ARTS Page 19
FORUM Offer University ASL classes 13 SPORTS Judges travel to Tufts for meet 11 The Independent Student Newspaper
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SOUND LINE of
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Justice
Volume LXVII, Number 24
www.thejustice.org
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Waltham, Mass.
COMMENCEMENT
Pickering will speak at May commencement
BRIANNA MAJSIAK/the Justice
UNITING FOR A CAUSE: Janel Ridley ’16 (left) and Zari Havercome ’16 (right) thank Miss World 1998 Linor Abargil (center) for sharing her story.
'BRAVE MISS WORLD' By BRIANNA MAJSIAK JUSTICE editor
“I won this stupid crown for something,” Linor Abargil says playfully, captivating the audience with great composure in the Wasserman Cinematheque. This stupid crown—the Miss World crown—has helped empower Linor Abargil to tell her story. Just weeks before being crowned Miss World 1998, Abargil was kidnapped, beaten and brutally raped at knifepoint by
■ The University announced
the commencement speaker and honorary degree recipients on Monday.
Film screening speaks out against sexual violence
her travel agent in Milan. Now she advocates across the world, encouraging other victims to speak out. Upon winning the Miss World pageant, Abargil spearheaded a global campaign that aims to eradicate the silence that often accompanies sexual violence. She flew from Tel Aviv to Boston last Tuesday to screen her documentary Brave Miss World and speak to the Brandeis community about the societal pres-
By Max Moran JUSTICE EDITOR
Former United Nations ambassador Thomas R. Pickering will be the 2015 Commencement keynote speaker, according to a press release issued by the University on Monday. The honorary degree recipients will be ballerina and founder of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet Suzanne Farrell, writer Jamaica Kincaid, chef and restaurateur Yotam Ottolenghi and poet and literary critic Helen Vendler. Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Bill Schaller wrote in the press release that “In honoring Ambassador Pickering … Brandeis highlights the value of working together for the betterment of mankind.” This will be the first commencement since at least 1972 at which more honorary degrees will be awarded to women than men, according to a March 10, 2014 letter from
sure that suppresses rape victims from speaking out. “I’m here basically to make girls talk, to not be afraid, to go against the system—believe in themselves and in their truth,” Abargil said in an interview with the Justice. “This is what it’s all about for me. I mean really, to open up and save your life. If you don’t talk, your life is destroyed for sure.”
See ACTIVISM, 9 ☛
the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies program. Last year’s commencement ceremony met national scrutiny after women’s rights activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali was disinvited from receiving an honorary degree at the ceremony, after students and professors condemned several of Hirsi Ali’s past statements as prejudiced against Islam. Pickering received the Department of State’s Distinguished Service Award in 1996, and holds the title of Career Ambassador—the highest title in U.S. Foreign Service. His career has included ambassadorships in Jordan, Nigeria, El Salvador, Israel, Russia and India. During his time in El Salvador, Pickering was the subject of at least three assassination attempts, according to the Los Angeles Times. From 1989 to 1992, he was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George H.W. Bush, during which time he helped to lead the Security Council’s response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, according to the website of the Global Leadership Foundation, of which Pickering is a member. Bush’s decision to move Pickering from the his U.N. position
See COMMENCEMENT, 7 ☛
STUDENT UNION
16 seats filled during second round of spring elections ■ Students voted to fill the
remaining vacant Student Union seats for the 20152016 academic year. By Sherry simkovic JUSTICE Staff writer
Last Wednesday, the Student Union held the second round of spring elections, filling 16 vacant spots in the Union. The positions up for election included two Student Representatives to the Brandeis Sustainability Fund, a student representative to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, two senators-at-large,
two Class of 2016 senators, two Class of 2017 senators, two Class of 2018 senators, a racial minority senator and five associate justices of the judiciary. Ariel Garber ’17 and Stephanie Reifenberg ’16 were both elected as Student Representatives to the Brandeis Sustainability Fund. Mona (Zimo) Yang ’18 was elected as the Student Representative to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. “I have been active in the club Students for Environmental Action but had also been searching for more ways to be involved in improving sustainability at Brandeis,” Garber wrote in an email to the Justice. “As one of the new Student Rep-
resentatives to the BSF, I am excited to work with the Sustainability Committee and the entire community on improving our campus,” wrote Garber. “I am passionate about creating environmentally conscious changes in any area, from energy efficiency, to waste reduction and recycling, to sustainability education. I look forward to hearing the ideas of my peers and making our campus more sustainable together.” Reifenberg did not respond to request to comment by press time. Lorenzo Finamore ’18 and Lucy Wen ’18 were elected as senators at large. “One part of my general plan is
oriented towards changing dining, making on-campus eating more veggie-friendly and lowering the prices at the C-store,” said Wen in an interview with the Justice. “I’d also like to promote the transparency of the Board of Trustees and the administration.” Finamore did not respond to request to comment by press time. Ellen Parker '16 and Jesse Ruth '16 were elected as Class of 2016 senators. Matt Smetana '17 and David Herbstritt '17 were elected as Class of 2017 senators. Skye Golann '18 and Paul Sindberg '18 were elected as the Class of 2018 senators. Smetana described his goals in an email to the Justice.
See ELECTIONS, 7 ☛
Holistic Health Retreat
Backhand hit
Shapiro speaks
Different groups on campus come together to organize a mindfulness retreat in April.
The men and women's tennis team split two matches this past weekend.
Conservative author Ben Shapiro discussed leftism and free speech in universities.
FEATURES 9 For tips or info email editor@thejustice.org
“Throughout the campaigning process, I used Facebook to post on the Brandeis Class of 2017 page. I hope to increase sustainable efforts on-campus. I’ve worked with the Brandeis Sustainability Fund and other environmental action groups on campus,” wrote Smetana. “Through that scope, I have found that people's knowledge on environmental issues is severely lacking, even at a progressive school like Brandeis.” Smetana said that he hopes to continue to work closely with the Sustainability Committee and discussed the possibility of working with his co-senator Herbstritt “to
Let your voice be heard! Submit letters to the editor online at www.thejustice.org
INDEX
SPORTS 16 ARTS SPORTS
17 13
EDITORIAL FEATURES
10 9
OPINION POLICE LOG
10 2
READERCOMMENTARY 11
News 3 COPYRIGHT 2015 FREE AT BRANDEIS.
2
TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2015
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THE JUSTICE
NEWS WIRE BRIEF
German airliner began fall moments after reaching cruising altitude
A German passenger jet that crashed last Tuesday morning in the Alps in southern France, killing an estimated 150 passengers and crew, climbed for 44 minutes to reach its cruising altitude but remained there for only about a minute before it began to lose altitude, officials say. The descent into the ground lasted just eight minutes. The plane, an Airbus 320 flown by Germanwings, was en route from Barcelona, Spain to Dusseldorf, Germany, with 144 passengers, some of whom likely had paid as little as $32 for their seats. The French Interior Ministry placed the time of the crash at about 11 a.m. local time. The ministry said it appeared that all passengers, the two pilots and four crew members died. Wreckage was found scattered in bits in the mountains at about 6,000 feet. The nearest town was Barcelonnette, a small French village known for hiking and skiing amid rugged mountain terrain. In European media reports, local residents reported hearing a sound that made them think of an avalanche or one of the supersonic fighter jets that sometimes train in the area. At a news conference in Cologne, Germany, Germanwings officials said that the pilot had 10 years of experience with Lufthansa, Germanwings’ parent company, and that the plane had been given a thorough check in 2013 and a technical check on Monday. They said that the flight left Barcelona at 10:01 a.m. and reached its cruising altitude of 38,000 feet at 10:45 a.m. The officials at the press conference said the plane maintained that altitude for one minute before beginning the eight-minute descent that ended in the crash. Initial reports indicated that 45 of the dead were Spanish, while 67 were German. German Chancellor Angela Merkel addressed her nation soon after the news broke. “This is a time and an hour of great sorrow and great grief. We should be thinking about people who have lost relatives and also friends,” she said. There was no initial report on the cause of the crash. Germanwings reported that the plane had been in service since 1991, having been purchased by Lufthansa. The death toll is the highest from an aircraft incident in Europe since July 17, when Malaysian Airlines 17 crashed after being shot down over southeastern Ukraine, killing 298. An official report into the cause of that fatal crash noted that the plane was taken down by a high-speed projectile. Ukrainian and Russian officials have blamed each other for being the source of that projectile. Last week, a Dutch television station reported that metal fragments found by their reporter in the wreckage had been analyzed and found to be from a BUK, a Russian anti-aircraft system. Germanwings is one of several European carriers offering no-frills flights around the region. At the time of the crash, its website was offering flights from Germany for as little as 29 euro ($32) to 39 euro ($43) “to destinations all across Europe.” The airline website uses the slogan “surprisingly low-cost flights.” There was no indication, however, that the accident had anything to do with the low-cost nature of the flight or the airline, especially, as to date, budget airlines in Europe appear to have good safety records. Germanwings is considered the third largest air carrier in Germany. Lufthansa called the accident “a dark day.”
POLICE LOG Medical Emergency
Mar. 23—A party in Ziv Quad reported something was stuck on the bottom of their foot. BEMCo treated the party on the scene with a signed refusal for further care. Mar. 25—University Police received a report of a party in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center who hurt their foot. University Police notified BEMCo, who treated the party on the scene. The party was then transported to NewtonWellesley Hospital by University Police. Mar. 25—A party in Rosenthal Quad reported that they fell off their skateboard and cut themselves. University Police and BEMCo responded and requested Cataldo ambulance, but the party refused transport by ambulance and was taken to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care by University Police. Mar. 27—University Police received a call of an intoxicated
party in a men’s bathroom in North Quad conscious but confused. University Police and BEMCo responded and treated the party on the scene. The party was transported to NewtonWellesley Hospital for further care by Cataldo ambulance. Mar. 27—Police received a call from a party in East Quad reporting they had facial lacerations. BEMCo treated the party on the scene and requested an ambulance to transport the party to Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care. Mar. 28—A party in East Quad reported injuring their toe seven hours prior and was treated by BEMCo with a signed refusal for further care.
Disturbance
Mar. 24—Police received a call from a party in the Usdan Student Center claiming they have a No Contact Order against another person in the area. Upon the police arriving in the area, the other person
had left, and police took no further action. Mar. 29—A shuttle van driver for Joseph’s Transportation requested assistance dealing with intoxicated students on the shuttle who were threatening the driver. University Police intercepted the van at the main entrance to the campus. Police compiled a report on the incident after written statements were obtained. Mar. 29—A party in the Charles River Apartments requested assistance with a noise complaint, citing an ongoing issue. The parties responsible for the noise were spoken to by the Community Development Coordinator and University Police took no further action.
Other
Mar. 24—Police received a report of a party on the sidewalk outside the Usdan Student Center playing guitar for money. Police advised the party to contact Student Life for permission
ISLAM AWARENESS
Senate amends bylaws
The Justice will be on hiatus for the April break. Look for our next issue on April 21.
CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS n The statistics box in the Sports section incorrectly listed the track and field stats under the title “Fencing.” (Mar. 24, pg. 11) The Justice welcomes submissions for errors that warrant correction or clarification. Email editor@ thejustice.org.
Justice
the
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The Justice Brandeis University Mailstop 214 P.O. Box 549110 Waltham, MA 02454-9110 Phone: (781) 736-3750
—compiled by Avi Gold
SENATE LOG
—Tribune News Service
n A News article spelled the Secretary of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance’s name incorrectly. Her name is Tina Nguyen ’17. (Mar. 24, pg. 5)
to continue playing guitar. The party departed the area without incident. Mar. 26—Police received a report of a suspicious person roaming outside of the Goldfarb Library. University Police identified the subject and escorted them off campus with a verbal warning not to trespass again. Mar. 27—A party reported someone screaming outside the Foster Mods. University Police checked the area and were unable to find anything. Mar. 27—A party arrived at police dispatch to report a suspicious figure inside of the Goldsmith Building. University Police checked the building and found the suspect inside and found no affiliation to the University after checking the people search and master file name. The suspect was placed under arrest for trespassing and transported to Waltham Police Department for booking.
MIHIR KHANNA/the Justice
Celene Ibrahim-Lizzio, a Muslim Chaplain at Tufts Univeristy and PhD. candidate at Brandeis, speaks to students about gender roles in Islam. The event was a part of Islam Awareness Month.
On Sunday, the Senate met to discuss events for the remainder of the academic year and problems that have arisen on campus. Student Union President Sneha Walia ’15 began the meeting by updating the Senate on the recent challenges faced by Cholmondeley’s Coffeehouse. Walia said that the coffeehouse had been suspended due to health and safety issues and that Chum’s was in the process of changing its leadership structure so it would be able to better accommodate students. Walia also addressed the first meeting of the Presidential Search Committee, for which she is the student representative. She has been asked to submit a proposal, incorporating student input about a future president, to the Committee. Walia also discussed a possible upcoming student referendum requested by the Brandeis Labor Coalition. Student Union Chief of Staff Flora Wang ’15 then addressed the upcoming ’Deis Day event and mentioned a racial justice event she was planning with Brandeis Asian American Students Association and Brandeis Black Lives Matter. Undergraduate Representative to the Board of Trustees Mohamed Sidique ’15 updated the senate about the recent Board meeting, saying that the Board discussed faculty pay and is planning to be more open to the student body in the future. The Senate voted on recognizing and chartering the Chinese Table Club. The Senate approved charting the club, with 18 senators in favor and one abstaining. The senate then discussed an amendment to their bylaws. Proposed by Ridgewood Quad Senator Brad Burns ’15, the amendment would change the attendance policy for senators, allowing them three absences instead of the previously allowed two. The amendment would also no longer distinguish between excused and unexcused absences of senators. The change to the bylaws was passed. Foster Mods Quad Senator Kira Setren ’15 discussed the funding of upcoming events. The Union is not certain if they will have enough funds to hold all events they had planned. The meeting concluded with a discussion on student rights and whether the administration was treating students fairly. The senators concluded that they needed better communication with the administration to ensure that students are being represented fairly. —Nikki Nikova
ANNOUNCEMENTS How I Got in the Movement: A Civil Rights “Living Legend” Tells His Story
Named a “Living Legend” by the U.S. Library of Congress, Julian Bond has been a driving force for social change for more than 50 years as a civil rights leader, politician, scholar, and writer. In 1960, he helped co-found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He went on to serve four terms in the Georgia House of Representatives and six terms in the Georgia Senate. During his legislative tenure, Bond successfully fought to create a majority black congressional district in Atlanta and organized the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus. He helped to found the Southern Poverty Law Center, whose mission is to seek justice for the most vulnerable members of society. He served as its president from 1971 to 1979. For 11 years he was chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Today from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in Rapaporte
Treasure Hall.
Edible Book Festival
Participate in the second annual Edible Book Festival at Brandeis. Participants will proudly display their delectable bookinspired creations, from cakes that look like books to edible scenes and visual puns. Come vote for Best In Show and see who wins Funniest/Punniest, Most Creative Use of Ingredients and Best Visual Presentation. Tomorrow from 12 to 5 p.m. in Goldfarb Library, first floor.
The Rosenberg Institute Spring Outlook Speaker
Peter R. Fisher—Former Undersecretary of the U.S. Treasury; Former Head of Fixed Income, Blackrock; Senior Lecturer and Senior Fellow. Global Business and Government, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth will be speaking on “The Euro’s Past, Present and
Future.” Tomorrow from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in Lemberg Acacdemic Center.
Social Movements, Legislation and Public Policy: Lessons from the Civil Rights Movement for Today
Julian Bond will join a group of panelists in discussing the lessons learned from the civil rights movement of the 1960s and how it continues to inform the struggle for equality in America today. There will be a brief Q&A following the panelists’ comments. Panelists will include Julian Bond, 20142015 Fred and Rita Richman Distinguished Fellow in Public Life, Chad Williams, Chair, Department of African and AfroAmerican Studies & Associate Professor of African and Afro-American Studies, andMaya Cooper ’15. Thursday from noon to 1:45 p.m. in the Schneider Family Building, Zinner Forum.
THE JUSTICE
Campus Speaker
●
TUESDAY, march 31, 2015
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Administration
Shapiro speaks on how Board discusses presidential search to combat liberalism ■ During its monthly
■ The founder of the
conservative news website Truth Revolt discussed what he views as liberalism’s shortcomings. By Max Moran JUSTICE editor
Last Tuesday, Brandeis Conservatives hosted a guest lecture by Ben Shapiro, the editor-at-large of Breitbart News and founder of the conservative news website Truth Revolt. The lecture was Brandeis Conservatives’ first event since the club formed earlier this year. Shapiro spoke about what he sees as the four principles of leftism and conservatism, respectively, using current political issues to illustrate his points. His lecture came three months after Daniel Mael ’15, a writer for Truth Revolt, posted an article about a series of tweets by Khadijah Lynch ’16. Shapiro mentioned that article when responding to a question from the audience, saying, “I have no regrets whatsoever about posting that sort of thing, and, in fact, would do it again in a heartbeat, and I’m very proud that we did it.” The Justice confirmed with Shapiro after the event that these comments directly referred to Lynch. When asked about his response to Shapiro’s comments, Mael said they made “a compelling case for the intolerance of the Brandeis community.” Shapiro’s first principle of leftism was that “equality of outcome is more important than equality of opportunity.” He said that “the way this [leftist perspective] works is that if you’re successful in America or anywhere else in the world, you must have exploited someone,” which he called a “denial of cosmic justice.” He connected this principle to allegations of racial bias in policing, saying that “blacks are disproportionately imprisoned … because blacks, unfortunately, disproportionately are responsible for crime in the United States.” Shapiro also connected this principle to Hamas, stating that Palestinians are “always good” and Israelis are “always bad” in left-wing discourse “because they [the Palestinians] are poor.” The second leftist principle, Shapiro argued, was that “group justice is significantly more important than individual justice.” He began by stating that “social justice is evil,” which was followed by applause from the audience. Shapiro clarified that “so-
cial justice is fundamentally opposed to individual justice.” He stated that “adding any modifier to the word ‘justice’ perverts what it is,” and noted that the phrase “politically correct” is derived from Maoist doctrine. Shapiro’s third leftist principle was that “truth absolutely does not matter.” He argued that the left seeks “a utopia” but that doing so means “truth is not a part of the equation because truth is sometimes going to argue with you.” He cited the protests in Ferguson, Mo. as an example of “an entire campaign … based on an outright lie, that ‘hands up don’t shoot’ happened.” Shapiro pointed to a discredited accusation of sexual assault at the University of Virginia in a December Rolling Stone article and stated that the statistic that “one in four women on campus are raped, [is] another statistical lie.” He argued that this statistic comes from “a selfreported poll, in which they define rape as any unwanted sexual conduct, meaning if a guy leaned in for a kiss and then the girl didn’t like it, that was now rape.” He also argued that pro-life advocates disregard truth because “there’s no science to support the idea that a baby one minute before it enters the birth canal is not a baby.” Shapiro then discussed transgender issues, stating that “there is a difference between a man and a woman, and it can’t be rectified by chopping a few parts off.” While he pointed out that “there are legitimately intersex people,” he denied that hormone therapy or gender reassignment surgeries change one’s gender. He also distinguished between using the phrase that one is “born gay” to mean that one has “a genetic drive toward somebody of the same sex” and to mean that “homosexual activity is dictated by their birth.” Finally, he denied that the fourteenth amendment protects same-sex marriage as a right or permits the federal government to force same-sex marriage upon states. The final leftist principle Shapiro identified was that “force itself, when used in the service of these other things, is praiseworthy.” He pointed to universal health care, speech codes on college campuses and government enforcement against religious business practices—such as Christian adoption agencies which do not provide services to same-sex couples—as examples of this government compulsion. The four principles of conservatism which Shapiro discussed were that “there is a basic nature to mankind,”
that “individuals actually have rights that come from God or nature,” that “if you reject individual consequences for individual actions, you end up denying other people’s rights,” and that “the government was created to protect those rights, and the minute it invades those rights, it loses its legitimacy.” Shapiro argued that a balance of powers exists in government because mankind is capable of both good and evil and that believing one’s rights come from God makes one less likely to allow governments to violate rights. Shapiro also discussed why he believes in negative rights—that one’s rights come from what others cannot do to them and not positive rights— that one is obliged to take action for someone else. He argued that governments cannot define rights because if they did, “your rights would shift based on who’s in charge.” He added that “democracy is not the be-all-end-all” but is “a tool toward the achievement of certain rights.” Finally, he asked students to “look beyond the kind of shallow political analysis that gets done at the college level, which generally boils down to, ‘I feel like a nice person, and that means you’re nasty.’” He urged students to consider alternative viewpoints and denied the existence of a right not to be offended. He went on to explain, “We can have a conversation about marginal tax rates, but that’s boring. What’s interesting is, ‘What fundamentally gives a government the right to tax people?’” Discussing politics on this deeper level, Shapiro said, can lead to conversations “that actually mean something.” In response to a question about beginning deeper conversations, Shapiro said the key was to “define the parameters of the conversation,” such as framing a debate about gay marriage not as “I like gays, you don’t like gays” but as “what is the purpose of marriage?” When asked about how to battle liberalism on campus, Shapiro stated that one should tell donors to withdraw funding and stated that aside from “the hard sciences,” university degrees are only part of a “credentialing process.” He added later that one ought not to retaliate against professors who discriminate based on political alignment because “if you’re a conservative, you’re here to use all those great liberal credentials and [later] turn them against your former masters.”
