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Justice www.thejustice.org
The Independent Student Newspaper Volume LXXI, Number 17
of
B r a n d e is U n i v e r sit y S i n c e 1 9 4 9
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
FIGHTING FOR CHANGE
STUDENT UNION
Yang rejects recall vote after months of conflict ■ The former International
Student Senator criticized the Student Union’s “nepotism” in an email sent Sunday night. By SAM STOCKBRIDGE JUSTICE EDITOR
On Sunday evening, former International Student Senator Linfei Yang ’20 sent an email to members of the student body announcing his intention to continue serving in his position until the end of the semester, an unconstitutional action. Yang was recalled from his position following the results of the winter 2019 Student Union elections, held on January 30. The recall was the culmination of four months of conflict with the Student Union, beginning with the introduction of a Senate Money Resolution for pianos at the beginning of last semester.
The piano proposal
At the Oct. 7 senate meeting last year, Yang and former Class of 2022 Senator Alex Chang introduced a SMR requesting $765.96 to purchase two upright pianos for Massell and North Quad lounges. In the original proposal, the pianos would also have headphone ports so that residents could use the pianos without disturbing others. The Senate agreed to discuss the proposal the following week. At the Oct. 14 meeting, Chang and Yang announced that they had man-
aged to find two upright pianos for free, and would need only $150 to transport the pianos in a U-Haul. However, as the free pianos would be acoustic, not electric, they would not be equipped with a headphone port. To address possible noise disturbances from the pianos, the two senators argued the pianos could be locked during quiet hours by either the oncall Community Advisors or by the Area Coordinator. The Department of Community Living had been supportive of their SMR, and Chang said locking the pianos should be easy to figure out. The Senate voted to continue discussing the proposal as long as Chang and Yang could provide written support from DCL. The following day, Chang met with first-year quad Area Coordinators Maira Pantoja and Peter Budmen to obtain their written support for the proposal, he explained at the Oct. 21 Senate meeting. But Budmen and Pantoja said DCL no longer supported the piano initiative, because the two first-year quad lounges were not accessible for students with disabilities. They also said the Student Union needed to “quantify” demand for the pianos. Chang and Yang expressed their frustration with this predicament at the senate meeting, with Yang asking, “How quantifiable do they want it to be?” Adding to this frustration, Chang said he had found a woman in the area who would be willing to donate a baby grand piano and pay up
See RECALL, 6 ☛
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Trustees talk about funding, reaccreditation ■ Trustees go over
Springboard Funding plan, diversity and inclusion and changes in Title IX regulations. By NATALIA WIATER JUSTICE EDITOR
At their Jan. 27–28 meeting, Board of Trustees members discussed funding for the Springboard Funding Plan, the reaccreditation process and disability issues on campus, University President Ron Liebowitz announced in a Feb. 5 email to the community. One of the issues discussed was Liebowitz’s “Framework for the Future” plan, and Trustees participated in interactive sessions with members of the Framework’s task forces, Liebowitz reported. The Trustees “expressed valuable ideas” on enhancing student life, expanding research projects and maintaining the University’s values and Jewish roots. During his report to the Trustees, Liebowitz briefed them on searches to
fill several administrative positions, including senior vice president for communications, marketing and external relations, the vice provost for student affairs, the director of athletics and the vice president for human resources, per the email. In addition, Liebowitz discussed the Jan. 22 accessibility forum, and the Trustees “agreed that [the University] must pursue, as a high priority, specific recommendations on services for students, faculty, and staff with disabilities, both physical and nonphysical.” The Trustees then reviewed feedback on the second part of the independent investigators’ report on the campus climate and discussed ways in which they could work with administrators on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion, according to the same email. Liebowitz also briefed the Trustees on the recently proposed changes to federal Title IX regulations and expressed concerns on their “overly prescriptive approach that would inhibit our ability to craft pro-
See BOT, 7 ☛
Waltham, Mass.
ANDREW BAXTER/the Justice
NOTABLE ALUMNI: Angela Davis ’65 and Julieanna Richardson ’76 H’16 spoke as part of the event series celebrating the 50th anniversary of the department of African and African American Studies. Davis talked about her experiences with activism.
At AAAS event, Angela Davis discusses her life in activism ■ Davis helped celebrate
50 years of the department of African and African American Studies. By GILDA GEIST JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISSTANT
Angela Davis ’65 spoke about her experiences as an activist and Brandeis student on Friday as the keynote speaker for an event series commemorating the African and African American Studies Department’s 50th anniversary. Julieanna Richardson ’76, H’16 introduced Davis and asked her questions throughout the program that fueled the conversation. Davis began by describing her educational journey during her early life. At 15, she was accepted to Fisk University. Per her father’s recommendation, Davis turned down the acceptance. Instead Davis went on to finish high school while living with a white minister’s family in New York. The school she attended was founded by teachers who had been blacklisted from the public schools in the area because
of their political beliefs. “It was really exciting,” Davis remembered. “I went to a high school where we read the Communist Manifesto and … Freud.” After high school, Davis continued her education at Brandeis University, where she was one of very few Black students. At Brandeis, she dove into French language and culture, discovered a love for the humanities, and abandoned her goal of becoming a doctor. Despite enjoying the “intellectual atmosphere” at Brandeis, Davis struggled with facing a kind of oppression that she was unfamiliar with. “I made this journey from the south to the north in search of some kind of freedom, and what I thought I would find in the north wasn’t there,” she said. “I discovered new forms of racism that I could not at the time articulate as racism.” Davis explained that her introduction to the conflict between Israel and Palestine took place during her undergraduate years. “I first learned about Palestine when I was a student here at Brandeis,” she said. “I simultaneously learned about how important it was to challenge anti-Semitism and to speak courageously against the contin-
See ANGELA DAVIS, 4 ☛
Going the distance
Tony Shalhoub
Human rights violations in the food industry
Long-distance couples share their stories.
Actor Tony Shalhoub sits down for a conversation with Brandeis students.
By EMILY BLUMENTHAL
By SAMMY PARK
By ELLA RUSSELL Photo Courtesy of KENDAL CHAPMAN
ued perpetuation of anti-Semitic ideas and practices, and at the same time, to speak out for justice for Palestine.” Davis said her mother’s activism influenced her to become an activist herself. Her mother participated in a campaign to defend the Scottsboro Boys, a group of Black Alabama teenagers who were falsely accused of raping two white women. She also joined the Southern Negro Youth Congress, a group led by Black communists. “It took me a long time to recognize that my mother was really the primary influence in my life,” Davis said. Davis spoke about the role her mother played in campaigning for her daughter’s freedom when she was in jail for her involvement with the Soledad Brothers, a group of Black inmates charged with killing a white prison guard. “My mother traveled all over the country speaking out on my behalf,” Davis said. Davis discussed her time in prison and how that impacted her view on the prison-industrial complex. While facing the death penalty and living in solitary confinement, she read
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NEWS 3
The secret of Superbowl ads By VIOLET FEARON
FORUM 12
Women's season approaches its end
ARTS 18
By JEN GELLER
COPYRIGHT 2019 FREE AT BRANDEIS.
SPORTS 16