The Brandeis Hoot - 11-20-09

VOL 6, NO. 14

NOVEMBER 20, 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

Hogan to sit on Pres.

Search Committee

Grab-’n-Go dining locale to be added

BY ARIEL WITTENBERG

BY ARIEL WITTENBERG

Editor

Editor

Students returning from winter break will have one more dining option in the form of The Upstairs Café, Student Union President Andy Hogan ‘11 announced at his State of the Student Union Address last night.

The creation of The Cafe, which will be built during break in Gluck Lobby (commonly known to students as the entrance to Pachanga) is the result of a collaboration between Hogan, Dining Services and The Department of University Operations.

The Cafe will have what Vice President of Campus Operations Mark Collins called “limited hours” and will be open from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm Monday through Friday in an effort to alleviate “the trend we’ve seen this semester of everyone converging onto Sherman and Usdan, which have small footprints, during the same peak times.”

“If you get in line at five after 12, there’s going to be a 15 to 20 minute wait,” Collins said, “If you have class at 12:10, we understand that’s going to be a pain in the neck.”

This trend could be caused by the university’s decision last spring to admit 400 additional undergraduates over the next four years. This See DINING, p. 15

PHOTO BY Natasha Rubin/The Hoot

STATE OF THE UNION: Student Union President Andy Hogan ’11 outlined changes the university will undergo in the next year at his State of the Student Union address Thursday evening.

Senate tables club de-chartering decision

BY DESTINY D. AQUINO Editor

The Student Union Senate decided Sunday to send one final e-mail warning to clubs who have not yet signed their Anti-Hazing Policy form before voting to de-charter them this coming Sunday. Over 100 clubs have not signed their Anti-Hazing Policies–a document that clubs are required to sign by Massachusetts State Law–despite five notifications to club leaders from Class of 2011 Senator Jenna Rubin over the past few weeks.

According to Statute 265.19 of Massachusetts law, all clubs or organizations supported by a university or college need to pledge to the university or college their intentions not to haze members saying, “It shall be the duty of each such group, team, or organization, acting through its designated officer, to deliver annually, to the institution

IN THIS ISSUE:

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an attested acknowledgment [that hazing is a crime and that there will be no hazing of members attempting to join their group or club].”

The list of clubs that had not signed their forms was first brought to the attention of the Senate by Director of Student Activities Stephanie Grimes, who asked the Union Senate to de-charter clubs due to non-compliance with this law.

At Sunday’s Senate meeting, there was a lot of debate about whether or not to de-charter the clubs, which ultimately led to the tabling of the discussion.

Grimes told The Hoot that “I concur with the decision to table the discussion in order to get as many clubs to fill out the form as possible, because that ultimately is my goal,” but “we need to start moving forward with this.”

See DE-CHARTER, p. 15

After two months of negotiations with the Board of Trustees, Student Union President Andy Hogan ‘11 will sit as a non-voting member of the Presidential Search Committee, Hogan announced at his State of the Student Union Thursday.

“I, in representing the students, will be substantively involved in [the presidential search] process,” Hogan said. “I know that I will do my very best in representing student interest in this process and am happy the Board of Trustees and other decision-makers of this university see the value of student input.”

While Chair of the Board of Trustees Malcolm Sherman told The Hoot in its Oct. 23 issue that “there is very little possibility there will be students on the committee,” Hogan said Sherman changed his mind after Hogan met with both him and Meyer Koplow ’72, the chair of the Search Committee.

Neither Sherman nor Koplow were available to comment by press time, however Trustee Emeritus Rena Olshansky ’52, who was present at the State of the Union, told The Hoot she thought Hogan’s appointment was “first rate...I felt in my heart it was criti-

cal to have a student on the committee.”

“To have a committee without a student would have left out an important voice,” Olshansky said.

“Now, we will have that voice through Andy, so we can have important and meaningful discourse.”

In addition to having Hogan serve as a student representative on the search committee, students will be able to voice their opinions about the presidential search process via the student advisory committee, which will hold a Town Hall discussion about the search on Nov. 30 at 5:30 p.m. in Sherman Function Hall.

The Student Union will also be sending out a web-survey to solicit student input about the presidential search.

Hogan said in his address that the question students must answer is, “What do you want Brandeis to look like in 20 years?

This institution will look very different, and how do you want it to change?”

“Change is the big word with which we end 2009,” Hogan said, adding later that “Change is not something to fear. Yes, we have seen and will continue to see a lot of it as time progresses, but I see this change not as a burden, but as an opportunity.”

Cancer-conscious students ‘manicured for a cure’

BY ROBIN LICHTENSTEIN Staff

Approimately 130 Brandeis community members received manicures Thursday as part of the Manicure for a Cure–an event organized by the Brandeis Orthodox Organization which offers students $12 manicures by students from Paul Mitchell the School in Cranston, RI, with all proceeds going to Sharsheret, a non-for-profit organization that, according to their website, offers support for young Jewish women and their families who are dealing with breast cancer.

Sherman Function Hall was decked-out in pink table cloths and clip-on nail drying fans for the occasion, which was so popular that 103 slots out of the 130 available were booked by the start of the event, Manicure for a Cure chairperson Raquel Greenberg ’10 said.

Students were able to reserve a slot online, in advance or just walk in.

Greenberg chose to work with

Brandeis urban legends debunked Features page 12

PHOTO BY Alan Tran/The Hoot

MANI FOR A CURE: A manicurist from the Paul Mitchell School in Cranston, RI, paints the nails of a Brandeis student in order to raise money for Sharsheret, a nonprofit organization that offers support for young Jewish women with cancer.

Sharsheret for last year’s event, due to one of her family friends being a founder of the organization. The event was so successful last year, raising $2,600, that Sharsheret asked Greenberg to intern with them over the summer. She received one of Hiatt’s World of Work Scholarships, and spent the sum-

Going googoo over GaGa DiverseCity, page 8

mer developing college fundraising programming for the organization.

Greenberg hopes to make about $1,500 off this year’s event, as there were less spots available this time around due to fewer available manicurists.

See MANICURE, p. 15

Men’s basketball starts season with a win Sports, page 14

2 The Hoot

November 20, 2009

N E W S

Genesis reflects on identity

Students call for health insurance

BY NATHAN KOSKELLA Staff

BY JON OSTROWSKY Staff

The Brandeis-Genesis Institute for Russian Jewry (BGI), a new program designed for Russianspeaking Jews at Brandeis to learn more about their culture and identity, held an opening reception in the Faculty Club last night.

The reception featured student speaker Julia Rabkin ‘11, as well as words from the director of BGI, Anna Ronell, and other key contributors to the program. After the talks, fellows were given an opportunity to meet and interact with other members of the Brandeis community.

BGI offers scholarships to 16 undergraduate students and 3 graduate fellows from the Hornstein Masters Program as part of their commitment to attend special events promoting the connection of Russian culture and Judaism during the school year. BGI also held a summer program for 31 high school students from Russia, Israel and the United States.

“Our first goal is actually to become a group, to bond into something, to lay a foundation for [the] future,” Ronell said, in an interview with the Hoot. “We’re just trying to build something from scratch.”

Earlier this fall, fellows attended a retreat in the Berkshires to help them develop closer connections and promote bonding.

“I think the greatest thing about the program is that you really get to connect with a lot of interesting people,” BGI fellow Eugeune Goncharov ’13 told the Hoot. “It‘s part of connecting to your identity,” he said.

With a $10.8 million granted from the Genesis Philanthropy Group, BGI also has a global connection beyond Brandeis.

PHOTO BY Yuan Yao/The Hoot

“Nobody can overestimate the Jewish role that Brandeis University plays in North America,” said Ilia Salita, Executive Director for the North America branch of Genesis Philanthropy Group.

“This is a major global program,” said Dan Terris, Vice President of Global Affairs.

Terris explained that part of the mission of the program is to help students discover and define their identity. “I think identity is one of the things we do particularly well here at Brandeis,” Terris said.

“The newest program here at Brandeis is likely to have a very strong impact,” Marty Krauss, Provost of the University, said. “At the heart of this program is this question of identity.”

Terris hopes the program will try “to reSee GENESIS, p. 15

Brandeis students are currently working to reform Massachusetts state health insurance laws to include student plans in a clause that guarantees minimum standards of coverage.

The Student Health Organizing Coalition (SHOC) is working to raise awareness about what they believe is a glaring omission on the part of the state’s famous 2006 health care reform, which mandates that all citizens of the Commonwealth carry health insurance. Since 1988, state law has said that all students are required to hold a Qualifying Student Health Insurance Plan (Q-SHIP) that must provide certain criteria in the plan’s contract.

“Students at Brandeis and other schools are facing tough decisions on health insurance or paying for their education,” Shanna Rifkin ’11, founder of the Brandeis chapter SHOC, said. “Students, because of the prior existence of Q-SHIP, were left out of the 2006 reform,” Rifkin said.

Due this exemption, “state plans like Commonwealth Care and MassHealth are offering better coverage than the Q-SHIP,” Rifkin said.

SHOC is working with lawmakers to try and remove the exemption, and will appear before the Joint Committee for Health Care Financing amid other groups at a hearing on Dec. 3.

“We’re working on a bill Senate Bill 609, with Senator Richard Moore (D-Worcester and Norfolk) which eliminates the qualifying student health care plan, but we want to put something in its place,” Rifkin said.

If the bill, written by Moore, the committee’s chairman, were to pass, student plans would then presumably revert to the minimum coverage all citizens are entitled and required to hold.

The plan Rifkin supports seeks to preempt this and increase the minimum coverage that students would have.

“It would guarantee no caps on outpatient care, a prescription drug plan and other decent benefits,” she said, “and students would pay lower premiums than they do now.”

Rifkin said she is a supporter of the state’s health care plans for low-income and other citizens and that the “minimum creditable coverage” is a good thing and needs only to be expanded to include student plans.

“Minimum creditable coverage means that every state plan must have a basic coverage level, which is good; but student plans do not, [and] they are specifically exempted,” she said.

Another circumstance of all student plans being exempted is the concentration of institutional risk. Currently, most colleges in Massachusetts have their own health insurance plans, which drives up costs because each insurer bears the risk of paying for truly sick and expensive students, Rifkin explained.

Insurance companies can calculate risk to profit and costs can be lessened with a greater number of healthy students. Since all students would be paying premiums, insurance costs can be less for those it would normally be very expensive to care for.

