The Brandeis Hoot 10/21/2016

Volume 13 Issue 20

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

October 21, 2016

Brandeis University’s Community Newspaper · Waltham, Mass.

Univ. joins national conversation on free menstrual products

By Hannah Schuster and Elianna Spitzer

tainly lead to widespread abuse and ‘stocking up’ (or vandalizing the supply) at the university’s expense, by members of our community and visitors alike,” in an email to the writer, José Castellanos ’18.

Gray said in a follow-up interview that if this is an issue of great student importance, he is happy to engage with students about it.

He thinks this is something that should go through the Student Union and said that if representatives from the COW-G committee (Campus Operations Working Group) want to discuss this with him, he is open to talking about ideas and potentially making this

editors

photo courtesy olivia joy

Olivia Joy ’18, a studio art major, poses with her paintings. Turn to the arts section to see her interview about her artistic vision. See ARTS, page 10. golden light

staff

New vending machines have been installed around campus at no cost to the university. The vending company supplied the machines and will earn back the cost in sales over time, according to Kevin Collen, the director of University Services.

“The machines are property of the vendor, there are no direct capital expenditures related to the delivery of these machines,” said Collen.

Obligations of upkeep and capi-

tal costs are entirely the responsibility of the vendor, and as a result Brandeis sees none of the money that these machines collect. Only the vendor and students benefit from these new machines. The effort to make vending options healthier and more accessible has proven to be an effort that came at no expense to students or Brandeis’ budget.

The upgraded machines came per request of the student body in the latest campus operations survey. “In response to feedback See VENDING, page 3

A-Board funds 72 percent of Appeals Marathon requests

By Abigail Gardener and Elianna Spitzer editors

The Allocations Board (A-Board) funded 72 percent of requests, according to Appeals Marathon decisions released through the club leaders listserv on Sunday, Oct. 16.

Appeals decisions affected 30 clubs that asked for a total of $39,942.43 in allocated funds.

A-Board funded $28,929.78 in appeals.

The purpose of appeals is to

Inside This Issue:

See TAMPONS, page 2

Waltham Group hosts another successful blood drive

Univ. spent no money on new vending machines

By Max Gould

There has been debate across campus about the possibility of providing free menstrual products for students. Brandeis joins other universities in this national conversation. Brown University implemented a program this year, and other universities are working on similar initiatives.

On Sept. 23, a columnist for The Brandeis Hoot wrote an opinion article arguing that we should provide these products for free.

Jim Gray, the vice president for Campus Operations said offering free menstrual products in public restrooms “would almost cer-

By Samantha Lauring staff

Brandeis’ annual blood drive collected around 110 pints of blood this year, though numbers will be approximate until next week. This is enough blood to save 330 lives, according to Blood Drive, the Waltham Group organization that arranges the blood drives in conjunction with the American Red Cross. Blood Drive aims to collect 120 pints of blood per drive, according to Khushee Nanavati ’19, a co-coordinator of Blood Drive. Throughout the three blood drives held last year, they collected 700 pints of blood.

Blood Drive organizes three blood drives throughout the academic year—one during the

fall semester and two during the spring semester—aiming to collect as many pints of blood as possible as each pint can save up to three lives, or five babies,” according to the Blood Drive page on the Brandeis website.

Many students volunteer to help out with the blood drive.

“As a volunteer you either sit with people after they donate and talk to them and make sure they sit for about 15 minutes before they leave, register people or take people from registration to the donation area,” said Sumana Shashidhar ’19 who volunteered at the drive.

“I started volunteering last semester because I was part of the Boston Strong committee for their Boston Strong blood drive, but I decided to because I think

blood is one of the easiest and simplest ways to do a lot of good and you can help a lot of people from each drive,” Shashidhar said.

“I heard I can save three lives,” Sindy Sura ’19 said about why she decided to donate blood. Sura said she has plenty of blood so she could spare some for someone who needs it and it was an experience she wanted to try.

The blood collected from the drive “is used to help people that are awaiting surgery, people that are having transfusions, that are going through chemotherapy that need to replenish their red blood cells,” among other needs, according to Nanavati.

There are several requirements See BLOOD DRIVE, page 3

give clubs a second chance at getting funding for things that were rejected during Regular Marathon. A-Board cannot consider funding appeals for requests that were not made in the Regular Marathon session. For example, A-Board rejected an appeal by the Vietnamese Student Association for a study break event because they had not asked for the funds during the previous Marathon cycle.

Between Regular and ApSee A-BOARD, page 3

News: Public Safety releases annual report Opinions: How poverty affects young women Arts: Musicians mystify with instruments Features: Alums energize drink industry Editorial: Not calling out, calling in

photo courtesy sharon cai

This week the Brandeis Hoot presents photos from students studying from all over the world, including this picture of Estonia from Sharon Cai ’18. See WEEK IN PHOTOS, page 8. week in photos abroad

Chum’s stand-up

Page 3 Page 15 Comedy at its finest.

Page 11 Page 4 ARTS: PAGE 9 Page 7

volleyball Team struggles in UAA round robin at Brandeis.

SPORTS: PAGE 6

NEWS

2 The Brandeis Hoot

October 21, 2016

Student groups and Union discuss potential program

tampon dispenser

Empty tampon dispenser in Sherman.

TAMPONS, from page 1

happen at Brandeis.

The committee discussed the possibility of providing free menstrual products at their weekly meeting last Sunday. Committee members plan to speak with Gray about the issue soon, said Shaquan McDowell ’18, COW-G chair and senator-at-large.

The Union could possibly use some of their budget for this initiative, according to McDowell, but it could not be a long term

photo by madi samus/the hoot

solution. “We can’t say we can’t do it, just because we are afraid of the cost,” McDowell noted. “A necessity can’t cost too much.”

Right now, there are coin-operated dispensers in 73 public bathrooms charging 50 cents for tampons and 25 for sanitary pads.

Students on campus are talking about how Brandeis might follow other schools in implementing this sort of program, including members of Brandeis Students for Reproductive Justice (BSRJ), the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance (FMLA) and others.

Brandeis could provide these products as a student’s primary supply for their menstrual cycle or only in cases of emergency, Lexi Ouellette ’18, president of BSJR, explained.

The Brown University Undergraduate Council of Students (UCS) is financing and maintaining their program in nonresidential women’s, men’s and gender neutral bathrooms.

The program is not intended to be a primary supply because “the scale of that endeavor would essentially be prohibitive,” according to Molly Naylor-Komyatte, chief of staff for the UCS. They want to provide easier access, especially when students are in academic buildings and may “not have immediate access to them.”

The students beginning work on this issue at Brandeis have ideas ranging from setting a bin on bathroom counters to having them at the Health Center or with Community Advisors (CAs), which would both be ways to provide the products as more of a primary supply, said Ouellette.

She also talked about the question of whether the university would provide products in men’s bathrooms (as Brown has done) and mentioned the idea of having the products in a space not defined by gender.

Ouellette said the program could be used as a primary or emergency supply by different people. It’s a class issue, she said, because for some it might be nice to know if they forget a tampon they can get one for free, but “for some students this may be a really good option to existing financial insecurities that they already face.”

This group of students plan to propose something to the Student Union. They are talking about a survey to gauge interest and need,

hoping to maybe use the Union’s platform to distribute it.

Gray is not sure it is “the university’s obligation to provide [menstrual products] in unlimited supply.”

He suggested the possibility of keeping the dispenser system but making the products free, which he thought would be more of a barrier to taking many of them than having a bin on the counter.

He also mentioned adding menstrual products to regular vending machines. This way, people could use credit cards or bills to pay.

As of now, the machines take only quarters, making them one of few services that only accepts coins. Laundry machines on campus and most vending machines and parking meters accept credit cards.

Gray is concerned that “providing [menstrual products] free will have the perverse effect of making the container empty much more often, as there is no barri-

er to someone taking the whole supply with them,” he wrote to Castellanos. He thinks it is “human nature” to take advantage of anything that is free, he said in the follow-up interview.

Ouellette said this might not be something organizers believe would happen, but that it is a legitimate concern for the university.

“I think that we can move beyond this idea of there will be a free basket outside of Usdan that everyone can just sort of pillage,” but she said, “I think obviously trying to regulate the way that it would be distributed would be very important for both of our parties … [Gray] raises a good concern.”

Naylor-Komyatte said at Brown there is no one “policing” the products, so she could not say for certain if there has been any See TAMPONS, page 15

photo by theresa gaffney/the hoot

DCL continues to fill community council positions

By Abigail Gardener editor

Almost all of the positions on each residential area’s Community Council have been filled, after only 46 percent of positions were filled after initial voting on Oct. 7.

Although Community Councils are not a new idea, this is the first year they have been implemented in all residential areas at Brandeis, according to Lusi Wang, area coordinator for North Quad. Last year, Community Councils were only implemented in first-year residential areas.

The idea of Community Councils was first introduced by the Department of Community Living (DCL) to all students living on campus this summer in an email at the end of August. DCL encouraged students to run for the executive board for their specific Community Council: Charles River/Mods, East/Castle, Massell/Rosenthal, North, Village/567 and Ziv/Ridgewood.

On Sept. 19, each area coordinator sent out an email to their specific housing area with details about the positions and elections, encouraging students to run for a position.

This email told students brief-

ly about the time commitment, stating that executive board members will be required to attend “bi-weekly meetings, major community events once per semester, and any other meetings or programs as determined by the board.”

Links were included for students to either nominate a friend or submit their own intent to run. A timeline of the campaigning and voting period was also included. Students were expected to submit nominations or let their intent to run be known by Oct. 1. Students could campaign from Sept. 27-Oct. 3.

The informational document sent with both emails stated that elections would be held on Oct. 3 “via an electronic survey.” The survey was sent on Oct. 7, and only to residents of North, Massell/Rosenthal and Village/567, which were the three residential areas that had positions with candidates running against each other, Wang said in an email to The Brandeis Hoot.

Not as many students voted as DCL had hoped. “Roughly 100 students voted in the Massell/ Rosenthal and North elections and over 20 in the Village/567,” Wang said. “But this was the first time we have held this election, and we will strive to improve turnout each year, as the Com-

munity Councils prove themselves to be an important resource for students.”

When the results were released on Oct. 8, only 46 percent of all positions were filled, although since then there has been “an overwhelming number of students who are interested in filling the open positions” and “as of now, almost all positions are filled,” Wang said.

North Quad was the only Community Council where all positions were filled when the initial results were released.

“It was actually quite amusing to find out I’d won the presidency,” said Kieran Cooper ’18, who originally ran for vice president for recognition in the Charles River/Mods council. She was unknowingly nominated for, and elected, president after no one ran for that position.

Although Cooper said the duties of her role were clear to her before she ran, she didn’t realize that she would take on the role of president—and effectively every other role—if no one else ran.

DCL sent multiple emails to inform students about the councils. “Community Council is a leadership group within the residence halls that gives students a direct voice in their community,” one email said.

Students were also told that

photo from brandeis.edu

these positions would provide “excellent networking opportunities at Brandeis and beyond” as they will potentially have opportunities to attend leadership conferences in the Northeast.

A document detailing the purpose of Community Councils, as well as descriptions of each executive board position, was attached.

“The mission and purpose of Community Councils is to provide programming and advocacy efforts within our residence halls to improve our residential com-

munity,” it said.

Each Community Council’s executive board consists of a president, a vice president for administration, a vice president for community engagement, a vice president for recognition and general representatives.

“The implementation of Community Councils is a way for DCL to honor Brandeisian values of promoting student-led initiatives and increasing student input,” Wang said. “We are excited to bring this opportunity to Brandeis’ campus.”

