The Brandeis Hoot - 11/12/2010

VOL 7, NO. 18

NOVEMBER 12, 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

Two students assaulted in separate South St incidents October victim never reported attack to police

BY JON OSTROWSKY Editor

A female Brandeis student suffered head and facial injuries during an assault and unarmed robbery on South Street Tuesday evening, Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan said. But a male Brandeis student told The Hoot he was also assaulted in a separate incident on Oct. 30 on Bedford Street and did not notify police.

Callahan said that a secondary source told him about an assault near South Street over Halloween weekend although he was unable to confirm the incident.

In the Oct. 30 attack, around 12 a.m., the victim told The Hoot, he thought it was not worth it to call the police. During the second assault, on Tuesday evening, the victim notified the Waltham Police but the suspects fled the scene after the attack, Callahan said.

A male Brandeis student walking on Bedford St. early on Oct. 30 said three men followed him,

BY NATHAN KOSKELLA Editor

PHOTO BY Max Shay/The Hoot

HEADING SOUTH: A female student walking alone on South Street at 10:30 p.m. was assaulted and robbed on Tuesday in front of the Stanley Elementary School.

began fighting and then jumped him, hitting him to the ground.

None of his possessions were stolen because they were inside

his car, he said. He described the three suspects as two black males and one white male who “looked like townies.”

“This is where we live for the majority of the year, we See ASSAULT, p. 4

Professor Noam Chomsky makes waves at Brandeis ‘Israel Occupation Awareness Week’

BY JON OSTROWSKY Editor

Noam Chomsky, MIT Linguistics Professor and world renowned activist, labeled the United States and Israel as “rejectionist states” that refuse to join the entire world’s opposition of Israel’s “occupied territories” in a lecture to the Brandeis Community inside Sherman Function Hall Thursday evening.

“Within the occupied territories, it [the situation] is much worse than apartheid,” he said, adding that in much of Israel there is “discrimination, but its not apartheid.”

Chomsky, an author of many books about linguistics, philosophy and foreign policy, told an audience inside the over-filled room that there are two fundamental choices in Israeli politics.

There is “the occupation or the political settlement that has been the international

THIS WEEK:

US Supreme Court case could sway univ patents

consensus for 35 years.” He expressed optimism that the United States and Israel may one day shift their attitudes, but cautioned that if not, the conflict will endure.

Chomsky’s talk was one of several events during Israel Occupation Awareness Week sponsored by Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace.

Other students, including some in the Brandeis Zionist Alliance, organized tabling in the Usdan Student Center and an Israeli cultural event on Monday as part of Israel Peace Week.

“We trust that students will show respect for our guests and take to heart Tzipi Livni’s advice: criticism of Israel does not constitute a threat, unless it seeks to deny its right to exist,” Larry Sternberg, executive director of Brandeis Hillel, wrote in an e-mail to members See CHOMSKYp. 5

Brandeis through the years

Features, page 6

The United States Supreme Court decided last week to hear a Stanford University patent case after a brief filed by many other colleges, including Brandeis, urged the court to accept it.

The case would determine the true ownership of inventions created at universities with government funds, according to Senior Vice President Judith Sizer, the university’s general counsel.

“Under the Bayh-Dole Act, universities have owned the title of inventions by their faculty or [post-doctoral researchers] as the institution of research,” Sizer said. Currently, Brandeis earns $1.6 million annually from technology licensing.

Passed in 1980 to provide order to the research patent system, Bayh-Dole has ensured that universities maintain the rights to market the inventions.

But the recent Stanford case has put the crux of Bayh-Dole in jeopardy.

Stanford sued a biotech company, Roche Molecular Systems, Inc., for patent infringement after the company used a contract signed with the inventor, a Stanford professor.

A district judge in California threw out Roche’s claims to the product, a chemical method for judging the success of HIV drugs.

The judge said Roche’s contract was invalid because the technology was not the professor’s to sign away.

On Roche’s appeal, the intellectual property chamber of federal circuit court reversed the decision.

“This sent the academic research community into a tailspin,” Sizer said, adding that if a professor could sign away technology, the ownership universities have in order to get other investments in technology would be lost.

While a significant portion of the university’s $1.6 million in licensing revenue comes from the widely known Smart Balance

PHOTO BY Max Shay/The Hoot

Conversations in hell Arts, Etc. page 11

See SCOTUS, p. 3

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November 12, 2010

Board requests deferred maintenance proposal

BY ARIEL WITTENBERG Editor

The board of trustees requested at their bi-annual meeting last month that Brandeis prepare plans to fix the estimated $170 million in deferred maintenance needs the university currently has.

Deferred maintenance refers to renovations or repairs that the university has deemed necessary but which it has not done due to financial reasons, Senior Vice President of Administration Mark Collins explained.

“When you are at home, you don’t hear about deferred maintenance, you just hear that something needs to get fixed,” he said.

Part of the challenge facing the university is the age of many of its buildings. An average building is supposed to have a shelf-life of 40 years before it needs major renovations, and at Brandeis 54 buildings are more than 40 years old.

“You have to think of a building as a car,” Collins said. “You need to maintain it as you go along, but at some point, no matter how good care you take of it, the car gets old. Then you either sink money into keeping an antique car, or you go out and buy a new model.”

The Linsey Pool is an example of the troubles a financial crisis can cause for buildings. Closed in Oct. 2008 for heating and ventalation problems, the Linsey Pool has sat stagnant for more than two years because of a lack of funds to repair it.

“As of right now, we have three options for the pool: We could keep it closed, which nobody wants; spend $2.5 to $3 million

to open it as a recreational practice pool; or we could spend $20 to $25 million to build a new one,” Collins said. “The problem with the last two options is they require resources we don’t have.”

The pool is not the only building suffering from the financial crisis. In March the ceiling and wall of a Schwartz Hall dorm room in the Castle Quad caved in, scattering metal, drywall and concrete. The Castle, and many other dorms on campus, have also had numerous leaks in the past year whenever there are heavy rains.

“It is no secret the castle needs a lot of work,” Collins said in an interview Monday. “I would bet after this week of rain there would be at least one or two spots that leak in there.

“The building is safe, and no one should be worrying about catastrophes happening,” Collins added, saying that work was done on the building over the summer, including the renovations of bathrooms in E Tower.

“But right now we are just chasing water, investigating, patching and repairing. We need something more substantial.”

Both the pool and the Castle are on what Collins calls a “critical” list of buildings that need large-scale repairs. Also on the list are the library and the Slosberg Music Center. In the months leading to this spring’s board of trustees meeting, Collins and his staff, along with the senior administration, will be making a schedule for renovations to be presented to the board.

Renovating the Castle would be challenging logistically because of the building’s unique

BY JOSH KELLY Staff

PHOTO BY Yuan Yao/The Hoot

FIX’ER UPPER: The Castle is on the administration’s ‘critical list’ for buildings in need of renovations.

architecture. “A Castle renovation would not be like a normal renovation or the renovation of Charles River, it is more complex,” Collins said. “But you can’t replace it because it is iconic.”

While Castle renovations would consist primarily of roof and masonry work, renovations of other critical campus buildings, like Slosberg or the library, would require an overhaul of the

energy systems, which would give the university the opportunity to become more energy efficient and “green.”

But with financial woes, making the list will not be easy. Last year the university spent $9 million renovating the Charles River apartments last year. The apartments, which house 351 beds, are already paying for See RENOVATIONS, p. 4

With dinner, students raise funds for Pakistan relief effort

BY MORGAN GROSS Staff

Project Nur and The Brandeis Pluralism Alliance held “A Night for Pakistan” Monday to celebrate Pakistani culture and raise money to offset the effects of the floods in Pakistan this past summer.

Event attendees were greeted by a spread of traditional foods including vegetable samosas, savory curry cupcakes and mango lassi.

The event included a variety of acts, including spoken word performances by Associate Dean of Student Life Jamele Adams, who showcased one piece and Usman Hameedi ’12, the evening’s featured poet.

At the beginning of his set, Hameedi confessed that many people who are familiar with his work often criticize that he only does “angry Muslim poems.”

However, during the course of his set, Hameedi proved this generalization wrong with beautiful

PHOTO BY Ingrid Schulte/The Hoot

SPEAKING UP: Dean of Student Life Jamele Adams performs spoken word at the Pakistan relief dinner Monday.

poems ranging in topics from the Hindi ceremony Holi to his former loves.

Next in the program was Berklee College of Music senior, Ehssan Karimi. The Seattle native performed a captivating set of songs on the Hang drum, a

BZA shows Israeli culture through food

UFO shaped construction. The Hang was created in Switzerland with the intention of creating a modification of the steel drum made to be played with hands instead of mallets. It is made of a metal dome with a series of divots that are tapped to create different

pitches, while the dome itself is tapped to keep rhythm.

All in attendance were transfixed by the musical stylings of the Hang including Kathy Lawrence who, according to her husband, future president Frederick Lawrence was “rocking out” to the beat.

Once Frederick Lawrence was done reveling in Karimi’s music, which he referred to as “transcultural,” he delivered a compelling speech about the importance of taking action to aid Pakistan, saying “if it is something that we can do, it is something that we must do.”

He urged the student body to “remember nights like tonight,” when students of many backgrounds came together to serve a common cause because they will be some of the most significant nights of our college experience.

Lawrence’s speech served as an introduction to the evening’s keynote speaker, Kamran Pasha, See PAKISTAN, p. 4

The Brandeis Zionist Association held their annual musical social event, “Israel Gourmet Buffet,” Monday in Ridgewood Commons. Taking place during Israeli Occupation Awareness Week, the event was a break from politics and showcased the culture of Israel by listening to Israeli music and eating a variety of Israeli foods.

In the spirit of celebrating culture, all around the walls were posters with facts about Israel.

On one poster labeled “AngloSaxon Israel,” it was written that there are approximately 110,000 North American immigrants living in Israel. Another poster praised Israel’s support of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transexual rights, including same-sex common law marriage and adoption rights. Still another poster instead focused on acting, describing the achievements of Makran Khoury, an Israeli actor.

The real feature was the food.

Benny Sternberg ’14 explained his joy when he said, “I love food! And Israeli food is the best kind!”

Various cultures were represented with their food. There was Israeli hummus and pita bread, Moroccan lemon cake, Yemenite eggplant salad, Charedi potato kugel, and, of course, peanut butter and fluff sandwiches, representing the Anglo-Saxons who have immigrated to Israel.

Along with this, the organization also was advertising their current fundraiser, “Save a Child’s Heart,” an Israeli-based humanitarian aid project. The basic idea, Tamar Schneck ’13 of BZA said, is to try to raise money to help children with heart issues in underdeveloped countries who would not be able to get heart transplants otherwise.

There was a table set up asking for dollar donations with a variety of colorful construction paper to make cards to send to the children.

Rachel Goutman ’12, the head of BZA, described that the purpose of the event was to show a “cultural Israel.” She said that the purpose was to show Israel in a different light, rather than just focusing on the politics.

However, the event was just one of the first Israel-focused events of the week, and there were various reactions about the rest of the events planned for Israeli Occupation Awareness Week.

After being asked if he would attend these events, Sternberg responded that he wanted to hear the other side even if he would not agree with it.

“I’d like to say that I do not support those events, but I’m going to view the not so good opinions about Israeli government,” he said.

November 12, 2010

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BEMCo teaches Rothchild advocates divestment from Israel campus AED use

BY DEBBY BRODSKY Staff

Six automated external defibrillators (AED) were installed around campus this week, and the Brandeis Emergency Medical Corps (BEMCo) is offering a two-and-a-half hour class for students, faculty and staff on AED and CPR training.

An AED unit is a life-saving device designed to be used with minimal training, Daniel Saxe ’12, BEMCo’s director of operations, said.

An AED is roughly the size of a laptop, and weighs three pounds. It analyzes the patient’s heart rhythm and, if necessary, guides the user through delivering a shock, and continues to guide the user through rescue breathing and chest compressions. The goal of the AED is to provide the highest quality CPR possible.

There are 65 students trained as BEMCo emergency responders at Brandeis that are all certified by the state of Massachusetts as EMTs. And while BEMCo has a response time of one minute and 41 seconds and is equipped with two emergency response vehicles, their goal is to prepare the entire Brandeis community in case of a cardiac arrest emergency.

“It is the standard for every mall and public school to have an AED, and now Brandeis is one of the first universities in the area to have publically accessible AEDs,” Saxe said.

The CPR and AED training class taught by BEMCo offers a two-year certification, is free of charge, counts as one Physical Education credit and has received an enormous response so far.

One of the most important aspects of the six public AEDs is their locations.

“From anywhere on main campus, you can get to an AED by foot in as little as two to three minutes,” said Saxe. The AEDs are located in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium, Hassenfeld Conference Center, Usdan near the Department of Community Living, Mandel Center for the Humanities, Heller and Lemberg Academic Center (IBS).

“The finances were not a question; the money was earmarked for this community project,” Director of Public Saftety Ed Callahan said. “As a private institution, it is encouraged to have AEDs available, and it is equally essential that they are accessible. We are also getting an AED for 60 Turner Street, the Brandeis Adult Learning Center,” Callahan said.

According to Saxe, BEMCo’s goal is for Brandeis to become a “heart-safe campus.” A heart-safe campus is one in which students and staff have been trained in CPR and AED usage, and defibrillators have been made accessible and available to the community. While the CPR and AED training course is available to students, “in all reality,” Saxe said, “students are gone in four years. It’s the faculty and staff who really need to be trained.”

The idea to make Brandeis a “heart-safe campus,” was proposed by Saxe and Kassandra Gibbs ’12, administrator on BEMCo’s executive board. The decision to fund the six new defibrillators was made in July by Callahan and

by Senior Vice President for Administration Mark Collins. “We want to instill an interest in the Brandeis community to be proactive for things that might happen, like cardiac arrest emergencies,” Saxe said. With the addition of these defibrillators, “we are getting the community prepared.”