MORGAN BRILL/the Justice
ADDRESSING POLITICAL PRINCIPLES: Ben Shapiro discussed what he referred to as the principles of leftism and conservatism.
meeting, the Board of Trustees discussed the University’s future finances and leadership. By RACHEL HUGHES JUSTICE editor
Last Thursday, the Board of Trustees convened for its monthly meeting to discuss the financial future of the University and the presidential search process. Committees within the Board held sessions, and then the entire Board convened for a general meeting and executive session. Senior Student Representative to the Board Mohamed Sidique ’15 and Junior Student Representative Grady Ward ’16 attended several of the sessions and were invited to sit in on the executive session. Sidique participated in both the Students and Enrollment and the Library and Technology Services sessions. The Students and Enrollment session consisted mainly of updates presented to the Board, Sidique said in an interview with the Justice. “We got to look at this year and how things went, and moving forward, where we want to go,” Sidique said. During this session, Sidique said he also gave a presentation on student life in which he mentioned protests and causes that the student body has been participating in lately, citing the Brandeis Labor Coalition and the Brandeis-Al-Quds Student Dialogue Initiative as specific examples. “I think it’s good to come up with great solutions to solve issues we have on campus, and what we can do on the student side—that’s a conversation we have [with the Board],” Sidique said. During the Library and Technology Services session, Sidique said, the Board discussed the earlier hours the Goldfarb Library has instated this year. Getting the library into a place of financial self-sufficiency in the near future was also discussed in depth, he said. Ward participated in the sessions for the committees on Academic Af-
fairs, Physical Facilities and the Audit committee. At the Academic Affairs session, the committee voted to name Prof. Anita Hill (Heller) a University Professor and also to grant her tenure. The title of University Professor, according to Brandeis’ website, is awarded to Brandeis faculty members of surpassing eminence whose work cuts across disciplinary boundaries. “It’s for someone who transcends the bounds of what we usually think of as an academic discipline, and [Hill’s] service here has been so multi-faceted, she has done so much in so many different areas of the campus,” Ward said. The committee also discussed faculty retention and ongoing changes in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, according to Ward. The Physical Facilities committee spoke about deferred maintenance, Ward said, especially in the Goldfarb Library, the special collections and the heating and air conditioning systems. “There are a lot of ways that we need to improve our physical buildings … the good news is that this is probably the second or third year that we’ve really started to chip into that,” Ward said. “It sounds like it’s going pretty well.” The Audit committee reviewed the University’s institutional tax forms during their session, Ward said. They discussed the new Vice President for Research position, which a search committee is currently looking to fill, and talked about a roll out of programs around Title IX, Ward said. “The number of the [Title IX] cases have rapidly escalated as reporting has, and accompanying that has been a lot of structural changes,” Ward said, referring to the addition of the Title IX Coordinator position this year. “[The Board] wants to make sure that we’re doing things correctly and not jumping in to change things just to change them.” Sidique and Ward, along with Student Union President Sneha Walia ’15, will be looking to gather feedback from the undergraduate student body this week, both Sidique and Ward said, as to what they would like to see in the University’s next president.
BRIEF Board of Trustees approves 2016 fiscal year budget The Board of Trustees has approved the 2016 fiscal year budget, which includes a 3.7 percent increase in tuition charges for students for the upcoming year, according to an email from University President Frederick to the University community on Monday afternoon. The email said that raising money to support the University’s financial-aid program has continued to be a “top institutional priority” and that the University has raised more than $45 million for the Catalyst Fund, a scholarship fundraising initiative launched last spring and committed to granting students affordable education. Lawrence wrote that the increase in tuition will also go toward investments on campus, including renovations of various buildings. Sherman Dining Hall is set to be renovated over the summer and will include the renovation of interior equipment and a “much-needed expansion” of a deck outside the Stein. The Einstein Bros. Bagels and Bookstore area in the Shapiro Campus Center will also be expanded, which Lawrence wrote will “dramatically improve [the] overall dining experience across campus.” Other renovations will include improvements to the first-year residence halls and the continued renovations of the Ziv Quad residence halls. According to the email, funding will also go towards the hiring of many new faculty and staff on campus. Lawrence wrote that the University is “committed to
maintaining a low student-tofaculty ratio, which results in an education that is vibrant, engaging, and intellectually challenging.” Lawrence also wrote that the University has hired several new faculty in the departments of History, English, Theater, Business, Sociology and Holocaust Studies and that several science departments, such as biochemistry, quantitative cell biology and physics, are actively in the process of recruiting faculty. The Hiatt Career Center will also see an increase in employers on campus. Lawrence also cited the Rape Crisis Center as a recent important investment on campus. “The Board and the University’s senior administration appreciate the significant investment you are making in your future, and we know this increase adds to that burden,” he wrote. “Please be assured that our commitment to providing you with the highest-quality education, for which Brandeis is known, is matched by our best efforts to keep the cost of this education in check.” “We will continue to seek every opportunity to find resources through our supporters and through increased efficiency to keep your costs down, without sacrificing the quality of your educational experience,” Lawrence concluded. The 3.7 percent increase matches last year’s 3.7 percent increase for fiscal year 2015. The tuition costs previously increased 3.94 percent for fiscal year 2014. —Rachel Sharer
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TUESDAY, march 31, 2015
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THE JUSTICE
Campus Clubs
COMMUNITY SPEAKERS
CAASE holds vigil for victims of anti-Semitism ■ The Coalition Against
Anti-Semitism in Europe launched with a vigil for persecuted Jews in Europe. By RACHEL SHARER JUSTICE Editor
TOMMY GAO/the Justice
ADDRESSING INNOVATION: ’Deis Talks attendees look at the various displays from the event’s presentations.
Speakers discuss past experiences, new ideas ■ ’Deis Talks, a TED Talks-
inspired event, allowed community members to present on various topics. By Rachel Shaw JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
Last Thursday, Brandeis Education for Students by Students hosted ’Deis Talks, an annual event inspired by TED Talks in which students give presentations on various subjects. The event was held in the Shapiro Admissions Center. The talks were delivered by eight speakers, including two alumni—Emily Eng ’14 and Joel Abrams ’64—five current students—Imogen Rosenbluth ’17, Amelia Katan ’15, exchange student Eduardo Beltrame ’ 15, Arun Sundaram ’15 and Flora Wang ’15— and Prof. Dan Perlman (BIOL). Eng presented first, discussing how her high school band experience inspired her desire to become a conductor and the gender bias involved in her chosen career field. Eng is currently Assistant Conductor and General Manager of the Waltham Philharmonic Orchestra. She described her experience playing in her high school band and her appreciation for her old band director, Mr. Aines. “He was a wonderful guy. He is basically the most inspirational person in my life,” Eng said. Eng described a time in her high school band when she was practicing and saw Mr. Aines encourage her to continue playing. “And I keep going,” Eng said. “I’m free on top of those chords. And Mr. Aines cut us off right after I finished my solo, and we just sat there in the moment, and it was a magical time.” Eng concluded with an interactive piece of the presentation, in which
the audience had to guess the gender of three different composers based on their music. This exercise demonstrated that music sounds cannot be attributed to a certain gender. Despite the bias toward male conductors—that orchestras follow male conductors better—Eng declared, “I am entering this field not to daunt these. I am entering because of the music.” Perlman followed with a talk on what will help learning last for individuals. “Perhaps learning is like a spider web,” Perlman said. “Spider webs are incredibly strong, but every night they get torn down and rebuilt. Each day you have [to] build again. Sometimes spider webs do surprising things and leave something lasting on the people who experience it.” Pearlman continued with his argument that “peak experiences” are the type of learning that lasts. In Wang’s talk, she urged the audience to live in the moment instead of stressing about the future. She described her own experiences with both working as a Community Advisor to help other students and handling a crowded schedule, saying that everyone has to “strike a balance between extracurricular, curricular and free time.” Wang admitted that sometimes she will “feel jaded, apathetic and burned out just passing through each day.” The solution to handle everyday stress, Wang suggested, was “not a matter of knowing tips. You need to know how to make it an everyday part of your life.” “The key is not to obsess over the big picture at the end, to miss all the forest and the trees,” Wang said. “The end goal is to make these everyday steps habit forming.” Rosenbluth’s talk addressed eating disorders. She shared, “my eating disorder made me someone I was afraid
and ashamed of. It took incredible endurance on my part to recover.” She explained the many symptoms, types and realities of eating disorders. Rosenbluth believes that healthy eating is “eating when you’re hungry and stopping when you’re full. Different bodies need different things.” Katan described her experience interning at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands. Katan said she believes that experiences teach the “complicated reality of many views” more so than books do. For instance, Katan learned that “justice” means different things to different people. Beltrame gave a scientific talk that explained different models of molecules. He provided little models of structures to the audience that he created with the University’s 3D printing club. Beltrame found models a useful tool to learn about molecules. Avid video-game player Sundaram explained that some video games are an art form because several games contain different artistic features. For instance, he argued, video games are different from books and movies because they contain “interactivity.” According to Sundaram, interactivity is another layer where you can express ideas or a theme. “It allows you to get into the mindset of the character you play as,” Sundaram said. Abrams explained his story that led to his decision to work for community welfare. He works at the Dorchester House Multi-Service Center that aims to improve the health of the people in Dorchester, Mass. Abrams said he was inspired by his time at Brandeis because it was during a time of civil rights activism. Mostly, Abrams said, he was inspired by “what I didn’t do.” He wished he had done some of the activities his peers had done like the Freedom Rides.
On Monday evening, students from the new group Coalition Against Anti-Semitism in Europe, or CAASE, held a launch event for their group—a vigil in Fellows Garden commemorating the victims of recent anti-Semitic attacks in Europe. The vigil was CAASE’s first event since it formed only a few weeks ago and was simultaneously held at several other campuses across the east coast, including Drexel University, the University of Rochester and Rutgers University. The vigil was organized primarily by CAASE members and by Hillel at Brandeis but also had help from many other student groups at the University, whose leaders were present at the event. In an interview with the Justice, CAASE member and co-founder Rebecca Sternberg ’16 said that the vigil was inspired by the one that took place on campus in November to commemorate victims of an attack on an Orthodox synagogue in Jerusalem. Sternberg said that the co-founders of CAASE were “amazed by the student turnout” for the Jerusalem vigil and wanted to reflect that in commemorating European victims of anti-Semitism as well. The vigil included a list of the recent anti-Semitic attacks in France and across Europe, as well as remarks from Co-Director of the Seif Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus Rabbi David Pardo and the University’s Jewish Chaplain Rabbi Elyse Winick ’86. Community members also had the option of writing letters and messages of support to the families of the European victims or to those suffering from anti-Semitism in Europe. About 125 students were present at the vigil. Those present held candles and stood in a circle, singing a prayer in Hebrew. At the end of the event, the circle of people widened to about 100 feet, and everyone in it could see everyone else. “I believe in this mission and I believe in the students who are spearheading it,” said Pardo of the group and the vigil. “Some of us look back a couple years and see the previous generation had fights worth fighting: the struggle for So-
viet Jewry, civil rights. I believe we have students on this campus and others that have found their fight.” According to their new website, CAASE is “the burgeoning American movement that defends the right of European Jewry to live proud and unmolested lives.” While the group was founded at Brandeis and is currently only present here, Sternberg says they hope to spread to other schools to become an “intercollegiate organization.” Sternberg said that while the idea for the group originally came from Misha Vilenchuk ’16, there are ten co-founders and current leaders of the club. Along with Sternberg and Vilenchuk, students Sam Marlowe ’16, Sigal Sax ’18, Brian Budik ’17, Lieba Hall ’16, Daniel Shpilsky ’18, Roy Buchler ’16, Jack Podolsky ’17 and Ryan Yuffe ’15 have been active in pushing the club forward. CAASE’s website states that the group “seeks to rouse Europe’s conscience.” “CAASE believes European anti-Semitism must be regarded with the utmost importance,” the website reads. It describes itself as a “well-organized activist movement” that “actively collect[s] research and statistics, participate[s] in outreach … and organize[s] awareness campaigns and events.” “We’re basically an awareness campaign,” Vilenchuk said in an interview with the Justice. “We want to change European Jewish perception, and eventually policy, through awareness … very few people know about the extent of anti-Semitism in Europe.” “The goal of CAASE is first and foremost to raise awareness of the anti-Semitic attacks in Europe … and bring light to the fact that this is not okay,” Sternberg said. The CAASE website also lists several goals of the group, including calling on regional, national and European Union institutions to “ensure the security [and] wellbeing of European Jewish communities,” “establish a ‘working definition’ of anti-Semitism” and “hold accountable those who perpetuate or incite anti-Semitism.” “We won’t stop acting until these goals are met,” Vilenchuk said. While the club is not currently chartered by the Student Union ,Sternberg says they have plans to do so in the near future in order to receive funding for future awareness projects and events. Vilenchuk said the group has many initiatives planned for the future including potentially taking a trip to Europe to “talk directly to Jewish community leaders” and enact change.
BRIEF Cornelisse to lead search for Catholic chaplain Following interim priest Father Dan Moloney’s appointment to a different location, Allison Cornelisse, a member of the Brandeis Catholic community, will be temporarily coordinating the University’s Sunday Mass, according to an email sent to the Catholic Student Organization by Chaplaincy Department Administrator Ellie Afienko on Friday. Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel wrote in the email that Cornelisse will be organizing Mass on campus “most weekends” and will be coordinating “arrangements and transportation to other services in the area” when on-campus Mass is not possible. “This is not a permanent solution, but I am confident Allison will provide warm support to our
community through the remainder of the school year,” he added. Flagel also explained that a committee of community members will be discussing the subject of a permanent chaplain at length in the coming weeks. “In relation to future planning, I have asked a diverse group of student, faculty and staff members to convene as a small working group on the topic of our campus Chaplaincy across religions and faiths,” Flagel wrote. According to the email, Prof. Wendy Cadge (SOC, WGS) will be the committee chair, and the group will also include Elana Insley ’15, one of the Catholic student leaders. The email also said that the committee hopes to conclude their work by the end of the semester. Flagel also touched on Rever-
end Walter Cuenin’s departure from the University after almost nine years as the Catholic chaplain. Dean of Students Jamele Adams wrote in an email to the community that Cuenin was leaving the University due to unspecified health reasons, according to a Jan. 13 Justice article. “I realize that the departure of someone profoundly influential across our community for many years has been challenging for many of us,” Flagel wrote. “As we move forward as a community, finding the best model for our broad range of observances and beliefs is a daunting challenge. I invite and welcome your input, and look forward to discussing this with many of you in the days and weeks to come.” HEATHER SCHILLER/the Justice
—Abby Patkin
COMMEMORATING VICTIMS: Students light candles and write letters with messages of support for victims of anti-Semitic persecution in Europe.
THE JUSTICE
REFLECTING ON RELATIONS
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BRIEF
University sees five percent increase in applications
AMANDA NGUYEN/the Justice
DISCUSSING FOREIGN RELATIONS: Ambassador Ross addressed the future of politics and peace talks in the Middle East.
Ross looks at future of Middle Eastern politics ■ Ambassador Dennis Ross
visited campus to speak on Israeli elections and the future of peace in the region. By ABBY PATKIN JUSTICE Editor
On Thursday night, the University hosted United States Ambassador Dennis Ross, who served as Middle East Envoy under President Clinton, for a lecture titled “The Middle East and the Israeli Elections.” Ross first became involved with U.S. Foreign Relations during the Reagan administration, serving as director of Near East and South Asian affairs on the National Security Council staff for two years and deputy director of the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment. Later in his career, Ross served as special assistant to President Obama and National Security Council senior director for the Central Region from 2009 to 2011 and as special advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Ross was twice a visiting professor and a Richman Fellow at Brandeis. He is currently a professor at Georgetown University. The Brandeis Israel Public Affairs Committee invited Ross to campus and co-sponsored the event. BIPAC Co-President Miriam Fink ’15 began the event by explaining to the audience how Ross had a “unique role” in her life through her family’s interactions with him in speeches and in classrooms. University President Frederick Lawrence then introduced Ross, discussing his role in international relations and describing him as a “wise man,” someone “whose wisdom on issues transcended politics and even transcended certain issues.” Ross began his lecture by offering his perspective on the relationship
between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “It’s not the first time we’ve seen tension between a president and a prime minister,” Ross said, giving examples of conflict between President George H. W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. Ross then discussed religion in the Middle East, using the summer 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict as a scope for studying the relationships between the different branches of Islam. Ross described the European antiIsrael demonstrations that followed the conflict, noting the lack of such demonstrations in the Middle East. According to Ross, this lack of demonstrations points to a larger conflict between Muslim groups, with the conflict ultimately between what he described as “radical Islamists and non-Islamists.” “It’s not a Sunni-Shia conflict,” Ross said. “Radical Islamists, basically, even if they’re Sunni or Shia, … have a number of things in common: … they want to remake the region in their image, they believe in terror as [an] instrument that they can use to pursue the remaking of the Middle East in their image, … they want the U.S. out of the area, and they don’t accept Israel’s right to exist.” Additionally, Ross described his efforts to broker peace between Israelis and Palestinians, noting the need for accountability on both sides if such an agreement should ever become feasible. “If you turn Gaza into a platform for attacks against Israel, if you turn it into a haven of terror, who’s going to say to you ‘Let’s take that terror model and apply it to the West Bank as well?’” Ross told the audience. “So I said, ‘This is in your hands. You can determine this. And you should seize the opportunity.’” Ross also discussed the recent Knesset elections in Israel, touching in particular on the impact Netan-
yahu’s address to Congress had on the future of peace agreements in the region. “One way to make [a peace deal] happen is to understand why we haven’t been able to make progress,” Ross said, noting his opinion that certain statements the Prime Minister made haven’t “exactly added to a climate of making it possible to move ahead.” However, Ross argued, it is also crucial to study past attempts at brokering peace in the Middle East. “If you’re going to make any effort to change the situation, you need to understand … why we weren’t successful before. There is again another narrative that’s out there [that] today it’s the Israelis who don’t want peace and the Palestinians who do. Neither one believes that the other is committed to two states.” Moreover, Ross explained how Hamas’ attacks on Israel do not aid in bringing the two closer to a peace agreement. “[Hamas] wanted to score and make a point. It was about fighting Israel; it was not about turning Gaza into a growing concern,” he said. “Last summer, what we saw was [that] there wasn’t a shortage of steel or electrical wire underground, but there was above ground, and Hamas built tunnels not to protect its people; it built tunnels to protect its leaders, its weapons and its fighters.” Ross also added that part of achieving peace in the region falls down to changing the environment in which the discussions are taking place. “If we’re going to start peacemaking, you need to create an environment for peacemaking,” Ross said. “When we do nothing, we create a vacuum. When you create a vacuum in the Middle East, it gets filled.” Ross concluded by urging the continuation of discussions for peace . “The one thing I know for sure in the Middle East? Nothing good ever happens by itself,” he said.