October 21, 2016

The Brandeis Hoot

New vending machines include healthier options

NEWS 3

Blood Drive collects 110 pints of blood

VENDING, from page 1

BLOOD DRIVE, from page 1

from the most recent campus operations survey, we are upgrading our food and beverage vending services,” said Jim Gray, vice president of Campus Operations, in an email to students on Oct. 13.

Those who participated in the survey voiced concerns about Brandeis’ vending machines in three main areas: availability of healthy options, different ways to pay and functionality, according to Collen. Functionality refers to the vending service’s responsiveness to problems with the machines as well as efficiency of restocking.

The new machines satisfy these concerns, offering more variety and healthier options for those looking to grab a quick snack.

They carry “multiple oven-baked [chips] as opposed to fried chip options, several vegetable-based items, multiple trail-mix options, significantly reduced traditional chocolate bar-type candy options and multiple fruit snacks,” said Collen. The machines also include Pop-Tarts, Twizzlers and Snickers.

The new machines will accept a greater number of payment methods compared to their predecessors. Students will be able to pay with WhoCash, credit cards, Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay and cash, allowing for more accessibility to these healthier

to donate blood, some of which include being over the age of 17, weighing over 110 pounds and being in general in good health and feeling well. The full list of specific eligibility requirements and restrictions are listed on the American Red Cross website.

To help with glucose levels, people are encouraged to eat sugar after donating blood. The Blood Drive supplied pizza, brownies, cookies, apples and juices to students donating this week.

The Blood Drive arranges a bone marrow registry drive every year as well, according to their website. Bone marrow trans-

photo by karen caldwell/the hoot

snack options.

The permanent placement of the machines will rely on a variety of factors. “The ability to offer more ways to pay and more closely monitor stock levels is dictated by how well a given solution can interface with IT resources, including most notably, cellular networks,” said Collen, saying that the machines will be placed in the highest traffic areas that meet these needs.

The kind of snacks these ma-

Appeals allows clubs to ‘fix a lot of mistakes’ in funding requests A-BOARD, from page 1

peals Marathon, A-Board used $220,283.72 of its total budget. The total budget is about $300,000 budget, according to Alex Feldman ’19, chairperson of A-Board. As a result of both sessions, A-Board used 73 percent of its budget.

A-Board allocated the full amount of funding to 16 clubs, partially allocated funding to 10 clubs and did not allocate any funding to three clubs after they appealed. The Baseball Club appealed but did not provide a total requested amount for their expenses, so they were denied funding.

A-Board also rejected appeals because the events had already occurred. A-Board rejected the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Latinos and Native Americans in Science’s appeal, because they said that they could not provide allocated funding for events that had already happened.

A-Board adhered to policy and limited expense to what they deemed necessary. For example, the Japanese Student Association requested funding for food for a Study Abroad in East Asia event, but A-Board did not deem food necessary.

A-Board noted that they cannot yet fund events that are happening in the spring semester. Decisions for regular marathon only affect this semester. As a result, they rejected requests from the Russian Club for events occurring in March.

plants can be used to help those suffering from forms of leukemia, sickle-cell disease and more conditions. Volunteers at Brandeis assist with publicizing the drive and registering the donors.

The Blood Drive group has expanded their presence, organizing the 1st Annual Boston Strong Memorial Blood Drive in April 2014.

In addition to collecting blood and facilitating registration into the bone marrow registry, Blood Drive hosted a raffle to raise money for those affected by the Boston Marathon Bombings in 2013. The drive “was continued in [April] 2015, and is to be continued for the years ahead,” according to the Blood Drive website.

Clubs like the Fashion Design Club, that were originally rejected on the basis that they did not submit the proper Google forms when making their request, did appeal during the appeals session and their funding was partially allocated.

After the Regular Marathon results were released on Oct. 9, clubs had six days to appeal before the appeals period ended on Oct. 15. Appeals decisions were released the next day.

The appeals process allows A-Board to “fix a lot of mistakes,” Feldman said. A-Board asked clubs to come back with more information about events either through Google forms or a drop in session. The Brandeis International Journal was told they did not provide enough information to have their request approved during the regular session. Their request was approved during appeals.

The appeals process consisted of two parts. Club treasurers made a new request for the allocated funds that were rejected in the previous marathon. Then, they met with A-Board during drop-in hours to explain the need for these funds.

The Marathon process is changing moving forward. Instead of having request periods in April and again in September for the fall semester, or in November and January for the spring semester, there will be one period for each.

This means clubs that want money for next semester must make their requests this November.

chines stock will be adaptable based on the needs and preferences of consumers. “We also have the ability to modify our healthy inventory in ‘real-time’ response to demand patterns, something we were not able to do in the past,” said Collen. The intention is for the new machines, combined with more “grab and go” locations on campus, to elevate and improve the Brandeis dining experience.

photo by abigail gardener/the hoot

Annual Security Report reveals increase in reported rapes

photo by irving perez/the hoot

By Ryan Spencer staff

There were 16 reported rapes on the Brandeis campus and one off campus in 2015, up from the nine reported rapes on campus and zero off campus in 2014, according to the Annual Security Report released by the university.

The increase in reported rapes between 2014 and 2015 is good news, according to Sheila McMahon, the director of sexual assault services and prevention at Brandeis. “Rates of reporting are generally much lower than actual incidents. So when reporting goes up, it means that more survivors feel safe enough in the community to file a report, even if it is anonymous,” she told The Brandeis Hoot in an email statement.

Seventeen total reported rapes in 2015 is higher than the eight reported rapes at Bentley University but fewer than the 38 reported in 2015 at Harvard University, according to campus-specific ver-

sions of the same federally mandated report.

Reported cases of burglary at Brandeis increased from three to six and reported cases of aggravated assault decreased from one to zero between 2014 and 2015, according to the report.

An email about the annual report was sent out to the student body by Director of the Department of Public Safety Edward Callahan on Sept. 30. A link to the department’s homepage was provided in the email and the report could be downloaded from the department’s website. The crime statistics could be found on page 56 of the 73-page report.

Reported rape statistics were ambiguous in the original document. In the row labeled 2014 a column labeled “On Campus” listed nine reported rapes and another column labeled “Student Housing (subset of “On Campus”)” listed nine reported rapes.

Both columns represent that there were nine total reported rapes on campus, all of which took place specifically in student housing.

In the row labeled 2015 the column labeled “On Campus” listed one reported rape, the column labeled “Student Housing (subset of “On Campus”) listed 15 reported rapes and there was one reported rape off-campus in 2015. This is meant to be read differently than in 2014 because “Student Housing” is no longer being used as a sub-category of on campus, even though it is still labeled as such.

The 15 rapes reported in “Student Housing” are completely separate from the one reported “On Campus,” making a total of 16 reports on campus. With the one “Off-Campus” rape, this reaches a total of 17.

Bette Reilly, a public safety officer at Brandeis, confirmed the statistics should be read as nine reported rapes in 2014 and 17 reported rapes in 2015, due to the change in categorization. Reilly promised that Brandeis Public Safety would be publishing a corrected report shortly.

The security and fire-safety report was released by Brandeis Public Safety in compliance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, according to the campus-wide email sent by Callahan.

Students may report rape or other forms of sexual assault by submitting a written anonymous reporting form to the University Police, which can be found at the Brandeis’ Rape Crisis Center (RCC) or by submitting an online report, which can also be filed anonymously and can be found on the RCC’s webpage.

FEATURES

4 The Brandeis Hoot

October 21, 2016

Brandeis alumni create organic energy drink

By Zach Cihlar editor

“It began in the science building, Gerstenzang 123, at eight in the morning in a science class … biology probably. I look to my left, look to my right and I see my friends drinking the leading energy drinks—Rockstar, Monster, Redbull—and I think to myself, ‘Eight in the morning, not the best decision you can make.’” Thus began 4 Purpose Energy, an organic energy drink invented at Brandeis by alumnus Sam Ronkin ’15.

Ronkin began the project his sophomore year of college, inspired by a nutrition class and the students around him. The intention behind 4 Purpose in its early stages was to create a healthy substitute for the popular energy drinks found across the Brandeis campus.

photo courtesy

4 purpose energy

Using his faculty and peers as resources, Ronkin found a team that put the idea into action. Patricia Amselem ’14, currently at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, co-founded 4 Purpose and played a major role in Ronkin’s development of the energy drink. “I got to bounce this idea off of her,” Ronkin said of Amselem, “she was interested, and she encouraged me.”

The next few steps took a lot of research, Ronkin said, but he used his background in biology to launch the experimentation process. He also found a resource in the professor of the nutrition class he was taking his sophomore year.

Ronkin spent the next three years in the same corner of the library, offering taste test after taste test to his friends, changing the formula little by little to achieve a satisfying taste, sufficient caffeine content and a high health standard.

He attributes the progress and formulation of the idea and the product to the environment that Brandeis provided him, specifically that of the student body. His peers drove his entrepreneurship and encouraged his dedication to the project.

“It was not easy,” Ronkin said of the many late nights he spent working on the formula, “it definitely was a big distraction.” As a student-entrepreneur, Ronkin forwent a lot of what he felt were normal, fun college experiences to pursue the growth of 4 Purpose. “If you want to find time for something, you make it happen,”

he explained.

Looking back at his entrepreneurship at Brandeis, he recalled the impact student clubs had on his business pursuits. “I suggest to anyone interested in business, go attend clubs that are pertaining to that topic and find those like-minded people,” he said. He accentuated the importance of networking for the purpose of sharing ideas, revising strategies and building connections.

The finished product is now sold in 10 stores south of Boston, according to Ronkin, and the beverage is available in a raspberry pomegranate flavor.

Ronkin personally outsourced every ingredient in the drink. He fine tuned the formula to achieve the superior taste and organic ingredients. The organic cane sugar used is Fair Trade Certified, a rigorous set of health, social and environmental standards. Other features include organic caffeine, vitamins and a small portion of lemon juice shipped from Spain.

The company places great importance on the content of the beverage. “I would rather drink this than any Coke, any Pepsi, any energy drink,” Ronkin said.

The energy drink contends with huge, experienced companies that produce widely consumed drinks such as Monster and even with other organic energy beverages, so the barrier to entry into that market was high, Ronkin conceded. “The problem with those,” he explained, “is that those just taste like water with bubbles and caffeine.” Ronkin created 4 Purpose

photo courtesy

with the intention of making a healthy energy drink that consumers enjoy drinking.

The taste is not the only thing that makes Ronkin’s product unique. “I will tell you this, there is no other company that is an organic for-purpose energy drink.

We are the only company, I think in the world, that is like this,” he said.

The company dedicates 10 cents a can to Pencils of Promise, an organization that builds schools around the world to make education more accessible to children.

The organization aims at helping thousands of kids receive proper educational facilities.

Ronkin’s interest in Pencils of Promise began at Brandeis, when the school hosted co-founder Gary Vaynerchuk for an interview session discussing the philanthropy. Using this inspiration, Ronkin

4 purpose energy

has made it the company’s goal to raise $35,000 to build a school through the organization. “If you can do business and do good at the same time, that’s a good use of time.”

4 Purpose Energy’s involvement in philanthropy has actually had an influence on the product’s likability, according to Ronkin.

Store-owners who sell the product and customers who buy it both enjoy supporting a company with a purpose of charity. The can even reads “10¢ For A Better Tomorrow.”

In addition to some stores, their product can be purchased through Amazon Prime or purchased directly through their website in packs of three, 24 and soon 10. Brandeis students can even receive a $2.50 discount on a 24-pack using the code “Deislife” when making the purchase.

Student Grounds: from idea to reality

By Charlotte Aaron and Ally Gelber editor and staff

Ever been in desperate need of a last minute biology tutor, to advertise your club to a large audience or an instantaneous way to complete online transactions with other students? There are so many sites and providers of these sorts of college necessities, and Brandon Miskin ’18 had them all in mind when creating his website Student Grounds, your new favorite website when it comes to college resources.