“Students should be pooled into one Massachusetts college plan, and it would be preventive care,” Rifkin said.

This is how SHOC plans to address the payment issues for the lower premiums while guaranteeing the more comprehensive benefits of their proposal.

Rifkin said that the Massachusetts Health Connector, an existing independent state agency that has monitored and helped individuals select health care plans since the original mandate for required health insurance, would administer the plan.

“Hopefully SHOC can make people see that the health insurance plans are taking advantage of students,” Rifkin said. “It’s criminal—40 percent of premium dollars are going toward actual care, because almost no care is given by minimum requirements.”

At the hearing next month, SHOC plans on presenting its findings collected from a consensus of students.

“We need to collect testimonies for the committee—they can be anyone who is upset about the issue and wants to get involved,” Rifkin said. “Students really do have a voice; we want to make sure Massachusetts listens to its students and gives us coverage we need and deserve.”

Inaugural Sorabjee lecture tackles universalism

BY SEAN FABERY Staff

Harvard’s Prof. Sugata Bose discussed the role of universalism and cosmopolitanism in Indian intellectual conversations in a presentation given Monday afternoon in the Rapaporte Treasure Hall entitled, “Different Universalisms, Colorful Cosmopolitanism.” The lecture inaugurated the Soli Sorabjee Lecture Series, which was co-sponsored by the South Asian Studies program and the Office of Global Affairs.

Bose, who is head of Harvard’s South India Initiative, recently hosted an international conference on “The Idea of Asia in Tagore and His Times.” This conference will be followed by conferences in Singapore, Beijing, and Kolkata, all of which will address Asian universalism.

In his lecture Bose tackled what he described as “universalism with a difference” and “vernacular cosmopolitanism,” ideologies which stress that all people belong to a single community based on shared philosophical characteristics.

Both stand in sharp contrast to the ideologies of nationalism and patriotism, which, he said, argued for a kind of destructive particularism.

“Colorful patriotism is seductive but always devoid of meaning,” Bose said.

To cast light on his topic, Bose examined universalism through the eyes of Rabindranath Tagore, an Indian poet who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.

Throughout his life, Tagore advocated for what he branded “Asian universalism,” seeking to build connections between disparate cultures in southeast Asia.

As part of this, Tagore traveled throughout the continent, exploring the artistic and cultural heritages of countries from Burma to China to Japan. He fostered a dialogue which led artists to meld, for example, Japanese artistic techniques with Indian subject matter.

Though Tagore and other members of the Indian intelligentsia sought out other Asian cultures specifically, he did not ignore western Europe.

“The colonized didn’t erect walls around their notions of culture,” Bose said.

Instead, they simply rejected the “false universalist claims of [the European colonizers].” They accepted the validity of European knowledge while advocating for the “interplay of multiple and competing universalisms,” Bose said.

Tagore was a vehement critic of Indian

nationalism and sought its removal from the discourse among anti-colonialists, whom he did support. He wrote letter after letter arguing against worshiping what he called “the new God called nation.”

However, Tagore’s travels also brought him into contact with growing Japanese nationalism, which disturbed him.

“Asian universalism was torn apart by Japanese nationalism,” Bose said.“The idea of Asia was not a single one.”

Despite the growth of Japanese nationalism, however, Bose argued that Tagore’s notions of Asian universalism were still salvageable, with these ideas having had a great effect on the creation of the modern Indian state.

Bose called on his audience to further research the presence of the theories of universalism and cosmopolitanism in Indian discourse.

Bose’s lecture was introduced by Dan Terris, Vice President for Global Affairs, who proudly spoke about the “emergence of South Asian studies” at Brandeis and the way it had succeeded in “pull[ing] together… the community interested in India at Brandeis into one coherent group,” Terris said.

He also praised Soli Sorabjee, the Indian jurist for whom the lecture series is named,

PHOTO BY Phil Small/The Hoot

as “one of the giants of Indian law.” Sorabjee, who was the Indian Attorney General from 1998 to 2004, is currently a Special Rapporteur to the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

Aarti Modi ’10, Sorabjee’s granddaughter, also spoke about her grandfather, whom she described as “passionate about administrative and constitutional law.” However, she also emphasized his interests outside of law.

“He loves literature, especially poetry,” she said, “and jazz.”

NEWS

November 20, 2009

Author discusses Jewish literature

The Hoot 3

BRANDEIS BRIEFS Students Crossing Boundaries show summer experiences

BY LEAH FINKELMAN Staff

Author Tova Mirvis attempted to answer the question ‘Is she a Jewish writer?’ in a lecture on Wednesday evening. The question is one Mirvis has been asked countless times.

The lecture was hosted by the HadassahBrandeis Institute, a program created to expand ways of thinking about the relationship between Jews and gender while promoting scholars and artists whose work overlaps the two fields.

Mirvis began her lecture by asking what makes a book Jewish. Mirvis pondered whether it is the book’s themes, author, content or characters. She asked if a book could be halfJewish.

Throughout the lecture, Mirvis spoke about books-within-books, a common theme in Jewish-American literature. She related this to how an author’s Judaism might affect his or her work without realizing it, two examples of which are a common Jewish preoccupation with books and with finding something that is lost.

By the end of the lecture, Mirvis had raised more questions than she answered, but she did touch on the concept that a Jewish author and a Jewish novel are most difficult to define because of the complexity of defining what Jewish is in general.

PHOTO BY Abby Berin/The Hoot

Although, she expressed her view that once an author is labeled as a Jewish writer, there is no going back.

Mirivs felt conflicted about this.

“To live fully in one world is to pull away from another,” Mirvis said.

Mirvis described her upcoming novel as “an examination of public and private spaces,” but not a Jewish novel. The characters are Jewish in her mind and in their last names, she says, but there is no mention of Shabbat dinners or trips to synagogue.

Mirvis does feel that the more particular a novel is, the more cultural detail there is, the more universal it becomes. Writing about ethnicity and religion humanizes a story and makes it more relatable, even if the reader is not a member of the specific group she explained. Mirvis used the example of an Indian novel, “I understand this Indian novel because I am Jewish,” Mirvis said.

Mirvis is the author of “The Outside World,” published in 2004 and 1999 national bestseller The Ladies Auxiliary. She received a B.A. in English Literature from Columbia College and an MFA in Fiction Writing from Columbia University’s School of the Arts. She lives in Newton, Mass. with her husband and two young sons, and is at work on another novel.

Students Crossing Boundaries displayed a cardboard checkpoint reprepresenting the Israeli-Palestinian and United States-Mexican Borders in the Shapiro Campus Center ballroom.

The checkpoint was 20 feet wide and seven feet tall and was covered with physical artifacts, such as maps, photographs and stories, from the ten Brandeis Students who spent their summers along the two boarders.

At the event, the ten participants also held a question-and-answer session about their summers, and food from the two regions (pita and hummus and Mexican food) was served as well. ~By Ariel Wittenberg

Donor appointed to represent United States at UN The United States Senate recently confirmed Brandeis donor Elaine Schuster as the country’s delegate to the 64th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

The appointment is an unpaid position lasting one year beginning in September. Representatives serve as experts sharing their views and advice in specific areas.

Schuster and her husband Gerald have donated five million dollars over eight years to the creation and maintenance of the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis. Schuster also serves on the National Board of the Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center.

Schuster told Florence Graves, the director of the Schuster Institute of Investigative Journalism, that she plans to focus on international issues pertaining to women.

“Elaine Schuster told me that, as a Public Delegate for the U.S. Delegation to the United Nations General Assembly, she is particularly interested in working on the enormous problem of modern-day slavery and sex trafficking” Graves wrote in an e-mail to The Hoot.

Graves added, “[Schuster] is very savvy about the media and extremely well-informed about politics...Schuster’s appointment by President Obama as a Public Delegate to the United Nations, which required Senate approval, has been approved by the Senate, is a wonderful recognition of her longstanding commitment to social justice and human rights.”

President Obama nominated Schuster along with eight other individuals on Sept. 22.

“I am grateful for the willingness of these fine individuals to serve my administration and am confident that they will represent our nation well. I look forward to working with them in the coming months and years,” Obama said of his appointees.

Schuster previously served on the President’s Advisory Committee for the Arts for eight years. She is also very active in the Massachusetts Democratic Party. ~By Destiny D. Aquino

Senate passes SMR, raises money to fight cancer The Student Union passed an emergency Senate Money Resolution (SMR) Sunday for $ 1,275 in order to create 150 T-shirts to be sold on campus in recognition of Eddie Senibaldi ’12 who is currently being treated for cancer.

The proceeds from the sale of the shirts will go to the Center for Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

According to the SMR, students “have designed a t-shirt to sell to the Brandeis Community [and] to create community togetherness during the difficult time of one of our fellow students.”

Nine senators and several club leaders, including the those of the Brandeis Black Student Association and the South Asian Student Association, submitted the SMR. ~By Destiny D. Aquino

4 The Hoot

November 20, 2009

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

Ariel Wittenberg Editor in Chief Alex Schneider Managing Editor Destiny D. Aquino News Editor Bret Matthew Impressions Editor Chrissy Callahan Features Editor Hannah Vickers Sports Editor Samantha Shokin Diverse City Editor Jodi Elkin Layout Editor Max Shay Photography Editor Leon Markovitz Advertising Editor Vanessa Kerr Business Editor Danielle Gewurz Copy Editor Leah Lefkowitz Backpage Editor Alison Channon Senior Editor Kathleen Fischmann Senior Editor Sri Kuehnlenz Senior Editor FOUNDED BY Leslie Pazan, Igor Pedan and Daniel Silverman

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

The deadline for submitting letters is Tuesday at 8:00 p.m.

All letters must be submitted electronically at www.thehoot. net. All letters must be from a valid e-mail address and include contact information for the author. Letters of length greater than 500 words may not be accepted.

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

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

CORRECTIONS In “JBS Sneak Peek” the following facts were printed incorrectly: – The final theater piece in the Collaborative Theatre and the Theatrical Essay will be performed publically but not part of a festival and only matriculated Brandeis University students will be allowed to apply.

– Students participating in the Ethnographic Fieldwork JBS will meet once a week one-on-one with the instructor in addition to four contact hours per week as a group, in the latter five weeks of the program.

– The Web Services and Apps program is being offered as a summer JBS program or as an Extended JBS program.

– The Extended JBS program is not a program requirement; students can enroll in the summer portion only.

