Brandeis administration provides updates following Nov. 19 bus accident
process the incident. The University has not provided any new details re garding the cause of the accident or the status of injured students since Nov. 22.An investigation is being conduced by the Middlesex District Attorney's office.
By ANIKA JAIN AND RIVER SIMARD JUSTICE STAFF WRITERSOn the afternoon of Nov. 20, Univ. President Ron Liebowitz wrote an email to the grieving Brandeis com munity about the fatal Nov. 19 shut tle accident. “Adding to the difficulty of absorbing such painful news is the fact that we all have many un answered questions at this time,” he said. Liebowitz went on to express that as more information became available, Brandeis administration would update the community. Since the evening of Nov. 19 when news of the accident first emerged, Liebow itz and Interim Vice President for Student Affairs Andrea Dine have sent a collective total of nine emails addressing the Brandeis commu nity. These emails primarily share available resources for students to
STARSHIP
In a Nov. 28 email to the Brandeis community, Liebowitz explained that since the summer, there has been a general transportation study being conducted. “We will be making changes based on that study, the ac cident, and the results of the investi gation by outside agencies, once it’s been completed,” Liebowitz said.
Two days later, Dine announced that the Boston/Cambridge Shuttle service would be suspended for the rest of the semester. She encouraged students who would experience fi nancial hardship as a result of this decision to apply for the Undergrad uate Transportation Fund, especially those who depended on the shuttle for travel to internships, jobs, inter views, and other academic purposes. The shuttle service offered on cam pus and to Waltham will continue to run, though they are also operated by
Are the Starship robots taking away valuable student employment opportunities?
■ Harvest Table and Student Financial Services respond to concerns regarding student employment opportunities.
By ANNA MARTIN AND NATALIE SALTZMAN JUSTICE STAFF WRITERSAs campus is filled with more students than ever before, the de mand for student employment has reached new heights. But many po sitions that could be options for stu dent employment, like staffing the dining halls or other food service providers on campus, are not open to students. The Justice contacted both Student Financial Services and Harvest Table executives over email to get a better understanding of the future of student employment through Harvest Table.
The Justice: How long is the con tract that Harvest Table has with Starship?
Harvest Table’s Executive Direc tor of Hospitality Clayton Har grove: Our relationship with Star ship is approximately two years old. We work with them daily to up grade the platform based on guest requests.
The Justice: As Starship is con tracted through Harvest Table, why
did Harvest Table pick Starship over other companies?
Hargrove: We had a previously established working relationship with Starship. They are industry leaders in robot and mobile order technology, providing a more seam less user experience than the for mer KiwiBots.
The Justice: Would Harvest Table be able to hire student workers di rectly, similar to an off-campus po sition, or is the hiring process still through Brandeis?
Student Financial Services: Stu dent Financial Services doesn't actually create the jobs, the depart ments that hire students do. Stu dent employment is only involved in processing the jobs and hiring students into them. There are new postings that go up every week, but the bulk of hiring happens in late August and early September.
A previous correspondence with Student Financial Services also explained that the Harvest Table hiring process is separate from the University as, “All of the employ ees that work for Harvest Table are hired by them directly. They are not hired by student employment.”
See STUDENT EMPLOYMENT, 7 ☛
Marriage Pact
By LEA ZAHARONI
MULTICULTURALISM
I Am Global Week celebrates diversity and cultural exchange
■ The week-long series of events included cultural shows, foreign-language dinners,
By HEDY YANG JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
I Am Global Week took place Nov. 12-20 and featured a variety of programming that aimed to cel ebrate Brandeis’ global community and promote cultural exchange on campus.
I Am Global Week is Brandeis’ version of International Educa tion Week, a joint effort between the U.S. Department of Education and Department of State that cel ebrates “global awareness, cultural exchange, and learning across the United States,” per the I.E.W. web site.
Brandeis is unique among many institutions in the greater Boston area when it comes to its wealth of diversity and global presence. Ac cording to the U.S. News & World Report, Brandeis ranks seventh among U.S. national universities for its percentage of international students, who make up 20% of the student population. Brandeis’s fall 2021 enrollment profile indicates that there are over 58 countries rep resented within its international student population.