Student life
Relay for Life holds annual fundraising event On Saturday, Relay for Life held its annual relay event in Gosman Sports and Convocation Center, raising $54,000 for the American Cancer Society. The event began at 5 p.m. on Saturday and lasted through 5 a.m. Sunday. It had a pre-registration turnout of 57 teams—totaling 627 people—with another 100 people registering for Relay at the event, according to Judith Giller-Leinwohl ’15, who helped organize the event along with Lindsay Fitzpatrick ’15. “Every Relay is unique because every Relay brings different people, fighting cancer for different reasons,” Giller-Leinwohl wrote in an email to the Justice. Saturday’s Relay featured many events throughout the night, including on-site fundraising activities. Brandeis clubs gathered to perform throughout the night, starting with a cappella group Ba’Note before the Opening Ceremony at 6 p.m. After the Relay officially began, a
cappella group Rather Be Giraffes, dance troupe KAOS Kids and comedy improv group False Advertising performed. After the Luminaria ceremony— a memorial dedication where participants crack glowsticks inside luminaria bags to commemorate loved ones—a cappella group Up The Octave performed, followed by South Asian dance crew Chak De. The Relay closed with a “Fight Back” ceremony and a closing ceremony. “Brandeis Relay is unique in its Luminaria ceremony, which many people remember as the most moving part of the night,” Giller-Leinwohl wrote. “[The Luminaria ceremony] is very emotional and very moving, providing the opportunity for people to come together and to be a reminder that no one has to go through this alone,” Fitzpatrick wrote in an email to the Justice. “It is a bit heart-breaking to see how
many glowsticks get thrown into the bag, but it is a beautiful reminder that we can all support each other through these difficult experiences, and that we are raising money in the hopes that in the near future, many fewer glowsticks will be put into that bag.” Brandeis’ Relay For Life fundraising goal this year was $60,000 while their goal assigned by the American Cancer Society was $53,000, according to Giller-Leinwohl. The fundraising will continue through August. “I just want people to know that Relay For Life is so much more than just a fun night,” Giller-Leinwohl wrote in her email. “The money raised really does change lives, whether it’s through research, education, advocacy, or patient services, Brandeis is helping to save lives and quality of life through their fundraising efforts.” —Rachel Hughes
The University has seen over a five percent increase in applications for the upcoming 20152016 academic year, according to Dean of Admissions Jennifer Walker. Walker wrote in an email to the Justice that this increase creates another “record-breaking year for [the University]” in terms of the number of applications. According to a Sept. 21 Justice article, the University also saw a five percent increase in applicants last year, in comparison to the previous year’s applicant pool. Walker wrote that the University anticipates “maintaining about the same or a just slightly lower percentage of admitted students to the class,” although they are seeking a slightly smaller class than last year. According to Walker, international students make up 12 percent of the accepted students pool and approximately 8 percent of the entire applicant pool that applied using the test-optional policy. Walker wrote that a “comparable number of testoptional students make up our admitted students pool.” The Class of 2018 saw a dramatic increase in the percentage of international students, with 24
percent of the 859 total first-years being international students, according to an Oct. 28 Justice article. In previous years, according to the article, the number of international students has stayed below 20 percent. Walker wrote that both the applicant pool and admitted students’ pool saw an increase in students from “underrepresented backgrounds” and from more “diverse geographic regions” in the U.S. Walker noted, however, that the “admissions numbers are still evolving” and that these numbers are not representative of what the Class of 2019 will look like. This is due to several application programs with later deadlines and the number of accepted students who will actually enroll. She also noted that the University “won’t make a decision on [the] use of [the] wait list before May.” According to a Sept. 21 Justice article, the Class of 2018 was filled by the May 1 deadline and no students were drawn off the waitlist, the first time that had occurred since the fall 2000 entering class. —Rachel Sharer
OBITUARY
Rose Art Museum Director Michael Rush passes away Yesterday, former Director of the Rose Art Museum Michael Rush passed away at the age of 66 after battling pancreatic cancer for two years. Rush is remembered as an award-winning curator and cofounder of the Contemporary Art Museum Directors Association. By the time of his death, Rush had recently completed the opening of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University, where he had worked since 2010. According to an article on MSU’s website, Rush’s work with the museum served “to exploring global contemporary culture and ideas through art” and establishing educational connections. Rush served as the Director of the Rose from 2005 to 2009, including the controversial and tumultuous years when the University was deciding whether or not to sell off pieces from the museum’s collections. However, Rush holds a crucial place in the Rose’s history and, during his tenure, greatly increased the modern and contemporary art holdings of the museum. He left his position at the Rose in 2009, joining MSU a year later.
Prior to starting his career as a museum curator, Rush dabbled in other fields, including founding an experimental theater company, guest starring on popular television and being ordained as a priest, according to the Lansing State Journal. According to ArtNews, Rush worked as a Jesuit priest for 15 years and received a doctorate in psychology from Harvard University in 1980. During his career, Rush also served as the founding director of the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art from 2000 to 2004. He was published in several art catalogues and magazines throughout his career, in addition to publishing three books on various art topics and contributing to various other publications. The curator also hosted an Internet radio show entitled Rush Interactive where he interviewed notable artists. Rush is survived by his partner Hyun-Jae Pi and his three siblings. A memorial service for Rush will take place in New York City, in addition to other honors at MSU. —Jessie Miller
ADVOCATING FOR A CAUSE
MORGAN BRILL/the Justice
CELEBRATING LIFE: Students at the annual Relay for Life event hold a banner for the American Cancer Society, for which they raised funds.
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THE JUSTICE
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COMMENCEMENT: Five honored with degrees
FIGHTING BACK
CONTINUED FROM 1
AMANDA NGUYEN/the Justice
Carol Simon, coach of the women’s basketball team, addressed the crowd gathered in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center during Relay For Life. The annual event is held to raise money and awareness for cancer research and survivors while also honoring the memory of those who lost the fight. For comlete coverage of the event, see News page 5.
to the postion of U.S. ambassador to India three years later was met with backlash: New York Times columnist Leslie Gelb called Pickering “arguably the best-ever senior U.S. representative to that body, [the U.N.]” and theorized that Pickering was being moved because Secretary of State James Baker “felt the career diplomat [Pickering] is casting too big a shadow on the Baker parade.” Pickering later served as under secretary of state to President Bill Clinton from 1997 until his retirement from diplomacy in 2001. Upon his appointment as under secretary, Time magazine hailed Pickering as a “five star general of the diplomatic corps.” Pickering was co-chairman of the State Department’s review of the 2012 attacks on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, but was criticized by conservatives for his decision not to interview Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and for his report’s mild criticisms of the State Department. Suzanne Farrell is the founder of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and performed in over 100 ballets over her 28-year-long career, according to the Kennedy Center website. Nearly a third of these roles were specifically written for her by influential choreographers, including Jerome Robbins and Maurice Béjart. Most notably, Farrell worked closely with George Balanchine, a prolific choreographer and co-founder of the School of American Ballet. Farrell was cast as the lead in Diamonds, the third section of Balanchine’s Jewels, and his later bal-
lets Chaconne and Mozartiana were written specifically for Farrell. She is currently a répétiteur for the George Balanchine Trust, which oversees Balanchine’s works. The Suzanne Farrell Ballet has a repertoire of over 65 works, and has been noted in the Washington Post as being “among Washington’s cultural highlights.” Jamaica Kincaid is a widely celebrated writer of novels and short stories, whose works include the short story and prose poem collection At the Bottom of the River, the novels Lucy, Annie John and The Autobiography of My Mother and the memoir My Brother. Her short stories have appeared in the New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, Rolling Stone and the Paris Review, according to the website for the Ansfield-Wolf Book Award, which Kincaid won in 1997 for The Autobiography of My Mother. She was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2004 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009. Kincaid’s works explores themes including colonialism, mother-daughter relationships, gender and sexuality, racism, class and imperialism. Her writing is largely interpreted as semiautobiographical and reflective of her experiences growing up in St. John’s, Antigua. She is a professor at Harvard University. Yotam Ottolenghi is the owner of five restaurants and delis in London and writes a cooking column for the Guardian. Born in Jerusalem, the Independent newspaper describes his style as “marrying the food of his native Israel with a wider range of incredible textures and flavours from the Mediterranean, the Middle East
and Asia.” Ottolenghi has published four cookbooks, including Ottolenghi, Plenty and Jerusalem, which were each New York Times bestsellers. He was a sub-editor on the news desk of Haaretz. His business partner, Sami Tamimi, is Palestinian and was also raised in Jerusalem and is the co-author of the cookbook Jerusalem. A New Yorker article quotes Ottolenghi as saying, “It takes a giant leap of faith, but we are happy to take it— what have we got to lose?—to imagine that hummus will eventually bring Jerusalemites together, if nothing else will.” Helen Vendler is a professor of poetry at Harvard and an esteemed poetry critic. A 2006 New York Times article credits her for helping to “establish or secure the reputations of Jorie Graham, Seamus Heaney and Rita Dove, among many others.” The same article quotes literary scholar Harold Bloom as saying of Vendler, “I think there isn’t anyone in the country who can read syntax in poems as well as she can.” After earning her bachelor of arts degree in chemistry at Emmanuel College and a Fulbright fellowship in mathematics, Vendler earned a doctorate in English and American literature from Harvard in 1960, and was the first woman to be offered an instructorship at Harvard’s English department in 1959. She later accepted a professorship in 1981 after writing several books. She is Harvard’s A. Kingsley Porter university professor. The University’s 2015 commencement exercises will take place on Sunday, May 17.
ELECTIONS: Class senators and senators at large among those elected, concluding election cycle CONTINUED FROM 1
convey student desires” to the adminstration. Smetana remarked he also wished to potentially implement his and Herbstritt's own ideas, including trying to bridge the gap between the students and administration. “We also plan to focus our efforts internally and take a look at the [Student Union] Constitution to see
what needs to be revised,” Smetana wrote. Parker, Ruth, Herbstritt, Golann and Sindberg did not respond to request for comment by press time. Bethlehem Seifu ’16 was elected as racial minority senator. During her term, she would like to increase funding for Intercultural Center clubs and for events that highlight the historical contributions of minorities in the United States, she said in an interview with the Justice.
She listed National Hispanic Heritage Month, Black History Month and Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month as examples of events she would like to highlight during her time as senator. Seifu added that she wants to work to improve communication among campus groups. She mentioned a desire for better communication among the Union, the Intercultural Center and the University administration, as well as increase publicity for cultural
events on campus. As an international student from Ethiopia, she remarked, “I think it's important to put blackness on display in ways that people can relate to it.” Five Associate Justices of Judiciary were elected—Lilah Cohen '17, Abraham Cheloff ’18, Stephanie Sjoblom ’17, Brian Dorfman ’16 and Hanyang Li ’17. Cheloff said in an interview with the Justice that he wanted to make people know about the position.
“Running for election mostly involved informing constituents about the role of the judiciary and its greater role within the Union," he said. "As associate justices, we all work together to ensure that clubs remain fair and within the constitution of the Student Union.” Cohen, Sjoblom, Dorfman and Li did not respond to request for comment by press time. —Rachel Hughes contributed reporting.
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features
TUESDAY, March 31, 2015 ● THE JUSTICE
just
VERBATIM | ECKHART TOLLE You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.
ON THIS DAY…
FUN FACT
In 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama crossed the border into India and was granted political asylum.
All of the clocks in the movie Pulp Fiction are stuck on 4:20.
Mastering mindfulness A day-long retreat will be held on campus in April to promote holistic health By ROse Gittell JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
BRIANNA MAJSIAK/the Justice
HELPING HANDS: (left to right) PCC counselor Jennifer Brown, Protestant Interfaith Chaplain Matthew Carriker and Technology Services staff member John Saylor are all working together to plan the retreat.
BRIANNA MAJSIAK/the Justice
REFLECTING: Retreat planning committee members sit with students and staff in a peaceful sit-in in the atrium of the Shapiro Campus Center last Wednesday to promote the upcoming mindfulness retreat.
PHOTO COURTESY OF NOEL COAKLEY
A MINDFUL MENTOR: Noel Coakley, a trained yoga teacher and counselor at the Psyhcological Counseling Center with expertise in mindfulness-based psychology, is co-organizing the retreat on April 18.
Many people believe that meditation is used to improve one’s self. Noel Coakley, a counselor at the Psychological Counseling Center, believes that reducing meditation to a self-improvement tool misses the essence of why meditation is important. In contrast to meditation as a tool for individual improvement, Coakley sees mediation as a way to connect more deeply with those around you and to exist more fully in your community. “Mindfulness for Beginniners: Rest in the Storm,” an upcoming mindfulness retreat co-organized by Coakley, will use the community-building aspect inherent to mediation in order to introduce students to the practices of meditation and mindfulness. Mindfulness is the mental state one achieves by focusing on the present moment. The retreat will take place on Saturday, April 18 in the Usdan Student Center, the Peace Room and several other locations around campus. The retreat is presented and sponsored by the PCC, the Multifaith Chaplaincy, Student Activities, Brandeis Interfaith Group, Sangha Meditation Group and Hillel. This is the first time that a mindfulness retreat, open to all students, will occur on campus. “When we learn to have a more lov-
“
We’re trying to promote different ways to get your mind, body and spirit holistically healthy. —Rev. Matthew Carriker
ing conversation in our mind, the internal parallels the external,” Coakley told the Justice. He hopes this “loving” interaction that occurs during meditation will serve to strengthen the bonds among students who partake in the mindfulness retreat. Coakley has expertise in mindfulness-based psychology and holistic health and in treating depression, anxiety and substance abuse. Meditation can actually be used, according to Coakley, to increase empathy toward others and improve social relationships. “The same areas of our brains light up when we are paying attention to what we might be thinking about as when we are paying attention to what someone else might be thinking about,” Coakley said. Rev. Matthew Carriker, the Brandeis Protestant chaplain and a co-organizer of the retreat, will teach awareness through a spiritual role. “Brandeis students are so stressed. I mean, it’s great, because they’re so hardworking and highly motivated, but at the same time, at least in my talking to students—which I do a lot—
a balance is hard, and having self-care practices has been a challenge,” Carriker said. He explained that there are many ways to be mindful—for example, through mindful sitting and walking. These activities will be included in the retreat as a way to gain presence and introspection. “It’s kind of like physical exercises that in many ways get your body healthy. We’re trying to promote different ways to get your mind, body and spirit holistically healthy,” Carriker said. This January during the midyear orientation, orientation leaders were taught mindfulness training to promote to all midyear students. “I think they really enjoyed it, because there was, like, this hunger for it, because Brandeis culture, is to have like three majors and 10 extracurriculars. So I think there’s a hunger for ways to feed your spirit,” Carriker said. This community feeling will improve the usefulness of the individual practice of meditation during the allday retreat. According to Coakley, in the process of learning to meditate, vocalizing what is challenging about the practice is helpful. Students of meditation can become frustrated when they can’t initially keep their focus or concentrate fully on their breath and come to the conclusion that meditation is not for them. “Not only is meditation a challenging practice, but we often have the extra layer of judging ourselves for not being good enough,” Coakley explained. “Getting together and being able to name that aloud takes out the extra layer of self-judgment.” John Saylor, a member of the Technology Services Staff who is contributing to organizing the retreat, said that the most difficult part of meditation is facing his own mind. However, he says meditation could be made more successful by scheduling a specific day for it. “I have been developing nice friendships with others helping to organize this retreat … A student could learn something that was unknown to them before the retreat,” Saylor wrote in an email to the Justice. Saylor also holds staff run sit group on Tuesdays. Coakley believes that meditation can have a profound effect on your mental, physical, spiritual and social well-being. “It’s not a silver bullet,” Coakley said. “But it can help decrease thoughts that lead to suffering.” Coakley uses the concepts of mindfulness and mediation in his therapy work. He finds that some people meditate most effectively when movements, such as yoga, are added to their practice. According to Coakley, not only does our individual suffering decrease, but we can also reduce the suffering of those around us. “By learning to think in a certain way, we can improve our empathy and our relationships,” Coakley said. “If we’re not paying attention to what’s going on in our mind, it’s hard to pay attention to our relationships with other people in our life.” —Brianna Majsiak contributed reporting.
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TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2015
PHOTOS BY BRIANNA MAJSIAK/the Justice
TRAVELING SUPPORT: Linor Abargil traveled from Israel to Boston with her aunt (end left), mother (behind Abargil) and cousin (far right), who is working in Boston for the year, to answer questions from the Brandeis community about her documentary.
MOTIVATING MANY: Miss World 1998 Linor Abargil poses for a photograph after being interviewed by the Justice about her work to eradicate sexual violence.
ACTIVIST: Linor Abargil inspires Brandeis community CONTINUED FROM 1 The 2013 film, which is available on Netflix and was recently nominated for an Emmy Award, portrays Abargil’s battle to change the way rape is dealt with. It begins with her recounting her attack, which occurred weeks before she won the title of Miss Israel. Her story quickly becomes one of perseverance as she continues on to win Miss World and uses her success to empower herself and many others. According to the documentary, Abargil knew immediately that she was going to report her attack and pursue legal action. After leaving Italy, Linor returned home to Israel and reported her attack to Israeli authorities. Her attacker, Uri Schlomo Nur, was extradited to Israel and later convicted for rape and sentenced to 16 years in prison. The documentary noted that Schlomo was previously accused of two other rapes in Italy but that an offender is usually tried in court on his third incident of rape. Initially, Schlomo was detained by Italian authorities and soon released until being extradited to Israeli authorities. Abargil attributes her strength to pursue legal action while still healing largely to her family’s support system. In the film, her friends and family are constantly featured next to her and play a big role in her personal success. The film shows her father explaining how difficult the attack was for him to accept and her mother becoming her primary source of support. Throughout the film, Abargil conducts numerous interviews with people from around the world who are survivors of rape—over a dozen women and men. She also speaks with two celebrities who recounted their own experiences with rape: Joan Collins and Fran Drescher. “It made me really, really sad to meet these women around the world that didn’t have the support that I did,” Abargil said to the audience at Brandeis, with her mother sitting in
the front row before her. It was in an interview with a student from Princeton University that Abargil realized how prominent the issue of rape is on college campuses. Included in the documentary, the female student’s face is blurred as she speaks to Abargil about being raped by a male student on the soccer team. The student explains that she fears speaking out against him and becoming publicly shamed. “I met some girls there [at Princeton University] that told me horrible stories—the campus didn’t support them. I know the statistics of how bad it is and how things happen, and no one talks about it,” Abargil told the Justice. “Really, what’s going on on college campuses is going on all around the world. They blame the victim. ‘You are the one to be blamed, you did something wrong. It’s wrong to talk.’ This is what they teach us.” Brandeis is one of three universities in the United States that Abargil has visited. She has also been to Yale and Princeton—where she hosted a “Take Back the Night” event. Tuesday’s screening of Brave Miss World was brought to campus by Prof. Alice Kelikian (HIS, FTIM) and Ethan Stein ’15, an undergraduate departmental representative for the program in Film, Television and Interactive Media. Stein was inspired by the documentary after a friend of his wrote a blog post about how watching Brave Miss World saved her life, encouraging her to speak out about her own rape. Stein then mentioned the film to Kelikian, he said. “Cecelia Peck, the director of the documentary, happened to be a fellow alumna from Princeton, so I reached out to her. Two days later we secured the film, and I asked [Abargil] to come to campus. She immediately accepted our invitation,” Kelikian wrote in an email to the Justice. Throughout the film, countless people are inspired by Abargil to talk about their assaults. During the question-and-answer session
PASSIONATE AND EMPOWERED: Abargil arrived on stage to a standing ovation after the screening of her film to answer questions from the audience.
after the film, an audience member even raised her hand and shared her own story. Abargil and the audience clapped, and Abargil graciously thanked her for sharing her story. “Oh, you don’t know how many [rape victims have spoken to me] since the film, how many stories of girls and women and men that come to me. It gives me a lot of strength because it feels like you’re not alone and that there is life afterwards. You see me in the film and you see me today—you understand that you can go through what happened to you and look at the half-full glass. If you’re still here, there’s a reason,” Linor explained to the Justice. “For, me that’s the best gift that I can get from this film and I think for life … I want to shout out my truth, and I want other girls to feel like I do and be strong.” Peer advocates from the Brandeis Rape Crisis Center were present at the Brave Miss World screening in a private room nearby. Their presence was announced prior to the screening to offer support to people who might feel triggered. Marketing and Outreach Coordinator Victoria Jonas ’15 works with the center to provide direct support to members of the Brandeis community who are impacted by sexual violence. “It was a wonderful opportunity to have Linor Abargil, who is so influential in sexual violence awareness and activism, come to Brandeis to share her story,” Jonas wrote in an email to the Justice. “It’s vital for communities like Brandeis to start having conversations about the ubiquity of sexual violence and shed the silence surrounding this sensitive topic; Abargil’s visit contributed to this important goal.” A crowd flocked to hug and speak to Abargil after the screening. “I cried like the whole time ... you can ask my wife. I cried every three minutes,” Rabbi David Pardo told the Justice. Brave Miss World and Abargil’s talk moved Brandeis community
members in deep and personal ways. “We [fraternities] provide the space... where this stuff happens more often than in other spaces” Eli Harrison ’18, a new member of Alpha Epsilon Pi’s Brandeis chapter, said. “I see that as a responsibility and something that I take very, very seriously.” Pardo realized that he too has “a bigger role to play” in rape awareness. “Being a rabbi on campus means a lot of things to a lot of people, and a lot of purposes, and a lot of roles to play ... I hadn’t thought about rape awareness as being one of them, and now I do.” Others took away new understandings of sexual violence. “I had never thought of rape as such a dangerous thing. The way Linor brought light to that really was very important,” said Polina Dolgopolskaia ’17. Even while traveling, sharing her own story and raising a family, Abargil has been able to grapple her way out of the past and move into the fu-
ture. She is now a lawyer, hoping to help victims of rape. She is a wife and a mother of three. She has also decided to practice Orthodox Judaism for spiritual guidance. Linor has also started a social media movement—#IAmBrave—wencouraing victims of rape to publicly share their stories. Whether through film, speaking engagements or Facebook, her message remains clear: speak out. She believes that everything changes for society and the individual when you start talking about it. After the question-and-answer session, Abargil facetimed Stein’s friend, who essentially inspired the event, in the lobby of Wasserman theater with an anxious crowd awaiting before her and told her that she is a hero to her for speaking out. —Mariya Greeley contributed reporting.
