VOL 7, NO. 8
MARCH 19, 2010
B R A N D E I S U N I V E R S I T Y ' S C O M M U N I T Y N E W S PA P E R
WA LT H A M , M A S S .
Film festival fire fight SunDeis and Indie Louies face possible UJ trial BY JON OSTROWSKY Staff
The SunDeis Film Festival Committee yesterday filed a complaint of slander with the Union Judiciary (UJ) against Illona Yuhaev, a member of the Indie Louies Film Festival committee, for printing false information about SunDeis on the Indie Louies Web site. The UJ had not decided whether to grant certiorati and hold a trial by press time, because it is “currently working to establish communications with the parties involved in this matter before making any further official decisions,” according to a statement sent Thursday night from UJ Chief Justice Judah Marans. The disputed statement on Indie Louies’ Web site claims “SunDeis was taken over by the film department for fundraising purposes. Indie Louies is the new student film festival at Brandeis; it is run by stu See SUNDEIS, p. 6
PHOTO BY YUAN YAO/The Hoot
PROTEST: Students gather for SEA’s “Sleep Out” on the Great Lawn. Students spent the night sleeping outdoors to advocate for 100% clean energy in Massachusetts, by 2020.
Students camp out for clean energy BY BECCA CARDEN Staff
Students gathered to sleep on the Great Lawn in front of the Shapiro Campus Center Thursday night in a large-scale refusal to sleep in dorms powered by “dirty energy.” Students for Environmental Action (SEA) and the statewide Students for a Just and
Stable Future (SJSF) organized the event in order to raise awareness on campus about a bill in the Massachusetts state legislature. “Every semester, SEA picks a few initiatives to focus its support on,” said Nick Polanco ’13, a leader of the Brandeis SJSF campaign group within SEA. “These past two semesters we picked SJSF,” he explained.
Aramark studying dining habits BY DESTINY AQUINO Editor
Marketmatch Research is currently collecting numerical data in order to increase dining options for the Brandeis community. “It’s difficult for us as an organization to meet everyone’s needs, in the real world you don’t open up a business unless revenue wise it makes sense. We can’t put a café in every new building just because some people want one, we need to know if it’s actually going to benefit a large group of people and be cost effective,” Mark Collins, vice president for campus operations, said, adding that the program will not increase costs. Results from the research will be used to make changes to dining services on both a small and large scale. Possible results are changes in hours or menus at current dining locations such as Sherman and Usdan. The research could also result in the creation of new services such as grab-and-go stations—to reduce long lines—and dining options geared at Charles River Quad and the Foster Mods. “[Marketmatch] will tell us if
THIS WEEK:
[the university] can do better then the small markets down the street, not [Hannafords] but can we give them something better then what they have,” he said. Data is being collected through online surveys, focus groups, on site surveying through portable devices such as cell phones, and comparison to peer institutions. The research is being payed for by Aramark, which runs dining on campus, in order to provide more choices and overall better customer service, Collins said. Data collection is not only geared towards students but also towards faculty, staff and outside customers that would use campus facilities and catering for nonBrandeis events. “We understand that students are a very important constituency, maybe the most important. You guys are here 24-hours a day, seven days a week, but there’s a lot of other people that use these services also,” Collins said. “We’re trying to blend everyone’s needs,” Student Union President Andy Hogan ’11 said. Brandeis has used Aramark for about a decade and does not have
The club is currently working in conjunction with a group called the Leadership Campaign to ensure that the bill, called An Act to Create a Repower Massachusetts Emergency Task Force, gets passed. Through the formation of an “Emergency Task Force,” it would ensure that 100 percent of the electricity used throughout the See SEA, p. 4
BREAKING GROUND
a time constricting contract. “[Changing companies] is always up for negotiation,” Collins said, but he added “as long as we’re happy, they’re happy.” “I really believe that the people in dining services from top to bottom are working really hard, possibly harder the other people on-campus,” he said. “The hours stink and they’re only as good as their last meal, they’re trying to put out a good product and then we get complaints all the time. There’s some sort of disconnect.” Marketmatch is collaboration between the university and Aramark in the hopes of collecting constructive criticism. “I hear from students that Sherman is prison food, I ask them ‘well what prisons have you been to recently’ … complaints like that don’t help me fix anything. They’re not constructive things that I can fix,” Collins said. The research will address how far people want to walk to a dining hall at different hours of the day, what new dining options people would like to see, what do people enjoy about the current
PHOTO BY Max Shay/The Hoot
DIG IN: Artist Michael Dowling begins his installation of a copper trough sculpture on the lawn of The Rose Art Museum in preparation for the Festival of the Arts. See page 9 for more.
See ARAMARK, p. 3
@TheBrandeisHoot.com HootCast Audio
Third Wavelength: ‘Vagina Monologues’
News, page 2
Impressions, page 16
Twitter: http://twitter.com/thebrandeishoot Facebook: http://facebook.thebrandeishoot.com
NEWS
2 The Brandeis Hoot
March 19, 2010
Mixed reviews a. and b.
Yes: 55% No: 39% Abstain: 6% Total votes: 243
In yesterday’s vote, students overwhelmingly supported the proposals of the Constitutional Review Committee. Amendments 1a and b, 2, and 5 were struck down, however, because they did not receive 2/3 majority support.
c.
Yes: 74% No: 19% Abstain: 7% Total votes: 230
d.
Yes: 90% No: 7% Abstain: 2% Total votes: 228
Yes: 30% No: 59% Abstain: 11% Total votes: 226 Yes: 79% No: 16% Abstain: 5% Total votes: 236
Amendment 1
Student Union Government restructuring
a. and b. Changes to Union government structure
Senate becomes Assembly, Club Support Board created, Vice President chosen by Assembly
c. Union Judiciary changed to Student Judiciary d. Finance Board and Treasurer mandatory training
Amendment 2
Racial Minority Student representative Change in title and eligibility for candidacy
Amendment 3
Definition of Secured Organizations
Yes: 88% No: 12% Abstain: 0.39% Total votes: 259
Amendment 4
Yes: 52% No: 42% Abstain: 6% Total votes: 279
Amendment 5
Yes: 68% No: 19% Abstain: 13% Total votes: 230
Amendment 6
Yes: 80% No: 16% Abstain: 4% Total votes: 250
Amendment 7
Yes: 64% No: 21% Abstain: 14% Total votes: 228
Amendment 8
Yes: 83% No: 12% Abstain: 5% Total votes: 228
Amendment 9
Yes: 70% No: 22% Abstain: 9% Total votes: 221
Amendment 10
Yes: 69% No: 19% Abstain: 13% Total votes: 220
Amendment 11
Securing SSIS Securing SEA
Change the Secured Organizations ‘baseline’ to ‘benchmark’ BEMCo constitutional funding increase Inclusion of Club Sports memo Board of Trustee representatives Instant Runoff Voting system Constitutional Review Committee changes
March 19, 2010
The Brandeis Hoot
NEWS
3
Brandeis community forms peace vigil to unite against MSA vandalism BY JON OSTROWSKY Staff
Students, administrators and the Chaplaincy held a peace vigil at the Peace Circle March 12 following the vandalism and theft at the the Muslim Student Association (MSA) lounge March 5. Under a “Brandeis Peace Vigil” sign, nearly 100 people overcrowded the Circle to share a moment of silence and listen to thoughts on how to respond to the March 5 break-in. “We need to show we are here, we will continue to work together and take Brandeis as a symbol of love, peace and cooperation,” Imam Talal Eid, the Muslim chaplain, said. Students, joined by University President Jehuda Reinharz, Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer, Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan and Senior Vice President for Communications and External Affairs Andrew Gully, expressed gratitude towards those who came to the vigil. Sahar Massachi ’11, who started a petition against the vandalism, which
he called, “a love letter from the community,” handed a piece of the letter to everyone at the vigil so that each person could hand their piece to Eid in a sign of support. MSA President Neda Eid ’11, who is also the daughter of the imam, said she was very pleased with the turnout at the vigil. “I think it was a great way to include the campus with a means to react,” Eid said in an interview with The Hoot. Gully emphasized the need for students to keep discussing their thoughts about the incident. “I think the most important part of going forward in any incident like this is just [to] keep talking,” Gully said in an interview with The Hoot. Beth Bowman, one of the coordinators of the vigil, told the gathered people, “Thanks for coming, when I look at this amazing crowd, it is so moving. This spirit is the one that defines Brandeis, not the March 5 vandalism.” Each week, students and members of the Chaplaincy gather around the Peace Circle across from Goldfarb Library. Normally about three to ten people
ADVER TISEMENT
show up, according to Protestant Chaplain Alexander Levering Kern. “We’ve been gathering here since Jan. 2007 to send a sign that Brandeis cares for peace in this world and so we can reach a deeper understanding of our religion and our world,” Kern said. Following the moment of silence, and after speeches about the vandalism, everyone was invited to join the Chaplaincy in prayer before a lunch. Neda Eid said that she is planning a program called Peaceful Response, and part of the program will give students the opportunity to write their thoughts about the recent vandalism on large paper posted around campus. Explaining that even if the March 5 vandalism was an isolated incident, Neda Eid hopes that it will foster discussions about hate and religious discrimination outside of Brandeis. “We can have pride in Brandeis, but the fact is, we’re not living here for the rest of our life,” she said. “Hate is everywhere and we’re dealing with it and we have to prepare.” According to Neda Eid, on the bulletin board for Democrats for America in
Usdan Student Center, someone posted a page saying, “Oh, no. A hate crime— make a Facebook event about it.” The page was likely referencing the Facebook event created last week, asking students to join against hate and stand for love. On the Facebook page, some students engaged in a debate about religious tolerance and one student posted an antiSemitic comment. Talal Eid strongly denounced any blame directed towards Jewish students. “The sacredness of the Koran is in our hearts, not on pages ... the media refers to the cause of this vandalism as if there is tension between Jews and Muslims here but I say there is no tension,” he said. “We must condemn the act, not the person, because this person is most likely part of the Brandeis family and we will not give up any member of the Brandeis family,” Talal Eid said. Callahan asked anyone with more information about the vandalism to contact Public Safety. There were no new updates in the investigation, which is “still ongoing” according to Gully.
Flooding throughout campus subsides BY NATHAN KOSKELLA Editor
The flooding and water damage to numerous residence halls and the Green Room of the library has been fixed, according to an e-mail from Facilities Services and Vice President and Vice Provost for Libraries and Information Services Perry Hanson, the university official overseeing the library. While Shapiro Hall in Massell Quad and Usen Castle were among the hardest hit, flooding reports were also made to Facilities concerning Rosenthal, East and Ziv quads. Most flooding has subsided in suc-
cessive days of sunny weather, and carpet cleaning crews were in and out of dorms Tuesday and Wednesday to treat dorm rugs for mold and mildew. The library’s Green Room also reopened Thursday after having been closed since the rains. “I had smelled a very musty odor in the [green] room, but it is back and available,” Hanson said. “The odor will still persist, but the Green Room is open to students.” Facilities did not respond to multiple phone and e-mail requests for comment regarding the possibilities of long-term concerns like mold or reinforcing for future leaks.
Possible changes to dining services ARAMARK (from p. 1)
options. In addition to these areas of dining services, meal plan options are also being reviewed because, as Collins noted, many students feel they’re not getting enough for their money and the current meal plans aren’t working for everyone. Collins also hopes the research will ameliorate long lines at dining locations. “This is why we’re doing [marketmatch]. We need to know habits and issues everyone’s facing but there’s going to be lines,” he said. “I have two hours in the afternoon between everyone’s classes and there’s just not enough space and that’s not something that can be fixed overnight. You’re going to face lines at starbucks during certain times of the day, there’s just lines everywhere.”
Changes to the infrastructure and inner workings of the current dining locations would be easiest to implement, Collins said. “If students are sick of the same types of food then that’s a menu problem, if things aren’t open when students are hungry that’s an hours problem. These things can be fixed when we know what the problems are,” Collins said. Building new dining halls is an option but, Collins said, “I think our current [dining halls] need to be updated in a 2010 way.” There has not been a large renovation on the main dining halls in more than a decade. If these locations are renovated, Collins said he did not know how the logistics would work but assumed donors to current dining facilities would be approached for aid.
4 NEWS
The Brandeis Hoot
March 19, 2010
LECTURE: Professor Emeritus Benjamin Ravid speaks about the history and concept of the Jewish ghetto in Rappaporte treasure hall on Wednesday.
PHOTO BY Nafiz Ahmed/The Hoot
Professor Ravid discusses history of Jewish ‘ghetto’ BY LEAH FINKELMAN Staff
Professor Emeritus Benjamin Ravid (NEJS) delivered the 47th annual Simon Rawidowicz Memorial Lecture Wednesday. Ravid, Rawidowicz’s son, spoke about the problems, stereotypes and mentality associated with Jewish ghettos, from the Middle Ages to today. Ravid, who was chosen for this year’s lecture in part to recognize his last semester as a professor, described the shifting of words’ meanings, especially in a Jewish context. His primary example was the word “ghetto,” which he defined by three characteristics: compulsory, segregated and enclosed. The term ghetto was first used in medieval Venice, but other such places existed under different names. Sylvia Fishman (NEJS) described Rawidowicz’s life as the founder of Brandeis’
Near Eastern and Judaic Studies department, a “world-renowned flagship” as one of the first of its kind. After Fishman’s introduction of the event, Jonathan Decter (NEJS) introduced Ravid. He spoke about Ravid’s work researching ghettos, as well as his work to preserve and publish his father’s work, including a collection of letters to and from Rawidowicz that characterized the human side of the lives of scholars of Jewish studies. Il Ghetto, in Venice, was originally a copper foundry, but as its success worsened, it was sold by the government and converted into a small neighborhood of artisans. There were few Jews in Venice then, but in 1509 there was a mass migration from the mainland of Italy to Venice, including Jews. Despite anti-Jewish sentiment, especially from churches and clergymen, they were allowed to stay as small moneylenders. In 1516, as a compromise, the government
made the Jews live on what they called “Ghetto Nuovo,” or “New Ghetto,” the island that was used originally used as a garbage dump, and then as a gathering place for nobles. Since then, the word “ghetto” has been a negative reminder of the past, Ravid said, a “disenchantment of European life.” Ravid stressed that although some scholars argue that isolation of a group of Jews would allow Jewish culture to thrive by prohibiting intermarriage and other harmful influences, it is harmful to Jewish life in general. He went on to describe the most notorious of ghettos of the Holocaust in Lodz, Warsaw and other cities. Many scholars consider these ghettos a return to the Middle Ages, but according to Ravid, “the Middle Ages should sue for libel.” Ghettos during the Holocaust had a much worse ideology, he said, and were just a “way station” before death and the Final Solution.