According to Saxe, an AED will only administer a shock if absolutely necessary, after doing an analysis of the patient’s heart rhythms. “We have six defibrillators for good building coverage, and it was a good place to start in terms of funding. This is a step in the right direction for the university and for the community at large.

It will save lives, and we will see that the effects of this will work only to enhance Brandeis.”

PHOTO BY Ingrid Schulte/The Hoot

BY JOSH KELLY Staff

A small group of people met on Tuesday night for an intimate discussion with Alice Rothchild on the possibility of utilizing a BDS-boycott, divestment, sanctions-strategy in order to counter the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

Alice Rothchild is a gynecologist and obstetrician who has been politically active throughout her life, and particularly so in attempting to promote social justice for the Palestinians. She has gone on many trips to Israel to learn about the conditions in the West Bank. Rothchild is also particularly notable for the recent publication of the second edition of her book, “Broken Promises, Broken Dreams: The Stories of Jewish and Palestinian Trauma and Resilience.”

The event was sponsored by Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, and was entitled “Difficult Conversations: Alice Rothchild on BDS.” The event started off with Alice speaking about her views on the occupation as well as Israel in general, and then she made her way into speaking about BDS as a method to solve what she sees as a crucial problem. She took a chance at the beginning of her speech to acknowledge the controversy of her ideas.

“So what I’m going to do,” she stated, “is invite you to step outside the box. I am speak-

ing to share, not to convince. I don’t have to prove that I’m right, but I want to share with you how things look to me.” She also acknowledged that “Boycott, divestment, and sanctions is probably the most difficult topic in the Jewish community today.” However, she also argued the point that it is not uncommon for ideas which seem radical to be accepted with time.

“I think it’s important,” Rothchild stated, “to remember that there are a lot of radical ideas that were once really difficult that are now mainstream, like Zionism,” which Rothchild characterized today as “the litmus test for being a good Jew.” Throughout her speech, the common theme was one of bemoaning the conditions of the Palestinian people, primarily in the West Bank, but also touching on Gaza and Israel Proper. She described the negative effects of the 500 to 600 checkpoints along the Green Line, as well as within West Bank Borders through explaining how sometimes women going into labor are delayed at the checkpoints and wind up not being able to make it to the hospital. She also talked about how sometimes Palestinians are restricted from walking along certain streets, even if the street in question is in front of their house.

Generally, she likens the control of the Palestinians by Israel to any other oppression throughout history, seeing everything as a

pattern of one party controlling and oppressing another.

“Change Arab to Native American, African-American and Japanese and obvious parallels emerge with our own legacies of colonialism, slavery, segregation, detention camps and civil rights struggles”.

She used all of this description of the plight of the Palestinians in order to show how this is a serious problem which needs to be solved, and she believes it can be solved through BDS. Boycott, divestment and sanctions, as described by Rothchild, is a method of using the economy in order to promote social justice. It could be as simple as not buying hummus made in the West Bank. Perhaps labels could be put on products coming from the West Bank which state their origin explicitly.

While Rothchild admitted early on in her speech that it is a controversial idea, she argued that BDS is an integral part of social justice movements and is perfectly acceptable.

“BDS is an old tradition. It is a part of activist tradition. It dates back in the US to the 1700s to the Quakers who refused to do business with slave owners…It’s been used against apartheid South Africa…It was used

by Jews who boycotted goods made in Nazi Germany.”

She then came to the question, as she explained, of “why BDS now?” She responded by saying simply, “and I think what I’ve heard, over and over again is ‘everything else has been tried’.”

After Rothchild finished speaking and answered questions the group broke up into smaller discussion groups of a few people each, and people got a chance to have intimate conversations about their views on what Rothchild spoke about and about Israel in general. It was a friendly atmosphere, which seemed to accept any viewpoints.

Following this, the group came back together although some had already started to trickle out, and discussed the issues.

When asked about the event, John Sussman, a senior, had a positive tone.

“I think it was a pretty informative and pretty provocative event. I think it was very balanced. I think it was very conciliatory.

I think it was a chance to share an opinion from an American Jew about how we as American Jews can and should care about Israel and care about changing its policies.”

Paraska Tolan, another senior, also found it interesting, and yet had a little criticism.

“I thought it was pretty interesting. I wish she had spent more time on talking about specifically boycott, divestment and sanctions because I think that’s why a lot of people came. They were here to be shocked.”

Overall, it was a very interesting event.

Regardless of different beliefs on the subject, it was certainly a very comfortable environment in which everyone was allowed to speak and express their feelings openly on a very controversial issue.

SCOTUS to rule on univ ownership of inventions SCOTUS (from p. 1)

brand of products, the university owns more than 300 active patents.

“For a university of our size, we are overperforming in economic development,” Irene Abrams, director of the university’s office of technology licensing, said.

While the $1.6 million is not a huge part of the university’s op-

erating budget, “it is really important because money from patents and technology licensing is not tied to and particular use, so it’s very valuable,” Abrams said.

The Bayh-Dole Act mandates several conditions that come with the university’s privilege of ownership. For example, a certain amount of money earned from the

patent must go to the original creating inventor. Brandeis gives 40 percent of earnings to its inventors, a statistic Abrams called “generous.”

The money the university keeps goes toward academic research, planning and other resources to maintain the university’s learning priorities, as mandated by the act.

Brandeis joined the American Association of Universities to file its brief with the Supreme Court in order to ensure that its ownership of patents is confirmed and the university can continue to license technology for revenue.

Letting the decision of the circuit court stand would “put a question mark on own-

ership of all university inventions,” Abrams said.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case in March. The association is considering filing an additional amicus or “friend of the court” brief arguing for Stanford on the merits of the case now that the court has agreed to hear it.

4 NEWS

The Brandeis Hoot

November 12, 2010

Univ to consider Castle Quad renovations, among others RENOVATIONS (from p. 2)

themselves with more students living there this year than ever.

But the Castle, which could cost the same amount to renovate, holds only 121 beds.

“The question is, do you choose to renovate that over the library, which is in better shape, but might cost less? It’s something to think about,” Collins said. “Because I can guarantee there is no way we are going to get $10 million for the Castle and then another $10 million for the library. We need to make choices.”

The Office of Planning and Institutional Research is involved in the planning, programming and preliminary design for major projects, including renovations, and Vice President for Planning and Institutional Research Daniel Feldman wrote in an e-mail to The Hoot that no matter what renovations are done in coming years, “that work is done in cooperation with other relevant groups within the university.”

“For an academic building renovation, the Academy is the primary client,” he wrote.

“Students & Enrollment is also involved—since, of course, students are impacted by any

renovation—and the Division of Finance and Administration, including Facilities Services is involved, since they have longterm responsibility for operating, maintaining and renewing the building.”

Additionally, if the university administration is only able to choose one building to renovate, Collins said there could be a question of prioritizing what each building represents.

“On the one hand, you have the Castle, which is iconic, but you also have the library, which represents us as an academic institution. And then if you chose to renovate some of the academic buildings, the question is which ones and for which departments,” Collins said.

Indeed, this year the art history, philosophy and classics departments moved from their older buildings into the new Mandel Center for Humanities.

That building was constructed during the summer and completed under budget with funding from the Mandel Foundation, Feldman wrote.

Feldman wrote that “the long-term master plan” for the university involves renovating some buildings in the Mandel Humanities Quad (formerly known as Rabb), and would

PHOTOS BY Yuan Yao/The Hoot

FIX IT: Scenes from inside the Castle and Linsey Pool building show needs for repairs.

also construct connectors between adjacent buildings, similar to the new connection between the Mandel Center and Olin-Sang. Feldman did not provide any details as to a timeline for when that renovation would occur.

The Mandel Center for the

Humanities is just one of three buildings new to campus this year, with the other two buildings being the Shapiro Science Center and the Shapiro Admissions Center.

Due to financial reasons, Collins said he did not think it was likely that the university

would have new construction projects anytime soon, saying “it’s time to focus on what we have.

“I love the new buildings on campus,” Collins said. “But I have 95 buildings total on campus, some of which are a lot less than nice.”

Police investigating South Street assaults ASSAULT (from p. 1)

shouldn’t feel worried walking these streets where we spend so much time. [It] shows that no one can walk alone,” the victim of the Oct. 30 attack said.

Two weeks later, a female Brandeis student jogging on the sidewalk near the Stanley Elementary School on South Street suffered head and facial injuries during an un-armed robbery at about 10:35 p.m. on Tuesday night. Three men approached her and one “struck her hard in the face with an elbow” while another stole her iPod, Callahan said. Callahan added that the female victim was unsure of whether she would be able to identify her attackers, but that the student identified the three men as about 20 years old and said one of them was wearing a grey sweatshirt with the hood up, Callahan said.

Waltham Police notified Public Safety of the incident at about 2 p.m. on Wednesday Callahan said. Public Safety has been in contact with the female student assaulted.

The suspects “fled in an unknown direction” and the victim went to a friend’s home on Dartmouth Street and then called Waltham Police. After arriving at the scene, police did not find the three men.

The university e-mailed a public safety advisory to the Brandeis Community via e-

maillater Wednesday afternoon.

“While we hope this was an isolated incident, we remind members of the Brandeis community to be aware of their surroundings at all times—on and off campus,” Callahan wrote.

“Numbers [multiple assaults] are a concern, but number one is a concern to me,” Callahan said. “This is not a common occurrence.”

Callahan, who has worked at Public Safety for more than 30 years, said he could not recall a similar incident in recent years.

“There’s nothing obvious that indicates it’s a student [attacker] or a Waltham [resident],” Callahan said.

The Hoot’s attempts to obtain a copy of the police report from the Waltham Police Department were unsuccessful yesterday.

Community Services, the department that releases reports, was closed Thursday for Veteran’s Day, one of the operations officers said.

Police Chief Thomas M. LaCroix did not respond to a phone message left Thursday morning.

As a result of the incident, Public Safety planned to add a second van to make nightly runs from campus into the rest of Waltham. Callahan said the second van for the 7:15 to 11:15 p.m. shift would be added by Friday evening at the latest.

“Due to this unfortunate incident, there will be a dramatic request for more service,” he said.

PHOTO BY Ingrid Schulte/The Hoot

Performers speak out for Pakistan relief PAKISTAN (from p. 2)

Pakistani-American author, Hollywood director and screenwriter whose credits include his service as a writer and producer of NBC’s remake of “Bionic Woman,” and Showtime Network’ s Golden Globe-nominated series “Sleeper Cell.”

Pasha was born in Pakistan but immigrated to the United States as a child.

He grew up in a Hasidic Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn where he grew to recognize and appreciate the distinct similarities between what he “perceived as ‘conservative’ Jewish practice and ‘conservative’ Muslim practice.”

Though he fluctuated between religious fundamentalism and more liberal practice, Pasha even-

tually discovered his spiritual balance while studying Sufi—mystical Islamic texts similar to those of Kaballah—as a comparative religion major at Dartmouth University.

After graduating, Pasha went on to law school at Cornell, which he described as “intellectually stimulating,” and then business school at Dartmouth, which he found to be bordering upon “soul-killing.”

While in business school, Pasha found himself in “deep emotional despair” and began to write screenplays “to pass the time.”

He soon finished a draft of a “teen horror flick” which he sent out to a total of six agents.

Quickly, he received five rejection postcards. However, several months later, Pasha received a letter from an agent excited to rep-

resent him.

Two screenplays later, Pasha quit his job as a lawyer in a successful firm to “devote his life to art.”

Initially, he was scared that his traditional parents wouldn’t approve of his change in career, but when he finally broke it to them, his mother’s reaction was a surprise.

She told him, “I always knew that you were going to do this. I’m glad that you figured it out.”

In addition to his career, Pasha also spoke about his ideology, claiming that “fundamentalism is an idol” and that “faith escapes all bounds.”

After the conclusion of the evening, Pasha gave out free copies of his two novels, “Mothers of the Believers” and “Shadow of the Swords.”

November 12, 2010

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Krauss Chomsky, ‘Occupation Week’ incite protests approves new block schedule

BY NATHAN KOSKELLA Editor

Provost Marty Krauss has approved the recommended changes to the course times proposed by the Block Scheduling Committee. She announced via e-mail that the new time slot schedule will take effect for fall 2011.

“One major change that I accept is that all courses will begin on the hour or the half hour,” the her e-mail said, a change many faculty members and the provost herself has considered reasonable for some time.

Krauss wrote that the changes would accomplish her goals “to maximize the use of our classrooms, to provide more flexibility in the scheduling of courses and to conform to current faculty interests in the scheduling of courses.”

The main difference in meeting times involves two-day per week afternoon classes taking place on Thursday rather than Friday.

Krauss acknowledged that faculty had many “differences of opinion” on how to change the schedule, but decided to go for a middle approach, changing some two-day classes without making the entire transition to Monday, Wednesday, Friday/Tuesday, Thursday classes, as is common at most other universities.

Another reason for moderation cited was that the university undertook other difficult decisions facing budget concerns and so the provost found these changes the best to accomplish the university’s academic goals.

on Sunday evening.

During his speech, at least 50 students stood up about halfway through and exited the room, many of them carrying or wearing Israeli flags.

The room was filled to capacity and some students were originally not allowed inside.

“Basically we heard what you said. You put us all to sleep,” Pinchus Polack ’14 said. “We respectfully reject everything you just said.”

Renana Gal ’12, Co-President of Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine said she respected the silent protest.

“It was very respectful,” she said. “Our concerns were way greater than that.”