“Trash is cash,” said Jesse Caron ’18, vice president of marketing for Student Grounds. Rather than throw away old items such as textbooks, lamps and rugs, they can be sold to other students looking to buy those same items at discounted prices, explained Caron.

Student Grounds eliminates the tedious external obstacles of textbook transactions, making all purchases student-to-student.

Clubs, sports and other organizations can also organize advertisements and descriptive resources on the site, condensing every resourceful aspect of college onto one platform.

Currently, items from a $15 financial calculator and $20 Organizational Behavior textbook to a $35 microwave and a $15 red iPod Nano are all for sale on the site.

Student Grounds not only serves as a medium for students to sell items to other students on campus, but students can find car rides to the grocery store, tutoring

for classes and in-dorm cooking services offered by other students.

One student is even offering to sublet her room in an apartment on Dartmouth St. for the spring semester.

When a student finds an item they want on the website, that shopper can message the student selling the item or service, explained Miskin. From there, the two students can arrange a time and place to meet up and make the sale.

Not only does Student Grounds help students sell and buy goods and services on campus, but it decreases the amount of waste that occurs when students order goods online or even purchase in store, explained Miskin, as there is no packaging involved.

While Student Grounds has developed into a site that “puts money back into students’ hands,” the site has come a long way from the initial beta test it ran last year and has come even further from the initial idea that originated during Miskin’s first year at Brandeis.

As a first-year, Miskin decided he did not particularly like the format of LATTE. “I wanted to create a social network platform to help students connect with their classes and extracurricular activities,” says Miskin.

With encouragement from Patrick Flahive ’18, his first-year roommate and now the chief sustainability officer of Student Grounds, Miskin pursued his idea.

“I first came up with the web-

site designs, and then my brother coded it all. We spent like a year coding our original website, and these past six months, Ricky created the University Market Place, basically what the website is today,” explained Miskin.

Ricky Miskin, Brandon Miskin’s older brother, has played a key role in the creation of Student Grounds since the beginning. “He is the most important part of the team … and worked the hardest,” said Miskin about his brother.

Working in the finance department at State Street, Ricky Miskin taught himself to code and developed the entire Student Grounds website on his own after work.

Following the beta test of Student Grounds, Miskin and the Student Grounds team faced their greatest challenge thus far— narrowing the focus of Student Grounds.

The initial site included much more than the Student Marketplace during the beta test phase, yet following the test, Miskin and his team realized the Marketplace was the only aspect that received a lot of positive feedback from students.

“It was hard letting go of our other ideas, especially since Ricky has spent so much time developing the entire site,” explained Miskin. Yet, he and his team were not discouraged.Since the beta test, Miskin, along with Caron, Flahive and Josh Berg ’17, chief operating officer of Student Grounds, developed the business into what it is today.

Over the summer, they would

photo courtesy student grounds

three members of the student grounds board

Brandon Miskin ’18.

go over to each other’s houses and work together for hours on the business, explained Caron.

Miskin, Caron, Flahive and Berg, all members of the Brandeis men’s soccer team, had some of their best moments working on Student Grounds over the summer.

Many students have potentially great ideas, attempt to formulate them and then give up after realizing how much time and effort goes into making them successful and fully functioning. Miskin and his partners ran into some glitches along the way, but he says all they did was make him more determined for the website to prosper.

“SG has prepared me for a lot of different things. I’ve learned a lot about marketing through trying to get the word of my website out

Josh Berg ’17, Patrick Flahive ’18 and

and intricate things like setting up a functioning corporation. Learning business and the legal side of the website will aid me in many future jobs that pertain to my area of interest, which is business,” explained Miskin.

Miskin advocated coming up with an idea and sticking to it if you truly believe that idea will be worth the dedication—exactly what he has been doing with Student Grounds since his first year.

“First have a great idea that inspires you and will appeal to people; develop and tweak it constantly so you know it is truly the best it can be, and don’t give up when things get shut down or problems arise that seem really hard—pay attention to the passion that comes along with a great idea,” Miskin encouraged.

October 21, 2016

FEATURES 5

The Brandeis Hoot

Club spotlight: BAASA

By Polina Potochevska staff

The Brandeis Asian American Student Association (BAASA) was founded in 1971 at the onset of anti-Asian sentiment to “foster a safe space for the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community to freely express opinions,” says BAASA President Eric Lin ’17.

Lin, who has been a member of BAASA since his first year at Brandeis, has served in multiple positions including first year representative and his current position as president.

Vice President of BAASA Lilian Wang ’18 joined the E-board of BAASA in her sophomore year as event coordinator, after volunteering as a first-year during the APAHM celebration in March and immensely enjoying the experience.

APAHM, or Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, is a celebration of cultures that takes place in March. An example of a major event that BAASA annually holds during the month is the fashion show, called Skin.

“The goal is to celebrate and

baasa aapi vote event

showcase diversity of the Brandeis community,” said Lin, as the show last year included models of color and fashion designs and lines that came from designers of multiple cultures as well.

A student in BAASA last year actually showcased her own designs. “Fashion is a white dominated industry, but there is still some diversity, so Skin helps to bring out these cultures on campus,” said Wang.

For the upcoming APAHM in March, the theme has yet to be revealed, as it is still early in the planning process. However, the E-Board, made up of 15 members and two senior advisors, is excited to begin planning this event.

Wang mentioned that “being a part of the E-Board and creating an event that so many people went to [last spring] and enjoyed is so special.”

Discussions that BAASA holds usually include about 40 students, while cultural events bring about 80 people. Major events, such as Skin, can involve almost 300 students who come to volunteer and also enjoy the event and the performers that come from within the AAPI community. “It was so

photo courtesy anthony liu

cool, and one of the best ones in a while,” said Wang of last year’s APAHM events.

An example of the type of discussions held by BAASA is the AAPI Vote event that took place on Thursday, Oct. 13, where students spoke about the importance and relevance of the AAPI vote in the upcoming presidential election, and in all elections in general. Wang mentioned that the talk was important, since these types of issues are not spoken of in mainstream media most of the time.

“The goal for BAASA is to raise awareness, there are always issues that come up that we’d like to address … such as mental health and media representation, to push BAASA to be more visible on campus,” said Lin of the educational topics the group discusses.

“We raise awareness on issues that pertain to the AAPI community,” said Lin of the discussions and the purpose of the group.

BAASA is also involved in events outside of Brandeis. For example, in 2015 the club attended the East Coast Asian American Student Union (ECAASU) Conference in Boston, where members worked with multiple other colleges such as Harvard University and Boston College to plan a successful conference that discussed the diversity of the AAPI community. The Conference had nearly 2,000 attendees.

If you are interested in BAASA, you can like their page on Facebook, join the listserv or learn more on their website, BAASA Strikingly. Although elections for the E-Board have closed, the members of the club are always looking for new students to come to events as volunteers, supporters or performers. “Come to an event and you can easily get involved!” said Wang.

Teaching Chinese at Brandeis

By Albert Reiss editor

Teaching a language is anything but easy, but teaching Chinese can be particularly challenging, especially when being taught to an American audience, according to Huang Xinyue, a graduate student in the Master of Arts Program in Teaching Chinese. As part of this program she is required to assist the Chinese professors in teaching Chinese to Brandeis students.

This requirement is in addition to the various teaching courses that she takes as part of the innovative program.

Huang is from the city of Chengdu in Sichuan Province, or as she refers to it “the hometown of the panda.” In China, Huang studied teaching Chinese as a foreign language in Beijing Normal University.

Huang has a lot of experience teaching Chinese, having taught at the Princeton in Beijing Chinese-language program for the past two summers. Many of her former students continue to learn and use Chinese in their daily lives. Huang remarks that she is very impressed when these students ask her for Chinese help and can communicate with her successfully in Chinese.

Huang says that what motivates her to continue teaching is “seeing the progress of my students. They make me very proud. Some of my students choose to stay in China, and they may find a new life or career in China. We still keep in touch.” In fact, many of Huang’s students will periodically ask for her assistance in correcting their Chinese.

One challenging aspect of

photo by albert reiss/the hoot

teaching Chinese is the tones.

According to Huang, “I know the tones, but it can be difficult for them to distinguish between two second tones or third tones.”

Another challenge for students is “recognizing the characters and writing them down correctly.”

Because of the aforementioned challenges, many American students are wary of learning Chinese. At the Princeton in Beijing program, Huang says the unofficial slogan is “studying Chinese as fast as Spanish because at the beginning we don’t require students to write down Chinese, you can just type in the Chinese.” Huang also noted that if there are students willing to take challenging subjects such as organic chemistry or biology, then Chinese should also be considered.

For students to continue improving their Chinese, Huang emphasized the importance of practice. “It is not enough to just remember the vocabulary and the grammar in the book, but you have to know how to use them in your daily life,” Huang explained.

“I think that there are so many Chinese students at Brandeis and you can chat with them if you have any questions.”

Should Obamacare be repealed?

Leading up to the 2016 presidential election, conservative and liberal Brandeis students will be prompted with a weekly question.

Below are their responses.

By Shikha Chandarana keep obamacare

Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act (ACA) passed in 2010 was a historic move in the nation’s health care history, and I strongly believe that it should not be repealed.

The ACA is more of a health insurance reform than a health care system reform, as it focuses on decreasing the number of uninsured in the U.S. and also opening up easier ways for residents to purchase insurance, according to the RAND corporation.

The Act makes owning insurance a strict law, thus making every person in the U.S. without insurance pay a fine, but it also expands Medicaid, a form of social insurance for those below the federal poverty line, and sets up state-wise insurance exchange marketplaces for those who are not offered insurances by their employers.

The ACA helps with health care financing by increasing the coverage of Medicaid to all adults under 65 that have income up to 133 percent of the Federal Poverty Line, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. This would increase the number covered by

Medicaid by 12 million people if implemented federally, according to the RAND Corporation.

In addition to expanding public programs, the ACA would work with the health insurance providers to produce low-priced insurance plans that can be purchased via an online marketplace or exchanges. These exchanges aim to cover people between 133 percent to 400 percent of the Federal Poverty Line and insure around 10 million more people who were deemed too wealthy for Medicaid but too poor to afford employer insurance or private health insurance directly from companies, according to the RAND Corporation and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The ACA has taken a lot of positive steps when it comes to health reform in the United States, but there is doubt about how successful it has been in solving all the problems that plague the healthcare system, such as rising costs.

The ACA is a health insurance reform and does not have much to say when it comes to issues of cost related reform. Thus for the problem of unnecessary costs, the ACA does not have a significant impact in the matter.

A positive in this case is that

with new ACA laws, insurance companies must report on the dollars spent on clinical services, quality and other related costs.

This would give the government a report about if excessive treatment and tests are being performed.

The ACA also works on decreasing administrative costs like unnecessary paperwork and aims to create uniform electronic standards and operating rules to be used by all private insurers, Medicare and Medicaid. These standards might save the federal government an estimated $20 billion over 10 years and save insurers, physicians, hospitals and other providers tens of billions of dollars a year, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.

A renewed focus needs to be placed on understanding the cause of these high administrative costs as well as controlling pharmaceutical monopolies on drug costs. In addition, the health care system needs to shift from a volume driven program to a value driven program on payments to achieve better health standards and lower costs by getting coordinated care rather than fragmented care.

photo from ucc.org

By Albert Reiss

repeal obamacare

Of the many failures of the Obama administration, perhaps its largest gaffe is Obamacare.

Many arguments have been made based on the merits and demerits of the law, but the critical issue at task is the individual mandate. In other words, whether or not people should be required by the government to purchase health insurance against their will.

This unconstitutional proposition runs counter to our country’s most sacred right, which is liberty. If an individual would like to obtain health care insurance, it should be their choice and not for

the government to decide.