Ravid spoke of Jewish areas of Western cities like London, Paris and New York, saying that although writers like Israel Zangwill called them ghettos, they were really just Jewish quarters. “Every ghetto is a Jewish quarter, but not every Jewish quarter is a ghetto,” Ravid said. Continued use of the word “blurs the distinction between voluntary and compulsory,” Ravid said, and it is an important part of Jewish, European and world history to differentiate. This year’s Simon Rawidowicz Memorial Lecture coincided with the opening of an exhibit about Rawidowicz’s life and work in the Brandeis library. The lecture was sponsored by the Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry and the NEJS department, and was primarily attended by community members and Brandeis staff and faculty, including Ravid’s colleagues Bernadette Brooten and Eugene Shepperd.
SEA organizes ‘sleep out’ SEA (from p. 1)
state of Massachusetts comes from renewable energies by 2020. “[The bill] is currently in the Massachusetts legislature, and its being held up in a joint House-Senate committee,” Polanco explained. “So we’re trying to apply the pressure.” Attendees of the event not only raised awareness of energy issues in Massachusetts, they also signed a petition to pass the bill that will be delivered to the state legislature, called House Speaker Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop) and Senate Representative John Binienda (D–17th-Worcester) to ask them to support the bill. Attendees also had the opportunity to sign up for a future sleep out on the Cambridge Commons, which is planned for March 28 and 29. Musical performances by Up the Octave and Me & My Friends from Jazz Band took place throughout the night. “A lot of the different college groups do sleep outs on their campuses,” explained Matt Gabrenya ’13, vice president of SEA
and an organizer of the event. He listed Harvard, Tufts and Williams College as examples. “There was a sleep out in February in Amherst, and we drove out there,” Polanco said. “And there have been ones in Cambridge and Boston Commons, so it’s been happening.” “Over 200 students attended a lot of them, from all over the sate,” Gabrenya added, “including Brandeis.” Amelia Lavranchuk ’12, was at Thursday’s sleep out, but she also attended one on the Boston Commons last semester. “If we do something here that seems impossible and it works, the people will see and it will inspire change elsewhere,” she explained. This is not SEA’s first effort to bring clean energy to Brandeis. About a month ago, the club helped turn on solar panels on the roof of Gosman, which supply 10 percent of the gym’s energy. Hopefully, last night’s event will “get attendance up for the next sleep out [and] make people aware of what SJSF is doing,” Polanco said.
March 19, 2010
The Brandeis Hoot
NEWS
Hogan highlights accomplishments Haiti relief goal almost in State of the Union address
5
reached
BY NATHAN KOSKELLA Editor
Student Union President Andy Hogan ’11 promised a fresh start to student government with planned reforms in his second State of the Union address to the student body, faculty and administration Tuesday. Hogan also cited new inroads in student involvement with university decision-making “concerning over-crowding” in his address. Hogan described this year’s Constitutional Review Committee and its proposals as one of his proudest advances for the Union. He then encouraged the students to support the committee’s decisions in voting for the amendments Thursday. “I urge the Brandeis student community to vote yes for advocacy,” he said. Hogan also detailed other Union successes during his term including the consideration of a more powerful pass/fail option for students, and the improved Student Union Management system for club allocation. Beyond Thursday’s vote on the constitutional proposals, Hogan said the single most important issue for students is “overcrowding.” “The lack of housing on campus is something we are working on with both the administration and the board of trustees,” he said. Citing the new renovations of the Charles River Apartments, he predicted that the newly spruced buildings “will go very quickly in housing this year.” Hogan said the administration needed to spend more money to accommodate new students to combat the negative effects a rising population could have on the student experience. Last spring, Brandeis decided to admit 400 new students over the next four years. This academic year was the first in which the undergraduate population increased significantly–by roughly 100 students–and the trend will continue
for three more years. “More students has to mean more student services,” Hogan said, pointing to a recent successful Union initiative for new transportation service gains from the administration. As part of these new services, Hogan announced an increase in BranVan times during the most popular hours, with more shuttles running on Mondays and Thursdays from 5:45 to 9:45 p.m. New peer mediators will also be added for students in the Office of Student Rights and Community Standards, Hogan said “because students should be comfortable with the conduct process.” Also on his theme of student services, Hogan took the opportunity in his speech to criticize Aramark, the university’s dining services provider. He applauded the company’s recent support of the dining review preformed by the firm Market Match, and said the university’s meal plans “must be changed.” Hogan said he believes overcrowding and service must be the focus of the new Brandeis president, and while describing the “significant student input” on the Presidential Search Committee, Hogan said “I am committed to making sure students are involved.” Hogan also congratulated the community on its support of the Haiti relief effort, calling it “absolutely incredible,” and announced the Union’s support of an upcoming semi-formal fundraiser and a student versus faculty and staff basketball game to further the goal. Many members of the administration, including President Jehuda Reinharz, Provost Marty Krauss and board of trustees Chairman Malcolm Sherman of the board of trustees, attended the semi-annual address in support of the student leadership. Sherman, who will convene the board March 24, said that overcrowding would continue to be a central focus of the board and eventual new administration.
BY LEAH FINKELMAN Staff
PHOTO BY Max Shay/The Hoot
ADDRESS: Student Union president Andy Hogan. at his second state of the union adress Monday.
“The potential is there, and with so many concerns, the administration is looking for every aspect to solutions,” he said. “We will be constantly changing ... I am sure [the concern with overcrowding] will be completely resolved.” On Hogan’s speech, Krauss said that his stress on student involvement was an example of the “value of good process.” “It’s about communicating effectively and using the appropriate process,” she said. “We’re one community, and this is one that cares about each other.”
In Holocaust lecture, Rubenstein examines Nuremburg trials BY JON OSTROWSKY Staff
Joshua Rubenstein, Northeast Regional Director of Amnesty International USA, discussed the often-neglected stories of Soviet territories occupied by the Nazis during World War II and the Nuremburg trials during a lecture Wednesday in Hassenfeld Conference Center. Rubenstein, the author of “The Unknown Black Book,” which examines the stories of Jews who survived German attacks on Soviet occupied territories, explained there is often “not adequate attention or recognition of Soviet-occupied territories [in World War II] post-1941.” During the lecture titled, “There Were Many Babi Yars,” Rubenstein handed out a list containing well-known killing camps in German-occupied Soviet territories, including Babi Yar and Odessa, the two largest massacres of Jews in the Soviet Union during World War II. “This is just a very short list,” Rubenstein said. “There were thousands of such sites.” He explained that typically people thinking about the Holocaust think about
the story of Anne Frank’s family and other families who were transported to concentration camps. Often not knowing about the massacres in the Soviet occupied territories, “The other image is of course the terrible image of Aushwitz and of the killing centers in Poland where the Jews were killed in gas chambers,” he said. The first thoughts that we have of the Holocaust are that “the victims were brought to the places where they would be killed. This is not generally what happened when the Germans invaded Soviet territory during 1941,” Rubenstein said. “Between June of 1941 and January of 1942 … the Germans had already murdered a million Jews in occupied Soviet territories,” he added. Rubenstein said the killings differed from those in countries such as Poland because rather than being transported, the Jews were killed close to their homes and neighborhoods. After addressing the specific incidents in Soviet territories Rubenstein spoke about the trials at Nuremburg, explaining that in the Einsatzgruppen trial, many of the
defendants originally facing the harshest punishment of death saw their sentences revoked and they were granted an eventual release in the 1950s. Rubenstein also explained that when The New York Times reported on the release of some of the Nazi war criminals, “The Times said they were convicted of murdering hundreds of Jews,” when in fact the number was exponentially greater. “There was a sense of fatigue that set in over time that we don’t hear about very often … And it was really only the initial trials that led to true justice,” said Michael Appell, Executive Director of Development and External Affairs and an adjunct professor at the International Business School. Yet despite the faults of the Nuremburg trials, the international community has made much progress since the 1950s, Rubenstein said. “Between tribunals, trials, truth commissions … this is an astonishing development and should not be ignored,” Rubenstein said in an interview with The Hoot. “It is adequate? No, but it’s more than just a beginning, and I hope that the U.S. will then join this effort.”
Fundraising for the Brandeis Haiti Relief Effort (BHRE) continued this week, getting Brandeis even closer to the goal of $25,000. BHRE has tentatively raised more than twenty thousand dollars, but exact figures are still being determined. Money raised will be donated to Hope for Haiti, Partners in Health and Empowerment Through Education camp, a camp created by Shaina Gilbert ’10 for Haitian Children. Upcoming events for Haiti include Hoops for Haiti, a student vs. faculty and staff basketball game coordinated by Nate Rosenblum ’10. Three players include Dean of Student Life Jamele Adams, Ellen Wright (PSYC), Student Union President Andy Hogan ’11 and Theresa Sheehan ’11. Professor Jacob Cohen (AMST) will be the coach of the faculty team. Tickets can be purchased at the Shapiro Campus Center box office, and the game will be in Gosman on Thursday, April 15. The Student Union, BHRE and the Office of the President are co-hosting “A Night for Haiti,” a fundraising event on May 1 for students, faulty, staff, alumni, trustees and parents of students in Massachusetts. The event will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Levin Ball Room. Class of 2012 Senator Abby Kulawitz and Senator for Racial Minority Students J.V. Souffrant ’13 proposed a Senate Money Resolution asking for a $1,500 donation from the Senate, which passed and will be used for lighting, decorations, music and security costs. Kulawitz and other senators are currently working with BHRE to prepare for the event. In addition to the Senate money, the E-board has agreed to donate $3,000 and Global Haiti Initiative (GHI) will donate $1,000 in funding. The Office of the President has also agreed to contribute $2,000 in funding. The goals of the event are to celebrate the efforts of BHRE this semester as well as to raise additional funds through ticket proceeds, the silent auction and additional contributions. “A Night for Haiti” will include musical entertainment, and hors d’oeurves and deserts will be served throughout the evening. A silent auction will be held and items available for the auction will be announced in the coming weeks. Students are currently in the process of planning the fundraiser and are working to organize the event in coordination with the administration, Student Events, as well as working with Alumni Relations to publicize it. Members of the Brandeis community will receive invitations either in the mail or via e-mail early next week, and tickets will be made available for purchase online through the Brandeis box office. Tickets will cost $10 for Brandeis students, $15 for students from other colleges and $25 for all adults. Pachanga and Liquid Latex were two of the recent events that donated their proceeds to BHRE. Pachanga proceeds from both the fall and the spring semester were donated to BHRE. The effort to raise awareness and support for Haiti will continue beyond this semester into next year. Members of a Haiti Leadership board have met twice a month since January and coordinate different aspects of BHRE, ranging from educating the community about Haiti to planning how to divide funds among the three charities.
6 NEWS
The Brandeis Hoot
March 19, 2010
Kristen Taddonio, ENERGY STAR and government rep, comes to Brandeis BY REBECCA CARDEN Staff
The false choice between a nation’s environmentalism and economy, as well as the effects of emissions control on the global climate conditon were the focus of a lecture, on Monday given by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official Kristen Taddonio. Taddonio, who also is the head of sales and marketing for the ENERGY STAR appliance program and the director of the International Mobile Air Conditioning Climate Protection Partnership said that at ENERGY STAR, she works to both increase appliances’ efficiency and decrease their greenhouse gas emission. “One thing I always heard in college is you have to choose between environmental progress and economic progress,” she said, “For me [working at ENERGY STAR] was an excellent example of a functioning public sector win-win.” Taddonio works on the complexities
of updating technology. When ENERGY STAR wanted to eliminate a chemical that is present in all air conditioners, they had to first create a new environmentally friendly chemical to replace the harmful one in order to get air conditioning manufacturers to want to comply. She has also worked on improving the efficiency, measured in kilowatts per year, of television sets. “That has really helped the market,” said Taddonio confidently, “to transform it.” She also discussed the possible hardships and outlined the challenges in terms of the political climate. “Every time the administration changes, it creates new priorities for the EPA,” Taddonio admitted. “Like any institution with more than fifteen people, things can get bureaucratic,” she said. But, Taddonio said despite the bureaucracy, she believes in the work she does. “All is not lost until people start to believe it is lost. So that’s why I’ll always stay optimistic,” she said. “It really does help to get up in the morning to go to work for
something you believe in.” Taddonio also sought to dispel many misperceptions about working in public service, saying that not everyone who works for the government is a political science major; there is a diversity of fields in the government; and a diversity of expertise is necessary. She also added that government employees don’t always have low salaries. “Although you may start out a little lower—maybe $5,000 less than entry level jobs in the private sector—within two years, I had doubled my salary. Within four years, I had tripled it,” she said. In addition, prospective workers with certain qualifications, like a GPA over 3.0, honor society membership or high class standing can enter government jobs with higher salaries are able to move up more rapidly than others. In addition to these advantages, Taddonio also mentioned that United States government employees recieve good health, retirement and savings benefits. They can also work on a local or national—or even
international—level, and the higher the position they have, the more choice they have about where to work. To illustrate the diversity a position working for the government can have Taddonio noted that she had celebrities such as Brad Pitt and Paul Newman. The Hiatt Career Center hosted Taddonio on campus in conjunction with the Partnership for Public Service, an organization that focuses on building a strong work force for the government. “Students at Brandeis are often interested in environment [and] policy,” Caroline O’Shea, the assistant director of employer relations at Hiatt, said. “This is the perfect blend of that. Kristen has a really diverse background so we are lucky to welcome her.” Despite the terrifying possibility of the climate crisis that she noted hung over a talk such as hers, Taddonio’s presentation was postive. “From the greenhouse gas reduction side, I’m optimistic because I’ve seen a lot happening over the last few years,” she said.
