The Brandeis Hoot - 11-13-09

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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2 The Hoot

November 13, 2009

N E W S Brandeis gets first H1N1vaccine drop, gives shot to ‘high risk’ students of flu-like illness since the beginning of the semester, none of which have been treated with virus.

After high priority students Tamiflu.

Sawyer said in an interview are vaccinated, the Health Center will vaccinate “high risk” stu- with The Hoot that the Health Center is reserving its supply of dents.

High risk students must fill Tamiflu for high risk students out a “Request for Flu Shot” who become infected with the available in PDF form on the virus so as not to run out and to Health Center’s website in order avoid the H1N1 virus becoming to qualify for the first round of resistant to the drug.

All students who have had fluH1N1 vaccines, Sawyer wrote in a campus-wide e-mail message like symptoms this semester have to the Brandeis community on been treated with ibuprofen and were either sent home or isolated Tuesday.

High risk students include on campus for the duration of those who are under 24-years their illness in order to avoid the old and are pregnant, caregivers spread of disease.

“154 sounds like a lot of stuto an infant less than six-months old, have chronic pulmonary dents, but compared to other diseases including asthma and schools, we’re pretty well off-cystic fibrosis, cardiovascular knock on wood,” Sawyer said. diseases such as valvular heart “We’ve been able to manage this disease, chronic renal or liver so well because of the cooperadisease or transplant recipients, tion of students.”

Students who have already had neurologic/neuromuscular conditions that cause breathing or the flu, no matter what strain of swallowing problems, hemato- the virus, should still seek the logic diseases or current cancer, vaccine when it is available and Diabetes or adrenal disease, or when they qualify, Sawyer said, those whose immune systems adding that because the university has not been testing students, are suppressed.

Poaster wrote in her e-mail there is no way to know whether to The Hoot that the Health they have immunity to H1N1 without getting Center has coninoculated. tacted students Sawyer wrote who have medical Wash your hands. Don’t Don’t in the e-mail conditions that touch your face. put them at high share cigaretts. Self-isolate that he hopes all students risk. if you are sick. who want to Students who -Doctor Debora Poaster will be vaccicomplete the nated by late form and turn it November or in by hand to the health center will be contacted early December; however, in an via e-mail when the Health Cen- interview with The Hoot he said ter is ready to dispense the vac- he is unsure of the students’ interest in the vaccine. cine.

“Every night on NBC news I The H1N1 vaccines are being distributed to the university by see lines of people waiting to get the federal government through vaccines at clinics all over the the Commonwealth of Massa- country,” he said, “but here we’ve chusetts and do not cost the uni- only had the occasional inquiry by parents about the vaccines. versity money.

Because vaccinations for high- There has not been a lot of inrisk students will be dispensed quiry.”

This year, the health center through the Health Center and by its staff, vaccinations will held three to four clinics to disbe free for high-risk students. tribute the seasonal flu vaccine Once the Health Center receives and students “showed up at the enough doses to dispense to the normal pace” Sawyer said.

“We’re all wondering what the larger student body, however, the Health Center will have to reaction to the H1N1 vaccine outsource the clinic-style vac- will be,” he said.

Poaster of the Health Center cinations, and therefore will have to charge students for the wrote in her e-mail that stuvaccines in order to cover labor dents should “follow the simple guidelines we have previously costs.

Sawyer said this cost “will be described” to avoid the spread of disease while waiting to get vacminimal.”

“We certainly do not want to cinated.

“Wash your hands.

Don’t do anything that discourages students from getting the vac- touch your face. Don’t share drinks or cigarettes. Self-isolate cine if they want it.”

If a high risk student becomes if you are sick,” she wrote.

Students with additional quesill with flu-like symptoms before they receive the vaccine, the tions should contact the Health Health Center will treat that stu- Center at (781)-736-3677.

The Request for Flu Shot dent with Tamiflu--the prescripform is availible at http://www. tion drug used to treat the flu.

As of Wednesday afternoon, brandeis.edu/studentaffairs/ the university has had 154 cases health/forms/RequestH1N1.pdf

VACCINE (from p. 1)

PHOTO BY Author in Yuan Yao/The Hoot

PANEL: A group of international undergraduate and graduate students discuss the culture shock faced when a foreign student first encounters American culture.

International students reflect on experiencing American culture on the Brandeis campus

BY JON OSTROWSKY Staff

Five international students from several undergraduate and graduate programs spoke about their experiences regarding American culture at a forum sponsored by the International Students and Scholars Office in the Levin-Ross room in the Hassenfeld Conference Center on Tuesday evening.

The panel featured Georiga Luikens, a PhD student from Australia, Vinodini Murugesan, a PhD student from Malasia, Nadir Daudi ’10 from Pakistan, Vilma Horca, a graduate student in the Sustainable International Development program from the Philippines, and Tenzing Sherpa ’12 from Nepal.

The students discussed many differences between their native cultures and American life hat have made their experience at Brandeis challenging ranging from the large workload to the language.

“These are things that you notice from the time you’re here but you can’t express them,” Sherpa said.

“Just because you speak the language doesn’t mean that you understand the culture,” Luikens said.

There are appoximately 1,000

international students from 115 countries at Brandeis said David Elwell, the director of the International Students and Scholars Program.

Elwell said that the diverse student body at Brandeis allows students to learn about different cultures from their real life experiences of meeting and forming friendships with international students.

“At a college or university, this is really an opportunity for you to get to know the world,” Elwell said. “That’s one of the really amazing things about Brandeis – that you want to meet people who are different than you.”

“I tell people that I have the best job in the world because on any given day I get to meet people from all over the world,” he said.

Murugesan found this to be true during her beginnings at Brandeis because when people would ask her “how are you?” she would often respond in detail, and didn’t realize “how are you is just a way of [saying] hello.”

Daudi found himself a bit lost when students were always talking amongst themselves about pop culture and all of the television shows they watch.

Luikens also voiced that in Australia people tend to live in one place much longer than they do in the United States. Com-

menting on how often young people move around the country to go to college and graduate school, “there is really this concept of really moving around this gigantic country,” he said.

In Australia, students usually go to university in their home city while living with their parents.

Another common theme mentioned by the students was the fast paced life and difficult amount of homework at Brandeis.

“This is like a big day everyday.

It was hard to step back and relax,” Daudi said. “I think the overall attitude towards work or life [in the U.S] is that people are very driven to do things.”

Murugesan felt that although students do not take a large number of courses, each course has a significant portion of work.

“I could hardly cope in my first year,” Horca said. She addressed the fact that although long readings are often assigned, she did not realize that some of them were to be read quickly and just skimmed through to get a general understanding.

“Where I come from in Nepal we have a very different attitude.

Time don’t mean anything,” Sherpa said.

Daudi also said he found Americans to be very friendly, “for the most part it’s been a fantastic experience,”he said.

Experts discuss causes of Autism

BY SEAN FABERY Staff

A panel of experts on autism spectrum disorders discussed the possible causes of autism in a medical discussion that was held in conjunction with Autism Awareness Week on Monday.

The panel consisted of Dr. Martha Herbert, Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Elizabeth SajdelSulkowska, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Alvaro Pascual-Leone, Director of the Center for Non-In-

vasive Brain Stimulation at Harvard Medical School and Mark Blaxill, Vice President of Safe Minds, a non-profit organization targeting mercury-induced disorders.

All members of the panel refuted the currently accepted belief that autism is genetic, and blamed it instead on chemicals in food and vaccines.

“The genes that we have identified contribute to only a small amount of [cases of autism],” Herbert said.

Autism has become 12 times more common in the past 20 years.

The panelists acknowledged that part of this increase has been linked to changes in diagnostic practice.

Herbert maintained, however, that more than half of the increase could not be linked to such changes.

Herbert presented research that indicated that autism could be linked to environmental factors within the placenta. Herbert explained that the concordance of autism in identical twins is 60 percent, which she attributed to the sharing of a placenta—and the possible See AUTISM, p. 4

NEWS

November 13, 2009

A broader definition of the word ‘mother’

BY JON OSTROWSKY Staff

Marguerite Bouvard, author of Mothers in All But Name, and Dr. Stephanie Wasserman, a foster parent and Professor of Psychology at Merrimack College, spoke Tuesday in Liberman Miller Lecture Hall about the role non birth mothers can play in a child’s life.

Bouvard’s book, based on several interviews that she conducted, deals with the issue of mothers who did not give birth to their children, and their experiences raising children.

Bouvard, who raised her sister’s daughter for reasons she did not specify, explained that the term mother can apply to women, biologically related or not, who lovingly raise a child.

“For millennia, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, and strangers have taken on the responsibility of mothering, and we don’t recognize them for some reason,” Bouvard said.

She also discussed the difference between kinship mothering, where a woman related to the child takes on the role of the mother, and mothering where a woman not biologically related cares for the child.

“There’s a whole area that we don’t know where friends step in in times of crisis and families are made out of love, not biology,” she said.

An open supporter of gay marriage, Bouvard said that “we have a narrow view of mothering and we need to open up,” and called gay marriages “wonderful,” explaining that throughout history ten percent of people have been, and are, homosexuals. Explaining the challenges she faced researching her book, Bouvard commented that while there was some information on grandmothers who took the role of a mother, there was no information available on aunts, friends, and strangers who accepted the role of a mother.

In order to account for this lack of research, Bouvard was led to conduct several in -depth interviews with many of the mothers in her book.

Speaking about the difficulties she faced when choosing between her sister and her niece in court, Bouvard made clear that she considers her niece her daughter regardless of what others say.

“She is my daughter, but nobody gives the recognition of our society,” Bouvard said.

“There are women that have children [who] are not mothers and there are women [who] do not have children who are excellent mothers.”

Referring to one of her foster children, Wasserman at one point called the child her baby, then said, “it’s hard–the terminology– the language, because it’s just not there,” she said.

Wasserman researched the foster care system before writing a chapter of Bouvard’s book, she focused on the powerful women she has met as well as the problems with the foster care system. The foster care system is composed of two types of foster parents, according to Wasserman. There are those who were part of a loving and nuclear family growing up and those who are “able to overcome the pains they felt [growing up].”

“I do not want to idolize the foster care system, [but] within the system, are some powerful women who change the lives of young people,” Wasserman said.

Wasserman said she was proud to be able to tell people about her experiences and the truth about foster parents.

“It’s the fulfillment of a dream come true,” Wasserman said in an interview following the event.

“Children need someone to love them and it doesn’t matter who it is,” Bouvard said.

The Hoot 3

Solar panel installation under way on Gosman roof

PHOTO BY Max Shay/The Hoot

SOLAR: Pressure cleaning of the roof of Gosman Sports and Convocation Center and construction of the solar panels began Thursday..

BY SEAN FABERY Staff

The installation of solar panels on the roof of the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center began Thursday and is expected to take three weeks. The system, which will be one of the largest solar panel arrays in the state, will be fully operational by the end of December.

The solar panels are being built as part of a power purchase agreement, with the financing for the panels being provided by EOS Ventures. The university will buy the energy produced by the panels from EOS instead of from a regular electrical utility.

The contract with EOS is expected to save the university nearly one million dollars over the lifetime of the array.

“If we had bought the system outright, we would be paying millions of dollars,” Brandeis Sustainability Coordinator Janna Cohen-Rosenthal ‘03 said.

The actual installation of the panels will be done by Alteris Renewables, a firm that recently installed similar panels at Yale University. Disruption during construction will be minimal, and only the parking lot at the back of the building, usually used for the athletic department vans, will be closed during construction.

Cohen-Rosenthal discussed the possibility of further solar panel installations cautiously. “[The Gosman roof] is the best roof for solar—it’s the largest roof. That’s why a power purchase agreement [there] makes

sense,” she said.

“For our smaller roofs, a power purchase agreement may not make sense, and we don’t have the resources right now to pay for something upfront.”

Once the system is operational, a website displaying the amount of energy produced by the array will become public.

The panels are expected to provide 10 percent of the total energy needed to power Gosman, though the percentage will fluctuate depending on how much energy the center consumes each month.

The solar energy system will prevent 11.6 million pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere over the next 25 years.

“You can see that it’s not going to produce as much as our energy needs,” Cohen-Rosenthal said, “but it’s a wonderful educational opportunity to think about our electricity use and our overall energy use.”

Cohen-Rosenthal also stressed the university’s commitment to its Climate Action Plan, which was presented in September and commits the university to attaining carbon neutrality by 2050. The exploration of alternative renewable energy formed a large component of the plan, though she noted that “they’re only part of the solution.”

“I want to emphasize that this is a serious project. It’s not just a demonstration project by any means,” she said.