During a forum on campus last November with former Israeli Ambassador Dore Gold and South African Justice Richard Goldstone, who wrote a U.N. report criticizing the Israeli Defense Forces for unjust and disproportional use of force during the 2009 Gaza War, several proPalestinian students protested when Gold spoke.

They stood up with signs taped to their backs until being told to sit down by a Brandeis professor moderating the forum.

On the Rabb steps Thursday afternoon, several students standing underneath a large banner that said “I Support Israel” asked students to sign a petition advocating forthe release of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in 2006.

“We don’t want to combat them [critics of Israel]. We don’t want to fight them,” Rafi Abramowitz ’14 said. “[But] putting up ‘I Support Israel’ shouldn’t be offensive to anybody.”

He added that the goal in ADVER TIS E M E N T

PHOTO BY Max Shay/The Hoot

the demonstration was simply to convey that there is another side to the conflict, one that fully supports Israel’s rights and citizens.

Other students read off the names of many Israeli victims of terrorist attacks as a rush of students walked down the steps from class.

Despite the opposition during the lecture Thursday, Lev Hirschhorn ’11, said that the week itself had been successful.

“The fact that we’re able to have this week at Brandeis University [shows] that times are changing,” Hirschhorn said.

Recalling his studies of the Middle East in the 1940s, Chomsky said that a “bi-nationalist solution was still possible today.

Maybe someday we can get to it,” he said. “I don’t think that it’s lost.”

Referencing the U.N. Security Council and the International Court for Justice, Chomsky said that the Geneva Conventions still apply to Israel’s policies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

“There is a short-term solution,” Chomsky said. “The thing that’s blocking it is the United States and its Israeli ally.”

Concerning Israel’s decision

PHOTO BY Lien Pheung/The Hoot

AWARENESS: (ABOVE) students dressed in white protested Noam Chomsky’s speech on campus by walking out mid-way through his talk. (BELOW) Copies of the pamphlet distributed by Israeli Occupation Awareness Week’s organizers.

to reject Egypt’s proposed peace treaty in February 1971, Chomsky said that “once you’ve decided on expansion over security, it follows that you’re going to have perpetual conflict.”

Chomsky pointed out that Israel need to differentiate between self-defense and violent self-defense.

“Israel of course has a right of self-defense, but the issue is do they have a right [to use] violence as self-defense.”

Israel can defend itself from rocket attacks by reinstating a ceasefire with Hamas, Chom-

sky said.

When comparing the “occupied territories” to apartheid in South Africa, Chomsky said the two situations are different because in South Africa, the country “needed the black population” to stay. In Israel, however, he said many people would be satisfied if the Palestinians moved.

Chomsky also criticized academia during his talk, explaining that much of history is often written to please people.

“We write history to make what we do look wonderful,” he said. “That’s a principle of

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6 The Brandeis Hoot

FEATURES

November 12, 2010

You Know We’re Right

Suitemates messes dragging you down?

Dear Leah and Morgan, One of my suitemates and I are super neat people. We’re not analretentive, but we agree that cluttered spaces lead to cluttered thoughts and cluttered thoughts are not an option.

However, our other suitemates are more than a little messy.

I’m talking dishes, toilet paper rolls, empty pizza boxes, beer cans (don’t worry, we’re 21) and clothes EVERYWHERE. I can’t clean up after them anymore!

I love my suitemates, but I’m not their mother!

How can we reach a happy medium?

Help a sister out!

Sincerely, Not-Your-Maid-in-the-Mods Dear Maid, Living communally is one of the biggest challenges of college life.

Now that you’re in a suite with a kitchen with food waste and dishes to do, life gets a lot more real and it’s time to learn the rules of real life roommates.

Here are some ways to clean up your act!

Talk to Your Suitemates!

They might not even know that there’s a problem. Some people are just used to messy lives while some can’t deal with it.

Make it clear in a friendly and honest way that you need your suitemates to be more respectful of your living habits.

It’s part of living with people!

Create a Job Chart!

Remember at camp when you used to rotate chores on a daily basis?

Well, whether or not you and your suitemates actually make a physical job wheel, it is important that you are all clear on who is responsible for what jobs around the suite.

Remember to be Reasonable!

Because you and your roommates are living together, you are forced to accommodate each other’s habits however different they are from your own. It is impossible to expect your roommate to transform from the slob next door to a picture perfect roommate overnight.

You may have to compromise, but keep in mind that your relationship with your suitemates is more important than a little bit of clutter.

Peace, Love and Great Advice, Leah and Morgan.

Have questions that you want answered by the lovely ladies of The Hoot? Submit your questions to advice@thebrandeishoot.com or at formspring.me/leahandmorgan!

They will be answered by Leah Finkelman ’13, Features Editor and Morgan Gross ’14, Staff Writer. We’re so excited to hear your questions!

The first-year experience: a sense of belonging (the baby)

BY EMILY STOTT Staff

Being a first-year in college is certainly a different experience than being in high school, yet somehow it still feels natural.

Instead of walking through crowded narrow hallways to get to class, I’m climbing the Rabb steps and hearing leaves crunch under my feet. It takes 10 minutes to walk to class instead of three, and there are twice as many undergraduates as there were students in my entire high school, but I still see people I actually know no matter what time of day I’m walking around campus. I’ve gone from being at the top of the class-ladder to being at the bottom, but so has every other first-year.

It’s easy to forget the long six-hour class days and fall into the rhythm of three classes a day with hours in between.

We’ve only been in college for two-anda-half months, but it already feels like home. After an exhausting week of orientation, struggling to remember how to study after a bout of high school senioritis and a carefree summer, we’ve finally finished (multiple) midterms and are already looking forward to winter break. College has only begun, but we’re already getting leadership positions in clubs, working 10 hours a week, driving the BranVan, writing 10-page papers and going into Boston on the weekends. We’ve discovered the best places to study that aren’t in the library, a close group of friends and which

laundry machines actually work.

Even though most of us are thoroughly enjoying our college experience, there are always things that could be better. Chemistry is difficult in a class of more than 200, the food at Sherman is beginning to get unbearable and friends are far away.

While some of my hallmates go home every weekend, I haven’t talked to some of my high school friends, whom I used to see just about every day, in months. I miss eating real food and I miss giving my younger brother a hug goodnight. We’re lucky to have so much technology to

make communication easier—Skype, texting, Facebook, e-mail—but sometimes you can’t replace real human contact with the people you love.

It has certainly taken some adjusting, but Brandeis is now where we belong. Just a year ago, we were stressing about college applications, wondering where we’d finally end up. Now, it hardly matters. We’re at Brandeis, and regardless of whether or not it was our first choice or our last choice, we are part of the university for the rest of our lives.

The sophomore experience: a perfect balance (the teen)

BY LEAH FINKELMAN Editor

As a sophomore, it’s easy to love being a Brandeis student. I haven’t yet started stressing about what to do with the rest of my life, but I’ve learned how to work the system. I know the best times to get in line at Usdan, the best classes to take and the fastest way to get everywhere. I’ve made enough friends that there is always someone around that I can hang out with, but I am always meeting new people.

The best part of being a sophomore is that I know I’m not quite halfway done.

I haven’t started experiencing any “lasts,” and I’ve gotten all of my troublesome “firsts” out of the way.

Becoming a sophomore has tested friendships, and has shown who was a real friend and who was a friend of convenience, a great person but not someone I really make an effort to hang out with now that we live on opposite sides of campus. Generally, I’m friends with a different group of people than I was last year, but I still try to have weekly Monday dinners with my old next-door neighbor, who quickly became one of my best friends.

Continuing friendships certainly isn’t convenient as you transition from firstyear to sophomore year, but if you can make it work, it’s definitely worth it.

At the beginning of the year last year, I signed up for countless e-mail lists and clubs. I struggled to balance my new commitments with my schoolwork, but it was just too much. Going in to this year,

I knew that there were two things that I wanted to do. I chose to dedicate my time to two extracurriculars, knowing that being heavily involved in two things would be much more satisfying that spreading myself too thin and trying to be involved in everything.

I don’t miss the days when I had to nervously ask someone older (and therefore incredibly intimidating) which building

I was supposed to be going. I don’t miss going to Sherman just because Usdan was too far away from Massell. On the other hand, the time is coming to declare a major, something I’m not looking forward to, and have definitely not given enough thought. And as excited I am to study abroad, the thought of choosing and committing myself to a country and program terrifies me.

November 12, 2010

The Brandeis Hoot

FEATURES.

7

This Week in History 1951

The junior experience: getting there (the adult)

BY SAVANNAH PEARLMAN Editor

Being a junior at Brandeis is like having a mid-life crisis. Now, more than halfway through my time at Brandeis, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel—and I’m a little depressed about it. I woke up one day and realized that my time at Brandeis is finite. A little older and a little wiser, I have my spot staked out in the library, I’ve discovered the peace room and I’ve long since abandoned Sherman as a main source of sustenance. Forty-five percent of us are studying abroad this year and, like all exciting events you secretly dread, time is speeding up to spite us. Graduate school, Teach for America and possibly, as the media likes to remind us, unemployment are around the corner. In the meantime, I’m trying to enjoy college while it lasts.

Being a junior at Brandeis is a lot like being a sophomore … except the walk to class is longer, the leadership positions available to us more plentiful, and we likely Skype at odd hours of the night with friends in foreign countries. OK, maybe it’s not a lot like being a sophomore. Pachanga is old news, we’ve declared our majors and likely several minors, and some of us might even attempt to cook if we were lucky enough to have scored a Ridgewood (or unlucky enough to have ended up in Grad). As juniors, we’re pretty on top of our game. We have our social niche, we

have a basic command of the T and we’re not yet sick of the Brandeis bubble.

And yes, I already bought a GRE prep book.

Like many juniors, I’m simultaneously checking off items on my Brandeis bucket list and starting to think about life after ’Deis.

Instead of changing jobs and buying a new car, like you would in a real midlife crisis, we’re throwing ourselves into our college experience. Career fairs, karaoke nights, concerts in Boston—we’re in the know. As a tour guide for admissions, my repertoire of stories and events to use to attract perspective students is ever growing.

So, junior year is what it’s cracked up to be. We’re working in the classroom, yes; but at the end of the day we’re going to club meetings, we’re heading to Chum’s for the night, we’re supporting our friends at their a cappella debuts.

Like the rest of Brandeis, juniors are involved … at least for one more year.

Editor

I have heard from various elders (a.k.a my mom) that the older you get the faster time goes. I never believed her as much as I have over the last few months. Senior year has been flying by and all of my senior friends agree with me. How is it already mid-November? And more importantly, how do I have fewer than two semesters left at Brandeis?

Of course, I have very mixed feelings about being in my final year of college.

On one hand, campus life can be very limiting. I occasionally become frustrated when I realize that I do almost the exact same thing every week, and I do it all in a very limited area. Therefore, I have learned that in order to keep my sanity intact I need to get off campus at least once a week, and preferably more often. Surviving to senior year does have the benefit of knowing what you need to do and what you need to avoid in order to survive.

But on the other hand, I am going to miss the daily routine of Brandeis life.

It may be predictable, but it is also very comfortable. By this point in my college career, I am fairly adept at juggling extracurricular activities, homework, and funtime with friends. Once I exit for graduate school I will have to rediscover how to co-ordinate my time all over again. Not to mention the stress of moving into a new home and meeting new friends.

So, if I were to summarize my senior year so far I would say that it is an odd

mix of extreme comfort with extreme discomfort. My friends and I are all very comfortable as Brandeis students, and some have even become bored enough to graduate early. By now almost all of us have our majors figured out and we know the types of classes available to us. Some classes may still seem exciting, but many are very similar to what we have taken in the past, or we have already completed them.

However, all of us seniors also need to figure out what we are going to do in the coming few years, which is a very uncomfortable feeling.

In fact, it is difficult to talk to anyone without hearing that dreaded question: what are you doing next year?

Basically we have two choices, to stress about finding a job or to stress about applying to graduate schools.

All the seniors know this decision is just

The University announces plans for the construction of a new gym: modern, made of concrete and steel, and fire-resistant.

2005 Congressman Bar-

ney Frank (D-MA) comes to Brandeis to speak on issues of gay rights and homophobia.

Massachusetts

1851

Harper & Brothers publishes “Moby-Dick,”

by Massachusetts native Herman Melville.

The book flopped, but later became a hit.

2006 Red Sox win the right

to negotiate a contract with Japanese superstar pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, who later signs a contract.

United States

The senior experience: getting ready to leave (the elderly)

BY LEAH LEFKOWITZ

Brandeis

around the corner, but that doesn’t make it any easier. It actually makes it more difficult, believe it or not!

The first month of senior year was weird because I had started my thesis and had started applying to graduate schools. It was odd to be thinking about my future while I was also thinking about my college work. But, ultimately it is very exciting to realize that soon I will be onto new adventures. I can only hope that these adventures will be as great as my adventures here at Brandeis!

1777

The Articles of Confederation are adopted. A precursor to the Constitution, they provided for a loose federation of states.

1959

“The Sound of Music” premieres on Broadway, later becoming a popular movie loved by families across the country.

World

1849 A Russian court sen-

tences Fyodor Dostoevsky to death for his activities linked to a radical intellectual group.

1985

GRAPHICS BY Leah Lefkowitz/The Hoot

A volcano erupts in Colombia, burying several towns, killing more than 20,000 people.

8 The Brandeis Hoot

Established 2005 "To acquire wisdom, one must observe."

Ariel Wittenberg Editor in Chief Nathan Koskella News Editor Jon Ostrowsky News Editor Leah Finkelman Features Editor Bret Matthew Impressions Editor Alex Self Deputy Impressions Editor Kara Karter Sports Editor Kayla Dos Santos Arts, Etc. Editor Jodi Elkin Layout Editor Leah Lefkowitz Layout Editor Max Shay Photography Editor Vanessa Kerr Business Editor Savannah Pearlman Copy Editor Yael Katzwer Copy Editor Josh Waizer Distribution Manager Associate Editors Alex Schneider, Destiny D. Aquino Sean Fabery

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.thebrandeishoot.com The deadline for submitting letters is Tuesday at 8 p.m. All letters must be submitted electronically at www. thebrandeishoot.com. 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.