SunDeis committee could be defendant in UJ trial SUNDEIS (from p. 1)
dents, for students.” The SunDeis committee criticized the Web site, claiming “this statement is simply not true” and asked the UJ to order it taken down given the statement was published on a site “associated with a Brandeis sponsored event.” “Objectively, there was no takeover by the film department, and our film festival is not a fundraising gimmick,” the complaint said. The Film Department decided in midFebruary to sponsor Brandeis’ annual film festival, SunDeis, Brandeis’ annual film festival after the festival did not receive the large amount of funding it had from Student Activities in previous years. Student Activities was unable to grant its usual support and funding this year due to a current hiring freeze on a vacant human resources position, Stephanie Grimes, Director of Student Activities, said. “Our ability to assist in the planning process is limited,” Grimes said. “The involvement with the Film Department and BTV is a great collaboration.” Chair of the Film, Television and Interactive Media Program, Prof. Alice Kelikian (HIST) said in an interview with the Hoot that students were still largely involved in SunDeis, despite its funds’ origins. “I welcome the entry of Indie Louies to the film community, but it should not be done at the cost of putting down another film festival,” she said. Oren Nimni ’11, a member of the Indie Louis committee called the complaint “questionable on a number of charges.” “In the Student [Union] Constitution, there’s no real recourse of action for libel,” Nimni said, while insisting that the statement on their website, did not constitute libel in the first place because it was based in fact. The complaint accuses Indie Louies of slander, spoken false information, while Nimni referenced the accusation as libel, written false information. Commenting on the part of the statement claiming that the Film Department is now taking over SunDeis, Nimni said “we’re not saying that in a malicious way.” Avi Swerdlow, BTV President and a member of the SunDeis committee, said that “To publish things that are not true
[isn’t] the right thing to do.” “Publish anything about us that is true, good or bad, but don’t lie,” Swerdlow said. Yet Illona Yuhaev ’11, another member of the Indie Louies commented that students do not have a large a role as it seems they do. “It’s not a student run thing,” Yuheav said. “At the end of the day if [Swerdlow] says one thing and [Kelikian] says [another] thing, its obvious who gets to have the last word.” All students have been invited to join SunDeis committee planning meetings since February. “I don’t know how its possible to make students more involved at this point,” Swerdlow said. Members of the Indie Louies committee have criticized the decision to allow the Film Department and BTV have such a major role in planning the event. “BTV is making it seem like it is student-run,” Yuheav said in an interview with The Hoot. She further asserted that not all of the students have a large role because “some of them are people who are just showed up to the first meeting.” “Obviously, it’s not democratic and it’s fine because the school is not democratic, but don’t say it is,” Yuhaev said. The student committee organized nearly all of the planning for SunDeis, including setting up a Web site, sundeis.org, and implementing a new online submissions process on the site, said Narayanan. One of the major changes to this year’s film festival includes a cash prize, rather than the plaques handed out to winners in previous years. “However, we are essentially letting Prof. Kelikian handle the job of bringing prominent industry professionals to campus since she and the Film Department obviously have better connections than any of the students,” Narayana wrote in an email to The Hoot. Yet Narayana also wrote that in the recruitment of alumni, students are still helping Kelikian to reach out to them about SunDeis. Narayana wrote that despite criticism, “all of this has been done by students,” referencing work such as planning events for the weeks of the festival, publicizing the event, and established dates and rules for the festi-
At a glance THE ISSUE: The SunDeis Film Festival Committee filed a complaint with the Union Judiciary (UJ) yesterday, accusing Illona Yuhaev, a member of the Indie Louies Film Festival Committee of using slander on Indie Louies’ Web site. WHAT IT MEANS: Committee members of the Indie Louies Film Festival have criticized organizers of SunDeis, Brandeis’ annual film festival, for a lack of student involvement in the planning process. The Film Department is sponsoring SunDeis this year, a result of the inability of Student Activities to contribute funding as it did in previous years. THE BIGGER PICTURE: A few students are upset, claiming that although the SunDeis committee says it is run almost entirely by students, faculty have more power. The SunDeis committee insists that students have been involved in the entire process, and the claims of the Indie Louies committee are not true.
val. “The fact that students believe the Film Department had anything to do with it is a compliment to our core committee!” Narayana also said that although he was not involved with the planning of SunDeis in previous years, he does not believe that the Film Department has any larger of a role than administrators from Student Activities did in the past. Kelikian, defending the large planning process of SunDeis, said “SunDeis has grown to be an important part of the arts community at Brandeis, and it seemed obvious to widen and strengthen the film festival rather than dampen it down and make it less inclusive,” Kelikian said. Nimni, who also criticized the planning process of SunDeis this year, explained that the University “could do the whole ‘bring-
ing the speaker’ part,” and students could have been exclusively involved with the film submissions process. Yuheav participated on the planning committee for SunDeis last year but two weeks after joining decided, “I wanted to do other things. I did not want to organize at that point.” Partly because of their frustration over the organization of this year’s SunDeis, Yuheav, Nimni and Tom Charging Hawk ’10, have organized Indie Louies, an entirely student-run film festival, which will take place April 9 and 10. The deadline for submissions is Friday. Yuheav believes that students would have been able to run SunDeis without extensive funding. “There’s not need to put that much money into a film festival.”
March 19, 2010
FEATURES
The Brandeis Hoot 7
Her Campus: a collegiate’s guide to life BY ALANA BLUM Special to The Hoot
Imagine a national magazine that is geared towards college students, one that doesn’t center on celebrity gossip and instead provides advice on dorm life and even has a section devoted just to Brandeis. Take a look at Her Campus, an online magazine written by college students for college students, and you’ll find just that. Her Campus was created by three Harvard students, seniors Stephanie Kaplan and Windsor Hanger, and junior Annie Wang, who describe their magazine as “an online magazine for college women that will pave the way for the media industry to successfully make the transition online to keep up with today’s digital world.” The main Her Campus page contains national content that could pertain to any college student across the country, but is nevertheless informative for Brandeisians in particular. In the main style section, there’s even a guide on how to avoid having pictures taken of you that you’ll end up having to untag later on Facebook. Very useful indeed, as we’ve all surely had to encounter this unfortunate task at one time or another. There are also sections about health, love, career and the world. In addition to Her Campus’ national Web site, there are also 25 campus chapters, each providing individual content pertaining to that college or university. Our campus section is personalized to fit the needs of students here at Brandeis. In fact, there are even polls on the Web site, asking questions such as “which dorm would you like to see renovated?” The Brandeis section of Her Campus, run by Abi Katznelson ’11, offers Brandeis students an opportunity to read a magazine written just for them. It’s informal, it’s fun and it puts Brandeis’ name on the map. Although Brandeis’ Her Campus branch just launched in January and is still growing in popularity, Katznelson hopes to one day reach a larger audience and also desires that featured stories will have an impact on the community. Katznelson says one of the best aspects of Her Campus is that it fills the void many college students might feel when picking up a magazine such as Seventeen or Cosmo Girl: “When you
PHOTO BY Max Shay/The Hoot
HER CAMPUS: Abi Katznelson ‘11 (pictured above) runs the Brandeis chapter on the Web site Her Campus. This Web site features online magazines about different collegeswith articles written by students about student life.
write about superficial things, after a while your articles all sound the same. Every Cosmo I read seems similar to the last. What we write about are the things we find matter most. Real people’s opinions are always new, always changing and always pertinent.” Her Campus Brandeis’ stories are always varied and always about something college students can relate to and might find helpful. Whether it’s how to style a dorm to make it more comfortable and exciting, or how to deal with
the stress of the housing lottery, Her Campus Brandeis has it covered. In fact, transfer student Kayla Cronin ’11 discovered the magazine for the first time today and after reading Katznelson’s current article, “Surviving the Housing Lottery: Taking Some of the Risk Out of Your Best Bet,” said she wishes she’d known about the article a couple of weeks ago when she was trying to figure out her housing situation for next year. “I found this particular article partic-
Send an E-mail to join@thebrandeishoot.com
ularly informative being a junior transfer student and not being familiar with the Brandeis housing system. I’m glad Her Campus Brandeis provides such helpful articles,” she said. For the contributors of Her Campus Brandeis, this is their creative outlet. They can, and are encouraged to write as if they are talking to their friends. After all, their goal is to grab and hold onto the attention of students as they circulate Brandeis and the rest of their busy lives. Whether they write about how to take advantage of the rain by sporting cute umbrellas or put a spotlight on the latest Pachanga, the journalism experience they gain is fun and informal. There are many students at Brandeis who write for Her Campus Brandeis. Some of them are student journalists already, and others are gaining the experience of writing for a national magazine in a fun and informal way. Their articles often pertain to fashion, Brandeis entertainment and dorm decorating. They even have a special section called “Campus Cutie.” According to Katznelson, “We hope that the people who are passionate about Her Campus will be passionate about what we stand for and how many different perspectives we want to represent.” To this end, Katznelson hopes to address issues facing both men and women. “Her Campus is so much more my attempt at getting the Brandeis name out on a national level than an attempt to exclude anyone,” she says. To bridge this gender gap, she hopes to soon have a male perspective, opening the Brandeis branch to everybody. Now when incoming first-years, alumni or even prospective students wonder what campus life is like at Brandeis, all they have to do is type into their Web browser: http://w w w.he rcampu s.com/school/ brandeis Then, they will come across a plethora of useful info on life at Brandeis. What better way to reach out to prospective students than to show them the inner workings of Brandeis? So the next time you’re online and looking for something fun and informative to do, check out HerCampus. com. After all, it’s the collegiate’s guide to life.
8 FEATURES
The Brandeis Hoot
March 19, 2010
GRAPHIC BY Ariel Wittenberg/The Hoot
Gaining more than we bargained for BY MORGANA RUSSINO Staff
If you attend college, chances are you’ve heard about the “freshman 15.” Though some say it’s just a myth, for many college students the freshman 15 is a very real problem. What else could we expect? With unlimited access to junk food at anytime of the day, it’s no wonder that some college students are noticing an increase in their waistline. As a college first-year, I remember being terrified of gaining those extra pounds. Growing up on a strict organic diet, I did not really anticipate Brandeis’ food to be that different, but I was definitely wrong. On my first day of orientation, I ate at Sherman Dining Hall and came back to my table with something like six plates. My mother stared at me in disbelief but I was ecstatic at the thought of all the variety. Now, almost seven months later, I’ve seen the results. For months I thought that I was just “temporarily bloated,” but after getting weighed at the doctor’s office, I could not deny that
I’d become heavier. I even made In an attempt to shed the excess the nurse weigh me three times. I pounds, he started eating more could feel my face getting hot and vegetables and stopped eating I felt like I was going to faint. after 8 p.m. Legmann also incorDramatic? Yes, and in retro- porated exercise into his daily respect, I don’t know why this was gime, saying “You gotta work to such a shock considering I’d get there, you know?” been eating junk, but still, it was But “all-you-can-eat” buffets disconcerting. Would you like are not entirely to blame themto know what I did afterwards? selves. Brandeis student Kevin I cried to Hwang ’10, my friends People are not used to gained up to and then 30 pounds went to having the ‘all-you-can-eat’ his freshman Chipotle. He reoption and not having a year. T h i s calls the days p h e n o m - parent hovering over their of munchenon is not on three plate with a disapproving ing limited to bags of giant B r a n d e i s eye. Doritos, and a l o n e . going to UsRaviv Legdan’s Boulemann, now vard for the a junior, experienced a 20 pound Asian chicken wrap drenched in weight gain during his freshman sauce. year at the University of MasAfter moving off-campus, sachusetts at Dartmouth. Like he is now back to his normal Sherman, his cafeteria was the weight and he attributes his for“all-you-can-eat” kind. His favor- mer weight gain to sensitivity to ite meal was the buffalo chicken changes in his environment. wrap with ranch dressing, and he This is one of the problems and his friends would eat several that stimulates the freshman 15. a day. However, after a while, he People are not used to having the had to get larger jeans and he be- “all-you-can-eat” option and not gan to feel lazy and sluggish. having a parent hovering over
their plate with a disapproving eye. Ultimately, what students eat in college is entirely their choice, and that’s the main issue. However, thinking of health alone is not enough to keep you on track. Sometimes, thinking in terms of what weight gain will do to your vanity is a more successful motivator to eating well. As Daphne Oz, author of “The Dorm Room Diet,” writes, “Sometimes with young people you have to play on their vanity.” An article in The New York Times called “15 Pounds: Part of Freshman Meal Plan?” addresses Oz’s book, saying it occasionally associates fat not only with being unhealthy, but also with being unattractive. Oz begins her introduction with a fable about two students, one at “Fat U” and the other at “Fit U.” The student at Fat U eats junk food and has dark circles, pimples and a belly “hanging over the pants that used to be your ‘fat jeans.’” But the student at Fit U, that is to say, the seemingly more desirable one, avoids pizza and candy bars like the plague and has bright eyes, no blemishes and no problem getting dressed in the morn-
ing because every outfit fits. If you want to ignore attributing the vanity factor to weight, just follow what Oz suggests about planning ahead what you are going to eat at study sessions. She recommends snacks like pears and soy crisps “so that the midnight munchies won’t propel you to a vending machine.” However, if you are as fortunate as Sarah Kim ’13, there’s no need to worry about those extra pounds. Kim can proudly say that the freshman 15 has not affected her. In fact, she is the exception to the rule whom we all envy. Upon arrival to college, Sarah realized how much more walking she would have to do. She jokingly attributes her weight loss to the hill next to the Goldfarb library. Back home, she would drive to most places, but because first-years are not allowed to have cars, she had to resort to walking as her main form of transportation. Although many people speak of it quite lightly and even mockingly, first-years should ultimately, be aware of the freshman 15 because unless you happen to be the exception, college food is going to bite you in the butt.
ARTS, etc.
