Carlson’s time on the team and the team he coaches now, he sees a lot of similarity in competitiveness. “I think it has become more challenging to balance their academic responsibilities along with their athletic responsibilities,” he says.

Baseball is coming off a 13-20 2015 season, finishing eighth in the UAA rankings. The baseball team has a packed schedule ahead of them for the 2016 season. The first home game is against Bridgewater State on March 15 at 3 p.m., two days after their trip to Florida.

Colby Smith ‘16 stands with family and friends after his last game at Brandeis this past weekend.

senior night

assists over his four-year career with the Brandeis Judges. Smith states that, “Life after basketball is nice because I have extra time to spend on my school work and playing intramural sports, but I will miss playing for the team more than anything. I will … miss the time I spent with my teammates and the good times we had on the road and the feeling of the crowd cheering at our Friday night games at Brandeis.” Smith will graduate with a double major in Economics and Business and

March 4, 2016

photo courtesy amanda shore

hopes to get into real estate after graduation.

As for the Judges’ season, “When you finish with the record that we did the season is a disappointment. All you can do is take whatever positives there were and build on those and then work hard until next season on the negatives,” said Reale. “Working hard in the offseason, I believe, earns you the right to win close games when the season comes which we failed to do this past season,” commented Reale.

Track goes to UAAs

By Sarah Jousset Editor

The Brandeis men’s and women’s track teams took on the University Athletic Association (UAA) championship this past weekend.

For the men’s team, Ryan Stender ’18 earned his first AllUAA honor by winning the 3,000 meter run at the championships at New York University at the Armory. Stender clinched the honor with a time of 8:33.52, which is about two seconds from his personal best, to beat the closest runner by 1.05 seconds. Stender and the runner from Emory trailed Washington University’s Dillon Williams in the final lap of the race, but Stender kicked it up in the final 200 meters of the race in under 30 seconds to ensure the victory. The last Brandeis athlete to win the 3,000 meter race was Paul Norton in 2010, and no other Judge has since 2000.

The men’s track team had one other standout at the UAA competition, on the first day of the tournament. Evan Scott ’16 finished with the second best jump of his career at 1.90 meters, which beat his previous jumps by two inches. The jump was also tied for second best jump of the competition, with Scott clearing on his third attempt, while Washington University’s Alex Arteaga cleared on his second attempt. Scott’s teammate Mark Franklin ’17 placed fourth with a height of 1.85 meters in the same competition of the UAA indoor championship,

showing improvement each time he has competed throughout the season. Adam Berger ’16 scored points for the Judges in two events over the weekend, competing in both the long and triple jumps. Berger produced bests in both competitions, placing fourth in the long jump with a distance of 6.61 meters and fifth in the triple jump with a distance of 13.11 meters.

For the women’s track team, Brandeis produced multiple performances at the UAA meet.

The Judges’ distance medley relay won All-UAA honors for the fourth year in a row with a time of 12:06.92, which earned the team third place at the meet. Brandeis’ Kelsey Whitaker, a member of the award-winning DMRs, ran a 3:47.32 in the 1,200 meter race.

Classmate Tove Freeman ’16 ran the 800 meter race in 2:21.87.

Haliana Burhans ’18 ran the 400 meter race with a time of 58.72 seconds for her second year in a row, while Emily Bryson ’19 ran the mile for the Judges for a time of 4:58.60. This was the first indoor track All-UAA honor for Freeman and Bryson.

Bryson contributed a second performance in the 3,000 meter race, finishing fifth with a time of 10:05.91. Bryson has earned a rank of 14 in the 3,000 for Division III. The Judges’ Freeman, Whitaker, Burhans and Doyin Ogundiran ’19 came in sixth place in the 4x400 meter relay with a time of 4:01.14.

Both the men’s and women’s teams finished in seventh place at the UAA tournament.

ARTS, ETC.

March 4, 2016

The Brandeis Hoot 13

Rosalyn Drexler’s ‘Room 17’ and ‘Lobby’ recreates theater classics

By Santiago Montoya Staff

The Rose Art Museum had their spring opening exhibition on Friday, Feb. 26. The monographic exhibition called “Who Does She Think She Is?” showcases artist Rosalyn Drexler’s major paintings, collages, sculptures, photographic work, video documentation and award winning novels, plays and screenplays. In fact, she is famously known for penning the screenplay for “Rocky” (1976) under the pseudonym of Julia Sorel.