– Students in the Extended model will have the opportunity to expand upon the summer JBS program through an internship placement in the fall semester.

– Students would be considered a full-time student from the start of the summer program through the end of the fall semester. Students enrolled in this Extended JBS program can earn a total of 20 credits and will pay tuition for the equivalent of the fall semester.

Last week’s article, “An interview with Brandeis University’s most recognized alum” reported Thomas Friedman’s home town incorrectly. He is from St. Louis Park, Minnesota.

Letter to The Editor

E D I TO R I A L Constitutional review process should be transparent If you’re wondering why The Hoot did not cover the first meeting of the Constitutional Review Committee last Saturday, we are too. Though The Hoot strives to make the student government process as transparent as possible for students, we have been unable to perform that duty when it comes to the Constitutional Review because all sessions of the committee are held in secret.

While we are opposed to any secretive meetings of Student Union officials, the secretive nature of the Constitutional Review Com-

mittee is dumbfounding. Of all the committees and meetings of the Student Union, the Constitutional Review Committee ought to be the most open, forthcoming and inclusive. Not only are meetings closed to the public and the press, members of the committee are also prohibited from discussing the proceedings of the meetings with non-committee members.

How are students supposed to be effectively represented if their representatives are not even allowed to speak with them? How are representatives supposed to receive

feedback from their constituents if they are not allowed to inform their peers about what is being discussed in the meetings?

The Constitutional review process is vital to assuring that student government runs effectively.

This in mind, the committee must reverse its decision to meet in executive session and open its meetings to the general public and the student press. Members of the committee will find that only then will the entire student body be both interested and engaged in the process of bettering the Union.

Dining location a positive step, more work to be done The Hoot applauds the Student Union for working with the administration to bring more dining options on campus. The time slots chosen for the new ‘Upstairs Café’ can certainly be out of control at the Usdan dining locations, and as such, this new café will help to alleviate overcrowding in Usdan.

While this represents an effective use of Union influence, the actual idea of opening yet another sandwich and grab-n’-go station in Usdan represents misguided priorities.

Instead, The Hoot suggests that the Union and administration consider the following changes: 1. Utilize current establishments more fully. The addition of another cash register at both Einstein Bros.

Bagels and lower Usdan is a step in the right direction. Aramark should consider adding another cash register in upper Usdan and, more importantly, keeping these registers staffed at peak times.

For instance, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., all four registers in lower Usdan should be staffed fully, something that does not currently happen on a regular basis.

2. Improve the appeal of the Sherman Dining Hall. At noon, students

flock to Usdan, leading to long lines of up to 25 minutes. Sherman, on the other hand, never has long lines. The administration must realize that students are ‘voting’ to eat at Usdan over Sherman by choosing to wait in long lines in Usdan rather than utilizing the other dining hall fully. Some might claim that Sherman’s location in lower campus results in lower utilization during class hours; still, Einstein’s, which is also in lower campus, never fails to attract a crowd during lunch. If the quality, consistency and appeal of Sherman were improved, students would be less likely to overcrowd Usdan and more likely to choose other options.

3. Rework the schedule of classes.

The first 15 minutes of every hour from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday are the most crowded times at the dining halls. These times on Tuesdays and Fridays are not as crowded, however, because the schedule on Tuesday and Friday is less crammed with classes. While the university certainly cannot change the time when students want to eat, it can schedule fewer classes on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday between these hours of 11 a.m. and 3 p.m, thus reducing the

number of students who will want to rush directly from class to the dining halls. Classes should be more spread out over the course of the day, utilizing the afternoon hours from 2 to 6 p.m. to a greater extent.

4. Add more specialty foods. While it is too late to change the proposal for the ‘Upstairs Café,’ the new dining location proposed for the Mandel Center should not be another sandwich station. Usdan has the P.O.D., Quiznos, Split Personalities, and Montague’s Deli, all of which amount to more than enough sandwich stations. Let’s think of other alternatives, like a smoothie station, Chinese food station, ice cream station, breakfast foods station or another hot Kosher foods station.

Overall, The Hoot acknowledges the large step forward this new dining location represents. Indeed, this news marks a major milestone for the state of Unionadministration relations. Still, the idea that this temporary location will alleviate overcrowding may not be the most appropriate alternative. Hopefully, discussion will ensue to determine the future of dining at Brandeis, with this major milestone as a first step.

Correcting the record on the ‘stimulus bill’

Bret Matthew’s article in The Hoot (Hypocrisy, thy name is Republican, Oct.23, 2009) was biased and uninformed, so I’m clarifying what was written with the truth.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as the $787 billion “stimulus bill,” was proposed by Congress on Jan. 26 and signed into law less than a month later. Its components include several categories of federal programs involving health care, housing and urban development, nutrition, agriculture and other divisions. Among the grants listed in the bill are several vague divisions including $2.4 billion for “other activities” under the category “Commerce, Justice, and Science” and $6.4 billion for “various other activities” under the category “Energy and Water.”

The National Endowment of the Arts admitted that 630 grants, totaling $29,725,000, were given out by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Here’s a brief list where stimulus money also went to support porn, pedophilia and aphrodisiacs: $50,000 went to the Painted Bride Art Center, which is promoting “Tabla Ecstasy,” $25,000 to Counterpulse, which recently held a “Perverts Put Out”

show that encouraged everyone to “join your fellow pervs for some explicit, twisted fun!,” $25,000 to the San Francisco Cinematheque and their documentary on the film “Thundercrack,” which featured “the world’s only underground kinky art porno horror film, complete with four men, three women and a gorilla” and $25,000 to Jess Curtis/Gravity, Inc., which featured portraits of nude couples, including naked children with adults (Malkin). The grand total for all of that, by itself, was $125,000 straight from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. As for the accusations of Republican hypocrisy, the fact that Matthew’s reference was the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is so completely and unequivocally biased, it’s laughable.

Hey, Bret, if you bothered to actually read what the DCCC wrote, you would’ve recognized that they did not post facts, only speculative assumptions. It is true that Republican congressmen requested stimulus money, since they’re supposedly receiving it anyway in this bill, to be accounted for and used where it’s needed. If you read the little paragraphs beneath the names, you’d find that the accusations of hypocrisy the

DCCC make are more or less statements like this: ‘He supports tax cuts but he didn’t vote for our bill, so that makes him a hypocrite.’ That would make sense if the bill actually did support tax cuts. A $1.4 trillion deficit necessarily requires tax increases because the government can only obtain money in one of two ways—it can print money, which causes it to bankrupt its own currency (no, it does not have an unlimited supply of money), or it can raise taxes and take money from its citizens. How are Republicans hypocrites for saying that they oppose tax increases and then vote down a bill that necessarily requires massive tax increases?

How are Republicans hypocrites for requesting money they are allegedly receiving anyway, and asking that it be accounted for in the areas where the money is most needed?

How are they at fault for requesting money from the federal government when the stimulus bill is supposed to be doling out money to everyone? Aren’t they trying to account for what they were promised in the bill, or do you think only certain people and groups can tap into the federal budget?

Infusions of money provide only shortterm incentives and not long-term eco-

nomic growth. The bottom line is that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act did the opposite of what it claimed; the jobs that were reportedly created have now been exposed as lies or gross distortions—just refer to Bridgewater State college, which reported 160 jobs created with over $77,181 only to have spokesman Bryan Baldwin clarify to Boston Globe that the jobs created were “almost nothing.” It’s Economics 101—there is no such thing as ‘creating’ or ‘saving’ a job because the market is in constant flux. When a job is taken, that does not mean a niche is gone forever; new jobs are constantly being made out of necessity and innovation because the free market is not a zero-sum game.

Instead of accusing Republicans of being corrupt for wanting accountability for the money they’re being given (which isn’t corrupt at all), why don’t you ask this: The stimulus bill has failed miserably and tossed this country into a hellhole, so what’s going on with Democrats considering a second bill?

I’m sorry….Who’re the hypocrites?

Mary-Alice Perdichizzi, Brandeis Republican member

The Hoot 5

November 20, 2009

IMPRESSIONS

Mr. Priest goes to Washington: Same-sex marriage in our nation's capital

BY BRET MATTHEW Editor

GRAPHIC BY Ariel Wittenberg/The Hoot

A different take on Thanksgiving

BY LEON WEIN Editor

Next week most students will travel home to celebrate Thanksgiving Day with their families, others will just enjoy the free time with friends and yet some others won't even remember what they did for Thanksgiving. Nevertheless, this is a tradition deeply rooted in American society. It all began in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, when the Pilgrims decided to hold a harvest feast to thank God, as well as to celebrate together with the Wampanoags, who helped them survive in the difficult “new” land. It really is a nice story, so much so that in the middle of the Civil War in 1863, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day as a way to unite the nation. The story was again used to unite a warring nation when in 1942 it became an official holiday under President Roosevelt.

But there are also a few Native Americans who will not join this celebration, instead they will have “National Day of Mourning”, or an “Un-Thanksgiving Day”. But why? Did we not celebrate the “first” Thanksgiving with 90 indigenous people who helped the settlers through their harsh first new years? Certainly, but that is only half the story…

I first began to wonder about this when the controversial Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez decided to change the name of “Columbus Day” to “Day of Indigenous Resistance.” I thought of it as just another thing that he felt the need to change such as the official name of the republic, the time, the flag, the seal, etc.

As a result, statues of Columbus have been spray painted and even toppled around the country. It is a real shame, and I do not know where the culture of my country will end up. But this was not Chávez's intention; he only

changed the name to commemorate the struggle of the indigenous people when the European colonists arrived on their lands. After all, Chávez himself is European decent. I have to admit that maybe Chávez is right this time.

There is a lot of debate about what actually happened during that first Thanksgiving, and being such a historic event, it is hard to understand what actually happened. Random searches on Google have led me to dozens of articles, each with a different twist to the story, each arguing for one or the other point. An important fact that I found was that native people traditionally observed Thanksgiving as a daily ongoing celebration, but for the Puritans it was a big, one-day event because of the harsh conditions they endured and survived.

But why would the Puritans invite the natives to this event anyway?

Is it because they helped them survive their first year, or maybe to enter into mutual assistance?

Insinuating will lead to nowhere, and the reason remains unclear, but if you can figure it out, please let me know.

One thing is for sure: Many of the few natives who survived the smallpox were quickly removed from their lands, slaved and murdered. The native people that at one time helped the newly arrived Puritans to survive were betrayed, and what better proof of that than to look around and see how many Native Americans are left.