March 19, 2010
The Brandeis Hoot 7
‘Monologues’ discuss touchy subject BY SEAN FABERY Editor
I have to confess that I was initially less than enthusiastic about attending this year’s production of playwright Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues,” which was staged last weekend to packed audiences in the Shapiro Campus Center Theater. Not possessing a vagina myself, I thought that I would feel out-of-place and that I simply wasn’t in the right demographic for the play. Any misgivings I had about attending were dispelled within a few minutes of the show’s start. Though I’m sure I probably approached the experience differently than some, I found it to be a well-done, insightful production that was by turns hilarious and compelling. It’s no surprise that it has played all over the world to critical acclaim since 1996, when Ensler first dramatized interviews she conducted with more than 200 women of all backgrounds about their sexuality and, yes, their vaginas. This year’s production began primarily with more comedic skits. After an introduction by director Kayla Sotomil ’10 and head coordinator Shana Lebowitz ’10, the show began with “Hair,” in which Renana Gal ’12 performed a monologue about a woman forced by her husband to shave her pubic hair. Like many of the monologues that followed, this one combined a seemingly low-key incident with a greater statement about the way women sometimes are forced or even force themselves to give up agency over their own bodies, a theme which echoed repeatedly in monologues like “My Angry Vagina.” This was followed by “The Wear and Say List,” which was preoccupied with the question of what a vagina would wear or say. Though on the surface it seemed silly, it did achieve its purpose of opening up the audience to the idea of speaking about the subject matter. After all, it’s not exactly a topic of everyday conversation, as evidenced by the manner in which half the monologues began with phrases along the lines of “Why are you asking me about my down there?” One of the show’s highlights was “The Flood,” in which Shira Rubenstein ’13 inhabited the role of an old woman recollecting an embarrassing incident with a boy-
friend that led her to largely forsake her sex life. It was a deeply affecting performance that reinforced one of the central tenants of the show as a whole, that women should not live in shame of their bodies. Though some have accused the show of presenting largely negative portrayals of men, “Because He Liked to Look at It,” performed by Ashley Lynette ’13, countered such notions. In this segment, a woman comes to appreciate the aesthetic qualities of her vagina through a perfectly average lover named Bob who insists she acknowledge her natural beauty. About halfway through the show, the production took a more serious tone, the first indication of which was the coupling of a “Vagina Happy Fact” with a “Not-So-Happy Fact” about female circumcision. It also largely focused on worldwide atrocities. “My Vagina Was My Village” takes the story of a Bosnian refugee who was repeatedly gang raped and juxtaposes her traumatized present self with a past, innocent version of herself. This was followed by “The Memory of Her Face,” which intermingled the narratives of three women from Iraq, Pakistan and Mexico and emphasized the way the psyches of abused women are often the biggest casualties of violence-ridden societies. These performances were intensely emotional and were something of a shock after the lightheartedness of the earlier presentations. Each year’s performance features a new spotlight monologue which highlights the production’s cause of choice. This year’s spotlight, entitled “A Teenage Girl’s Guide to Surviving Sex Slavery,” depicted the rules one girl in the Congo creates in order to survive the sexual brutality that naturally accompanies sex slavery. Though the performances by all involved were stellar, I found the monologue itself weak and confusing, as it led to little in the way of conclusions. The final portions of the show returned to a lighter tone, though once again it was still tinged by the dramatic. “The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could” depicted one girl’s ascent into womanhood, which included rape by a family friend and concluded with her finding love at age 16 with an older female
PHOTO BY Yuan Yao/The Hoot
ONE VOICE: Ashni Davé ’12 performed “The Vagina Workshop,” in which her character discussed experiencing her first orgasm.
friend. Though it can be easy to get hung up on the age difference involved, the subject matter was handled delicately and ably by the script, which deftly combined the dramatics evident in the narrative with a certain comic touch, as evidenced by the use of the phrase “coochie snorcher.” Perhaps the biggest crowd-pleaser of the night was “The Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy,” in which Desiree
Murphy ’10 portrayed a lawyer-turned-sexworker who specializes in an all-female clientele. The speaker declares that she prefers her new job because of the moans and proceeds to enumerate and demonstrate all the various moans she’s encountered, with each successive moan somehow managing to be more outrageous than the last. See MONOLOGUES, p. 12
Dowling digs new art installation
BY ARIEL WITTENBERG Editor
Groundbreaking for the large-scale public artwork commissioned by Brandeis for the Festival of the Arts began Wednesday outside The Rose Art Museum. The work by Michael Dowling will be in the form of an elaborate copper fountain and will be completed in time for the Festival of The Arts, which begins April 28. Dowling has collaborated with the Brandeis community in order to create his work “Source/Re Source.” Dowling, who is known for getting inspiration for his artwork from the community in which it will be on display, spent the fall 2009 semester attending classes, researching university archives and meeting faculty, students and staff. This spring he is teaching a class in the Department of Fine Arts in which students have contributed to the design of “Source/Re Source.” “My inspiration is the continuing cycle of generations who come to Brandeis—the source—and return to the world as a resource for vision, justice, creativity and social change,” Dowling said in a press release about the artwork.
GROUND BREAKING: Artist Michael Dowling installs his sculpture of a fountain.
The structural choice to make the work a fountain was inspired by the campus proximity to the Charles River. The sculpture’s name, “Source/Re Source,” is connected to the main theme of this year’s festival. The Festival’s slogan this year is “Imagine
PHOTO BY Max Shay/The Hoot
/ Re Imagine, Discover / Re Discover, Create / Re Create. Art is the Source.” “This art is meant to show Brandeis as a resource for student life just as the Charles River’s water is a source of life,” Program Administrator for Brandeis’ Office of the Arts Ingrid Schorr said.
“Source/Re Source” will consist of a footwide copper trough set on the existing Rose terrace and centered on the Museum’s doors which will lead to a sequence of copper pans with spillways set on the Museum’s steps and an additional copper trough. The trough will spill beyond the existing guardrail and into a triangular pool which will encompass the majority of the Museum’s lawn. This work is indicative of Dowling’s other works, as the artist wrote an article in Brandeis’ Department of The Arts’ semiannual publication State of the Arts saying he likes to use natural resources like copper and water in order to “engage [the audience] emotionally and make them feel part of something larger.” Schorr said during the Festival of The Arts Dowling will “invite people to participate with the artwork” at a special surprise event. “Public art is meant to be public and is meant for the community,” Schorr said. “That’s the way [Dowling] works, he is a community artist.” The Festival of the Creative Arts will run from April 28 to May 2. “Source / Re Source” will be on display from April 28 through June 30.
10 ARTS, ETC.
The Brandeis Hoot
March 19, 2010
No time like ‘Cocktail Time’ BY SEAN FABERY Editor
In cooperation with New York’s Primary Stages, the Brandeis Theater Company last weekend presented the debut of playwright Rogelio Martinez’s “Cocktail Time in Cuba,” a play which juxtaposes one journalist’s identity crisis against the background of a Cuba potentially in upheaval. In the hopes of reenergizing his lagging career, journalist Michael Thompson (Ben Rosenblatt) arrives in Cuba in 2006 determined to discover whether Fidel Castro is dead or alive. However, this self-imposed assignment quickly goes awry. His initial contact dies and gets replaced by “unemployed communist writer” Ruben (Equiano Mosieri), a man who alternately physically threatens Michael and promises to get him an interview with Castro. While he waits, he encounters Henry Little (Robert McFadyen), his former frat brother who has a mysterious interest in the country, and Marisela (McCaela Donovan), a Cuban stewardess whose family has vacillated between embracing and rejecting the communist government. Marisela soon falls for Michael despite what amounts to his midlife crisis. As can be expected for any contemporary play set in Cuba, “Cocktail Time” certainly has its political concerns. On one hand, the play creates an aura of paranoia around the island’s government and the actions that it seemingly instigates. Virtually everyone Michael encounters appears to know some element of his actions to which they should not be privy; he’ll mention an anecdote to one character only to have another character mention it later on. This paranoia that the audience is made privy to occasionally becomes concrete, with one person telling
man (Johnnie L. McQuarley) is paid specifically to ensure that no one steals the glasses from a statue of John Lennon (Levi Rion Ben-Israel); when Michael points out how easy it would be to weld the glasses to the statue, Ruben remarks that no one “wants to lose a good governmentcreated job.” But even in this there is an element of the paranoid. The statue of Lennon is played by an PHOTO BY Mike Lovett/BTC actor, meaning that, over CUBAN CRISIS: In “Cocktail Time in Cuba,” Ben Rosenblatt plays a journalist who becomes the course of entangled with an airline stewardess (McCaela Donovan) and the Cuban government. that particular scene, the scenery is literally watching him that he’ll “never leave” and the discovMichael. ery of a wiretap in his phone. Overall, a feeling of political indifference Yet, for all this paranoia, the play also prevails. Capitalism and communism apmaintains a sense of humor about Cuba and pear almost interchangeable as ideologies its residents. It satirizes the way job creation in the eyes of the play. American and Cufunctions in a command economy. One
ban characters alike crave the opening of the island’s economy simply so that they can become filthy rich. Not even the Cuban characters care whether Castro is alive or dead—one jokes that he assumes Castro is dead because “Perez Hilton says he is” and doesn’t question this further. Communist Cuba may be “about to disappear,” but no one cares. But the play concerns itself with far more than the political, as it increasingly chooses to probe the personal aspects of Michael’s life. His identity unravels throughout the play. When he first arrives, he pretends to be a happily married star reporter for “Vanity Fair.” Quickly, however, we discover that he’s a struggling freelance writer whose marriage is on the rocks , thus, he can’t help but get involved with Marisela. By the time Michael actually gets in contact with an old man (McQuarley in a second role) who claims to be Castro, it becomes something of an anticlimax. Michael seems almost dispassionate about the encounter. Even when he accuses Castro of being “limited,” it becomes clear that he’s talking more about himself than he is about Castro. For all the elements of the play that worked—and a lot of them did—there were a few problems with its script. Though it initially tried to distort the passage of time, it did so to the point that it simply became confusing; there was no way to tell just how many months and years were passing from scene to scene. Though effectively disorienting, it also had the effect of making the characters’ growth less tangible for the audience, as characters sometimes developed relationships with one another almost exclusively off-stage. The play’s acting company was uniformly See CUBA, p. 12
‘Be Good Johnny Weir’ earns perfect 6.0 BY ALISON CHANNON Editor
Johnny Weir, three time United States men’s figure skating champion, 2008 Worlds bronze medalist, and two-time Olympian (fifth in Torino, sixth in Vancouver), announced a week ago that he will not compete at the World Figure Skating Competition which begins this weekend. According to media outlets, Weir is taking time to “reassess” his “strategies and goals.” He plans to be “re-energized” for next season, which, he hopes, will be his “most exciting” yet. I understand why Weir would choose to skip Worlds. Since the Olympics ended in February, he has been on a publicity whirlwind, stopping by the sets of “Regis and Kelly” and “Larry King Live,” showing up on red carpets and plugging his reality series “Be Good Johnny Weir” on the Sundance Channel. If you follow his Twitter feed (or periodically check his show’s Web site), you’d know that his media appearances have precluded training—the kiss of death for any elite level athlete weeks away from international competition. Going into Worlds untrained would spell disaster for Weir. Still, I’m disappointed that I won’t get to see Weir’s perfect mix of defiance and grace on the ice this weekend. Thank goodness for his aforementioned docu-series “Be Good Johnny Weir,” which airs Monday nights on the Sundance Channel (I watch it on iTunes or YouTube). Without it, I might wither away in a deep Johnny-withdrawal-induced depression. I love Johnny Weir. In the skating corner of my heart, he has
a special place beside Michelle Kwan, which is no laughing matter considering my deep and abiding love for Kwan spanning the past 12 years. But even if my love of figure skating and my love of Weir were less profound, “Be Good Johnny Weir” would still be the perfect reality show. First, Weir is an ideal subject. He is charismatic, hugely funny and not the least bit shy (nary an episode goes by without a shot of Weir in his designer undies). Moreover, he is going through real athletic turmoil. The first episode of the series, which is actually the film-length documentary “Pop Star on Ice,” shows Weir’s fall from grace at the 2007 U.S. championships and his split from his longtime coach Pricilla Hill. In the next episode, we see Weir bounce back from disappointment with his new Soviet-trained coach Galina and a bronze medal at the 2008 World Championships. But Weir’s comeback is shortlived. Illness keeps him off the podium at the 2009 U.S. championships and off the Worlds roster in the third episode. Any athlete’s career is filled with moments of triumph and moments of failure, but we care about Weir’s failures because we grow to care about him. Though I wouldn’t characterize Weir as modest, his challenges are not simply the complaints of the over-privileged or the self-involved. We see him struggle with money, struggle with friendships (his BFF and roommate Paris flies the coop, forcing Weir to move right before an overseas competition), struggle with the pressure to succeed and struggle with his own vision of himself. At one point, he wonders aloud to the camera whether it’s time for his career to be
over, if it’s time to go to college (he wants to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan), if he has enough money to pay tuition or if, after so many years of skating, he needs to learn how to make a latte. He is a young man with extraordinary gifts struggling with the consequences of his abilities and his dreams. He is at times the underdog we root for and at other times the tragic figure to whom we can relate. But “Be Good Johnny Weir” is the furthest thing from a sob fest. Weir has an engaging sense of humor and an appreciated sense of irony. In one scene, he tells the camera that “loneliness is terrible.” But he can amuse himself with his vacuum cleaner—cut to a shot of Weir fastidiously vacuuming his living room carpet—and, if he’s really lonely, he can make shadow puppets on the walls. It’s the perfect wink-wink moment that makes “Be Good Johnny PHOTO FROM Internet Source Weir” so compelling and so BE GOOD: Weir performs his 2005-2006 short program “The Swan” funny. Unfortunately, “Be Good at the 2006 United States Championships in St. Louis. He won his third consecutive national title and was sent to the 2006 Olympics in Johnny Weir” comes to an Torino where he finished fifth. end March 22, just in time for me to switch my attentions from Weir Lady Gaga exhibition. But I will remain to Worlds. I will miss his presence, and I strong, secure in the knowledge that the will miss even more the possibility that he episodes live on in my heart and on my might place high enough to perform his computer.