“It’s taken a considerable effort, and it’s a big accomplishment.”

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NEWS

Archives celebrates Abe Lincoln

PHOTO BY Fizz Ahmed/The Hoot

BY NATHAN KOSKELLA Staff

The annual Lillian L. Rolde Memorial Lecture series continued Monday with a lecture delivered by Professor John Burt (ENG) entitled, “Abraham Lincoln and the ‘Dred Scott’ Decision.”

The Farber Library’s University Archives and Special Collections Department hosted the event, which included an exhibit from the collections on the varying historical depictions of Lincoln.

“The goal of the Rolde lecture is to contextualize specific works of Special Collections for the purposes of learning,” department member Sarah Shoemaker said.

The lecture focused on Lincoln’s response to the Dread Scott Supreme Court Decision, which occurred before he ascended to the presidency and its importance in the modern United States.

Shoemaker said the Dred Scott Decision is especially important “for a university named for a revered Supreme Court justice itself.”

Burt’s lecture addressed some technicalities and background of the case and offered a look into the mind of the then-younger Lincoln, and was aided by the Special Collections’ historical organization of pictures and other representations of the president.

Prefaced with the nation’s founding document, Burt’s lecture proceeded with a review of Lincoln’s debates on slavery, especially after a famous (and later overturned) precedent from the Court.

“We have a traditional way of looking at the promises Jefferson made in the Declaration of Independence…for Lincoln, the decision’s [sticking point] was that it meant the federal government could not prohibit slavery,” Burt said.

The significant factor, Burt’s lecture ad-

vised, was that the decision denied citizenship to those of African descent.. There were many free blacks in the United States at the time, yet then-Chief Justice Roger Taney, Burt said, intimated that these free men could not establish standing in court.

“Lincoln was [an adherent] to the belief that all persons, not just legal citizens, owe each other certain respects, namely equality of [point of view]—they owe each other moral autonomy,” Burt said.

Burt explained that Lincoln, in responding to a decision that in Burt’s summation, “declared unconstitutional the very platform of his [Republican] Party,” had to argue correctly to have a chance at future holes in the Supreme Court’s interpretation.

If Lincoln had attacked the power of the Supreme Court itself, it is likely he would not have succeeded in politics, Burt explained. And to defeat Senator Stephen Douglas in their famous debates on the subject, Lincoln could not sound partisan and accusatory “like how the Democrats had accused Republicans beforehand,” Burt said.

“He had to do it without an anarchic response and without highhanded politics,” he said.

Burt presented Lincoln’s eventual success as one recognizable to both believers in the Founders and contemporary followers of democracy, asserting that Lincoln’s perception is what should matter.

“We had free black voters—so it was threat to the values of the Declaration of Independence [the assumption of moral autonomy] that most concerned Lincoln,” he said.

He also argued that Lincoln’s reasoning applies even in modern life, with the Declaration’s “promise of unalienable rights a stumbling block to despotism.”

“The meaning [of its promises] continues to unfold—and not all of these meanings could have possibly been on the minds of the Founders,” Burt said. “Respecting the concepts of the Founders—the rights—is more important than following the exact intentions of them.”

“My interest is in the failure to accurately represent the expectations at the time—it gives us a sense of the difference between the 1860s and today,” Jonathan Sudholt (GRAD), the designer of the exhibit, said, adding that cartoonists and the media thought they were accurately representing the events of the day as well.

It was this attention to detail that gave significance to this part of the Rolde series.

“This is a continuation of our series— last semester we celebrated Lincoln’s 200th birthday,” Shoemaker said, “and we wanted to delve into both the political and social aspects, and incorporate our collections.”

November 13, 2009

Al-Quds community visits concentrated on the events of the Iranian Revolution.

Brandeis’ guests include current Al-Quds students Abdelrahman Aqel, Marwan Aqel and Hasan Odeh, and recent graduates Raneen Hadeed and Ban Muwaswes. With the exception of Muwaswes, who lives in East Jerusalem, they live in the West Bank, a disputed but Palestinian-controlled territory.

Living in an incredibly politically volatile area has had an effect on them, even if the AlQuds students don’t all consider themselves politically active compared to their peers and classmates. Abdelrahman is active in the Student Union, even serving as president when the Israeli government arrested his predecessor. Two of them, Odeh and Marwan, express themselves through music and poetry.

One of the intents of the partnership is to learn about each other’s schools, therefore the five students also joined the Student Union at their meeting on Sunday. After Student Union President Andy Hogan ’11 explained the system used at Brandeis, Abdelrahman Aqel, who is deeply involved with the student government at Al-Quds, shared his experiences, including his threemonth tenure as president after the Israeli government arrested his predecessor.

The primary difference Aqel gave between the Brandeis student government and his own was the causes it supports.

While Brandeis students run with campaign promises of better cell phone reception and more convenient meal plans, the Al-Quds student government has to remember where they are. Odeh described the students’ protests as being political, rather than social, citing the example of check points between Israeli- and Palestinian-controlled territories.

The Al-Quds students know that by being here, they aren’t changing everyone’s beliefs or ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They do, however, know that they are making a small but important difference in the way people think.

“Obviously we are not in the government, and we don’t have the magic power to change things,” Hadeed said. “But we can meet our supposed enemy, and know him better, and know the human side of him.

We can chill with him and know that we have many things in common, more than what we think.”

The significance of Brandeis’ historically Jewish background is not lost on them, but they choose to view it as a teaching experience for all involved, rather than an immediate barrier.

“When we meet [people from Brandeis] we understand they are not Israeli people, but that most are Jewish,” Hadeed said. “We suppose that Jewish people are more proIsrael, more than pro-Palestinian…they know about Palestine from statistics and other, but when they meet Palestinians,

they see it as a human side of the story…

We know they will understand stories better because they see it from another point of view.”

On the other hand, they generally agreed that they would feel far less comfortable participating in the exchange if it was with an Israeli university, even one in the United States.

“I don’t have any trouble with Jewish people. I believe in them as a religion, and I believe in them as humans,” Abdelrahman said.

“But we all have troubles with Israel,” Hadeed added.

They went on to describe the destruction caused in their homes by Israelis, but immediately after expressed hope for possible peace.

“There will [be peace], but how will it come? If you want to have peace, there must be constraints, no, foundations,” Abdelrahman said. “You can’t have peace, say you want to talk about the future, you can’t make peace when Israelis attack cities everyday, when there are check points everywhere, when there are more than 10,000 prisoners in the Israeli’s jails.”

“I don’t think it’s impossible to have peace,” Hadeed said. “But it will not come when we can not control anything.”

“We can’t just say we want peace,” Odeh said. “It needs to be real peace. In my opinion, there’s not going to be a real peace in Palestine.”

Odeh went on to say that he does not think that they as individuals can change the government, but Hadeed interrupted him saying, “Governments don’t always do the best for their own people…but if people are educated about peace, they will vote for people who bring peace. You should have faith in people,” Hadeed said.

Their solution to educating people, both Palestinian and Israeli, enough to vote for a government that will choose peace? Humanization. The five of them are here to learn, but they are also here to teach.

“There are two narratives that people know, the Israeli one and the Palestinian one,” Hadeed said. “People listen to the different points that people make, but they aren’t understanding of why [things happen]. That would help them be more understanding of other people. Sometimes you educate yourself and the other side, and that helps the fear to be removed. You can’t have peace with people that you don’t trust.”

There are two sides to every story, and the students from Al-Quds know that. They also know that they are human, just like the Israelis. They are not all suicide bombers, just as not all Israelis have destroyed homes and families in Gaza and the West Bank.

The unanimous conclusion of their visit was that the best part of being here was they people they have met, and seeing the people they met when they were in Istanbul and at Al-Quds.

nection between mercury and vaccines and autism,” Blaxill said. “Everything about that narrative is wrong—every inch of it,” he said, noting that it had been advocated by a profitmotivated medical industry. “This notion of a genetic explanation is a lie.”

Blaxill described genetic studies on autism as “one array of confusing information” involving genes that have been present in only 10-15% of autism cases. In his view, the current belief that autism is a heritable trait is false, and that research should expand beyond simple genetics.

He also pointed to the possible connection between vaccines and autism.

“I can tell you as a parent that there are hundreds of thousands of cases of children regressing after vaccines,” he said.

He admitted that the evidence for a connection between vaccines and autism is

“mixed and complex.”

Blaxill also pointed to the “dramatic expansion in childhood immunization” as the culprit of the increasing rate of autism, pointing out that “something like 30 different immunizations are administered to infants.”

“The debate is not about vaccines. I’m not anti-vaccine,” he said. “I do want other parents to be concerned. It’s about health. It’s about safe products.”

Blaxill has called for studies to be done on differences between vaccinated and unvaccinated children, but he expressed doubt about the prospects of it, condemning the medical industry as “an orthodoxy… almost a religion” that has decided to “pit science against crazy, irrational parents.” “[Unlike the prevailing narrative], the new narrative is simple,” Blaxill said. “Autism is new.”

AL QUDS (from p. 1)

Autism panel of experts links possible causes of disease to fetal environment AUTISM (from p. 2)

sharing of a contaminated environment.

She then discussed a study done on newborn cord blood which found 287 unnatural chemicals present, with 208 of them linked to birth defects. Over 200 of them had been banned years before, yet they still appeared in the blood.

“We’re looking at a situation that’s far broader than autism and far broader than the human species,” Herbert said, adding, “our feeling of security… is a little bit unjustified.”

Herbert also suggested that there might be a link between autism and neuro-inflammation, which counters long-held notions about the disorder.

“We used to think that the brain was normal [in children with autism]—that it was just wired differently,” she said. “What I’m advocating for is a different model of autism

than what we have.”

Sajdel-Sulkowska also presented research on the connection between autism and environment. She addressed the possible role of mercury, among other chemicals, in autism.

Pregnant women are now cautioned against consuming too much fish because it contains mercury. Vaccines also contain mercury, with some pannelists arguing that vaccinations are behind many incidences of autism.

Dr. Pascual-Leone discussed the role of neuroplasticity—the changing of neurons and their networks through new experiences—in relation to autism.

“Plasticity is nature’s invention to overcome the limitations of the genome,” he said.

Blaxill, a parent of an autistic child, challenged what he called the “prevailing narrative”—the belief that autism is caused by a gene and that there is “absolutely no con-

November 13, 2009

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Leslie Pazan, Igor Pedan and Daniel Silverman

SUBMISSION POLICIES The Hoot welcomes letters to the editor on subjects that are of interest to the general community. Preference is given to current or former community members. The Hoot reserves the right to edit any submissions for libel, grammar, punctuation, spelling and clarity. The Hoot is under no obligation to print any of the pieces submitted.

Letters in print will also appear on-line at www.thehoot.net.

The deadline for submitting letters is Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. All letters must be submitted electronically at www. thehoot.net. All letters must be from a valid e-mail address and include contact information for the author. Letters of length greater than 500 words may not be accepted.

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

The Hoot is a community student newspaper of Brandeis University. Produced entirely by students, The Hoot serves a readership of 6,000 with in-depth news, relevant commentary, sports and coverage of cultural events.

Our mission is to give every community member a voice.

CORRECTIONS An article printed last week entitled “Maestro of dissent: Campus media should cover competitive academic clubs” incorrectly identified Andrew Husick as a Hoot columnist. Aditionally, Andrew Husick and Jack Bouchard made the quarterfinals, not the octofinals, and came in second, not fifth at the Debate Team’s tournament at Smith College.

NEWS

EDITORIAL

Sharing isn’t always caring: Get vaccinated for H1N1 The Brandeis Health Center will shortly receive its first shipment of H1N1 vaccines to be distributed to the student body.

While only high-risk students will be able to receive the first dose of inoculations, Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer says he hopes to have all wanting students vaccinated before December break.

When the H1N1 vaccination does become available to all students, The Hoot strongly encourages students to take advantage of the supply and get vaccinated.

While it may seem like a no-brainer to protect yourself against a virus that the Center for Disease Control categorizes as “widespread” in 48 out of 50 states (Hawaii and Mississippi being the exceptions), when it comes to the seasonal flu, the student body has a shabby track record of getting vaccinated.

Out of 3,200 undergraduates, only 600

students were vaccinated for the seasonal flu at the Health Center this year.

A 19 percent vaccination rate isn’t exactly something to be proud of, and though we acknowledge that many students avoid vaccination because they either do not have the time or are not willing to make the time to get protected from what they see as a risk more microscopic that the virus itself, students should make the time to get vaccinated for H1N1.

According to the Center for Disease Control, H1N1 is more dangerous than the seasonal flu because it has not been seen since the 1950’s.