Furthermore, all members of Congress agree to uphold the Constitution when elected. At the very core of this document is the principle of freedom and free will, one which Democrats deny to our fellow citizens as such.

The only way to resolve this issue is to repeal Obamacare and replace it with a system that gives individuals the liberty to choose whether they will enroll.

In this system, private insurance companies would be able to create a countrywide marketplace for healthcare. Not only will this drive down cost because of the free market dynamics, but it will protect the free will and interests of our U.S. citizens.

SPORTS

6 The Brandeis Hoot

October 21, 2016

Club squash looks to compete

By Zach Cihlar editor

From recreational club to a potentially national team, the club squash team has shifted from a mere gathering of recreationals on Mondays and Thursdays to a mixture of both serious and less serious players.

Rohan Lal ’17, the team president, makes it clear, though, the five-year-old team is “open to anyone—beginners or experienced.” The all-inclusive club has shifted the focus of its practices recently. In the past, practices have consisted of players showing up and “just hitting around.”

In its shift to becoming a more competitive team, the team looks to host more structured matches.

“Instead of just hitting around for fun which we still do and still enjoy, we have more drills and conditioning and more matches.”

Joe McManus, who also trains with the Tufts varsity squash teams, coaches Brandeis. McManus is experienced in coaching nationally competitive teams.

In pursuit of a national bid, the team must play a certain number of matches against teams from other schools. The club has never reached this minimum in years past, but this year, the club is being more aggressive in scheduling matches with schools around Boston.

“In the past we’ve struggled with that because it’s hard to plan matches with other schools, and it’s hard to find enough people who want to compete. This year is looking good. We have enough competitive players, and a lot of people are joining and competing,” Lal explained.

The team would like to see nine competitive players at each match in the lineup. In order to play the match without a forfeit, each match requires at least seven players intending to compete.

Brandeis club squash is beginning its third year in the College Squash Association (CSA), an organization that ranks players and teams, regulates match play, hosts individual and team tournaments and records team histories. Brandeis is an emerging team, along with many oth-

er teams in the same early stages like Babson College, Boston University, Boston College and others.

Recently Brandeis logged its first match win of the season against Babson College on Saturday, Oct. 15. The home match featured nine competitive Brandeis players, taking the win with 6-3 against the other CSA-emerging team. “I guess we see Babson as a rival in a sense that they are also a relatively new club team with similar goals as us,” Lal said about the Saturday match.

In the past, the squash team has traveled to Minneapolis, MN, to compete in round-robin match play. This year the team was unable to fit the trip into their schedule this year, but they believe their schedule will take them to New York for a couple matches.

Lal looks to keep the match schedule filled throughout the entire year in hopes of achieving the minimum required for competing in nationals, which occurs in February at Harvard University.

photo courtesy squash club

The team’s short-term primary goal is to reach the CSA national tournament, but in the long run, Lal and the rest of the squash team look to build a lasting program that endures past his graduation. “Hopefully we can compete at nationals and then with that exposure, my goal is that in a few years even after I’ve left, it can be taken as a very serious sport at Brandeis, maybe

become a varsity sport if people show enough interest.”

Lal encourages anybody who is interested to show up to practice. The club offers equipment and court time to its members.

“We want to appeal to everyone, so if you’re competitive you can play and compete in matches, or if you just want to hit around every once in a while … that’s cool too!”

Men’s tennis closes fall season

By Shea Decker-Jacoby staff

photo from brandeisjudges.com

The senior made it to the semifinals of the tournament. team captain michael arguello

The Brandeis men’s tennis team wrapped up their fall season with a strong finish this past weekend in a three-day tournament hosted by MIT. This tournament was one of the three tournaments the team competes in during the fall. Michael Arguello ’17 had a terrific campaign with another semifinal finish, while the rest of the team had very strong results as well.

Head Coach Ben Lamanna says, “We competed at the highest level against top competition in the region and nation.”

Arguello started in the top seat of the tournament after being a finalist for the ITA Re-

gional title two weeks earlier.

He took the first two matches from Middlebury and Williams and then faced off in the round of 16 against Amherst. It was a very close match with Arguello taking the first set 6-2, then falling in the second 3-6. The third match went into a tiebreaker where Arguello claimed a 7-5 victory to move on to the quarter finals. He faced off another player from Williams. Both players took a set from each other, but the Judge senior pulled away in the third set breaking the tie with a 6-0 victory. In the semis Arguello faced off with the defending Division III champ from Bowdoin. Arguello was the only player to take a set from the defending champ, but ended up

dropping the match with a 4-6, 6-1, 1-6 decision.

Brandeis had two other singles reach the round of 16, Brian Granoff ’17 competed in the quarter final draw. Granoff defeated Tufts with an easy finish of 6-1, 6-1. He then proceeded to knock Wesleyan out with a 7-5, 6-4 finish. Jackson Kogan ‘19 took out his opponent from Tufts 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 and Mitchell Ostrovsky ’20 took the match against Middlebury 6-0, 7-6, 3-6. Kogan and Zach Cihlar ‘19 (deputy sports editor for the Hoot) defeated the Williams pair in their doubles match 8-5. They then fell to the top seed pair from Middlebury 8-4. Arguello and Ryan Bunis ’17 take the match against Amherst 8-6, before falling to a team from

Wesleyan 8-5.

This concludes the fall matches for the men’s tennis team and they will continue with their season when they travel to California for their matches against Caltech, Whittier, Redlands and Claremont-McKenna. Then the team will host their first home match of the season March 4 against Stevens Tech before hosting the first UAA match up for the Judges against NYU March 10 at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.

The team will travel to Altamonte Springs, FL for the UAA tournament April 21-23 and then face off with Tufts for their final home match of the season.

Come out and support your Judges at their home matches this coming spring.

Volleyball struggles in UAAs

By Sarah Jousset editor

The varsity volleyball team hosted the University Athletic Association Round Robin tournament this past weekend in Gosman Athletic Center. The two-day tournament saw every team in the UAA conference compete against each other.

The Judges couldn’t seem to come out with any fire on the first day of the tournament, dropping games to the University of Rochester and Case Western Reserve University in just three quick sets.

In the first game against Rochester, the Judges lost in close sets against their opponent, with scores of 23-25, 15-25, 23-15. The Judges fought hard in the first set, coming back from a 20-15 deficit to tie the score at 23-23, but the Judges couldn’t secure the win.

The team couldn’t continue the energy into the second set, and Rochester took the lead from the beginning and kept it all the way

through to secure the win. Gunning for a win the Judges started the third set off strong with a 6-2 lead until Rochester took five straight points to take a 10-9 lead.

The game went point for point until the game was tied 18-18, and then the Yellowjackets pulled ahead with five points in a row.

The Judges tried to answer on the serve of Marlee Nork ’19, but couldn’t quick oust the Yellowjackets, falling two points short of the win.

However, the Judges put out a great hitting percentage at .324.

The Hoot’s Shea Decker-Jacoby ’19 led the team with eight kills, while Kirsten Frauens ’19, Jessie Moore ’18 and Grace Krumpack ’18 followed close behind with seven, six and five kills. Nork set for the Judges, contributing 26 assists. On the defensive end, Frauens and Moore each had three block assists, while Jessica Kaufman ’17 had two solo blocks and one assist. Libero Yvette Cho ’19 contributed 19 digs for the team, while Krumpack and

Doyeon Kim ’20 each had 11.

In the game against Case Western Reserve, the Judges dropped three in a row by scores of 1325, 20-25 and 16-25. The Judges struggled hitting against their opponents with just Decker-Jacoby and Moore accumulating a significant amount of kills with seven and six. The libero, Cho, was the only player in the game with double-digits, contributing 11 digs.

Brandeis played Emory and NYU on the second day of play. In the game against Emory, their opponent came out strong, blowing the Judges away in just three sets.

For the Judges, Krumpack had eight kills, while Decker-Jacoby added five. Nork set in her third game of the tournament, adding 15 assists, while Cho held up the defensive end with 12 digs.

The NYU game did not bring better luck for the Judges, as they lost the game in three sets as well.

In the first set, the Judges battled to a 21-20 lead, but the NYU Violets secured the win with a fivepoint run. However, the game was

photo from brandeis.edu

the only game of the weekend in which the Judges went more than three sets, winning the third set by a close score of 25-23 before losing the match in the fourth set.

The tournament wrapped up conference play for the volley-

ball team this season, leaving the Judges with a record of 7-14 overall and 0-7 in the UAA conference.

The Judges play again on Tuesday, Oct. 25 in Gosman Athletic Center at 7 p.m.

EDITORIALS

October 21, 2016

Calling on admin. to consider all voices

“To acquire wisdom, one must observe.”

Editors-in-Chief Mia Edelstein Julie Landy

Managing Editor Allison Plotnik Senior Copy Editor Sarah Terrazano News Editor Hannah Schuster Deputy News Editors Abigail Gardener Elianna Spitzer Arts Editor Sabrina Pond Opinions Editor Zach Phil Schwartz Deputy Opinions Editor Katarina Weesies Features Editor Charlotte Aaron Deputy Features Editor Albert Reiss Sports Editor Sarah Jousset Deputy Sports Editor Zach Cihlar Photo Editor Karen Caldwell Layout Editor Lisa Petrie Editors-at-Large Matt Kowalyk Emily Sorkin Smith

Volume 13 • Issue 20 the brandeis hoot • brandeis university 415 south street • waltham, ma

The Brandeis Hoot 7

I

n last week’s issue, we published an article in The Brandeis Hoot’s Opinions section that erroneously stated that the university paid to upgrade snack food vending machines on campus instead of funding a supply of free menstrual products on campus. This was misinformed because the vending machine company, not the university, covered the costs of installing the new machines, and the company will receive all profits from the machines. This means that the administration did not prioritize the installation of these machines over providing free menstrual products. We apologize for this error.

We as an editorial board are responsible for verifying that everything we print is accurate and will have a renewed focus on this issue in our Opinions section moving forward.

This retracted article was a follow-up to a column arguing more generally that Brandeis should provide menstrual products for free. Both of these pieces generated significant response on social media and have made it appear to some that The Hoot is the face of a campaign for free products. We would like to clarify that the articles printed in the Opinions section of the paper do not represent the opinions of The Hoot’s editorial board. The only place our opinions are represented are in the

editorials found on this page each week.

In response to these Opinions pieces, Jim Gray, the vice president for Campus Operations, sent an email to the writer and Hoot editors that if this is an issue about which students care, they should communicate it through the Student Union.

The point of this editorial is that not only through the Student Union do students seek to initiate progress. The Student Union is a strong vehicle of change as the representative body of students who are in close communication with the administration. However, it is not an avenue that all students utilize. There are barriers to approaching the Student Union, such as unfamiliarity with the process and a sense of bureaucracy. For these and other reasons, students have often turned to other organizations in order to make their voices heard.

If students turn to us to speak out, we want to be sure that they are being listened to. We are not writing this editorial to indict anyone but because we feel a duty to make sure that the students who write to us are being heard. The Hoot was founded as an alternative outlet for student voices, and we strive to continue to honor this.

We appreciate that the Student Union takes their work seriously and has taken

steps to become more approachable. We also appreciate that the administration works closely with the Union on many issues, but they are not the only campus organization that students rely on to address serious issues.

The recent collaboration of the administration with the Rape Crisis Center (RCC) is a testament to this potential.

Initially, students organized independently in response to the appalling state of sexual assault and how survivors are treated on campus. Due to the traction of this movement among students, it caught the attention of the administration, who worked with the students to increase resources for the prevention and awareness of sexual assault.

We appreciate the support that the administration gives the Student Union, but we want the administration to support all student concerns in whatever form they are vocalized.

The university boasts that it has more than 200 student organizations. We ask the administration to give each group the consideration it deserves as a collection of the students who make up the university.

We do not want to call out the administration. We want to call them in to the discussion and solution of issues that people on campus care about.