Do not get me wrong, the encounter of the two worlds brought development to this backward continent. Today, the United States is an example of a truly democratic nation (though it still needs improvement), bringing opportunity and happiness to many.

This, however, does not justify the great injustice that took place

on since the original Thanksgiving Day, nor does it warrant a nation's attempt to forget about this injustice with a Thanksgiving holiday. This holiday is valuable in many aspects, such as becoming grateful to God, bringing families together for a good meal, uniting the American people and even improving the economy. But to celebrate this holiday while completely ignoring what may have happened is an insult to our intelligence.

So this Thanksgiving, I urge you to do some research on this different perspective on history. You might be surprised at how little you may know.

Of course it will be difficult to understand, or even accept, that Thanksgiving was hiding such dark episodes of history, but what you should realize is that this is only a celebration created by men, nothing more and nothing less. You can design Thanksgiving as you wish, and not let others design it for you. In fact, neither turkey nor potatoes were part of the first Thanksgiving menu, maybe not even pumpkin pie! Someone decided to celebrate it this way, and so can you.

As someone who is not from the United States, I do not celebrate this holiday. But if I were you I would give thanks for health, democracy and for the beautiful country that the United States is today. The same mistreatment of indigenous people took place in the rest of the continent, yet no other country has come to understand human rights and law like the United States.

Yes, Chávez did well on changing the name of Columbus Day, but he would do better by acting on the improvement of human rights and the application of law rather than just talking. We cannot change the past, but we can improve the future.

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

For those of you who hail from Washington D.C., I have something for you to think about as you head home for the Thanksgiving and winter breaks: The Catholic Church is blackmailing your city.

And I bet you’ll never guess what they’re fighting over.

The D.C. Council—the district’s legislative branch—is considering a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage, which is currently only legal in four states. The bill is scheduled to be voted on next month.

It ought to pass fairly easily, given the city’s (and council’s) heavy partisan slant toward the usually gay-friendly Democratic Party.

There’s a small problem, though. Council members are facing strong opposition from the Washington Archdiocese.

This opposition is not particularly surprising. We’re talking about the Catholic Church, after all—an organization not exactly known for its reputation of being open-minded and accepting. (Launched the Crusades, imprisoned Galileo, still doesn’t officially believe that contraception prevents AIDS … all in a millennium’s work).

But what is a bit surprising is the length that the church—which usually stays out of D.C. political matters—is willing to go to fight the council on this issue. About a week ago, the church released a statement saying that in the event of the bill’s passage, it would discontinue the social services programs it runs in partnership with the district. The church claimed that they were reacting to what they saw as the council’s infringement upon the right to religious freedom.

If the bill were to become law, they said, religious groups who receive city funds would be forced to do all kinds of ungodly things for same-sex couples, such as renting them a church hall (heaven forbid). Never mind the fact that the actual bill doesn’t require any religious organizations to perform or make space for same-sex weddings. All it does is force them to obey anti-discrimination laws (oh, heaven forbid).

For their part, council members have done a decent job of ignoring the church’s stance and moving the legislation forward. Yet this is quite a threat nonetheless. The church spends $10 million of its own money on social programs that serve an estimated 68,000 people in the city, many of whom are homeless. Cutting that off would devastate the city’s poor, leaving them with even fewer places to turn in difficult times such as these.

You would think that the good priests would care about that. But instead of living up to its self-imposed obligation to help those in need and dedicating its time and energy to charitable activities, the church has made the decision to give precedence to its intolerant, backward dogma.

And with that, we come ever closer to the culmination of a growing trend in the fight for same-sex marriage equality. Show me any state or district in the Union where allowing same-sex marriage has come into question, and I’ll show you a religious group that has dedicated serious resources to stopping it. In Maine two weeks ago, it was the Catholic Church. In California last year, it was the Mormons who crossed over from Utah. It seems that with each victory, these groups become more emboldened and more likely to throw their weight around.

Perhaps there’s something we can do. If organized religions are going to be so quick to jump into heated policy debates, then maybe it’s time for the government to take another look at … oh, I don’t know … their tax-exempt status? The American assets of the Catholic Church alone could probably provide enough of a tax base to fund more social programs than they could ever hope to shut down.

Yes, I know that would probably never happen. Taxing a religion probably qualifies as “prohibiting the free exercise thereof ” in the minds of legal professionals and Constitutional scholars, and we can’t do that. But I can’t help but hold out for a glimmer of hope.

After all, if the church isn’t interested in maintaining separation of church and state, why let them reap all the benefits without paying any of the dues?

It’s not like they can complain too much about being taxed anyway. As a very famous man once said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Know who I’m talking about, Catholics? That’s the guy whose gospel you claim to spread—somewhere amid the ornate robes and immense churches.

That’s also the guy who would probably rather you take care of the poor, instead of fret about other people’s marriages.

6 The Hoot

November 20, 2009

SEA Change

This was once my home: The effect of the On Copenhagen Israeli-Palestinian crisis on Brandeis students

BY ALEXANDER POLANCO Special to The Hoot

GRAPHIC BY Ariel Wittenberg/The Hoot

BY SHIREL GUEZ Special to The Hoot

There is an Israeli song called “Zeh Haya Beiti” (“This was once my home”).

It’s about the pain felt when Israelis were forced out of their homes in Gush Katif—a bloc of 17 Israeli settlements in the southern part of the Gaza Strip—in 2005 when Israel completely terminated its occupation there.

“This was once my home, it was once yours, once mine, but now it’s gone," it goes, "We have fought so much over this land that we forgot what we have been fighting about.”

The pain that people feel over this land can be heard in the music they listen to, the newspapers they read and the everyday conversations they have. The same pain is felt on the other side, something I was recently able to view more clearly.

This past week I had the pleasure of meeting five students from Al-Quds University of East Jerusalem through their school's partnership with Brandeis. At first I was skeptical about meeting these students, but I developed a friendship with one student in particular, Sinan Abu Shanab. It struck me how easily I was able to get along with Sinan given the tense situation this campus has been enduring.

Following South African Supreme Court Justice Richard Goldstone’s visit to Brandeis, tensions between members of the two opposing sides have escalated on campus, and both have looked at each other with hate and disdain.

A population of the more actively proIsrael students on campus felt protests at the Goldstone-Gold event were disrespectful and out of place. At the same time some of the pro-Palestinian supporters were trying to stand up for their beliefs. Misguided feelings and prejudices have taken control of many relationships among students at Brandeis and have negatively impacted the atmosphere. The campus has been buzzing, not with excitement nor with anticipation, as it was during the 2008 presidential elections, but instead with great negativity.

To the students from Al-Quds, it was a known fact that I am a strong supporter of Israel and a proud Zionist, but they

Hopefully students at Brandeis will become a model for coexistence and understanding. accepted me regardless. I would get into heated debates with Sinan about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, American politics and which was the most superior hookah flavor.

At one occasion Sinan and I began to argue about what defines ownership of lands in Israel that were conquered during the 1967 Six Day War. Both of us furiously argued our points, and then Sinan said something that caught my attention.

He told me he loved the land, it felt like home to him and he knew he belonged there.

I instantly understood that his connection to the land was just as valid as my own, and that arguing about the IsraeliPalestinian conflict, for me, was no longer about who was right and who was wrong.

Instead, it was about what we need to do from here to ensure peace.

One of the other Palestinians I met this past week was named Marwan. He approached me and said he knew what my views were and wanted me to hear his story.

He told me that he had lost three people in his life because of actions of the Israeli Defense Force. He had lost his two best friends and his three-year-old niece.

When he vocalized his feelings of this loss I was completely shocked at what I heard.

He did not blame the Israelis or the soldiers: He blamed the governments on both sides for their inability to foster peace. He told me above all he hopes to one day fly into Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, which he is currently not allowed to do because he is Palestinian.

Marwan told me he does not want to go to Israel or to Tel Aviv, but he wants to be equal to Israelis. To him, regardless of whether they are Palestinian or Israeli, all people deserve to be equal.

I promised Marwan that one day I

would fly with him into Ben Gurion Airport. Hopefully when peace arrives, it will be one that involves coexistence between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Both sides of the conflict have suffered tremendously through loss of life, psychological and emotional issues, and through the long-lasting fear that has impressed itself into the hearts and minds of Palestinians and Israelis alike. There is no clearcut solution to the situation, but in order to even think of any end to the bloodshed and violence both sides need to listen to one another.

People who cannot open their minds to the opinions and beliefs of the opposing side are the ones who are fueling the tensions that have not only taken hold of the atmosphere at Brandeis, but also act as an obstacle to the peace process.

I saw this clearly while spending time with the students from Al-Quds.

My co-zionists called me a traitor for talking to the Al-Quds students, while people who are pro-Palestinian questioned my right to interact with them.

This is my biggest criticism of not only Brandeis politics but of the opposing sides in the conflict as well. There is an inability to listen and to accept that both sides have a valid argument. There is not right or wrong: There are two sides, both of which are tired of fighting, but also too stubborn to listen.

Hopefully this message will be received as an olive branch rather than degrading criticism. Hopefully students at Brandeis will become a model for coexistence and understanding, rather than continue to follow the path of close mindedness and intolerance towards one another that has plagued the Middle East.

Maybe it’s just wishful thinking or optimism, but hopefully this is the start to a change in the way we respect each other.

In light of the upcoming climate conference in Copenhagen, where the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Control will create a plan to prevent global warming and climate change, it is imperative that the United States works to create a plan that can reduce worldwide carbon emissions in terms that are internationally aware.

As a global superpower we have a responsibility to the global community to do as much as we can to save our planet.

It is quite a relief to read that the U.S. and China have been meeting and discussing ways to approach our problem in a comprehensive way. China needs to be respected for its position as a budding economic powerhouse, but it also must be reproached for its history of environmental un-awareness.

There is no denying that China has repeatedly ignored environmental issues en lieu of economic growth such as foregoing clean alternatives and building unprecedented amounts of coal factories.

But then again, the U.S. does not exactly have a clean rap either. We are the second largest producer of carbon dioxide in the world, second only to–you guessed it–China.

As countries responsible for releasing gigantic amounts of atmospheric carbon, China and the U.S. need to realize there is no way to reduce global CO2 emissions without serious reduction of their own release. How can we ask the world to consider green alternatives when we are leading the way to planetary destruction? We need to lead by example.