This means the probability that students already have built up anti-bodies to the disease is slim to none, unlike the seasonal flu to which they are exposed every year.

So while students might get the seasonal flu and shrug it off, the chances of feeling

the symptoms of H1N1 if infected are far greater.

The university’s policy on H1N1 requires students infected with “flu-like symptoms,” to miss a week of classes–an especially tough predicament when finals are fast approaching.

The opportunity cost of the few dollars and minutes it will take to get vaccinated surely outweighs being sick and confined to bed for a week, not to mention that getting vaccinated stunts the spread of the virus to one’s peers.

Students don’t have to break out the medical masks and disinfect their hands before and after touching shared surfaces, nor should they stampede to the Health Center the first day of vaccinations; but, sharing isn’t always caring–be responsible, and get vaccinated.

Learning should be a university-wide activity Last week, The Hoot editorial board lamented the lack of actual learning opportunities on campus in regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This week, it appears there is a cure to the aforementioned problem in the form of the 13 Palestinian students, faculty and staff visiting Brandeis from Al Quds University in East Jerusalem. Unfortunately, no one knew about this opportunity until it was too late.

In 2003, Brandeis formed a partnership with Al Quds University intending to “foster cultural understanding and provide educational opportunities for students, faculty and staff.” The last time students from Al

Letter to the Editor In response to the editorial entitled “What is a debate when no one listens?” published in the last issue of The Brandeis Hoot, it is necessary to emphasize that the forum was not, in fact, a debate.

From the opening statement made by Daniel Terris, the director of the Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life, “this is not a debate…The goal is illumination.” Therefore, the purpose was to be an exploration of a specific situation and the principles involved. As Reinharz and Terris said, at the end of this conversation “we will not take a vote.” For The Hoot Editorial Staff to treat this forum as such and criticize it because no solution was found, nor compromise made is not appropriate. Just because “Justice Goldstone and Ambassador Gold went into the debate knowing what the other would say, and neither budged from their beliefs,” does not mean it did not lead to “learning and open discussion,” as The Hoot claims, but rather it enhanced the discussion since both speakers were able to demonstrate their knowledge as well as assert their opinions. While we do agree that there were flaws in the structuring of the event, for instance the adversarial roles Gold and Goldstone were forced into by placing the two presenters on opposite sides of the issue, the event nevertheless served its purpose: to inform the audience of the findings of the report and allow them to decide for themselves what they thought of it. The Hoot editorial’s most serious flaw was the great over-simplification of the speakers’ stances. In fact, Goldstone presented a very even-handed and objective argument, pointing out the flaws in his

The Hoot 5

report, such as the discrepancies between the two U.N. mandates, and the possibility of biases amongst committee members.

Goldstone stated from the start that he was not condemning Israel alone, but rather his study had found both Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and Palestinian Militants guilty of war crimes, and so to have Gold–a fiercely biased ambassador from Israel–speak after him was neither logical nor appropriate.

From the point of view of two students who knew very little about the U.N.’s Gaza report going into the event, we felt that the forum served as a wonderful source of information, and watching Gold and Goldstone present their differing understandings of the report was a great learning experience. It is over-ambitious for anyone to expect that the result of the two-hour forum would be for the speakers to come to some sort of a conclusion, or even “find common ground,” as The Hoot calls for. In last week’s panel each party presented its viewon the report, along with the protestors who peacefully presented their point of view as well. The forum produced many interesting ideas and many “truths,” which The Hoot so eagerly searches for, did come out. The brief presentation achieved its goal, which was to engage the audience in an exploration of ethics and principles, after having established the facts of the report, and the controversial “truths” which arose will not disappear simply because the event is over, nor must it be the “last chance for the Brandeis community” to discuss these issues. We are just getting started. ~ Elly K., 2013 and Eve M., 2013

Quds came to Brandeis was in 2006, with all the subsequent exchanges occurring when Brandeis students visited the Palestinian university.

While Israeli-Palestinian relations is certainly a hot-topic on campus, oftentimes debates and arguments take place in an academic setting, and result in the two sides clinging to their ideals without tangible progress toward understanding their differences. And even when the debate occurs outside of the classroom, the results are much the same.

The visit from the Al Quds community members, who will leave the university today, marks a great learning opportunity

for members of the Brandeis community not only to discuss the conflict in a realworld arena, rather than an academic one, but also allows community members to hear a point of view not often available at Brandeis.

However, the arrival of our Al Quds partners was virtually unadvertised to the community at large, with many events involving the Al Quds students being restricted to only those Brandeis students who participated in the exchange.

How can students be expected to learn from the Al Quds visitors if the are unaware of their presence? You can’t have an open mind with closed doors.

6 The Hoot

November 13, 2009

F E AT U R E S

An interview with Brandeis University’s most recognized alum

PHOTOS BY Max Shay/The Hoot

BY DESTINY D. AQUINO Editor

Having graduated 35 years ago this May, Thomas Friedman ‘75 is not only one of Brandeis’ most famous alumni, but also one of the world’s foremost columnists, journalists and authors.

“Tom Friedman changed the way America views the world, so it’s only fitting that we honor him,” said Donna Leinwand, the club’s president.

According to the Press Club’s Web site, “each year the National Press Club honors a journalist for his or her lifelong contributions to the profession.”

Friedman, who transferred to Brandeis in his junior year, majored in Mediterranean studies with a focus on Arabic

and the Middle East – similar to the current Islamic and Middle Eastern studies major. He chose to transfer to Brandeis after speaking with one of his older sister’s friends. “[The decision] wasn’t anything really scientific,” Friedman said. “I had a friend of one of my older sisters (we’re from Minnesota), and he had really liked [Brandeis], I sort of admired him, and that was one reason. The other one, vaguely, [was] I thought it would be a fun place to study about the Middle East.”

Though he’s an acclaimed journalist now, Friedman never took a journalism class at Brandeis, feeling that one class he took at his hometown high school in St. Louis Mo. was more than enough.

“I had a legendary high

school journalism teacher…

Abby Steinberg. I took her journalism course, the greatest, and that’s the only journalism course I’ve ever taken or needed,” Friedman said.

During his years here, Friedman only wrote a few Op-Ed pieces for the Justice, and concentrated on his studies.

“I had a wonderful art history teacher, Elaine Loeffler.

She taught a wonderful appreciation of art of Greece; I loved her course. I took a great course with Prof. Brow, in Marxism and Ben Halpern was a great historian of Zionism and [also] my advisor,” he said.

“I had great experiences with all of them; they all enriched my education in very different [ways].”

Friedman always had a vague idea that he would go into di-

plomacy or journalism but concentrated primarily on his grades until he got into graduate school. He attended St. Anthony’s College at Oxford on a Marshall Scholarship where he received a Master’s of Philosophy in Middle Eastern Studies.

After graduate school Friedman applied to both the Associated Press (AP) and United Press International (UPI), feeling that it was the fastest way to reach his passion of the Middle East.

“Quite honestly I saw [applying] as the quickest way to get out there and to be able to engage with the kind of raw reality of it, so it was really for that purpose,” he said. “I could have easily gone into academics or diplomacy, but journalism seemed the quickest way to get out and really get immersed in the area, and I chose that route.”

The AP had no job to offer Friedman when he applied, but UPI was another story.

They offered him a job and he “got out [to Lebanon] pretty quickly.”

After a stint as a foreign correspondent for the New York Times, Friedman would later became a Times columnist, something he saw as the logical next step in his journey.

“I always had a thing for opinion writing, and it was just a way to evolve as a writer,” he said. “I’d felt I’d already done everything that I’d wanted to do: daily reporting, being a foreign correspondent for the NYT [etc.]. There wasn’t a heck of a lot left for me to do.

It was a new challenge and it’s one I’ve enjoyed.”

Having had such an extensive career as a journalist, Friedman certainly has a lot of articles to look back on and be proud of. Yet, out of all his works, Friedman believes the three that have had the greatest impact and of which he is proudest were the three pieces that won him the Pulitzer: but not for the prize.

The first piece of writing is his real-time recreation of the Sabra and Shatila massacre of 1982, for which he won the initial Pulitzer.

Next is a series he wrote while in Beirut: “I did a diary of my summer in Beirut, and it’s one of the things I won the Pulitzer Prize for. It really captured better than anything some of the bizarre things I saw that summer…it may be the single best article that I’ve

ever written in my whole life, my absolute favorite, a diary of the summer of 1982, AugustSeptember.”

Finally, his columns following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, (responsible for Pulitzer number three), were also among his most personally meaningful.

Although Friedman has had much success and happiness as a journalist, he has also faced challenges that characteristically come along with the job.

The most difficult yet as a writer was his choice to support the Iraq war.

“The biggest and hardest call I ever had to make as a columnist was whether or not to support the Iraq war, which I ended up doing, but not for Weapons of Mass Destruction reasons but for democracy reasons. And it was a very hard call and it was one that upset many of my readers, many of them to this day, but I had my reasons and [stuck to them] through thick and thin,” he said. “It would have been easier there to not support it; I would have saved myself a lot of grief… I wouldn’t say I regret it, but it was certainly the most painful.”

Reflecting on his past awards and the upcoming Press Club award, Friedman expressed his gratitude for the honors his peers have bestowed on him.

“There’s nothing better than to be recognized by your peers, so that’s a great thing. So it’s both a great recognition, but also of course a lot of pressure.

You have a reputation you have to live up to [and] you have to keep up you work,” he said.

Although he’s grateful for the awards, Friedman says they’re just extra icing on the cake. After all, he prefers to take it one step at a time.

“They’re great things, but I’m not really ever in this for the awards. I really only focus on frankly what my column for Wednesday [is] going to be about,” he said.

He may be good at focusing on the short-term deadline ahead, but Friedman is also a man who likes to look ahead to the long-term, and said he worries about the current state of journalism from time to time.

The lack of a clear economic picture of where the newspaper decline will end concerns Friedman, and he said he can see the effect of this decline in his own place of employment, the New York Times. Recently, See CONTINUATION, p. 3

“I love newspapers, I love newspapering, I love news-

F E AT U R E S

November 13, 2009

The Hoot 7

Friedman @ Brandeis — Through the years

PHOTOS FROM internet source/The Hoot

PHOTOS COURTESY Stephen J. Whitfield/The Hoot

MEET THE PRESS: Above: Friedman discusses his first book“ From Beirut to Jerusalem” at the Miami Book Fair in1990.

Right: The cover of Brandeis alum Thomas Friedman’s latest book, ”Hot, Flat, and Crowded.”

The book, published in 2008, discusses the effects of climate change on globalization.

Below: Friedman last came to Brandeis on a book tour for “Hot, Flat, and Crowded” last fall. In his speech, Friedman outlined the book for students.

Bottom Left: A clipping of a Brandeis-made advertisment following Friedman’s appointment as a five year alumni term trustee to the University.

PHOTOS COURTESY Stephen J. Whitfield/The Hoot

THIS THING (from p. 1)

Friedman said, the paper laid off 100 people.

Looking to the evolving face of journalism, Friedman says he thinks the blogosphere is a wonderful addition to society since a more informed public is always for the best; however he warned against putting too much faith in this new platform.

“I don’t think [the blogosphere] can substitute for the kind of journalism the Times does, or the Chicago Tribune does, or the LA Times does or the Washington Post or The Wall Street Journal. But both can be helpful,” he said.

Friedman said he has the same advice for future journalists that he would have had 20 years ago if you asked him: “Write write write, get printed…it doesn’t matter if it’s your neighborhood shopper, The New York Times, The Hoot, the Justice or The Boston Globe, it doesn’t matter, write and get printed. Be able to develop an archive of your stories that show your own growth and development.”

“What I can’t tell you is where

Top Left: A clipping of a Justice article concentrating on Professors’ opinions of Friedman and his recently received Marshall Scholarship.

PHOTOS FROM internet source/The Hoot

you’re going to get that journalism job. I know there will be a demand for journalism, because people need to have the news, but what I can’t tell you is what the outlet is going to be,” he said.

“I know that if you develop your skills, if you’re a great writer, if you’re a good reporter and you can develop a portfolio of articles that demonstrate that to someone, there will be a job for you out there.”

Friedman said he encourages young people to pursue what they love because it will pay off in the long-term – even if it won’t literally pay off in economical terms “I’m a big believer in it, and it’s a cliché, but it’s true, do what you love, because you’ll always love what you do,” he said. “A hundred percent of people who love what they do are happy, and they’re well rewarded, whether financially or emotionally, and I did what I loved and therefore I brought an extra passion to it, and you just never know what’s going to happen.”