Drexler’s artistic interests are doubtlessly extensive and broad, as evidenced by the distinct media in which she expresses her artistic soul. As a matter of fact, her life itself, much like her work, is multifaceted; aside from being a painter, she was also a professional wrestler and a writer.

The exhibition, co-curated

by Rose Curator-at-Large Katy Siegel and Curatorial Assistant Caitlin Julia Rubin, is highly influenced by New York’s artistic scene, of which Drexler was very much part during the 1960s. The majority of her paintings borrow imagery from movies, advertisements and newspapers of the 1960s. Her art belongs to an art movement that began in the mid-1950s in Britain and late the 1950s in the United States: Pop art.

The Pop art movement employs different visuals from popular culture, mostly advertisements and newspapers. Drexler’s work presents personal and social conflicts mixed with a political consciousness, which is rather rare in Pop art. There is also explicit vulgarity throughout most of her work, which shifts the exhibition’s point of view and interest to make it more compelling and interesting. This is not to say that obscenity attracts a major audience or is the sole reason why people would visit the Rose Art Museum this spring. Profanity is a universal language, the same way art can be, and that may be one of the reasons why Drexler utilized it in her work.

The opening did not just cut the red tape to inaugurate the exhibition. Their ambition was to do something greater, perhaps to bring in a bigger audience. It is the reason why the Theater Arts Department produced two plays, both written by Drexler.

The first production was titled “Room 17C,” a juxtaposition of Franz Kafka’s novella “Metamorphosis” and Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.” The play is a feminist reworking of “Salesman,” which is Drexler’s way of writing a critical response about the earlier work. The play centers on Linda Loman, now a traveling saleswoman, in a squalid motel room with a cockroach. And the

photo from www.facebook.com

major question that audiences will ask themselves is whether Linda will give in and find the option of the road attractive, or if she will be pulled back by her husband at home.

The second production is “Lobby,” described as a tragicomedy, taking place in the lobby area of the Chelsea Hotel. The play follows author Oscar Wilde and Blanche DuBois, pulled from Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire.” The protagonists struggle alongside artists, derelicts and junkies. At the same time, Wilde stoically suffers his decline of stardom and DuBois is delirious about the romance that it is only possible, in her world, outside of reality.

There is nothing wrong with the play itself or the players that were part of this production; nevertheless, both performances were frustratingly plain, dull and overall disengaging, mostly for one crucial factor.

The main factor for the play’s dullness was not setting up the space appropriately, as the set turned out to be more experimental and did not go as well as planned. “Room 17C” was performed to the right side of the “stage” (the main entrance of the Rose) while there were people sitting on both sides near the stairs.

So the audience that was sitting to the left side of the stage had to stand up and walk to the other side in order to fully enjoy the

performance. The same sketch occurred with the audience sitting on the right side just a few minutes after “Lobby” commenced on the left side. The audience realized soon enough that they were not able to appreciate much of what was happening on the opposite side of where they were sitting and had no choice to but to get up. In fact, a few people from the audience decided to leave earlier because of the inconvenient sitting arrangement.

Notwithstanding, the performance was only a mere piece of the countless of other works that the Rose has to offer about the wonderful life of the celebrated Obie and Emmy award winning artist that is Rosalyn Drexler.

Hoover’s ‘Bottomland’ intrigues with a historical mystery

By Sabrina Pond Editor

Movie trailers have been extremely effective in their ability to properly reel the audience in, but could the same concept work for books? Although it remains a newer medium, book trailers are catching on, and on the train for the joy ride is none other than Michelle Hoover, a critically acclaimed writer. Having just released her second novel “Bottomland,” Hoover wanted to engage the audience with an appropriate book trailer that thrilled and garnered some interest, giving audiences a sneak peek in the oddity that is her latest creation.

Hoover spoke extensively about her new book and read part of the first chapter at an event, titled “Michelle Hoover and Laura Harrison: Words and Images” which took place on Wednesday, March 2, at 5:30 p.m. in Pearlman Lounge.