March 19, 2010
ARTS, ETC. 11
The Brandeis Hoot
Creating ‘Chasms’ in chillwave genre BY DANIELLE GEWURZ Editor
The blogosphere has become the new arbiter of ephemeral slang and blink-and-you’ll-missit microgenres, but that doesn’t mean you can’t also find some fantastic music. The newly-coined microgenre labeled “chillwave” or “glo-fi” is the perfect example; it’s a genre with heavy ambient and synthesizer influences that also combines elements of lo-fi and simplistic melodies, with vague strains of the pop and psychedelic influences that are heard in most new indie music. The two most prominent chillwave artists are probably Memory Tapes and Neon Indian, the latter by far the superior. Neon Indian is the project of musical dilettante Alan Palomo, also behind VEGA, and Alicia Scardetta. The debut album, “Psychic Chasms,” might serve as chillwave’s mission statement or its last notable work, but it’s just so … catchy. The album is a half-hour of nostalgia in the truest sense, with an underlying pervasive sense of pain at lost time but in the sunniest beats. Perhaps the cover, a construction paper collage like the kind you made in elementary school, complete with day-glo colors, really captures the aesthetic at hand. Instant standout “Deadbeat
Summer” serves as the perfect introduction to Palomo’s approach of beat-heavy synthesizer compositions with low-mixed, slightly incomprehensible lyrics. It feels like the kind of blurry-eyed sun-drenched lazing that would characterize a deadbeat summer: “Come in blind from the heat … seeing thoughts in repeat.” Romantic longings, satisfyingly vague, quickly intrude, as Palomo intones “You’re the one that I miss / From my soul you’re the one I still wanna kiss” and embodies his mixture of trippy dreaminess and Proustian longings in the simple yearning of “All my dreams reminisce …” But the lyrics don’t really matter that much, even when you can make them out. It’s the cassettebased music that makes the album irresistible, heavy on the bass and all fuzzy edges and looping melodies. “6669 (I Don’t Know If You Know)” and reprise “7000” and “Terminally Chill” extend on the themes of “Deadbeat Summer” as Palomo coaxes new and interesting rhythms out of not only electronics and cassettes but his own voice as well. The tone becomes darker and images more abstract, with Neon Indian musing “Everything comes apart if you find the strand / All it takes is a hand.” The psychedelic elements are pretty obvious, especially in the pulsing, trippy “Should Have Taken Acid With You” which laments
NEON INDIAN: The band Neon Indian, fronted by Alan Palomo (above), recently released its debut album, “Psychic Chasms,” which is one of several new chillwave albums.
a missed opportunity to take LSD and “Touch the stars and the planets too.” The driving beat combines with the wah-wahs and wails of synths that sound oddly like Deee-lite makes “Acid” one of the album’s best tracks, though, of course, the author does not endorse illegal drug use. What makes it so compelling is that the sheer weirdness slides away to leave what is ultimately one of the best recent pop songs. There’s something indefinable in Neon Indian’s hooks; the song plays
back in your head even though it’s impossible to really separate out the musical elements that stick. In that way, it does really sound like the memory of a much clearer hook, like a worn-out cassette that’s been played and recorded over. But that sort of appeal makes Neon Indian’s approach to nostalgia both more palatable and more interesting than the other 60s pop revivals that have become a big part of lo-fi. Palomo’s past isn’t about specific people or places or things;
it’s the faded-out, fuzzy and full sensation of remembering and reinterpreting at the same time. The drifting, looping, toe-tapping flow of “Psychic Chasms” lets the listener connect with the underlying tones of sadness without having to connect with Palomo’s own point of view; the music is oddly specific without being limiting. Neon Indian pushes chillwave to an entirely new level, and this album is unique and listenable without being “experimental” or “difficult.”
‘Parenthood’ on verge of time-out
BY KAYLA DOS SANTOS Editor
NBC’s new show “Parenthood” provides viewers with a compelling drama about familial relationships, but television may not be the correct medium to tell the Braverman clan’s story. “Parenthood” explores the individual tales of the adult Braverman siblings and their personal crises, while also attempting to illustrate the family’s dynamics as a whole. However, the hour is barely enough time to establish the characters, let alone the conflicts they face. In an effort to distinguish the characters from each other, the writers have necessarily had to resort to types. Sarah (Lauren Graham) is an unemployed single mother struggling with bringing up two teenagers while her sister Julia (Erika Christensen) is attempting to balance a high-powered career with raising her young daughter. Crosby (Dax Shepard) is a slacker dealing with the recent discovery that he has a son from a past fling, while Adam (Peter Krause), the eldest, is the one everyone looks up to, but who is barely coping when he learns that his son Max (Max Burkeholder) has Asperger’s syndrome. Fortunately, the actors fully take advantage of the brief time spent on their character’s storylines; great performances make what would otherwise be one-note cutout figures seem like real people. It’s still early in the show’s run, so
PHOTO FROM Internet Source
MEET THE BRAVERMANS: “Parenthood” stars an expansive cast as the Braverman clan, a not-so-typical extended family of neurotics. Notable cast members include Lauren Graham, Peter Krause and Craig T. Nelson.
perhaps with more episodes the characters will be fleshed out in the script, too. In a more serious role than the quirky mother she played on “Gilmore Girls,” Graham excels at balancing Sarah’s mixture of insecurities and bursts of confident spontaneity. On a date arranged for her by her sister, Sarah’s emotions transition from fury that Julia set her up with a balding barista to sweet nostalgia when her date exceeds her expectations to playfulness when she takes her
date home. Graham masterfully makes each new emotion believable and natural. Although some of the subplots hit false notes, most are interesting and make for great viewing. Adam’s initial denial that there’s anything wrong with his son Max (who goes to school everyday dressed in a pirate outfit), to his reluctant acceptance of his son’s Asperger’s syndrome results in a powerful scene between Adam and his gruff father Zeek (Craig T. Nelson). Adam informs him,
“Dad, there’s something wrong with my son.” Nelson quiets his character’s usually loud personality to a expression of thoughtful concern, “What do you need?” Yet, the next episode entitled “Man v. Possum” pummels the viewers with clumsy analogy. A possum wreaks mayhem at Adam’s household and he becomes obsessed with getting rid of the creature. The script spells out that although Adam can deal with his possum problem, there is no way of solving his son’s Asperger’s
PHOTO FROM Internet Source
Syndrome. All of the scenes and subplots featuring the teenage members of the Braverman clan miss the mark as well. Whether it is poor acting, or that the teens’ subplots (drug use, rebellion) have simply been worn out, it is hard to say. Either way, whenever the teens are given screen-time the show loses its momentum. The most enjoyable component of the show is the older cast’s chemistry. Whenever there’s a scene featuring the Braverman adult siblings, it’s sure to be entertaining. The siblings share a joint and jokes after attending school function for their children. Their teasing of each other is amusing and simultaneously makes their relationships convincing. While “Parenthood” is charming, there’s no incentive to watch week-to-week. There are no cliffhangers and no real hooks to draw in an audience. The show simply follows the tribulations of the Braverman clan. Maybe this is an example of a story that cannot best be told through the medium of television. There are too many characters and too many subplots. Although one gets the sense that the actors, if given the space to breathe, would accomplish wonderful things, the hour time-frame is too limiting. “Parenthood” is a show that one might watch once in a while to check-in with the Bravermans, but it is definitely not a show that one would watch religiously.
12 ARTS, ETC.
The Brandeis Hoot
March 19, 2010
Newest ‘Final Fantasy’ is 13 levels of fun BY GORDY STILLMAN Staff
Two weeks ago, I previewed an assortment of games set to be released this month. After playing some of them, it is only fitting that I attempt to provide a comprehensive review. Don’t worry, I’m not going to give away the plot, I’m just going to focus on some key elements. This review covers “Final Fantasy XIII,” a highly anticipated role-playing game that sold over one million copies on release day in Japan. I would go into the story, but why give away the core of the game? First is the battle system—I’ve never seen one quite like it. It is neither a button masher—meaning that, as long as you can repetitively press the same buttons, you’ll win—nor is it completely turn-based, which would allow you to walk away for an hour while the game waits for you. While managing how to attack your enemy, you also balance the roles of your teammates. There are six different roles: some offensive, some defensive and some that are in the middle. Balancing the use of these is key to winning battles quickly. Not only that, but the game developers have built this game to encourage experiments while battling.
Characters heal automatically between battles, meaning that the player doesn’t have to worry about backtracking and recovering between fights. Additionally, losing a battle does not revert the player back to when they last saved, but merely to right before the battle. allowing them to try again. While this may make the game a bit easier, it prevents the game from becoming slow with constant backtracking and level grinding (playing solely to get stronger rather than for fun). When it comes to visuals, I must say that this is one amazing game. I usually don’t care much for the quality of graphics; after all, the original Mario arcade game is still an addictive and fun game even though it relies on old eight-bit graphics. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if my eyes were deceiving me or if I was really seeing what was on my TV screen. Even the background images are detailed enough to just sit back and look at the horizon. When it comes to the characters, they are even detailed down to individual strands of hair. Now I don’t think games need to look this realistic at times, but wow, this game was enough to make me reconsider my views. Other noteworthy elements include the music, which is very good. This is despite having licensed “My Hands” by Leona
PHOTO FROM Internet Source
WHAT’S YOUR FANTASY?: “Final Fantasy XIII” provides hours of fun gameplay with improved graphics, great battle system and epic soundtrack.
Lewis as the theme piece for the American and European versions rather than possessing an original composition, as most games in the series do. The music that is retained from the Japanese version is among the better game music I’ve heard for a Japanese Role Playing Game (JRPG). That said, the theme music becomes fairly fitting as the story progresses. I’ve got one thing to say about
the story that doesn’t give it away. It begins “in medias res”—in the middle of the action. The game begins right when most of the core characters are meeting and becoming involved in the fate of their world, whether they like it or not, and then tells the story of how they got there through a series of sometimes interactive flashbacks all leading to the confrontation that serves as a tutorial.
The game has a lot going for it. There is a great battle system, visuals that almost anyone would find amazing and a compelling story matched with fitting music. I rate this a strong four out of five because it is a strong title worthy of any gamers’ library. Rating:
‘Monologues’ spark campus dialogue MONOLOGUES (from p. 9)
The show ended on a poignant note with “I Was There in the Room,” in which Jackie Feinberg ’10 delivered a monologue describing the experience of seeing one’s daughter give birth. The production as a whole was handled incredibly well by all involved, and much credit for this has to go to director Sotomil and
PHOTO BY Mike Lovett/BTC
ALWAYS WATCHING: Johnnie L. McQuarley played an old man whose job was to make sure no one stole the glasses off a statue of John Lennon (Levi Rion Ben-Israel).
Arresting ‘Cocktail’ debuts at Brandeis CUBA (from p. 10)
good. Though Michael possesses a malleable identity, Ben Rosenblatt succeeded at creating an everyman bogged down by the pressure of his situation and surroundings. McCaela Donovan excelled at imbuing Marisela with a vibrancy that made it clear why Michael falls so hard for her; Donovan and Rosenblatt were perhaps at their best when exchanging barbs, as they both were able to display their comedic sensibilities. Robert McFadyen gave Henry just the right amount of sleaziness, allowing the audience to see behind his friendly façade while not overdoing it. As Ruben, Equiano Mosieri was intimidat-
ing while also possessing firm control over the character’s jocular crudities. The play’s set was sparsely decorated and remained largely unchanged throughout the show’s two acts, with only a table, a few chairs and a bed—all swathed in shades of tan and grey—appearing on-stage This decision succeeded in capturing the paucity of luxuries that exist in Cuba, with only the occasional touristy martini bringing color to the place. In a way, its cramped quarters echoed a jail cell, a comparison reinforced by the jolting auditory transitions used between scenes which sounded like a combination of a jail cell closing and a
power outage. Though not perfect, “Cocktail Time in Cuba” proved to be a captivating play to watch unfurl. It wasn’t discernable that it was a work-in-progress—apparently changes were being made to its script throughout rehearsal and even between shows—and it’s much to the credit of the cast and crew involved that this never proved apparent during its performance. If the play’s production were to be compared to one of its titular cocktails, it was only one or two ingredients away from achieving something remarkable. As the play stood, “cocktail time” was certainly enjoyable.
Do you enjoy the finer things in life? Theater, literature, exotic cheeses? Then write for our Arts section!
Send an E-mail to arts@thebrandeishoot.com
head coordinator Lebowitz. It is a credit to them as well as the acting troupe as a whole that the performances within the show came off so effortlessly, even though many of the students who performed didn’t necessarily have any background in the theater. When “The Vagina Monologues” is performed next year, I certainly won’t be as hesitant to see it as I was this year.
EDITORIALS
March 19, 2010
Established 2005 "To acquire wisdom, one must observe." Ariel Wittenberg Editor in Chief Alex Schneider Managing Editor Destiny D. Aquino News Editor Nathan Koskella Deputy News Editor Bret Matthew Impressions Editor Chrissy Callahan Features Editor Hannah Vickers Sports Editor Jodi Elkin Layout Editor Max Shay Photography Editor Leon Markovitz Advertising Editor Vanessa Kerr Business Editor Savannah Pearlman Copy Editor Leah Lefkowitz Layout Editor Sean Fabery Arts, Etc. Editor Kayla Dos Santos Arts, Etc. Editor Josh Waizer Distribution Manager Senior Editors Sri Kuehnlenz, Kathleen Fischmann Alison Channon, Danielle Gewurz
FOUNDED BY
Leslie Pazan, Igor Pedan and Daniel Silverman
SUBMISSION POLICIES The Hoot welcomes letters to the editor on subjects that are of interest to the general community. Preference is given to current or former community members. The Hoot reserves the right to edit any submissions for libel, grammar, punctuation, spelling and clarity. The Hoot is under no obligation to print any of the pieces submitted. Letters in print will also appear on-line at www.thehoot.net. The deadline for submitting letters is Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. All letters must be submitted electronically at www. thehoot.net. All letters must be from a valid e-mail address and include contact information for the author. Letters of length greater than 500 words may not be accepted. The opinions, columns, cartoons and advertisements printed in The Hoot do not necessarily represent the opinions of the editorial board. The Hoot is a community student newspaper of Brandeis University. Produced entirely by students, The Hoot serves a readership of 6,000 with in-depth news, relevant commentary, sports and coverage of cultural events. Our mission is to give every community member a voice.