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EDITORIALS

T

November 12, 2010

Engagement, not animosity

oo often in the IsraeliPalestinian conflict, we listen to speakers, activists, students and professors voice their opinions, yet these talks accomplish little to no progress.

Both sides adamantly express their beliefs about Israel and its policies, yet refuse to yield any ground to the opposing and at times, equally passionate and informed side.

This week at Brandeis, we were fortunate to have a variety of activists speak about Israel in addition to student demonstrations on both sides.

These speakers were brought to campus with the intention of providing an outlook on the conflict and ultimately pushing students to engage in conversation and express their opinions. Yet in an example of narrow-minded refusal to listen, at a speech given by famed linguist, political theorist

and MIT professor Noam Chomsky, a group of 50 or more students participated in an organized walk-out of the event.

While we appreciate that the protest was peaceful and did not pose a serious interruption to the event, we are disappointed by the fact that the walk-out took valuable seats away from other students who were interested in attending the limited-capacity speech.

We wish that groups on campus would be more considerate of each other and would respect opposing groups’ events.

Better yet, we would like to see groups on campus attending opposing groups’ events with the intent of learning and engaging in meaningful conversation. Going into an event with the intention of walking out is a prime indicator that the walkers don’t intend to be open-minded.

If these students had stayed at ADVERTISEMENT

Thursday’s lecture, as difficult as it may have been for some, they would have had the opportunity to ask challenging and stimulating questions to a world-renowned academic whom they disagreed with. Even if they disagreed with each thing Chomsky said, these students missed a valuable opportunity to confront someone they so strongly opposed on factual grounds with reasoned argument. And Brandeis once again missed an opportunity to engage in a meaningful discussion that could one day lead to action. Not acrimony.

Informed, reasonable conversation between students, speakers and even the highest political officials, with both sides coming to the table actually listening and willing to compromise, is the only way we will someday see a peaceful end to this centuries-long conflict.

November 12, 2010

ARTS, etc.

The Brandeis Hoot 9

Talking Shakespeare with the director of ‘The Winter’s Tale’

BY KAYLA DOS SANTOS Editor

Complex villains, tormented heroes and heroines, conspiracies, betrayals—and let’s not forget that famous scene in which a man gets eaten by a bear—William Shakespeare’s problem play “The Winter’s Tale” seems to have everything. The basic plot is that when King Leontes suspects that his wife Hermione is having an affair with his best friend, the king spirals out of control, along with events. Hold Thy Peace has tackled this play in a production that is in the style of a fairy tale.

Director Stephanie Karol ’12 took the time to chat with The Brandeis Hoot about the challenges and fun of putting on a play by that famous bard.

The Brandeis Hoot: What’s the challenge of putting on a play by Shakespeare?

Stephanie Karol: A lot of people get turned off from auditioning because they think Shakespeare is too hard. “I don’t understand him,” but it doesn’t take much to understand … Sometimes it is difficult because of the grammar and the way the words fall on the page [and] some words are archaic and we needed to look them up … but the great thing about performing Shakespeare is that the audience can pick up on a meaning by the way an actor says [the lines]. It’s easier for an audience

to get it than a person reading it.

BH: Why did you choose to direct “The Winter’s Tale?”

SK: There are character types in Shakespeare that appeal to me.

[In the play] mad King Leontes becomes a broken person and it’s his own fault ... [While] King Lear’s madness is what other people inflict on him, Leonte’s is selfinflicted … I like broken characters, interesting villains. I tried to give Leontes a back story, why he is in so much pain and says “The World and all that is in it is nothing.” [His wife] Hermione, daughter of the Emperor of Russia is his through a political marriage. He cares for her more than she does for him and so he’s been trying for years to get her to love him, but he just doesn’t have the depth of understanding. He tries to elicit an emotional response and gets nothing.

“The Winter’s Tale” is also full to bursting with strong women.

Hermione, though I’ve seen her played as whiny, the things she says when on trial [for adultery] shows that she has strength, is composed and graceful … in defending herself so eloquently.

BH: The play features a shift in tone between the first three acts and the final acts, changing from a drama to a comedy; how did you cope with this shift?

SK: Shakespeare has given us a mechanism to do that. In Act

GRAPHIC BY ­Ariel Wittenberg/The Hoot

III, scene II, Antigonus is chased off stage and eaten by a bear. [His wife] Paulina’s discovery of his death makes the transition … It shows how Paulina is moving on or not moving on and has to come to the conclusion that he has died.

BH: How did you keep the bear scene from being ridiculous?

SK: We cast a light that looks like a bear … during a storm in-between flashes of lightning.

When I first thought about the scene, I thought “I can’t afford a bear costume and it would look ridiculous.” … The light shows

that there is something big and scary out there, it’s like a horror movie or thriller where you can’t see everything and the fear you feel is fear of the unknown.

BH: Why did you decide to direct “The Winter’s Tale” in the style of a fairy tale?

SK: Doing my [version] as a fairy tale gave me a way to deal with the crazy things that happen in the play … The character of Florizel came across as very Disney. We played him as very ivory tower, he doesn’t understand how people work. Perdita,

though, is kind of the anti-Disney princess, but she wants to pursue the things that Disney princesses want to pursue. Paulina is a fairy godmother-like figure, she’d do anything to protect the baby. [The very concept of] a shepherd finding a baby is a very fairy tale thing to have happen. [One of the play’s themes] of divine retribution— the sins of the father will torment the child—only happens in a fairy tale world.

Hold Thy Peace’s production of “The Winter’s Tale” takes place from Nov. 12 through 13 at 8 p.m. and Nov. 14 at 2 p.m.

Beauty in contrasts: Brandeis alumna and poet-inresident read selections from their works

BY KAYLA DOS SANTOS Editor

Alumna Melissa Buckheit and Brandeis poet-in-residence Rebecca Seiferle read their poetry as part of the Creative Writing Department’s School of Night series.

Their incredibly different styles presented their listeners with an interesting study in contrast.

When I got to the room where the event was being held, it was nearly empty. There were a few students seated in the back, but there was a large cluster of empty chairs. It was a Monday night and it had been raining, but I was still disappointed in the lack of attendees. Before the reading began, the silence was long and awkward. I wondered if this would be one of those embarrassing experiences; what’s more sad than a poet reading his or her work in an empty room?

I relaxed when Seiferle began and her vibrant talent filled the room. I was glad that I was there to witness it. A seasoned poet, author of four books of poetry and founding editor of the online poetry journal “The Drunken Boat,” Seiferle read selections from

“Wild Tongue” and “Bitters” as well as a few unpublished pieces.

Many of her poems featured erotic language as well as Biblical allusions.

One particularly v i v i d pie ce g a v e voice to a forgotten figure in the King David t a l e .

“Comparative Religion” told the story of the 12-year-old girl who is made to

PHOTO BY Ingrid Schulte/The Hoot

have sex with the King for medicinal purposes. The disturbing im-

age of a young girl “embraced by the corpse of man and God” was one that haunted for a long time afterward.

In fact, many of Seiferle’s lines were powerful enough to linger.

I thought about “sing me a song of elsewhere” and a bird as a “soft whisper of being” for days following the event.

However, Seiferle’s reading style sometimes made it difficult to hear her beautiful language.

She read her work in a nasal and rough voice, her words sometimes blurring together and becoming incomprehensible to the listeners’ ears.

Buckheit’s reading, in comparison, was very clear. She performed like she was on a stage, enunciating, her voice strictly controlled. Yet, while her reading style was more effective, I thought she was less successful with her language.

Buckheit is relatively new to the poetry world; her manuscript of her first collection of poetry, a reworking of her senior thesis, will be published shortly. Although Buckheit is new in comparison to Seiferle, she has participated heavily in the world of poetry.

She has won numerous awards for

her poems and is the founder and curator of a poetry series called “Edge.”

A majority of the poems Seiferle read had a plethora of inaccessible language. “Demotics,” for example, which is knowledge relative to the care and culture of a people, had a lot of scientific language. For those who are not science-savvy, the meaning of the poem was indecipherable.

The poem was interesting visually, though, it was divided into little snippets of poetic language, after each snippet, Seiferle dropped the section of the poem to the floor.

The scientific language stemmed from Seiferle’s interest in the subject, “In graduate school I was not talking to people and reading a lot of science, the language got imbedded in me.”

While I couldn’t grasp the meaning of Seiferle’s poems, they resonated because they seemed intimate to the author. Seiferle’s poems were like glimpses into her mind, something private that had deep meaning for her.

The School of Night event was compelling in that it presented distinctly different poets, with different subjects, reading styles and approaches to poetry.

10 ARTS ,ETC.

The Brandeis Hoot

November 12, 2010

Celiac disease: Growing prevalence

BY GABBY KATZ Staff

We all love our bagels and schmear. We love our kugel and ruggelah on holidays. We love the free pizza that clubs give out. Case in point, I think I can safely make the assumption that, as a whole, Brandeis is a carb-loving institution and we would be devastated if we couldn’t eat these foods.

Now, what if I told you there is a growing population of people allergic to all of these foods!? Oy vey is right, but luckily a growing awareness of this condition has helped those live more easily with a gluten allergy. According to the Celiac Spruce Association (CSA), one in 133 people suffer from Celiac Disease, with women suffering three times more than men. Brandeis nutritionist Laura O’Gara said the growing spread of the disease could be attributed either to more prevalence of the disease or to better diagnosis

tactics. So, how do we know if we are at risk of losing our bagels? To investigate this, I interviewed a Brandeis student with the gluten allergy and Laura O’Gara to learn more about what the disease is and what Brandeis accommodations there are on campus for students with Celiac disease.

According to the CSA, the definition of Celiac Disease is an inherited disease, which has an autoimmune response triggered by gluten that causes damage in the small intestine’s villi, leading to malabsorption of nutrients in the small intestine. The term gluten represents any type of storage proteins like gliadin or secalin found in grains such as wheat, rye, barley, rice, etc. Symptoms usually consist of gastrointestinal upset and sometimes a skin condition called herpataformis dermatitis.

The disease can be triggered at any age and once obtained is usually lifelong and incurable, thus the only treatment is a gluten free diet.

Being banned forever from carrot

PHOTO FROM Internet Source

cake and oatmeal raisin cookies sounds unbearable; however, according to the Brandeis nutritionist and a Brandeis student, this lifestyle is fairly achievable

on the Brandeis campus.

The Brandeis University Dining Service published a gluten-free options brochure, which highlights all the areas in which gluten intol-

erant students can access suitable food on campus. Accommodations include gluten-free snacks available in the C-store, the ability See CELIAC, p. 12

JustArts features Brandeis faculty and staff art

BY ARIEL WITTENBERG Editor

Brandeis faculty and staff will show off more than 100 works of art at the exhibition, JustArts, on display in the Dreitzer Gallery of

Spingold Theater from Nov. 16 through 22.

Works displayed will be by individuals from across campus, including the departments of psychology, theater, fine arts and politics; the mail room; LTS; and the department of athletics.

Sponsored by the Office of the Arts, last year’s exhibition, the first in Brandeis history, was called “a joyous occasion, with so many people truly paying attention to the art and talking about it,” by Professor Mick Watson (PSYCH) in an e-mail to the ex-

hibit’s organizers.

“And the artwork was good— well worth looking at. Best of all, the works came from so many diverse members of the Brandeis community—people who may have been doing art as a hobby, but who took it seriously and had

created aesthetic and often moving pieces.”

An opening reception for JustArts will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 16, from noon to 1 p.m. and is open to the public. A light lunch will be served.

PHOTO COURTESY OF Office of the Arts

November 12, 2010

The Brandeis Hoot

ARTS, ETC.

11

Conversations in hell: Talking with director of ‘No Exit’

BY KAYLA DOS SANTOS Editor

The set-up is this: A group of strangers enter a room; it is hell.

They wait for something dreadful to happen but nothing does.

Trapped for an eternity, with nothing but each other’s company and conversation to occupy them, they discover that they are each other’s hell. The Free Play Theatre Cooperative transforms the Mandel Center Lounge into hell as they put on Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialist play “No Exit.”

The Brandeis Hoot interviewed director Tony Rios ’11 via e-mail about Sartre’s interpretation of the underworld.

The Brandeis Hoot: What drew you to Sartre’s “No Exit?”

Tony Rios: I was drawn to the play because of how complex and dense it was. Each time I read it, a scene gained a different layer, or I saw a character in a new light. The themes and images of the show are intense, beautiful and disturbing all at the same time.

BH: Why did you pick the Mandel Center Lounge as the setting for hell?

TR: Since this show is being put on by Free Play Theatre Coopera-

tive, the use of an alternative space was greatly encouraged. I knew the piece had no place in a theater the moment that I read it, so this was a match made in heaven. After creepin’ around campus for a bit and looking at spaces, this one blew me away: the lights, the towering windows, the elevator and the big open space all enthralled me.

BH: What are the challenges of putting on a one-act play? What are the benefits?

TR: This is my second time directing a play without an intermission, so I guess this is the only way I know. The benefits I feel are tremendous. The actors work so hard at building the energy in the room, an intermission would just pull the carpet out from under them. With a one-act play, we’re able to see the energy, the stakes and the tension of the room pile onto the characters.

pletely changes each line. There was always a line within a line.

The tension between each line and the stakes that each character has in the room motivate the play to BH: What do you think moti- the next level. vates a play that primarily centers on conversations among a group BH: What was your favorite part of strangers? of putting on the production?