Inspired in part by true events, “Bottomland” tells the story of a German-American family in

Iowa as they try to piece together their lives in the aftermath of World War I. As tensions arise from their heritage, it all comes to a climax when two of the Hess daughters go missing. The two youngest of the bunch, Esther and Myrtle, are nowhere to be found and with limitless possibilities as to their whereabouts, “Bottomland” follows one family’s desperate search in a largely unforgiving landscape.

After finishing her first publication, “The Quickening,” Hoover became inspired by her family’s own mysterious past. One day, while looking through old photographs with her aunt, she was told that two of her great aunts, her grandmother’s youngest sisters, disappeared unexpectedly and were never seen again. Though some claim that they returned back, others say that only the older daughter returned, and even other family members claim that they changed their identities upon running away. The bottom line is this: There is some disagreement in the family about what exactly

photo from www.blackstonelibrary.com

happened, and no way to truly confirm any of these versions of the history.

“Bottomland,” which is written from the perspective of five different narrators, is fundamentally a mystery with a lyricism and grace inherent in Hoover’s writing style. According to Hoover, she does not suggest that anyone attempts to write and master so many narrators; for one, it is incredibly difficult to make the people feel different. Actually, this requires subtly changing your writing style, especially syntax, grammar and diction, all of which can be excruciatingly challenging (because for the most part, they are largely unconscious). Amazingly enough, one of the perspectives in the novel is written in German syntax, which Hoover, who does not speak German, had to teach to herself.

This novel came about in part due to Hoover’s shame of her German-American heritage, which she decided to explore further through her writing: “I had long known that we had the

animation turns the heat up

surname ‘Hess’ in our family, and when I was younger I was embarrassed by this connection to what seemed a terrible lineage. I wanted to understand that embarrassment, that idea of self-hatred that many immigrants who come from supposed ‘enemy’ countries, are taught.” This topic remains especially important now with the ongoing debate on immigration and the not-so-far off presidential election.

The book trailer—which was created by Laura Harrison, a very well established painter and animator—is a visionary masterpiece that engages with the moodiness that this book is so firmly entrenched in. The five-minute video has three main parts, and doesn’t follow a traditional plotbased narrative sequence. Instead, it gives excerpts from three of the five perspectives that the book is narrated in. Made with a largely cool color palette, with a few vibrant colors thrown into the mix, the video shows images of Myrle treading through water, her breasts exposed; a horse,

sinking into a lake and galloping along a field; Esther brooding in the confines of the house, very much alone; and Nan, gazing at her sickly sister’s rash. Having taken a whopping six months to make, the video conveys a certain sullenness and sensuality through the interplay of animation and Hoover’s voice in the background. The lack of sound increases the intimacy between the audience and Hoover’s characters that helps more fully immerse us into the historical context of the novel.

A Fannie Hurst writer-in-residence, Hoover’s latest creation is wholly imaginative and interesting because of its reversion back to a conservative time. Though Hoover claimed that “midwestern fiction doesn’t have an identity” and that her work was more of an mingling of the dark, grotesque ideas of the south, what she doesn’t realize is that “Bottomland” is one of many novels that are revamping the genre altogether and setting the stage for something new.

Michelle Hoover’s latest novel “Bottomland” is advertised in creative book trailer.

photo from www.youtube.com

14 ARTS

March 4, 2016

The Brandeis Hoot

Film Collective calls all students of various levels of experience

By Emma Kahn Staff

The Brandeis Film Collective takes full advantage of the creativity and capability of our student body to produce films and videos throughout the school year.

The Executive Board recruits scriptwriters, editors, videographers and actors who collaborate on film projects, providing the Brandeis community with the result of student ideas converted into passionate finished works.

Throughout the semester, the Brandeis Film Collective aims to produce one short film each month.

There are no regimented production positions within the group

aside from Chief Editor. Instead, each production requires a new conglomerate of contributors to help the production along. Their most current project consists of about 10 actors, five directors and another 10 or so individuals who help with production and post-production.