So far in the talks, the countries have considered three main targets: clean vehicles, energy efficient buildings and technology for capturing emissions from coal-burning power plants. The countries have reflected on vehicles that would run on electricity and various other fuels. Energy efficient buildings may not seem like an intuitive aspect to approach, but China and other developing countries are constructing new cities at an exceptional pace. It is vital that these cities are built to have the lowest environmental impact possible. The last idea, the technology for capturing emissions from coal-burning power plants, is arguably the most relevant.

The technology in question would include coal power-plants that are already built. The world has a fleet of coal plants and we need to find ways to capture the carbon emissions from those plants or risk pushing our planet to the brink.

The main plan includes a budget of 150 million dollars to be split amongst the two countries. Headquarters for a clean energy research center would be built in China and the U.S. and top researchers from each country would be recruited to help consider “green” alternatives. Top U.S. administrators mention that clean energy has become a top priority for Chinese leaders. This is evident by their supposed commitment to greening our environment.

In the wake of the Kyoto climate talks we as informed citizens and students in a position to change our world need to ensure that this is not empty rhetoric. Kyoto was passed back in 1997 and considered a huge feat for environmentalists around the world. Unfortunately, we will not reach our goals as stated in the previous climate talks; in fact the U.S. will have raised its carbon emissions by 20% since 1992. China will have raised emissions by an astonishing 150%.

Copenhagen will be a wonderful opportunity for the world’s most powerful nations to lead the way in saving our planet. China and the U.S. should be encouraged to engage each other with regards to our environmental future. The mistakes of the past need to be addressed, and who better to approach them then the two largest contributors, who are also two of the most powerful nations.

IMPRESSIONS

November 20, 2009

The Hoot 7

The painful decline of the American middle class and ways we can solve it

The Self Shelf

GRAPHIC BY Leah Lefkowitz/The Hoot

BY ALEX SELF Columnist

Lost somewhere in the recession, I'm sure, is an accountant named Gregory. Greg pulls down about sixty thousand dollars a year, a fair sum. His wife, let's call her Marie, is a teacher–she earns about fifty thousand dollars a year. Together, they live in a suburban home with their two college-bound children, Mark and Samantha. They live in a middle class paradise. The only problem is they’re flat broke.

Mark and Samantha’s college costs alone (they happen to overlap this year) total almost eighty thousand dollars—and that’s without their personal expenses. Gregory’s bank is cutting back costs and he doesn’t know how long he’ll be employed. Marie and her fellow teachers are desperately lobbying the state to keep health insurance benefits for her children, but it doesn’t look good.

Meanwhile, the roof of the house is starting to leak. Gregory and Marie are on their third loan, and the lenders are waiting like sharks circling a sinking ship.

Welcome to the new reality of the middle class.

Lost somewhere in all the talk of economic downturns is the fact that the middle class is being squeezed. Costs keep going up, incomes are remaining stagnant and there’s no safety net.

The price of raising children, putting them through college and paying for health insurance has risen to the point where many families simply can’t afford to pay.

Even those with jobs like accounting and teaching (jobs that once promised a fruitful career with multiple benefits) are feeling the heat today. This is not just a symptom of the recession—this is something that started well before the recession and will continue well after it.

However, the recession has exacerbated it to the point where it should not be ignored any longer.

Families afflicted have only a few options when caught in a conundrum in the fashion of Gregory and Marie. They can either cut costs by subverting the future of their children or go down with the ship and still suffer negative consequences.

There is very little support for families in these situations and having to choose from these options is no choice at all.

The general regression of the middle class is not in the style of Lou Dobbs' war however—it’s closer to a battle of attrition.

Slowly but surely, as prices rise and incomes remain the same, friction increases. Today’s recession has magnified the trend, as many middle class families find their once steady jobs elusive along with their benefits.

Families with more than one child are especially at risk of financial implosion when the recession strikes. As I’ve stated, one of the more devastating price increases has been the cost of a college education.

The solution provided for this problem is financial aid. However, it is flawed. Government financial aid for college is an effective buttress for the middle class, but Free Application for Federal Student Aid isn’t always the best tool to decipher a family’s needs. The Financial Aid Profile is a much better, although still flawed solution, which will hopefully continue to rise in popularity.

In the end, the only possible solution to this problem is to subsidize students who wish to attend college even more and to give out much more financial aid to those who wish to attend state schools. Today, many state schools rival private schools in their costs and are thus becoming increasingly ineffective as a means for students in the state to escape unbearable costs.

Students should always be able to easily afford to attend a

state school, as the very purpose of a state school is to provide a quality upper education at a more affordable price than private schools.

As for raising children, the only option for aid is currently welfare. With this solution, one has already given up middle class status so the preservation of the middle class becomes a moot point.

My solution to this problem would be for the government to provide marginal assistance to middle class families who need it before they have to join the welfare lines (which will be a much longer and more costly affair.) I’m not saying we should create welfare for the middle class. I simply believe that providing some leverage to middle class families in any form can prevent them losing that status.

One possible solution in this manner might include a loan that is paid off after a long period of time with very low interest. This type of aid would help the middle class at a time when it needs it most. The question of whether this program would be temporary or long-lasting could be dealt with after the recession.

For health care, my personal opinion is that there should be a public option. Anyone who doesn’t feel they can afford private insurance, especially in today’s economy (where benefits disappear faster than the spirit of bipartisanship), should be able to purchase health care at a lower price.

This would prevent middle class families from having to choose between a college education for their children and their

children’s health. It would also greatly help the poor who can’t afford insurance and would help the nation as a whole by preventing more people from joining the Medicaid roll.

All in all, the most important part of solution is an increase in action. There’s an increasing stratification of class in the United States as more and more citizens of the middle class are downgraded to the lower class.

By helping citizens when they are on this precipice rather than waiting until they have fallen off, the government can lend a helping hand not only to these people but to itself.

The costs of welfare are ballooning as more and more people are forced out of the middle class. The long-term costs of helping someone stay on their feet as opposed to helping them back on their feet are enormously disparate. When it provides aid (which could even be repayable) to the middle class, it can prevent these citizens from needing more dire aid when they join the ranks of the poor.

Also, the increased college subsidies and health care reform would help the system as it would lead to more people going to college (always more beneficial in the long run) and a less bloated Medicaid system (which would certainly save more money in the long run).

Thus, this solution would save money in the long run and benefit the nation as a whole. As a final note, the time to act is now.

If nothing is done, the bills will just continue to add up–for both the middle class and the government.

We are sad to report that this is the last issue of The Hoot for the Fall semester.

But we'll be back!

Write for us next year!

12 The Hoot

November 20, 2009

FEATURES

Debunking

Brandeis Urban Legends

BY ROBIN LICHTENSTEIN Staff

Urban legends abound on the Brandeis campus. From Usdan Student Center to the Usen Castle, we have all heard some seemingly far-fetched story and passed it on to a friend. Each story leaves your mind until one day, you get stuck behind a tour group and all of a sudden you hear one of them again: “There’s a NASA lab under the Rabb steps.”

As a part of the training for a Brandeis tour guide, trainees are given a fact sheet that includes a list of Brandeis myths. Nate Rosenblum ’10, the senior tour guide coordinator, has memorized that sheet, and yet does not know where most of the myths originated.

Rosenblum said tour guides use the myths because it helps guests connect to the university.

“They feel like there’s something special here…that this is not just another building,” he said.

It turns out there is something special at Brandeis. The lab under the Rabb steps is very real. It’s called the Ashton Graybiel Spacial Orientation Lab, and its mythical status is a source of amusement for one of its directors, Prof. James Lackner.

“I find it great fun,” he said. “I’ve heard all sorts of variations on [the legend].”

Opened in 1982, the lab was actually funded in part by NASA until 2006, when NASA cut much of its programming to free up more money to build space shuttles, Lackner explained.

The lab, which has facilities to study human reactions to foreign environments, is home to the only functioning large-scale artificial gravity facility in the world, capable of replicating and even increasing the force of gravity while in the room. The lab is completely funded by outside sources, with an annual budget of $2.3 million. Students volunteer as subjects in a number of experiments each year, and some join the lab personnel in Houston, Texas, to take part in parabolic flight experiments, in which a modified plane goes up and down in a way that passengers experience moments of weightlessness.

“I couldn’t figure out how [the lab’s presence] developed as a myth because so many students have participated in experiments over the years,” Lackner said.

Ironically, student familiarity with any given space seems to generate more myths

than to put them to rest. The Usen Castle, home to 120 sophomores, is at the center of several Brandeis urban legends. Most myths come courtesy of the Castle’s original inhabitant, the Middlesex University of Medicine and Surgery, originally constructed for use by the school in 1928 by the school’s president, John Hall Smith.

Even Lackner had heard a few myths about the Castle.

“I think they had a dissection area and a morgue,” he said.

Brandeis resident Assistant Archivist Maggie McNeely partially confirmed this particular legend, saying there was at the very least a room marked “refrigeration room” in what is now Schwartz Hall on an early map of the building.

“The Castle was built to house all the labs and whatever the medical students would need. It is not the same as building a dorm,” she said.

To make the Castle work as a dorm, Brandeis had to do some serious renovations that involved closing off access to various rooms, putting up walls and remodeling significant portions of the interior.

Director of Facilities Peter Baker wrote in an e-mail message to The Hoot that the Castle is cause for much speculation among students.

“I have been getting questions about ‘hidden passageways’ in the Castle for many years,” he wrote.

“I think what people are calling ‘passageways’ are in reality old utility chases intended for piping and wire. These are not spaces that are normally accessed (unless for a pipe leak, etc.), or in most cases large enough to accommodate a person,” Baker explained in the e-mail.

Baker also had some insight on Usdan – the student center that eventually replaced Ford Hall, the location of the infamous student takeover in 1969. Contrary to popular belief, the building was not built with multiple entrances to prevent another student insurrection. The number of entrances and exits is simply a response to fire codes, Baker said.

McNeely added that plans for the building took shape as early as 1965, with construction beginning in 1968, before the Ford Hall takeover.

However, Usdan is not without its own distinctions. “Usdan is actually built on the site of an old City of Waltham reservoir, and a plane did crash there a number of

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY Max Shay/The Hoot

THE MYTH OF THE CASTLE: The Castle, currently used as sophomore housing, is often thought of by students to have secret passageways (as highlighted above). In fact, these passageways are old utility chases for piping and wire.

years before the building’s construction in 1970,” Baker said.