A CARING CROWD: Many students like Eli Harrison ’18 (middle) and Brittany Wolfe ’18 (center right) lined up after the event to praise and thank Abargil for coming.
MEETING A HERO: Ethan Stein ’15 (left) played an important role in bringing the Brave Miss World film to campus, after he was inspired by a friend speaking out about her sexual assault on social media because of Abargil’s documentary.
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10 TUESDAY, March 31, 2015 ● THE JUSTICE
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Justice Established 1949
Brandeis University
Rachel Hughes, Editor in Chief Tate Herbert, Senior Editor Glen Chagi Chesir, Managing Editor Jessie Miller, Sam Mintz and Max Moran, Deputy Editors Avi Gold, Associate Editor Abby Patkin and Rachel Sharer, Acting News Editors Brianna Majsiak, Features Editor Jessica Goldstein, Acting Forum Editor Noah Hessdorf, Sports Editor Emily Wishingrad and Brooke Granovsky, Arts Editors Morgan Brill and Grace Kwon, Photography Editors Brittany Joyce, Online Editor Carmi Rothberg, Copy Editor Aliza Kahn and Talia Zapinsky, Advertising Editors
EDITORIALS Demand end to significant tuition hikes As is standard procedure in higher education, Senior Vice Presient and Chief Operating Officer Bill Schaller announced a 3.7 percent rise in tuition, room and board on Monday for the 2015 to 2016 academic year. The total cost of attendance of our prestigious socially just University, including tuition, room and board, will be approximately $65,300. In other news, the cost of a barrel of oil dropped a few basis points, and the S&P 500 saw gains throughout the day. The annual tuition increase— not only at Brandeis but across the country—has become so matter-of-fact that it ought to belong with other financial news in Forbes as opposed to the Chronicle of Higher Education. This should not be the norm in higher education, nor should it be for Brandeis. The perils of perpetual tuition hikes have been well argued in the zeitgeist; the commoditization of education is a dangerous path which leaves education for only the select few who can afford it. The tuition hike of our institution begs an even deeper level of scrutiny. Of course, this board wonders how one can reconcile a nearly $70,000 cost of attendance—more than four times the annual salary of a national minimum wage worker—with social justice. But in more grounded terms, we wonder why this tuition hike was necessary in the first place. As has been touted by the University, most notably by University President Frederick Lawrence and Provost Lisa Lynch at a November 2014 faculty meeting, the University is expected to run at a surplus for the next 10 years, including this upcoming year with its higher cost of attendance. The reasons stated behind the guaranteed surplus are “strong undergraduate enrollment,” “higher personnel vacancy savings,” “energy efficiency efforts and other procurement efforts,” as Senior Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer Marianne Cwalina told the Justice at the time. Increasing tuition was not mentioned as a driver toward the surplus. Even more so, the University appears to have accrued some semblance of disposable funds with the recent $32 million sale of Brandeis House in New
Freeze tuition rates York City. Lynch implied that these funds could be used for reinvestment in faculty—an operational use we endorse. Regardless, the budgetary surplus of the University appears to have just grown by $32 million—and nevertheless, tuition increased yet again. At their core, universities exist for the purposes of teaching, learning and conducting research—all other costbased factors should be with the express intent of supporting those core competencies. Universities need students and faculty to teach and learn; everything else is secondary. The notion of tuition remaining constant is not unheard of in higher education. Purdue University has maintained a tuition freeze for a third straight year, with President Mitch Daniels noting, “Instead of asking our students’ families to adjust their budgets to our desired spending, let’s try to adjust our spending to their budgets.” Mount Holyoke College, Sewanee; the University of the South and, most recently, Howard University have all frozen tuition for at least one year. Still others, like Seton Hall University and Ashland University, have decreased tuition. Inflation is a buzzword others have managed to overcome; why can’t we? The broader aim of the operational budget, especially as a nonprofit institution, should not be to maximize potential cash flow to produce the largest surplus, rather, it should strive to operate on minimal cost. We are well aware of the budget constraints that are associated with a University as young and small as ours. Yet this year presented a unique opportunity to display a sign of good faith toward the student body. The budget surplus coupled with the Brandeis House cash flow influx presented an opportunity to keep the already exorbitant tuition stagnant, if even just for one year. Such a move would have exemplified the Brandeisian commitment to social justice—instead the words are, once again, hollow.
Applaud University commencement choices Yesterday, the names of those invited to the 2015 Commencement exercises to receive honorary degrees, as well as the name of the commencement speaker, were released by the University. Encompassing an uncharacteristically diverse group of individuals—in terms of their professional fields, interests and backgrounds—this board applauds the Board of Trustees and University President Frederick Lawrence for the selections. Former United Nations diplomat Thomas R. Pickering will be the commencement speaker, and the University has invited ballerina Suzanne Farrell, writer Jamaica Kincaid, chef and restaurateur Yotam Ottolenghi and poet and literary critic Helen Vendler to receive honorary degrees. We are enthused to welcome a group of honorary degree recipients with
Recognize diversity such sundry artistic interests—from dance to literature to the culinary arts. A March 10, 2014 letter from the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies program found that no commencement since 1972 had more women honored than men, and we laud the decision this year to have a split of three women to two men honored at Commencement, a welcome change from the usual. The University is sure to have many people pay close attention to who he was selecting for honorary degrees this year, and this board welcomes the diversity of experiences and backgrounds of the candidates. Led by a speaker related to the growing IGS program, the honorary degree recipients reflect the diversity of the campus onto which they are invited.
BEN JARRETT/the Justiice
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Last Monday, SeaWorld revealed a new advertising campaign bent on improving its image. The theme park has received considerable backlash since the release of 2013 documentary Blackfish, which accused the park of mistreating its orcas,also known as killer whales. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals insists that SeaWorld misrepresents the lifespan of orcas in captivity--claiming that they live nine years less than their wild counterparts, on average. SeaWorld denies such a claim. What do you think about the conditions of orcas or killer whales in captivity? Do you believe SeaWorld will be able to attract visitors back to the park?
Sophie Freije ’17 Orcas are wild animals; it is a simple fact that should sufficiently counter even SeaWorld’s most benevolent captivity practices. Killer whales inhabit miles of ocean water, sufficiently feeding themselves without doing tricks or giving grown men and women piggy back rides. Despite these facts of nature, SeaWorld’s history of light-hearted shows has enabled visitors to see orca captivity as a means for harmless entertainment rather than a serious problem. However, research and documentaries such as Blackfish are changing SeaWorld’s reputation, not to mention their dwindling profit margins. Until SeaWorld provides concrete proof of improving their hospitality toward orcas and other sea life, I doubt they will be able to restore their visitors to pre-Blackfish levels. And to be frank, this is probably not such a bad thing. Sophie Freije’ 17 is the president of Students for Environmental Action.
Clayre Benzadon ’17 The conditions of orcas and killer whales in captivity are horribly unethical. The animals that are placed in these theme parks are trapped, trained and are at risk for major physical and psychological disorders. With not enough space to swim in, the whales are at risk of developing many disorders that hinder their growth, with depression being one of the biggest illnesses that plague them. I don’t think Seaworld will be able to attract the visitors who are aware of the conditions in which the animals are being treated under. However attractions that are targeted specifically at children will always be a source of revenue because of the fact that zoos, Seaworld and other attractions that include animals are a convenient way to entertain children. However, if more and more people know about the ugly business behind corporations like Seaworld, then hopefully these theme parks will lose the sufficient revenue necessary to struggle in keeping theme parks around the world open. Clayre Benzadon is majoring in Psychology. She is a Florida resident.
Gaby Yeshua ’17 The subject of animal captivity is a hard one with seemingly only two choices—either forcing wild animals to live in unusual, sometimes cruel, circumstances or making it nearly impossible for people to experience these animals. The only good I can gather from animal captivity, especially in the case of orcas, is that people have the chance to see and experience these animals in ways they wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. These experiences could even be what caused animal activists to do the job they do. But is the experience worth it at the expense of the animal? I don’t think so. I believe forcing animals, especially large ones, to live in tiny tanks is dangerous and cruel for the animal as well as its handlers. Without a doubt, keeping large animals in small enclosures severely lowers their quality of life as well as their longevity. It leads to depression and even suicide amongst the larger animals. All this negative publicity has seriously made SeaWorld take a huge hit, but I think rightly so. I know I, for one, will not be giving SeaWorld my money or patronage. Gaby Yeshua ’17 is the editorial cartoonist for the Justice.
Matt Smetana ’17
Having recently seen Blackfish, what captivity does to these large, intelligent mammals is truly horrific. The whales are subjected to many adverse conditions in captivity that they wouldn’t have faced in nature. In the wild, orcas travel in inseparable pods, each whale one of their family members. SeaWorld separates these family groups, sending members (even babies) to other parks around the planet, leaving a tank full of strangers that are unable to communicate with one another. Furthermore, stress levels in these cramped quarters are high, and the animals will lash out, inflicting large wounds on nearby killer whales. These, coupled with other unnatural conditions, have lead to the deaths of numerous trainers, like Dawn Brancheau’s in 2011. As much as SeaWorld might try to save its name, you can’t navigate past this unfair treatment of animals. Until SeaWorld alters their entire system, I think consumers will continue to look elsewhere for entertainment. Matt Smetana ’17 is the co-chair for the Brandeis Sustainability Committee and is a member of Students for Environmental Action.
THE JUSTICE
READER COMMENTARY Support China’s 2022 Olympic bid In response to your article “Deny Beijing 2022 Olympics bid on human rights violations” (March 24): I found your article ignorant of several points regarding China. You write, “We shouldn’t allow China to host such an esteemed international event again. China will always be China.” I found this highly disturbing. To me, it suggests that China should never be given a chance to present its offerings to the world. Also, this line offensively places China in a lowly status, unworthy of international respect or acceptance. Although many countries claim China is alienating the world, the converse could be true too. I particularly found issue with your paragraphs about Tibet. You refer to Tibet as a “country” that China invaded, even though Tibet (“Tibet Autonomous Region”) has been a part of China for centuries. Moreover, your article portrays China as an evil bent on destroying Tibetans’ livelihood, though the truth is China has greatly improved their livelihood. During the fifties, average life expectancy in Tibet was in the mid thirties, and illiteracy was rampant. Today, average life expectancy there is 67, and students have bilingual Tibetan and Han Chinese education (Tibetan language is not stifled; I have been to Tibet, and no one was forced to speak Mandarin). China has also invested in monastery restoration and Tibetan culture preservation. Therefore, I strongly disagree that “China’s government is so bent on breaking down Tibet’s [peace and collaboration].” You conclude with “[t]he purpose of the Olympics is to promote global collaboration, peace and a sharing of culture.” China seeks these goals. The motto for the Beijing Olympics was “One World, One Dream.” I will not say China is perfect. Unfortunately, if the world does not give China a chance, it is not promoting these goals itself. Instead, it is turning away more than 1.3 billion people who may feel betrayed at being barred from showing China to the world. ——Jassen Lu ’15
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Condemn unjust University firing practices By ALIZA VIGDERMAN special to the justice
I don’t consider myself a political person. I know embarrassingly little about the Arab-Israeli conflict, I am unsure who our Secretary of State is, and the only thing I have “organized” is my binder. But the recent events regarding Cholmondeley’s demonstrate the administration’s total disconnect with the student body it serves. My apathy has been challenged. Enough is enough. Last Wednesday night, I went to Chum’s to set up for an Open Mic Night for Where the Children Play, Brandeis’ arts and literary magazines. The event was to start at 8 p.m. When we arrived at 7:30, we found Robbie Steinberg, the student activities specialist, standing in the freezing rain, saying that Public Safety was late because of medical emergencies and would be right there to open the door. Before Student Activities switched the locks, Chum’s employees were able to let themselves in. While I obviously respect medical emergencies as being significantly more important than our Open Mic Night, I have to wonder why it is necessary that the two should affect each other in the slightest. If student activities is going to be supervising events at Chum’s, shouldn’t they also have a key to the building? Shouldn’t the people supposedly “in control” actually be given the simple tools or training to wield that control? In dealing with employment, Student Activities has been characterized by a lack of training and communication, both with their own staff and the Chum’s staff. After standing in the cold for 20 minutes, I gave Robbie my phone to call Public Safety and ask where they were. It was 7:50, and they said they’d be there at 7:05. I wondered why he didn’t just make the 30-foot walk over to the police station, but I held my tongue, thinking there must be some sort of reason for his stagnation. I gave him my phone and he called them. “They said they didn’t know we were still waiting!” he said. Public Safety arrived a few minutes later and let us in. The open mic night went as planned—except for a few hiccups. Leigh Hilderbrandt, the Department of Student Activities marketing and box office manager, “supervised.” And by supervised, I mean sat behind the counter playing a computer game on her laptop, unable to operate the sound equipment or even the heat (my toes are still thawing). A former Chum’s employee set up the sound equipment and facilitated the entire event, making food and a comfortable space. Simply being a body behind a counter does not accomplish the many tasks which Chum’s employees were paid to do. This was reaffirmed by the employees’ integral role in making our Open Mic Night a success. Of course, Chum’s employees had their obvious faults, especially in their fire safety and interview practices. This debacle was started when two students, not employees of Chum’s, set off the fire alarm by smoking in the back early this month. The Chum’s employees working at the time did
MARGOT FIELD/the Justice
not evacuate after the fire alarm went off. Of course, both the smoking and the fire safety, or lack thereof, are unacceptable and detrimental to the student body. However, the Chum’s employees were under-trained by Student Activities, their alleged supervisor. The University did not provide staff-wide food or fire safety training or tell them how to run a business, several Chum’s employees have told me. The firing (and let’s call a spade a spade: Senior Vice-President of Students Andrew Flagel sent an email that stated the employees were not fired and also noted that “all current Chum’s employees will be considered” for employment upon the reopening. How can you be considered for a job you already have?) of all the Chum’s employees, and subsequent replacement of them with employees from the Department of Student Activities, is at worst degrading and at best simply impractical. Student Activities employees have no idea how to run a coffee shop, a concert venue, open mic nights or any realistic use of Chum’s. Putting a body behind the counter does not accomplish the tasks it takes to run a coffee shop. In theory, Stephanie Grimes, the director of Student Activities, “serves as a liaison between the University and the students in moments of crisis or challenge,” according to Brandeis’ website. Chum’s, which operates under the Department of Student Activities, has always been student-run. Students are in charge of hiring, ordering food, scheduling shifts—anything that takes running a coffeehouse and event venue. Grimes’ role should be to keep Chum’s both orderly and safe, which is very possible with open communication and the appropriate safety training. Instead, Grimes chose the extreme solution to a solvable problem, erasing the student-run culture at Chum’s that has been cultivated since it first opened in the 1960s. Ironically, Grimes has replaced who she thought were incompetent employees with even less competent employees, fresh from her own department. While Chum’s employees are able to
set up sound systems and lights and serve food at the same time, the Student Activities employees, temporary Chum’s supervisors, do not function in any capacity aside from a scowling presence. Rather than offering fire, food and other safety training to the Chum’s employees and understanding the importance of this safe space, Grimes literally erased the culture of Chum’s. The facility’s walls, which for years were filled with students’ drawings, words and even signatures from bands, are now bare. I can’t think of a more perfect metaphor for the erasure of a culture than this. Following the outrage regarding this clear violation, Flagel decided to pay the employees while they are being “reorganized,” a cheap way to buy their silence, confirmed in an email sent on March 23. The term “reorganization” has not been defined by the administrators, according to the former (suspended on paid leave) co-manager of Chum’s, Josh Berman ’15. A review of staff will begin, although the administration has only vaguely expressed how this will take place. A lack of communication and accountability characterizes the meetings between the Chums employees and the administration. Hundreds have emailed administrators in support of a student-run Chum’s, including myself. The decision to “reorganize” the staff goes beyond the Chum’s employees themselves—it affects people like me and many others who go to hang out, dance, hear music and meet new people without feeling judged or uncomfortable. Chum’s is an essential space at Brandeis. A Chum’s that is not student-run is not the Chum’s I, and many other students before me, have come to see as home. The University’s policy of “reorganizing,” a not-so-clever euphemism for displacing students and spaces, exemplifies the administration’s incompetence and ignorance of student needs. —Aliza Vigderman ’15 is an editiorial staff member for Where the Children Play.
Encourage understanding in Israel-Palestine conversation Kahlil
OPPENHEIMER uNEDITED JUSTICE
On March 21, over 3,000 people applauded after each and every sentence of the “Pro Israel Pro Peace” sentiment delivered at J Street’s 5th national conference in Washington D.C. The J Street president, Jeremy Ben-Ami, announced that Americans should support a two-state solution because it is good for Israel’s stability, condemn expanding settlements in the West Bank because it is good for Israel’s reputation and think critically of Israel’s government because it is good for Israel’s health. While I agree that Americans should support two states, condemn expanding settlements and think critically of Israel’s government, I do not think we should do it because we are pro-Israel. I think we should do it because we support the sovereignty of the Palestinian people, because expanding settlements in occupied territory violates the Fourth Geneva Convention and because critical thought is necessary of any government. I spoke with a lot of people throughout the conference, and many mentioned how hard it is for them to hear “anti-Israel” sentiment. They like J Street because it lets them critique Israel while still feeling “pro-Israel.”
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I realized I was not J Street’s intended audience. J Street’s website boasts its “commitment to Jewish and democratic values” and its motto, “Pro Israel Pro Peace.” I am not Jewish, I have never been to Israel and the community I grew up around holds no views towards Palestine or Israel. I wanted to hear stronger language from the speakers, but I recognized that this conference was not catered to people like me.
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It takes true courage from both sides to try to dissect emotion to salvage logic and reason. Shula Ornstein ’16, another conference attendee from Brandeis, grew up with a father who is a rabbi and went to Jewish summer camps from a young age. Ornstein described Israel as being sacred in most contexts in the communities she grew up in, from the time she spent in synagogue to dinner conversations with her family. To her, disagreeing with Israel is disagreeing with her family, friends and religious community, who treat her with nothing but unconditional love. Ornstein says it is difficult to listen to ex-
Fine Print
The opinions stated in the editorial(s) under the masthead on the opposing page represent the opinion of a majority of the voting members of the editorial board; all other articles, columns, comics and advertisements do not necessarily. For the Brandeis Talks Back feature on the last page of the newspaper, staff interview four randomly selected students each week and print only those four answers. The Justice is the independent student newspaper of Brandeis University. Operated, written, produced and published entirely by students, the Justice includes news, features, arts, opinion and sports articles of interest to approximately 3,500 undergraduates, 900 graduate students, 500 faculty and 1,000 administrative staff. In addition, the Justice is mailed weekly to paid subscribers and distributed throughout Waltham, Mass. The Justice is published every Tuesday of the academic year with the exception of examination and vacation periods. Advertising deadlines: All insertion orders and advertising copy must be received by the Justice no later than 5 p.m. on the Thursday preceding the date of publication. All advertising copy is subject to approval of the editor in chief and the managing and advertising editors.
treme critique of Israel because it feels like these critiques attack her home, family and value system. She is absolutely right: extreme language can dissuade the very people it attempts to persuade. Ornstein got involved with J Street largely because it uses language accessible to people with similar backgrounds to hers. She can engage in critical discussion without feeling like she is betraying her friends and family by further exploring other viewpoints. We are all human. We all have topics that espouse irrational defense from us. This is true of both the pro-Israel and pro-Palestine camps. And it takes courage from both sides to discuss such issues. It takes courage from the presenter to soften his language, and it takes courage from the receiver to listen and remain open-minded. It takes true courage from both sides to try to dissect emotion to salvage logic and reason. It takes true courage to reflect. And the fact that J Street’s rhetoric allows Ornstein and others like her to reflect is paramount. Bassam Aramin, a keynote Palestinian speaker who resides in East Jerusalem, spoke at the opening night of the conference about his life experiences and how they shape his worldview. Aramin served seven years in prison starting at age 17 for planning an attack on Israeli soldiers. But during his time in prison, he reflected on the dangers of violent protest. In 2005, he founded Combatants for Peace, an organization of former Israeli and Palestinian combatants leading a non-violent protest
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against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. In 2007, Aramin’s ten-year-old daughter was killed by a rubber bullet from an Israeli soldier. After the two minutes of silence in memory of Aramin’s daughter, I expected him to condemn Israel. I expected him to be fierce, angry and emotional. Instead, he stepped up to the microphone and spoke with a level voice, keeping his body movements minimal and controlled. He spoke about moving forward. He spoke of loving Israel and the Jewish people like he loves his own family and about how no one deserves the kind of misery he has endured. Aramin did not just say what he felt. He said what would be heard. It would have been easy for Aramin to demonize Israel for taking his daughter’s life. But he chose to say something that the audience would consider rather than immediately refute. He chose to say something for which there is no canned response. He did not critique Israel. He critiqued violence. And he was heard. I spoke with Aramin later in the conference. I asked him if it is difficult to speak to a room of 3,000 people, many of whom support a state responsible for the murder of his tenyear-old daughter. I asked if it is difficult for him to dampen and cater his language for this crowd, even though they often do not do the same for Palestinians. “I don’t speak to the people who already agree with me,” he responded. “I speak so that the people who don’t will listen.”
