VOL 5, NO. 2
SEPTEMBER 5, 2008
B R A N D E I S U N I V E R S I T Y ' S C O M M U N I T Y N E W S PA P E R
THEHOOT.NET
Faculty Senate, admin. talks remain stalled Provost hopes to reopen dialogue with new leadership BY ALISON CHANNON Editor
PHOTO BY Ariel Wittenberg/The Hoot
WALTHAM FIRE DEPARTMENT: Waltham Firefighters parked outside of Usdan after smoke set off the alarms.
Fire department called to campus twice in one week BY KAYLA DOS SANTOS AND ALISON CHANNON Editors
Shortly before 4 p.m. Saturday Aug. 30, fire alarms sounded in the Usdan Student Center. “The fire alarm was activated by a vent which apparently emitted smoke into a closet,” Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan wrote in an e-mail. According to a report from the Waltham Fire Department, two fire engines arrived at the scene along with a deputy. Upon arrival, the alarm was sounding but “nothing was showing.” The report confirmed that an alarm was set off by
At the close of last semester, the administration and the Faculty Committee on Rights and Responsibilities had yet to come to an agreement regarding the faculty grievance policy. The Faculty Committee on Rights and Responsibilities chose to suspend the hearing of faculty grievances in March, according to a report authored by former committee chair Prof. Richard Gaskins (AMST) in May. As the Faculty Senate leadership changes hands, Prof. William Flesch (ENG) was appointed chair Thursday, and the composition of the Faculty Committee on Rights and Responsibilities remains to be confirmed, a new crop of faculty leaders will be called upon to address issues with the administration that are, as of yet unsolved. The disagreement began over the administration’s treatment of Prof. Donald Hindley (POL), who, last fall, was accused by a student of making racist remarks in class. A monitor was subsequently placed in his classroom and he was threatened with termination, as reported in the November 30, 2007 issue of The Hoot. At this point, the Faculty Senate declared Hindley’s punishments unfair and Provost Marty Krauss’ treatment of him in violation of the uni-
versity’s Non-Discrimination and Harassment Problem Resolution and Appeal Procedure. Over the following six months, the Faculty Senate and the Faculty Committee on Rights and Responsibilities went back and forth with the Provost and Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe regarding Hindley’s treatment and grievance procedure. After the Faculty Committee on Rights and Responsibilities released its report May 15, the school year ended without a resolution satisfactory to the committee. In the committee’s May 15 report, Gaskins wrote that the Hindley case “called into question the integrity of the whole grievance process.” Because Krauss had “challenged the jurisdiction of our Committee to hear appeals in certain cases, as well as our authority to investigate violations of core faculty rights to fair treatment and academic freedom…[t]he Committee could no longer promise our colleagues a grievance process where everyone was playing by the same rules.” With this concern in mind, the Faculty Senate, chaired by Prof. Marc Brettler (NEJS), approved a resolution in support of the Faculty Committee on Rights and Responsibilities. The resolution, included in the minutes from the
smoke in a utility closet. The report cited “smoke from cooking” as the alarm’s “probable cause.” Annie Chiorazzi ’11 explained that she and a friend were purchasing food from the C-Store when the alarm sounded. “My favorite part was the voice recording notifying us that the loud sirens and flashing lights were notifying us of a fire, in case we were confused. Everyone calmly meandered out of Usdan, more concerned with leaving food behind than the state of the fire.” Fire trucks also made their way to campus Tuesday morning, but this time for a medical emergency. A custodian, who was doing work
on a stage in Spingold Theater, fell off the stage and was injured, Brandeis police and Bemco were called to the scene. Bemco’s protocol does not allow them to transport an injured person to the hospital if the patient’s condition calls for advanced life support, so the custodian was transported to ER via a Waltham ambulance. Fire trucks were present at Spingold as part of standard EMS procedure. Callahan, while not aware of the extent of the injured person’s injuries, stated that the custodian has been released from the hospital.
the new MBA program will allow students to integrate business studies with “economic and social development, corporate governance, and environmental policy.” Along with the standard IBS curriculum, students in this program will take additional classes, amongst them a course entitled “What is Green Business?” and another entitled “Corporations and the Environment.” Students will also complete a field project addressing environmental issues. Speaking of the new concentration, IBS dean, Bruce R. Magid said in the release, “[o]ur students will explore how businesses can differentiate themselves as they address pressing issues such as global warming and the development of clean technologies.” “The program is available beginning this Fall,” wrote IBS Senior Associate Director of Com-
Judaism and Confucianism
See FACULTY SENATE p. 13
IBS starts ‘Green’ MBA Chinese professor discusses BY ALISON CHANNON Editor
In a press release Wednesday, the Brandeis International Business School announced the creation of an MBA in Socially Responsible Business or the “Global Green MBA.” The creation of the “Global Green MBA” comes in the wake of other university efforts and initiatives to increase environmental sustainability, including most recently President Reinharz’s creation of a committee to discuss the presence of bottled water on campus and the distribution of reusable water bottles to undergraduates. These efforts follow the hiring of a sustainability coordinator last semester and Reinharz’s signing of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment last September. According to the press release,
INSIDE:
See GREEN MBA p. 12
BY JAMIE FLEISHMAN Editor
Traveling almost 8000 miles from Shandong, China to Brandeis for a two-week stay, Professor Fu Youde, Professor of Philosophy and Jewish Studies of Shandong University, opened up the first of his three events with a presentation entitled, “Judaism Through Chinese Speech.” President Jehuda Reinharz, who introduced the speaker, set the tone for the evening with an introduction contrasting the Chinese and Jewish people. “Chinese are a huge people of 1.5 billion people who struggle with issues of over population, and the Jews are a small people who struggle with diminishing numbers,” he said, prefacing the differences between the two
groups. The President then rhetorically asked, “Why does someone at Shandong University teach about Maimonides?” Reinharz, a former Professor of Modern Jewish History in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, then went into historical interactions between Chinese and Jews, including the spread of Jewish ideas in China on the Silk Road, willingness of China to take in Jewish refugees during World War II, and Jews moving to China during the
PHOTO BY Max Shay/The Hoot
See SPEAKER p. 13 FU YOUDE: Visiting professor teaches Judaism in China.
BOOK OF MATTHEW
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STUDENTS REPORT IN BEIJING
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SHOPPING FOR TRUTH
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VOLLEYBALL PREVIEW
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THIS WEEKEND
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COMICS
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