McNeely said the reservoir held 6 million gallons of water, but was eventually drained and filled when it fell out of use in order to make way for the building.

As for the plane, it crashed into the wall of the then-reservoir while being piloted by a graduate student in the Anthropology department.

McNeely said the pilot was showing off for his undergraduate female passengers by buzzing the campus when the wing of the plane clipped a tree, causing the plane to go down, killing two people inside.

“I hear Admissions tours with students talking about [legends] all the time. It’s hard to get rid of those things; it seems like they will never die off,” the achivist McNeely said. “The problem is they don’t come check with us!”

Study abroad blog ‘the195.com’ expands to Brandeis

BY NATHAN KOSKELLA Staff

Brandeis will participate in a groundbreaking new Web site and blog known as ‘the 195,’ that will feature the experiences of students studying abroad.

The site, which was created by three students at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism in June, had its first contributors, all of whom were from Northwestern, last summer.

Starting this spring, the 195 will host posts from Brandeis students studying abroad in addition to those of Northwestern students.

“The 195 is an aggregation of blogs from students studying abroad,” Jamie Fleishman ’11 said. Fleishman headed the group on campus responsible for the expansion to Brandeis.

“The idea behind it is that all the students have a story to share,” he said.

After working with students from Northwestern to help

bring the blog to Brandeis, Fleishman has spent the better part of this semester trying to recruit Brandeis writers to blog when they go abroad in the spring.

Students participating in the 195 will document in as little as one post a week their experiences in a foreign country as a vital piece of their Brandeis education.

“Having Brandeis as the very second on the 195 is a huge honor,” he said. “Our students’ stories will be read around the world.”

Tracy Fuad, one of the original founders at Northwestern, was pleased at the idea of expanding the 195.

“Our mission is to facilitate a more global conversation, and sine we felt that the 195 was so successful at Northwestern, we loved the idea of making it available to another university,” she said. “Brandeis is already a university that shows a lot of interest in the world through its global studies programs [IGS] and their study abroad programs, so I [think] it was a great fit.”

Brandeis’ participation in the blog was initially the product of good luck. Fleishman met Fuad by coincidence when he

was 14-years-old at a French camp in Minnesota. While they kept in touch through online social networks such as Facebook, Fleishman recontacted Fuad when her updates included references to the 195.

“I didn’t get the idea to bring [the 195] to Brandeis until the fall,” he said. “I thought of the Web site…when thinking about new media and communication. This is the perfect Web site to bring the students studying abroad at Brandeis.”

After getting back in touch with Fuad, Fleishman said the creators were interested in enlarging the scope of the 195.

“Tracy asked if I wanted to help them expand to other schools, so I jumped at the chance,” Fleishman said. “It’s exactly what I was hoping to do for Brandeis.”

He then contacted numerous departments of the university, such as the Departments of Communications and Global Affairs to promote the site and Brandeis’ involvement.

To find writers, he also contacted Community Advisors in See THE195, p. 5

F E AT U R E S

November 20, 2009

The Hoot 13

The event planner

BY CHRISSY CALLAHAN Editor

If you pay attention to your inbox, you probably know that every Thursday night you receive an e-mail from Director of Student Activities Stephanie Grimes. You’ve probably perused these emails, checking out the list of social events scheduled on campus for the weekend, looking for something to do. But do you know the woman who sends them out?

Did you know that Grimes finished her eleventh year at Brandeis last July? Or did you know she once dreamed of becoming a clothing designer?

As director of student activities, Grimes manages the department’s day-to-day operations, supervising the staff, marketing the department and managing the budget, among other tasks. She also helps oversee Fall Fest weekend.

Originally from Augusta, Maine, Grimes attended Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I., starting out as an accounting major but switching to business management after two years.

She later went on to earn her Master’s degree in college student development and counseling from Northeastern University.

Grimes has spent her career working with students, ensuring they enjoy the social aspect of their college experience and encouraging them to get involved around campus; an appropriate job for someone who’s very involved in her own right.

Whether it’s planning cool events for Brandeis students or helping out with her six-year-old son’s sports teams, Grimes is involved in everything she can get her hands on, proving that work imitates real life.

The Brandeis Hoot: So have you worked in the Department of Student Activities throughout your whole time at Brandeis?

Stephanie Grimes: Well I actually was hired under the structure of [the Department of] Campus Life. So before [the new] structure of [the Division of] Students and Enrollment, we actually were a complete division; all of the sort of student affairs world that you see now. So Student Activities, residence life, student conduct, student rights and community standards, community living, all of those offices were essentially under one big umbrella called campus life…When I was hired, I was hired under the activities advisor title in the Department of Campus Life…That activities advisor position was a temporary one-year appointment while another member of our team was out on maternity leave with triplets. And when we finished with that year, Brandeis and I both decided that we kind of liked each other and so I began working as the Castle Quad director and activities adviser.

BH: Where did you work before Brandeis?

SG: I worked for one year as the assistant director of student involvement at Chowan University [in North Carolina]. And before that I was actually working full-time at Newbury College in Brookline, [Mass.], while I was getting my Master’s degree at Northeastern.

BH: You’ve worked a lot in student affairs throughout your career. What aspect of this line of work excites you so much?

SG: I think because it has a great range of counseling, development, education, administration [and activities] management...I just love the fact that I can come to work and not know what my day is really going to look like. I can look at Oracle [Calendar] and know what my Oracle says, but you never know what’s going to walk in the door and what you’re going to have to handle or what great conversations you’re going to have.

BH: So working in the Depart-

Making a Difference PHOTO BY Max Shay /The Hoot

THE EVENT PLANNER: Director of Student Activities Stephanie Grimes is responsible for the weekly Thursday e-mails students receive about weekend events.

ment of Student Activities, you must have a lot of one-on-one interaction with students, right?

SG: I would say you never have enough. But I think that as a director, I have a lot of one-on-one interaction with students. I think that I’m not necessarily the front line anymore, so I don’t have as much as I used to, but I think that I continue to have a lot of one-onone interaction with students.

BH: So do you get a lot of positive feedback from students?

SG: I think so. I tend to get a lot of great feedback after the fact…

A lot of times I get emails or letters or what not after people graduate.

You know that sort of stuff, it really makes our work worth doing.

BH: How are Brandeis students different from other students you’ve worked with before?

SG: There are definitely some common threads that I have seen throughout my years here…The commitment to each other, I think, and to society is definitely a common thread that I have seen. As I have progressed through my time here at Brandeis, I think that there is a little bit of normative behavior, meaning that Brandeis students are a lot more like other college students than when I started. I felt like when I was coming from other experiences, Brandeis students were kind of different. And maybe it’s

because I’ve just been here so I’ve gotten used to Brandeis students.

But I feel like [compared to] the other college students that I’ve interacted with and I read about or I talk with my colleagues about, we’re pretty similar.

Students like to party here just like they like to party in other schools, and I think that people don’t think that sometimes about Brandeis…But I think that for the level of institution that we are, I think we’re very normative [compared to] other institutions.

BH: Looking back on your time at Brandeis so far, what’s one of your proudest moments or accomplishments?

SG: I would say my first Fall Fest weekend that [matched] the true concept of what Fall Fest was (which was a combined program with [the Office of] Alumni and Development [Relations]). It was essentially a family weekend and a homecoming combined, and it was kind of a venture that some people questioned whether it was the right move and whether it was a good match….

[But] I think the bridges that were built from that program really have continued relations throughout my career at Brandeis.

And so I think that when you look at a program that not only meets the needs of students, families [and] alumni, and builds bridges within administration; I don’t

know that you can find a program better than that.

BH: Is there anything about you that students might be surprised to learn?

SG: I actually grew up sewing and so my first ‘girl’ dream when I actually started thinking about what I wanted to do with my life was actually being a clothing designer and own[ing] my own clothing store, and how far away from that I am.

But you know, as time gets away from us I don’t do that a whole lot anymore, but it definitely is still one of those threads [of my life]...I also tend to help out a lot with [my son’s sports] teams…[He’s] starting the athletic realm, and so this fall I was the team mom for his team and [I’m involved in] those sorts of things. So I’d like to think that I’m as involved in that side as I am here on campus.”

BH: Is there anything else about your work or your department that you’d like people to know?

SG: I think that people often don’t know that [our department is] here. I think that sometimes in particular, student leaders here at Brandeis think that they know all that they need to know in order to be successful….Nine times out of 10 they do, but if they had that other 10 percent, it would make things even better.

Brandeis students to blog on experiences traveling abroad

THE195 (from p. 4)

the Village Quad, which currently houses students who will be studying abroad in the spring.

“I assembled a team to work on it with me, and Fina Amarilio ’12 and Destiny Aquino ’12 share experiences,” Fleishman said. “We all have either journalism, media or communications backgrounds.”

Contributors were contacted via flyers, CAs and the Village listserv in the 195’s marketing campaign. An application process was used to guarantee enthusiasm in the project and the commitment from writers. “[The process] showed that this [project] was a serious entity and made sure contributors actually committed to write while abroad,” Fleishman said.

The other members expressed similar enthusiasm abouttheir involvement with the Web site’s expansion.

“I’m very excited,” Amarilio said, “and I think the 195 will be very useful and be here for a longtime future.”

Ellen Abramowitz ’11, one of the students chosen to write for the blog, has experience with writing about her travels, having written about her account on the World of Work program in Mongolia. She will study abroad in Vietnam in the spring.

“I feel really excited about the 195, because it’s a great way to connect students abroad to their community at home,” she said. “The 195 is the ideal compromise, it has what [popular free blog Web site] Blogspot has, but also is accessible to the Brandeis community.”

Abramowitz also discussed her plans for her writing, now on her second expedition to Asia.

“I want to use it to keep people informed, express my opinions, but also to track myself on personal progress—my

changing ideas,” she said. “You can write with your own voice about your experiences and you know you have an audience.”

The initial group is also happy with the turnout of writers who will makeup the first Brandeis 195 generation.

“Our writers are funny, serious and reflective,” Fleishman said, and since “the site includes creative bios, the people who applied are really into it.”

The goal is for the Web site to start a trend at Brandeis that can expand to other schools, and this semester is a test.

“I’m hoping that people at Brandeis, someone will say, ‘Oh, did you read that post?’ and that the number of people who do not know what the site is declines,” Fleishman said. “I want people to want to engage in the global dialogue.”