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TUESDAY, March 31, 2015
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THE JUSTICE
FORUM
Support American Sign Language class on campus By Carmen altes special to the justice
Let’s talk about bilingualism, and let’s talk about ignorance, and let’s talk about inclusion both on and off the Brandeis campus. Our community would benefit from the curricular addition of American Sign Language—and our student body wants it. After demonstrated student interest, through polling and through clubsponsored course attendance, efforts are being made to bring ASL to our campus as a for-credit, language-requirement-satisfying course option. Through dialogue with faculty who are familiar with either ASL or the process of amending the school’s curriculum, conversation with students and research on other universities who have successfully brought the language to their communities this initiative is moving steadily toward realization. The social movement in the U.S. toward acknowledging the Deaf community (with a capitalD to indicate cultural aspects and not exclusively physical attributes) is a recent but powerful one. Between 1995 and 2009, student enrollment at the college level in ASL jumped from a mere 4,304 to over 90,000, according to the New York Times— and the trend has continued. According to the Modern Language Association, ASL is now the fourth most studied modern and foreign language at colleges and universities in the United States, claiming a higher percentage of enrollment than the top three language offerings—Spanish, French and German—at institutions teaching ASL. Although the cause is undeniably complex, the augmented interest and involvement of the hearing community can likely be attributed to both a better and a wider representation of the Deaf community in casual and entertainment forums (in large part due to popular television shows like Switched at Birth and internet video resources—both effectively manufacturing easier access, and increased feelings of relatability with the Deaf community); and, preceding this, the acceptance of ASL as a real, independent and legitimate language in its own right. This has been a tremendous and crucial leap— sign languages are complex and distinct not only among countries (ASL is derived from the first formalized and recorded sign language, originating in France), but also regionally. Just as you recognize different accents and speech patterns, so do ASL speakers. Signers from the northern United States sign more quickly than those from the South; some signs are unique to the East Coast and would not be used on the West Coast. And furthermore, in the relatively recent historical move toward recognition of the legitimacy of signed languages, the Deaf community (with a capital-D to indicate cultural aspects and not exclusively physical attributes) has become more visible, slowly less stigmatized and more accepted. ASL is a rich, unique, fully visual and highly expressive language. What is more, speakers of ASL are sometimes estimated at a half a million in the United States, many of whom are deaf (referring to the medical phenomenon), hard of hearing (experiencing partial hearing loss) or Deaf (belonging culturally to the Deaf community, often deaf or hard of hearing, but not always). And yet, they
BEN JARRETT/the Justice
are circumstantially rejected or misunderstood by a majority of the population, due in large part to underexposure, misunderstanding and consequential disinterest. To be clear, the Deaf community is a proud and vibrant one. Students should take advantage of the extensive opportunities to interact with, or just experience, ASL in Boston, where a wide range of events—spanning from poetry slams, to theater, to hangouts and beyond occur regularly. Already, there is a unique opportunity to be immersed in a new culture, with a new language, just 20 minutes away—which is really just spectacular and exceptional. But students should also have access to ASL and Deaf education oncampus. Brandeis’ foreign language requirement webpage elucidates that “[c]ommunicating in another language challenges unexamined habits of mind, enriches the imagination and grants access to the world through sources in languages other than English.” This argument applies abundantly to the case for teaching ASL on the Brandeis campus as a for-credit course. Brandeis’ American Sign Language Club, which is spearheading the initiative to ensure that ASL is recognized by our University, is now in its third year, but not its first incarnation. Past manifestations of the club have also led similar initiatives and found student interest but have been unable to work through administrative logistics. The process of bringing a new language class to the University involves conundrums such as the need to secure student commitment to prospective classes without being able to promise the availability of said classes (which can only be promised with concrete student commitment). The catalyzers of the enterprise are
also left to find and secure prospective professors and ascertain a willing departmental host. Simply put, the process is filled with many question marks and many contingent and volatile variables. This said, the current ASL club has made historic progress. Student enthusiasm has manifested itself through club attendance and through student willingness to devote an hour and a half weekly on formal but unrecognized coursework to learning the language simply for the sake of learning. In past semesters, students have devoted large portions of their Sundays to attending ASL courses at Harvard University, as well as paying the subsidized fee for said classes. The hope is that Brandeis will agree to begin the first semester with the level 10 ASL course, the second with level 20, and the following with both 10 and 30 levels so that students can complete the requisite three semesters of the language requirement. Following the recent success of the Korean language addition, there is optimism regarding ASL’s pending acceptance into the curriculum. However, ASL faces barriers, such as less recognition and a less organic support foundation, given that many mistakenly fail to recognize that the language is associated with a distinct culture and nation. In harmony with Brandeis’ reputation as a school that concerns itself with social justice and inclusion and as a school that boasts good and responsive rapport with its student body, Brandeis would do well to introduce ASL classes to the curriculum. Such an action would demonstrate an interest in adding new perspectives and greater diversity to our community. Furthermore, said addition would be illustrative of Brandeis’ commitment to progress, acceptance and rejection
of antiquated ignorance regarding the marginalized and largely unconsidered. And if somehow the ethical and principled argument isn’t enough, consider this: ASL is a great alternative to more traditional languages such as Spanish and French because one is taught and learns visually as opposed to aurally. For students who prefer visual learning, or who have found voiced accents challenging, ASL will provide a new approach. This is certainly not to say that ASL is an easy language to learn—it is a full language with grammar and vocabulary just like any other, with the additional challenge of learning to incorporate facial expression, body posture and movement in space grammatically. Additionally, the ability to list proficiency in ASL along with any major—particularly Psychology or Linguistics—is strategically relevant. For students interested in pursuing language acquisition, a career in speech pathology, when a client may suffer great difficulty using their voices, with pronunciation or with other methods of expression, or even interpretation, the linguistic introduction during one’s undergraduate career can only be beneficial. Even external to these specific examples, regardless of your profession, you may find yourself working with Deaf individuals—bilingualism is always relevant. In adopting ASL as a for-credit, language-requirement-fulfilling course, Brandeis would be representing not only the student body, but also the principles by which it purports to abide. —Carmen Altes ’16 is the former publicity coordinator for Brandeis’ American Sign Language Club.
Criticize Senator Ted Cruz’s bid for Republican nomination By ABE CLARK jUSTICE STAFF WRITER
Texas Senator Ted Cruz set off a media firestorm last week by becoming the first to announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination in 2016. The media has generally described Cruz as a passionate, hard-line conservative and a polarizing figure. Writing for Fox News, Michael Goodwin argued that Cruz has a chance at becoming our next president, calling him “a brilliant man of clear conservative convictions, not muddled by the politics of calculation.” It’s a nice sentiment, but it also effectively illustrates the underlying problem with candidates like Cruz and with our political system in general: being “muddled” by a willingness to compromise is actually a trait we should pursue in a potential president, not vilify. Working on the problems we face as a nation requires considerable “calculation,” or reasoned, pragmatic solutions. What we don’t need is more blanket ideology, no matter how passionate. In light of the government shutdown of 2013, it’s been made clear that the blatantly dysfunctional nature of Congress is a serious issue. The 112th and 113th congressional sessions, our last two congresses, have been the two least productive—in terms of bills passed—in American history and scored the lowest approval ratings since 1974, according to NBC. Political polarization lies at the root of this dysfunction, because as politicians move further and further away from each other, they lose their ability to find any reasonable middle ground. This undermines our democratic
process by eliminating our ability to work together to find solutions to the problems we face. As a senator, Ted Cruz epitomizes the polarization of Congress in his inability to compromise; the junior senator has passed just one bill so far, a unanimously supported, noncontroversial effort to stop Iran’s envoy from entering the US. Possibly our biggest concern in 2008 was health care. A 2009 study from Harvard University found that 45,000 people died every year from lack of access to health care, and those who had no health insurance were 40 percent more likely to die of preventable causes. In response to this awful scenario, Congress passed the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, making health insurance affordable for low-income earners and closing loopholes that allowed health insurance companies to deny coverage. Obamacare was initially a compromise; far more moderate than the single-payer system President Barack Obama championed in 2008, it most closely resembled the health care system put in place by Republican Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts. As a system that mandates minimum health insurance coverage and subsidizes it for low-income earners, Obamacare is ironically similar to the plan put forward by Senator John McCain during the 2008 election. But compromises that could potentially save thousands of lives don’t fit neatly within the confines of Ted Cruz’s far-right ideology; Cruz championed the conservative pushback against Obamacare, filibustering its passage and shutting down the government in an attempt to defund the bill. Since then, Cruz has promised to “repeal ev-
ery word of Obamacare,” bringing us back to the reality of 2008, when health and life expectancy were a matter of finances. Perhaps most disconcerting about the stubborn nature of U.S. politics is our inability to act in the best interests of the country. Following the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where a shooter used a legally-purchased gun to kill 20 school children and six adult staff members, a bipartisan coalition of senators proposed legislation that would limit the number of bullets that can be held by a magazine and extend universal background checks to keep assault weapons from potentially dangerous individuals. Cruz, along with all but four senate Republicans and most southern Democrats, opposed all measures to reduce gun violence, with Cruz arguing that the Obama administration tried to use the shooting as “an excuse to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding senators” and has continued to urge Republicans not to compromise on the issue. Before the vote, polls showed overwhelming support for universal background checks, including 92 percent of gun owners and 86 percent of Republicans supporting the bill. This was an opportune moment for politicians to answer their constituencies bring about meaningful change in public policy and hopefully reduce gun violence in the process. But Cruz is not motivated by a desire to lower the murder rate or decrease the number of mass murders; rather, he is motivated to protect his exact ideology down to the letter, regardless of its effect on the lives of Americans. This is unproductive, harmful politics and the diametric opposite of what we
need in 2016. There’s no doubt that liberals are also at fault for some of our political polarization. Liberal politicians can be just as unwilling to compromise as conservatives, and our twitterization of social politics has eroded conversations down to slogans. But Ted Cruz stands out as a particularly dangerous politician, the type to give ideological objections to pragmatic solutions and shut down our government rather than compromise on health care. When the time comes to pick a candidate for the 2016 election, I hope Democrats won’t merely endorse a liberal version of Ted Cruz in the future but will instead put forth a candidate who will fight arguments of shallow passion with arguments of substance. Despite our stagnant Congress, we’ve made some significant progress over the past eight years, bringing health care to millions of uninsured and cutting unemployment nearly in half. However, over 10,000 Americans continue to die from gun violence every year, and millions of Americans continue working full-time while requiring government assistance to live. The biggest challenge for our next president will be to build upon our successes while working to break down the polarization of Congress so we can move toward a more productive future and address those issues we still face. As a senator, and now as a candidate, Cruz represents an undoing of all the progress we’ve made over the last eight years and a continued barricade to progress and compromise. In other words, Cruz embodies everything wrong with American politics in 2015 and should be ignored as a potential candidate.
THE JUSTICE
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Tuesday, march 31, 2015
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TRACK: Pisarik finishes second in 1500-meter run
EYES ON THE BALL
CONTINUED FROM 16 first runner in the 4x400-meter relay. Maggie Hensel ’16 and Ashley Hebard ’17 were the second and third runners, with Burhans at the anchor position to help the squad finish second in the very competitive race. Hebard also ran in the 400-meter dash, in which she finished in 32nd place with a time of 1:09.46. The women’s team had a few more impressive finishes on the day, with Kyra Shreeve ’18 and Hensel combining for third and fourth place finishes in the 800-meter run respectively. Kristi Pisarik ’15 added a second place finish in the 1,500-meter run, making that seven top-10 finishes for the women’s team. Pisarik narrowly missed out on first place in the run. The winning
runner from Tufts finished with a time that was less than two seconds faster than hers. The Judges also competed in the pole vault event, as Beth Deffossez ’18 finished with a vault of 2.60 meters. The leap earned her an 11thplace finish. The team also fared well in the javelin throw as Alyssa Fenenbock ’15 earned a top-10 finish with a throw of 29.00 meters. As the season moves on, the weather conditions should presumably get better than they were on Saturday. “Looking forward, we are hoping mostly to get some good weather so that we get a chance to perform well,” Beckwith said. Both the men and women will next compete in the Amherst Invitational at Amherst College this Saturday afternoon.
BASEBALL: Men earn win in UAA showdown GUILLERMO NARVAEZ/the Justice
GOING FOR THE VOLLEY: Jeff Cherkin ’17 reaches for a hit in the team’s 6-0 victory against Wheaton College this past Friday.
TENNIS: Judges shut out Wheaton at home CONTINUED FROM 16 courts. Cooke earned a straight-set victory on the No. 1 singles court, 7-6 (2), 6-3. The Judges dropped a pair of three-set defeats on the No. 4 and No. 5 courts. JUDGES 2, NO. 26 BATES 5 The men got a doubles victory from the pairing of Michael Arguello ’17 and Jeff Cherkin ’17 on the No. 2 doubles court, defeating their Bates counterparts 8-4. Arguello picked up a 6-4, 6-1 victory on the No. 2 singles court, as well, but was the only member of the Brandeis squad to win on any of the singles courts.
JUDGES 6, WHEATON 0 The squad welcomed Wheaton on Friday afternoon and dispatched the visiting Lyons in less than three hours in a 6-0 victory. The Judges defeated Wheaton 24-4 in doubles play overall. Bunis was happy with the way the team played. “When we are all locked in and playing our best tennis, I believe we can beat any of these nationally ranked teams ... I think the pieces are finally coming together for us and hopefully we can get a big win before going to UAAs” he said. Brian Granoff ’17, Arguello and Bunis swept the first, second and third singles courts respectively to clinch the match, led by Granoff’s 6-4, 6-0
win on the No. 1 court. Granoff was tied at four in the first set and went on an 8-0 run to clinch his match over Wheaton senior David Gassen. Arguello put the finishing touches on the day for the Judges, earning a 6-1, 6-4 victory on the No. 2 court. The men return to action tomorrow when they welcome No. 23 Tufts to the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center before traveling for a match against No. 8 Bowdoin College on Saturday afternoon. The women play in back-to-back matches on Friday and Saturday, squaring off against No. 27 Wellesley College on Friday, followed by a date with No. 4 Amherst College on Saturday afternoon.
CONTINUED FROM 16 hits and only one earned run. He also struck out three batters while giving up one walk. The third inning again marked the turning point for the squad in the game. With the game still scoreless, Pocock singled with the bases loaded to drive in the first two runs of the contest. Later in the third, McCarthy singled to drive in Healy. With the Judges still leading 3-1 in the top of the seventh, pinch runner Ryan Tettemer ’16 scored on a pass ball to increase the team’s lead to three runs. The win marked Miller’s second complete game of the season and pushed his overall record to 3-1 on the year. McCarthy and the team were content with their performance on the weekend. “This weekend was a testament to what we are capable of doing as a team. From top to bottom, everyone did their job. We had some hot bats, and our pitching staff was able to nail it down,” he said. For the two games on Saturday as a whole, the Judges had a few impressive offensive performances. Pocock went 4-7 on the afternoon and added four RBIs to his team-high 18.
Pocock is 11 RBIs ahead of Doyle, who sits second on the team with seven of his own. McCarthy went 3-7 in the two games while Falkson continued his streak of a basehit in every single game, now up to 17. This is the longest such streak since the 2008 season when Drake Livada ’10 had a hit in 17 games. With the three wins on the weekend, Head Coach Pete Varney now has 699 career wins, one away from becoming the 29th coach to reach 700 wins in Division III history. This is Varney’s 34th season at the helm of the team. McCarthy is confident about the team’s chances for the rest of the regular season. He remarked, “We want to keep this streak going, and I'm confident we will. We just need to continue our hard work in practice, stay together as a team and do our jobs when the situation presents itself.” With the wins on the weekend, the Judges have improved their overall record to 7-10. The games were the team’s first playing at an opponent’s stadium. Previously, all contests this season were played at a neutral site. The team will next play next against Rhode Island College at home on Thursday.
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THE JUSTICE
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Tuesday, March 31, 2015
15
INTRAMURAL SPORTS
jUDGES BY THE NUMBERS baseball TEAM STATS
UAA STANDINGS
Runs Batted In
Not including Monday’s games. UAA Conference W L Emory 6 2 WashU 6 2 Case 4 4 Rochester 2 6 JUDGES 2 6 NYU 2 6
W 15 15 6 5 7 5
Overall L Pct. 5 .706 9 .700 7 .500 7 .500 10 .286 12 .273
UPCOMING GAMES: Thursday vs. Rhode Island Saturday vs. Tufts Monday at UMass-Dartmouth
Ryan Pocock ’18 leads the team with 18 RBIs. Player RBI Ryan Pocock 18 Connor Doyle 7 Tom McCarthy 7 Nick Falkson 6
Strikeouts Kyle Brenner ’15 leads all pitchers with 19 strikeouts. Player Ks Kyle Brenner 19 Sean O’Neill 15 Sam Miller 12 Ryan Pocock 9
SOFTBALL UAA STANDINGS
TEAM STATS
Not including Monday’s games.
Runs Batted In
UAA Conference W L Emory 8 2 WashU 8 2 Rochester 6 4 Case 5 5 JUDGES 3 7 NYU 0 10
W 12 21 8 14 6 2
Overall L Pct. 2 .900 6 .800 5 .615 5 .667 7 .462 16 .000
Madison Gagnon ’16 leads the squad with 9 RBIs. Player RBI Madison Gagnon 9 Cori Coleman 8 Madison Hunter 7 Anya Kamber 7
Strikeouts Samantha Wroblewski ’17 leads all pitchers with 26 strikeouts.
UPCOMING GAMES: Tomorrow at Wellesley (DH) Thursday at Bates (DH) Friday at Amherst (DH) *DH=Doubleheader
Player Ks Samantha Wroblewski 26 Sadie-Rose Apfel 9 Melissa Soleimani 6
track & Field TOP PERFORMERS (Men’s)
TOP PERFORMERS (Women’s)
100-Meter Run
800-Meter Run
RUNNER TIME Adam Beckwith 11.83 12.18 Eddie Tai
RUNNER TIME Kyra Shreeve 2:25.00 Maggie Hensel 2:29.00
GRACE KWON/ the Justice
ATTACKING OPPORTUNITY: Smit Mahida ’18 dribbles the ball upcourt in BFC’s loss to Stallion and the Gals last Thursday.
Indoor soccer season ends with champions ■ Tyler Savonen ’15 scored two goals for Rock n Roll to help the team defeat Bugs Life in the men’s championship. By julie mizraji special to the justice
UPCOMING MEETS: Apr. 4 at the Amherst Invitational at Amherst College Apr. 10 at the Connecticut College Distance Carnival at Connecticut College Apr. 16 at the Princeton Invitational at Princeton University
TENNIS Updated season results.
TOP PERFORMERS (Men’s)
TOP PERFORMERS (Women’s)
MEN’S SINGLES Michael Arguello
RECORD 10-6
WOMEN’S SINGLES Carley Cooke
RECORD 6-6
MEN’S DOUBLES Arguello/Cherkin
RECORD 11-6
WOMEN’S DOUBLES Cohen/Cooke
RECORD 6-5
UPCOMING MEET: The women’s team will be at home today against Babson College while the men’s team will play at home tomorrow afternoon against Tufts University.