PHOTOS BY Max Shay/The Hoot

rooms, I’m a newspaper junkie.”- Thomas Friedman

8 The Hoot

: JBS F E AT U R E S

November 13, 2009

Sneak Peek

By Destiny D. Aquino

Understanding the American Jewish Community

The Horstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program, with the assistance of the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and the Steinhardt Social Research Institute, will operate a JBS focused on the American Jewish Community as a whole.

This JBS will run similarly to a graduate program, offering undergraduates an opportunity to work with faculty and two research centers. According to the proposal submitted by Professor Len Saxe of the Heller School, “Understanding the American Jewish Community aims to infuse an intensive undergraduate seminar with the academically rigorous and contemporary research and policy environments in which the Cohen Center and Hornstein Program routinely operate. These are exciting, relevant, and integrated learning models that change the world, and fit the university’s goals of education for social justice and global citizenship. This JBS program is designed to have each of its three courses overlap, and build coherently one to the next.”

Classroom sessions will allow for students to discuss broad concepts regarding religious and cultural issues. In addition the professors are currently working on a set of field research projects that will take place towards the middle of the JBS session. After the field research is conducted through interviews supervised by research center staff, students will meet with their advisors and professors to discuss and write research reports. Students will then be expected to create an oral presentation of their findings and present them at a public presentation at the culmination of the program.

There are no prerequisites for this JBS, thought it is meant to interest humanities students and specifically any majors that focus on cultural and social discovery such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, history and Near Eastern & Judaic studies.

Inside Criminal Law: Restoring Justice to the System In conjunction with the Shuster Institute for Investigative Journalism this JBS will explore a problem with the current criminal justice system: wrongful conviction.

Through classroom exploration of basic criminal procedure, including the constitutional laws associated with criminal cases and post conviction options, students will learn the ins and outs of the legal system. They will also study specific cases and evaluate and research what can be done to right them.

All three classes in this JBS are classes already offered in the curriculum, but their topics will be redirected to better fit the JBS theme.

The JBS will also include an internship that will allow students to research and discuss cases, and possibly even attend courtroom proceedings. In class, students will also spend a large amount of time discussing and examining documents pertaining to a specific case they will be working on.

Environmental Health and Justice This JBS will focus on how the environment influences the health of individuals, and the role social justice plays in environmental health.

Students will be studying in the community by working with several agencies in both Waltham and the Greater Boston area.

In the classroom, students will explore the background necessary to complete their fieldwork efficiently, according to the proposal submitted and approved by professor Laura Goldin. (AMST) “Students will explore the law, policy, science, history and social impacts of current environmental health issues challenging individuals, families and communities today,” the proposal reads. “We will focus on low-income, immigrant populations, and challenges ranging from exposure to contaminated water and food to dealing with the effects of climate change. Students will become involved first-hand with the topics studied through field trips and visiting speakers, discussions with the stakeholders themselves, field observation, research, writing and reflection.”

Students will work in the Waltham area with the Waltham Alliance to Create Housing’s “Tenant Advocacy Clinic,” in collaboration with the Boston College Law School Legal Assistance Bureau and Greater Boston Legal Services. Students will become trained advocates at the Advocacy Clinic, meeting with clients to provide legal assistance and knowledge regarding issues the community is facing and the relationships between housing and toxic exposure.

Through classroom instruction, students will become skilled at monitoring, analyzing and documenting potential hazards in homes through the use of specific equipment. This will prepare them for the fieldwork they will be doing. Goldin is currently working with many agencies to create partnerships geared towards their needs for the summer.

Goldin stressed the mutual benefits of the program in an e-mail message to The Hoot.

“I would really like students to focus on the community engagement of this program and how it can be rewarding for both them and the community,” she wrote.

Health and Society Field Semester Unlike other JBS programs, this JBS is specifically geared towards students majoring in Health, Science, Society and Policy (HSSP), and will allow students to complete four of their required course for the major.

Also unlike other JBS programs, two of the three classes that will be offered– HSSP 100: Introduction to Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Population Health and HSSP 102: Global Perspectives on Health –are already part of the existing curriculum.

The program would also include trips to local Boston Healthcare institutions as well as guest lectures and focus on a preparation for the intense internship over the fall semester. It is already a requirement of the HSSP major to participate in an internship, however, the JBS would allow a student to have a double-credit internship that would include the internship class and an independent research course.

The internship would be an expected component of the JBS and will be selected for the list of HSSP priority internships or chosen by the student and then approved. The student could choose to complete their internship in their hometown.

November 13, 2009

O

F E AT U R E S

The Hoot 9

n Nov. 6, Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe approved eight Justice Brandeis Semester (JBS) programs for.

Below is an overview of the JBS programs that have been approved for summer 2010. Specifics about the programs, such as classes that must be created, are still being finalized.

JBS is an opportunity for students to develop close working relationships with professors and gives them hands-on experience in their field of choice, enabling students to show future employees that they can shine in a real world atmosphere, as well as in the classroom. JBS programs are meant to interest students who either major or minor in the subject of the program, but all students are encouraged to apply regardless of their academic concentrations.

A JBS summer program will supply a student with at least 12 credits and can fulfill certain requirements for various departments.

Each JBS can accommodate, and therefore accept, a different number of students, although the estimated range is between 10 and 20. JBS programs are meant to offer immersion learning in small groups where students and professors can interact on an individual level and, ideally, create life-changing experiences.

Applications for JBS will be similar to a study abroad application, and will include an essay and faculty recommendations.

Web Services, Mobile Apps and Cloud Computing Only available to students who have taken the first three computer science classes in the major sequence, this JBS will also require a fall internship. Unlike other programs, this may be a JBS program that master’s students are interested in as well.

According to the JBS Web site and the proposal submitted by Professor Tim Hickey (COSI), “The goal of this JBS will be to teach the fundamental concepts behind database management and Web-based application development and to combine this theorybased curriculum with an extended experiential component in which the students put these ideas into practice, both in a project of their own design and in a full-time fall internship.”

In an email to the Hoot, Hickey elaborated: “We’re planning for a ‘startup feel’ for the course, where students and faculty are fully engaged for eight weeks rapidly learning the conceptual materials (Web services and mobile apps) and applying that knowledge to build interesting and useful projects.”

During the fall internship, students will take an independent study in which there will be a reading list related to their internship, as well as a LATTE-based component where all students completing their internships will respond to questions posed by the professor in addition to commenting on responses by other students.

Ethnographic Fieldwork This JBS is geared toward anthropology majors and minors. It would allow a classroom experience focusing on the tools needed to conduct an independent research project through fieldwork; this could also include working with human subjects.

The JBS would meet for the first five weeks in the classroom session and then once a week as a group and also independently with the professor to discuss the progress of their research project. Students will be accepted to the program on the basis of their proposed project, however, in case some of these projects do not come to fruition the professor is prepared to have backup projects.

According to the JBS Web site and the proposal submitted by Elizabeth Ferry (ANTH), “In addition to completing 12 credits of coursework within anthropology (which can count towards the Brandeis major or minor), students would participate in a video JBS symposium that would be circulated to the Brandeis community and/or on YouTube. This would give them the opportunity to show their work to a broader audience.”

Some students may also choose to use this research as a basis for their senior thesis. Most of the research will be conducted in Waltham or Boston, although accommodation may be made for highly independent and dedicated students who wish to do their research out of the area. In this case, the students would communicate with the professor via email and LATTE. This program will also be open to students outside of Brandeis.

Collaborative Theater and the Theatrical Essay This is the only creative arts focused JBS for this summer. It allows a student to write, direct and star in a personal essay. This would be a narrative of self-reflection.

There is a prerequisite of Introduction to Theater (THA2A) and Acting: The Vocal/Physical Connection (THA4A), or equivalent practical personal experience to be evaluated by the department.

According to the JBS Web site and the proposal submitted by Adrianne Krstansky (THA), “The writer is struggling with a question, challenges conventional forms, exposes something of him/herself and speaks from personal [experience]. The essay is not meant to expose or judge others, is not political or didactic in nature, nor the author speaking from a place of authority. The author speaks from a place of self-revelation, questioning and vulnerability.”

The class time will focus on developing the tools and techniques needed to create the final piece, which will be a performance of the created essay. Assignments, such as creating smaller essays of others’ stories through an interview as well as participating in a theater lab, will develop the background necessary to create a wonderful final project. The program may also include a guest artist.

Ideally the pieces will be performed at a public festival as a culmination of the JBS program. Students may also use their work from the JBS as a basis for a theater thesis. This program would also be open to students outside of the Brandeis community.

The Beacon Hill Summer This JBS is geared towards students with an interest in both journalism and politics. While the focus will be on reporting skills needed for reporting politics, the program will allow students to explore the inner workings of the Massachusetts Governor’s race, the state budget and other political and policy matters that occur over the summer.

Students will also have the opportunity to go into Boston communities and view first-hand the effects of decisions made on Beacon Hill, allowing them to understand the ramifications of the issues they are covering.

According to the approved proposal submitted by Professor Eileen McNamara (JOUR), “In addition to developing a deeper understanding of the journalistic challenges of covering complicated policy issues and campaign strategies, students will acquire critical skills in research, interviewing and writing on deadline.”

In addition to writing shorter news-style pieces, students will write longer magazine-style pieces in a group environment that will allow them to collaborate and develop their skills of writing in a narrative form.

Classroom instruction for this JBS will be concentrated towards the beginning of the program in order to prepare students for their time in the field. Required reading will also help to prepare them with background information and the basics of political reporting so that they may be a more informed reporter.

The JBS is geared toward students with a strong passion for journalism. The Journalism Program hopes that taking classes over the summer will free up students to take full-time internships at newspapers and magazines during the semester.

GRAPHICS BY Ariel Wittenberg/The Hoot

14 The Hoot

November 13, 2009

IMPRESSIONS Brothers don't go to war with brothers

BY LEON WIEN Editor

In the famous novel 1984 by George Orwell, we are introduced to a totalitarian society where everyone is brainwashed to believe everything their master tells them. One of the many things they believe is that they are in a constant state of war. Why? Because in a constant state of war the citizens become fearful and it becomes easier for the government to expand—even more—their powers, raise nationalism and most importantly to distract the population from the problems at home. This may be some of the reasons why the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has once again sent troops to the border with Colombia.

Colombia is a stone in the shoe of Chávez’s revolutionary project for Latin America in many ways: They fight constantly against the FARC (Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia), which has been proven to receive funds from Venezuela; they are pro-capitalism; they have excellent relations with Israel (Venezuela with Iran, and they no longer have an Israeli embassy); they refuse to join the group of countries for the “Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas;” they returned their ambassador to Honduras (where Mr. Zelaya, a follower of Chávez ideals was ousted). The list goes on. Nevertheless, the history of these two countries goes back to Bolívar and beyond, these two countries were, are, and will remain brothers…and brothers do not go to war. According to recent polls 79.9 percent of Venezuelans disapprove of Chávez’s threats of war, despite a 40 percent approval rate of the government policies.

Of course, the diplomatic excuse from the Venezuelan government on this latest friction is the recent military agreement between Bogotá and Washington. For those of you living in a cave, the August negotiations took place on a deal that will give Washington a 10-year lease access to at least seven Colombian bases–three air force, two naval and two army—not only to continue the counter-narcotic operations on the region and to fill-in the gaps left by the eventual cutting of military aid to Colombia, but also to replace the recently closed military base in Manta, Ecuador. Although Chávez and his allies were the most vocal opponents of this deal, most of the region was also against the agreement, a fact that has certainly hurt the Obama administration’s credibility in the region in attempts to set a new path on U.S.–Latin America relations.

But this diplomatic excuse is worthless when taking into account the friction that began before this deal. Furthermore, the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, said there was no intention to expand the number of permanent personnel beyond the maximum permitted by Congress: 800 military and 600 civilian contractors. My main argument remains. Threats of war are a political strategy to divert attention from the national problems. However, not all threats should be taken lightly. Last year Chávez promised to bring bi-national commerce to zero, and this year trade is half of what it was from last year. And although nothing may happen, military expenditure has increased substantially, slowly gearing the region for an arms race.

The scariest reality, however, is not the friction between Colombia and Venezuela, but rather, what Chávez is trying to hide back home. Years of lack of infrastructure investments and planning in the water company (Hidrocapital) has led to water rationing in this tropical-country with one of the mightiest hydroelectric systems in the world. The same is true for electricity, with power failures plaguing the country and forcing the government to control electricity consumption in certain regions, limit imports of air-conditioners (high-energy consumption) and other economic measures. Such measures are a consequence of the lack of responsibility and rampant corruption from the officials. Instead of assuming responsibility, Chávez prefers to appear as an environmentalist by mocking the lifestyle of the Venezuelan people, especially the opposition. But this also is far from the truth, because energy-renewable projects are stagnant after the government decided to nationalize, and in turn doom, the few that were in process on a country with large solar and wind potential. Even more absurd is that one of the houses of the Minister of Electric Energy was photographed clearly showing how it steals electricity from the cables on the street. I do not know if I should laugh or cry.