Editor’s note: Destiny Aquino is News Editor of The Brandeis Hoot.

14 The Hoot

November 20,2009

SPORTS

Men’s basketball earns No. 22 pre-season national ranking

BY JON OSTROWSKY Staff

The men’s basketball team, currently ranked 22nd in the nation by d3hoops.com, will look to start off where they left off last year.

After finishing with an 18-9 record and making it to the second round of the NCAA tournament, the team hopes to improve despite having a smaller group of only ten players this year.

“We don’t have a lot of depth.

We’ve got to stay away from the flu and foul trouble,” said head coach Brian Meehan.

Two newcomers, JoJo Grossbard ‘11 and Warren Hazel ’13, join the squad of eight returning players.

Meehan is pleased with the work ethic of the new players, but instead will look to his veterans to contribute the most in the beginning of the season.

“The two new guys have a lot to learn, and they’re working hard, and they’re doing a good job in scrimmages so far, but early in the year we’re really going to ride

those eight guys [returning players],” Meehan said.

Leading the team are five seniors: Andre Roberson, John Weldon, Terrell Hollins, Richard Magee, and Kenny Small.

Other returning players, such as Vytas Kriskus ’12 will look to step up and be asked to play more minutes this year.

“As a team we just need to improve our defense. And as far as offense goes, get everybody together, get everybody on the same page, and as long as we do that we’ll be fine,” Kriskus said.

“Some of the goals that were looking to improve upon [are] doing a lot of the little things better that we didn’t do as well last year as far as rebounding the ball, keeping the turnovers down, getting free throws,” said Assistant Coach Eric McKoy Meehan is confident that despite a smaller team than last year, players will step up and rise to the occasion.

“There’s a lot more of a feeling of being comfortable with their

roles this year than in the past.”

The Judges will start of their season with two home games next week against Lasell College on Tuesday and Emerson College on Saturday.

“Right off the bat to Lasell last year we lost over at their place by two in a tough game, so [if] we can grab that win we’re one game ahead,” Meehan said.

Meehan noted that although the ranking is a nice honor, much of the hard work still lies ahead, and the team will need to stay focused to improve upon a strong season last year.

Commenting about the pre season ranking, Meehan said, “it’s nice because people recognize that we have a strong program and that we had a good season last year, and so they’re giving us the benefit of the doubt, and ultimately it comes down to how you play.”

“We don’t care where we’re ranked at the beginning, it’s where we’re ranked at the end,” he said.

PHOTO BY Andrew Rauner/The Hoot

UP COURT: Brandeis guard Tyrone Hughes ‘12 (No. 11, right) gets held by a Lasell defender.

Men’s basketball wins first game of the season against Lasell

BY HANNAH VICKERS Editor

The number-22-ranked Judges won the first game of the season by defeating the Lasell College Lasers on Tuesday night. After falling to the local rivals by just three points in last year’s season opener, the Judges were pleased to take this matchup by 11.

Brandeis led by as much as 22 at multiple points during the game. The Judges still held that lead with just under six-and- a -half minutes left in the game when Lasell made an offensive push, drawing within eight points at the 0:42 mark. The pressure

by Lasell forced mistakes and turnovers from Brandeis, resulting in the Lasers outscoring the Judges 16-2 in the second half off turnovers. Brandeis held on, however, and, thanks to out-rebounding the visitors 37-22 as well as a 24-7 advantage from the line, defeated Lasell 90-79.

Despite the small size of the Brandeis bench, four players got into double digits. Forward/center Vytas Kriskus ’12 led the Judges with a career-high 23 points.

Kriskus, who came in off the bench, was five three-pointers off 11 attempts and all four free throws as well as going seven for 16 overall.

Guard Andre Roberson ’10 was close behind Kriskus with 20 points in the game, the fourth time in his career he has reached that mark, and a career-high of his own with eight rebounds. Roberson also had seven assists while connecting on five-ofnine from the floor and nine-of-11 from the line with one trifecta.

Guard Kenny Small ’10 and classmate forward Terrell Hollins also contributed to the Brandeis victory. Small had 17 points and four steals in the game while Hollins had his ninth career double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

While Lasell had five players reach double figures, they weren’t able to overcome the Brandeis squad. Rookie guard lance Theard led the Lasers with 18 points, 16 of which came in the second half in the team’s attempted comeback.

The Judges will play their second game, as well as second home game, of the season on Saturday night at 5 p.m. They’ll face off against Emerson College.

PHOTOS BY Max Shay/The Hoot

TIP-OFF: Brandeis center Richard Magee ‘10 (No. 52, right, wins the tip-off to begin Brandeis’ season opener vs. Lasell.

Portugal and France advance, but not without controversy

BY SARAH BLOOMBERG Staff

Portugal played last Wednesday against Bosnia-Herzegovina, and won 1-0 in Bosnia. In order to get to Wednesday’s match, they had a difficult journey. The team was originally predicted to win its qualifying group, but then they had a string of losses that pushed the team back to 17th in FIFA’s world rankings. Portugal then responded with five wins in a row to get them to the World Cup. Portugal Coach Carlos Queiroz thought his team played better on the road, and they helped prove that fact on Wednesday.

Portugal almost scored in the 25th minute when midfielders Juventus’ Tiago and Raul Meireles forced Bosnian goalkeeper Kenen Hasagic to make a full-stretch save. T was not until the 56th minute that Miereles was

able to get the ball past Hasagic with help from Nani and Liedson. Portugal’s defense was also strong, and Portuguese goalkeeper Eduardo kept up his string of solid play. In eight matches Eduardo had only given up two goals.

Also impressive was that the most famous player, Cristiano Ronaldo, was not in the lineup. The Real Madrid star did not score in entire campaign and sat out of the last game because of an ankle injury. There was worry that the team would not be able to perform and win without the help from Ronaldo, but it was not a problem.

Portugal has not missed a major international contest in the past 10 years, but they have yet to win any medals. They still have a long way to go and need some solid payers–like a reliable defender for the left-back position, and need to become more consis-

tent. This is a team that is very flashy, but it is not always able to put that flash into goals and wins. They have a while to fix any problems, and hopefully this will be a team that is able to perform and make their country proud.

On the same day as Portugal’s victory, France, Greece, Uruguay, Algeria, and Slovenia earned a berth for the World Cup. Wednesday was the last day for qualifications, and the world now knows the 32 that will compete next summer. The World Cup will be played next June and July in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Also on Wednesday, France triumphed over Ireland in a controversial win. French player Thierry Henry has admitted to handling the ball with his hands in the process of setting up William Gallas who then scored to even the score at one apiece; after that goal France went on to win in extra

time. Henry claims that the fault lies with the referee, and it is not Henry’s responsibility. On BBC Radio Five Live Henry said, “It was a handball, but I’m not the ref. The ball hit my arm, fell in front of me and I played it. The referee allowed it. That’s a question you should ask him.”

In response to France’s win the Football Association of Ireland, the FAI, has made a complaint to FIFA asking that the game should be replayed. This has been done in the past: in 2006 Uzbekistan had to replay Bahrain for a spot in the World Cup in Germany because a referee mistaken awarded Bahrain a indirect freekick when not appropriate. The difference is that the ref incorrectly applied the rules as opposed to missing a call in the France Ireland case. FIFA has confirmed that they received the request and will be looking into the play.

SPORTS

November 20, 2009

The Hoot 15

Women’s basketball takes first two games of the season

BY HANNAH VICKERS Editor

The Judges opened up the season with two straight wins on the road, taking down the WPI Engineers on Sunday by 34 points and the Babson College Beavers on Tuesday by 10. Brandeis is ranked ninth in the country among Division III schools

by D3hoops.com after coming off their best showing in the NCAA Tournament in school history.

Brandeis led by 19 with 8:34 remaining in the first half after guard Jessica Chapin ’10 made two from the foul line, but WPI stepped up

the pressure to cut the visitors lead to just seven with 30 seconds remaining. Guard Diana Cincotta ’11 tacked on a three at 0:12 to bring Brandeis back up to a 10 point lead going into the second half.

The Engineers started up the second half with four points in under 50 seconds to cut the visitors lead back to seven, but from that point on the Judges offense stepped into high gear. After two jumpers by center Kasey Geischen ’10, Brandeis regained it’s double digit lead that it wouldn’t give up.

With 12 minutes left in the game,

the Judges led by 20 points, but they weren’t done yet. In those last minutes they tacked on another 14 points thanks to forward Shannon Hassan ’12, guard Morgan Kendrew ’12, Geischen, and rookie forwards Samantha Anderson and Shannon Ingram for a final score of 66-32.

Geischen and Chapin had 12 points a piece on the night. Cincotta was close behind with 11, all of which came in the first half, while Kendrew went for 10. The Brandeis players outscored WPI 38-5 off the bench, which was a major factor in the huge victory and also a sign of

the depth the Judges possess in their roster.

The Judges continued their success against local rival Babson in a 68-58 victory. The offense was led

by Chapin who had a huge game with 33 points and six steals. She was 13-for-15 from the line and 9-for-19 from the floor, including a pair of trifectas.

Geischen had 12 points on the night while Kendrew had six and Hassan contributed four points and six rebounds in the Judges win.

The Beavers led 34-33 at the half, but the Judges opened up the

second with eight straight points to take the lead. Babson tied it up two minutes later with just over 15 minutes left to play before Brandeis went back ahead, refusing to give up the lead for the rest of the game.

While Babson kept the pressure up and managed to pull within one point, the Judges held on for the 10 point win.

The Judges will have their home opener at 6 p.m. on Friday in the first game of the Brandeis Invitational when they take on Wentworth.They will then face either Bates or Mount Holyoke on Saturday.

Rosenzweig made 12 saves in the game, a new season-high, including two major stops in the penalty kicks.

The Judges played in the ECAC Championship on Sunday to defend their title, but fell to Keene State in penalty kicks. The game was pretty evenly matched in the first half, with the Judges edging a 6-4 shooting advantage, but neither team was able to get on the board.

The Owls fought back in the second half and owned a 15-1 shooting advantage over their hosts, but still were unable to get the ball past Rosenzweig. At the end of 110 minutes of play, the game was

at a scoreless tie. For the second straight game, Brandeis went to penalty kicks. This was a different story than against the Trailblazers, though.