Founded By Leslie Pazan, Igor Pedan and Daniel Silverman

STAFF

Emily Altkorn, Sharon Cai, José Castellanos, Elizabeth Cayouette-Gluckman, Anindita Chanda, Shea Decker-Jacoby, Gabriel del Carmen, Jacob Edelman, Andrew Elmers, Daniel Freedman, Max Gould, Emma Gutman, Sophia He, Alana Hodson, Daniel Kang, Emma Kahn, Naomi Klickstein, Adam Lamper, Samantha Lauring, Monique J Menezes, Santiago Montoya, Candace Ng, Polina Potochevska, Faiyaz Rahman, Caroline Rourke, Ryan Spencer, Lily Wageman, Michael Wang MISSION As the weekly community student newspaper of Brandeis University, The Brandeis Hoot aims to provide our readers with a reliable, accurate and unbiased source of news and information.

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

SUBMISSION POLICIES

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

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

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

ADVERTISE Advertising in The Brandeis Hoot helps spread your message to our readers across the Brandeis campus, in the Waltham community and beyond through our website.

All campus organizations receive a 25 percent discount off our regular prices. We also design basic ads for campus organizations free of charge.

To reserve your space in the paper, contact us by phone at (781) 330-0051 or by e-mail at ads@thebrandeishoot.com.

GIVE A HOOT, JOIN THE HOOT!

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

To learn more, send us an e-mail at join@thebrandeishoot.com, or visit our website http://brandeishoot.com/join.

UNSOLICITED SUBMISSIONS

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

Retraction In an opinion piece titled “We need menstrual products, not vending machines” printed in last week’s issue of The Brandeis Hoot, it was erroneously stated that the university paid an

outside contractor to install updated vending machines throughout campus. In fact, the vending machine company incurred all costs of upgrading, and there is no monetary exchange

between the university and the company. The only monetary exchange occurs between students purchasing food from the vending machine and the company providing the service.

L C R O S S WO R D S ?

V E Become a hoot crossword creator. email eic@thebrandeishoot.com if interested.

Last week’s solution

8 The Brandeis Hoot

WEEK IN PHOTOS

October 21, 2016

Students studying abroad submitted their week in photos.

old town, tallin, estonia

photo courtesy sharon cai

Sharon Cai ’18 is studying in Copenhagen, and traveled to Old Town in Tallin, Estonia.

photo courtesy eric goldberg

yellow mountain

Eric Goldberg ’18 is studying abroad in Beijing, China.

wadi mujib

Emily Sorkin-Smith ’18 is studying in Amman, Jordan. She visited Wadi Mujib on the Dead Sea.

photo courtesy emily sorkin-smith

photo courtesy anna stern

view from a bus

studying.

Anna Stern ’18 snapped this sunset photo in Copenhagen, where she is

photo courtesy matt kowalyk

bowling cricket

Matt Kowalyk ’18 is studying abroad in London.

quito, ecuador

Elana Rombro ’18 is studying abroad in Quito, Ecuador.

photo courtesy elana rombro

ARTS, ETC.

October 21, 2016

The Brandeis Hoot 9

Local comedians perform using students’ jokes

By Emma Kahn staff

Four local Boston comedians took to the Chum’s stage last Tuesday with material written

by Brandeis students enrolled in Writing for Television, bringing laughter and awe to an audience of their peers.

Prof. Marc Weinberg (ENG) arranged for five comedians to perform—one to host the night’s event and four to present the work of his students. “I told students to imagine they had been hired on a late-night television show as screenwriters,” Weinberg explained.

The students of the English course Writing for Television learned about comedy, researched the comedian they were assigned to write for and created the material that Brett Johnson, Suzi Berlin, Wes Hazard and Anthony Scibelli ’09 performed.

The host, Will Smalley, brought much energy to the night. Smalley was described by The Boston Globe as having the “normal guy likability of Mike Birbiglia” and can be found performing this Friday at The Comedy Studio in Harvard Square.

He made many jokes about being gay and coming out, managing to shock the audience who

photos by yarisa diaz/the hoot

was just beginning to ease into his comedic style. He also transitioned into telling the story of saving a life recently, by performing the Heimlich, giving the audience a matter-of-fact account of the incident with his very simple observations. His straightforward and charming sense of humor ushered in the main monologues with excitement and energy.

The first comedian to present the class’ material was Johnson, who can be found performing the third Friday of each month at Pavement Coffeehouse in Boston.

Johnson’s monologue covered a wide range of material, from the

open relationship that he’s in, to drinking and smoking, to his strict religious upbringing. He tossed out some one-liners and told some longer stories, managing to thoroughly entertain the audience with the content that was written for him.

Perhaps his best joke was his self-deprecating line on his high school naivete, remarking, “I grew up thinking that fellatio was an Italian dessert.” His routine was very personal, and he very thoughtfully blended his own sense of humor with the direction given by his student group.

Next up was Berlin, an energetic, competitive and fun performer. Because students were told to write for late-night comedy, Berlin approached her routine as she would a talk show. She blew through numerous eclectic topics such as being single, using a GPS and what to wear for Halloween.

Each joke ended with a notecard flung across the stage.

Berlin’s best moment was surely the line, “Election is my favorite time of the rear,” which she mistakenly repeated three times before finally correcting herself to “year.” Although Berlin seemed least comfortable performing the jokes of others, her energy and demeanor put a fun spin on her monologue.

Third came Hazard, a comic, writer and radio host as well as one of Boston’s “Five Best Comedians to Watch” according to The Boston Globe. He described his book, “Questions for Terrible People,” as “Cards Against Humanity but in book form.” Hazard joked about being the only black comedian and therefore making the night’s performers 20 percent black, a statistic five times greater than the diversity we see on campus.

Hazard went to Boston College,

and made many jokes about the differences between the schools.

His best moments were his recommendation of following Andrew Flagel’s Twitter account and his experience at Comic-Con dressing in cosplay as Gandalf, which was exclusively referred to as “black Gandalf.” He ended by handing out samples of his artwork, which take various elements from comics and come together to form fun and vibrant collages.

Finally, Scibelli came to the stage in a special finale. He is now a successful comedian whose show “The Anthony Scibelli Web Series” won the LA film award for best web series. His comedy was tailored around his return to Brandeis and the changes he sees, as well as the classic Brandeis stereotypes that will always get a rise out of our audience members.

After settling into his monologue, he made some jokes that were obviously prepared by his writing team, and managed to get much laughter from what wouldn’t always elicit such a response. His writing team certainly planned for Scibelli’s charming and unimposing cheesy humor.

He finally ended by reading through the notes he was given almost verbatim, and managed to hold the crowd’s captivation throughout.

Yuni Hahn ’19 was the group leader for Johnson’s team. She and her group watched videos to prepare and to understand the person for whom they were writing the script.

“Trying to speak from the comedian’s voice is tough because you don’t know them,” said Hahn, “but this was the perfect opportunity to discover a new form of expression.” Hahn had taken improv classes at Upright Citizens Brigade in New York but other-

wise was simply exploring a new creative writing course. By the end of the semester, she noted that students are going to be responsible for writing their own pilot to a show.

Students were only able to meet with their comedian once, and otherwise communicated via email. They had a few classes on how to make jokes and how to develop material; they focused on what makes them laugh, what scares them, what worries them, as well as any current events. You could hear the influences of various class discussions on their jokes; for example, the repeated references to Tinder and Spotify joining together or the repeated references to the election.

The separation of the comedians from their content provided a fun and interesting spin on stand-up performance and was certainly a challenge overcome.

The event was a tremendous success, bringing in a larger crowd than usual for Chum’s, and the students from the featured course seemed thrilled to have their jokes presented onstage to their peers.

10 ARTS

The Brandeis Hoot

October 21, 2016

‘Circle Mirror Transformation’ confounds audience with complex characters

By Brianna Cummings staff

Brandeis has a renowned theater department known for putting on plays and musicals of every type. Free Play Theater Cooperative’s “Circle Mirror Transformation” was no different.

Annie Baker’s play was shown Friday, Oct. 14 through Sunday, Oct. 16 in the SCC theater. The play starred Amanda Ehrmann ’18 as the main protagonist Marty, Otis Fuqua ’19 as Marty’s husband James, Morgan Winters ’17 as Theresa, Abram Foster ’19 as Shultz and Jessica Spierer ’18 as Lauren.

In addition to acting in the play, Ehrmann also served as its producer and is the artistic director of the Free Play Theater Cooperative.

“Circle Mirror Transformation” takes place in a small town in Vermont. In this town, Marty teaches an alternative acting class. Among her students are her husband James, former actress Theresa, the anxious divorced carpenter Shultz and overly ambitious high school junior Lauren.

Ehrmann made sure to dive into Marty’s thoughts and feelings, which helped her character feel real and powerful. “I needed to establish Marty as a vulnerable, sympathetic character,” Ehrmann noted.

“I worked closely with Kaelan, our director, and Yair, our dramaturg, to identify what was most important to Marty,” Ehrmann explained. “Once I had established her basic personality,

photos by sabrina pond/the hoot

I focused on the essential questions that didn’t have completely obvious answers.” These questions included, “Why did Marty want James, her husband, to participate in her class? Why was she in a relationship with someone she knew had cheated in the past? At what point did her desire to make a difference conflict with her reality?”

When the play begins, the audience sees the main characters lying on the floor on their backs, counting with Marty leading them. The lights go out momentarily, and the audience is presented with a new scene.

At the beginning of each scene one of the characters has a monologue that also serves as the biography for one of the other characters.

In the first scene, the audience sees James telling the group about Marty from her perspective. This technique confused the audience

at first but as the play continued, they became used to it. The play had very few props: just a chair, a blue medicine ball, a couple of water bottles, a cubby holder and a whiteboard, which served to count the weeks that progressed as the play went on.

Each character had their own struggle that they were going through, and Marty’s class seemed to serve as a distraction.

Theresa had recently moved from New York and had left an abusive relationship. Shultz was upset about his divorce and found himself slowly falling in love with Theresa.

Marty and James were having marriage issues because Marty had told their daughter about James’ infidelity in his previous marriage, and Lauren was frustrated with Marty’s teaching methods and wanted to learn “how to become a real actress.”

The audience is able to cheer

on the budding romance between Shultz and Theresa and feels upset when their relationship goes sour.

The audience is also sucked into scenes where the characters get overly emotional, such as James and Marty yelling at each other in a scene where they are reenact Lauren’s childhood, with the implication that Marty had been abused.

The play also had some lighthearted scenes. The fact that Shultz’s character was so socially awkward added humor to the play. In a scene where the cast is reenacting Shultz’s childhood, James is asked to pretend to be Shultz’s bed, a scene which filled the auditorium with laughter. The audience also felt like Lauren’s overly self-confident attitude was comedic.

Although Theresa’s character had complexity to her, she was also a ditz; there was a scene where she described meeting a

man on the subway and assuming he was Jewish because of his appearance.

The play lasted just over two hours, with a 10 minute intermission. At the end of the play, it was obvious that the audience enjoyed the experimental play, and “Circle Mirror Transformation” received roaring applause.

“I think the play was very minimalist when it came to props but it still felt realistic,” Yaneth Martinez ’20 said. “I liked how the characters were having real life problems.”

“My favorite thing about the play was that it challenged the conventional theater narrative,” Ehrmann said.

“There were stage directions dictating the stage is left empty for 25 seconds or the group experiences a wounded silence—moments that are supposed to catch the audience off guard and proved subtly beautiful.”

Olivia Joy’s art protests sexualization of women

By Sanin Dosa staff

With each and every brush stroke she makes on a canvas, Olivia Joy ’18 finds her own way to empower women and protest against the objectified view of women as sex symbols.

Since her sophomore year at Brandeis University, Joy has been making paintings that she says can be uncomfortable to viewers.