Think our editorials are wrong? Write a letter to the editor at
eic@thebrandeishoot.com
The Brandeis Hoot 13
Rains generous, Facilities not so much
D
ear Brandeis Facilities, Thank you for hiring a cleaning crew to shampoo carpets Tuesday afternoon. After the long weekend of students’ suffering in mold-infested, humid, wet and smelly rooms, this board is glad you could help. You are going to charge next year’s residents approximately $6,314 to live in a standard double next year (which previously cost $6,070 per year), so we would assume it would make financial sense for you to clean up the place. When students applied to Brandeis, they were encouraged by the great academic opportunities the school has to offer. If they knew they would have to deal with a leak in their dorm rooms for four days without any maintenance help, they
may have reconsidered. They did everything right, or so they thought. Saturday night when rooms began to get wet, students immediately put in work orders. They laid paper towels down on the carpet, thinking they would soak in the water. It wasn’t en.ough. The water kept flowing and flowing and by Sunday night, students were wrecks. Students moved their beds out of the way, and had to clean up everything that had been soaked over night while under the bed. Sheets went in the laundry. Monday, Governor Deval Patrick called a state of emergency in Massachusetts and spent some of the day in Waltham at the flooding Moody Street bridge and dam. We read about that in The Boston
Globe. But you, Brandeis, never acknowledged our problem or came by to see what had happened. You waited until Tuesday to clean it up. You never updated most students who had filed work orders either. You probably assumed we would go away. Meanwhile, you returned to your homes each night dry and safe. And even if your homes flooded, you probably had a wet vacuum to clean up. Here, most students were left with nothing. Our homes became Petri dishes full of mold and mildew. We wish you would send a note of apology to students. Something to the tune of “We regret your hardship.” You might also want to fix the source of the leak–we hear rain is a recurring phenomenon.
sity between the hours of 8:45 and 10:30 a.m. The greater annoyance is the “meal equivalency” system which only allows certain items–regardless of price–to be bought with a meal. On the 10 or 14 meal plans, students may use their accompanying points on a hot meal at the P.O.D. market or a large sub at Quizno’s, but never a meal. We cannot even apply extra points on top of that large sub’s meal value in dollars. Instead of being able to fill a meal with anything, students are regulated to what Aramark and the university deem fit, which limits their options far more than any dining hall menu could. For loosening meal time rules, we understand that the time limits are practical in terms of meal-dollar allocation. But the week should be given the point equivalent of the meals so they may eat what and when they choose. The 10 and 14 meal plans
could be balanced with a system based on their relative costs, from a certain number of dinners and lunches. As for the “meal equivalency” system, it should be eliminated. The program discriminates on taste and choice preferences because things that are ostensibly the same price to the university in terms of revenue are differentiated for an unfathomable purpose. While we urge Aramark to revamp offerings to the university to reflect student choice, even more important is that Brandeis listen to its students and not be afraid to accept whatever plans may come from the Marketmatch research. Aramark, constantly maligned, needs to modernize its menu choices. But the university should put students first and update meal policies so students can conveniently and adequately select from the new offerings.
Univ and Aramark must update dining
W
hen it comes to food on campus, students are often quick to blame Aramark for the less than desirable cuisine. This week Aramark has been using the outside firm Marketmatch Research to conduct and process statistics on student dining options to change menu choices and add grab-and-go options. We view this as a step in the right direction, and hope many positive changes to the student dining experience will come from this. More important than giving more food options, however, is changing the impractical meal plans and the “meal equivalency” rules that come with them. On the meal plans with 10, 14 or 21 meals, meals can only be used in a specific timeslot. This is impractical for students whose classes run from 8 to 11 a.m. and will therefore never make it to “breakfast” as defined by Aramark and the univer-
14 The Brandeis Hoot
IMPRESSIONS
March 19, 2010
Brandeis housing lottery system in desperate need of dramatic overhaul BY GORDIE STILLMAN Staff
Housing selection was a key part of this past week for many students at Brandeis. Though I have only been through it once, I can report it is highly flawed. The system of lottery numbers, though equal, is in no way fair. Why is it equal? Because of all the reasons used to call it fair. The lottery applies an element of randomness to the system. With this random system everyone has an equal chance at getting a desirable number. Why is it not fair? It is not fair because there is no balance to the system that ensures that people who get undesirable numbers one year get desirable numbers later on. It is unfair because the same person could get Ridgewoods two years in a row while someone else could get relegated to Charles River or even off-campus two years in a row. Why in a system that so many people seem to think is fair does this happen? Fair would involve a balance so that the Department of Community Living does not disappoint anyone more than once. I don’t know about you, but I’d sooner change schools than live that far from campus. Now it’s a standard lesson that life isn’t fair, but why is it that we all pay for the same Brandeis experience (some actually pay a lot more than others), and yet we don’t get the same experi-
Sexcapades
GRAPHICS BY Allison Corman-Vogan/The Hoot
ence. Some people get to live in paradise, while others are condemned to the inferno. Here are just a few ideas on a way to balance the system, because once you look at it in a multi-year perspective, you might just see how broken it is. First idea, divide numbers into
three categories: desirable, neutral and undesirable. Students would get one of each over their three years participating in the lottery. Students could plan to live off-campus the year they get a bad number and at least take some comfort in knowing that they have a better opportunity
A hairy situation
BY SOPHIE REISE Staff
The ever-present question, for men and women alike, is what to do with the hair down there. I’d love to be able to say that there’s a right answer, but the truth is, there isn’t. It’s mostly about what your personal preferences are, and perhaps your partner’s preferences. During a conversation with some guy friends the other day, I said I didn’t think women should have to shave or wax, but that they should probably keep the garden trim. The guys both said they agreed, it was most important that it was neat down there. Both did say however that the perineum (also called the grundle or t’aint, often on a man), and armpits should always be clean. Both also said that while they wouldn’t request a girl to be completely clean down there, it would certainly be their preference. Women have what seem like innumerable op-
tions when it comes to grooming. Do we trim, wax or shave? Do we keep some, all or none? How much exactly is none? Did you know that a real Brazilian wax does not actually leave you bare? If you shaved in high school, should you start waxing in college? Or what if you have a trusted waxer at home, but now you’re not sure where to go? Men have it easier. Three options come to mind–do nothing, trim or shave. Few men would be interested in waxing, or in the kinds of shapes that women sometimes go for. My personal preference is that men trim, but don’t shave. The bald, elf-like look of naked male genitalia, and the feeling that goes along with it, is really unattractive to me. However, I know women who like the look, as well as women who like the look, and feel, of a full bush on a guy, which is another option I’m not a fan of. Who wants to be making a trip down south, only to be greeted by a mouthful of hair? Personally, I cannot go much
longer than five weeks without getting a bikini wax, whether or not I am dating someone. I’ve been getting waxes every four to five weeks since 10th grade, when I started going with a group of girls during our lunch period. We started going together because we were too nervous to go alone. It was fun, and made what was actually a chore rather enjoyable. At the beginning we had no idea what we were doing, or what the difference was between a good or bad wax. If it was too hot, we thought that was just the way it was supposed to be. During that first year or two, we all had our fair share of pain and embarrassment, but we were all addicted by the end of junior year. Now, as a junior in college, I still feel that way. Nothing is better than that first week after a wax, when you’re completely clean and comfortable. The truth, however, is that no one can tell you exactly what is right for you, and you shouldn’t let anyone.
coming up—unless they decide they like off-campus housing. That way sophomores abandoned in 567 (might as well be China) can take comfort knowing that either the next year or senior year they will get a Ziv or a Ridgewood. Or if a sophomore gets access to a Village
single or Rosenthal suite, they can prepare for the likely future of a Charles River or off-campus apartment. The system is equal. We all have the same chance of a good number. But fair would be better because fair would result in a shared experience.
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March 19, 2010
The Brandeis Hoot
The Self Shelf
BY ALEX SELF Staff
A few months ago the entire teaching staff and administration of Central Falls High School was fired for incompetence. The move made national headlines with people debating the fairness and future effectiveness of the option, despite the fact that the city’s high school graduation rate is less than 50 percent. Central Falls is a very small town, about twenty minutes away from my home in Rhode Island. I know of it because it was the only school system in the area which lost accreditation some years ago during the New England Association of Schools and Colleges inspections. It had since regained its accreditation but still had a horrible reputation and academic statistics. When I heard of the turmoil gripping the education system there, I was not shocked. Central Falls was considred a slum where I grew up. No one I know went into the town, and I cannot testify as to anyone who came out of it. The median income for a family in Central Falls is around $27,000 while a quarter of its residents languish below the poverty line. But however squalid a town it is, mass firings are the wrong
IMPRESSIONS
15
Giving bad schools an ‘F’ decision. People tend to blame teachers and students for poor academics. Some claim that it’s the poor teaching which results in the failing grades of the children. Others blame the students and claim that they’re unwilling to learn. However, I believe that the environment surrounding these failing schools is the main factor in their decline. Take Central Falls for instance. These children are brought up in poverty. When they actually go to school, they may be afflicted by any number of medical conditions (most commonly malnourishment). Many of these students have parents who are not supportive and many of whom haven’t been educated. Many students have home lives that require them to take care of siblings or to work in order to make ends meet for their families. Education is not usually their main prerogative. Also, these students may act out in class because of difficult circumstances at home. Furthermore, most teachers who have any kind of experience try to steer clear of towns like Central Falls. Thus the only teachers willing to take such an arduous task are those least suited to do so. And the carrot
GRAFIC BY Leah Lefkowitz/The Hoot
and stick system provided for by the No Child Left Behind Act means that towns like Central Falls don’t get the resources to perform well because they don’t meet state benchmarks. What we have in such places is a perfect combination of the worst possible circumstances. In these schools we have the least motivated and most reckless students being taught by the most inexperienced teachers at the most ill-equipped schools. Therefore, rather than firing all of the teachers and replacing them with what will most likely be a similar batch of even
less experienced teachers, we should try to change the system. We should provide fully funded schools for these children. If we’re going to replace the teachers, we should replace them with good teachers rather than teachers with less experience. Meanwhile we should subsidize good grades at these schools. Many other districts with poverty stricken students already employ this tactic. If we give these children an incentive to go to school and a good school to go to (including experienced teachers who know how to reach
them), they will be much more likely to succeed. With this, we can stop the tragedy of poverty and failure that plagues towns like Central Falls rather than simply changing the actors. The solution employed by the school board is a treatment for the symptoms and not the problem. Next year, the same problems will persist in Central Falls with an entirely new and inexperienced teaching staff. Instead, it’s time that we strike at the root of the problem and provide an environment where children actually succeed.
Altered Consciousness
Obama’s unproductive opinion on an impassive situation BY RICK ALTERBAUM Staff
Generally, I try to be as supportive of President Obama as I can. Although his administration’s performance has been slightly disappointing, I still believe that it can make a positive difference . However, I find myself consistently disapproving of its fundamentally misguided approach toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Obama and crew repeatedly assert that America is Israel’s best friend. They wax lyrical on the two countries’ shared values and commitment toward democracy, peace, human rights, and security. They talk about the strategic value of Israel, and how critical it is to have a reliable ally in the Middle East. This is all well and good. At the same time, Israel has faced a wave of systematic demonization and Anti-Zionist sentiment from countries and leaders from all around the world, especially since Operation Cast Lead, or its conflict in Gaza last winter. From Europe to the Arab Peninsula, it seems that the favorite past-time activity of the international community is to vilify the actions and even the identity and purpose of the Jewish state. Underlying these appalling and at times Anti-Semitic allegations is that Israel is illegitimate and that Zionism is an imperialistic and colonialist enterprise.
Not only has the Obama administration remained complicit in this condemnation, but it has reinforced it. At a time when Israel desperately needs the support of its historical ally, the American leadership has turned a cold shoulder, despite the fact that the American people have not. This accusation stems not from Obama’s stance on the issue I, which was what happened in Gaza last year. The 44th president has rightly condemned the inaccurate and highly biased Goldstone Report. Rather, it is based on Obama’s attitude toward Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Our commander-in-chief seems to think that the construction of settlements is the sole impediment to Middle East Peace. If only those evil Orthodox Jews abandoned their homes and their livelihoods, then we could partition Israel into a Jewish and Arab state and we would be living happily ever after. First of all, this is a politically infeasible and completely unrealistic demand. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, is the leader of the right-wing Likud Party, and draws much of his support from the settlers and their supporters. Secondly, Obama does not seem to appreciate the significance of a construction freeze being the precondition for negotiations, and
GRAFIC BY Leah Lefkowitz/The Hoot
not the final step towards establishing a solution for the conflict. If Netanyahu decides to commit political suicide by agreeing with the president, what concessions will he then have to make? Destroying the settlements? Completely giving up East Jerusalem? Ceding every territory that was acquired after the 1967 war? In fact, in my view, the Palestinians, who are probably encouraged by Obama’s stance, might not stop their demands until Israel is reduced to a mere parcel of land along the Mediterranean Sea. By then, the vision of Theodor Herzl and the other founders of Zionism will have been torn to shreds. Yet this is not even Obama’s most egregious error, which is that he has lionized and even martyred the Palestinians at the
expense of the Israelis. Rarely do we hear the American leader talk about what the Arabs would need to do to create peace. There is hardly a mention of how they would have to demilitarize and completely renounce Hamas and all forms of terrorism and violence against the Jewish state. Furthermore, Obama utterly ignores or is not aware of the history of the conflict. He fails to recognize how Arabs have consistently been far more obdurate than their Jewish counterparts. He overlooks how the Palestinians have continually rejected forms of compromise, from the 1947 United Nations. Partition Plan to the proposals made at the 2000 Camp David Summit. Additionally, he does not discuss how these people have usually been the aggressors in this
conflict, from the war for Israeli Independence to the Yom Kippur War; the Israeli army is called the Israeli Defense Forces for a reason. Instead, it would seem that the Palestinians are the innocent victims of a modern-day system of apartheid, and that they bear none of the blame in these disputes. Are the Israelis perfect? No. I would still support some limits on new settlements, considering what the rest of the world thinks of them. The government should do more to boost the Palestinian’s economy. And I do hope that one day the Arabs get a state, but under more reasonable terms. However, I expect better from Obama. He is consistently betraying not only a nation that needs his support, but his own constituents, who sympathize with Israel.
16 IMPRESSIONS
The book of Matthew
The Brandeis Hoot
March 19, 2010
Why should you trust Aramark?