Any experience levels are welcome and new contributors are always encouraged. One large purpose of the club, in addition to producing student-made films, is to interest and educate members and provide the necessary resources for the production of films and video. Casting, producing, editing and filming are all available for newcomers to build skills in creating visual media.

Upon producing the final work, the Brandeis Film Collective hosts a film screening party and

invites all who contributed to the film to watch together.

The entire process, as with most methods of creating art, is incredibly fluid. Whether students are full-time members, hold Executive Board positions or simply have an emerging passion for self-representation and storytelling, they are encouraged to take on a role in production. Members of the Executive Board bounce ideas off each other, forming a community of mutual support and assistance.

“I didn’t even know how to write a script until I began writing this script,” joked Public Relations Chair Nakeita Henry ’19. “I had no experience, but there are people who do have experience that come in to help.”

She noted that the Brandeis Film Collective has allowed her

photo from www.brandeis.edu

By Santiago Montoya Staff

After the Academy Award nominations were announced on Jan. 14, the famous hashtag #OscarsSoWhite appeared all over social media, everyone was bickering and wondering where the representation of other races and ethnicities was?

When the SAG (Screen Actors Guild Awards) nominations came out, plenty of people thought that Idris Elba was going to earn a nomination for his supporting work in “Beast of No Nation.”

He won the SAG, nevertheless, “Beast of No Nation” did not receive any love from the Academy members. In fact, there were varied films centering racial minority characters that were deserving of recognition, but were all shut down.

As a result of two consecutive years in which the nominations have lacked diversity, the Academy changed their rules to attempt to solve this critical and egregious situation. Now, only members who have won or been nominated at least once, get to remain as permanent members of the Academy.

The rest, as long as they have produced relevant work in the field in the last ten years, get to remain Academy members. However, those who have not been very prolific during a decade, will have their membership revoked.

The night began with several technical awards going to the blockbuster “Mad Max: Fury Road.” There was a point when everybody thought that the film might have had a chance at winning Best Picture, or at least Best Director. Many thought that Ale-

photo from www.autismafter16.com

to branch out in her first year at Brandeis, practicing her writing skills and making new friends through casting. She hopes to major in Psychology and Creative Writing.

Her biggest success was writing a script and seeing an abundance of students interested in acting for the film, and being able to choose among them for the most suitable roles.

“We got a lot of actors, which was very exciting,” said Henry.

“We [had] about 20 or 30 people interested in 10 slots. Normally we don’t get those types of numbers so that was a big success.”

Of course, with such flexibility comes a need for much adaptability. All involved in producing material for the Brandeis Film Collective must react to any circumstances that come up,

Oscars lack diversity, try to correct it

jandro G. Iñárritu did not deserve a consecutive Oscar for Best Director for his work in “The Revenant.” The main reason why “The Revenant” captivated so many people was its use of natural light, which allowed many of the people that participated in the production to claim the arduous amount of effort the film demanded. On the other hand, “Mad Max” took more than a decade to be made, which George Miller, the director, at some point even referred to project’s progress as

“development hell.”

The sole difference is that “The Revenant” was very outspoken about how difficult it was to be made, while “Mad Max: Fury Road” barely mentioned the many obstacles, mishaps and headaches it caused to the people behind Miller’s creation. The truth is that Academy voters will never recognize big blockbusters because they consider them inferior art. And it did not make any sense because almost seven years ago, they expanded the slots in

the Best Picture category, so other films could have the chance to be considered, this happened after many people thought that, another blockbuster “The Dark Knight,” deserved a Best Picture nomination—which, of course, did not happen.

A big surprise during the evening happened in the Best Supporting Actor category. There was no predictable winner because Sylvester Stallone took the Golden Globe and the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, Idris Elba took

photo from www.movieweb.com

photo from www.oscar.go.com

photo from www.usmagazine.com

and remain incredibly flexible in the face of challenges. “There was one scene in my script that we were supposed to film in the snow, but there was no snow. We had to go back and rewrite the script, so I offered to rewrite and we worked with what we could,” said Henry.

The Brandeis Film Collective is a community of innovative and talented individuals who are able to collaborate to create visual media and, in doing so, engage our community in creative expression.

