the
Justice www.thejustice.org
The Independent Student Newspaper Volume LXXI, Number 5
of
B r a n d e is U n i v e r sit y S i n c e 1 9 4 9
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
Waltham, Mass.
GITTLER PRIZE AWARD LECTURE
CAMPUS EVENTS
CGES hosts ambassador
■ Diplomat Emily Haber lectured at the 20th birthday dinner for the Center for German and European Studies. By MAURICE WINDLEY JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
On the first night of a two-day event celebrating the Center for German and European Studies’ 20th anniversary, members of the Brandeis community gathered to hear German Ambassador Emily Haber discuss the importance of the continued communication and allyship between the United States and Europe in the aftermath of World War II. Haber was appointed as German ambassador to the U.S. in June 2018. Her keynote address, “Reflecting on the Past, Envisioning the Future,” focused on the impor-
Thu Le/the Justice
ACROSS LINES OF DIFFERENCE: Dr. Beverly Tatum accepted the Gittler Prize from President Ron Liebowitz on Wednesday.
Scholar of race relations receives $25,000 Gittler Prize ■ Dr. Beverly Tatum
discussed the "empathy gap" in her award acceptance lecture. By NAKUL SRINIVAS JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
On Oct. 3, University President Ronald Liebowitz presented Dr. Beverly Tatum with the 2018 Gittler Prize, which recognizes outstanding scholarly work on racial, ethnic and religious relations. According to Liebowitz’s introductory remarks, the members of the Gittler prize selection committee described Tatum’s work as “brilliant, elegant, insightful, unpretentious — a model for all in the academy.” Prof. Derron Wallace (SOC), a member of the selection committee, listed Tatum’s qualifications as he introduced her as the winner. He explained that Tatum has written three books but is best known for “‘Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?’: And Other Conversations About Race,” which was named the multicultural book of the year by the National Association for Multicultural Education in 1998. “I believe this should be University-wide reading for all of us here at Brandeis,” he said. Recipients of the Gittler Prize receive $25,000 and a medal. To guide her speech, Tatum looked to the doctrine of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to better understand how facilitating dialogue between different groups can help close the “empathy gap” between them. Tatum explained that American public schools were actually less segregated in 1980 than they are now. More specifically, 75% of Black students attend “majority minority
schools” where over 60 percent of their classmates live in poverty. According to Tatum, “the result is…that young people are growing up in racially divided communities and are almost as separated from each other … as they were 50 years ago.” Tatum explains that with no interaction or knowledge of each other’s life experiences, no genuine empathetic relationships between whites and people of color can exist. This is the empathy gap. According to Tatum, another factor hindering interracial dialogue is the homogeneity of American social networks. Tatum also elaborated on exactly what needs to be discussed in crossgroup conversations. She explained that less well-known aspects of the history of racism should be touched upon in productive dialogue. For instance, she mentioned that Georgetown University was funded by the sale of slaves. Knowledge of a fact like this can change one’s attitudes toward race. The most important part of cross-group dialogue is knowledge, according to Tatum. Unless racial groups have knowledge of each other’s current and historical conditions, she said, they cannot have empathy for each other. Dr. Tatum expressed hope that interracial dialogue will become more prevalent. She cited programs such as the University of Michigan Intergroup Relations Program and foundations such as the Kellogg Foundation that have committed themselves to promoting interracial dialogue throughout the country. In the IGR program, she explained, students take courses “carefully designed to engage students in careful listening and shared explorations of the meanings of social identities, conflict, community, and social justice in those contexts.” According to Tatum, there is re-
tance of learning from history and began by discussing the histories of Germany, Israel and America. University President Ron Liebowitz opened the event by explaining that “the lessons learned from Germany and Europe can help build a more tolerant future.” Haber reflected on the shared histories by saying, “The different vantage points that Germany, the U.S. and Israel [have] must make sure that our joined history won't fade away.” Here, Haber referred to the countries’ involvement World War II and said she hopes that we each take strides to learn from the past to build a more connected future. She believes that the history that connects these countries is the point upon which each country can create a secure future through building a stronger and more unified political and social understanding with each other. She ex-