In addition, poverty is increasing under this so-called socialist government. As a consequence, crime is rampant and corruption is insurance for criminals. Kidnappings happen daily, they are called “kidnap-express,” in which the victim gets kidnapped and released in a couple days after the ransom is paid. The amount of crime is such that one of the chief organizers of “Safe Caracas” was murdered by criminals who stole his weapon and vehicle while he was heading to work on the project to keep Caracas safe.

I do believe that there are some great projects that Chávez has done to help the poor and improve the social welfare. Sadly though, his government is filled with corruption and most of the projects end-up bankrupt, inefficient, or in some cases never materialize. This week, we remembered the fall of the Berlin wall. What we should learn from this is that a totalitarian state that attempts to control most of the economy will fail. Instead of raising fears of war or pointing fingers at others, Chávez should accept responsibility and concentrate on the actual problems that Venezuela is facing.

The Self Shelf

Parity for peace: Solving the Middle East crisis

BY ALEX SELF Columnist

The release of the controversial Goldstone Report has once again focused the world’s attention on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The true nature of this conflict is fairly muddled depending on the bias of the particular news outlet.

There are some who purport that Israel utilized a policy of collective punishment in an attempt to destroy Palestine, during its latest offensive. Others state Israel was simply offering a proportional response to the rain of rockets that rocked northern Israeli towns during the 2009 Gaza War. Heated debates erupted in political forums across the world about how to react to this conflict. The Goldstone Report was the United Nation's attempt to shed some light on the matter. Unfortunately, the report only further complicated the situation. I cannot attest to the factuality of the report itself, but the fact that it was initially only targeted at investigating Israel for war crimes certainly would appear to belie any chance of impartiality.

Obviously, both sides of the debate have relevant points. The Israeli response to the Palestinian rocket fire was somewhat disproportionate in the amount of destruction it wreaked in Gaza. However, one has to realize that constant bombardment of a nation by any organized group will generally lead to that nation fighting back.

Also, there are the conflicting reports of whether Hamas used human shields or whether Israel specifically targeted civilians. Naturally there are reports of brutality on both sides, but I’m not here to talk about any of these investigations.

Regardless of what you believe on the matter, the cause of this conflict will never truly be relevant in its resolution. Israel and Palestine, for better or for worse, find themselves at each other’s throats, and no amount of finger pointing will solve the problem. I believe everyone with any opinion on this situation would agree that peace is nowhere in sight. This is the problem I will try to address.

Now, the question of how to create peace between the Israelis and Palestinian is a quandary that’s vexed a myriad foreign policy exports. I will not pretend to offer a quick fix—I’m merely presenting a practical solution that I believe, if implemented, could steadily erode the foundations of this senseless bloodshed.

My plan is quite the antithesis of current policy suggestions on the issue. Firstly, I believe that Israel should provide more humanitarian aid to Palestine than it currently does. The state of the Palestinian people is currently deplorable and this leads to insurrection that can only favor Hamas. The second part of my suggestion would involve Israel lifting the blockade on Palestine and instead investing infrastructure there to bolster its economy.

Some may deride this solution as a pointless gesture which will only waste Israel’s time and money, while others will criticize it as missing the heart of the matter. How-

ever, I believe that the extremism in Palestine is based largely on the lack of economic stability there, along with the Palestinian perception that Israel is isolating it via the blockade.

The Palestinians believe that Israel is trying to drive it into the ground through its blockade. Israel claims that this is simply a precaution against Hamas. By dropping the blockade, Israel could foster at least some economic development in the currently depressed Palestine.

After lifting the blockade, humanitarian aid is the most pressing part of the plan, as time is of the essence. Thousands are suffering in Palestine and this much-needed aid would not only save these people, but also strengthen the relationship between the two states and hopefully in some way repair much of the damage incurred from the fighting.

Meanwhile, with humanitarian and economic aide rolling in, the people of Palestine would get a clear message that Israel does indeed care about its neighbor. This would help Israel, as Palestinians who believe Israel is helping rather than hurting Palestine will be far less likely to engage in violence (i.e. firing rockets).

This would also help defeat or at least weaken Hamas, as an extremist organization is not propped up by times of economic prosperity.

The reason that the Palestinian people are buying into such an extremist ideology is mostly because they have nowhere else to turn. One can raise countless examples of how poverty leads to terrorism.

Infrastructural investment would not only spur a more stable Palestine, but also help tie the two states closer together. If Israel and Palestine could develop a profitable economic relationship, it would help forge better relations between the two. Today, the economic relationship the two states share is not mutually profitable. If my solution is implemented, this future would be inevitable.

Of course, the obvious question for this plan concerns how this would stop the violence.

To the Israeli supporters, I would state that this would strongly lessen the chance of violence. The idea of basically isolating the Palestinian people will only strengthen the Palestinians’ perceptions that the Israelis truly hate them and police actions will only create more animosity. One does not generally defeat terrorists through military campaigns alone.

Currently, no matter what your opinion is, you cannot deny public support for Hamas (in Palestine) higher because of Israel’s military approach. If Israel took this more humanitarian approach, it would be much harder for Hamas to recruit others into its hardliner ideology and harder for it to draw world support.

Please don’t misinterpret this solution as involving Israel adopting pacifism. If it is attacked, it should still respond. However, much more moderation should be employed in responses (a massive offensive will most likely create more members of Hamas than there were before).

There is no need for complete invasions of Gaza—simple precision strikes have been proven to be a much more effective and much less costly (both in terms of human life and expenditure) way to uproot terrorists.

Also, if precise military action was taken in addition to the humanitarian and infrastructural aid, much of the negative effects on Palestinian perception of Israel could be avoided. Hamas’s main recruiting tool is the image of an Israeli tank rolling into Palestinian territory and inevitably killing innocent civilians. However, if precision strikes were employed, and aid was immediately delivered by Israel to fix any collateral damage, the negative externalities associated with such strikes would be greatly lessened.

In addition, if Hamas continued attacking Israel after this plan was adopted, they would be condemned worldwide, as well as by their own people. Today, their actions are condemned but the responses by Israel always overshadow the initial acts of violence. Eventually, Hamas would lose all legitimacy as it would literally be undermining the main force of economic recovery in Palestine.

Just in case one thinks this solution is too heavily predicated towards Israel’s wellbeing, I would propagate that this solution would provide a myriad of benefits for Palestine as well. The economic gains alone would make this solution a godsend for the Palestinians.

In combination with humanitarian aid, this would transform Palestine from a poverty-stricken state to a thriving country. The net benefits for the Palestinians in this plan are enormous.

This is the main strength of this course of action—there is little chance of downside. In fact, the worst outcome of this solution would be the possibility that it could be a waste of money for the Israelis. In light of all the benefits I’ve laid out, there are no real harms in pursuing this solution.

At the very least, it will gain Israel more worldwide support and at least some more support from the Palestinians. Out of all the solutions proposed, this seems to have the most upside. As a final part of this plan, Israel should curtail the spread of new settlements in Palestine–these new establishments can only lead to conflict and are an anathema to peace.

Other solutions proposed today have little merit. Further expansive military solutions by Israel will not actually solve the problem but only satisfy it temporarily at best, and aggravate it at worst. Further partitioning Israel would only increase tension between the two–the redrawing of maps has gone on long enough.

Instead, this solution would support a relationship between the two countries that doesn’t involve a blockade. Rather, the ideal endpoint of this solution would have two economic partners with high GDP and low poverty rates. This See PEACEFUL SOLUTION, p. 15

IMPRESSIONS

November 13, 2009

The Hoot 15

Book of Matthew

Protests symbolic of ailing peace process

Examining the House health care bill

BY SHIREL GUEZ Special to The Hoot

PHOTO FROM Internet source/The Hoot

BY BRET MATTHEW Editor

Give a hand to the House of Representatives.

By a vote of 220-215, the House boldly went where no Congress has gone before on Saturday, approving the greatest overhaul of the health care system since the inception of Medicare over four decades ago.

Democrats who supported the measure hailed the Affordable Health Care for America Act of 2009 as “historic,” pointing out that in the long history of American health care, we have never been this close to a system that actually works for everybody.

No kidding. As far as real reform is concerned, members of the House could have passed a bill written in wingdings and still have surpassed the work of many of their predecessors. So perhaps calling the thing “historic” is a bit of a given. My question is: Are the specific provisions in the bill the kind of rules that we need to govern health care?

My answer? Yes and no.

First, let’s take a look at some of the bill’s brighter spots: It contains a public option. Yes, you read that right. Despite the claims of countless Republicans that the public option was “dead” and unworthy of further consideration, (and despite a collective “Woe is me!” from panicked, readyto-cave Democrats) the bill calls for the creation of a government-run insurance plan to compete with existing private plans. With this in place, millions of Americans who previously could not afford or could not qualify for health insurance will now be able to get coverage.

The bill also calls for the creation of the health insurance exchange that was so frequently touted by President Obama and other Democrats during the campaign season.

The idea is to create a pool of insurance-seeking customers for insurance companies to compete over, thereby forcing the companies to lower costs and improve services.

It operates under the same principle that large businesses use to get deals on bulk health insurance for their employees, and it should, in theory, reduce costs for everyday Americans as well.

The bill even addresses the problem of private health insurance companies treating their customers poorly. It prohibits insurers from charging a patient different rates of even denying coverage altogether simply because of that patient’s “pre-existing conditions.” This is

a particularly welcome change, considering that in the insurance world, the term “pre-existing condition” covers just about everything a person could ever imagine going medically wrong.

Finally, the bill has received a favorable rating from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), or at least as favorable a rating as an officially non-partisan federal agency can offer. The CBO found that over a period of ten years (20102019), the House bill, if enacted into law, would actually reduce the government’s yearly budget deficit by about $109 billion.

So far, so good. But like any piece of legislation, especially one this enormous (1990 pages), the bill is far from perfect.

The first problem is that all public options are not created equal.

While many progressive Democrats would have preferred to include a “robust” public option— that is, a public plan that pays for care at Medicare rates plus five percent—conservative “Blue Dog” Democrats pushed for a watereddown version that will instead negotiate payment rates with doctors and hospitals. This version, which was adopted into the final bill, will likely offer rates that are more closely tied to those of private insurance companies, thereby hindering its ability to compete with the industry.

Ironically, our friends at the CBO found that the watered-down public option will actually save the government less money than the “robust” version. And yet, the Blue Dogs championed the diluted plan as part of their effort to cut the final bill’s costs and make it more “bipartisan.”

(I never quite got the logic behind this move. Perhaps the Blue Dogs figured that if they weakened their plan so that it merely looked like it involved less government spending, they would make the bill more inviting to the government health care skeptics out there. Or perhaps, being more pro-business than the average Democrat, they liked the idea of giving the private industry more of an edge. Or perhaps they’re just stupid.)

But possibly the most ridiculous aspect of the bill came in the form of an amendment put forward by Representative Bart Stupak (DMI). The Stupak Amendment prevents government money—either in the form of public option payments or subsidies for private insurance coverage—from being used to pay for abortions. This was put forward as a way to pick up a

few more votes in favor of the bill, by calming the hearts and minds of Congressmen who claimed to be “morally opposed” to taxpayer money going toward the funding of abortions.

(With that in mind, I've got a few quick questions: What if anti-war legislators were to band together and prevent government money from being spent on the military?

What if states ended the use of the death penalty en masse? What if Representative Pete Stark (D-CA), Congress’ only openly atheist member, introduced legislation ending the tax-exempt status of religious organizations? Would any of that count as "moral opposition?")

Anyway, I'm beginning to digress. The point is, although this is certainly not the worst bill that could have been passed, it's not the best either. Regardless of what conservatives say about this bill satisfying top-secret liberal goals (of killing freedom, if you must know), we’re actually dealing with something that is pretty moderate overall. Most of the bill’s provisions are compromises that were worked out after weeks, if not months, of deliberation. Of all the ways to reform health care, this should have been one of the least controversial.

And yet, take a look at the vote count. On the left, 219 Democrats supported the measure, while 39 voted against it (presumably Blue Dogs who were allowed to vote freely by Speaker Pelosi once it was certain that the bill would pass).

On the right, 176 Republicans voted no, leaving only Representative Joseph Cao (R-LA) to brave the inevitable storm of right-wing public opinion and vote yes. With these numbers, you would think that they were actually voting on whether to rename the country the United Socialist States of America.