By creating intimate self portraits she intends to make her audience more comfortable with seeing a woman expose her body while helping them to acknowledge it’s beauty with respect.

In the first semester of her sophomore year Joy made “Bite Me,” a self portrait of her biting a pear.

The image is covered in gold, orange and yellow. The colors, she explains, represent the happy mood she was in at that moment.

The painting demonstrated her “golden glow,” as she put it. She

explains that the comments she received about the painting, however, made her unhappy.

Joy was bothered by the way people objectified her in the self portrait, viewing it as a sexual image and making it more inappropriate than was meant to be. “The comments I was receiving were shocking to me. People looked at this painting and said it was seductive, inviting, promiscuous.

That was just unreal to me!” she explains.

“I was really upset by this. The fact that women in everyday life are objectified in such a way that anything we do can become sexual,” she continues.

In a conversation she once had with a boy, she used the phrase “reclaiming your sexuality.” She says his response was, “Who took it?” Pop culture—it took away women’s control over their own sexuality. Pop culture puts the sexuality of women on display for others, and tells women that they

photos courtesy olivia joy

need to alter themselves for who ever is watching, Joy explains, “I think I cried that day after that.

People are clueless.”

The strong reputation Brandeis has with social justice motivates her to use the paintings she makes as a tool to change the current view of women. She explains, “I think it is important to look at women as individuals and re-empower the individuality of a woman. We are not just a sex symbol, or a mother or a virgin.”

During her time here at Brandeis, Joy’s professors have taught her important concepts, such as painting characters that reflect real life and using colors to express emotions. These concepts make the messages she wants to convey in her paintings become clearer to observers.

She has learned that using visual art as a medium for communication has the power to

create a stronger impact than oral communication. This is because when people look at a painting they have the opportunity to see and experience what the painter is trying to show. From that experience the audience can feel emotions that allow them to understand issues better than they would just by hearing about them.

Joy then pulled out another painting, which is unnamed. In the image, she is sitting naked in a bathtub eating cereal. The blueish green color used all over the painting, she explained, represents the low and sad mental state she was in after having a bad experience at work that day during the summer.

“It is not trying to hide anything. It is not trying to look beautiful for any viewer. It is just a woman being a woman doing what she likes to do,” Joy says.

Since her first semester at Brandeis, Joy has known she

wanted to pursue a double major in studio art and art history. Her passion for art originated from growing up in a home in which her parents encouraged creativity.

Joy remembers going to art museums at the age of three, excited to see and draw her favorite paintings.

She prefers to use oil paint because it helps her identify with the long tradition of oil painters throughout the history of art.

She is inspired by contemporary art because contemporary artists have a very explicit social statement to say with their work.

For anyone thinking about registering for an art class at Brandeis, Joy highly recommends they try it. Some people know they want an art major and others just want to fulfill the creative arts requirement. Whatever the reason one may take an art course, she says, there is zero judgment.

October 21, 2016

ARTS 11

The Brandeis Hoot

Samblan musicians express joy with the xylophone

By Sophie Welch special to the hoot

There was a hushed energy in the atrium of Pearlman. No one was quite sure what to expect, or when the event would begin.

Suddenly there was a flurry of movement—the doors to Pearlman Lounge opened as the musicians entered.

Mamadou Diabaté, Seydou Diabaté and Dramane Dembélé crossed the threshold with big smiles all around, embracing their enormous instruments—which we would think of as a xylophone, but what is referred to in West Africa as the balafon.

We filed into the small circular room, an intimate group of around 20 people on Friday, Oct. 14. With a smile and brief intro-

duction, Prof. Laura McPherson of Dartmouth swept into the center and asked for a moment of silence so that one of the musicians could call the appropriate spirit to be present for their playing. The room grew still and silent.

Light glinted off the scrolling golden thread of Mamadou’s robe as he gently bent his head, leaned forward and began to play a short, sharp scatter of notes. Though it lasted only a few seconds, the beauty of the instrument was already realized.

A deep buzzing accompanies the rich, pure tones.This is what differentiates the balafon from a xylophone—a balafon is larger, curved and has hollowed out gourds underneath with a few holes pierced in them. These holes are then covered with a thin cigar paper. This creates a resonating

sound.

After the spirits were called, McPherson provided some details about the culture and instrument.

She explained that the Sambla are “a small West African ethnic group” living in Burkina Faso. The Sambla Chiefs grant protection to those from the Tusia, a nearby ethnic group, in exchange for musicians. The Balafon is “passed from father to son.” They are played at weddings, funerals and festivals.

Perhaps the most unique ability of the balafon is to “speak” the language of Seenku, in the form of a surrogate language, which McPherson defined as “a system of communication that directly represents a spoken language in a non-speech modality.” Thus, the soloist playing the balafon can communicate lyrics, praises, genealogies and even banter with the audience—all without speaking a word.

We then were privileged to see the communication of the balafon in action. McPherson called Mamadou’s brother on Skype, and he listened to the cascading notes on the balafon and spoke back. The pace began to ramp upward—the brother spoke rapidly in French over Skype as the balafon and he began their exchange.

Mamadou’s notes became jovial, seeming to poke fun at his brother. Dembélé laughed, a grin splitting his serious face as he comprehended the encoded message.

Afterward, McPherson translated. She explained that they were indeed teasing the brother. First, Mamadou and Seydou played music that said a variety of greetings, and then asked where the brother was.

He responded that he was in the

photos by daniel kang/the hoot

village. The jest was made when the balafon said, “I would like a beer.” The brother laughed, saying, “How am I supposed to do that? You’re in America!”

At last, it was time for a performance. Mamadou and Seydou each sat at a balafon, while Dembélé held a Fula flute to his lips. Quite suddenly, they began to play.

And the sound that came forth was utterly miraculous.The balafons started, quietly at first, the notes inducing tingles on my spine. Suddenly they began to crescendo. Dembélé joined with his flute, adding in vocals that mimicked the same pitches as the flute itself.

The sound was raw, freeing—a jubilee of expression. They began to play louder and louder, the small room becoming engulfed in

rich sound.

Mamadou began to sing, his voice husky yet soft like butter.

The buzzing resonance underneath the clear pitches washed over us. It seemed to me that the musicians and instruments were radiating an energy and light.

Every person in the room was immersed in the music. People smiled, swayed and tapped their feet, present in the moment. As I listened, I felt the urge to just run somewhere in an open field or dance.

Then it was over. I clapped so hard that my hands began to ache, and all of us showered the three musicians with enthusiasm. They treated us to three more songs, and even chose two students to play the balafons with them. By the last piece, all of us were clapping to the beat.

The Weeknd’s ‘Starboy’ flaunts cars, babes, crosses

By Sabrina Pond editor

Within the first minute of the video, viewers see the Weeknd gagged and bound, a plastic bag over his face. A person clad completely in black proceeds to suffocate him with the plastic bag, and the camera stays on his face until the life leaves his eyes. A very dead Weeknd falls off the chair, his eyes glazed over, empty and without a glimmer of hope left.

So begins the Weeknd’s latest music video for his edgy new track “Starboy,” which, in typical Weeknd style, reinforces his classic bad boy image.

Over the course of his career, the performer has managed to incorporate rather gruesome imagery in his music videos where he dies in a handful of grotesque ways, most of the time at his own hand.

In the past he has buried himself alive, been in a severe car accident and been set on fire on stage while performing “Can’t Feel My Face.”

It only makes sense then that his most recent video shows him again perishing at his own hand— only this time, it is revealed only after he brutally suffocates himself. That is definitely one way to get an audience’s attention.

A song that reads like a poem you might read in a high school English course, the lyrics come together like a puzzle, each piece of which fits in a larger scheme that is the Weeknd’s sultry and mysterious brand. It is this quality of his song that makes his music

all the more engaging overall; deriving the meaning of his songs is not something that can be cherry picked.

More careful thought and deliberation help to unveil the songwriter’s underlying meaning.

With asides about cocaine use, a ridiculously rich pad, the most expensive of cars and intercourse with multiple lovers, as per the Weeknd’s image the successful artist appears to live a needlessly reckless lifestyle.

Though the track seems heavily autotuned and less original than the Weeknd’s previous work, “Starboy” is innovative in its frequent allusions to Christianity, which are interspersed throughout the video. Not only does he wear a cross around his neck, but he also carries a large, illuminated cross that has an ethereal redpink glow.

He then uses this fixture to destroy the inner portions of his rocking pad, smashing glass cases, wreaking havoc on picture frames and obliterating a fancy chandelier.

As if the destruction in and of itself wasn’t enough, the Weeknd tops it off with his ever-so-playful and eerie dance moves—turning around in circles, he appears to delight in the destruction he causes.

This imagery leaves me pondering the song’s title, “Starboy.” On the one hand, that term has been used in the past to describe a man who has relations with multiple women, but somehow this explanation seems too simplistic. It could also have something to do

photo from genius.com

photo from musictimes.com

with the religious imagery in the video, as the Weeknd appears to undergo a conflict within himself—between two counteracting personalities, one of which has his “octopus” hair, the other of which is clad in black and dons short hair—in which one side of him comes out on top.

With the title of the song he might have been playing on the idea that he is a starboy like Jesus, which makes sense given that the surrounding villagers used the North star to locate him.

Cutting edge, sensual beats pervade the background of the song, which with the added harmonious “ah” sounds, give this track a real club music feel. A song that’s bent on female pleasure, the Weeknd’s lush and deep vocals only emphasize the edginess of the single. Though it definitely increases the catchiness of the tune, “Starboy” is also a bit on the repetitive side as the chorus is repeated four times, with little else to back it up.

In all his headshaking glory, the Weeknd proves that he still has whatever magic that originally brought him to the top of the charts in 2015.

He might pledge to engage in a very unorthodox lifestyle, but that seems to explain his extreme rise in popularity.

One of the only entertainers who turns down interviews, the Weeknd’s success has precipitated from his enchanting and mysterious persona, a fact which leaves people wanting to know more.

This kind of hunger can never be satisfied.

12 ARTS

The Brandeis Hoot

October 21, 2016

Seasoned writers disclose the art of publishing novels

By Santiago Montoya staff

How does an author get published? Brandeis tried to answer this question on Wednesday, Oct. 18 in Pearlman Lounge. Michelle Hoover, Brandeis’ Fannie Hurst writer-in-residence, introduced a panel of writers who were eager to share their experiences in getting their works published.

Among the panelists were Bob Fernandes, writer of “A Big Box of YEAH!,” Kelly Ford, writer of “Cottonmouths,” Andrea Mayer, writer of “Room for Love,” Louise Miller, writer of “A City Baker’s Guide to Country Living,” Emily Ross, writer of “Half in Love with Death” and Jennie Wood, writer of “A Boy Like Me.” All the writers have gone through the Grubstreet Novel Incubator Program, which Hoover co-founded.

Fernandes was the only author present who is still in the process of getting published, yet he already has a book deal and an agent. He said that at the beginning it was difficult to get an agent, but once he had one, it was easier for an editorial to accept his work. Currently he is concluding the final revisions of his novel, “A Big Box of YEAH!” Another author who talked about her experience was Andrea Meyer. Several of her pieces regarding film have been featured in numerous publications, including Time Out, New York, Variety, Interview, The Village Voice, The

photo from kellyjford.com

photo from trablhosujo.com

photo from thedebutanteball.com

photo from emilyrosswrites.com

New York Post and Glamour.She said that her experience was very different, as she was fortunate to have the agent scout her, not the other way around. Meyer wrote a story for The New York Post, wherein she pretended to look for a roommate as a ploy to meet men. The agent advised her to adapt the story into a novel and it became “Room For Love.”

