VOL 7, NO. 14
SEPTEMBER 24, 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
Flasher visits Harlan Chapel for second time
Secured clubs gain, others make do with less
BY JON OSTROWSKY Editor
BY NATHAN KOSKELLA Editor
Chartered clubs received 42 percent of requested funds from the Student Union Finance Board, a decrease from 68.7 percent last fall. Secured organizations, or those guaranteed to receive a certain baseline funding by the Union Constitution, meanwhile received an additional $55,000, according to Student Union Treasurer Akash Vadalia ’11. The additional funding for secured clubs is one of many reasons for the decrease in allocations to unsecured clubs. Vadalia said there are “at least five” reasons, “from the cost of the new website, [$10,000]; the fact that there are more clubs; they requested a larger amount of money than last year’s; and last year’s budget having to borrow from this year’s,” in addition to the secured organizations’ increases. This year, 30 additional clubs requested funds from the Student Union Finance Board, resulting in a 32 percent increase in total requests. More than 150 clubs requested $463,000 during the marathon period. Vadalia explained that the decrease in funding for unsecured clubs can, in part, be attributed to a financial error on the part of the board. “Last year, we assumed that clubs would spend about 80 percent of the money we had allocated,” which would allow for some funds to roll over into the Fall 2010 fund, Vadalia said. “But clubs spent almost 100 percent last year.” As a result, the Finance Board used funds for Fall 2010 to pay for club activities in the spring. Secured clubs, which must be approved by the student body in a vote in order to become financially secure, still appear before the F-board and use only their Constitutionally defined amount as a “baseline,” Vadalia said. (The Justice is an exception to See FUNDING, p. 4
THIS WEEK:
WA LT H A M , M A
PHOTO BY Max Shay/The Hoot
FLASHER: A naked man has been seen twice in one month inside the empty Harlan Chapel.
Witnesses saw a naked man standing inside an empty Harlan Chapel for the second time in less than a month late Monday afternoon, Ed Callahan, director of university public safety said. In response to the incident, the university has added uniformed and plain-clothes patrol officers and activated electronic key card access to all three chapels on campus. The suspect was a “black male in his 20s with close-cropped hair” and matches the description of the suspect in a similar incident on Aug. 26, the first day of classes, according to a statement from Callahan. “Something like this should not happen outside or inside a place of worship,” Callahan said, explaining that the action was especially offensive due to the location where it occured. The man was standing without any clothes on inside the chapel
facing towards Loop Road and in the first incident, the witnesses notified authorities immediately. This week, the witnesses waited until Tuesday to inform campus police. “Our responsibility is to educate and inform of any suspicious occurrences that could impact the community,” Callahan said. The university has also informed the Waltham Police Department about the incident and is investigating it. Considering the similarities of both occurrences, Callahan said it is “possible that it’s the same individual.” Paul Bae ’13 told The Hoot he saw two individuals matching the description of the suspect walking outside on the sidewalk by the chapels, and that “they didn’t seem like people related to the school.” Bae could not recall whether See FLASHER, p. 6
Brandeis alumni document Costa Rican peace culture BY MORGANA RUSSINO Staff
Brandeis alumni Jonah Cohen ’10, Alex Epps ’10 and Ned Crowley ’10 screened their documentary film campus on Tuesday. “State of Peace” was filmed this past summer in Costa Rica after Crowley and Cohen were awarded a $10,000 grant from the Kathryn W. Davis Projects For Peace. Costa Rica has had universal health care and no standing army since 1948; it was also voted the happiest country in the world. But like any other country, Costa Ricans are confronted with problems of violence, according to the documentary. Because the country does not have the money to control the regulation of such things as drug trafficking, many citizens have decided to make a difference by advocating peace. “State of Peace” follows the peace movements throughout Costa Rica, primarily in schools. Rather than trying to end the country’s violence with more violence, Costa Ricans are educating their citizens about peace.
Cracking down on TV crime shows
PHOTO BY Max Shay/The Hoot
Through funding given by the Rasur Foundation, peace education has made its way into the local schools. With peace education, children can practice peace with the goal of spreading it to other generations. After nearly three years of litigation, the country’s president, Oscar Arias, signed the Peace Education Law on Sept. 15, 2009, a large step towards teaching all Costa Ricans peace education.
Arts , page 10
However, children aren’t the only ones receiving it. In the Academy for Peace, teachers are also being trained on how to teach peace. Through the two-part method of coherence and connection, adults are also learning how they can make a difference through peace education. So far, 600 teachers have been trained in at least 17 different schools. Cohen, Epps and Crowley portrayed Costa Rica as a country full
One tall alumnus Impressions, page 15
of peaceful yet proactive people, eager to make a lasting change in their society. One teacher noted, “I wish peace was a fundamental subject.” Last year, only two Brandeis student projects were selected to receive the award. The other student, Shaina Gilbet ’10, traveled to Haiti to document Empowering Through Education (ETE), a summer camp that she founded herself.
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