BY BRET MATTHEW Editor
It’s sometimes easy to forget just how large Aramark is. Headquartered in Philadelphia, this massive organization of more than 250,000 full-time employees provides food and facilities to businesses, prisons, conventions, sporting events, and of course, colleges and universities. Though we often think of Aramark as simply a Brandeisian problem, ours is just one of the many places where that red logo—and the business practices that accompany it—has made its mark. Let me tell you a few stories about our notorious dining provider: In January, the Keller school district in Fort Worth, Texas negotiated a $1 million settlement with Aramark after accusing the company of “gross negligence.” According to the Fort Worth StarTelegram, the district accused Aramark of failing “to implement an effective system to prevent facilities and equipment from deteriorating or failing.” Aramark’s employees are not always its biggest fans either. In September of last year, about 100 demonstrators marched at the University of Southern California to protest Aramark’s unfair health insurance co-pay hikes. The copays had been 7.25 percent of workers’ paychecks until Aramark raised the rate to 25 percent. The following negotiations brought that down to 12 percent, but that wasn’t good enough for workers who were already having trouble paying to begin with. The company has even managed
to tick off entire state governments. In September 2008, Aramark terminated its contract with the Florida prison system after a rocky seven-year relationship. In 2008, the state fined Aramark $261,000 for allowing long lines and using excessive food substitutions—the company replaced all beef with ground turkey, resulting in cheaper, poorer quality meals. This is particularly bad practice at prisons, where the quality of food needs to be good enough to keep inmates satisfied and, more importantly, under control. But customers are not Aramark’s concern. The theme found here is simple: Aramark cuts costs wherever possible to maximize profit. The situation at Brandeis is no different. To be fair, we’ve had it easy here compared to other customers. Aramark has so far managed to avoid major legal disputes with Brandeis. But they are allowed to milk us for all we’re worth. I recently met with Nathan Ross,
GRAPHIC BY Allison Corman-Vogan/The Hoot
a student who was involved in investigating worker’s rights and Aramark last year. He agreed that Aramark’s primary concern is to turn the strongest possible profit, even if it means sacrificing quality. But he added that one of the ways Aramark does this is through artificial price inflation. A quick look at meal plan prices appears to back this up. Take, for example, the popular AllPoints Plan. For $2473, you can have $1400 in Aramark points, which puts the value of one point at $1.77. This is obviously a bad deal, especially when you consider the expensive food these points are going to be used for. The other meal plans operate the same way, forcing all students who do not have kitchens to pay a large
sum of money for a much smaller return. Aramark and the administration, ever vigilant about their PR, claims that this imbalance is necessary. They need the extra money, to pay not only for food, but also for labor costs, general dining hall maintenance, and the fact that students demand later hours for convenience. At first, these reasons seem valid—one cannot deny the various costs that go into running a dining establishment. But then again, every other food establishment has to deal with those costs as well. As a quick trip to Moody Street will show you, most restaurants can maintain their buildings without charging ridiculous prices. “A company could turn a
healthy profit while doing half of what Aramark does [to cut costs],” Nathan said. One has to wonder, then, what is being done with all its money. As Nathan pointed out, no one—especially students—really knows how Aramark spends its money here on campus. Aramark is a private company with a history of secrecy. Even the contract between it and Brandeis is kept confidential, to the point where only administration officials are allowed to see it. I would like to say that there is a legitimate reason for our dining system to work the way it does. I would like to say that Aramark and the administration really do have our best interests at heart. But how am I supposed to trust
Reviewing the Review Committee’s actions BY ALEX SCHNEIDER Editor
Many of us are frustrated with Washington these days. We speak of broken promises and weak leadership, powerful lobbyists who control policy agendas and congressmen who run perpetual reelection campaigns. I have never worked in Washington, and I certainly cannot pinpoint the exact reason why voters have lost confidence in their representatives. But during the last four months, I have been a part of a smaller attempt to make policy changes right here at Brandeis. We were not discussing health care, unemployment, or a war in Iraq–instead, our charge was to look at the Student Union Constitution and suggest changes that would benefit the entire student body. The recommendations we made would then need to be signed by ten senators and approved by two-thirds of student voters. Like our Washington leaders, however, we fell far short of representing our constituencies. The committee held regular meetings, but many of the members failed to show up. One alumni representative who lives
in Washington, D.C., participated only once via webcam, and even then, she did not remain online for the entire duration of the meeting. Of the committee members who made appearances, many did not represent the views of their entire constituencies, such as the representative for religious organizations and the representative of the intercultural community, both of whom represented a far more diverse constituency than they themselves could speak for. Overwhelmingly, only the representatives who had previously been active in the Union appeared knowledgeable about or interested in reform. Some representatives started with big ideas. Get rid of the whole thing and start again. No more secured clubs, no more presidents, no more senate. Not surprisingly, these big ideas amounted to all talk and little action. Even at our final meeting, these representatives spoke of large changes, even after four months when they had failed to introduce any written proposals. Other representatives mocked
the entire process, arguing that students do not actually care about Union government and that nothing would change that reality. Instead of focusing on ways to make the Union more accessible, they delayed meetings with uninformed comments. Committee meetings became a time to vent about problems with the Union rather than to make actual proposals. As is the case in Washington, everyone had a 30-second message, but few took the responsibility to see their ideas through to the end. Of all the changes the committee proposed, the largest changes are to restructure the Student Union government and to vote by Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). The troubling aspect to these changes is that they met little resistance in the committee. Government restructuring had the backing of the entire Union Executive Board and IRV made intuitive sense (after all, most of the Ivies are doing it). Unfortunately, committee members were instructed not to share specific proposals with campus media, meaning that few students had any knowledge
about these changes until recently. As a committee, we received no input about these proposals and heard no opposing viewpoints. No wonder the first change didn’t pass. The committee should also have included more students in more debates. While we held multiple town meetings (mostly at 11 a.m. on Saturday mornings), we never held one to specifically discuss the position of Senator for Racial Minority Students, even though many in the Union government promised to do so at last year’s Union Judiciary trial. The title of Representative for Historically Underrepresented Races was introduced to replace the old title without engaging the community about the merits of either the position or the title. As is the case with Washington politicians, blaming individuals for the failure of the group is difficult to do. I don’t blame the members of the committee who worked diligently to try to make substantive changes. Our committee received little advice from current Union members and no advice from former Constitution-
al Review Committee members, and many of us did not know what to expect. As the process moved on, what became apparent was that good ideas were being dismissed readily and the format was not conducive to a frank, inclusive discussion of issues. Then, time ran out. Instead, I blame the process. Sit three people around a table and you might come up with one good idea. Sit a dozen and the process moves much slower. Then add some students yelling about how when they were speaking someone else cut them off and you get a wasted meeting. Future review committees should follow these three simple rules: (1) Be inclusive of students, (2) require written proposals for everything, and (3) split up committee members into smaller groups. As Americans saw at Obama’s health care summit, sweaty men sitting around a table can argue, but little gets done. The only way to ensure a better process is to have honest, clear, and focused debates about issues that can be solved.
March 19, 2010
The Brandeis Hoot
IMPRESSIONS
17
Bordenough
China abuses human rights, yet again
BY CHRIS BORDELON Staff
This week, one of our favorite dictators continued their ongoing demonstration of how a bunch of all-around great guys can run a country where none of that annoying individual-rights stuff gets in their way. Ever so gently, and almost as quietly, British and American officials had prodded their Chinese counterparts to say something about the whereabouts of Gao Zhisheng, a Chinese lawyer who had criticized the dictators and specializes in human rights cases. Gao was last seen more than a year ago, when the dictators sent a jack-booted hospitality committee to his family’s home to take him to a new residence. There are times when each of us just wants to get away from it all, and the dictators decided to give Gao a chance to do just that. During previous detentions, Gao once disclosed, his hosts had hooked him up to their
electrified torture devices and shocked him. This time, they hooked him up with an extended vacation at a location rumored to be somewhere in China’s vast, remote Xinjiang province. On Tuesday, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Yang Jiechi told a press conference that “Gao Zhisheng has been sentenced for committing the crime of subverting state power.” Apart from a few officials working for those departments of the state that handle kidnapping, beating and torturing dissidents, and a few others who are a part of China’s joke of a judicial system, no one had known even that much about Gao. “His relevant rights based on [Chinese] law have been protected, so the question of torture does not exist,” added Yang. Yang couldn’t have put it better. In China, where judicially protected rights yield when the dictators want them to, one can be sure that Yang is as good as his word when he says that Gao’s rights weren’t violated. Telling the Western powers that their question “does not ex-
ist” doesn’t work for all dictators–if you’re ever hanging out in hell, just ask Saddam Hussein. But China finances the operations of our government. Moreover, during the 1990s, when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s husband was president, the so-called “Chinagate” campaign finance scandal showed the dictators not to be above greasing the palms of American politicians and political party leaders. When you’ve got that kind of influence, you can tell American politicians whatever you want. Being such good fellows, Yang and his dictatorial buddies have not contacted Gao’s wife, Geng He, or their two children with disturbing information about his whereabouts. They’re far away, having moved to the United States for their own safety. Although Geng said on Wednesday that she’d heard nothing from him, the considerate dictators probably reasoned that knowing too much about Gao’s detention might upset her. They did permit Gao to telephone his brother, who told a British Broadcasting Company
reporter that Gao was “fine.” Gao’s brother, however, was not fine with talking to the reporter for any length of time. “Please go home soon, don’t stay for too long,” he said, “because if the local authority finds out, it won’t be nice.” In Iraq, Afghanistan, and other countries, the US government has seen fit to use dictators’ mistreatment of their subjects as a pretext for war. In a nucleararmed country like North Korea, the US government has seen fit to use locals’ mistreatment as the basis for lots of toothless jawboning about human rights. But America’s nucleararmed creditor China can influence American officials in many ways–including by leaning on the greed-driven American companies that have patriotically invested their American-made profits in the People’s Republic– so the United States approaches human rights issues timidly. If American officials don’t enjoy openly discussing Chinese abuses, American companies seem positively happy to do business in a place where the
Impressionable Weekend comics and fun from The Hoot
The World of “Um”ing by Allison Corman-Vogan
Jumble by Cecilia Watkins
Sleazy by Matt Kupfer
only rights enforceable when the chips are down belong to dictators. Google’s logo has a range of colors to it, but the world will find out its managers’ true colors when the company decides in the near future whether to stay in China and resume censoring its searches or to leave and forfeit profits. Google’s willingness to censor at the Chinese government’s behest was far more typical of American business behavior than its more recent hesitation to continue doing so. In any case, returns to foreign capital in China are boosted by the trampling of a wide variety of human rights other than speech rights. Profits come first for everyone involved. They would be harder to make if Chinese dissidents and human rights lawyers had their way. It’s a lot easier to smile, nod and agree with Yang and other Chinese leaders that the extent to which the Chinese government abuses locals is of local concern
18 The Brandeis Hoot
SPORTS
March 19, 2010
PHOTO BY Andrew Rauner/The Hoot
Softball finishes second UAA Championships, split first home series BY HANNAH VICKERS Editor
The Brandeis softball team finished the University Athletic Association Championship on Sunday with the best conference ranking since 1999. With a 5-3 record in the conference, the Judges tied for second place with the Washington University of St. Louis Bears. The Emory University Eagles took the top spot after going 6-2. Their solid performance garnered attention by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA), who ranked Brandeis at No. 14. The Judges are now 8-4 overall. The Judges had to play a triple-header last Saturday and another game Sunday to finish out the Championship after two days of rainouts. After defeating the Bears 9-6 earlier in the week, the Judges completed their firstever season sweep of Wash. U with a 4-0 shutout win Saturday morning. Pitcher Emily Vaillette ’10 gave an amazing performance, allowing only four hits and putting up four strikeouts. Third baseman Brittany Grimm ’12, the second batter of the game, hit a solo homer to center field, her second homerun of the week off Bears pitching. The next run came in the third off an
RBI single by catcher Erin Ross ’10. The final scoring in the game took place in the fourth thanks to a bases-loaded single by shortstop Marianne Specker ’12. Unfortunately for Brandeis they could not keep their momentum going into the second game of the day when they faced the Rochester University Yellowjackets. Despite getting four hits off Rochester pitcher Sara Hutchinson ’12, the Judges could not get a run on the board and fell 5-0. The Yellowjackets completed all their scoring in the first two innings, including a three run homer in the first. The last game on Saturday was against Emory, a continuation of a game earlier in the week that was suspended after the top of the first inning. Vaillette kept the Eagles to just two runs and eight hits in four innings. Brandeis was not able to get more than a single run against the Eagles pitching, however, and lost the matchup 3-1. The one run of the game was in the fifth. Right fielder Carly Schmand ’11 hit a ground ball to the pitcher, scoring pinch-runner Casey Ducinski ’13 from third. The Judges finished out their Florida series with a win against the Case Western Reserve University Spartans, securing their second place position with a 5-1 victory.
In a turnaround from the last two game Brandeis cranked out 10 hits and drew seven walks. Grimm, classmate centerfielder Lauren Porcaro, and leftfielder Chelsea Korp ’10 each had two hits on the way to the win. Relief pitcher Keliann Kirby ’12 struck out two of the three batters she faced in the seventh to close out the game. Brandeis returned from their successful road trip with a 7-3 record overall to play a double-header against the Wellesley College Blue on Wednesday. The 14th ranked Judges split the day, dropping the opening game 9-7 before coming back to take the second game in a 6-3 win in five innings. Wellesley got on the board in the top of the first with a solo homerun to centerfield but Brandeis answered back in the bottom with an RBI double by DP Stacy Berg ’13 and a two-run single by Ross. The Blue had a big fourth inning, scoring eight runs on six hits and three errors. By the end of the frame they held a 9-4 lead over their hosts. The Judges came back in the bottom of the seventh, tacking on three runs and four hits. With Korp on third and Grimm on second, Specker singled to the right side for an RBI and advanced Grimm to third. Berg came to the place and knocked one through to left field, landing her at first
and bringing Specker and Grimm home to make it a 9-7 game. Brandeis was not able to get any closer, though, and left three runners on base. In the second game the Judges got out to an early lead in the bottom of the first on one hit. Grimm and Berg walked off an illegal pitch on ball four. Berg stole second to put both runners in scoring position and thanks to a double by Ross Brandeis took a 2-0 lead. The Blue fought back with two-run homer in the next inning to tie things up. Things would not stay that way for long, though. Brandeis scored the game winning runs in the bottom of the frame. Schmand got on base off a one-out error and advanced to second on a groundout. Second baseman Melisa Cager ’11 drew a walk before Grimm had an RBI single to bring Schmand home. Two wild pitches by the Blue gave the Judges a 4-2 lead. Wellesley was able to get one more run on the night, but two more by the Judges secured their 6-3 win before the game was called in the fifth inning due to darkness. Brandeis will play a double header on Tuesday at Suffolk before returning home for a double header against Lasell next Thursday.