TR: This play was interesting because it was a bit like rehearsing realism: one thing is being said, but the meaning behind it (albeit a fight for power or a revelation), or the positioning of a person com-

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TR: My favorite part of this whole process has just been working in the rehearsal room. Each night I felt like a painter who was being given more and more colors to paint with because of the work

the actors put out there.

BH: Were there any obstacles you encountered?

TR: The greatest obstacles we encountered were with the language, I’d say. The sophistication and density of it was tough to grapple at first but, the more we worked, we were able to conquer it and move on.

BH: Did you draw on any other plays or books when directing this production? Did other images of

GRAPHIC BY Ariel Wittenberg/The Hoot

hell affect the version of hell in “No Exit?”

TR: This hell is so radically different from any I’ve ever read about, it was tough to draw any comparisons. Sartre’s hell is created by the people that are put into it, therefore, most of our hell is a creation of the people thrown into it.

“No Exit” will be performed from Nov. 12 through 14 at 8 p.m. and on Nov. 18 through 20 at 8 p.m.

‘No Man’s Land: The Women of Mexico’ Photo essay by Alan Tran The Women’s Study Research Center celebrated photographs taken by photojournalist Dana Romanoff. Romanoff took photos of independent women in rural Mexico.

12 ARTS, ETC.

The Brandeis Hoot

November 12, 2010

How many words have you written today?

BY CANDICE BAUTISTA Staff

November is known to many writers as National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo is an annual creative writing project coordinated by the non-profit organization The Office of Letters and Light. The challenge of NaNoWriMo is to have 50,000 words of either a novel in process or a completed novel by midnight on Nov. 30, meaning writers must write an average of 1,667 words per day. The website www.nanowrimo.org claims, “The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks and write on the fly.” Winners are writers who have 50,000 words. They are verified from Nov. 25 at midnight to Nov. 30 11:59:59 p.m. local time. There is no real prize, however, for winning. Instead, one receives a “Winner” web badge and a PDF Winner’s certificate. As the website says, “The real prize in NaNoWriMo is the manuscript itself, and the exhilarating feeling of setting an ambitious creative goal and nailing it.”

There are only a few rules to NaNoWriMo and that is part of the allure. Although no writing can be done before the start of November, outlines, plot notes and characters from previously written work (even if not from your own work) are allowed.

Additionally, writing cannot be shared with a partner. Other than that, there are no limits. The novel can be of any genre. Even if you hand-write your novel, you can upload a file made using the Lorem Ipsum generator in order to submit the exact number of words you have written. This may seem like a way to “cheat” the system without writing a novel, but it does not bring the satisfaction of knowing that those 50,000 words

in your word processor are 50,000 words that you have worked on for a month.

Part of the fun of NaNoWriMo is being able to feel a sense of belonging in a writer’s community. As of right now, 821,939,867 words have been written for NaNoWriMo 2010, a number that is continuously updated on the front page of the website. One of the features of the website is the ability to sign up, connect to other writers and, most notably, update your word count.

The site gives you the ability to check on your progress through a graphical display with a red diagonal line showing how you are doing in terms of the 1667 expected words per day.

That red line combined with seeing the progress of your friends is meant as an additional motivation to continue writing until the goal of 50,000 words has been met.

A small group which participates in NaNoWriMo is at Brandeis University. There is a Facebook group for NaNoWriMo and Jaclyn Willner ’14 is one of the administrators for the group. “Part of what I do as an Admin is set up write-ins (where a number of participants at Brandeis get together and write),” Willner said. She organized one write-in recently but, because of the short notice, there were only about 10 people.

“Though I’m sure there must be more participants, since in just

GRAPHIC BY Ariel Wittenberg/The Hoot

talking about it, I’ve had a number of my friends roped in to participating too,” she added. One of the other writers who attended the write-in, Anna Duey ’14, has been doing NaNoWriMo for four

years. Duey has won NaNo from the years 2007 to 2009, and is currently working towards 100,000 words this month. “NaNo’s helped me to write a lot more quickly, edit every word and helps me fin-

ish things in general,” she said.

Other people, however, do it for other reasons. As Emma Lieberman ’14 said, “My favorite part about it is the bragging rights. Oh my god, the bragging rights.”

Living with Celiac on Brandeis campus CELIAC (from p. 10)

to pre-order special meals, special refrigerators and toaster ovens with gluten-free food in Usdan and Sherman and knowledgeable managers who can provide gluten information on any of the food selections offered for the day. Bret Matthew ‘11, a student with the gluten allergy, expressed how the increased awareness of the disease has helped his transition into a gluten-free diet with relative ease, “out in the real world a lot of food establishments are adjusting their menus to be more gluten intolerance-friendly, so it’s not too hard to go out. ” One complaint of his, though, was that most of the gluten-free products on campus are vegetarian, which is only nice, for well, vegetarians. His advice was that

any student diagnosed with Celiac disease should meet with the nutritionist ASAP as being glutenfree requires more than just avoiding the obvious bread products, as he mentioned even “thick soup presents a risk.” Bret reflects on the necessary skills to be a gluten-

free expert, “Celiacs need to learn how to become compulsive food label readers, and how to recognize what we call “hidden gluten” (i.e. less obvious sources of gluten). For a gluten-free diet to work, you have to go for it 100%.

But sticking with it is worth it.”

What about this new trend of gluten-free dieting? Can you be gluten-free if you’re not a Celiac?

O’Gara advises against this, “besides cost and inconvenience are that the gluten free products are quite often low in fiber and are not enriched with the B-vitamins and iron that you may find in their wheatc o n www.celiac.com: This website provides general information, along with a useful taining list of foods that are gluten-free. counterp a r t s .” www.glutenfreeregistry.com: This website’s mission is to connect businesses such In short, as restaurants and bakeries that have gluten-free options, to people who have gluten I’d stick to eating allergies. balanced meals http://celiac-disease.com: A useful website that has news articles relating to the instead disease and a huge list of resources for those who want to learn more about the of trying disease. new diet-

Want to learn more about Celiac Disease?

Here are a few online resources:

ing tactics like gluten-free if you don’t need to.

I hope that by being aware of diseases and allergies that are within our Brandeis community, we can help advocate for better accommodations of our peers as well as appreciate the daily struggles they encounter. Luckily, there is hope for my fellow Celiac cake lovers, as many alternative options are now available, but if you’re not a Celiac, just have your regular cake and eat it too.

I just want to remind everyone that you can still get your flu shot at the health center, and I will give you a lollypop and a high five if you do. No seriously, I will, come find or email me and we will make it happen. As always, tune in next week for more health tips and email me at gkatz10@brandeis. edu with any health-related questions you may have.

November 12, 2010

The Brandeis Hoot

ARTS, ETC.

13

‘Practice’ doesn’t make perfect

BY ARIEL WITTENBERG AND LEAH FINKELMAN Editors

When “Grey’s Anatomy” announced its new spin-off “Private Practice” in 2007, we weren’t too hopeful. Addison was a whiny adulteress and, although she added to the plot, we couldn’t imagine an entire show about her. After the first few episodes, however, we were hooked.

Addison Montgomery, MD, played

by Kate Walsh on “Private Practice,” is a strong, smart female lead who knows what she wants and how to get it. Unfortunately, as exemplified by the past two weeks’ episodes, she seems to be the only character with morals that match our own.

Two weeks ago, Addison was called to care for a woman who had become pregnant while comatose. When it was revealed that the woman’s husband was the father of the child, Addison’s fellow physicians decided that the pregnancy was the result of a depressed man unable to come to terms with the fact that his wife would never wake up. Addison was the only one who saw the man for what he was: a rapist.

The problem with the cast’s view on this case is two fold. One, that having sex with an unconscious woman is de-facto rape, because there is no possibility for consent, and two, that being married to your rapist does not negate the rape.

It would have been one thing if the writers of “Private Practice” had used this episode as an opportunity for Addison to school her colleagues on spousal rape but, instead, Addison is belittled throughout the episode, particularly by her boyfriend and fellow doctor, Sam. In fact, the main narrative of the episode comes when Sam and Addison argue about whether work-related arguments should invade their life outside the office. While they are arguing about the rape, the show becomes an advocate for compartmentalizing one’s life, not the legality and morality that is involved when a

PHOTO FROM Internet Source

comatose woman is impregnated.

Last week’s episode, which dealt with a more violent sexual assault, did no better.

In that episode, Charlotte King, a doctor at the practice with Addison and Sam, is the victim of a random assault that leaves her hospitalized with a broken nose and hand and a severe laceration on her arm.

Addison is the only one she tells about the rape, and refuses to go to the police. In doing so, Charlotte reinforces the stigma surrounding rape, telling Addison her desire for justice was outweighed by her fear that she would be pitied or seen as week if people knew the truth.

In addition to this awful reinforcement, throughout this episode, there is the undertone that Charlotte’s ordeal constitutes “real rape,” whereas the rape of the comatose woman one week prior was more of a domestic misunderstanding than a sexual assault.

Even Addison, who advocated for the comatose woman, does not use the word “rape” in the first episode when describing the woman’s pregnancy. She says that the woman was violated, and did not give consent, but the R-word is not mentioned.

In contrast, Addison is quick to label Charlotte’s assault as rape.

Brandeis, I really love you

BY LEAH FINKELMAN Editor

Danielle Zipkin ’12 has created a short masterpiece. Inspired by movies like “Paris, Je T’aime” and “New York, I Love You,” Zipkin adapted several Brandeis love stories, submitted last year by students, into choreographed dances. Tackling themes ranging from the realization of friendship after heartbreak to self-exploration, Zipkin, with the help of a group of incredibly talented musicians and dancers, choreographed a nine-act dance performance that left the audience admiring her 10 months of hard work.

Unlike the movies that inspired her, the stories in each scene are not as easy to decipher. In general, each story’s themes were apparent, but more detailed interpretation was left to the audience, which added to the experience. Rather than simply being told several stories about random people at their own school, members of the audience were able to infuse their personal stories into the dances, creating a much more intellectually engaging performance.

The costumes lent themselves to the ambiguity surrounding the stories. With the four female dancers in white dresses and the four male dancers in white shirts and khaki pants, there was nothing to distinguish one from another. Despite the fact

that the dancers could only rely on choreography, music and minimal props to tell their stories, they did an excellent job portraying the stories submitted by Brandeis students.

In the first, fifth and ninth scenes, the dancers quoted lines and phrases from story submissions. The first scene gave quotes exemplifying the feelings in the beginning of a new relationship; the fifth gave quotes about heartbreak and the seemingly everlasting desolation at the end of relationships. The ninth and last performance of the production highlighted the therapeutic feeling of self-discovery and self-love that writers had expressed, ending the show with a perfect take-home message.

My favorite scene was a piece Zipkin titled “Friends.” The submission, written by Molly Nathanson ’12, was titled “Love Story,” and told the tale of a first-year going through a painful breakup and leaning on a friend PHOTO FROM Internet Source to get through it. Featuring dancers Kayla Dinces ’12 and Greg Storella LOVE IN THE AIR: Danielle Zipkin was inspired by the 2006 film ‘Paris, Je T’aime.’ ’11 and music by Ben Hornstein ’11, this piece tells what I believe to be the most important love-related lesson anyone Overall, “Brandeis, I Love You” was well can learn at Brandeis: while lovers come worth the 10 months it took Zipkin to creand go, the friends you make will get you ate it and worth the 30 minutes it took to through everything that comes your way. watch.

This discrepancy does not reflect reality, as in the real world it is estimated that less than one third of rapes involve strangers. While we would expect a break from reality from our soap operas, we would appreciate some taste.

Rape is rape, and no rape is socially acceptable. One in six women will be the victim of sexual assault in her lifetime, and delegitimizing one type of rape is deplorable.

Violent rape should not be used as a mechanism to bump up ratings because spousal rape isn’t deemed dramatic enough to attract viewers.

IMPRESSIONS ‘[Intellectual] An apparent problem Occupation Week’: with attitudes on Dishonesty and dilettantism in campus presenting a

14 The Brandeis Hoot

November 12, 2010

‘counter-narrative’

BY JACOB OLIDORT Special to the Hoot

This week, two student groups at Brandeis University are hosting the first “Brandeis Israeli Occupation Awareness Week” with a stated goal to present a “nice counterpoint … to the Zionist narrative” through a series of lectures and presentations. This week includes an appearance by MIT linguist Noam Chomsky, who will address Israeli “apartheid,” a speech encouraging boycott and divestment from Israel and a performance by a Palestinian rap group.

The Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace are organizing the week’s activities, which, it should be mentioned, are independent of the festivities of “Israeli Apartheid Week,” which will be hosted across American campuses in early 2011.

All of this raises two questions: To what extent do rap groups, speakers who encourage divestment and who use highly charged and sensitive words such as “apartheid” succeed in presenting a counter-narrative, and how should universities relate to such initiatives, particularly when their names are attached to them?

To answer these questions, we must examine both the message of such projects and the way in which it is presented.

Speakers such as Chomsky, who encourage not only a halt to certain Israeli government policies but also, in effect, the withdrawal of support from the Israeli state, the de-legitimatization of its existence and the toleration of violent means to achieve it, advocate the aims of terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas. (In fact, Chomsky met with Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon in May of 2006.)

Framing these points as “counter-narratives” is an injustice both to the only stalwart of human rights in the Middle East— Israel—and to the Palestinians themselves. It is those Palestinian families that genuinely strive for peace and for better lives with their Israeli neighbors who, in the course of shifts in Palestinian governance, have had their narrative and goals sabotaged by terrorist regimes such as Hamas.

However disturbing, this is not the fundamental flaw with an American university accept-

ing unquestioningly such initiatives.