According to International Stu
dents and Scholars Office Associate Director Adrea Papadopoulos, this makes it all the more important to “celebrate our international com munity and bring awareness to the diversity we have on campus,” she said in an interview with the Jus tice on Nov. 17.
Papadopoulos described the pro cess of planning for‘I Am Global Week as an “effort that stretches across the Brandeis campus.” Though the ISSO facilitates out reach and coordinates the calendar at large, Papadopoulos emphasized the role of University departments and student groups in putting to gether various cultural events and showcasing their work during I Am Global Week.
The week kicked off on Nov. 12 with Brandeis’ South Asian Stu dent Association’s 25th annual MELA, a cultural event that, ac cording to the I Am Global Week webpage, “aims to celebrate the rich and vibrant culture of the nine countries of South Asia.” Brandeis students and families packed Levin Ballroom for the twice-sold-out show to see a variety of classical and fusion dances, musical perfor mances, and a fashion show featur ing traditional clothing.
The theme of this year’s MELA was Yatra, a Malayalam word that represents the idea of journey. A graphic posted to the SASA Insta gram explains the significance of this theme: “It is in these journeys that our lives intertwine and while our shared journeys may never be
A review
the same, it is in these differences that we can learn and grow from each other as both individuals and as a community as a whole.”
MELA also sought to raise funds for Ghedora-Connects, a non-profit organization supporting Sri Lanka through its current economic cri sis. According to Human Rights Watch, the crisis, which began in 2019 and intensified in March of this year, has driven many Sri Lankans into poverty and inflamed protests against the government. Many of these protests have been subject to violent government crackdowns.
Other events hosted by cultural groups during I Am Global Week in cluded Club Cantonese @ Brandeis’ annual culture show Yum Cha, held on Nov. 19, as well as Africa’s Best, Brandeis African Student Or ganization’s fashion show held on Nov. 20.
Another major event of I Am Global Week was the All-Language Dinner that took place in Levin Ballroom on Nov. 16. Sponsored by the World Languages & Cultures Committee and the Division of Humanities, the dinner was a way for students to “experience and cel ebrate the linguistic diversity of Brandeis,” according to the I Am Global Week's webpage. Students sat at tables organized by language and shared conversations over din ner and traditional snacks from each country. The 11 languages featured at the dinner were Arabic,
Brandeis hosts Innovation Showcase
By AMANDA CHENThe
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
By CRAIG DIRSKIN
Quadball breaks sports barriers
By AIDEN GUTHROboard on balancing work in the wake of accident
and a Global Bazaar.
■ The Justice has compiled a summary of the updates Brandeis Administration has provided to the community over the last two weeks.
Senate hears from new clubs, votes on Board of Trustees and parking fee resolutions SENATE LOG
The Student Union Senate met on Dec. 4, hearing from four separate clubs seeking different levels of endorsement.
Re: Wild, previously Herbicide-Free Brandeis, presented plans to broaden the scope of their original mission to “replace prod ucts and practices that rely on the usage of herbicides around campus and transitioning to nontoxic organic landcare prod ucts.” The club was chartered with one abstention.
Three other clubs requested probationary status. Badminton Club presented, and a discussion followed about an unorganized club structure and budget. Probationary status was granted by acclamation, with senators’ recommendations to be passed on to club leadership.
BRASA, or the Brazilian Student Association, also presented, citing the existence of the network at many other Boston-area colleges. The club was unanimously approved for probationary status. Guitar and Bass Club also presented and was unanimous ly approved for probationary status.
Two resolutions were brought to the Senate. Nicholas Kanan ’23, who also led the meeting in the absence of Student Union Vice President Lia Bergen ’25, brought the first in his capacity
POLICE LOG
MEDICAL EMERGENCY
Nov. 15—There was a medical emergency in Skyline Re sidence Hall. The party was treated by BEMCo staff and refused further care.
Nov. 17—There was a medical emergency in Skyline Re sidence Hall. The party was treated by BEMCo staff and transported to a local hospital via ambulance.
Nov. 17—There was a medical emergency in the Shapiro Campus Center. The party was treated by BEMCo staff and refused further care.
Nov. 19—There was a medical emergency in North Quad. The party was treated by BEMCo staff and transported to a local hospital via ambulance.
Nov. 28—There was a medical emergency in the Village. The party was treated by BEMCo staff and refused further care.