Meyer has claimed that penning her second book, which is a continuation of “Room For Love,” has been much more challenging than the first time around. That is why she decided to attend the Incubator—to get assistance with the book. She also noted that her relation to her current agent has slowly deteriorated, saying she felt “neglected.” She encouraged all future writers to build better connections with their future agents; she is even considering changing

her agent.

It is also difficult to know what editors will tell you and whether their information is correct or not, as that is exactly what happened to Emily Ross. She was writing a book that takes place in the 1960s, yet she was told it was not marketable enough because it is a young adult (YA) historical fiction book.

First, she was told to make the book less 60s and to remove as many references to the 60s as possible. According to her editor, the target audience—teenagers and young adults—are not that interested in books that take place in the 60s; they would consider them “archaic.”

After she revised the whole manuscript and made it less historical, another editor told her to make it more 60s again.In addition, they told her to make the

book shorter, since YA novels tend to be quick reads. This happened over and over again with several different editors, and the editing process was cumbersome.

Nevertheless, she said that it is all part of the collaborative process and that it is necessary to create a product that has quality and is marketable, since publishing is also a business with making money as its goal.

Indeed, Louise Miller, author of the novel “The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living,” explained that marketing your book is an important phase in the publishing process. She said that while the author may like the cover, the editor may not and they must agree on something else. If you want to sell your book in Barnes & Noble, they must like the cover too; otherwise, they will refuse to sell it.

A student asked about the im-

portance of publishing diverse books. Kelly Ford, as an LGBT writer who creates LGBT characters, said that agents are more open nowadays, especially young agents. Ford added that the rates of diverse books increase annually, and she gave a tip to the student about penning diverse characters as “flawed” so that they feel more “real.”

The main thing every writer on the panel emphasized was to get yourself, as a writer, out there into the publishing world.

They advised that you can also try self-publishing first; in fact, books such as “Still Alice” and “The Martian” were first self-published before going on to become commercially successful films. It is important to start putting yourself out there and let people know who you are and what your profession is: writing.

Merrill’s ‘THE SQUARE’ probes war, misery, relationships

By Sabrina Pond editor

Viewing the world through the lens of a gun: That’s what so many video game players nowadays can attest to, having spent countless hours running through ruined alleyways, hiding behind wrecked cars and mercilessly shooting their counterparts. War is honored and glorified, but at what cost?

Amy Merrill’s “THE SQUARE” takes a very different approach to the same concept, recognizing the severe toll that war takes on all those involved—the person who served, as well as any of that person’s family, friends and beyond.

Performed by six up-and-coming actors, the developmental reading took place on Monday, Oct. 17 in the Mandel Reading Room. This is a mostly unfinished that play that was still in the throes of editing the morning of the reading, so Merrill sought the audience’s opinion to aid the writing process. Interestingly enough, the interaction between audience and playwright proved rather beneficial and unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed before.

“THE SQUARE” is a play that immerses audiences in the tumultuous life of Link (Jeremy Browne), a veteran of the Iraq War, and his wife, Rosemary (Melissa Jesser), both of whom are hit hard by the aftermath of his traumatic experience abroad. Link comes home with intense feelings of resentment and guilt, having seen a horrific massacre at Nisour Square, though he is incapable of voicing this internal conflict. Instead, he obsessively re-watches a video that he took of the mass shooting, further isolating himself from family and friends. His wife, who had been unfaithful in

the time Link served, finds herself incapable of relating to and communicating with her very changed husband upon his return.

A play that has everything going for it, observing “THE SQUARE” was perhaps one of the most honest performances that I have seen on Brandeis campus. The characters were complex and multi-layered and, even if not completely relatable, still somehow easy to connect with. Each person’s story is so rich and raw, encumbered with the complexity of everyday life—the ups and downs of our very existence—that it was difficult to root for one character more than another character. All the protagonists were so utterly human, and in one way or another were differently impacted by the war.

None of them were unilaterally to blame for their misdemeanors; life threw them lemons, and they did the best they could with what they had at their disposal. Some of them tried biting the lemon, others made a lemon cake and still others saved the rind for a

lemony zest.

The actors were all-around spectacular in this hour-long performance. Appearing courtesy of the Actors’ Equity Association, the performers managed to breathe such life into the characters and their dialogue that it proved difficult to remember that these were just characters, not real people. Though they read their lines from a script, this neither took away from the performance nor lessened the quality of it. The pain and passions of Link, Rosemary and Vanessa were all too potent that something so trivial was easy to overcome.

As one of the first audiences to witness this play, it was an honor to watch it in its glorious entirety.

Given that the actors had practiced somewhere between 14 and 16 hours, it was to be expected that the performance would not have the same polished feel of an on-stage performance. Even so, that’s what made this showing more real, vulnerable and ultimately more powerful.

Guy Ben-Aharon, the director,

was successful in helping execute this play on multiple levels, further developing the characters and adding stage directions to help the audience understand what was happening. Without any props or costumes, these tactics really aided the viewer’s understanding.

When the play came to a quick close, the most confounding part of the performance was the discussion that ensued between the audience members and the writer, director and actors. Merrill, who was receptive to any and all feedback from the audience, was candid when describing the most challenging aspects of the writing process.

For one, Merrill struggled writing a proper ending for “THE SQUARE” and had actually changed the final scene multiple times before settling with the version that we viewed. That level of honesty and interaction with the audience was refreshing to witness, especially in a world where the arts can verge on pompous.

As future versions are produced,

Merrill will keep in mind the comments mentioned at the Q&A portion of the event; after all, there’s no better way to get feedback than to ask your audience members directly.

Merrill is a well-established playwright and producer who has written “Driving on the Left Side” and “Silver Spoon.” She is a Brandeis alumna, a member of Brandeis Arts Council and Alumni Board and as a producer is also on the planning team of Basra-Boston Connections, which is an Iraq-U.S. Collaboration in theater, poetry, art and music.

As a seasoned viewer at Brandeis, I can attest that “THE SQUARE,” which was sponsored by the Creativity, the Arts and Social Transformation Program and the Division of Creative Arts was stunning beyond belief. It was steeped with real people dealing with insurmountable yet very human problems, making it absolutely incredible, through and through. Waiting for the final version is going to be painful, but any compelling piece of art is worth it.

photos by sabrina pond/the hoot

October 21, 2016

OPINIONS

The Brandeis Hoot 13

Trump’s comments about women are unacceptable Content warning: Trump’s comments about sexually assaulting women are mentioned below.

By Zach Phil Schwartz editor

According to an article published to CNN Money on Oct. 17, Donald Trump, the GOP’s nominee for President of the United States, pledged to “stop” the media, presumably because he’s tired of the industry being mean to him. At Wednesday’s debate, he refused to say whether or not he would accept the election results, and the next day he said he would accept them—if he were to win, according to an article published to CNN on Oct. 20. This kind of rhetoric goes beyond the realm of acceptability. It represents a threat to the American system of democracy, whether he means to or not.

Before I go forward, let me make it perfectly clear that I am and have been a supporter of Hillary Clinton since she declared she would run for president.

Doubting that it is possible, I nevertheless ask you to throw away your political orientation for the remainder of this article and look at what I have to say as objectively as possible.

The last presidential debate of the 2016 election season epitomized the entire cycle. Trump continued his at-times-deranged barrage while Clinton remained composed and presidential. The former’s rhetoric, unhinged as always, has always been dangerous.

He’s previously threatened to have his opponent thrown in jail and makes outlandish claims about

the media rigging the election.

Those critical of the media are not wrong when they say that the industry is biased. All of the major outlets are biased in one way or another, but the pile-on that Trump is complaining about is solely the result of his own brashness and tendency to say inflammatory things. If Clinton said that she would jail her opponent if she were to win, the media would capitalize on that. If she said that she would stop the media from saying mean things, the media would capitalize on that. If she were to deny the legitimacy of the American democratic system, the media would capitalize on that.

But Clinton didn’t say these things. Trump did. Hillary didn’t brag about sexually assaulting women. Trump did. The media is piling on Trump because a number of women have come forward saying that he did to them similar things to what he said on tape.

Clinton has said nothing and done nothing to draw the ire of the media in such a fashion. We’ve never had a candidate like Trump in American history. Even when something arises that implicates Clinton, the most recent development on Donald’s end trumps it.

So no, Donald, the media is not rigging the election against you.

You’re just continuously shooting yourself in the foot on the national stage.

To continue to claim that the election is already fixed in favor of his opponent underscores not only Trump’s inability to comprehend losing, but also his indifference to how our election system actually works. He didn’t help his cause by saying that he would accept the results of the election if

and only if he were to win. If he loses, what happens then?

Personally, I believe when push comes to shove he will accept the results regardless of what happens, because in the end he’s really just looking to make headlines. I don’t think that he believes much of what he says, especially that concerning the legitimacy of this election.

Saying things that run contrary to American democratic values on live television? That draws headlines. My problem is not with what says he will or will not do on election day, because he’s only one person. My problem is with his rhetoric and the people who rabidly follow it.

It is hard to find someone so taken by the Trump presidential brand at Brandeis who would not accept the results of this election, but I fear that those he has empowered—white supremacists, the alt-right, disenchanted GOP

voters and the like—will take his words to heart and wholeheartedly reject the election results should Hillary Rodham Clinton become the 45th President of the United States of America. To have one man undermining the system is insignificant; to also have a bloc of the electorate that voted for that man doing it is what makes all this scary.

It is almost impossible to consider the consequences of people rejecting the results of the election, because this just does not happen in the United States. It’s a dangerous line of thought that I should not have the need to explore, but Trump, his rhetoric and his supporters have made it a possibility.

The rhetoric, bad enough as it is now, will pass if he loses, in my opinion. There may be a portion of the electorate that will reject the results, but as Trump (hopefully) fades into obscurity, so will

that feeling. If he is elected President, though, that rhetoric won’t stop. He won’t stop going after the media because the media won’t stop going after him. We all know how he behaves. He whines when he doesn’t get what he wants. That will be characteristic of his presidency, which will continue to empower a part of the electorate that is loyal to him and his ideas, not to their country proper.

We cannot allow that to happen. We cannot allow this man to become President.

With all he’s said and done, with all he’s pledged to do and with all of the indifference for the American electoral system taken into account, I ask you this, out of basic human decency and respect for the way we conduct our American democracy, how can you justify electing Donald Trump as President of the United States?

photo from flickr.com

Free speech double standards harm democratic discourse

By Daniel Freedman columnist

Social politics is an ever-swinging pendulum—the more it rises on the left side, the greater its tendency to be pulled back by the right. We are currently experiencing a feed-forward polarization of political thought, but for many illfound reasons.

One flaw of intellectual discourse today is the predilection to conflate personal ideas and opinions with the person from whom they came. People are maligned by their beliefs and there is little separation between idea and presenter. The rise in the incidence of ad hominem attacks is a natural

consequence of this form of discourse, and as a product of society it affects all levels of conversation.

This is apparent on the presidential debate stage and through the political posturing of the divisive attack ads. The discussion of ideas and policies has been replaced by vilification of the opponent on the path to filling the highest office in the land, but to think that this has happened in isolation is foolhardy. The example of Trump or Clinton (depending on your affiliation) seems at first like hyperbole, but then consider the millions of people who have backed your opponent’s presidential bid—their rhetoric does not exist in a bubble. The de-

bate stage is a microcosm of society at large, and while everything is made up, the points do matter.

When discussing the presidential elections in the company of like-minded individuals, the opponent is the incarnation of evil and the descent of democracy. We don’t bother to discuss why their plans are wrong; we instead skip to the self-indulgence of berating their very essence. In the presence of the opponent’s supporters we either tend not to discuss politics at all to maintain civility and relationships, or we question how the other person is ignorant enough to support their nominee.

While this remains a looming problem and impediment to ef-

fective debate, the effects of this polarization are manifest in the unseeming recesses of daily life.