(Actually, I think Glenn Beck mentioned something like that…)

If it was that difficult to pass a bill like this in the House, I can only imagine what will happen when the Senate gets its 200 hands on it.

Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) keeps telling the press that it will be “dead on arrival.” Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) is threatening to filibuster. Countless other Democrats, yes, Democrats, are calling for the removal of the public option and the insertion of even more anti-consumer, pro-health industry provisions.

Sounds like fun.

Time for some heavy paraphrasing of Robert Burns: The best-laid health care plans of Congressional men are often cast astray.

On Thursday November 5, 2009, Justice Richard Goldstone and former Israeli Ambassador Dore Gold faced off in an educational forum.

Justice Goldstone proceeded with his presentation without a hitch. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Ambassador Gold. Around four minutes into his speech protesters disrupted him, standing up and refusing to sit even after being surrounded by the police.

Not only did the protesters disrespect Ambassador Dore Gold as well as Justice Goldstone, but they also represented everything that is wrong with the peace process. They represented the lack of willingness—on not just the Palestinian side but the Israeli side as well—to openly listen to one another. In this case they claimed their protest was symbolic of their lack of representation in the forum. Yet the signs they wore on their bodies did not represent that at all. Some signs had names of children who died during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, but other signs read, “Hold Israel Accountable”, “Where is justice for Palestine?” and “Human Rights violations stemmed from the Holocaust.” To use the Holocaust to imply that Israel committed war crimes is extremely insensitive and degrading to the six million who perished because of hatred.

These protesters demanded a Palestinian voice, but, to quote Dore Gold, “If you had invited Palestinians you would have to make a choice on who to invite, a representative of Hamas or a representative of the Palestinian Authority, Fatah.” Hamas is the governing body in Gaza and a noted terrorist organization recognized by the United States and the European Union, among others. The governing body in the West Bank is currently Fatah, a corrupt government that stemmed from the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization), which was once considered to be a terrorist organization led by Yasser Arafat.

It’s true that there wasn’t a Palestinian representative, but at the same time, Justice Goldstone was extremely critical of Israel in his report.

This was an event that involved a discussion of the report in a forum where there was a top Israeli official there to give Israel’s side—a side that is seldom represented in the world, the U.N. and especially in the Goldstone Report.

It’s also important to stress that Israel did not target civilians or act with malice towards the Palestinian people just because of their religious or ethnic denomination. The people of Gaza were not victims of “collective punishment” due to Hamas’ terrorist acts against Israel.

They were victims of their own government that used them as human shields. Unfortunately, that is not true for Hamas. Over a span of eight years Hamas maliciously targeted civilians, firing Qassam rockets into Israeli towns on a daily basis. Where was Justice Goldstone’s voice then?

Where were these protesters when the Israeli’s suffered? It’s obvious that not only did these protesters operate on a double standard, but so did the U.N. for years. When the Israelis suffered the world was silent. Their voices and cries for justice fell on deaf ears for eight years, nationally and internationally.

Ambassador Dore Gold was in no way unbiased, but he represented the passion and helplessness of the Israeli people. Even after he showed video evidence in his presentation, the close-minded group of people, the ones who had protested and demanded justice for the Palestinian people, left with that same mindset, completely unwilling to accept that Israel had done so much in order to avoid civilian casualties. These protesters had a complete disregard for the integrity of the event. They had a lack of respect for both Goldstone and Gold as well as for the audience in its entirety. They wanted their voice to be heard by undermining others.

But I want my voice to be heard this way: In a respectable forum and through my appreciation for all those who have dedicated their time and efforts in the name of peace and justice.

A peaceful solution

PARITY FOR PEACE (from p. 14)

would inevitably help lower extremism as economic prosperity has always been the enemy of fundamentalists. Also, this solution would help turn the hearts and minds of Palestinians away from hatred of Israel as it would lessen the perception of Israel as an antagonist.

It’s time that Israel employed a different solution to this age old problem. Some would argue that the answer lies in negotiations.

However, while the negotiation process could possibly bear fruit, there would be no harm in imple-

menting this solution as well. If anything, my solution would help the negotiations as it would alleviate tensions between the two.

The main problem with the status quo is the stagnation of Palestine. There will always be extremism in Palestine as long as the miserable conditions within the state provide a breeding ground for insurrection.

By building up Palestine’s economy, Israel could simultaneously build up relations with its beleaguered neighbor and provide a different ending to a story of violence that’s repeated itself for the past six decades.

16 The Hoot

IMPRESSIONS

Special to The Hoot

BY ANDREW HUSICK Columnist

I really don’t want to write about health care. Partly because it's been done a billion times before, partly because it shouldn’t be my place to cover any issue which is dominating the political sphere, but mostly because there are a lot of crazy people just itching for a fight.

So I am not going to write about health care.

Instead I wish to explore a much more subtle issue: The law.

Amidst all of the news coverage of the health care bill narrowly approved by the House of Representatives this week: The newspaper articles, radio advertisements, television exposés, and a strange whooshing sound that may have been Ron Paul escaping back to the dimension from whence he came, I noticed a rather innocuous post by a friend of mine on Facebook. He wondered if, quite apart from the bill being a good or bad idea, a mandate by the government that people carry some form of health insurance was a legitimate exercise of state power. I shall not take a position on the bill, but I do believe that there are four ways to theoretically justify this government action.

As I understand it, this requirement functions as a necessary prerequisite to abolishing pre-existing conditions as a reason for denial of care. As we have all heard by now, a preexisting condition is any sort of medical issue that can be used to deny health insurance coverage to a patient in need of care. It is a way to prevent people from buying insurance after they need an MRI or expensive drugs.

It's the same reason you can’t buy auto insurance after you have had an accident, or flood insurance when your basement is half full of

Maestro of Dissent

November 13, 2009

MORE THAN THE GENERAL WELFARE water. The basis of insurance is purchasing risk protection in advance, a practice that should be a reasonable one.

The problem is that the premise of preexisting conditions is being abused to deny coverage in legitimate cases. Patients found that the health insurance they had been buying for decades suddenly did not cover them, mostly either for issues beyond their control, or unrelated to their current needs. In an attempt to eliminate pre-existing conditions as a reason for denial, the government has proposed that everyone must carry coverage in advance, or there would be nothing to stop someone from buying a policy after they get sick.

I think the first, and broadest justification for government mandated health coverage is basic social contract theory. All citizens give up certain rights in return for protections by the government. It is reasonable for the government to act in accordance with what rights rational people would give up in return for other protections. Specifically, people seem willing to abandon their right to not have health insurance in return for better health care. Certainly this swap burdens some people more than others, but not many laws apply equally to all people. Although very theoretical and nebulous, the idea that people would give up this right to a government, at least in part, legitimizes this action.

The second, slightly narrower justification for this action is democracy. President Obama, a third of the Senate, and all of the members of the House of Representatives were elected in 2008. One of the key issues of that election was health care, and people voted on who their representatives would

be based on a number of issues, health care among them. Many of the proponents of this bill were sent to Washington D.C. specifically to reform healthcare. Exercising the will of the people is an important function of a republican government. Just because Glenn Beck starts crying, or yelling really loudly, or holding his breath until he turns blue, does not mean that there is no longer widespread popular support for this idea. Surely the legitimate role of government is to enforce the will of the people, and to promote the general welfare. To that end, an appropriate exercise of state power should be in accordance with the general will.

Third, I think that there is a legitimate case to be made that the insurance companies have not been competing, and have de facto been colluding with each other, which justifies some form of anti-trust reform. They all deny coverage in the same manner, and for the same reasons. Unfortunately health care is not a real “market” decision because people can not rationally decide not to have health care. (I should note: People could rationally decide not to have health insurance, but only in a case where they are assured protection. Essentially, you cannot ask somebody to gamble with their life and expect a rational decision. Even people who claim to not want insurance still expect to be treated in an emergency room if hit by a bus). As a result, there is no length to which the insurance industry could go in the status quo that would cause people to not seek health insurance. The government has a legitimate role in protecting the people from corporations large enough and important enough to exert coercive power on the people.

Finally, and most importantly, the federal government is authorized to regulate commerce among the several states in the Constitution. Congress is given the authority to make laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution the forgoing powers. Certainly the health insurance industry is subject to congressional action. This part of the law seeks to remedy a commercial issue: The denial of coverage based on pre-existing conditions. The provision that requires people to carry insurance is a necessary prerequisite to curing that particularly harmful action in a manner that is not subject to abuse.

I believe that there is an argument to be made that health insurance carried by a single person (mandated by the government) is not interstate commerce. It sounds like a great argument, and a usual fallback of pretty much anyone with a brain. It would logically, seem to be the case, but unfortunately, the court feels differently–and for some good reasons.

The actions of a single citizen would affect the whole of a company’s insurance pool, an action which does not fall within any single state. Accordingly, the Supreme Court ruled in Wickard v. Filburn that actions taken by a single citizen within a state can have an effect on interstate commerce, and that the government can regulate them.

I am sure that as the government progresses with its legislative process, more legal challenges will be mounted. These should be adjudicated based on their specific facts by the court. The important question for common citizens should now become whether the congressional policies are a good idea, and how we should model a reformed health care system.

Opposing gay marriage does not a bigot make

BY DANIEL ORTNER Columnist

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on Tuesday announced its support for an anti-discrimination ordinance that would provide homosexuals with protection from housing and employment discrimination.

The ordinance was ultimately approved by Salt Lake City. Although the church had issued several statements in the past declaring that it would support such measures, so long as they contained robust religious freedom protections, this was the first time the influential church actually threw its weight in favor of a specific piece of legislation.

In the wake of Proposition 8, the LDS church has acquired a reputation as homophobic and hateful. Its members have been targeted for boycotts and terminated from jobs by purportedly liberal Jewish organizations merely for being Mormon. Its meetinghouses have been subject to graffiti and protests. A no on Proposition 8 advertisement hatefully depicted caricatures of Mormon missionaries entering to a couples house and ripping up their marriage license. A large advertisement campaign in the northeast warned that the ‘Mormons were coming’ to take away rights. These hateful tactics have to some measure discredited the gay rights cause and turned some potential supporters, such as myself, away.

Indeed, the results of this city ordinance as well as the election night contrast between the successful amendment in Maine taking away gay marriage and the successful amendment in Washington State granting robust domestic partnerships reveal that current feelings towards gay rights are much more nuanced than a simple divide of the world into a pro-

and anti-rights camp. Of course, there are some virulent homophobes and they do not have my sympathy, but contrary to the writings of some such as Hoot Editor Bret Matthew last week, those that voted to oppose gay marriage do not merely need to ‘grow up.’

Indeed, they have some valid fears about the decaying state of marriage in society as well as legal protections for religious groups. Gay rights movements would be more successful if they were able to understand these fears and strive to show how their cause would actually help rather than hurt the stability of marriage.

It’s been noted that those most likely to oppose gay marriage are likely to come from states with high divorce rates, single parent households or teen pregnancies. One can be cynical and use these measures as evidence of hypocrisy, or more realistically I think one can view the struggle over ‘traditional families’ as a representation of the failure between dreams and reality. Many rightfully want to stop the collapse of families and have, rightfully in my view, linked this goal with the need to return sacredness to the concept of marriage. We have become a culture where love is treated like a magic state of being rather than a spiritual relationship that requires hard work. Kids have all too often become a disposable commodity.

Somehow, voters in every state in the nation that has voted on gay marriage are convinced that changing the definition of marriage to include homosexual pairings would further dilute the meaning of marriage. It seems that they have grabbed on to this as some way to heal all of what is very wrong in reality and ‘protect the family.’ Yet, this seems to me to be a mistaken idea. Gay marriages bring no

more or less stability than heterosexual marriages, but allowing them certainly does more to promote cultural values of monogamy and stability than forbidding them. Indeed, conservatives should be reminded that a generation ago the gay rights movement rooted in the free love culture of the Castro district of San Francisco mocked the pursuit of marriage as a heterosexist delusion. The desire for marriage rights is profoundly a conservative one. Indeed, the gay rights movement should in my view focus less on the individual rights aspect of gay marriage and more on this rather traditional focus on stability. Voting down gay marriage will not end the high divorce rate or lower the teen pregnancy rate. Instead, it just makes things worse.