The issue is rather one of free speech—particularly on the permissibility of offensive or “hate” speech—on American soil. Calls for the destruction of Israel are offensive to those who have a right, as do the citizens of any sovereign nation, to defend their land and live there. Thus we reach a fundamental question: do such student groups have the right to invite such speakers, to host such events and to sponsor such initiatives despite their genocidal content?

In the United States, individuals and groups seem to have a legal right to express their views publicly, to demonstrate and to promote platforms no matter the disruptive nature of their content. But the law does not exist in a vacuum. As citizens of the same republic, we all possess moral responsibilities to one another. That means that, as a community which is bound by the law, we simultaneously engage in a discussion of what is right and what is wrong.

University campuses, as forums for the free exchange of ideas and incubators for the next generation of citizens, should not be exempted from this principle.

“Brandeis Israeli Occupation Week” and all its variants—regardless of their message—are the legitimate expressions of the views of a particular cross-section of American society and, as such, seem to be justified. They are, moreover, paradoxically justified despite their message of destroying a legitimate democratic nation.

However, we as students, administrators and teachers all have a moral responsibility to one another—not only as citizens but also as promoters of honest scholarship—to present such issues completely to one another. This means not only being mindful of the views of all members of this community, but also taking care that the discussion is a balanced and academically valid one.

Today I proudly speak of Brandeis as my home, the incubator for my ideas and my professional trajectory. Although I do not agree with the mission of “Brandeis Israeli Occupation Week,” I recognize and respect the legal right of my fellow Brandeisians to speak their See OCCUPATION WEEK, p. 16

GRAPHIC BY Leah Lefkowitz/The Hoot

BY GORDY STILLMAN Staff

Let’s start with a story. Last Thursday a few friends and I went to the Student Activities monthly bingo event at Ollie’s.

Sometimes nobody wins and sometimes we all win; once I won a nice DVD player. Last Thursday, we noticed that, at a booth next to us, a player had more boards than allowed (students are limited to two boards for fairness).

A friend of mine attempted to politely inform the player that they had one board too many. To the people at my table, it seemed like no big deal, a simple mistake on the part of the player.

To a friend of the offending player, however, it seemed to be something more. The players’ friend decided to tell my friend to “go smoke a joint.” My friend nearly freaked out at this statement, insulted that someone would suggest that he needed illegal substances to calm down.

Luckily for my friend, the group we were with was able to calm him down quickly and the situation ended at that. This chain of events left me bothered for more than a few reasons. The key topics, though, were the way some people approach games, and a not too uncommon opinion regarding consumption of marijuana.

The latter topic is clearly the more alarming one. It has already been established that some students’ attitudes toward alcohol need reexamining, as

shown by Pachanga every semester.

Clearly attitudes toward substances that are illegal for all ages also need reexamining. I won’t pretend to have been ignorant of the fact that some students smoke pot. While it does bother me, I tolerate it because I don’t plan on telling people what to do; live and let live, even if foolishly.

What crosses the line is when someone tells me or my friends that we are in the wrong when we are not the ones advocating something illegal. Not only was it alarming that someone would encourage pot use as though it were perfectly normal, but it also gets to the potential problem of butting into other people’s business. While the jury apparently is undecided on the long-term risks of pot, the fact of the matter is it’s currently illegal.

While I do not want to tell fellow students how I think they should live their lives, I urge students that engage in this type of behavior to at least keep it within their own user community. Don’t, even if jokingly, suggest drugs to a student you don’t know. They might very well be offended.

The other topic this encounter raised was playing games. While the person with a third bingo board was likely unaware that they were breaking the rules, it doesn’t seem all too rare for people to try and get away with stuff they shouldn’t.

From my viewpoint, everything you do, even how you play

a game, is a telling sign about you as a person. If you manipulate a game to win a prize, that tells me that for you the ends justify the means. If you’re someone who hacks a videogame to yield a victory, that tells me that you’d rather take shortcuts than develop as a player.

Games typically have no real world consequences; however, that does not mean that games should be used as an opportunity to act differently than you would in the real world. I like to win as much as most people; maybe even more than that.

That being said, I find playing games and going all-out—like trying to be Rambo in a round of “Call of Duty”—to be infinitely frustrating because dying and starting over isn’t fun; it’s just time consuming.

Taking risks in games isn’t inherently bad, you may even find a genius new strategy, but there is a point when taking a risk becomes something else.

Both these events were alarming because they both brought to light bad attitudes that seem to be increasingly common on campus. Maybe it’s just people not thinking before they speak, saying the first thing that comes to mind whether it is rational or not. Maybe it’s the idea that a game is a chance to do something one would never do in a real-world situation. Either way, it seems darker attitudes are on the rise, and while no one is perfect (I don’t advocate trying to be perfect since it is impossible) we can all try to be better.

November 12, 2010

The Brandeis Hoot

Book of Matthew

Scenes from Brandeis’ past, part one:

Campus activism during the rise of Greek life

BY BRET MATTHEW Editor

As my time at Brandeis passes, I find myself more interested in the long history of this institution and its students. It is a view that, unfortunately, few of my fellow students share. Often, Brandeisians will go four whole years without consuming any more than a few anecdotes about the past. The purpose of this semi-regular series is to change that.

The following story, pieced together from articles printed in the Justice and the Watch (a now-defunct campus news magazine), is the story of how Greek life came to Brandeis. But it is also more than that—a story of campus activism.

For 37 years after its founding, Brandeis existed without the presence of fraternities or sororities.

Most students at the time were satisfied with this arrangement; some even cited the lack of Greek life as a reason for their attending Brandeis in the first place.

But everything changed in the fall of 1985, when the national Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) fraternity discovered that Brandeis’ charter did not explicitly ban fraternities from campus. They then contacted the Brandeis College Republicans—whose members were generally more receptive to fraternities—and began laying plans for the establishment of a chapter.

Their first attempt did not go well. In December, Matthew Brooks ’87, President of the College Republicans, presented the Student Senate with a petition signed by 84 students as evidence of mounting support for fraternities. As reported by the Dec. 10, 1985 issue of the Justice, Brooks asked the Senate to establish a support group that would look into the possibility of an AEPi chapter on campus, but later withdrew the request after meeting significant resistance. Senator Mike Abrams ’88 in particular felt that a support group would not be necessary.

Undaunted, the fraternity hopefuls decided to build their organization anyway. From Jan. 21-23, 1986, they held interviews to select the “founding fathers” for an AEPi chapter. Brooks, who had become AEPi’s campus organizer, told the Justice that it was important for the Senate to recognize fraternities and allow them to exist under their jurisdiction, saying: “a good structure makes a good system.” Even though Senate rules at the time prevented senators from recognizing a club that is not open to all Brandeis students, Brooks told the Justice that he was enthusiastic about working with the Senate to develop a system that worked for everyone.

But not everyone shared his

enthusiasm. A Feb. 4, 1986, Justice poll revealed that 62 percent of students opposed fraternities on campus, including 82 percent of women. In its editorial that week, the Justice editorial board called fraternities “large and rigid cliques” that “foster a group mentality, subjugating individual morality,” and cited an incident at San Diego State University in which fraternity brothers drugged and raped a female student. Even the Alumni Association got involved, voting unanimously to oppose the development of Greek life on campus.

Fraternities were not dissuaded by any of this. They continued to organize on their own, and in an increasingly disrespectful—and sometimes hostile—manner. According to the Watch, one fraternity brother, when asked about membership requirements at an information session for Zeta Beta Tau (ZBT), answered that one must be “at least four inches.”

Protestors at the session also faced heckling and profanity. And civility did not improve in the following days, either: At a filledbeyond-capacity Senate town hall meeting in Usdan Student Center on Feb. 13, 1986, both sides were met with increasing disruption as they attempted to debate.

Despite this, sources at the time told the Justice that AEPi still wanted to be recognized by the Senate, and was working with a “sister society” to make that happen. But before they could make significant progress, students acted preemptively. On Feb. 16, 1986, a petition was presented to the Senate requesting that the following article be added to the Senate Constitution: “Clubs and organizations that are not open to all members of the Brandeis community, that discriminate on the basis of sex or do not accept both men and women and/or charge fees or dues of their members will remain unchartered and unrecognized by the University.” The petition contained 1,024 student signatures, easily surpassing the 5 percent of students necessary to force a constitutional amendment referendum.

At this point, one might have expected fraternities to take a step back and work on their image.

They did the opposite. Despite their future relationship with the university being at risk, fraternities failed to take seriously the opposition they faced. At a second Senate town hall meeting on Feb. 27, 1986, one fraternity supporter, sarcastically responding to the Justice editorial from two weeks prior, remarked: “Without that channel for my aggressions, who knows, I might wind up raping women to release the tensions of the school week.”

The next day, a front-page Jus-

tice article revealed that a note had been left next to the Women’s Coalition Door, which read: “Why fight rape? Sit back and enjoy it!”

The note was signed “The Death Frat.” Next to the note was a mutilated Barbie doll, taped to the wall and splattered with red paint.

Campus police were called, but the vandals were never caught.

“One thing is for sure,” campus police officer Steve Zolan told the Justice, “we can rule out the frat organizers, because they would not have done something so stupid before the referendum.”

Perhaps not. But the incidents did not stop there. In March, according to the Watch, the Take Back the Night march was disrupted outside of the former Reitman Quad by several male students yelling: “We hope you get raped!” to female participants.

Sixteen days later, more than 1,400 students filed into the voting booths and responded to these acts. The final tally was 973-338 in favor of the constitutional amendment. The effect was immediate—fraternities were denied recognition, and some sororities were even denied money by their national organizations because of rules regarding “hostile” campuses.

In the months and years that followed, fraternities made efforts to gain power within the Senate, but they were unsuccessful. In 1988, Sigma Alpha Mu (SAM) president Todd Katz ’89 lost his race for Senate president in a landslide. In 1989 and 1990, frats fielded candidates for every open Senate seat. All but two lost, and Senate rules regarding fraternities remained in place.

Today, our situation has experienced few changes. Fraternities and sororities still exist, and neither the Student Union nor the university officially recognizes them. Based on their past behavior, this seems fair—in fact, I think it’s something to be proud of.

So, what can we learn?

Simply put, we should not allow ourselves to forget how we got to where we are today, nor to take it for granted. Despite not having computers, or social networking sites, or electronic voting, or any of the things that supposedly make democracy and social movements easier, the students who opposed Greek life organized in numbers that we al,most never see at Brandeis today. Their voting turnout puts us to shame; their involvement with campus issues makes us look ignorant.

Maybe we won’t ever face an issue as controversial as the arrival of Greek life on campus. But if we do, we have no excuse not to continue the proud tradition of our forebears.

IMPRESSIONS

15

Engrossing

Closed-mindedness on campus

BY MORGAN GROSS Columnist

I am deeply disappointed by the organizers of and participants in the walk out for their perpetuation of a less than flattering trend on Brandeis’ campus.

As anyone with eyes—let alone a Facebook account—knows, this past week has been “Israeli Occupation Awareness Week.”

For those who have managed to avoid the e-mail, Facebook message and flyer campaigns, I will give a brief summary.

“Israeli Occupation Awareness Week” was sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine. It consisted of a series of speakers and events with a critical view of Israeli politics. The “zine” produced for the event asserts that “The Brandeis student body does not fall in line with the AIPAC, the ADL, and other un-nuanced approaches to the State of Israel and the Palestinian people.”

The week was created with the intention of presenting a point of view that is not regularly projected on Brandeis’ campus and opening up dialogue between students with opposing viewpoints on the conflict in the Middle East.

Campus has been tense to say the least in the midst of such controversial speakers as Daoud Nassar, a Christian Palestinian farmer whose community is affected by Jewish settlements, and Diana Buttu, a negotiator for and legal advisor for the PLO. However, the majority of adverse reactions to the week’s events have been dealt with in respectful and tactful ways. For example: BZA’s mass postering of campus with pro-Israel slogans and a BIPAC/BZA protest that took place on Rabb steps Thursday morning.

This courtesy extended right up until Thursday night’s event, a speech

by Noam Chomsky, U.S. political activist and theorist and professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology the week’s keynote speaker.

Chomsky’s speech was highly anticipated. The buzz surrounding it combined with an overwhelming number of Facebook RSVP’s prompted event organizers to change the location from Pollack lecture hall to Sherman Function Hall. Attendance was limited to Brandeis students and faculty with few exceptions and attendees were encouraged to show up 30 minutes ahead of time to assure attendance.

As it turns out, the suggested 30 minute wait time was not enough time to guarantee a seat. More than 100 students who had shown up as much as an hour before the speech was scheduled to begin were denied admission after the venue exceeded capacity.

The event started normally enough.

After everyone had settled in, a student official from Students for Justice in Palestine welcomed the crowd and thanked them for coming out and opening up their ears and their minds.

Unfortunately, this was not what many students had in mind.

Around 30 minutes into Chomsky’s presentation—which, no matter how anyone feels about his policy, was grounded concretely in fact and almost free of emotion—a group of more than 50 students dressed in white stood up, wrapped themselves in Israeli flags and walked out of the venue.

It is more than clear that the students who organized the walk out had not come to the event with an open mind, the intention of learning something new or even the courtesy of respecting a rival group on campus.

They were there with the sole intention of making a political statement.

If this wasn’t disturbing enough, these 50 plus walk outs took seats from other students who had come out to see Chomsky with the intention of learning and expanding their point of view.

This instance of closed mindedness is just another example of the disturbing argument culture that is developing on this campus when it comes to Israel dialogue.

Most groups are simply reacting to the actions of others, sitting around and waiting for their turn to talk instead of listening to the incredible—albeit controversial—speakers that visit campus.

When these groups finally get the chance to voice their opinions, it becomes clear that many of them speak for the sole reason of hearing their own voices instead of letting their voices along with those of other groups on campus become a part of the dialogue that these events are created to foster.

