EDITORIALS

Brandeis currently ranks as the 57th most expensive college in the country with an average cost of attendance around $75,000. As the Justice editorial board, we find it hard to comprehend why a university as expensive as Brandeis would be on the hunt to fine students every chance they get.

Students with a car on campus are no stranger to tickets on their windshield. Luckily, Brandeis generously offers residential students parking passes for an additional $250 a year and $120 for commuter students. Unfortunately, these passes do not grant access to all parking lots and available spaces on campus. For example, with a commuter parking pass, students are only allowed to park in T-lot and the Athletics Lot at Gosman. Residential passes are only valid for “South Residence” X-Lot, the Charles River Lot, and the Foster Apartments Lot.

These lots are not conveniently located for many academic buildings on campus, especially in north campus, which is why many students choose to park “illegally.” With many students needing a vehicle for work, transportation, or disability purposes, an additional $250 may not be feasible for all students who require their vehicle.

However, if someone refuses to pay for a parking pass and accumulates tickets, they will receive a plethora of unwelcome emails, registration holds, and possible graduation implications.

A student currently living at Foster Mods apartment complex reported over $600 worth of tickets. After receiving multiple phone calls and emails from University administration, the student refuses to bring their car back to campus. That car was used for transportation to-and-from their home, as well as off-campus work opportunities.

A Brandeis community advisor was cited for parking violations after moving their vehicle to their residence. Even after paying for the parking pass and communicating that the move from one lot to the other was for an off-campus appointment, the University refused their appeal and upheld the $25 fine.

The University urges their students to pursue opportunities in the Waltham community and beyond, yet forces students to pay additional fees in order to park on campus. While we recognize Brandeis’ Branvan and bus transportation services, there are a variety of places these modes of transportation cannot reach. These services are also unreliable at best. Furthermore, just by looking around the campus, it is quite rare that the entire University’s parking will be at full capacity. Excluding move-in day and large campus activities, which could be and are communicated to students through email, a large majority of campus parking lots and spaces remain open through the day.

University fines do not stop at parking tickets. From late fees at Student Financial Services to unreasonable and inconsistent SIMS lab fines, campus officials have become professionals at nickel-and-diming students every chance they get. The board understands that the University must maintain some sense of balance and respect. However, fining students and sending worrisome emails are not always the answer, especially considering that monetary punishments place unequal burdens on students based on income level and socioeconomic background. Students want the opportunity to engage with the community the best they can. We urge the University to meet them halfway and listen to their experiences.

No one should have to worry about where their next meal will come from or skip meals because they can’t afford to eat — certainly not at a university with abundant resources which they pay to attend.

Over the past few weeks, signs have gone up around campus, and emails have gone out, encouraging students to donate their extra guest meal swipes to help Brandeis students facing food insecurity as part of the Swipe Out Hunger program. For the second semester in a row, the meal swipe drive gives students the opportunity to donate up to five guest swipes over an approximate two-week period, which students experiencing food insecurity can then request through an online form over the course of the semester. While this board fully supports this and any efforts to address hunger on this campus, the University’s emphasis on this specific program raises questions and concerns among this board about Brandeis’ overall response, or lack thereof, to food insecurity among its student body.

According to Swipe Out Hunger, the national nonprofit organization that Brandeis has partnered with for the swipe drive, one in three college students faces food insecurity nationwide. The problem is certainly present on our campus. A 2017 report by the organization Challah for Hunger found that Brandeis was among the colleges at which school administrators said “food insecurity was a problem on their campus” and that “there is no official campus-wide policy to address food insecurity.”

Undergraduate and graduate students alike face hunger at Brandeis. In 2021, former Senior Coordinator of Graduate Student Affairs Steve Weglinski told The Greater Boston Food Bank that an estimated 50% of Brandeis graduate students struggle greatly with food and housing costs and told the Justice earlier that year that 10-12% of the overall student population have been identified as food insecure.

Being a college student comes with an array of responsibilities and challenges; as students, we are expected to balance these while constantly thinking and performing at our highest capabilities. Maintaining the level of effort needed to succeed at an institution like Brandeis isn’t possible if students are being deprived of the proper amount of food or important nutrients, or stressing about how to afford to eat that week.

The University is clearly aware that food insecurity is an issue among its student body; this board feels that addressing this issue by whatever means necessary to make sure that all students are well-fed should be Brandeis’ top priority.

We are grateful for the efforts of various groups and departments to address hunger on our campus, such as the swipe drive and the FRESH Pantry in the Usdan Game Room. Yet we are disappointed that the University does not have a more comprehensive, reliable system to ensure that all students are able to access meals both on and off campus. The swipe drive asks students to take on the responsibility of supporting those of us facing food insecurity. While Brandeis students have shown themselves time and time again to be more than willing to support fellow students in need, this board feels that the University should be using its money to address such a pressing issue impacting the health and wellness of its students, rather than relying on students to use our limited resources.

Of course, the Brandeis community has a mutual responsibility to support one another, but when students are going hungry and the institution is aware of the problem, it is hard to understand why providing for its students’ most basic survival needs is not the University’s top priority. Every day, Brandeis makes choices as to where it will invest its money — why isn’t student hunger first on the list?

Food is a right, not a privilege. We would hope a university that touts its commitment to social justice would support this value. When students do not have consistent access to nutritious food, they are put at a disadvantage academically, and their physical, mental, and emotional health is negatively impacted in a myriad of ways. Students come to Brandeis for its renowned academic experience, top-notch professors programs, and engaged community, but Brandeis is failing its students by not doing everything it can to ensure every student’s most basic needs are met.

If you are interested in submitting advice for the upcoming column, follow our Instagram: @thejusticenewspaper.

A:Our general advice is that you have more capacity than you think, and that means factoring community involvement into your schedule and that people want to build connections with you.

Our organizational advice would be to join us of course, as we offer a variety of forms of community engagement on and off campus between study groups, movie nights, protests (on-and off-campus) and involvement in various mutual aid organizations off campus. Specifically we work with Waltham Food Not Bombs, who cooks and serves meals to working class and unhoused people right here in Waltham, as well as Warm Up Boston which does material support, including food and clothes along with other stuff, in Cambridge as well as Worcester in addition to running study group, tabling at benefit concerts and leading Narcan trainings. Being involved with BLU doesn’t just mean being involved with BLU stuff on campus, but getting integrated in the Boston area activist-organizer community.

We’d also be glad to have one of our members talk in person if you want more of our thoughts, just let us know how we can best accommodate

We have an upcoming general meeting on Feb, 2!

For more information follow @brandeisleftistunion on Instagram —Brandeis Leftist Union

To the editor,

After the protest by the Brandeis Leftist Union and the biased article in The Hoot all but praising their actions, I feel the need to speak out. This protest was pointless. The Marines were not visiting Brandeis for a political event. They were not here to proclaim support for the murder of civilians or imperialism or any other wrongdoings the BLU accused these soldiers, and through them the United States military, of. They were here to inform students of job opportunities. They were greeted by screams and personal attacks. Such actions are an embarrassment to the student body of this school and only served as a form of attention seeking. A nuanced conversation can be had on the extent of the United States’ military-industrial complex and actions abroad, but from their cries of “baby killers,” it is clear that the BLU does not want to have one.

Sincerely, Betzalel

Hochberg