Dec. 1—There was a medical emergency in the Golding Health Center. The party was treated by BEMCo and tran sported to a local hospital via ambulance.
Dec. 2—There was a medical emergency in Skyline Re sidence Hall. The party was treated by BEMCo staff and refused further care.
Dec. 2—There was a medical emergency in the Sachar International Center. The party was treated by BEMCo staff and refused further care.
as chair of the Facilities, Housing, and Transportation Commit tee. The resolution advises Brandeis Public Safety to not pursue any increase of parking-related fees, as they have demonstrated interest in doing. Pointing to confusion about the exact stipu lations of parking passes, the resolution also petitions Public Safety to create an online directory of times and locations where parking is available to students on campus. The resolution passed by acclamation and talks of writing a second resolution to lower parking ticket costs briefly occurred. Kanan next plans to bring the resolution to faculty assemblies.
The second resolution, brought by Student Union President Peyton Gillespie ’25, addressed a recent amendment quietly passed by the Board of Trustees to revoke the standing invita tion offered to junior and senior student representatives to at tend BOT meetings. This is a substantial break from tradition and from the Student Union Constitution, which has held that the two student representatives attend and be allowed to speak at all BOT meetings. This is also standard practice at most uni versities, as cited by Kanan.
No members of the Brandeis student body were notified of
these new bylaws, nor the details of their passing — representa tives only became aware after asking Secretary of the University Orla O’Brien for dates and times of the meetings. Attempts to inquire with O’Brien, sent via email by Senior Representative Inaara Gilani ’23 and Junior Representative Shelley Polanco ’24, were met with silence.
The resolution condemns the Board of Trustees and demands that they “immediately and permanently restore the right’’ of the representatives to attend BOT meetings. “We cannot feel at home without a seat at the table, and we have to restore re spect to the senior and junior representatives to give them the voice they deserve,” Gillespie said during the meeting. Kanan echoed that the exclusion of student representatives from these extremely consequential meetings is “disgusting.”
The resolution passed by acclamation and will next be brought to the Faculty Senate, which is also facing issues of representa tion at Board of Trustees meetings.
notified to handle the situation.
Dec. 2—There was a medical emergency in the Usdan Student Center. The party was treated by BEMCo staff and refused further care.
ACCIDENTS
Nov. 13—A community member reported that their par ked vehicle was struck by another vehicle. A report was composed.
Nov. 19—There was an off-campus motor vehicle acci dent with multiple injuries involving a Joseph’s Shuttle Bus.
THEFT
Nov. 17—A caller reported a larceny of funds from a Brandeis employee.
Nov. 17—A community member reported larceny. They were referred to Watertown Police Department as it was an off-campus incident.
Nov. 17—A community member reported that his wallet was stolen and his credit card was used without authority. A report was composed.
MISCELLANEOUS
Nov. 15—A community member reported an odor of ma rijuana in North Quad. The area coordinator on call was
Nov. 17—There was a report of a male and female ar guing in Rosenthal Quad. The male party was transported to the train station without an incident. An investigation followed.
Nov. 26—A community member in North Quad reported that her window just shattered and requested police assis tance.
Nov. 30—There was a suspicious vehicle in the Theater Lot. The occupants were spoken to and sent on their way.
Nov. 30—A community member reported vandalism to their motor vehicle in the Theater Lot. An investigation followed.
Dec. 1—A community member reported a man sleeping on a couch in the common area. The individual was identi fied and sent on his way.
Dec. 1—A request was made to file a report regarding ha rassing phone calls.
Dec. 3—Officers stood by in North Quad while the De partment of Community Living spoke with two students about a recent argument.
Compiled by Leah Breakstone
the
The Justice is the independent student newspaper of Brandeis University. The Justice is published every Tuesday of the academic year with the exception of ex amination and vacation periods.
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Calling all creatives: Basement Records is back on campus
■
By LEA ZAHARONI JUSTICE STAFF WRITERAs of this semester, Basement Records is back on campus to facilitate connections be tween student artists. Like many other clubs, Basement Records died out when Brandeis went remote during the pandemic. Original ly founded in 2019 by Avi Hershbein ’19 as a student-run record label (without contracts, of course), the club made a quick splash, but failed to pick up steam. Without online recruit ment opportunities, all the members gradu ated without successors. Basement Records, it seemed, was dead.