Schulman and Vallone both connected on their attempts, but they could not outshoot the Owls who had four players get the ball in the net. Owls keeper Megan Dempsey ’12 had give saves in the game and 12 in the tournament. She was given MVP honors. Rosenzweig had nine saves in the loss, but did tack on her seventh shutout of the season to boost her school-record to 22. Brandeis finished off their season with a record of 10-6-5.

Women’s soccer falls in Eastern College Athletic Conference finals

BY HANNAH VICKERS Editor

The women’s soccer team ended their season on Sunday with a loss in the ECAC finals to the Keene State Owls. The Judges went down in penalty kicks after regulation and overtime failed to produce a winner. Brandeis defeated the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Trailblazers on Saturday afternoon in penalty kicks.

The Judges got on the board early against MCLA, scoring in the sixth minute of play when forward Melissa Gorenkoff ’10 sent a shot through the box to midfielder Sofia

Vallone ’11. Vallone deflected the ball into the net for her third goal of the season.

Brandeis held onto the 1-0 lead through the first half, but the Trailblazers got two on the board in the second half to get the lead over the No. 1 seeded Judges. Their first goal cam in the 50th minute when the leading scorer for MCLA, Jess Tietgens ’11, sent a roling ball past Brandeis keeper Hillary Rosenzweig ’10.

18 minutes later the Trailblazers got the second goal of the half, but their two goal lead would last less than a minute. Midfielder Mimi Theodore ’12 had her 10th goal of

the season when she took a feed from Vallone and beat our a Trailblazers defender.

The Judges tied it up in the 85th minute. Gorenkoff took a pass from forward Kelly Doolittle ’12 and sent the ball to the back of the net. The game was forced into overtime.

After an extra 20 minutes, neither team had managed to pull ahead and they went into a shootout.

Brandeis outscored the Trailblazers 3-1 in for the win thanks to goals from defender Francesca Shin ’12, forward Tiffany Pacheco ’11, and defender Jessica Schulman ’12. All three sent the ball to the upper right corner of the net.

New sandwich venue to alleviate overcrowding DINING (from p. 1)

year’s first year class is almost 100 students larger than in past years, which could lead to what Hogan called “our overcrowding problem.”

“With an increase in students must come an increase in student services,” Hogan said.

The Cafe will be “a grab and go type of place,” Collins said, with all sandwiches and salads served being pre-made or mostly pre-made.

The Cafe will be unable to serve heated food because of the lack of ventilation in Gluck Lobby, which Director of Dining Services Mike Newmark wrote in an e-mail message to The Hoot will increase food variety throughout campus.

“The grab and go sandwiches and salads will be different than the current grab and go sandwich and salad selections offered in other dining locations creating even more choices and more variety throughout dining,” Newmark wrote.

However, the creation of The

Cafe, which will be financed by Aramark, is meant to be a short-term solution to the problem. Collins said he hopes to replace The Cafe with an eatery in The Mandel Center, when its construction is completed in Fall of 2010.

“This is not a dining hall, there will not be anything elaborate. It is a temporary solution to sort of tide us over until the Mandel Center is completed,” Collins said, adding that from its conception, there have been plans to include a dining option in the building.

Currently, Collins, Hogan and Newmark are exploring how they could provide additional dining services to students on campus.

“We are exploring the idea of installing some sort of P.O.D. store in the vacant space in the Village across from the gym in order to give students on South campus greater access to food,” Collins said.

While these plans are not at all final, Collins said that if a P.O.D.

store was installed in the Village, he, Hogan and Aramark would then explore the idea of removing the groceries from Einsteins Bagels in the Shapiro Campus Center and expand the bagel selection and seating area of Einsteins.

“This part isn’t going to happen over break,” Collins said. “But we are exploring this idea and other ways to increase dining options for students.”

At the State of The Union Hogan announced other efforts on the part of the Union to alleviate overcrowding on campus, such as housing and academics.

Hogan said the Union is advocating for the renovation of the Charles River apartments so they will be more attractive to students and better accommodate the upcoming influx of students on campus.

Hogan also cautioned students to be open to change in Brandeis academic life such as the Justice Brandeis semester.

De-chartering of clubs disputed among senators

DE-CHARTERING (from p. 1)

Many senators felt that it was wrong to de-charter active clubs when they could not be sure that the correct people were being contacted.

In addition, Union Executive Board member Lev Hirschhorn ’11 felt the Senate should not decharter the clubs simply because it was asked. “We really need to deal with this problem and make sure that not a single club we de-charter is active because we are the Student Union and by doing this we are going to be pissing off students,” Hirschhorn said.

“We also need to do our research and make sure that this list is really correct because I have personally witnessed the signing of the form

for some of the clubs that are on there list and I think that there is something wrong in [Grimes’] department.”

Senator for the Class of 2012 Nipun Marwaha disagreed, and said keeping these clubs chartered while they were not following regulations was in reality harming the community.

“Other community members who are more passionate about some of the things these clubs are doing are not being able to start their own clubs do to the duality of purpose issue, also the less clubs that are chartered the more money each active club can get to do things,” he said, refering to the clause in the Student Union bylaws that will not allow the Senate to

charter more than one club for the same purpose.

Rubin felt that she had notified the clubs substantially and “spent enough of her time [notifying them]” and said she refused to give the clubs another warning.

Hirschorn responded saying, “Not all clubs update their myBrandeis page because they may be active but not too techy, and so they don’t do things like that. You can’t even be sure you’ve been notifying the right people.”

The Senate decided in a unofficial straw poll that after the final emails, they would request one more updated list of clubs who had not signed from Grimes and would decharter those clubs at this Sunday’s meeting.

Giving ‘manis’ for a cure MANICURE (from p. 1)

“One of the major events we told colleges about was manicure for a cure,” she said.

Manicure for a Cure has taken place on campuses for sometime now, Greenberg said, adding that similar events have been held at Princeton and University of Pennsylvania. Sharsheret is also the charity of choice for the sorority Alpha Epsilon Phi. Nail polishes for the event were donated by local businesses, and the nail polish company OPI donated 100 bottles of the breast cancer awareness color “pink of hearts.”

Sharsheret donated post-its, pens, nail files, and other trinkets which displayed their logo. The donations were then turned into gift bags, which were available for purchase.

The manicurists also donated their time and they participated in

the event as a way to meet the hour requirements needed to get a cosmetology license.

Olivia Izzi, the Design Team leader of the Paul Mitchell the School said this was the second time the school had participated in Brandeis’ Manicure for a Cure.

“We had such an amazing time last year that we are super excited to be invited back,” Izzi said.

The manicurists are able to receive hours toward their licenses and the event planners don’t have to worry about finding manicurists, “It goes both ways; it works well,” Greenberg said.

Izzi explained that Paul Mitchell has a “be nice or else” culture that emphasizes giving back to the community. “When I presented it to the design team, there was no hesitation, they were quick to sign up,” Izzi said.

Genesis discusses roots GENESIS (from p. 2)

ally build a platform on which young people can build their identities.”

According to Terris, his goals for BGI are to promote the importance of Russian-Jewish culture in communities, broaden students’ knowledge about culture and create leadership opportunities for fellows.

Ronell said the program will expand to offer scholarships to firstyear students entering Brandies in the fall of 2010.

“It is no secret that our most important work is ahead of us,” Salita said.

Prospective students entering Brandeis in the fall of 2010 are eligible for BGI fellowships,

which include a merit scholarship of $7,500. Applicants must speak Russian, be in strong academic standing and express an interest in Jewish identity and helping the Jewish community, according to a flyer from the reception.

Students who wish to apply for the program can apply through the regular undergraduate admissions application and specify their interest in BGI. BGI fellow Julia Rabkin explained that the program creates a support system different than that found in the typical academic setting. “Being a part of BGI provides us with a specific kind of support,” she said.

“We are the leaders, and we are the future,” Rabkin said.

16 The Hoot

November 20, 2009

WEEKEND What's going on at Brandeis?

Editor's Pick: Mela

Bob Nieske’s Big Wolf Band Friday, Nov. 20, 8 to 10 p.m.

Slosberg Recital Hall

Saturday, Nov. 21, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Levin Ballroom

Bob Nieske’s Big Wolf Band is known for its jazz compositions for large groups. Tickets are $20 regular admission, $15 for Brandeis and Senior citizens, and $10 for students, if bought in advance. Tickets are $5 more at the door. For more information, contact shawna@brandeis.edu.

The South Asian Students’ Association is organizing the annual Mela show. This year come see a slide show, dance performances, great music and eat a South Asian dinner in Lower Usdan. Buy your tickets for $8 at the door, or $5 the week before. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. For the after-party, go to the Hassenfeld Conference Center at 11:00 p.m.

Zanois with Felix & Volcano

The Dybbuk

Saturday, Nov. 21, 9 to 11:30 p.m.

Chums

Saturday, Nov. 21, 8 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 22, 2 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 22, 8 p.m.

Shapiro Theater Hillel Theater Group is presenting The Dybbuk this weekend, a play about a Yiddish bride possessed by a malicious spirit. Tickets are $3, to buy them call 781-736-3400, and chose option #5.

Spotlight on Boston

Faneuil Hall Tree Lighting

Punk Rock and Roll Club is bringing Zanois with Justice McDaniel, as well as Felix & Volcano, to Chums. For more information, contact rock@ brandeis.edu or www.punkrockandroll.com.

Testrogen!: JFA/TCFI's Joint Semester Show Saturday, Nov. 21, 8 to 9:30 p.m.

Schwartz Auditorium This weekend is the second annual Testrogen show. JFA and TCFI, the all-male Jewish a capella group and the folksy all-girl a capella group, are performing togather. They will be doing some songs togather, and others in their usual groups. Admission cost is $3. For more information, email jfa@brandeis. edu or tcfi@brandeis.edu.

Saturday, Nov. 21, 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Faneuil Hall Come to Faneuil Hall this Saturday to see live performances by JADA, Dance Troupes, and others. Also, you will see the largest Christmas Tree in New England. Find more information at www. faneuilhallmarketplace.com.

Hoot Comic Strips

Rent

Sunday, Nov. 22, 2 p.m.

The Casey Theatre at Regis College

Sleazy

By Matt Kupfer

For the next three consecutive Sundays Open Fields, a youth community theater group, is performing Rent at Regis College. In the tradition of the musical, college students who buy their tickets early can purchase seats from the first two rows for only $10! Otherwise, with a student ID tickets are $15, and $20 for other adults

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

Humor is Dead

By Xander Bernstein