The Intramural Indoor Soccer playoffs came to a close at the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center last Thursday night with two close contests. In the Co-Ed final, No. 1 Stallion and the Gals won the championship on penalty kicks while the top-ranked Bugs Life took the men’s championship with a close 3-1 victory. Stallion and the Gals 6, BFC 4 (penalty kicks) The coed league started off the night with the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams facing off. The two teams had a regular season combined record of 7-1, and both teams came into the finals off of dominant victories. In the semi-finals, No. 1 Stallion and the Gals defeated Byong Sun 8-3, while No. 2 BFC handed We Got Hart an 8-1 loss. BFC started strong in the final by scoring first with a goal from George Popa ’17 to give the team a
1-0 lead. Later in the half, Dara Spital ’15 and Tyler Savonen ’15 from Stallion and the Gals answered with two goals themselves, making the score 2-1 going into halftime. The game went back and forth in the second half, and with about 30 seconds still left, BFC found themselves down by one goal. With only seconds away from seeing the championship slip away, Ryan Tracy ’17 of BFC kicked in a beautiful shot to tie the game, and the fans went wild. During the sudden-death fiveminute overtime, neither team scored, sending the game into a three-player shoot out. Both teams missed their first kick, but then Spital blasted her shot past goalkeeper Luke Dragonetti ’18. BFC was able to convert on its second penalty kick, but it was all over when Stallion and the Gals’ goalkeeper Joe Graffy ’15 scored, winning the game for his team in penalty kicks 3-1. Rock n Roll 3, Bugs Life 1 The men’s championship game started shortly thereafter. The No.1 seed Bugs Life faced the No. 6 seed Rock n Roll. Bugs Life had gone undefeated in the regular season, scoring at least
nine goals in each contest. In the postseason Bugs Life had won their two contests by scoring 11 goals while only allowing two. Rock n Roll scored 19 goals in their three postseason games and allowed six total goals. Bugs Life came into the finals off of a close 4-2 semi-finals victory over KSA. Rock n Roll’s semi-finals matchup was less competitive, as it dismantled IBS Men 6-1. Savonen, the Rock n Roll captain, scored first at the 10-minute mark of the first half. His teammate Sam Miller ’16 followed shortly after with a rebounded shot, making the game 2-0. Bugs Life never lost hope and battled back to cut the lead in half with a goal by Gaelen Oliver ’15 off a sweet assist from teammate and captain Emil Bender ’15. Both teams battled hard in the second half, but Savonen was able to end Bugs Life’s hopes for a championship with a goal late in the game to win 3-1. The intramural season continues with the outdoor softball season, scheduled to begin on April 13. Registration for the softball season remains open until April 9. —Editor’s note: Julie Mizraji is the Intramural Sports Coordinator
pro sports BRIEF Center Anthony Davis leads New Orleans Pelicans in the fight for the West’s final playoff spot In high school, New Orleans Pelicans center Anthony Davis thought he was going to be a point guard. He had spent years developing his ballhandling skills, worked endlessly to perfect his shooting form and given every indication that he would be recruited at the guard position. Though taller than most, Davis had few options when it came to positioning on the court; his height limited him from stretching into the small or power forward spot. But then, as Davis was struggling to separate himself from his competition, something miraculous happened. Davis grew. A lot. He began freshman year standing at a modest six feet. By senior year, he had stretched quite impressively to six feet, 10 inches. Davis is still growing today, both
physically and metaphorically. At just 22, he is quickly rising to the upper echelon of the National Basketball Association, dazzling fans with his multifaceted skill-set and driving coaches mad with his unstoppable athleticism. While being the best player on a middle-tier team in the Western Conference compromises his case for this year’s MVP award, Davis has steadily proven that he belongs among the league’s elite, and even legendary, performers. Born in the south side of Chicago, Davis attended Perspectives Charter School, an institution known almost exclusively for its academic pedigree. Considering Perspectives’ minimal focus on athletics, the team was content playing in a moderately competitive Chicago basketball league. With worse competition
came less reason for the media to flock to see Davis trounce his foes. However, once Davis found a groove in local Amateur Athletic Union play, scouts took notice and came crawling. Soon after his emergence on the AAU scene, Davis ascended to No. 1 on Scout.com’s list of the top 100 recruits for 2011. Before his senior season, Davis signed a letter of intent to play with the Southeastern Conference powerhouse University of Kentucky Wildcats. In his freshman year at Kentucky, Davis averaged 14.2 points per game, 10.4 rebounds per game and an eye-popping 4.7 blocks per game. Throughout the season, Davis improved his offensive game, proved his worth as an elite rebounder and, most impressively, developed into one of the most in-
timidating rim-protectors in the country. In the 2012 NCAA Tournament, Davis led the Wildcats to the national championship, defeating the University of Kansas Jayhawks in the title game. Soon after Kentucky’s triumph, Davis—along with the rest of the Wildcats’ starting lineup—declared for the National Basketball Association draft. To no one’s surprise, the New Orleans Pelicans selected Davis with the 1st overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft. In his rookie season, Davis averaged 13.5 PPG and 8.2 RPG. In his sophomore season, Davis’ per-game statistics took a significant jump, as he ended the year averaging 20.8 PPG and 10 RPG. In this, his third season, Davis has taken his game to unprecedented heights. He currently averages 24.6 PPG, 10.5 RPG
and 2.9 BPG for a Pelicans team that is fighting for the eighth and final playoff spot out West. Davis proves on a nightly basis that he is an invaluable asset and has earned the respect he’s garnered as one of the league’s most talented, athletic big men today. With his marketable uni brow and awe-inspiring alley-oops and rejections, Davis has quickly become must-see television. Despite being in just his third season, Davis seems to be figuring the ins and outs of the NBA with ease. Right now Davis has positioned his team for a fight with the Oklahoma City Thunder for the eigth and final playoff spot in the Western conference. With nine games left to play, its time for Davis to shine. —Gabriel Goldstein
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GOING FOR GOAL The intramural indoor soccer season concluded with the co-ed and men’s championship games, p. 15.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Waltham, Mass.
tennis
SWEPT AWAY
Teams each win one of two games ■ Haley Cohen ’18 and
Carley Cooke ’15 won their doubles match against Bates College on Sunday. By avi gold JUSTICE editor
The men and women’s tennis teams each split weekend matchups against regional opponents, with the men cruising to a 6-0 victory on Friday before falling 5-2 on Saturday while the women dropped a 7-2 decision on Friday and secured a 5-4 win on Saturday. The women, ranked 28th overall in Division III, worked out a close 5-4 victory over No. 40 Bates College on Saturday, just one day after falling to No. 19 Tufts University. The squad moves to 2-7 overall on the year with these results. The No. 35 men topped Wheaton College (Mass.) 6-0 on Friday but fell to No. 26 Bates by a 5-2 final on
Saturday afternoon, bringing their season record to 4-7 on the year. JUDGES 5, No. 40 BATES 4 The women grabbed two of the three doubles matches in Sunday’s win, backed by an 8-5 victory on the No. 1 court from Haley Cohen ’18 and Carley Cooke ’15. Cooke began singles play strongly for the Judges on the No. 1 court, sweeping her Bates counterpart 6-3, 6-1. Though the Judges dropped three decisions in singles play to even the score at 4-4, Danielle Sims ’18 battled to a match-clinching win on the No. 6 court by a score of 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-4. JUDGES 2, NO. 19 TUFTS 7 On Friday, the squad got a pair of victories from Cooke but managed little else in a 7-2 loss at Tufts. The Judges started the afternoon strong with a 9-7 victory on the No. 1 doubles court, courtesy of Cohen and Cooke, but dropped 8-4 and 8-5 decisions on the other two doubles
See TENNIS, 13 ☛
TRACK & fIELD
MORGAN BRILL/Justice File Photo
GROUNDBALL: First baseman Kyle Brenner ’15 scoops up the ball against the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth last April.
Squad win all three games against NYU ■ Pitcher Sean O’Neill threw
seven shutout innings in the Judges’ 3-1 victory against New York University on Sunday afternoon. By noah hessdorf JUSTICE editor
The men’s baseball team traveled to University Athletic Association rival New York University this past weekend. The squad came away with three victories, 3-1 on Sunday and 4-2 and 11-8 on Saturday. The three games marked NYU’s first home games in 42 years. This is NYU’s first season fielding a baseball team since the 1974 season in which it went 0-14. The Violets, which are composed of 22 freshmen out of a total of 29 players, play their home games at MCU Park. The stadium is the home of the Brooklyn Cyclones, the New York Mets’ Minor League Single A affiliate team. JUDGES 3, NYU 1 The squad got on the board first in the third inning of Sunday’s 3-1 win when outfielder Ryan Healy ’16 singled to the right side, scoring center fielder Liam O’Connor ’16. Pitching was the key to the Judges’ victory as pitcher Sean O’Neill ’18 threw seven shutout innings. With the win, O’Neill improved to an impressive record of 3-1 on
the season. This was his fourth outing in which he went at least seven innings in the contest. In the game, he threw a total of 102 pitches, 65 of which painted the strike zone. O’Neill allowed only four hits and three walks while striking out two batters. It was the third meeting of the season between O’Neill and Violets pitcher freshman Cameron Serapillo-Frank. O’Neill pitched well throughout but ran into trouble in the seventh. After allowing a walk and a base hit, Violets freshman pitch hitter Sam Raskin put a sharp ball into right field. Healy picked up the ball in the outfield and was able to throw out the runner at the plate and mantain the close 1-0 lead. Closer Brent Edmunds ’15 came in for O’Neill and proceeded to get the two-inning save while allowing one run and two hits. First baseman Tom McCarthy ’15 knew that the squad was prepared for this conference test. “We were pretty familiar with NYU, since we had played two times before this weekend. We knew that they were a young team, and we just wanted to get an early lead and let our pitching take care of the rest.“ O’Connor led the offense for the day, going 3-3 with a run scored. Healy added two hits on the day along with his big defensive play. JUDGES 11, NYU 8
In the second game on Saturday, the Judges found themselves trailing early. The Violets had pushed across a run in the first inning for their first-ever lead in their new home field. The team used a five-run third inning to take a commanding lead. Designated hitter Ryan Pocock ’18 started off the scoring with a two-run single to the outfield. Later in the same inning, McCarthy hit a sole home run to right field for his first of the season. In the very next at bat, third baseman Greg Heineman ’16 stretched his shot to right field for an insidethe-park home run. The back-toback home runs gave the Judges a 5-1 lead. The squad would add another run in the fourth when O’Connor came home on a double from shortstop Nick Falkson ’18. Catcher Connor Doyle ’16 and outfielder Ryan Tettemer ’17 added RBIs in the fifth. Pitcher Justin Freeman ’17 picked up his first win of the season after coming in for relief of starter Liam Coughlin ’17. Closer Anthony Nomakeo ’17 worked the last two innings of the game for his first career save. JUDGES 4, NYU 2 Pitcher Sam Miller ’16 led the Judges to a complete game victory in the first game of the doubleheader. In NYU’s first home game of the season, Miller went the full seven innings in 117 pitches, 77 of them being strikes. Miller allowed nine
See BASEBALL, 13 ☛
Squads compete at Tufts at outdoor event ■ Grady Ward ’16 finished
the men’s 800-meter with a time of 2:04.03 that earned him sixth place out of 70. By daniel kanovich JUSTICE staff writer
The men and women’s track and field teams both competed in the Tufts Snowflake Classic at Tufts University on Saturday and had several members record top-10 finishes on a day that saw low temperatures and late March snow. Many regional competitors were at the meet, such as Bridgewater State University and Waltham rival Bentley University. Grady Ward ’16 had the highest finish on the day for the men’s team with a time of two minutes and 4.03 seconds in the 800-meter run that placed him sixth out of a field of 70. In a strong showing by the firstyear competitors, Aaron Karlin ’18 and Benjamin Fong ’18 also placed in the top 20 in the 800-meter run, with times of 2:07.42 and 2:08.22, respectively. Adam Beckwith ’18 notched two strong finishes by coming in 10th in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.23 and 16th in the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.83. Eddie Tai ’16 finished three spots below in the 100-meter dash, finishing in 11.99 seconds, which set a new personal best for Tai. Also in the 200-meter run were Makalani Mack ’16, who ran the race in a time of 25.50, and Jeremy Wilson ’17, who finished with a time of 24.32, good enough for a top-20 finish. Beckwith thought the weather conditions were tough on all of the runners competing, saying, “The cold and the snow really made it difficult to warm up and get ready to run, but I noticed that once people got out on the track, they seemed much warmer and ready to compete fully.” Ryan Stender ’18 recorded a 10th-
place finish in the 1,500-meter run. Stender finished the event with a time of 4:08.92, a little over half a second ahead of the next fastest participant. Mitchell Hutton ’18 joined Stender in the top 20 with a time of 4:14.16. Rounding out the superb day for first-year competitors, Daniel Shin ’18 finished in 10th place in the 400-meter hurdles for the men. Beckwith believes that the older members of the team have been instrumental in the success that the rookies have had. “All of the older men on the team have taught us a lot about effort and dedication, really setting a great example for the newer athletes here.” Jonathan Gilman ’15 buoyed the team in the javelin throw, finishing in fifth place with a personalbest 47.00 meter throw. Also throwing for the Judges were Max Berner ’16 and Eric Leviton ’16. The two finished in 19th and 24th place, respectively. Adam Berger ’16 and Brian Louis ’16 both added strong showings in the Triple Jump, recording jumps of 12.77 and 12.72 meters respectively. In the high jump, Mark Franklin ’17 finished in 15th with a jump of 1.88 meters. The women’s team had an even stronger showing at the Snowflake Classic, netting multiple top-five finishes for Brandeis. Lydia McCaleb ’17 got the Judges’ only first-place finish on the competition, running the 5,000-meter event in 18:45.63. Haliana Burhans ’18 and Tove Freeman ’16 both managed top10 finishes in the 200-meter dash, with Burhans finishing in second place with a time of 27.00 seconds and Freeman finishing slightly behind in eighth place with a time of 28.12 seconds. Burhans was behind the firstplace runner from Tufts by twotenths of a second. Freeman also came in eighth in the 400-meter dash and was the
See TRACK, 13 ☛
JustArts Volume LXVII, Number 24
Your weekly guide to arts, movies, music and everything cultural at Brandeis and beyond
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Waltham, Mass.
LIQUID LATEX >> 20
Interview Column — justArts speaks with Milcah Bassel, the artist behind the Women’s Studies Research Center’s Father Tongue » 18
Death of the Last Black Man
Black culture and the New Acquisitions
INSIDE
exhibit at the Rose Art Museum come
Legally Blonde
Hillel Theater Group’s musical featured this year’s largest theater cast and combined feminism with law and fashion » 21
together in a unique performance » 22
Distance Sarah Waldron’s ’17 new play examines the complexities of self-identification, long
distance relationships and varying mental states » 23
18
justARTS
TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2015 | THE JUSTICE
CALENDAR
INTERVIEW
$
What’s happening in Arts on and off campus this week
ON-CAMPUS EVENTS Film Screening: ‘Anita’
Milcah Bassel
Artist of ‘Father Tongue’ exhibit TOMMY GAO/Justice File Photo
JA: What is the process of creating the wall drawings? MB: Right behind you, you see these pieces of mylar, these are my shapes, these are my building blocks. Hebrew is written from right to left. The way I’m treating the space is like. … you would read it on a page, … and at some point there is going to be an accumulation of letters. They are less decipherable than individual letters, but what I’m doing is using the same five stencils, the same five building blocks, over and over and over again. What I do is, I place them on the wall, and I take the inside of the stenciled area, if I want to be applying graphite or ink on the outside, which would be the negative space, I can do the opposite. … So I’m really just using the stenciling process and developing the composition of the piece as I go along. JA: What is the main idea you hope viewers take away from your work? MB: Well, that goes back to some of the things I was saying before, which is that I think it’s really interesting that people can approach this piece from their own background. … Some people really relate to it because it’s Hebrew; they immediately detect the letters, and there’s something there about the tradition that’s very meaningful to them. ... and then they sort of have to let go of that in order to enter this visual and spatial experience. So that’s one approach. Another approach would be, someone would walk in here and be like, oh, this is so cool, what’s this abstract form and really just relate to it from that visual element. … Then they’re either kind of in between approaches as well, but I really like this idea that we each are able to access information from our own background, and all of those ways are valid. JA: What has been the biggest challenge in the art process? MB: There always are challenges. I guess there is the anxiety of, is this going to happen? Because I am developing on site, and what that means is, I don’t have a master plan, like I don’t know exactly what is going to happen at the end of this installation. … I have a deadline. It has to be up by April 10, and I like there to be a certain amount of time for reflection so that I can kind of check, I can let the work speak back to me as it’s evolving. You know after you put something down, you kind of need to sit down and look at it and see where it’s going, and then ask how it is tying in to these ideas. … turning these letters into spaces, turning letters themselves into a negative space, what does that mean conceptually, when I’m trying to work with something spatial here. So those are the challenges in the work, like, how does that happen in the work? How do I sculpt with these letters and allow that concept to evolve as I’m doing it? … Those are some of the challenges inside the work. Working with the deadline, working on site, produces a certain kind of urgency and a certain kind of challenge, which I enjoy. I enjoy the challenge. —Jaime Gropper
Gallery talk: Melvin Edwards
Today from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in the Heller-Brown building room G3. This event is sponsored by the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy, Brandeis Buddies, and the Nathan and Toby Starr center. This event is free and open to the public.
SSSP: I Am Historic
Stephanie Pierce will be giving a lecture as part of the Post Baccalaureate Program Visiting Artist Lecture Series. Tomorrow from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in Goldman-Schwartz Art Studios. This event is sponsored by the Department of Fine Arts and is free and open to the public.
justArts: Can you give us an overview of this project? Milcah Bassel: I titled the project Father Tongue and that refers to a few different kinds of connections here, but one of the main narratives that kind of leads me into this piece is [that] my father is a traditional Jewish Scribe, and as a child, I’d be watching him copy these letters meticulously day after day after day. I realize now that I didn’t know how to read yet, so for me, this was a very visual experience when I was younger. … So what I did here is—I’m revisiting the Hebrew language now as an artist, as a visual artist, and as somebody who comes from an Orthodox background but is now secular, so in a way, it’s like reclaiming this alphabet for myself. What I did is, I looked through the 22 letters of the Hebrew Alphabet. … I picked these five letters because they are all made up of a right angle, and exclusively of a right angle. … I chose them because they are these very simple, minimal building blocks that are used over and over again to make this language, but they are also geometrical forms that you would find in architecture, and a lot of my work deals with space. … I sort of want the letters to be somewhat recognizable to people who are familiar with Hebrew, and even people who aren’t might recognize them as being some kind of script, but at the same time, I want people to just get lost in this spatial, visual experience. So I’m letting the language aspect of it kind of melt away and revert back into this chaotic state.
Produced by celebrated Argentine filmmaker Marcos Carnevale, Anita follows the journey of a woman with Down Syndrome in the aftermath of the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association. A panel discussion about Down Syndrome will follow the screening with panelists including Tom Sannicandro, Lurie Doctoral Fellow and Massachusetts State Representative, JoAnn Simons, CEO of the Cardinal Cushing Center, and John Anton, a self-advocate and staff member in Rep. Sannicandro’s State House Office. Light refreshments will be served.
Stephanie Pierce: Visiting Artist Talk
This week, justArts spoke with Milcah Bassel, a HadassahBrandeis Institute Artist-in-Residence, about her upcoming exhibit, Father Tongue, at the Women’s Studies Research Center.
Vagina Club and proceeds from the show go to charities working to end violence against women.
‘The Vagina Monologues’
The play is a series of monologues based on interviews conducted by Eve Ensler focusing on vaginas and womanhood. The play hits on themes of discovering your body, sexuality and even the injustice of the gynecologist’s office. Apr. 16 through 19 at various times at the Shapiro Campus Center Theater. Student tickets are three dollars and are available at the Brandeis Tickets booth. The performances are sponsorsed by the
As part of the Art, Blackness, Diaspora series, pioneering African American artist Melvin Edwards, Prof. Chad Williams (AAAS) and Christoper Bedford will discuss sculptures from Edwards’s series “Lynch Fragments” which is currently on display at the Rose. Apr. 17 from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m in the Sandra Fineberg Gallery in the Rose Art Museum. This event is presented by the Department of Fine Arts, the Department of African and AfroAmerican studies, and the Rose. This event is free and open to the public.
In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Student Support Services Program, this event will honor the achievements of the SSSP students. The event will feature speakers and a student-made photo documentary. Apr. 17th Saturday from 5:30-7 p.m. in Levin Ballroom. This event is sponsored Student Support Services program, Academic Services & Brandeis Pluralism Alliance. This event is free and open to the public.
OFF-CAMPUS EVENTS MFA: Hokusai
This exhibit will feature the works of internationally recognized Katsushika Hokusai whose career spanned over six decades. The pieces on display will include works of Hokusai that focus on the themes of nature, landscape and fantasy. One of the most famous pieces of Japanese art, ‘Under the Wave off Kanagawae’ from Hokusai’s Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji series, will be featured in the exhibit. The exhibit will be on view from April 5 to August 9 in the Ann and
Grahan Gund Gallery (Gallery LG31). General admission is $25, and admission is free with a Brandeis ID. Tickets are available at mfa.org
‘The Hypocrites’ The Mikado
The show is a zany and vibrant retelling of one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s most revered works, the 1885 operetta. The show does not have fixed seats; instead, you can walk around the performers. The show runs through March 31 to April 5th at OBERON. Tickets range from $25 to $30 and can be purchased at americanrepertorytheater.org.
Andris Nelsons conducts Beethoven and Shostakovich featuring violinist Christian Tetzlaff
German violinist Christian Tetzlaff is joining conductor Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra to perform Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and Shostakovich’s Passacaglia from Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Act II and Symphony No. 10. The show runs through April 2 to April 4. Tickets range from $36 to $135 and can be purchased at bso.org.
Opera at the Movies: Amadeus
The Boston Lyric Opera partners the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and other Boston cultural institutions to present the opera. Amadeus (1984), is a period drama directed by Miloš Forman that incorporates opera in its score and theater in its plot. The movie will play on April 10 from 7 to 10:30 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre.
