VOL 6, NO. 13
NOVEMBER 13, 2009
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
THEHOOT.NET
Students crossing boundaries:
H1N1 vaccine arrives, high risk students vaccinated beginning today
Al Quds community members share stories at Brandeis this week
BY ARIEL WITTENBERG Editor
tors, faculty and students from Al-Quds visited Brandeis both at conferences in Istanbul and during a trip to East Jerusalem. This is the second time students from AlQuds have come to Brandeis. For the past week, five Palestinian AlQuds students, and eight administrators have been at Brandeis, getting to know students here and attending classes, including an Arabic language class and a class
The university will begin inoculating “high priority” high risk students with the H1N1 vaccine today. The university has already inoculated Brandeis healh care workers with the H1N1 vaccine earlier this week, and will now begin to inoculate high risk students. Director of the Health Center Dr. Debra Poaster wrote in an e-mail message to The Hoot that the Health Center contacted students whom the Center knew to have medical conditions that put them at “high priority” high risk of being severely infected by the virus. High priority students were notified in an e-mail message from Tobey Fidler, a nurse at the Health Center, that they should go to the health center today between 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. to be inoculated. “We will not be able to hold doses for an undefined time period as we need to get to the next tier of priority students,” the e-mail, which was forwarded to The Hoot by an anonymous recipient of the e-mail, said. “Keep in mind that MANY other students would like to be getting their H1N1 vaccine asap, so I’d like to ask for your sensitivity in not publicizing your vaccine status.” In accordance with Department of Public Health guidelines, health care workers were vaccinated first in order to diminish the spread of disease, followed by those at high risk of contracting the disease and of suffering most from the
See AL QUDS, p. 4
See VACCINE, p. 2
PHOTO BY Author Alan Tran/The Hoot
SHARING CULTURES: ICC Staff serves Al-Quds University student Ban Muwaswes a meal in an event focused on displaying Brandeis student life to visting AlQuds University commnity members.
BY LEAH FINKELMAN Staff
In a Ridgewood suite, visitors to Brandeis have slightly redecorated in order to feel more at home, including brewing a fresh pot of strong Turkish coffee and hanging a Palestinian flag in the window. The visitors are students and recent graduates of Al-Quds University, one of the few Arab universities in Palestinian-
controlled East Jerusalem, students of the university were at Brandeis this week with other Al-Quds community members as part of a partnership between Brandeis and Al-Quds meant to encourage understanding and acceptance between community members at the Palestinian university and a historically Jewish-sponsored university. To reach these goals, Al-Quds and Brandeis community members have participated in exchanges since 2006, when administra-
Faculty senate to select members of Pres. Advisory Committee next week BY NATHAN KOSKELLA Staff
The university faculty will select its members next week to represent the faculty in the search for a new president, as announced at last Thursday’s faculty meeting. The positions on the Faculty Advisory Committee to the Presidential Search Committee will be run by an electronic election still being drafted. The proposal now moving forward allows for all Arts and Sciences Schools to be represented with additional at large members. “There will be eight members, and each faculty member will get three votes,” Prof. Sabine von Mering (GRALL), the Faculty Senate chair, said, “one vote for their school by the people in that school
IN THIS ISSUE:
and two for the at large seats.” Faculty members were able to nominate professors not in their departments, and von Mering received over 80 responses. Since some professors have declined, however, there will now be at most “seven or eight nominees for each seat,” or 56 to 64 people total nominated, she said. The Advisory Committee will serve in addition to the faculty on the Search Committee itself and provide a broad, elected set of representatives for more open communication. “Obviously, we know about many of the main issues,” von Mering said. “We know we must have a new direction, and people really want to see change.” For facilitating the transformation of what members want and what can be done, von Mering has drawn up a survey that will be at-
tached on this week’s ballot. “The Faculty Handbook permits the Senate to address faculty concerns, which can be brought directly [to the Senate] or at faculty meetings, but they also can be initiated by electronic means,” von Mering said. The survey will help the Senate and the Advisory Committee on current faculty issues of most importance, and assist in the stated goal of a new direction. As one of the goals of faculty on the Search and Advisory Committee, the faculty hopes to use its input for things that have lacked in the past. “I think there’s a general consensus on campus that we need a change, we need a different kind of communication, more openness, and a more consultative leadership style,” von Mering said.
Friedman wins Fourth Estate Press Club Award Features, page 6
Students who are under 24-years old and have the following conditions are at “high risk” for H1N1 and are eligible to submit the “high risk request for flu shot” form:
Women’s and men’s basketball preivew Impressions, page 18
• Pregnancy • Caregiver to an infant of less than six-months old • Chronic pulmonary diseases including asthma and cystic fibrosis • Cardiovascular diseases such as valvular heart disease • Chronic renal or liver disease • Transplant recipients • Neurologic or neuromuscular conditions that cause breathing or swallowing problems • Hematologic diseases or current cancer • Diabetes or adrenal disease • Suppressed immune systems
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