I am deeply disappointed by the organizers of and participants in the walk out for their perpetuation of a less than flattering trend on Brandeis’ campus.

I can only hope that enough students will be touched by the combined events of “Israeli Occupation Awareness Week,” “Israel Peace Week,” J-Street’s “Two States for Two People’s Week” and other events put on in the future by Israel minded groups on campus, to create a dialogue that will put an end to such spectacles for good.

16 IMPRESSIONS

The Brandeis Hoot

November 12, 2010

Nineteen: A drinking age that makes sense

BY SAM ALLEN Staff

College students like to drink.

Enforcement of rules against the consumption of alcohol at America’s colleges nearly always fails. This is a fact that every American and certainly every Brandeisian after Pachanga knows; yet, for the past two decades, every state has maintained a legal drinking age of 21 years of age. It would seem nonsensical that an American could legally take a bullet for their country in war, yet not be able to order a beer.

However, the country’s policy has been just that since 1984, when the federal government passed a law that denied any state 10 percent of their federal highway funds if they had a legal drinking age lower than 21.

Colleges across the country realize it is impossible to enforce the legal drinking age on their campuses.

In 2008, 100 college presidents from schools such as Duke, Ohio State and Dartmouth formed the Amethyst Initiative, which calls for lawmakers across the country to lower the drinking age. These presidents have even gone as far to argue that the current drinking age encourages dangerous binge drinking.

Supporters of a legal drinking age of 21 versus 18 often cite the importance of keeping alcohol out of the hands of young teenagers and kids in high school as the most important aspect of a higher drinking age. There is no doubt that high school students

often can’t handle the responsibilities of alcohol, especially underclassmen, as countless studies have shown that children who start drinking before they are 16-years-old are more likely to become alcoholics later in life.

Common sense also dictates that by allowing 18-year-old seniors in high school to buy alcohol, they would then go and buy alcohol for underclassmen. However, if the drinking age were 19, this would not be a problem and the only kids still getting their hands on alcohol would be the ones most determined to do so, who drink while in high school today.

Changing the drinking age to 19 years of age would be a major step in the right direction.

However, problems could still ensue. College first-years would still not be able to drink in the open, which would force the most naïve college students to drink in the shadows. To counter this problem, I would propose having an exception in the law for 18-year-olds, who would be allowed to drink if they were either enrolled in a college or university, or if they were members of the military.

Also, it would behoove high schools across the country to have a class dedicated to responsible consumption of alcohol.

Nobody expects young people to simply get in a car without first going through a driver’s education class; the same should be done when it comes to the consumption of alcohol, which like driving, is a potentially dangerous yet ubiquitous activity.

GRAPHIC BY Ariel Wittenberg/The Hoot

Ultimately, it is the illegality of alcohol consumption that encourages dangerous drinking habits. People enjoy the thrill of breaking the rules and violating taboos, therefore, by taking the mysteriousness out of alcohol, the amount of binge drinking would likely go down. This

would be willing to bet that far fewer students would have been hospitalized for alcohol related reasons during Pachanga if the thrill of breaking the rules hadn’t been there.

Therefore, by changing the legal drinking age to 19 with common sense exceptions for legal

adults, the United States would join the rest of the developed world in having drinking age laws that make actual sense, and recognize the obvious fact that yes, legal adults of all ages always have and will continue to consume alcohol.

Occupation Week DISHONESTY (from p. 14)

minds. However, this must be done in a just and honest way; to show that this is not the only counter-narrative, that there are many voices and stories to be told, and that all must be shared.

Before we go about parading our civil liberties, let’s be intelligent and realize which of them might violate the liberties of our neighbors.

It should be the basic interest and priority of those students who stand at the forefront of this debate to ensure that this task is achieved. If “Brandeis Israeli Occupation Week” takes place without such morally-guided reflection and action on their part, then I see no justification for the planners of this week’s events to display the hubris of calling themselves liberal-minded individuals who defend social justice. Social justice is based in social responsibility.

Editor’s note: The author is a member of the Brandeis graduating class of 2007.

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November 12, 2010

The Brandeis Hoot

IMPRESSIONS

17

Sexcapades

What’s the big deal about threesomes?

BY SOPHIE RIESE Columnist

What is the big fuss about threesomes? Every straight guy’s college dream (pre- and postcollege too) is to somehow get two girls to go somewhere with him and rip off their clothes. Ideally, one will be a tall hot blonde, and the other a small Asian, each with bi-sexual tendencies so that they’re almost as into each other as they are into him. This fantasy then leads to just about every guy aged 17 and older asking every girl he dates if she’d be down.

Now, it’s not for me to say how love and relationships should work. My brother practices nonmonogamy, while I am an ardent believer that you can only ever truly feel comfortable in a relationship if it’s just the two of you.

For some girls, the idea of opening your bed to a third person can be exciting for any number of reasons. They may indeed be

interested in sexual encounters with other women, or they may aim to convince their partner that the third should instead be a man, which allows for a whole other set of both male and female fantasies. They may desire the excitement and additional stimulation of a third party. Some may just want the experience, or want to please their partners. Whatever the driving force, threesomes do happen.

In my (limited) experience, it would seem that men are usually the driving force behind threesomes, but I have no doubt that there are occasions when women are the instigators. I have a number of friends who have participated in menages-a-trois, most of them men, and most of those encounters being the M-F-M version, whether or not that was what the guys were hoping for.

After our rough break-up, a boyfriend of mine bragged to me that

the next sexual encounter he’d had was a threesome, aiming to make me feel inadequate in some way, as though I had stifled his sexual dreams or not been game enough for the things he wanted to do. After some prodding, he reluctantly admitted that it had been with a girl he had gone to high school with and a close guy friend of his. While the admission itself was surprising to me, I found it almost laughable that this was what he was bragging about. After all, the true bragging rights for a heterosexual male come from having sex with two girls at a time, right?

So why does it seem that men are so gung-ho when women are iffy on a good day? I believe it’s based on two things, because those are the two things that make me reluctant. The first has nothing to do specifically with the sex, but instead with the connection made between people

during sex. Even if you’re having a one-night stand, you’re connecting with the other person in a very distinct way. You are focusing solely on each other’s bodies, and (hopefully) on each other’s pleasure. Bringing a third person into the mix can complicate this connection. What goes through my head is, “What if one person gets pushed out? Worse, what if it’s me, and I end up watching my boyfriend and another girl?” I’m not sure that I could recover and settle back into a relationship after an experience like that. Of course, this fear is all predicated on the second point that I believe makes women reluctant: the third person.

In the case of a second woman being brought into the mix, it’s about sex with another woman. I have no desire to go down on a woman, or necessarily have one go down on me either. Someone will have to be left out because the sexual interaction between myself and another woman would be limited, mak-

ing the male participant have to focus on one or the other, who would effectively be the center of the fantasy. In the case of a second man, I don’t know many women (although I do know a few) who dream of having to handle two penises, alienating one of the men in the scene.

So what’s the big deal about threesomes? It’s like, what’s the big deal about the guy who doesn’t know you exist? It’s a treat … something most men know they can’t have, but they want it anyway. If they end up getting it, it may not always be what they hoped for, but at least they had the chance. Maybe it’s a sign that their girl is super cool, or sexy, if she’d be down, but I know a lot of guys who are OK with the idea that it will probably never happen for them. The big deal is that we all want what we can’t have.

Altered Consciousness

Critiquing Liberalism

GRAPHIC BY Ariel Wittenberg/The Hoot

BY RICK ALTERBAUM Columnist

Perhaps the defining aspect of modern liberalism is sympathy with the poor and weak over the powerful and strong. Certainly, this sentiment, which has fueled numerous progressive movements—including those devoted to civil rights, feminism and environmentalism—can be a noble one. Indeed, there are unjust inequalities and inequities in the world, and true egalitarianism, in the political, social and economic sense, is a rarity in most societies.

However, liberalism can become problematic when it takes a Manichean view in this respect. That is, individuals on the Left have a troubling tendency to view the world through a bifurcated prism, in which the

institutions and forces associated with the powerful are evil solely by virtue of their status, as opposed to the weak, who are righteous and just. In particular, this attitude applies, in my view, to two key sources of power: the West and corporations.

The West is, by most objective measures, the ultimate source of power in the world and in international politics. The countries that belong in this category have very high GDP’s, possess strong militaries, have invested greatly in the well being of their citizens and are able to extend their economic, cultural, social and political influence far beyond their shores.

Many on the Left, though, view the West with a mixture of disdain, guilt, and even shame.

They believe that Western civilization’s success is a product

of imperialism, as well as the exploitation and oppression of the peoples of the Third World.

These sentiments make liberals wary of nationalism and patriotism and cause them to incessantly apologize for the West’s past actions.

There is some truth to the Left’s accusations. Yes, historically speaking, the foreign policies of countries ranging from the United Kingdom to France to the United States have not been perfect by any means.

However, what is lacking in this analysis is nuance. For all of its flaws, the West is still a bastion of freedom and democracy that facilitates social mobility and promotes the ideals of the Enlightenment, including tolerance for all peoples, freedoms of speech, assembly, press, expression and the right to a fair trial.

Furthermore, if Western civilization were to disappear, what would replace it? A Chinese model of political oppression, authoritarianism, one-party-rule, and state-run capitalism? An Islamic civilization that is governed on the basis of Sharia law, is run by corrupt theocratic dictators, subjugates women, prevents any form of dissent to religious dogma and oppresses minorities because of their status as dhimmis and infidels?

Additionally, the Left’s relationship to corporations, which, like the West, collectively hold immense amounts of economic power and political influence, is marked by a similar lack of nuance and arguably, maturity. Liberals relentlessly accuse these institutions of being selfish, immoral and inherently corrupt organizations that act in their own inter-

est at the expense of those who lack such influence and authority. Again, there is at least some truth to these statements.

At the same time, though, corporations are the basis for growth as well as the primary creators of prosperity, wealth and capital in any given market-driven economy. They are the main sources of economic and technological innovations that can prove to be of immense societal value. Also, if it weren’t for these institutions, millions would lack the ability to better themselves socially and economically. There is, indeed, beauty to be found in these forces that guide vibrant, dynamic free markets.

Additionally, as in the case of the West, the alternatives to corporations as employers and job creators are inferior. Corporations are, theoretically, extremely productive and efficient due primarily to the profit motive. In contrast, the public sector creates an incentive structure that is more suited towards regulating and administering, as opposed to raising capital. This contrast is made abundantly clear when one compares capitalist and centrally-planned, socialist and communist economies.

What I am calling for is not necessarily a change in policy but rather a change in attitude in liberalism. By all means, criticize the West and corporations for their excesses. However, the Left should also respect, value and take pride in the contributions of these forces, and note that their substitutes are inferior in most respects.

SPORTS

18 The Brandeis Hoot

November 12, 2010

Women’s soccer advances to post-season tournament

BY ARIEL WITTENBERG Editor

The Brandeis women’s soccer team will enter post-season play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III tournament for the second time in Brandeis history following its 2-0 win at New York University Saturday.

The 25th-ranked Judges will host the first two rounds of the tournament on Gordon Field on Saturday and Sunday, playing Castleton State College in the first round on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

Tickets will be $3 for students and $6 for adults.

The 2010 season has been one of the Judges’ most successful regular-season campaigns in school history at 14-4-1, 4-3 in the UAA while NYU closed its season at 7-10-2, 2-5 UAA when it fell to the Judges.

Brandeis’ win against the NYU Violets Saturday was thanks to a goal and an assist from midfielder Ellie Einhorn ’11.

The first goal of the game came after a tightly-contested first third of the game, when the Judges finally broke through in the 33rd minute. Sofia Vallone ’11 took a feed from Einhorn and then Vallone made a move to beat a defender and fired on net from 25 yards out, finding the lower-left corner. The goal was Vallone’s 17th of the season, tying the single-season record set by Melissa Delowe ’04 in 2003. Vallone is also just two points shy of Delowe’s singleseason mark of 40 points, while

her sixth game-winning goal of the campaign is one shy of the school mark, set by Pam Vaughan ’90 in 1988 and 1989.

After a tight first half in which Brandeis owned a 6-5 edge in shots taken, the Judges dominated the second half, 9-3. The visitors finally broke through with an insurance goal in the 69th minute.

The play started off a scramble in front of the net after a corner kick.

Back Ali Maresca ’12 hit the crossbar with a header, but Einhorn was there to convert the rebound for her third goal of the season.

T h e Brandeis defense held NYU to just three shots on goal, with Francine Kofinas ’13 making three saves for her fifth shutout of the season and the team’s 10th, one shy of a schoolrecord set three times, most recently in 2008. The Violets’ Rachael Ross had six stops in the losing effort.

In the post-season, the Judges are lead by Vallone and Tiffany Pacheco ’11. Vallone led the UAA this season in overall goals (17), overall points (38) and goals (5) and points in conference games (10). Pacheco has nine assists this

T

season to lead the UAA, while her 25 points are third in the UAA. She has 28 career assists, tied for Brandeis’ all-time lead, and is in fourth place on the Judges’ career list with 86.

The Judges defense is led by Taryn Martiniello ’11, Maresca, Fran Shin ’12, Ali Theodore ’12 and goalkeeper Francine Kofinas ’13.

The Brandeis defense has turned in 10 shutouts this season and has never allowed more than two goals in a game, posting a 0.62 goals-against average.

Kofinas’ 45 saves in UAA games led the league, while her 83 total saves and 0.58 GAA were third.

Castleton State College posted a 16-2-1 record this season and claimed the North Athletic Conference’s automatic berth in the tournament. The Spartans have three 10-goal scorers, led by senior Courtney Chadbourne.

This three-time NAC Player of the Year has 21 goals and seven assists for 49 points this season.