In the Wake: Japenese Photographers respond to 3/11
The exhibit uses photography to detail the aftermath of Japan’s earthquake on March 11, 2011. On view through July 12 at the Museum of Fine Arts. Admission is free with a student ID.
POP CULTURE n !
By Anna Stern
ww
The world as we know it ended this week for teenagers, college students and even 20-somethings. Zayn Malik left One Direction. Created by Simon Cowell for X-Factor in 2010, One Direction’s popularity followed in the footsteps of such groups as NSYNC, the Backstreet Boys and the Jonas Brothers. The world was drawn to five attractive British boys singing together about what makes girls beautiful. It took Malik five years to realize that he didn’t enjoy being in the band and thus he decided to break up with the band’s other members, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Liam Payne. However, the four remaining band members will continue to break the hearts of young girls. I was never a “Directioner;” however, I know how all those girls feel. Growing up in the early 2000s, I loved NSYNC, as well as actor/singer Zac Efron. When NSYNC called it quits, I didn’t really understand their breakup because I was so young. However, as evidenced by the wondrous glory that is Justin Timberlake, break ups are not always bad in the end. Look at the Beatles. Even though legend has it that Yoko Ono broke them up, Paul McCartney went solo with his band the Wings and produced wonderful albums such as “Band On the Run.” McCartney is still rocking today with Rhianna and Kanye in their song “FourFiveSeconds.” One little-known fact is that without the break up of the Beatles, John Lennon might have never released his best known song, “Imagine,” which never ceases to make the world cry. Zayn’s departure from One Direction reminded me of a breakup that occurred last year—that of the Jonas Brothers. Those three brothers took us to the “Year 3000” and “Look[ed] [Us] In the Eyes” and “Burn[ed] Up” our hearts for our middle school years until they decided to stop playing music together. Like One Direction, the Jonas Brothers
END OF AN ERA?: With Zayn Malik’s departure, One Direction’s quintet is down to four. were at the peak of teenage hormones in the mid 2000s. They released the first concert film in 3D with Miley Cyrus way before Justin Bieber, One Direction and Katy Perry released their own versions (I actually went to that concert live in sixth grade). The brothers had their own TV show and Disney Channel original movie, Camp Rock. The Jonas Brothers reunited in 2012 for a comeback tour, which reignited my middle school feelings. However, they ultimately split in 2013. One reason that I wasn’t devastated when I found out another chapter from my childhood was coming to an end was Nick Jonas. Nick first went solo with his band Nick Jonas and
the Administration in 2010. In 2014, Nick came back stronger than ever with a song that continuously plays in Einstein Bros Bagels and in my head, “Jealous.” Nick also appeared in the Les Miserables 25th Anniversary Concert, dated Miley Cyrus (#tbt) and, this past Saturday night (March 28), hosted the Kid’s Choice Awards. Nick is definitely the cutest and most widely recognized Jonas Brother. But let’s not forget about Joe. Joe dated Taylor Swift and Demi Lovato. He also released a solo album in 2011. Then there is Kevin, whose short lived E! reality show, Married to Jonas, contributed absolutely nothing to entertainment.
ARTS COVER IMAGES: MIHIR KHANNA/the Justice. DESIGN: MIHIR KHANNA and MICHELLE BANAYAN/the Justice.
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ON CAMPUS ART TALK
Milford Graves delivers keynote address for first ever Brandeis Improv Festival By JESSIE MILLER JUSTICE EDITOR
As part of the 2015 Brandeis Improv Festival, Milford Graves joined a small group of fellow musicians and other attendees to speak about his experiences with musical improvisation, drumming and healing through music. The keynote address was held last Saturday afternoon in the Slosberg Recital Hall. Graves’ eclectic storytelling style
illuminated the hall and captured the attention of the audience. Artistic Director Prof. Tom Hall (MUS) introduced Graves, citing when he met Graves for the first time at a different improv event, and thought Graves would be the perfect headliner for Brandeis’ festival. Hall explained that Graves’ adventurous and open perspective on improv perfectly captured the essence of the festival. Graves began his talk by asking the
audience what they wanted to hear about—taking a different approach from your standard keynote address of a prepared topic with a prepared theme or message. Instead, Graves’ speech can only be described as an interesting web of stories and lessons from his life and work. Graves is clearly passionate about his work, which ranges from his work in healing to 39 years as a professor at Bennington College. As he asked for questions from the
TOMMY GAO/the Justice
HITTING THE KEYNOTE: On Saturday, musician Milford Graves gave the keynote for the Improv Festival, telling personal stories.
audience, Graves also gave context to the oversized applejack hat he was wearing. Years ago, Graves saw jazz artist Max Roach wearing a similar hat and decided he needed one as well—a similar reflection of Graves’ own mixture of skills and experiences gained in his life. The first audience member asked about the connection between healing and rhythm, for which Graves is known. Graves explained that he was influenced by specific movies, including Tarzan, when he was around 10 years old. He and his friends would go into the woods near their neighborhood in Queens and imitate drum sounds, implanting the idea in his head that drumming and music were more than entertainment. Rather, they were a way to organize and unite people. As for healing, Graves was influenced by a student he met while teaching at Bennington. The student went to medical school and kept in touch with Graves, inspiring him to study the frequency and pitch of heart sounds. In continuing his study of heartbeats, Graves believes that the pitch of a heartbeat can reveal medical conditions and offers a new way to understand and treat patients. Graves also explained the close connection between one’s emotional state and heart rhythm, citing a story about a student he demonstrated on while teaching a class at Bennington. Graves was listening to the student’s heartbeat, and when he asked how the student was feeling, the student’s heart rate rapidly increased out of fear. Graves continued his story, adding that his theory relates back to ideas about ancient spirits in Africa: healers who would enter possession states with drumming in the background. Continuing with stories about his time at Bennington, Graves shared his
thoughts on what musicians should study in order to provide the most for their audience. He believes that musicians have a responsibility to the audience and that the purpose of playing music is for other people. Modern musicians have become more like machines, instead of really connecting with people and understanding how they feel. Graves compared the need to be adaptable as an improv musician to a chef in needing to adjust to the demands of picky eaters or those with dietary restraints. One very Brandeisian example took place at an upstate New York Jewish function Graves and his band played at where they say they were asked to leave for not playing “Jewish” enough music. Several of Graves’ former Bennington students attended at the address, and they provided different perspectives and interesting answers to some audience questions. It’s clear that Graves’ dynamic and inviting teaching style from his 39 years at the college influenced his students and left its mark. Graves described his teaching style as homeopathic and not fearing to go outside the box while being open to world culture. Around the age of 18, Graves told the audience how he bought records of world music to teach himself about different cultures. Years later in 1988, Graves performed with a Japanese band in Okinawa. He explained that his appreciation and acceptance of other cultures allowed him to play along with a very different musical style. Toward the end of his talk, Graves revealed to the audience that he doesn’t want to get old and stop wanting to elevate himself and his jazz music. His time at Bennington, which he actually joined hesitantly, kept him young while also spreading his love of music to younger generations.
MUSIC
Improvised music and art influence one another during Sound Line in SCC Atrium By EMILY WISHINGRAD JUSTICE EDITOR
Visual artist and musician Lennie Peterson says that he sees shapes when he listens to music. That is how he created a large-scale drawing of Beethoven this weekend in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium, accompanied by Prof. Tom Hall (MUS) on the saxophone and Marty Ballou on the bass. Peterson works professionally to makes these improvised drawings of famous musical figures. Ten are on view for their second year at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. For the drawings, Peterson always has in mind a specific musical figure who he will draw, and he starts his drawings by making a caricature outline. The improvising comes in when he starts to fill in the features of the face—the hair, eyes and mouth—with intricate patterns. Usually Peterson draws with pen, ink and oils but because he only had an hour, he used a magic marker for the portrait he created on Friday. Creating these drawings is not Peterson’s only talent. He also created a comic strip called “Big Picture” that is now syndicated. He teaches, plays the trombone and has illustrated twelve children’s books. In fact, he drew illustrations for Hall’s book Free Improvisation: A Practical Guide that came out in 2010— which is how they know each other. On Friday, in the true spirit of the Brandeis Improv Festival, there were two forms of improvisation
taking place during the performance. Hall and Ballou were also improvising on the saxophone and bass. The trio blended with and fed off each other, creating two pieces of art at once. When Hall and Ballou started playing, Peterson began by drawing a jagged outline on the border of the canvas. The figure was not recognizable until, in a dramatic movement, Peterson turned it on its head to reveal that the figure was Beethoven. The jagged lines had been the composer’s wild hair. During the next piece, Peterson started filling in Beethoven’s hair with small patterns. Hall and Ballou’s improvising was very impressive. It was soothing and delicate, with light pizzicato from the bass and short, quiet staccatos from the saxophone. At times, Hall and Ballou would speed up and arrive at a mezzo forte or forte. They listened to each other closely and followed one another’s lead. “There’s really not that much thinking. It’s mostly just reacting—being involved, being in the moment with it,” said Hall. Peterson followed along with the duo accordingly, speeding up and slowing down his drawing as the music changed. When Peterson stopped to take questions from the audience between Hall and Ballou’s improvised pieces, he was asked how he takes inspiration from the music. Peterson responded by first saying that he sees the music as shapes. He elaborated and said that the experience of drawing is also auditory for him—he can hear the pen
HEATHER SCHILLER/the Justice
IMPROV TRIO: On Friday afternoon, three artists, Prof. Tom Hall (MUS, left), bassist Marty Ballou (left, back) and artist and musician Lennie Peterson (right) performed together, taking inspiration from each other’s work to create music and a portrait. hit the paper, punctuating the lines of music. The drawing came out beautifully. Beethoven’s hair and facial features were covered in what seemed like possibly hundreds of different patterns. For comparison, Peterson had brought to the SCC a print of one of his drawings of Miles Davis— a piece for which he had had much
more time. There was a distinct difference in the patterns between his Beethoven and his Davis. The Davis was obviously more complex, but the types of details were also distinctly different with straighter, more ridged designs and checkerboard-like patters. The Beethoven, by contrast, was filled with swirls, spirals and squiggly
lines that felt much more whimsical. For Hall, the improvisation was a give and take—a collaboration of improvisation. “A lot of times I would [metaphorically] draw with his pen. But other times, when I wasn’t thinking about doing that, I would notice him starting to draw with me,” he said.
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TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2015 | THE JUSTICE
DANCE
Liquid Latex brings artists and dancers together to promote body positivity
By JAIME GROPPER JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Students bared all last Tuesday night in the artistically unique and bold Liquid Latex performance. The show had Levin Ballroom overflowing, and the enormous crowd created a high level of energy before it even began. Every year, the performance exhibits a series of dance pieces and fashion show-style runways performed by students wearing nothing but liquid latex paint (and thongs). The unique and incomparable nature of liquid latex allows for “designers and painters get to see their artistic vision come to life in a completely new way,” said Emily Beker ’15, assistant coordinator of Liquid Latex, in an email to the Justice. This year’s show was titled “15 Years of Liquid Latex,” to celebrate Liquid Latex’s 15th anniversary. Although the show had no particular theme, Beker said that the goal was to make everything a little bigger in honor of the anniversary. Many of the pieces performed captured full film, musical or literary plots in only minutes. The opener, “Legally Latex” designed and choreographed by Joe Babeu ’15, took Elle Woods from her bright pink sorority days to her pink and gray ultimate law school victory. A crowd favorite, “The Last Jedi/Star Wars” designed by Jen Sikov ’15 and choreographed by Brittany Ritell ’15, went from Luke receiving Princess Leia’s message from R2-D2 to the epic light-up
light saber battle between Luke and Darth Vader. “Dark Side of Oz,” designed by Jeremy Perlman ’15 and choreographed by Mikah Atkind ’15, saw Dorothy on her journey through the Land of Oz and adeptly used choreography to show the intensity of Dorothy’s battle against the Wicked Witch of the West (Rachel Hughes ’15.) Lined up across the entire stage with hands linked, the Wicked Witch pulled Dorothy to one side while Glinda the Good Witch, the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man desperately pulled her to the other. The gang eventually defeated the evil witch by throwing paper “water” on her, to which she promptly melted. In “Alice in Wonderland” designed by Sydney Westervelt ’17 and Samantha Laney ’17 and choreographed by Westervelt, the highlight was a visually stimulating portrayal of Alice’s pivotal moment of traveling through the rabbit hole. The performers achieved the sensation that Alice was falling to another world by pairing flashing lights and dramatic music with the dancers running in a circle around Alice as she stumbled back and forth. The costumes for all of the characters in these pieces were painted on with refinement and were extremely detailed. The paint highlighted in some cases the crucial aspects of a character’s signature costume, while in others the paint depicted the exact costume. Many times the paint was cleverly used to portray key elements of a scene. In “Cell Block Tango,” de-
signed and choreographed by Nikk Wasserman ’15 all of the dancers had skimpy black outfits painted on the front of their bodies and a black and white grid painted on their backs to give the appearance of jail cell bars when they turned around. In “RUNWAY: Nickelodeon,” designed by Mary Millage ’16 and Ashley Lorinsky ’16 and choreographed by Millage, which brought nostalgia with characters from favorite childhood shows, the model representing CatDog had the cat painted on one side and the dog on the other. The runway performances gave the audience a chance to appreciate the level of detail and artistry in each costume more closely. Each model had a solo moment to strut down the runway jutting out from the center of the stage. For example, “RUNWAY: Floral Brocade,” choreographed by Julie Joseph ’18 and designed by Nora Anderson ’15, gave time to focus on the intricately ornate floral designs painted on each model. To further highlight the female form, the floral patterns in this piece only sprawled out over very select areas of the body. The runways also emphasized a key aspect of Liquid Latex, which is the idea of positive body image. Every dancer was cheered for as he or she strutted down the aisle with unique dance moves and poses. It was uplifting to see the audience’s positive reactions to all of the dancers and then to see the dancers gaining even more confidence from the audience’s support. The show had a
great ability to create an environment in which the exposed dancers felt not only comfortable but encouraged. Beker said of the support in the show, “Our models leave their experience loving how they feel about themselves and have a greater sense of confidence.” This comfortable vibe was felt especially at the very end of the show when all of the dancers came together to freely dance on stage.
Liquid Latex was not only an amazingly fun and artistically distinctive show but also a reminder of the supportive nature of the Brandeis community. Editor’s Note: Rachel Hughes ’15 is the editor in chief of the Justice, Jessie Miller ’15 is a deputy editor of the Justice and a coordinator for Liquid Latex and Jeremy Perlman ’15 is a Justice photography staff member.
THE JUSTICE | TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2015
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THEATER
AMANDA NGUYEN/the Justice
QUICK CHANGE: Elle Woods (Sarah Brodsky ’15) emerges from behind a crowd of Delta Nus wearing a new dress—perfect for her date with Warner (Kaelen Lynch ’17).
HTG’s open cast musical ‘Legally Blonde’ refocuses on feminist themes By LINDA MALEH JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
You may have seen people in pink sweatshirts with Greek letters around campus this past week—that is because those people were involved in Hillel Theater Group’s production of Legally Blonde, which premiered on Thursday night in the Shapiro Campus Center Theater. The line to get into the theater snaked from its doors across the SCC Atrium a whole half hour before the play started. When audience members were settled into their seats, they were informed that it was a sold out show. It seemed half the campus had come out to see the fun, fashion-forward and feminist musical. Legally Blonde was first a book, then a film, and now it’s a musical. It tells the story of Elle Woods (Sarah Brodsky ’15), a sorority girl who follows her ex-boyfriend Warner (Kaelan Lynch ’17) to Harvard Law School to win him back. However, when she gets there, she realizes her hidden potential with the law, and that Warner is a jerk. Elle transforms in the musical from pretty-in-pink sorority girl to navy blue legal mind. It is only at the end that she realizes she can be both feminine and smart, and that she doesn’t have to sacrifice any part of herself; she can be legally blonde. The show featured a live orchestra from the back of the stage and two very simple sets, designed by Krishna Narayanan ’17. One set was the columns and roof of the sorority house; the other was the brick columns and roof of Harvard. Most notable, though, were the
costumes. The show had a 40-person cast, consisting mostly of women, and it seemed each of them had a costume change in almost every scene. There were the sorority costumes, the blue cheerleader costumes (my personal favorite), the Harvard student costumes, the workout/prison costumes and many more. Yael Jaffe ’18, who played a TV reporter, a law student, a shopper and a jurist, said in an interview with the Justice, “It’s wild, sweaty and disgusting, and so much fun because we’re all doing it together,” about all the costume changes. The show had an executive costume designer (Ana-Sophia Menses ’16), a costume coordinator (Bethany Greenbaum ’16) and 11 costume designers. The musical numbers were light and often funny, though many of the lines in the songs were repetitive. In most numbers the songs had a good portion of the cast participating in them, and still each number had its own choreography. One has to give props to the music directors, Zoe Fong ’15 and Jake Hurwitz ’16, and choreographers Mikah Atkind ’16 and Lisa Petrie ’17, who had a huge cast to work with and still made the singing and dancing look awesome. One particularly impressive dance was to the song “Whip Into Shape.” It featured lead Brooke Wyndham (Isi Filipovic ’18) and six of her followers performing a workout video in which they combined dancing with jump roping. In an interview with the Justice, director Alison Thvedt ’15 said the one thing she was worried about was everyone fitting on the stage for the numbers that included the entire
cast. My personal favorite was the witty, hysterical, and entirely catchy “Gay or European” song. One song had the character Paulette (Scarlett Huck ’18), doing an Irish jig, and when she was asked in an interview with the Justice if she had had to learn it for the show, Huck said that she had actually taken five years of Irish step dance classes. The leads in the show, though often overshadowed by their hoards of backup dancers, each added their own spark to the character. The actors were believable for the parts they had to play. I truly believed that Elle was super perky, Warner was a jerk, Paulette was spunky and Emmett
(Nathan Schneider ’18), Elle’s love interest in the show, was adorable. Thvedt said that she thought the main message of the show was “to celebrate Elle as a woman who doesn’t have to give up herself … and to celebrating sisterhood … and feminism all around.” She also said though that some problems with the show were that “there was some slut shaming, which I tried to draw attention to … and that for a feminist show there are some really not-so-feminist lines, so it’s not a perfect musical.” Thvedt said that there was an instance of fat-shaming in the show when Elle is criticized by her soror-
ity sisters for eating Milky Ways after her break-up with Warner, so Thvedt added the line, “we’re a Snickers only sorority” to turn a problematic line into something comedic. Additionally, Thvedt defied conforming to body stereotypes by casting Brodsky, and not casting someone with a Reese Witherspoon-type (the actress who plays Elle in the film) supermodel body. Brodsky had a full figure and looked beautiful up on that stage. Legally Blonde was a fun and perky whirlwind of dancing and singing while still managing to have a meaningful message and a well deserved standing ovation from the audience.
HARVARD READY: Elle Woods (Sarah Brodsky ’15, left) surprises Warner (Kaelen Lynch ’17) at his university, Harvard Law School. To Elle’s surprise, Warner has moved on and has a new girlfriend, aspiring lawyer Vivienne (Emily Galloway ’18).
SORORITY SISTERS: Delta Nu sisters comprise Elle’s “Greek Chorus,” members of her sorority who appear in her mind to counsel her and give her moral support.
NOT SO PERFECT DATE: Elle and Warner appear happy on their date—right before Warner ends their relationship. Earlier that day, Elle had thought that Warner would use their date to propose and even bought a new pink dress to mark the occasion.
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TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2015 | THE JUSTICE
THEATER
Play argues importance of cultural memory By JESSICA GOLDSTEIN JUSTICE EDITOR
The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World establishes the reality of death—it is not just about the physical act of death, but how it affects the entire community. Walking into the Rose Art Museum for last Friday night’s show, I couldn’t help but realize this would be a performance I would never forget. The play mentions the “death of the last black man alive” quite frequently but focuses more on how the black community responds to death. Even more, it explains how these acts of violence like lynching and electrocution of individuals in the community can be attributed to their essential erasure from history through a series of plots all referring to the death of the last black man— spanning from the stories in precolonization to the modern day. The names of the characters are quite interesting—they are named after historic racial stereotypes. Presented by Brandeis Ensemble Theater and directed by Naya Stevens ’15 in the Rose Art Museum’s Gerald S. and Sandra Fineberg Gallery this weekend, the play was presented in essentially one act that spanned only a little over an
hour. The stage was set in the New Acquisitions exhibit for which the Rose acquired abstract paintings and sculptures that had been largely excluded from exhibition due to race and gender-based discrimination. The show had several elements that presented an image of blackness both from history and in the presentday in a successful attempt to present a black identity. The set was very intimate, providing for direct interaction with the cast. It was also minimalistic, with everything essential to the display of a kitchen. The costumes were truly reminiscent of the various time periods. The performers moved on and off stage, switching from intimate scenes to group scenes to reemphasize the death of the last black man in the entire world. The actors solidified the necessity of telling the stories that they were set to tell. One character, the Black Man with the Watermelon, played by Stacy Finley ’15, poignantly displays the different ways by which the black man sees his inevitable demise—spanning from his death on the slave ship during the Middle Passage to his death from falling down 23 stories. One image that resonates so profoundly in my mind is the im-
MIHIR KHANNA/the Justice
SING IT OUT: Although The Death of the Last Black Man in the Entire World is primarily a play, the one and a half hour production included some musical numbers.