Likewise, while some of the catastrophic legal impacts emphasized by the campaign against gay marriage are likely overstatements, it is absurd to suggest that religious expression rights will not be adversely affected at all. Churches would not be required to perform gay marriages, but they might be required to lease out space to gay couples to perform their marriages, for instance. Since legalizing gay marriage, Canada has seen many cases of arrests and law suits for actions that would clearly be considered legal under U.S. law. Yet, gay marriage is only at most a peripheral legal issue. We cannot allow, as Canada has, expansive notions of ‘hate speech,’ and political correctness to take away individual freedoms. The disturbing trend of prosecuting hate speech is rightfully viewed as an ill portend for religious individuals that hold biblical objections to gay marriage.

The broader move towards mandatory tolerance thus rightful makes individuals paranoid and less likely to compromise on

matters of clear discrimination. Likewise, this is part of the reason why the distinction between civil union and marriage is treated as so significant. It seems to many that the main reason that gay marriage, rather than civil unions, is pressed is not for varying rights, but in order to force acceptance. The civil rights language of the movement rightfully gives the impression that opposition to homosexuals will soon become the equivalent of racism and carry the same legal consequences. Religious individuals fear more than anything else being told that they can no longer express their biblically based viewpoint freely in society without liability. We must make a promise and a commitment that acceptance and respect will not become mandated.

This brings me back to the referendums and Salt Lake City’s ordinance. The referendum in Washington and the vote in Salt Lake City have gained religious backing in large measure because legislatures in the state expressly worked to protect religious protections. The Maine legislation also was initially successful in passing because of attempts to do so, but fears of religious persecution were able to convince many to vote for the repeal referendum. Making it clear that religious speech and association ought to be protected is the kind of light that will disinfect some of the false rumors and allow voters to truly evaluate the costs and benefits of gay marriage. We can also see that it will take time for voters to fully evaluate these claims and come to these conclusions. Expecting instant results and change will only result in additional feeling like the goal of a whole movement is to impose its ideas and values rather than the actually conservative goal of preserving strong families.

November 13, 2009

S P O R T S

The Hoot 17

Men’s soccer finishes season with a loss

BY HANNAH VICKERS Editor

As the minutes ran down the Judges stepped up their offensive pressure. It paid off in the 88th minute when Corey Bradley ’10 made the final goal of his collegiate career off an assist by classmate Jamie Batista.

Bradley was open in the box and after getting a pass from Batista, he knocked the ball into the lower right corner. Brandeis wasn’t able to tack another one on, however, and when the clock ran out they fell to the visiting New York University Violets 3-2.

The Violets struck first, getting on the board in the 27th minute. Brandon Hintz slammed a shot into the net from 20 yards out for an unassisted goal. It took Brandeis 25 minutes, but they got on the board shortly into the second half in the 52nd minute. Rookie Sam Ocel put up his second goal of the season off an assist by classmate Lee Russo. Ocel’s first shot was blocked by Violets keeper Marek Urbanski, but Ocel got the rebound and sent it home.

The Judges lead wouldn’t last for long,

though. NYU pulled ahead again 15 minutes later. Violet Kyle Green ’13 took a shot in front of the net after Adam Fein ’12 sent the ball across the goal-mouth. Green got to the ball before Brandeis goalie Matt Lynch ’11 and put NYU in the lead by one.

The game-winning goal for the Violets came in the 76th minute. Hintz tacked on his second goal of the game off a cross from Fein and gave NYU a two goal lead.

Brandeis stepped up the pressure at that point and while Bradley connected with a little less than three minutes left in the game, the Judges weren’t able to get another goal. Bradley took a shot with 22 seconds remaining, but the ball went wide and ended his final season with three goals.

With the loss the Judges fell to 6-10-2 on the season and 1-5-1 in the UAA, putting them in seventh place in the league.

As Head Coach Michael Coven has mentioned all season, and this game epitomizes, Brandeis was frustrated by numerous one-goal losses. Of the ten games they dropped, seven were decided by one goal.

NYU finished with a 7-8-2 record overall, 2-3-2 in Association play, and tied for fifth in the UAA.

PHOTO BY Lien Phung/The Hoot

USING YOUR HEAD: Jamie Batista ‘10 looks on as rookie Matt Hauser goes head-to-head with an NYU player to get control of the ball.

PHOTO BY Max Shay/The Hoot

GOING FOR THE BALL: Jamie Batista ‘10 tries to move past the NYU defense with support from classmate Alex Zenerovitz ‘10.

PHOTO BY Lien Phung/The Hoot

PHOTO BY Lien Phung/The Hoot

MOVING IN: Mike Silberstein ‘10 starts to move in on the ball as an NYU player clears it away.

BREAKAWAY: Jamie Batista ‘10 makes his way up the far side on a breakaway play.

18 The Hoot

SPORTS

November 13, 2009

Women’s basketball season preview

BY HANNAH VICKERS Editor

As the Judges return to the court after a record year last spring, the team seems ready for action. The women made it all the way to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Division III tournament for the first time in the program’s history, coming just short of the Final Four. Based on that performance as well as high expectations for this season, the Brandeis women’s basketball team has been ranked ninth in the country in the d3hoops preseason poll. According to the NCAA website, the Judges also hold the ninth spot in the USA Today/ESPN/ WBCA Division III Coaches’ preseason poll.

The Brandeis women lost four players at the end of last season as Lauren Goyette, Cassidy Dadaos, Amanda Wells and Lauren Orlando all graduated. Orlando and Dadaos started every game in the 200809 season, as well as nearly every game in the previous season. Combined the two averaged 17 points per game. Wells also played in every game last season, coming off the bench to contribute an average of 3.8 points in each game with a .363 percentage.

While those losses are certainly important, Brandeis does have a number of great players returning to the team this year including co-captain guard Jessica Chapin ’10. Chapin received an honorable mention in the All-America selection last season, but was recently named a fourth-team pre-season All-American.

She is currently second on Brandeis’ alltime career leaders list in trifectas with

121 and fifth all-time with 190 steals.

Last season she set the single-season record with 46 three-pointers.

Chapin is one of two returning players who ranks in the top 10 for scoring, rebounds, assists, and steals in the UAA. Last season she led the Judges with an average of 14.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.9 steals per game.

Classmate Lauren Rashford ’10 will be returning to the court as well for the first time since Feb. 1. Rashford started the first 17 games of the season before being sidelined due to a knee injury which she had surgery on during the off-season. As of Feb. 1 she had 44 assists and 21 steals on the season, in addition to averaging 8.1 points in each contest.

Guard Morgan Kendrew ’12 stepped in at that point to start the last 11 games of the season. Kendrew was the only rookie to play in every game last season and averaged six points per game as well as putting up 31 assists, 15 steals and 80 rebounds over the course of the season. After she took over for Rashford she was third on the team with 8.1 points per game and 21 assists.

Another returning starter is guard Diana Cincotta ’11 who averages 6.9 points per game, 62 assists on the season, and 21 steals. She also put up 31 three-pointers over the course of the year.

There are still holes that need to be filled on the team with the loss of so many front-court players. Co-captain and center Kasey Gieschen ’10 came off the bench in 23 games last season, while forward Amber Strodthoff ’11 played in

every game.

In addition to the strong returning players, the women also have six rookies on the squad. Guard Micha Broadnax from Bowie, MD, guard Shakara Scott from Philadelphia, forward/center Samantha Anderson from Johnsonville, NY, forward/center Courtney Ness from Norwich, VT, forward/center Angie Miller from Sicklerville, NJ, and forward Shannon Ingram from Floral Park, NY. The size of the recruitPHOTO BY Max Shay/The Hoot ment class will give Coach Carol Simon ON THE ATTACK: Co-captain Jessica Chapin ‘s ‘10 powerful presence on the many options and court last season helped move Brandeis all the way through to the Elite Eight in some depth off her last year’s NCAA Division III Tournament. bench.

The Judges will In October, Simon’s leadership was rectake aim at their 5th straight NCAA Diognized when she was inducted into the vision III bid through the guidance of New England Basketball Hall of Fame.

Coach Simon, now entering her 23rd Brandeis will open their season on year as head coach. Simon has an overall the road against WPI on November 15 record of 124-36 with the Judges, includat 1 p.m.

Last year the Judges beat them ing five 20-win seasons. Before earning 67-54.

Their home opener will be the spots in the NCAA Tournament for the Brandeis Tournament on November 20past four years she helped lead Brandeis 21 when they will face Wentworth on Frito back-to-back ECAC Tournament day the 20 at 6 p.m. championships in 2004 and 2005.

Women’s soccer advances My experiences volunteering at ACEing Autism to semi-finals in ECAC Tournament

BY JON OSTROWSKY (Staff)

BY HANNAH VICKERS Editor

The Judges had a perfect week, shutting out both their opponents to finish off the regular season with a win and take the quarterfinal round of the Eastern Conference Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III New England Tournament.

In Saturday’s game against UAA rival the New York University Violets, the Judges needed just one goal to get the job done.

Brandeis held an 8-7 shooting advantage in the first half, but was unable to get on the board. The game-winner came just over a minute into the second half when Mimi Theodore ’12 headed a cross from Melissa Gorenkoff ’10 into the net.

From that point forward the Judges were on the defensive, with the Violets ending the half outshooting Brandeis 12-4.

They posted five shots on goal in that stretch. Brandeis keeper Hillary Rosenzweig ’10 had six saves overall for the 21st shutout win of her career. Two of those saves came just a minute apart. The final one of the game came in the 89th minute and with it Rosenzweig secured the win.

With the win Brandeis finished 9-6-3 overall on the season and 3-3-1 in UAA play. NYU fell to 9-8-1 overall and a disappointing 0-6-1 in the UAA. Later in the week the Judges learned that they are the top seeded team in the ECAC Tournament.

“We always hope to make the NCAA,”

Head Coach Denise Dallamora said. “Our conference is tough, we tied for fourth, just short of accomplishing our goals.”

Brandeis took on the Castleton State College Spartans on Wednesday night and took them down 3-0 to move through to the semi-finals.

The eventual game-winner came in the 13th minute courtesy of Tiffany Pacheco ’11 off a cross from Gorenkoff.

The Judges tacked on another Pacheco goal in the 39th minute, this one with an assist from classmate Sofia Vallone ‘11.

Vallone sent the ball through the defense where Pacheco took her shot and tacked another goal on the board.

In the 67th minute Brandeis added on the final goal of the game. Alison Maresca ’12 put the ball into the box where Kelly Doolittle ’12 put it into the back of the net before Spartans keeper Ericka Davis had a chance to respond.

Rosenzweig had four saves on the night for her 22nd career shutout and 37th win while Davis had 12 saves in the loss.

Brandeis will host their semi-final game against Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, ranked fourth, at noon on Saturday.

MCLA defeated fifth-seeded Emmanuel 3-0 to earn their spot.

When asked about the team’s chances of a three-peat to take home the ECAC crown, Coach Dallamora was confident in the ability of her players.

“We are a very good team, we know we can win it,” she said.

For about a year I have volunteered on Saturday afternoons at ACEing Autism, a non-profit organization that teaches tennis to young children with autism.

When I first signed up for the program, I didn’t know anything about autism, but I thought that the idea of helping young children learn to play tennis sounded like a fun way to give back to my favorite sport.

Last fall, I started helping out at the program during a time when I was very busy.

Or, at least by my standards I was. It was my senior year of high school and I was busy with schoolwork, SAT’s, tennis tournaments, and college applications. Yet for some reason I decided to fit another activity into my schedule.

I realized very quickly not only was I able to help other children, but also the program provided an escape from my so called “hectic” life. It meant two hours on Saturday afternoons where all I had to do was run around with young kids and teach them the game I knew so well. It was an escape, a relief, a break from the everyday busyness and hurry of my life.

I enjoy the program because it is a challenge, and for each kid it is different. For some, the goal is to get them hitting a few balls in a row over the net, and for others the goal is simply to get them to stand still and swing the racquet, even if they do not make contact.

One week last year, I spent 30 minutes out of the 45-minute clinic chasing the child around the court, calling his name, simply trying to get him to stand still, so I could give him directions.

As his father came out on the court to try

to help me, it was then that I realized what he has to go through each day. He loves his son unconditionally, but clearly having a child with autism presents challenges to a parent. There is an enormous amount of time and attention that must be devoted to helping the child focus and pay attention.

And suddenly I realized that compared to these parents, my life really wasn’t that hectic. They have a lot more to deal with, and from what I can tell, they are doing a remarkable job raising happy and caring children.

I thought about what it would be like teaching those two 45 minute clinics 24 hours a day seven days a week, and realized that is what these parents live with. They are truly unbelievable people to be able to sacrifice so much time out of their own personal life so that their children can have the best experiences possible.

Each week that I go to ACEing Autism, I learn something new about the kid I am working with, and what helps them focus best. I try to teach them as much as I can about tennis and make sure that they have fun as well.