Those interested in collaborating with the Brandeis Film Collective may reach out to Public Relations Chair Nakeita Henry or President Kristen Ward, ‘like’ their Facebook page, “Brandeis Film Collective,” or join the club’s listserv.

the SAG without getting a nomination for the Oscars, and Mark Rylance took the BAFTA. All four awards in the past have predicted the winner, but this award season was incredibly baffling and more than one was scratching their craniums. In the end, the award went to Mark Rylance for “Bridges of Spies.”

A lot of people thought the award would go to Stallone for his work in “Creed,” but after he failed to thank the director and co-star Michael B. Jordan soon after he earn the Golden Globe, sources claim it ruined his chances. While others think that Academy voters just do not see Stallone as a serious actor, mostly because his entire career has been defined as an action movie star.

Other than that, the rest of the show was unsurprising. Brie Larson won Best Actress for her work in “Room.” Leonardo DiCaprio won for his raw performance in “The Revenant.” Pixar took another shiny man with “Inside Out,” and “Spotlight” and “The Big Short” took home the award for Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay, respectively.

Best Picture: “Spotlight” walked with it, proving that the Academy were capable of recognizing an important matter, such as child abuse by numerous Roman Catholic priests is—exposing once and for all the church— and the odyssey of a man towards redemption, which it utterly pointless and unimportant in our current society. A Best Picture winner must be more than stunning visuals and DiCaprio eating raw meat.

March 4, 2016

ARTS 15

The Brandeis Hoot

‘The Politics of Voice’ raises deep questions about identity

By Adam Lamper Staff

Few artists can cohesively combine musical precision with the great wealth of vocally expressible human emotion as Grammy-nominated soprano, Tony Arnold, did this past Sunday night in Slosberg recital hall. Recipient of the 2015 Brandeis Creative Arts Award, Arnold, through her residency, has become an active participant in the discussion by exploring the relationship between one’s voice and the inherent ways in which it can be altered by others’ perceptions. Sunday night’s performance and discussion, “The Politics of Voice,” sought to tackle these issues, featuring a number of talented performers alongside Arnold herself.

The featured artist of the night, Arnold opened with a haunting rendition of “Five Songs on texts of Stefan George, Op. 4,”

by Anton Webern, an Austrian composer who specialized in the 12-tone technique of composition not unlike his mentor, the king of atonality, Schoenberg himself.

Alongside pianist Jacob Greenberg, Arnold presented the piece with a considerable amount of tact indicative of her many years of prior training and performance.

Also performed that night was Webern’s “Three Songs on texts of Hildegard Jone, Op. 25,” in a very similar style to the opening piece of the night, as well as a tonally unique piece by guest composer, Jason Eckardt, entitled, “Dithyramb.”

The former song, though primarily atonal as well, featured myriad vocalizations apart from and intertwined with traditional operatic stylings that builds upon the relationship between the voice and the self by incorporating symbolic speech. A solo excerpt from a much larger piece called “Tongues,” “Dithyramb” seeks to expose the gap between the artist’s rendering of a piece and the public perception. As Eckhardt states, “There is this idea of speaking and communicating, but there’s nothing actually being said. It seems as if it were this unintelligible language, so the idea of projecting semantically

something that can’t possibly be received is an important aspect of the piece and changes the audience’s perception of the way in which the voice is used.”

Another of the night’s performers, trained violist and vocalist Wendy Richman, simultaneously combined both of her talents in another of Eckhardt’s pieces, “to be held…” Richman, for whom the piece was originally written in 2012, vehemently supports the unconventional combination of viola and voice, citing similar ideas regarding voice and identity as Arnold. “I try not to think of it as a binary,” she says. “There is no sound that we make and there certainly is no performance that we give that is divorced from its political situation, that is divorced from the psychological situation of the people who give it. We think of these things as separate, but they are not. The tension in that imagined binary is very interesting, and it makes us push up against parts of ourselves and parts of our environments and parts of each other that produces interesting and productive

photos by adam lamper/the hoot

Flutist floors audience Claire Chase performs Eckardt’s ‘The Silenced’ while lying down.

things.” This tension was exceedingly present in Richman’s performance, adding a sense of both unease and curiosity at sounds that could only be described as ethereal. “However, the goal is not to stay in those places,” remarks Richman. “The goal is to explore and make more porous and make more alive the spaces that are in between, the spaces that make these binaries into one thing.”