That is, until this semester. President Yair Berzofsky ’24, Co-Vice Presidents Miles Lloyd ’24, and Aaron “Ace” Kelly ’24 met after they heard each other playing music through the walls of Hassenfeld hall. “We would get to gether and film music videos for each other,” Berzofsky said in an interview with the Jus tice on Oct. 17. “We thought, why not expand this community, and spend some of Brandeis’ money while we’re at it?”
Joined by marketing specialist Liz Sandoval ’25, the executive board has kept the original name but rebuilt the concept to include all art forms. Basement Records was once a studentrun record label — now, it’s “an inclusive space for multimedia artists to connect and collaborate,” according to their Instagram, which Sandoval runs. “There’s a ton of insane ly talented people on this campus, but none of them know each other,” Berzofsky said. “The best way to create is with other people.”
The three leaders are all film majors, who bemoan their program’s lack of creative initia tive. “The film department does not provide a lot of avenues to actually practice, so we want to do that for people,” Lloyd said, citing the thousands of dollars of equipment available in the Sound and Image Media Studios lab, which frequently goes unutilized by creators. Berzof sky works in the SIMS lab, where he has been trained and licensed to use the state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment — a “golden ticket,” as Kelly says. “The fact that I didn’t know about 50% of SIMS’ resources until I started working here is a problem,” Berzofsky said. Additional ly, Lloyd and Kelly are experienced musicians and have hosted songwriting and Logic Pro workshops in SIMS. “We’re here to help, but the creators do all the work,” Berzofsky added. At a typical Basement Records meeting, the SIMS lab is filled with aspiring artists look
ing to connect with one another. Along with providing this forum, the e-board has created activities that not only help members improve their technical skills, but also promote collab oration. On Sept. 22, they hosted a Beat Rou lette, where producers traded computers ev ery ten minutes and expanded on each other’s beats. They are also in the midst of a songwrit ing challenge, where vocalists and producers are randomly paired and given two weeks to write a song.
What the e-board is most excited about, however, is their gradual construction of a campus-wide creative directory. Despite their relaunch a mere 12 weeks ago, Basement Re cords has amassed 96 members, with new peo ple still joining. They hope to cultivate a line of communication between all Brandeis stu dents who want to collaborate artistically. “If you want to make a music video,” Kelly said, “you need lights, cameras, actors.” Lloyd con tinued, “If someone is in need of those things, we can just send out an email so that anyone in the Brandeis community can contribute.” Or, maybe you need a drummer to fill out your band — Basement Records can help with that too.
Once a piece is finished — be it a song, an album, a music video, or a film — Basement Records helps creators get exposure for their work. “Great, you made something,” Kelly said, “now let us help you market and dis tribute it.” For example, Sandoval, who is in charge of the club’s online presence, spotlight ed student creator “barelyanygood” when they dropped a new song last week.
Sandoval, a queer Latinx creator, spoke on the value of inclusivity in creative spaces: “Lots of the time, people who look like me or face similar disadvantages in life are redlined. I want our creatives to feel stable in their dreams.” It’s important that in a field so vul nerable, every student feels accommodated and welcome — Sandoval also highlighted creative grants as a member of the Leonard Bernstein Festival planning committee. “I re ally want to make space for everyone’s inter sectionalities.”
In their short tenure, Basement Records has already seen incredible growth and enthusi asm for their mission. “People used to barely ever go into the sound studio here in SIMS,” Berzofsky said. “If you check now, it’s com pletely booked.” According to the e-board, the creative departments at Brandeis have not pro vided enough opportunities for their students to hone skills outside of class. “That’s a huge hole we’re trying to fill,” Lloyd said. Addition ally, the other production clubs at Brandeis — WBRS Radio, Brandeis Television, and Stu dent Music Committee — have started a line of communication with Basement Records, offer ing creative Brandeis students a larger com munity that before now has not existed.
Amherst’s Gabriel Arboleda argues against the notion of sustainable development
price significantly higher than the original construction cost.
Arboleda stressed how community par ticipation is central to urban sustainabil ity projects. Although Santo Domingo locals were consulted about trivial details such as computers, books, and wall colors, they were not included in decisive conversations.
New inventions presented at
nology Licensing funds the Sprout program, which awards $100,000 a year across multiple projects.