See CGES, 7 ☛
WALTHAM
search evidence that dialogues like those facilitated by the IGR program are effective in bridging the empathy gap between races. These programs change the attitudes and behaviors of both white students and students of color for the better, Tatum said. Students involved in the programs had “increased self-awareness about issues of power and privilege, greater awareness of the institutionalization of race and racism in the United States, better cross-racial interactions, less fear of race-related conflict and greater participation in social change.” Tatum addresses the counterargument — that discussions about race only create tensions where none previously existed. Tatum believes that silencing conversations on race and racism “is just another way to maintain the status quo. You can’t solve a problem without talking about it.” Finally, Tatum reiterated her main point: “We can allow the forces leading to greater segregation to drive us further apart as a nation, or we can use our leadership as active citizens to engage one another in the work of building community across lines of difference.” She shared a quote from Dr. King: “Racial understanding is not something that we find, but something that we must create.” Tatum ended by praising the Brandeis motto: “Truth even unto its innermost parts.” “That’s exactly what I’m talking about,” she said. “We need to explore truth even unto its innermost parts, even the parts that don’t feel right.” She explained that our motto can guide our faculty toward representing diversity on campus. She said that “If we only talk about the experience of white middle class” people, we are not exploring “truth unto its innermost parts.”
Local authorities react to Justice poll results ■ City councilors discussed
the survey findings and how students feel about Waltham. By CHAIEL SCHAFFEL JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
Waltham Municipal officials responded this week to a Justice poll that asked students to report how safe they felt in the city. The Justice interviewed Councilor-at-Large Diane LeBlanc, Ward 5 City Councilor Joseph LaCava and Ward 7 City Councilor Kristine A. Mackin Ph.D ’14. The officials highlighted the high incidence of sexual harassment in the poll as well as the positive and negative aspects of the University’s relationship with its host city.
Sexual Harassment
The officials contacted by the Justice expressed concerns about the poll’s results on sexual harassment. 30 out of 79 of the poll’s respondents said they had been sexually harassed within 15 minutes’ walk of campus, while 21 reported being harassed on Main or Moody Streets. Waltham City Councilor-at-Large Diane LeBlanc said in a phone interview with the Justice that the results warrant a closer look at how Waltham handles sexual harassment. “I think this presents an opportu-
nity for further discussion. We really need to take a look at the incidents of sexual harassment, because that is pretty troubling,” she said. LeBlanc said that she needs to better understand what was already being done by Waltham officials in order to find new solutions to fix the problem. She said that curbing sexual harassment was a matter of the resources available to the Waltham and Brandeis police departments, but that a solution needed to be found. “You don’t have the luxury of putting a police officer on every block,” she said, clarifying, “but the people that are doing these things are horrific, and nobody should have to put up with that. There needs to be a consequence.” Sexual harassment is a uniquely difficult problem to solve, according to Ward 7 Councilor Kristine A. Mackin, Ph.D ’14. Ward 7 covers the University campus and much of South Street. She said in a phone interview with the Justice that she reached out to Waltham Chief of Police Keith MacPherson to see what could be done to solve the problem. However, she said that catcalling is difficult to stop, “because it happens quickly, the reporting rates are really low,” and when people do report, finding and then prosecuting perpetrators is difficult. This means harassment is typically only enforceable if a police officer immediately witnessed the
See SAFETY, 7 ☛
Race Talk
Evening of Arts
‘Pitch Perfect’ author discusses career
A renowned author shows us how to talk about race.
Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum admires student art works at the Intercultural Center.
By GILDA GEIST
By CHRISTINE KIM
By ELIANA PADWA
NEWS 5
Criticize Texas school board censorship By GABRIEL FRANK
FORUM 11
Women's soccer streak ends ANDREW BAXTER/the Justice
FEATURES 8 For tips or info email editor@thejustice.org
YDALIA COLON/the Justice
Make your voice heard! Submit letters to the editor to letters@thejustice.org
ARTS 19
By MEGAN GELLER
COPYRIGHT 2018 FREE AT BRANDEIS.
SPORTS 16