Similarly, flutist Claire Chase performed another Eckhardt piece titled “The Silenced.” Incorporating a great deal of theatrics into her performance, it was clearly demonstrated that Chase was saying more through her instrument than simply the composed notes. Like Richman and Arnold before her, Chase also utilized a great deal of percussive vocalizations alongside her more traditional flute playing. The contrast between the purity of the

The 1975’s new album flops into a pit of electronic despair

By Conor Amrien Staff

British alternative rock band The 1975 released their second album, “I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it,” on Feb. 26, 2016.

Yes, that is the full title.

The album produces the other-worldly synth pop The 1975 excels at, as well as instrumental tracks that are exceedingly repetitive and as drawn-out as the album’s name.

“I like it when you sleep…” strays more into the territory of ethereal electronic noise than the band’s self-titled debut album.

While many tracks, like “Love

Me,” “UGH!” or “She’s American” speak to the band’s classic glam pop vibe, others stray to experimentation that often doesn’t pay off. The instrumentation for many of the tracks began to sound uncannily similar, to the point that I felt like I was listening to alien special-effects from the same bad movie over and over again.

“Please Be Naked” and “Lost My Head” felt like buffer tracks with the same eerie sounds. These completely instrumental tracks did not contribute anything to the overall feeling of the album, and just repeated what the other tracks had already accomplished.

However, this experimentation was not always a failure. With “If I Believe You,” The 1975 was ex-

photo from www.theodysseyonline.com

flute and the harsh, often guttural vocalizations emphasizes the inherent struggle between personal identity, and others’ perceptions of one’s outward projection of it.

Eckhardt writes, “‘The Silenced’ is a meditation on those who are muted, by force or by political, economic or social circumstances, yet still struggle to be heard.”

Though primarily intended to highlight the ability of and to propagate the musical ideology held close the heart of resident Tony Arnold, “The Politics of Voice” served to accomplish much more, featuring many contemporary artists with a strong interest in atonal music. Yet more prevalent was the abundance of thought-provoking themes and questions brought forth by the musicians, as well as Eckhardt and actor James Currie, about the inevitable misinterpretation and liberation involved in self-expression.

Surving Sodexo: Egg-cellent Bagel

By Sabrina Pond Editor

Did you ever feel like your egg was sad and lonely by itself? Maybe it is. It’s time to cheer up that egg with its other half (or halves).

Ingredients -Bagel (of choice) or english muffin -Fried egg -Slice of cheese -Slice of meat (ham/turkey) -Seasoning or spices photo from www.theguardian.com

tremely successful at combining electronic elements with vocals and instrumentation.

They managed to find a harmonious middle ground while alluding to a sensitive struggle with religion, incorporating biting lyrics like “I’ll be your child if you insist” and “I’m a lesbian kiss/ I’m an evangelist.” The track is an awesome critique of religion, utilizing gospel elements that added to the vocals.

The album really hits its stride with “Somebody Else” and “Loving Someone.” Both songs are catchy and Matt Healy’s lilting voice is entrancing.

For once, the vocals take precedence over the instrumentation. The two tracks go back to The 1975’s roots, varying up the sound of the album and providing some necessary relief from the

overdone ethereal tones. “Loving Someone” does possess some of these electronic elements, but Healy’s quick verses balance them out for a soothing central effect.

“I like it when you sleep…” often drifts into the chaotic in terms of instrumentation and overall sound, but when The 1975 find that sweet spot between 80’s glam pop and modern synth, each track evolves to become a fragile yet beautiful balancing act.

This balancing act describes what “I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it” struggles to accomplish musically. While they are not always successful, The 1975 prove that this struggle produces more memorable successes than it does failures.

Instructions Take the bagel of your choice and separate the halves. Place it in the toaster until it is toasted to perfection. Immediately place cheese slice on the bagel halves.