By AMANDA CHEN JUSTICE STAFF WRITERThe Brandeis Innovation Center held their eighth Annual Brandeis Innovation Showcase on Nov. 17, presenting the latest inventions from the Brandeis community. The event fea tured 16 projects, and attendees were able to vote on their favorite one.
The first place winner was Missionable, whose objective is to foster more trust in the digital world with social wallets.
There can be multiple teams for each proj ect if groups from different programs par ticipated in the same work. Three programs were present at the event: Spark, Sprout, and I-Corps. Spark is a spring semester accelerator program where the Brandeis Innovation Vir tual Accelerator helps teams build start-ups by providing “entrepreneurship education, pitch training and networking,” according to Brandeis’ web page on Spark. The program concludes with SparkTank, a day where groups pitch their projects and compete to re ceive up to $5,000 in seed funding.
The Provost’s Office and the Office of Tech
The National Science Foundation’s Inno vation Corps program gives entrepreneurial training and funding to participants. In 2017, the University obtained an NSF I-Corps site grant, becoming one of 10 I-Corps sites in New England.
Missionable, created by a Spark team, and designed by Douglass Guernsey M.A. ’22, who is a student at the Heller School for Social Pol icy and Management, and Varun Edupuganti M.A. ’23, who is a student at the International Business School, won first place. They wanted to build an online platform where institutions could give people digital tokens after verifying they completed a specific social action, such as donating to a university. Users can save their tokens in a social wallet and share it with job recruiters or use it to supplement resumes and college applications. Currently, Guernsey and Edupuganti have partnered with Brandeis and various non-profits to test out their product.
An initiative to devise a resource to make finding off-campus housing easier for local, out-of-state, and international graduate stu dents called Tenant2Tenant won second place, which was also created by a Spark team. Shiko Rugene M.A. ’23, Alton McCall M.A. ’23, Samu el Aronson M.A. ’23, and Andy Mendez M.A. ’23 founded the project in November 2021.
By ANIKA JAIN JUSTICE STAFF WRITERProfessor Gabriel Arboleda, associate pro fessor and chair of the architectural studies program at Amherst College, presented a lecture about his research on the complexi ties at the core of balancing sustainability and morality in urban design on Wednes day, Nov. 18 at the Mandel Center for the Humanities. Against the popular notion of sustainable development, Arboleda argued as to why urban designers should reconsider its implementation. As an architectural the orist and consultant, he works with people living in poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean. “Architecture is most beautiful when it hybridizes with other disciplines,” Arboleda said. His book, “Sustainability and Privilege: A Critique of Social Design Prac tice,” was recently published by the Univer sity of Virginia Press.
Arboleda’s research analyzes sustainable development through the lens of Medellin, Colombia, where the municipal govern ment dedicates resources to environmental design as a catalyst for social development. Addressing poverty through architectural design is also known as “social urbanism.” In his presentation, Arboleda shared many pictures of visually striking and innovative infrastructure built at the core of impover ished barrios, or neighborhoods, in the city.
Santo Domingo, one of the poorest barrios in the city, is home to Biblioteca de España, a huge, boulder-esque library that contrasts the simpler structures surrounding it. The city also has an innovative transportation system known as MetroCable, a public gon dola that can “fly over slums,” Arboleda said. The transportation initiative is known as “urban acupuncture” because of how ar tistic needles that are roughly connected by the cables create iconic architectural focal points in highly visible areas of the city. Me troCable also generally releases low emis sions, thus creating an environmentally sus tainable fissure of urban design. Moreover, the city has built new parks, gardens, green roofs, an artificial tree, and a green belt that contains natural preserves, bike paths, and other public amenities. Because of their in novative sustainable development, Medellin has earned several international awards, in cluding the Harvard University Green Prize for Urban Design.
Unfortunately, Medellin’s urban innova tion has come at a great socio-economic loss for residents of Santo Domingo, Arboleda explained. When the library was first con structed in 2006, some locals started hunger strikes to protest. Although the architects claim that only five houses had been demol ished to construct the library, the truth is that 118 houses had to be destroyed to make room for the massive park next to the li brary. A total of 600 residents were displaced in the process of construction. While the city government did compensate residents whose houses were destroyed, they severely lowballed property values and paid residents one-fifth of the market price. Residents had no choice but to take the money or face evic tion due to eminent domain, a government’s ability to seize private property.