But it seems that they have taught me a far more important lesson. I have learned that my life is not nearly as busy as it seems compared to others lives in society, like their parents.

Most of the children at this program are too young to know what autism is, and clearly it doesn’t bother them. They run and laugh and play the entire clinic, and are forever grateful for what they have.

It seems they have far more to teach me than I can teach them. Maybe it’s time I stopped complaining about how busy I am.

Maybe it’s time to be grateful for what I have.

SPORTS

November 13, 2009

The Hoot 19

Tennis teams work on ACEing Autism on the weekends

BY HANNAH VICKERS Editor

Saturday afternoons seem to be a time for college kids to rest.

Some people sleep right through it, or if they’re up early, they go do something fun with friends like a trip into the city or some time at the mall. For both the men’s and women’s Brandeis tennis teams, Saturday is a day for something else: giving back.

At 4 p.m. while their peers might be catching a movie, these Brandeis students gather in Wayland to teach tennis to autistic children. The program, called ACEing Autism, was started by Richard Spurling and his wife Shafali Spurling Jeste, a pediatric neurologist who specializes in autism.

“She and I had always wanted to start a nonprofit,” Spurling told The Hoot, “and when she learned that many of her patients’ parents were driving all over to find programs for their kids we decided to start to offer a tennis program for children with autism.”

“The Brandeis tennis players have been a great partnership for

our program,” he added.

Along with other volunteers, the Brandeis tennis teams help run the clinics as tennis pros.

Once they break off into small groups, each player usually has two or three kids. They focus on teaching the basics, which, as men’s captain Seth Rogers ’10 pointed out, can be quite difficult at times.

“Some of the lower functioning kids provide some more excitement,” Rogers said. “They will run around the courts in circles for 15 minutes straight, or put their foreheads on the handle of the tennis racquet and spin around in place until they get so dizzy they fall over.”

When things like that happen Rogers and the other players try to refocus the child to the task at hand and do their best to get them engaged in the game. “In most cases, by the end of the 45 minute session the child has hit some tennis balls and had a lot of fun,” he explained.

Not only do these children get to learn the game of tennis, but they work on their hand-eye coordination and improve their health and fitness. In addition to

the physical benefits the clinics also teach them social skills and help build their self-confidence.

“It is a program that is great for these kids on so many levels,” Spurling said The benefits for the children are immediately recognizable. For Rogers and the other Brandeis students, it’s rewarding to see the results of their efforts. Being able to share something they’re passionate about and see some of their love for the game come alive in these kids is one of the greatest parts for the team.

“Seeing these kids enjoy being active with other autistic kids and learning tennis basics is great, and what it’s all about,” Rogers said.

“Also, ACEing is an outlet for parents who may feel frustration at times, which is completely understandable when raising a child afflicted with an autism spectrum disorder.” As Rogers pointed out, autism is not something that merely affects the child, but also has a lasting impact on the family.

Many parents with autistic children struggle to find programs for them to participate in as it can be difficult for some to partake in sports activities with what

one parent called “typical peers.”

There can be a real sense of frustration when their child is missing on out such a normal part of their development as learning a sport, but with ACEing Autism, they are given that chance.

“I see the excitement in her eyes when she runs onto the court and the pride in her face when she makes contact with the ball. As a parent, it gets me every time,” Mira Spiegel said in a testimonial on the program’s website. “Each week, ACEing Autism is helping us to get back a little piece of what we were so afraid autism had taken away.”

A new study from the American Academy of Pediatrics’ journal published in early October found that the rate of this disorder is increasing, with an estimated one in every 91 children in the United States affected by the some form of autism. With numbers like these, the importance of programs like ACEing Autism becomes even more apparent.

While this is an organization currently only the Brandeis tennis teams are involved in, Spurling encourages anyone interested in learning more to contact

him. To do so please visit www. aceingautism.com.

“If there are other Brandeis students interested in volunteering with our program we ask them to come and view the program and also get in contact with the tennis team to learn of their experiences,” he said.

Through participating in the clinic, Rogers and the rest of the Brandeis team have gotten to better understand autism and see the change these children have made in their lives.

“ACEing has been an incredible experience for me,” Rogers said.

“It makes me feel proud and optimistic; proud of my teammates and the other volunteers who make this possible- that people can really get together and make a difference in others happiness.”

By giving back, Rogers has also learned to value what he has in his life. “I’ve become more aware of how fortunate many of us are, and what we have- that is the ability to play a varsity sport, hell to play a sport at all, and go to college, and simply be a member of the world who is able to perceive, hear, see, and feel so fully- is a gift. A very special gift.”

Hair-pulling on the field garners national attention

BY SARAH BLOOMBERG Staff

When people think of a catfight they tend to think of high school hallways, generally with someone shouting, “You took my boyfriend!” When they think of hairpulling, a soccer field usually does not come to mind. Unfortunately, this was exactly what happened last week in the Mountain West Women’s Championship game between the Brigham Young University Cougars and the University of New Mexico Lobos.

BYU was leading the game 1-0 when Lobos junior defender Elizabeth Lambert seemed to lose control. While fighting for posi-

tion a BYU elbowed Lambert, and she responded with a punch in the back. She followed with a lot of physical play; she was tripping and kicking other players. It looked a little more rough than usual, but nothing extreme.

Then Lambert crossed the line and did not look back. In response to a girl pushing her, Lambert yanked the BYU player, Kassidy Shumway’s, ponytail. She pulled so hard that Shumway’s head snapped back, and she fell to the ground. That somehow went unnoticed by the referees, but Lambert was not finished. Lambert kicked the ball into the face of a BYU girl who had just been tripped. For this Lambert finally received a yellow card. At the end

of the game all of her dirty plays did not matter as BYU won the game 1-0, and the Lobos season was over.

After the game, it was announced that the New Mexico coach had suspended Lambert indefinitely. This was not a response from the NCAA, simply from the university. Lambert issued a statement where she apologized for her actions, saying they were uncalled for and she let her emotions get the best of her.

In her statement Lambert said, “This is in no way indicative of my character or the soccer player I am. I am sorry to my coaches and teammates for any and all damages I have brought upon them.

I am especially sorry to BYU and

the BYU women’s soccer players that were personally affected by my actions.”

The apology is great, but it is one thing to let you emotions get the best of you and to play a little dirty. I do not think there is anyone who can watch the video of Lambert yanking this girl’s hair, or for that matter later slapping and punching another girl in there the head, and not think that is something much more serious happening. Shumway’s head does not just snap back; she completely crumples to the ground and does not move. It looks like a serious injury, and if the referees had seen the incident Lambert would probably have been issued a red card and removed from the game.

Even with this apology there has been a massive amount of coverage of the game. This is partially as it was nationally aired by ESPN. Whatever the reason women’s soccer has not gotten this much attention since Brandy Chastain ripped off her jersey in the 1999 Women’s World Cup. And it is even more unfortunate for the BYU players as their win against New Mexico, and their following wins, are overshadowed by Lambert’s personal actions. BYU went on to the finals of the Mountain West Championships, losing 1-0 to San Diego State. Even with the loss in the finals, BYU advanced to the NCAA Tournament where they play University of CaliforniaSanta Barbara Friday Nov. 13.

Volleyball team ends season with loss in first round of ECAC Championship

BY HANNAH VICKERS AND SARAH BLOOMBERG Editor & Staff

The Judges finished out their regular season last weekend in Chicago in the UAA Tournament where they went 1-3 to finish sixth. They went on to be seeded second in the East Coast Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III New England Championship tournament and faced Colby-Sawyer on Wednesday night. In a surprising turn, the Judges dropped the match 3-2 and were knocked out in the first round.

On Friday Nov. 6, Brandeis faced two of the toughest teams in the tournament: Emory and Chicago. Emory, the second seed in the UAA tournament, was the defending UAA and NCAA champions while Chicago was the seeded third for the weekend.

In the match against Emory the Judges fell in straight sets, 25-16, 25-21, 25-21.

Outside hitter Paige Blasco ’11 led the offense with a .258 percentage and 12 kills.

Blasco also had six digs. Twin sister and setter Abby Blasco ‘11 had 26 assists while Rookie libero Anna Homitsky had seven digs.

The Judges fell in straight sets for the second time that day when they faced hosts Chicago, though it was a much closer game. Each set came down to just two points which the Maroons squeezing by 25-23, 27-25, 25-23. Middle Blocker Nicole Smith ’11 paced Brandeis with a .562 percentage with just one error in 16 attempts and 10 kills. Abby Blasco, Paige Blasco, and outside hitter Piera Carfagno ’10 each had eight digs. Abby also added 27 assists.

Brandeis came back on Saturday with an unexpected win over Carnegie Mellon in four sets, 25-13, 25-18, 27-29, 25-16. Paige Blasco dominated the play by putting up 20 kills and 11 digs for her 10th doubledouble of the season while sister Abby had

46 assists and 10 digs for her 14th doubledouble of the year. Bridget McAllister ’10 had no errors in 30 attempts in addition to 11 kills for a .367 percentage. With the win the Judges moved through to the fifth-place match.

The Judges were unable to keep their momentum going after their win over Carnegie Mellon and fell to Case Western Reserve in five sets to finish in sixth place. The set scores were 25-22, 20-25, 25-22, 22-25, 15-12. Again, despite the loss, the Brandeis players performed well. With 42 assists, 12 digs, and 11 kills Abby Blasco recorded her first triple-double of her career. Paige Blasco put up her second double-double of the day with 17 kills and 17 digs.

With the weekend Brandeis finished off their regular season at 18-16, 2-9 in UAA play.

The volleyball season ended Wednesday night with a loss to the Colby-Sawyer. The second-seeded Judges almost rallied back

from a two set deficit in the ECAC Division III New England Volleyball championships, but they were not able to come past the seventh-seeded Chargers.

The Judges had a major obstacle to overcome without second-team All-UAA hitter Paige Blasco, who was out with a sore knee.

Piera Carfagno ’10 had to play as setter as Abby Blasco was unable to serve as setter due to a sore foot. Because of these changes it took the Judges a while to settle into their grove, and by the time they got there it was too late.

Colby-Sawyer won the first two sets 2515, 25-16; Brandeis answered with the next two 25-14, 25-16. In the fifth and final set the Judges were up 8-7 at one point, but the Chargers rallied back to win 15-10.

This was the last game of the season for the Judges. Carfagno had a career-high of 34 assists while McAllister had a seasonhigh of 14 kills and 17 digs.

20

The Hoot

November 13, 2009

WEEKEND Spotlight on Boston

5W!TS presents TOMB

Friday, Nov. 14, 1:00 a.m - 11:00 p.m Saturday, Nov. 15, 11:00 a.m - 11:00 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 16, 11:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Editor's Pick:

Backyard Wonderland

Sunday, Nov. 15, 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Levin Ballrom

For an interactive experience try TOMB, where you pretend to be an archeologist trapped in an Egyptian pharaoh’s tomb, complete with the ghost of the pharaoh! Buy ticket for $20 ahead of time at http://www.5wits.com/home.

Boston Jewish Film Festival Sunday, Nov. 15, 1:00 p.m.

Museum of Fine Arts

This Sunday come see the last day of the Boston Jewish Film Festival at the MFA. Films being shown this Sunday include To Life, The Tale of Nicolai and the Law of Return, How to Be: Be or Not to Be, and Within the Whirlwind. Tickets are $20 because it’s the closing night.

Hoot Comic Strips Sleazy

What's going on at Brandeis?

By Matt Kupfer

Have some fun this weekend at a carnival, brought to you by Student Events. You will find inflatables, foods and crafts.

The Game of Love and Chance Friday, Nov. 13, 8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 14, 8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Laurie Theater, Spingold

Originally written by Marivaux, translated by Christopher Wadsworth, and now directed by Janet Morrison, The Game of Love and Chance is coming to Brandies. Tickets are $20, unless bought by Brandeis Students for $10, or other Brandeis affiliates for $15.

Russian Club “Cooking Culture Night” Saturday, Nov. 14, 1:00 p.m. - 9:10 p.m.

Ridgewood A Commons For some fun, ethnic food, come join Russian Club to cook and eat a traditional Russian meal! For more information, email mkupfer@brandeis.edu

Screw Your Roommate

Saturday, Nov. 14, 11:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.

Levin Ballroom.

Humor is Dead

laughingwarlock

By Xander Bernstein

By Ian Price

As part of Louis Jr. Weekend, set your roommate up on a blind date for “Screw Your Roommate.” Or, if you don’t want to do the blind-date thing, just show up with some friends and have a fun night of dancing!

Can you draw and write comics? Want to see your work in print?

Or do you know of any exciting Brandeis or Boston events?

E-mail lelefko brandeis. edu