Then place the fried egg on the halves. Place your slice of meat (or other toppings of your choice) on the halves. Seasoning can be added if so desired. Last but not least, close your delicious egg sandwich and take a glorious bite!

photo from iwww.mustlovecoupons.com

16 The Brandeis Hoot

ARTS, ETC.

March 4, 2016

‘Intimate Apparel’ woos audience on opening night

By Alana Hodson Staff

Thursday night, March 3, the renowned production “Intimate Apparel” premiered at the Laurie Theater in Spingold, drawing a good crowd to witness the play’s opening. “Intimate Apparel” was directed by Boston’s own Jacqui Parker, who has garnered much success in her field, having received the Elliot Norton award, the 2004 Boston Theater hero award and is a seven-time winner of the Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) Award.

With her expertise, the story unfolded with sophistication, grace and passion on the Brandeis stage.

The play “Intimate Apparel” was written by Lynn Nottage, a Brooklyn playwright whose works have portrayed the current societal issues that still plague our nation today, such as racial and gender discrimination. Delving further into the struggles of the individual, “Intimate Apparel” follows a woman’s life as she

attempts to find love while maintaining her identity.

The main character, Esther, played by Ashley Ertilien ’17, is a black seamstress whose talent allows her to create beautiful articles of clothing for a variety of clients, from the glittering salons of Fifth Avenue to the simple dwelling of her friend, Mayme (played by Keturah Walker ’18), who makes her living as a “lady of the night.” Set in 1905, the story follows Esther’s interaction between the two worlds of which she is a part, emphasizing the challenges that African American women faced in her time— which still linger in our society today.

“Intimate Apparel” was inspired by a photograph Nottage had found of her great-grandmother, whose life and character was entirely unknown to Nottage, aside from the fact that she had been a seamstress. Determined to discover the life of this unknown family member, Nottage embarked on a journey to discover the missing link her lineage, and,

as a result, “Intimate Apparel” was created. This play created a life for Nottage’s great-grandmother whose true story had been lost in the convolutions of time.

This unknown woman’s life now contains all the emotions, hardships and complexities of a full story, and that which could also serve as a powerful message to her descendants.

As the play began, Ertilian’s portrayal of Esther commanded the stage, firm in her convictions, gentle in spirit, determined in her work, and innocent in her understanding of the world.

The play unfolds as Esther is torn between marrying a man whom she does not love but holds a respectable position and a man from Panama, George Armstrong, played by Shaquan McDowell ’18, who passionately woos her through letters. The catch, however, is that Esther can neither read nor write, so she must rely on other characters to convey her messages for her, namely her wealthy Fifth Avenue client,

Mrs. Van Buren, played by Gabi Nail ’18; Mrs. Dickson, played

by Michelle Richardson ’16, and Mayme. A major part of Esther’s life, Mayme is her foil, carefree and unburdened by the status of her life, and she is masterfully played by Walker, whose bright personality brought life and excitement to the character. Now, I won’t give any plot twists away—as this play has a surprising amount, but I shall give you a glimpse into the dynamic qualities of these roles.

As one of the only white characters of the play, Mrs. Van Buren serves to provide the contrast in the racial privileges all too evident in the play, yet her character is by no means just a filler to allude to this contemporary issue.

Mrs. Van Buren and Esther are on amicable terms, and in fact Mrs. Van Buren considers Esther to be one of her closest friends, adding an interesting and subtle undertone to their relationship, which builds to an entirely unexpected twist that drew gasps of surprise

from nearly everyone in the audience. Nail ’18 portrayed Mrs. Van Buren splendidly, capturing her vivacity and high-class air.

Another character that added an interesting element to the story was Mr. Marks, Esther’s faithful fabric provider, played by Brian Levi Dorfman ‘16. He contributed to the story the unfortunate and heart-breaking circumstance of unrequited love, since he cared deeply for Esther though she always remained loyal to George.

Well-played, Dorfman created a kind, caring and sympathetic man, a welcomed sight in the midst of characters tossed together in tumultuous relationships.

Even Richardson’s role of Mrs. Dickson guided Esther along the path of her life. “Intimate Apparel” was a powerful play—beautifully designed and intricately written.

The play will be performed again through March 6, so be sure to stop by the box office and view this spectacular play for yourself.

photos courtesy michael lovett