After the library officially opened in 2007, construction problems started becoming ap parent. In 2015, Biblioteca de España had to close due to technological risks caused by water leaking through the joints. One resi dent likened the rain pouring through the leaks to a “biblical flood.” The library is cur rently being rebuilt, and the budgeted cost of reconstruction is $7.8 million USD — a
“Anodyne participation” — when commu nity members are invited to participate on relatively minor matters when key aspects have already been decided — is a common technique used to manipulate participation in the community design process.
Santo Domingo’s community cares more about housing, unemployment, income, and access to healthcare. In this neighborhood and similar ones in Medellin, the housing situation is dire due to overcrowding in lowincome areas. As one of the most densely populated areas in the city, Santo Domingo commonly hosts six to ten people per house, with some not even having access to toilets or clean water.
The ultimate result of urban development in Medellin is “green gentrification,” Ar boleda said. New infrastructure attracted new businesses, which led to increased rent and indirectly displaced even more residents. Although the city creates the im pression that the new infrastructure has economically revitalized the neighborhood, funding comes from external sources, so any profit goes back to those external sources.
According to Arboleda, the whole sus tainable development project is targeted towards preventing the expansion of slums by restricting the construction of more low-income housing in the area. In Medel lin, poor residents will be contained within Santo Domingo as those who live near the green belt will find property too expensive and be forced to move. He described the phe nomenon as “territorial encroachment and control exercised by the city government” that creates a “source of anxiety among lowincome, hillside residents.”
In Chapter Two of his book, Arboleda writes, “Architectural projects end up sub jecting populations in poverty to all forms of abuse, including impositions, economic burden, displacement, expropriation, tech nological experimentation, and even risk people’s lives since experimental green buildings sometimes collapse.”
Arboleda concluded his lecture with a potential solution to counterproductive ur ban development projects — social design ers should forget about sustainability for now and first focus on addressing poverty.
Acknowledging how radical his proposition sounds, Arboleda said, “the hegemonic char acter of sustainability makes it difficult to oppose.” However, after applying his theory with his own clients, he has learned that the outcome is desirable. As a practice, he never discusses sustainability as a goal with the people he works with, so that his clients can make affordable and adoptable decisions for the future that reflect their own interests.
He has observed that this approach often results in his clients choosing feasible, envi ronmentally conscious designs.
Arboleda has found that both the defi nition of sustainability and the notion of community participation are too compro mised to be of any value. He explained that while societies need both environmentally conscious urban design and participatory government initiatives, they need to strive for better positionality, with no underlying interests of control by figures of authority that taint the process. Ethnoarchitecture’s bottom-up participation model, he suggests, is ideal to advocate for radical participatory change. Rather than the designer directing the subject, or the designer and subject coparticipating, the residents need to design and then consult an agent. Consequently, ar chitects can act as a supporter of the vision as opposed to the driver. “We need to hear rather than speak,” Arboleda said.
■
implications of modern sustainability initiatives in urban design.
The club has been resurrected a fter a COVID-induced hiatus to provide Brandeis artists with creative directories, workshops, and access to resources.
Leading abortion journalists on the abortion news landscape
By GABRIELLA FINE JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITEROn Wednesday, Nov. 16, the University hosted panelists Josh Prager and Margaret Talbot to discuss the current political climate surrounding the issue of abortion access in the United States. The event, sponsored by the Journalism program and co-sponsored by the Co-Curricular Fund of Arts and Sciences and the Women’s Studies Research Center, was moderated by program Profs. Neil Swidey and Ann Silvio (JOUR).
The panelists, Prager and Talbot, are two of the nation’s leading journalists on the subject. Prager authored the Pulitzer Prize finalist book “The Family Roe” and was formerly a senior writer for The Wall Street Journal. Talbot is a staff writer for the New Yorker and has writ
ten extensively about abortion, in addition to her recent profile of U.S. Supreme Court Jus tice Samuel Alito. Swidey and Silvio are both journalists themselves. Their questions mainly focused on the past and future of abortion, as well as Prager and Talbot’s own journalistic approach to the topic of abortion in its cur rent political standing. Silvio asked, “What consideration do you give to the readers who don’t agree with you?” Prager responded that at times he found it painful to uncover uncom fortable truths about his ‘‘own side.’’ Talbot explained that her “responsibility is to be as accurate in the facts and evidence … to make an argument from [her] point of view.” After answering questions from Swidey and Silvio, Prager and Talbot responded to questions from audience members.