MIHIR KHANNA/the Justice
HOLD ON: The play included many plotlines, spanning various time periods. Each plot included the death of a last black man on earth. age presented while conveying his lynching. It put me in visceral pain to watch his suffering. However, just like the other actors, he can quickly move the tone of the play from rather depressing to comical. This is done very well by the “Black Woman with Fried Drumstick,” played by Keturah Walker ’18. Throughout the play, the audience is called to pay attention to the crisis at hand when examining black culture. One of the characters, Yesand-Greens-Black-Eyed-Peas-Cornbread, played by Soloman McBride ’18, calls for the end to the disregard of black history, expressing, “You should write that down and you should hide it under a rock. This is the death of the last black man in the whole entire world.” He calls for future generations toremember the culture, the experiences and suffering. The community must reclaim the past and keep its record. This idea reminds me of the West African
proverb, “Until the lion tells his side of the story, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” Oral history must be transcribed in order to reclaim its importance. People cannot simply allow others to tell their side of history. The play also employs a rhythmic element found in repetition and revision to highlight certain phrases. A phrase was repeated rhythmicaly each time it was revised to emphasize its importance. It also shows the nature of the African and Afro-American condition through the stories of characters like Ham (Makalani Mack ’16), Queen-thenPharaoh-Hatshespsut (Amanda Anderson ’17) and Before Columbus (D’Andre Young ’15). Before every scene, Stevens added a nursery rhyme by Dean of Student Life Jamele Adams titled “We Can’t Breathe.” The rhyme presents the chant: “Hey there black boy swinging from a tree, instead of whips
and chains now they just shoot me.” Stevens said in an interview with the Justice that she “dedicated the whole production to the families of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown Eric Garner [and] Renisha Mc Bride.” “The beauty and the ugliness of this play is that it’s timeless. I didn’t have to do much adapting these acts of violence that are always hovering over black peoples lives,” she said. In the end, I wish that the poetic nature of the play could have been more fully realized. This is to no fault of BET’s cast or crew. Unearthing every element of Suzan-Lori Parks’ poetic play is difficult because it is performed in just over an hour. If given the chance to attend again, I wouldn’t miss it. The acting and directing were superb and a better location on campus couldn’t have been found. We should all be on the lookout for future BET productions.
ART TALK
Talk bridges improvisation and justice By BROOKE GRANOVSKY JUSTICE EDITOR
On Friday, a small group of students and staff sat in the first few rows of the Slosberg Concert Hall to listen to a discussion about improvisation. The talk touched on how improv related to people’s daily lives, to activism and ultimately how improvisation allows people to deal with challenges in a productive way. The discussion focused on the process of improvisation and how it is similar or dissimilar to the way people attempt to enact social change. Prof. Tom Hall (MUS) and Cynthia Cohen, director of the University’s Ethics Center’s Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts, came together to discuss how their departments overlapped and what this could mean in the context of improvisation and social change. A lecturer in music at the University and author of Free Improvisation: A Practical Guide, Hall was clearly a good choice to discuss how musicians and everyday people can incorporate or notice improvisation in their lives. He writes and lectures on improvisation and teaches the class “Improv Collective” for the music department. And Cohen helped speak to the social justice aspect of the talk and related improvisation to activism in novel ways. She has written on the ethical dimensions of peacebuilding and worked as a dialogue facilitator with communities in the Middle East, Sri Lanka, Central America and the United States prior to her tenure at Brandeis. The pair opened the discus-
sion by noting that they had not planned their remarks, and in that sense the discussion itself was a form of improvisation. Hall mentioned that in improvisation, both the performers and the viewers are equally involved in the experience, which encouraged the audience to participate in the discussion by commenting and asking questions of the speakers. To introduce improvisation’s relationship to larger themes, Hall made the broad statement that people improvise their lives. He elaborated to say that he defines improvisation as “the innate human ability to take knowledge and understanding and combine it with current materials to create something.” Hall noted that he considers the process of improvisation as integral to humanity and humans as rationale or reasoning. Moreover, he said that it is the that process which allows people to understand things previously unknown to them, emphasizing improvisation’s role in human understanding. Cohen commented on this point, mentioning that in the context of creating meaning or understanding out of the unknown, improvisation allows for many ways of constructing meaning. She explained that, for instance, in a visual medium of improvisation, the meaning is constructed by the partnership between the artists and the viewers. Their analysis of visual works give the works meaning in addition to the meaning the artists create. Cohen also noted that this process of internalizing another person’s ideas and using them to draw
new conclusions relates well with the concepts of empathy and social justice. Just as improvisation requires people to extend their ideas, so too do empathy and social activism require people to extend their thoughts and experiences in order to gain an understanding of new situations. Similarly, Hall remarked that improvisation puts people in a certain mindset where they have to use their surroundings and rely on others. This creates a framework of being open to new possibilities. In
terms of social justice, being open to new viewpoints is a key component of understanding controversial issues. Cohen agreed, noting that improvisation strengthens a person’s capacity to listen, which is a main tenent of social understanding and dialogue. During the question and answer session, an audience member asked how the speakers deal with polarizing or controversial situations as artists. Cohen answered the question and related it to the
subject of dialogue. She mentioned a time when she was working on a folklore piece with Israeli and Palestinian participants. Despite the apolitical goal of the project, its inherently political nature led to a unique dynamic. Toward the end of the talk, Hall noted the relationship between one’s ability to improvise and deal with the unexpected and happiness. Commenting on this relationship, Hall said that the better people are at improv, the happier people can be.
EMILY WISHINGRAD/the Justice
EXTENDING IDEAS: Hall and Cohen noted that the process of improvisation is uniquely adaptable; it can be used to describe social justice dialogue, happiness, how people deal with the unknown and how people make use of their surroundings.
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TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2015 | THE JUSTICE
THEATER
‘Distance’ investigates love’s challenges By VANESSSA ALAMO JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
A battle of of self-identification between two individuals from opposing worlds intersected—combined with racial tensions across the nation— was exceptionally portrayed in Distance, directed and written by Sarah Waldron ’17 in the Merrick Theater of Spingold Theater Center. Uptight, abused and deeply insecure Micah’s (Gabby Lamm ’17, Sarah Duffett ’18, Lily Shrayfer ’18) statement toward the middle of the show, “We’re too complicated to be fair!” does not emphasize the complexity of this production enough. Even though the long-distance relationship between Micah and her significant other, Charlie (Yaznil Baez ’16, LaShawn Simmons ’18, Nyah Macklin ’16), presented many complications, such as jealousy and instability, it was not enough for Waldron. Three students were cast for three of Micah’s different mental states. Like Micah, three more students were cast for each of Charlie’s flirtatious yet complex personas. Surprisingly enough, keeping up with each character’s personality was not as overwhelming as I imagined. One of the easiest identification tools used was costume. The Micahs wore blue and white patterns with a variety in the type of clothing chosen while the Charlies wore black and red. Each Charlie was very clear in the distinction from the others. They used tone
of voice and inflection to assist the audience in following the multiple conversations between each persona. The Micahs, on the other hand, used physical gestures like posture and the way they walked across the stage to demonstrate their traits. All the ladies who portrayed Micah’s character were stellar. In capturing the anxiety and jealousy of being alone without her significant other, the actresses truly annoyed me to the point that I wanted to remove Micah from the stage for a moment of peace. Their performances drew me into the action and were very convincing. Shrayfer was especially convincing throughout the play with her delivery of her lines and facial expressions. Her connection to the character was so strong I could feel her emotions from across the room. Micah, a white/European female who grew up in a suburban and abusive household in the Midwest, finds a passionate voice in leading support groups that defend the Black Lives Matter movement in New York City. Although her past of family abuse and a cheating ex has impacted her paranoid tendencies, Micah finds love with a woman of African-American descent and an unstable lifestyle, Charlie. Micah’s personas battled fear of rejection when the three mental states explored ways to spark Charlie’s interest again. Most of the worries rose from Charlie’s absence during the Black Lives Matter movement. While Micah stays in New
York year-round, Charlie is a flight attendant who constantly travels. Charlie rarely spends long amounts of time in a single location, which is why it was difficult for her to finally settle down and fully commit to an intimate relationship with Micah. Baez played one of the Charlies with a fierceness that brought comedic relief during intense scenes. Her versatility, however, was revealed when she was caught arguing with the other Charlies and put her foot down uncovering the stubborn side to her character. Another actor who stood out Friday evening was Simmons. She was funny and loving yet conflicted; Simmons’ ability to navigate her character through complex emotions in the blink of an eye was provocative and admirable. Charlie’s personas often justified her chaotic lifestyle with the excuse of having a career as a flight attendant. Luckily, Macklin was the most grounded Charlie and consistently reminded the other Charlies of the love that Micah had. Due to fear, it was difficult to adjust to the idea of settling down, but Charlie accepted her fate with Micah and finally accepted her love for her. The couple lacks the stability and trust of an ideal relationship, but they demonstrate an immense amount of passion and unconditional love. Because the Merrick Theater is such an intimate space, the actors used every inch of the room to convey the emotional distress from their complicat-
ed relationship. The constant walking around and through the audience was at times unsettling. Although uncomfortable, the uneasiness of the blocking helped the audience feel the anxiety of dealing with fear, worries and confusion. The use of space was unpredictable, which led to pleasant surprises when
ABBY KNECHT/the Justice
SAME LOVE: Distance follows Charlie (Yaznil Baez ’16, LaShawn Simmons ’18, Nyah Macklin ’16) and Micah (Gabby Lamm ’17, Sarah Duffett ’18, Lily Shrayfer ’18), two women in a longdistance relationship that is forced to endure complications, stress and tension.
BRIEF
MODERN DANCE
Ailey revives traditional styles By VANESSA ALAMO JUSTICE STAFF WRTIER
The internationally-known modern dance company Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater premiered original choreography by Matthew Rushing, Hofesh Shechter and Alvin Ailey at Revelations this past weekend at Boston’s Citi Wang Theater. The three contrasting pieces played on opening night to a diverse audience of all ages and races. Although AAADT showcases Ailey’s original choreography in multiple pieces, current artistic director Robert Battle premieres original works from various choreographers within the modern dance world. Barely struck by the spotlight, Odetta Holmes’ (an African-American singer) portrait hung peacefully over a dark, barren stage. Professional dancer Hope Boykin, dressed in orange, took the spotlight as she depicted the titular Odetta in Rushing’s Odetta. This piece demonstrated the complexity of human relations through numerous family scenarios. The dancers executed each intricate movement clearly, sharply and genuinely.
actors would appear from side doors or even from within the audience. The production was an excellent student-run project. The talent the cast and production staff presented was refreshing and provocative. I hope to see more students push the boundaries of theater arts through political commentary.
One of my personal favorites from Odetta was the scene called “There’s a Hole in the Bucket,” starring company dancers Rachael McLaren and Marcus Jarrell Willis. Although Rushing did not choreograph anything impressive or out of the expected, he used repetition and animated facial expressions to effectively enhance the dialogue between the two dancers. Song and voice narrated this piece but did not overshadow the dancers’ own expressiveness. Both dancers really brought the comedy to life through the simplicity of the choreography and emphasis on acting and exaggeration. After a short intermission, the sudden roars from the soundtrack and harsh lighting grasped my attention while causing confusion at the same time. This medley of sounds and lights introduced the next piece, Uprising. Shechter, a graduate from the Jerusalem Academy for Dance and Music and a internationally respected contemporary choreographer, choreographed the impressive work. The cast of male bodies performing with above average athleticism through the rapid, cardiologic choreography was remarkable. Although the storyline was more ab-
stract in its execution in comparison to Odetta, Uprising still showcased the strengths of each dancer and the physical labor of dance itself. Of the overall piece, the lighting was my favorite element because it took this section a step further in pushing artistic boundaries. For instance, moments that reflected emphasis on the legs rather than the full or upper body were highlighted by the back lights that shined across the floor of the stage rather than directly shining above the dancers. Uprising truly depicted the intensity of the physical labor required to execute Shechter’s choreography. Revelations, Ailey’s most popular repertoire piece, was presented at the end of the night as a traditional closing for AAADT’s opening night in Boston. Inspired by various folk dances from numerous parts of the African continent, Revelations presents dances that display the tension between traditional dance versus postmodernist technique. “Pilgrims of Sorrow” (the first revelation) opens with the gospel song “I’ve Been Buked” and a clump formation of dancers dressed in tan/brown earthy clothing. As the piece continues into “Take
Me to the Water,” Ailey’s challenge between traditional and modern dance becomes more apparent. While using traditional music and incorporating traditional movements into Lester Horton’s modern technique, the company was able to engage the audience in the energetic dance. The fusion of both styles of dance created a portrait of the body as geometry; shapes created by the dancers result in a unique, admirable conversation with the audience. Alvin Ailey’s company, yet again, failed to disappoint Boston this past weekend. The excellent complexities presented in Odetta provoked emotional connections for the audience, whether or not they could relate to the military couple or the comedic duo featured in “There’s a Hole in the Bucket”. Uprising challenged its audience by presenting multiple elements of production in a single piece, mainly focusing on the usage of lighting. Finally, Revelations has become a tradition at every Ailey performance. Its high energy and catchy drumbeats brought the audience to their feet, the sound of their applause joining the rhythm of the dance.
CREATIVE COMMONS
SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW: Ailey’s keystone work, Revelations, blends traditional music with modern dance styles, like Lester Horton’s distinctive Horton technique.
Student Events releases lineup for SpringFest Last Tuesday, Student Events announced this year’s SpringFest performers, starting with headliner Jessie J. The concert, which is on Sunday, April 26, will also include Stolen Jars, St. Lucia and ILOVEMAKONNEN. Jessie J is the clear standout of this year’s performers, known for her most recent hit “Bang Bang” that’s taken over the music industry. Although Jessie J had composed for other singers, she came onto the music scene herself with the singles “Do It Like a Dude” and “Price Tag” and “Domino” in 2011. Since then, Jessie J released her album Sweet Talker in 2014 and performed live extensively, including at the 2015 Grammys. Indie band Stolen Jars, though lesser known, will bring a very different sound to Chapel’s Field with lead singers Molly Grund and Cody Fitzgerald. Although they aren’t as widely known, Brandeis can expect to hear their single “Driving” off their 2011 selfnamed album. St. Lucia, an indie-electronic singer based in Brooklyn, will come to campus just one week after performing at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Annual Festival in California. The singer, whose real name is Jean-Philip Grobler, was born in South Africa. His hits include “Elevate” (2013) and “All Eyes On You” (2013). ILOVEMAKONNEN is by far best known for his hip-hop single “Tuesday” (2014) —featuring Drake—that’s become one of the ultimate party songs of the year. Although he has other popular songs off his album I LOVE MAKONNEN (2014), the other songs haven’t received the same level of hype or Spotify views. —Jessie Miller
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TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2015 | THE JUSTICE
TOPof the
PHOTOS CORNER
Brandeis TALKS
CHARTS for the week ending Mar. 29 BOX OFFICE
Quote of the week “I believe in this mission and I believe in the students who are spearheading it. Some of us look back a couple years and see the previous generation had fights worth fighting ... I believe we have students on this campus and others that have found their fight.”
1. Home 2. Get Hard 3. The Divergent Series: Insurgent 4. Cinderella (2015) 5. It Follows 6. Kingsman: The Secret Service 7. Run All Night 8. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 9. Do You Believe? 10. The Gunman
—--Rabbi David Pardo on yesterday’s vigil against antiSemitic attacks in Europe (News, p. 4)
What do you think about the Springfest Lineup?
NYT BESTSELLERS
MIHIR KHANNA/the Justice
MAKEY MAKEY: Justice photographer Mihir Khanna ’18 took this photo at the Makey Makey Playshop event this Saturday. The contraption is designed for everyday people to turn everyday objects into technology.
Emma Hanselman ’18 “I’m excited about Jessie J, but that’s the only person I really know.”
William Nealley ’18 “Part of me wishes it was on a Tuesday, so when they sing that song it’s on a Tuesday.”
Jonas Singer ’17 “I did like the music I heard in the music video. I don’t know the names of the bands. though.”
Vineet Vishwanath ’18 “It feels like it was done it a hurry. I think it could have been better if they had taken input from the from the students.”
FEATURING CREATIVE PHOTOS FROM OUR STAFF This new feature will showcase our photographer’s work capturing small moments across campus
CROSSWORD
iTUNES
1. Mark Ronson—“Uptown Funk (feat. Bruno Mars)” 2. Ed Sheeran—“Thinking Out Loud” 3. Ellie Goulding—“Love Me Like You Do” 4. Rihanna and Kanye West— “FourFiveSeconds” 5. The Weeknd—“Earned It”
BILLBOARD
1. Kendrick Lamar—To Pimp A Butterfly 2. Soundtrack—Empire: Original Soundtrack From Season 1 3. Modest Mouse—Strangers to Ourselves 4. Soundtrack—50 Shades of Grey 5. Tayor Swift—1989 6. Drake—If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late 7. Ed Sheeran—X 8. Marina And The Diamonds— Froot 9. Sam Smith—In The Lonely Hour 10. Maroon 5—V
38 Mr. Spock’s original portrayer 39 “__ Copy”; newsmagazine series of old 41 Piece of window glass 44 “Who Do You Think You __?” 45 Mario __ Peebles 46 180˚ from WSW
Top of the Charts information provided by Fandango, the New York Times, Billboard.
STAFF’S Top Ten
WOMEN OF SNL Solution to last issue’s crossword Crossword Copyright 2014 Tribune News Service, Inc.
SUDOKU INSTRUCTIONS: Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each small 9-box square contains all of the numbers from one to nine.
Stephanie Anciro ‘16 “I’m actually really excited about Jessie J.” —Compiled and photographed by Michelle Banayan and Mihir Khanna/the Justice.
Nonfiction 1. Dead Wake—Erik Larson 2. Pioneer Girl—Laura Ingalls Wilder 3. Being Mortal—Atul Gawande 4. H is For Hawk—Helen Macdonald 5. Every Day I Fight—Stuart Scott with Larry Platt
ACROSS 1 Barker or Hope 4 Lt. __ Van Buren; role for S. Epatha Merkerson, once 9Mr. Linkletter 12 King Kong, for one 13 “__ Attraction”; film for Glenn Close and Michael Douglas 14 Prefix meaning “modern” 15 “...flowers that bloom in the spring, __ la...” 16 Weak and delicate 17 Rather of “60 Minutes” 18 “__ Barbara”; old daytime serial 20 “__ Edition”; Kyle Chandler series 22 Judge on “America’s Got Talent” 26 “The Suze __ Show” 27 “Queen for a __” 28 FGH followers 29 Actress Longoria 32 Lounges around 35 Role on “Blue Bloods” 39 Ana Ortiz’s role on “Ugly Betty” 40 “Studio 60 on the Sunset __” 42 Georgia’s capital: abbr. 43 “__ World”; sitcom for Harry Anderson 47 “__ Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!” 48 Fish eggs 49 Tehran resident 50 Long, long time 51 Parched 52 Actress Zellweger 53 Alkali in some cleaning solutions DOWN 1 Cave fliers 2 Ms. Winfrey 3 Gas-reducing dietary supplement 4 “Family __”; Brian Keith series 5 VPRockefeller’s monogram 6 Give __ go; attempt 7 Skater __ Babilonia 8 Steve or Woody 9 Mitchell or McArdle 10 Question from a doubter 11 Actor Danza 19 “__ and a Half Men” 21 Find a sum 23 Actress Procter 24 “__ Dad” 25 Leg-foot connector 29 Magazine bigwig 30 “The Big __”; old western series 31 “Parks __ Recreation” 33 Long-running series about a collie 34 Bilko or Joe Friday: abbr. 36 Lowest point 37 Lead character in “The Little Mermaid”
Fiction 1. The Girl on the Train—Paula Hawkins 2. All the Light We Cannot See— Anthony Doerr 3. NYPD RED 3—James Patterson and Marshall Karp 4. A Dangerous Place—Jacqueline Winspear 5. A Spool of Blue Thread—Anne Tyler
Solution to last issue’s sudoku
Sudoku Copyright 2014 Tribune News Service, Inc.
By ANNA STERN
JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
This year, Saturday Night Live is celebrating its 40th Anniversary and thousands of memorable sketches and characters. Since there are so many top tens to choose from, here are my top ten SNL female cast members who made history in a male dominated industry. 1. Gilda Radner 2. Tina Fey 3. Amy Poehler 4. Kristen Wiig 5. Maya Rudolph 6. Rachel Dratch 7. Molly Shannon 8. Cheri Oteri 9. Jan Hooks 10. Ana Gasteyer