We are quick to congratulate the bravery of a peer’s political statement when it aligns with the prevailing culture and accepted norm. I don’t mean to take away from either the necessity or the virtue in sharing political beliefs, but there is something inherently fishy and self-aggrandizing in how we put a statement in support of a popular opinion on a pedestal, but would equally scorn and ridicule the presenter of a counterculture comment.

How is a position brave if it is the intellectual equivalent of preaching to the choir? Bravery,

if not also a bit of stupidity, is vocally dissenting at a Trump rally.

And even as far as examples go, political candidates are a relatively safe demonstration. Start debating an unpopular opinion on the Black Lives Matter or Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movements and watch the facade of liberal openness fade.

Ideas are our intellectual bedrock; you cannot dig deeper to a greater truth, and you cannot kill the ideas by disparaging those that would present them. Instead, let us discuss openly all ideas born not of malice and reserve judgment and discussion for the ideas themselves.

cartoon by julianna scionti

14 OPINIONS

The Brandeis Hoot

October 21, 2016

Class cross-registration is disorganized

By Michael Wang columnist

A privilege rarely exercised at Brandeis has been its students’ ability to enroll in classes offered outside of the university’s own course catalog. I am, of course, talking about the cross-registration program Brandeis shares with a number of other schools peppering the immediate area (Tufts, BU, Wellesley, Bentley, etc.), more formally known as the Greater Boston Consortium.

The few people I have known who have cross registered have predominantly done so to fulfill requirements for specific pre-professional tracks that this school’s students don’t traditionally go for, such as a specialized type of pre-health, pre-law, engineering, etc. The other two individuals have done so to mend scheduling conflicts they’d otherwise have regarding classes they’d need to

fulfill major requirements.

This semester, I happen to fall within the former group: a guy taking an anatomy class at Boston University in the name of satisfying an anatomy lab requirement in the pre-pharmacy track.

I wasn’t too sure what BU would be like after spending three years exclusively studying at Brandeis— making regular trips deep into the city of Boston, stumbling around BU’s supposedly enormous campus, interacting again with people who have no connections with me or anyone I know, sometimes eating at places other than Sherman or Usdan. Given my milquetoast, suburban American background, this struck me as quite the adventure. It has been around two months since I first set foot on the terra nova that is another similarly priced, greater Bostonian college campus located around 10 miles from where I’m sitting right now, yet in my head lingers one

particular salient issue from the very beginning of the endeavor that never really resolved itself.

This issue, it so happens, is that the whole cross-registration process just doesn’t seem all that refined. There simply isn’t any standardized method by which people can cross register; each school has their own individual forms, requirements and requests for personal information. As you might imagine, the ensuing cross-college interaction can result in some pretty confusing discourse.

Overall, my advisors seemed a little unsure of a number of things BU was asking of me and who I ought to find, exactly, to fill out a number of signature boxes on BU’s cross-registration form.

Another thing that bothered me was the fact that I had to get four physical signatures (one each from Brandeis and BU’s registrars, respectively, one from an “Advisor or Dean,” and one from

the course instructor) on paper.

Consequently, I tried the method of sending the file to one of the four, having that person print the form out, physically provide a signature, scan the form again, send the file to me, and then prompt me to send the file to the next person in line. This might just be a contentious opinion of mine, but I can’t help but feel that there’s a better, less tedious way to do this.

Is it not okay for someone to just scan their signature, then copy and paste it into official documents? To sign off on things using the brush tool in Microsoft Paint?

In any case, the course instructor herself ended up not giving me a signature until I physically met with her the day classes at BU started, a day before the form was due. I may as well have just walked and saved everyone else the bother.

However, something I rather appreciated when I realized a

boston university campus

course conflict involving the anatomy class I’d originally signed up for at another institution, before I had to switch to BU, was permission from the registrar to manually alter the cross-registration form they’d provided me with the new information. I’m not being facetious here. Although it is an onerous task to identify written sarcasm, that was, in my opinion, a genuinely good call on behalf of championing efficiency over blind bureaucracy.

But generally, the process of actually enrolling in the class was a pain, given the underdeveloped infrastructure of the Greater Boston Consortium, or at least that which is shared between Brandeis and Boston University. Aside from that, I have to say I’ve had a grand old time seeing new people, exploring the school’s sprawling campus and identifying more similarities to Brandeis than I’d anticipated.

photo from wikipedia.org

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October 21, 2016

The Brandeis Hoot

OPINIONS15

Sexist reproductive health laws keep poor women out of college

By Katarina Weessies editor

Most of the straight and bisexual women I know at Brandeis use birth control. They have never had an unwanted pregnancy and have never experienced a pregnancy scare. They started using birth control before having sex for the first time, and they almost always use condoms. This is partially because of the accessibility of birth control at Brandeis. On the Brandeis health insurance plan, the birth control pill is free, and condoms are extremely affordable at SSIS. But Brandeis’ encouragement of birth control is not the only reason that unplanned pregnancies are so uncommon among Brandeis students. It is also largely due to the privileged background of many Brandeisians. Young people with less privileged backgrounds are held back from attending schools like Brandeis because their circumstances make it far more likely that they will become pregnant.

Many Brandeisians come from urban or suburban environments where most schools have comprehensive sex education. While some Brandeisians do come from less privileged environments, Brandeis students overall tend to be relatively affluent. In the con-

text of reproductive health, this means that Brandeis students grew up with health insurance that covered birth control and that they could afford condoms.

Because of this, even before college, future Brandeis students were much less likely than the general population to become pregnant. This matters because an unwanted pregnancy can keep young women with academic aspirations from going to college.

One aspect that makes young people far more likely to become pregnant is lack of access to comprehensive sex education. The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) reports that comprehensive sex education leads to a 50 percent reduction in teen pregnancy rates in relation to abstinence-only sex education.

In fact, SIECUS found that comprehensive sex education led teenagers to begin having sex marginally later than those who had received abstinence-only education. Abstinence-only sex education is at its most ubiquitous and most powerful in poorer, more rural regions that are underrepresented here at Brandeis.

Brandeis students who come from wealthier states in urban or suburban environments probably had access to more comprehensive sex education and were

therefore less likely to experience an unplanned pregnancy.

However, sex education is not the only thing keeping future Brandeisians from unplanned pregnancy. The high cost of birth control also keeps less affluent young people from attending schools like Brandeis. For most Americans, the reality of birth control is uncertain and scary.

Without health insurance, birth control in both pill and IUD form can be prohibitively expensive.

If you get pregnant, an abortion can cost up to $600, and the stigma associated with abortion might leave you ostracized from your family and community. For many lower income women who become pregnant at an early age, staying home to raise their child is the only option.

That being said, raising a child as a young adult can be a fulfilling and beautiful experience. Many young mothers are happy, successful people who raise loving families. But the choice to start a family can be highly restrictive to one’s future education if that is wanted. Whether to have a child is an extremely challenging and meaningful choice, and financially forcing young people into pregnancy or motherhood does not allow them to make that choice.

A lack of sex education and financial resources can cause low

NEWS

income women to face an obstacle to a college education that men of all backgrounds do not encounter. The financial and emotional strain of a pregnancy, even if the pregnant person chooses to have an abortion or give the child to an adoptive couple, bars many women from being able to attend university.

Young women and teenagers who have experienced pregnancy have to spend enormous amounts of money for prenatal care and childcare (or a very expensive abortion), which keeps them from being able to afford college. Furthermore, the emotional and physical strain of pregnancy makes it nearly impossible for a pregnant person to maintain an academic career.

People who cannot become pregnant, most of whom are men, do not face these obstacles. Some fathers involved in unplanned pregnancies provide fantastic support for the mother. However, they are not obligated to provide any support, and many provide no support. They do not have to provide emotional support to the struggling mother. They are also not obligated to help pay for an abortion or for prenatal healthcare. In many cases, they do have to pay child support, but many absent fathers successfully delay and avoid child support pay-

ments. This means that the fathers involved in unplanned pregnancies do not face the same financial and emotional obstacles in terms of going to college.

The result of the uneven burden placed on the mother in an unplanned pregnancy is that low income women might face more difficulty in receiving a college education than low income men.

This gender gap involving the struggle of pregnancy for low income women contributes to the exclusive nature of Brandeis.

Because Brandeis students tend to come from more affluent environments, they often feel disconnected from reproductive issues that primarily affect low income people. However, it is essential that Brandeis students use their position of relative power to help remedy these issues. Firstly, wealthier Brandeis students should advocate for the financial and emotional support of Brandeis students who come from less wealthy environments.

Students should also organize for reproductive and sex education issues on a more general level. If low income young adults and teenagers have better access to comprehensive sex education and affordable birth control and abortion, Brandeis will have the opportunity to be much more inclusive.

Survey shows many students have never used product dispensers TAMPONS, from page 2

misuse. “We actually considered putting little signs by our little baskets saying ... please take only what you need,” she said.

However, she said, “I don’t think there’s an incentive for people to … quote sabotage,” as she thinks the campus community has responded well and respects the service.

Council members restock the products weekly. “Everytime we go refill the dispensers that we’re using in the bathrooms, the products have always been used,” said Naylor-Komyatte. She said this is “people ... demonstrating that there is a need for these products.”

Brandeis maintains dispensers in the majority of nonresidential Brandeis buildings, according to Gray, making these products “widely available” at a subsidized cost of 50 cents per tampon in coin-operated dispensers.

The dispensers are not maintained by Brandeis. The school contracts out to a vendor that installs the dispensers and restocks them four to five times a year.

They have labor and transportation costs and as a business need to turn a profit, Gray explained.

Brandeis pays a fee of around $200 per machine per calendar year, for a total cost of around $15,000. Gray said this is what he meant by a “subsidy” because if Brandeis did not pay this fee the company’s products could cost more.

Each vending machine can hold 20 pads and 30 tampons. A tampon costs 50 cents and a pad costs 25 cents. Gray does not know whether the machines are empty when they are refilled.

On average, tampons at Walgreens with plastic applicators cost 22 cents each and tampons that have cardboard applicators cost 15 cents each.

Gray said he expects students would want to buy products at this lower cost and should only use the university’s supply in emergency cases.

“While we strive to provide excellent levels of service and convenience to our students, these goals are always measured against cost,” wrote Gray.

The Brown UCS uses namebrand products and places 10 tampons and 10 pads in a basket in most nonresidential women’s restrooms on campus. They also put five tampons and five pads in a basket in most men’s restrooms on campus.

The Council buys the products in bulk, purchasing approximately 2,400 pads and approximately 2,800 tampons at one time. Naylor-Komyatte said that each order is around $800. Their budget is about $8,000 for the academic school year.

The Hoot conducted a survey to see whether menstruators on campus use the dispensers. Ninety-three percent (134 out of 144 respondents) said that they have never used the dispensers.

Thirty-two respondents who have never used the machines said that they do not carry quarters with them. Twenty-one said that they do not like the types of products provided, criticizing cardboard applicators. “We need good if not high quality, high absorbency products. Only then would I even consider purchasing

brown university

Basket of free menstrual products at Brown.

them from the dispensers when I need them,” wrote a menstruator.

Another said, “[The university] provides free condoms and lube at orientation and other campus events, why not provide free menstrual products?”

Student Sexuality Information Services (SSIS) subsidizes condoms for 10 cents and they are free at the Health Center. SSIS also offers subsidized DivaCups for $20 and one-time use cups for 25 cents.

Other universities around the country are working on simi-

photo from browndailyherald.com

lar initiatives. The student government at Syracuse University wants to try offering free products, students at Cornell voted overwhelmingly in favor of a student-sponsored referendum and Northwestern students are trying to launch a pilot program. None of these schools have officially begun a program yet.

This summer, the New York City Council voted 49-0 and the mayor approved a plan to offer free menstrual products in public schools, homeless shelters and prisons.

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The Brandeis Hoot

October 21, 2016