Junior Hilary Cooke (16-4-36) and sophomore Megan Blongy (12-7-31) also earned first-team All-NAC honors, as did sopho-

he 2010 season has been one of the Judges’ most successful regular season campaigns in school history.

PHOTO BY Nafiz R “Fizz” Ahmed/The Hoot

more goalkeeper Ericka Davis (7 shutouts, 81 saves).

This will be the second-ever meeting between Brandeis and Castleton State College and second in a row in the postseason.

The Judges and Spartans met

in the first round of the 2009 ECAC Division III New England tournament with Brandeis taking a 3-0 victory on Gordon Field behind a pair of Pacheco goals.

Men’s soccer wins against Falcons

BY ARIEL WITTENBERG Editor

Men’s soccer beat the Albertus Magnus College Falcons 5-0 on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III New England Men’s Soccer Championships. The team was led by Lee Russo ‘13, who nearly doubled his season scoring output in the first half tonight, scoring four straight goals.

With the win, fourth-seeded Brandeis improves to 10-7-1. The Judges will take on top-seeded Bridgewater State University on Saturday at Western New England College in Springfield. Fifth-seed Albertus Magnus closes its winningest season at 15-6-1.

Russo scored all four first-half goals and assisted the lone tally of the second half. He scored his first two goals only 26 seconds apart, with midfielder Theo Terris ’12 earning both assists. Russo converted a terrific through ball from Terris at the 10:05 mark that released him one-on-one versus the Falcon goalie. At 10:31, Terris

headed the ball to the left sideline near midfield. Russo tracked it down and dribbled the length of the field, blasting it home from just inside the box.

With just less than five minutes remaining in the half, forward Steve Keuchkarian ’11 played a ball from the right sideline over to the left side of the box. Russo outraced his defender to the ball and kicked it home for his fourth of the night and his ninth of the season. Russo had entered the game with only six career goals. In the 53rd minute, Russo returned the favor, assisting Keuchkarian’s third goal of the season, a blast from the right side of the box.

Brandeis outshot AMC, 2811, for the game, but Falcon first-year Donato Piroscafo had eight saves on the night, including a stop on a penalty kick in the 72nd minute. Falcon Francois Brown had one stop in 16 minutes of action. Brandeis’ tandem of Taylor Bracken ’11 and Matt Lynch ’11 had three and two saves, respectively, as they combined for the Judges’ eighth shutout of the campaign.

PHOTO BY Alan Tran/The Hoot

November 12, 2010

The Brandeis Hoot

SPORTS

19

Gordy’s Pro Picks: Week 10

BY GORDY STILLMAN Staff

What a week! I cannot believe the stats but I was 12-1 last week with the only wrong pick being the surprise Patriots/Browns game. If not for that one game, I would have had a perfect week.

This insane record brings my overall stats to 29-11.

Starting this week there will be Thursday night games. I will not be making picks on these for two reasons: I will not publish a pick after the game has occurred and I will not be guessing a game one week in advance Baltimore at Atlanta: No pickthe game happened yesterday— Atlanta won, 26-21.

Detroit at Buffalo: Detroit. Neither team is doing too well this year. While the Bills have not had a winning season since 2004, the Lions haven’t had a winning season since 2000! Detroit, however, has a couple wins to their record this season while Buffalo remains with a no-win record.

Minnesota at Chicago: Minnesota. This pick should come as no surprise. While Coach Childress needs to go, the Vikings are finally facing the easy half of their season. Winning this game will help the Vikings inch their way closer to the NFC North championship.

New York Jets at Cleveland: Cleveland in this game to watch.

The Jets have the better record, the Jets have a perfect away record, but the Browns have overcome both the Saints and the Patriots despite entering with low expectations. This game is expected to be a nail-biter but I’m going with the team that mauled the Patriots in the same stadium last week.

Cincinnati at Indianapolis: Indianapolis. The Colts don’t lose often, the Bengals do. Additionally, the Colts have suffered all of their loses this year away. While it may seem good for the Bengals to have half their wins be on the road, in this case, that half is only one game.

Tennessee at Miami: Tennessee. Not only does Tennessee have Moss, now on his third team this year, they also have the record to support this pick. The Titans are 3-1 away while the Dolphins are 0-3 at home. Unless the Dolphins can pull a surprise home victory, the Titans will maintain their spot at the top of the AFC South (tied with Indianapolis).

Carolina at Tampa Bay: Tampa. Carolina has only one win in their eight games so far. Tampa has a much better five wins.

While most of Tampa’s losses have been at home, this week

PHOTO COURTESY Internet Source

just doesn’t look like one of those weeks.

Houston at Jacksonville: Jacksonville. These two teams have the same record in the same division. In this very even match up I’m choosing Jacksonville for two reasons: they have homefield advantage, and I know people from Jacksonville.

Kansas City at Denver: Kansas City in this uneven match.

Denver has simply been playing poorly with only two wins to their record right now. The Chiefs, on the other hand, have five wins and

the top spot in the AFC West St. Louis at San Francisco: San Francisco. While the Rams have the better overall record, they lack a single win on the road.

Additionally, both of the 49ers wins have been at home.

Seattle at Arizona: Arizona.

Seattle may have the better record, but I expect both teams to be 4-5 fter Sunday. In terms of records, the Cardinals have played more away games than the Seahawks. These teams appear to be evenly matched but, after Seattle’s loss to the Gi-

ants (41-7), it’s easy to go with the home-team Cardinals who fought well last week against the Vikings.

Dallas at New York Giants: New York Giants. Dallas hascurrently the biggest train-wreck season of an early Superbowl favorite. Not only did the Cowboys lose in a 45-7 loss that I am still upset to have predicted on last week, the Giants managed a similar slaughter in their last game.

New England at Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh. Both teams are 6-2.

Both teams are looking to become the single team in first place for their division (Patriots are tied with the Jets, Steelers with the Ravens). Pittsburgh, however, is coming off of a winning week while New England is coming off of an embarrassing defeat. Additionally, with homefield advantage, I expect the Steelers to snag this match.

Philadelphia at Washington: Philadelphia. The Redskins may have the home field advantage but that’s basically the only advantage they’ll get. The Redskins may be coming off of a bye week before which they were defeated by the Lions, but the Eagles are coming off of a close win against the Colts. Furthermore, the Eagles have simply been outplaying the

Women’s volleyball ends season Austin, Powell take with win over U Rochester gold for men’s fencing

BY ARIEL WITTENBERG

BY ARIEL WITTENBERG

Editor

Editor

Women’s volleyball ended its season with a 3-1 win against University of Rochester in the seventh-place match at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships at Case Western in Cleveland, Ohio Saturday. Earlier in the day, the Judges fell to Carnegie Mellon 3-0 and dropped one match each (also 3-0) to New York University and Washington University on Friday.

The Judges kicked off the UAA championships with two losses to the second-seeded and 15thranked NYU Violets and the third-seeded and top-ranked Washington University Bears.

The Judges gave the Violets a run for their money in the first set, which the Violets took 25-21, before the Violets were able to get two more set-wins at 25-17 and 25-13 for a match victory.

Brandeis was paced by Abby Blasco ’11, with seven kills and no errors in 13 attempts for a .538 hitting percentage, and Paige Blasco ’11, with seven kills. Susan Sun ’13 led the team defensively with 10 digs.

In their second match on Friday, the Judges were swamped by the top-ranked Bears, who won the match 25-8, 25-10 and 2513. Despite the immense loss, in their third set the Judges took the most points allowed by Washington University in any set this season. Yael Einhorn ’14 helped the

PHOTO BY Anthony Losquadro/The Hoot

Judges along with five digs in the match.

The next day, Brandeis fell yet again to the Carnegie Mellon Tartans with a three set loss 25-20, 25-20 and 25-17. Paige Blasco was the standout of the match for Brandeis against the Tartans, recording a double-double with 15 blocks and 11 digs, both teamhighs. Blasco also made just one attacking error in 46 attempts for a .308 hitting percentage, her fourth-best of the season and highest since Sept. 25. Middle blocker Nicole Smith ’11 added eight kills and a solo block. Einhorn and Susan Sun ’13 had six digs each, with Sun also adding two service aces.

The Judges ended on a brighter note, winning their season finale 3-1 against the University of Rochester Yellowjackets.

In the seventh-place match, the Judges rallied from being a set down to record a 17-25, 25-12, 2520, 25-16 victory. After making seven errors with just five kills in the first set, the team made just seven errors total in the next three sets.

Three different players had at least 10 kills for the Judges, including Paige Blasco who had 15. Lauren Berens ’13 had 11 kills and just two errors in 18 attempts for a .500 hitting percentage, while Si-Si Hensley ’14 had 10 kills and one error in 28 attempts for a .321 percentage.

Defensively, Paige Blasco also led the way with 12 digs, as did Einhorn. For Blasco, it marked her 15th double-double of the season. Hensley also had 10 digs, her third double-double of the campaign. Abby Blasco had 37 assists, while Smith finished her career with three blocks, one of

The Brandeis fencing team began their season with a successful day on Saturday at the Big One Tournament, hosted at Smith College.

On the men’s side, four fencers medaled. Adam Austin ’11 and Alex Powell ’12 both took gold, while Jon Rollock ’11 and Julian Cardillo ’14 took the bronze medal home.

Austin went undefeated in pool play in the saber, going 6-0, and was seeded third into the direct elimination. In the quarterfinals, he had to fence against secondseeded and also undefeated teammate Rollock. In a close bout, Austin defeated Rollock 15-10.

Powell went 5-1 in pool in the epee competition and was ranked eighth afterwards. During the direct elimination round, Powell out-fenced fellow teammates Harry Kaufer ’13 in the round of 32, and Tucker Robinson-Neff ’13 in the round of 16. In the gold medal bout, Powell went into overtime against opponent, Jackson Crane from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Powell clinched the bout at 12-11 with less than one minute on the clock.

Julian Cardillo ’14 went 6-0 in the first round of foil action, and was rated second after pools.

In the semifinal round of direct elimination, Cardillo fenced a difficult bout against Ethan Paterson from Sacred Heart University, and

PHOTO BY Andrew Rauner/The Hoot

was defeated with a close score in overtime, 14-15.

Kaufer told The Hoot he was pleased with the team’s first meet, saying, “It was a good start to the season. Powell and [Austin] dominated the competition.”

For the women, Vikki Nunley ’13 earned bronze medal honors in foil action, going into play undefeated at 6-0. Nunley allowed just six touches against in her six bouts to claim the sixth seed in tournament action. In the first two rounds, she beat opponents from MIT and Wellesley, 15- and she dominated the third seed, Allison Chew of Mount Holyoke, in the quarterfinals, 11-10, before bowing in the semis to the eventual champion, Katherine Hawrot of Brown, 15-11.

Nunley and Austin were awarded University Athletic Association fencing Athlete of the Week honors for their performances this weekend.

HOOT SCOOPS

20 The Brandeis Hoot

November 12, 2010

Lending a hand: Brandeis celebrates kindness day

By Leah Finkelman, Editor Last spring a committee met to devise ways to brighten Brandeis’ spirits.

After several long months of difficult changes, the group wanted to find small things that could bring the Brandeis community together.

Several months of planning lead to the creation of the first Brandeis Kindness Day. The event coincides with World Kindness Week, which runs from Nov. 8 through 14. According to Professor Wendy Cadge (SOC), a member of the original committee, the timing made perfect sense; with Thanksgiving coming up, a day devoted to kindness would logically lead to feelings of gratitude.

With the help of other students, Rebecca Bachman ’13 and Lara Solinsky ’11 tabled in Usdan in the week leading up to Kindness Day, promoting the event with pie, postcards that students can send to friends and cards to underappreciated groups that students can sign.

Bachman and Solinsky have been instrumental in coordinating on-campus activities, Cadge said. Serving as student representatives on the Kindness Day committee, they were tasked with spreading the word about the event. “[We’ve been] trying to ensure that Kindness Day takes over campus so that all undergrads know that it is happening,” Solinsky said.

“Often our lives and schedules are so chaotic that we

often forget about the smaller things in life,” Community Service Director Lucas Malo said. “Everyone likes to feel good about themselves, feel valued, and appreciated.

This is a day to treat your professor to lunch, bake cookies for your CA, give your server a special note with their tip, call your grandparent or [do] 101 other heartfelt acts.”

“By having a day devoted to doing small acts of kindness we can change this and give the whole campus an opportunity to really think about those around them and appreciate each other!” Solinsky said. “You never know when a smile or simple ‘thank you’ will change someone’s day.”

Student Union President Daniel Acheampong ’11 and Secretary Herbie Rosen ’12 wrote a letter to the Waltham City Council, informing them of the university’s plans.

In the letter, they thanked the Waltham community for supporting university life: “On behalf of the Brandeis University undergraduate student body, we thank the entire community of Waltham for its kindness. Together we form a partnership

that brings the university and the town of Waltham into a lasting union that creates an exceptional community to be a part of.”

“I think that this project is a great way for the University community to show again how dedicated it is to social justice,” Rosen said. “Plus, Kindness Day is just fun. Fun

i s always a good thing to have around Brandeis; might as well help others feel good while you are having fun.”

Random Acts of Kindness • Make sure to say “please” • Say hello to those you pass • Greet others with a smile. • Hold the door open for anand “thank you.” in the hallways or around We’re sure you will get one in other person. return. campus.

• Give back to charity this holiday season! Pre- • Tell your supervisor, co-worker, • Write a note of appreciation on order a Thanksgiving pie or bread by Nov. 19 and professor or student that he/she is one of the Kindness day postcards and pass it on via campus mail. $1 for each item sold will go to a local homeless doing a job well done! shelter in Waltham.

Come up with your own kindness act and tell us about it! Send them to Alyssa Cooke at acooke@brandeis.edu