Men’s basketball ends the season in the Elite Eight BY HANNAH VICKERS Editor
The Brandeis men’s basketball team reached the sectionals, or the Elite Eight, in the NCAA Division III Championship last Saturday where they fell to the hosting Williams College Ephs 71-57. The Class of 2010 will graduate as the winningest seniors in school history, taking part in 83 wins, four NCAA berths and two appearances in the Elite Eight. The Judges continued their playoff run last Friday when they faced off against the Rhode Island College Anchormen in the Sweet Sixteen round of play. It was an extremely close game, with four ties and nine lead changes before Brandeis was able to pull through for the win. Three of the ties and four lead changes happened in the first half as the two teams traded baskets to open up the contest. Just over seven minutes in Rhode Island held a nine-point lead, 20-11, over Brandeis.
The Judges went on a 12 point unanswered run in less than five minutes to take a 23-20 lead over the hosts. During the run forward Terrell Hollins ’10 put up four points while forward Vytas Kriskus ’12 had six off the bench. The Anchormen started to push back, tying things up with 3:15 left to play in the first half at 26 a piece. Brandeis tacked on another six in the half but a foul shot by Rhode Island Jake Grimes put them ahead 34-33 at the half. Rhode Island started out the second with a five point run to pull ahead 39-33. Guard Kenny Small ’10 went on a one-man run, snagging seven straight points to retake the lead by a single point. The Anchormen responded again to take a 42-40 lead before Brandeis went on another run, this time throwing up 10 straight points to take a 5142 lead. Grimes scored all 13 points of the Anchormen’s response, including three 3-pointers, to take a 55-53 advantage with 10:42 left to play. Brandeis took a single
point lead, 59-58, again with just over seven minutes remaining to play. The Judges offense and defense went into overdrive in the last minutes, closing things out on an 18-6 run to finish things up with a 76-65 victory. Small and Hollins each had 20 point.s Hollins also had 16 rebounds. This was the 14th double-double of the season for Hollins, splitting things pretty evenly with 11 points and eight rebounds in the first half and nine and eight in the second. Kriskus finished close behind with 19 points in 27 minutes off the bench. Guard Andre Roberson ’10 led the Judges with four steals while Tyrone Hughes ’12 had four assists. With the win, Brandeis moved on to face Williams, the second ranked team, on Saturday night. The Judges kicked things off by taking a nine point lead, 21-12, in the first nine minutes. Hughes had six points during the run while Small put up five and Roberson added four. Unfortunately for Brandeis, the hosting
Williams could not be quieted that easily. The Ephs fought back to within a single point, sitting at 22-21 with less than eight left in the first half before taking their first lead at 26-25 just over three minutes later. Williams continued their run. Guard John Weldon ’10 nailed two shots from the line for Brandeis with 41 seconds on the clock to bring the game within two before a trifecta by the Ephs with eight seconds remaining gave them a 35-30 lead. Hollins ran the length of the floor to keep the game within three, nailing one in at the buzzer to make the game 35-32. Brandeis kept the pressure up for most of the second, forcing five ties and four lead changes, including a three-pointer by Roberson to open the half with a tie game. The Judges had pulled ahead by three, holding onto a 44-41 lead six and a half minutes in before yet another tie pulled them down. The teams traded baskets and Brandeis climbed within one, trailing 53-52, with 5:30 remaining.
March 19, 2010
The Brandeis Hoot
Baseball wraps up UAA tournament play, returns home with win BY KARA KARTER Editor
With Opening Day just around the corner, Major League teams are warming up for the upcoming season under the glow of Florida sun. For a few days, the Brandeis baseball team joined their major league idols in the Sunshine State. While Grapefruit Leaguers were fighting for roster spots, the Judges were fighting for bragging rights. From March 9 to 14, Sanford, an Orlando suburb, played host to the University Athletic Association’s annual tournament. The UAA title went to the Rochester University Yellowjackets, who played their way to a 4-1 record. The Judges flipped the numbers, finishing at 1-4. They most recently claimed a share of the UAA championship (with Emory) in the 2008 season. After kicking off the session with a disappointing loss to Emory last Tuesday, the Judges rebounded in a positive way, defeating rival Washington University by a 13-11 margin. The Judges then dropped a heartbreaker, relinquishing a 4-3 lead before ultimately falling 12-5 to the Case Western Reserve Spartans. After a pair of rainouts, the Judges returned to the diamond last Saturday. Their opponent, high powered Rochester. Immediately after losing their only game of the tournament (a 16-14 slugfest to Wash U.), the Yellowjackets poured on the offense in a seven inning affair. Rochester got on the board right away, totaling two runs on a couple of run-scoring singles in the top of the first. Unable to escape a bases-loaded jam in the second, the Judges saw Rochester put up six more scores, including a two-run homer from Yellowjacket catcher Casey Storme ’12. Brandeis responded with its lone tally, an RBI single from shortstop Sean O’Hare ’12 in the bottom of the third. Thereafter, Rochester pitcher Nate Kowal ’13 shut the door. He allowed only one more base runner on route to a complete game three-hitter and an 11-1 win. The following day, Brandeis would have a chance to avenge its earlier loss to Emory. Pitcher Drew Brzozowski ’10 looked solid in the top of the first, striking out the side. The Judges again were victimized by the longball. A two-run-blast from Dan Molnar ’10 put Emory up a pair in the second. It was a lead the Eagles would never relinquish. Brandeis would get on the board in the top of the fourth. After Tony Deshler ’11 picked up a one-out single, Chris Ferro ’13 drove a pitch to center, scoring the junior third baseman. Ferro would come home on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Artie Posch ’10. Emory reclaimed the two runs in the bot-
tom of the frame. They would go on to score six more times in the next two innings, as the Eagles soared to a 12-5 victory. Jonathan Reilly ’12 and Kevin O’Connor ’12 joined Molnar in the home run club, launching solo and two-run shots respectively. Posch would pick up one more RBI with a single down the line in the top of the sixth. Senior James Likis drove in a pair of his own, smacking a pinch-hit single to center in the Brandeis seventh. Zach Wooley ’11 also took advantage of a spot plate appearance, doubling to lead off the ninth in his one at-bat. Another bright spot for the Judges was the play of pitcher Kyle Ritchie ’10. Coming on in relief in the sixth inning, Ritchie struck out six of the twelve hitters he faced in 2.2 scoreless innings of work. Over their five games, Ferro piloted the Judges with a .375 (6-for-16) average and 6 RBIs while Nick Cortese ’13 finished the tournament hitting .353 (6-17) with three runs batted in. Brzozowski led all UAA pitchers with 11 strikeouts, while Ritchie whiffed 10 of his own. The Judges returned home on Thursday, March 18 to take on the Bridgewater State Bears (5-2). Though they ultimately arrived at a 10-9 victory, if the Judges were jetlagged at the start, it showed. Homers from Ian Williams ’11 and Tom Couet ’10 helped Bridgewater State jump out to an early 4-0 advantage. The lead would be erased just as quickly. A sacrifice fly and RBI fielder’s choice cut the lead in half before Ferro delivered a bomb of his own, evening the score at 4-all. The teams traded three-spots in the fifth before Ferro–coming up big in another key situation–slapped a sixth inning single to second to give Brandeis an 8-7 edge. Despite finding himself in a jam in each of the subsequent innings, reliever Brzozowski was able to escape without damage by way of the strikeout. With the bases loaded in the seventh, the senior pitcher fanned Couet; with two on in the eighth, he punched out the Bears’ Matt Greenberg ’10. Brzozowski could only escape trouble for so long. With the Judges up 9-7 and two outs away from victory, the Concord, Mass. native again showed his susceptibility to the long ball, allowing a game-tying home-run to Bridgewater rookie Tyler Dennis ’13. Luckily for Brandeis and Brzozowski, the Judges would walk-off to a win. After being hit-by-a-pitch, stealing a base, and advancing to third on an error, right-fielder Zach Malis ’12 scored the winner on a Deshler groundout. With the 10-9 win, the Judges now sit at 3-7 overall (1-4 in conference play). They travel to Salem State on Monday to take on the 3-3 Vi-
SPORTS
19
Chapin and Hollins honored BY HANNAH VICKERS Editor
Forward Terrell Hollins ’10 from the Brandeis men’s basketball team along with women’s basketball guard Jessica Chapin ’10 have been honored by d3hoops.com this week when they were named to the Second Team All-Northeast Region. In addition, the New England Women’s Basketball Association named Chapin first-team All-New England, the second time the NEWBA has named her an All-Star. She now qualifies for All-America honors from the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association and d3hoops. com. Chapin was also selected to participate in the NEWBA Senior All-Star game at Western New England College on March 27. Chapin led the UAA in scoring this year with an average of 16.9 points per game and was second in the league in assist-to-turnover ration at 1.6 and minutes played with 32 on average per game. She finished with 46 trifectas on the season, putting her in third place as well as fourth in steals per game and free-throw percentage with 2.2 and 75.9 percent respectively. Chapin set three school records this season. She had 167 career threepointers and in a game against Carnegie Mellon on Feb. 7, she set the record for most points in a game (36) and most threes in a game (seven). She is the only player in school
history to rank in the top 10 in points (1,280, sixth), rebounds (521, eighth), assists (262, sixth), and steals (243, third). Chapin put up an impressive 405 points this season, only the fourth time in Brandeis history a player has scored 400 points or more in a year. Hollins has been chosen to play in the inaugural National Association of Basketball Coaches’ Senior All-Star Game in Salem, Virginia this Saturday, March 20 at 10:30 a.m. Hollins was a first-team All-UAA selection and is now eligible for his first All-America honor. This season Hollins led the team and the UAA with 10.4 rebounds per game and had a league-high 14 double-doubles, including two in the NCAA tournament. He averaged 14.3 points per game. Hollins finished his career with 1,191 career points, putting him 18th on the Brandeis list. He sits in sixth place in school history with 706 rebounds while his 303 this season put him in a tie for third-highest single-season total. He has averaged .584 in field-goal percentage to put him fifth all-time. Hollins is ranked 14th all time in assists (216) and 13th in steals (103). Hollins is one of only two players in school history with 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists, and 100 steals. Hollins, along with the Class of 2010, are the only players in Brandeis history to reach the NCAA tournament for all four years.
Five women runners represent Brandeis at NCAA tournament BY HANNAH VICKERS Editor
Five members of the Brandeis women’s indoor track and field team traveled to Greencastle, Indiana last weekend to represent the Judges in the 2010 NCAA Division III Championships in the distance medley relay and the high jump. Suzanne Bernier ’10 qualified for the high jump at the Reggie Poyau Invitational at Brandeis in January when she set a school record with a jump of 1.67 meters (5-feet, 5 ¾ inches). That jump qualified her by .02 meters. In the Championships last weekend Bernier tied for 13th after clearing the opening height of 1.56 meters on her first attempt and making the 1.61 meter mark on her third try. “It was a great experience,” Bernier told
The Hoot. The 4000m distance medley relay team was comprised of Beth Pisarik ’10, Anifreed Sinjour ’13, Emily Owen ’11 and classmate Grayce Selig. After sitting in the top six throughout the race, Selig pushed ahead on the anchor leg to give the Judges a solid third place finish. Their overall time of 11:52.94 was 2.5 seconds behind the national champion St. Thomas and 1.31 seconds behind second place Winsconsin-Eau Claire. Brandeis was almost four seconds faster than the College of New Jersey which placed fourth. The podium finish for the Judges earned them All-America honors. With the indoor season over, Brandeis is looking ahead to the outdoor season. Both the men and women will open things up two weeks from Saturday, April 3, at the Tufts Invitational.
20 The Brandeis Hoot
HOOT SCOOPS
March 19, 2010
Housing Lottery by the numbers By Destiny D. Aquino, Editor
Due to logistical changes by which students can live in newly renovationed Charles River Appartments, this years housing lottery was as unpredictable as ever. Here’s a roundup of how it went:
NEW SYSTEM Lottery numbers did not necessarily dictate the order in which students chose their rooms. This year’s system allowed students whose first choice was not the most popular for their year to circumvent the line and choose their housing before other students who were trying to receive the more popular housing. Because of this, students waiting for the more popular housing choice could be left without choice spots because less popular housing was already filled with students who had worse numbers then theirs. “We’ve refined it from year to year and we’ll find out how to make it go more smoothly as a process,”Director of Community Living Jeremy Leiferman, said.
STUDY ABROAD Students studying abroad next year were able to choose between rooms in the Village, where this year’s study abroad students lived, and four suites in Ziv Quad, a new option for this year.
SOPHOMORES For sophomores, the option of living in Village A, which was new this year, went as quickly as the traditionally popular Rosenthal Quad. By lottery number 215 only rooms in Castle and East Quads remained available. One completely new option for sophomore room selection this year was that an entire floor of East was set aside for a living-learning community. Students applied to these communities before housing selection and did not have to participate in selection as theywere chosen to live in these places based on the information in their application before lottery numbers were dealt.
UPPERCLASSMEN In an anomaly from tradition, the student with 1,001 (the equivalent of number one for upperclassmen) chose a Charles River suite. The choice can perhaps be attributed to the announcement last month that the quad will be renovated for the 2010-2011 academic year. Still, suites in Ridgewood Quad were gone by number 56. All of Ridgewood A was also made into a senior-only living-learning community this year. As for sophomores, students in this community had their housing secured before regular room selection, and left the rest of their peers with fewer options. Living-learning communities also decreased the options in Ziv Quad with an entire floor (three suites) of one building being set aside for a junior-only community. The first night of housing for upperclassmen ended at number 1,170. At that time, there were 14 suites up for grabs in Ziv Quad, four six-person Mods available and the majority of Charles River Apartments. Ziv suites were gone shortly after lottery number 1,250. At number 1,660 only singles in Ziv and Charles River were left. At number 1,727 only singles in Charles River were available. The waitlist for juniors and seniors–who are not guaranteed housing–began at number 1,750 the waitlist. Lottery numbers went through 2,300. “Brandeis just has to do better,” Minority Senator JV Souffant ’13 said. PHOTOS BY Andrew Rauner/The Hoot
LUCK OF THE DRAW: (Above) Students check in at room selection this week. (Below) Juniors and Seniors looked for housing in the Charles River Appartments Thursday night at room selection in Sherman Function hall. The Charles River Appartments will be renovated over the summer in time for the beginning of the 2010-2011 academic year.