The panelists shared insight into how jour nalists covering abortion ahead of the mid term elections affected the election’s outcome. Although many political commentators were surprised that abortion was a critical issue for voters, Talbot was not. She mentioned The New York Times’s prediction that abortion would not be consequential in the midterms and how
their theory affected other news outlets’ report ing. Talbot immediately debunked this theory by sharing polling data that showed voters cit ing inflation as their most critical issue, and abortion as their second most critical issue.
Talbot also mentioned a piece written by Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) of Vermont that ran in The Guardian, which also doubted the impact abortion would have on the election re sults. Prager then noted that journalists could, at times, be wrong. Still, the calculated moves of candidates, especially conservatives and “all sorts of Republican politicians starting to backtrack on their very draconian statements and stances on abortion,” should have been in dicative to the media that the issue of abortion would be central in the midterms.
Speaking about the increase in women shar ing their own abortion stories, Prager and Talbot commented on the secrecy and shame surrounding the topic. Talbot cited Columbia University Professor Carol Sanger, saying, “Privacy is something that people often choose. Secrecy is often something imposed upon them. And abortion has been something that has been shrouded more in secrecy than privacy
in many ways.” Prager noted that the subject’s obvious ties to sex add a layer of discomfort for those less comfortable engaging in conversa tion relating to sex and sexuality.
Nearing the end of the program, Prager de clared, “I want everyone to hear me say this. [The pro-choice leaders in Washington and New York City] don’t treat poor people the same as rich people. How’s that? They just don’t, and they haven’t for 50 freaking years.”
Prager emphasized the need for East Coast movement leaders to empathize with those in southern states and reject elitism in the prochoice movement.
It is estimated that one in four women will have an abortion in their lifetime, accord ing to the American Journal of Public Health. Countless individuals are affected by legisla tion protecting and eliminating access to repro ductive healthcare. Prager reminded audience members to consider the stories of individu als affected by abortion laws on both sides of the aisle, instructing students to “write about people on both sides with empathy” in order to foster a better, kinder, and more accurate abor tion journalism environment.
DINING PROTESTHarvest Table says dining workers cannot use vacation hours until July
17, the day of the demonstration. At the time of the protest, Hargrove still had not sent an an swer.
By NATALIE KAHN AND ARIELLA WEISS JUSTICE EDITORSOn the afternoon of Nov. 17, the standard post-lunch hum of Usdan was replaced by chants and shouts as a handful of students and around two dozen dining workers gathered near Louis’ Kosher Deli for yet another dem onstration organized by the Brandeis Leftist Union and dining workers. Soon, the group be gan walking toward the entrance of the Usdan Dining Hall. Dining workers at the Hive joined in with the group as they passed by.
A few people held homemade banners and signs. Some of these signs, such as a large painted banner that reads “Worker Power, Student Power,” have been displayed at many protests on campus over the past year. Many of the signs, however, were freshly drawn. Dining workers held pieces of cardboard with phrases such as “WE WANT TO USE ARE (sic) VA CATION HOURS NOW!!” and “WE ARE NOT NEW TO BRANDEIS,” written in all-caps with black Sharpie.
The day before, BLU announced on Insta gram that they would be hosting an “Emer gency Action to support dining workers” the following day. “Harvest table is REFUSING to give dining workers their vacations if they want to take them and saying they must wait a year to take them!” the club’s post said.
“What do we want? Vacation time! When do we want it? Now!” students and workers chanted at the protest, standing in front of the entrance to Usdan Dining Hall. Soon, they switched from “Vacation time!” to “Clay!”
They were referring to Clayton Hargrove, the executive director of Harvest Table Culinary Services at Brandeis. A week earlier, the din ing workers’ union sent Hargrove a grievance in regard to workers not being able to use their accrued vacation time. Harvest Table had one week to respond to union grievances, per Ar ticle 22 of the collective bargaining agreement. The deadline for Hargrove to respond was Nov.
The gathered protestors began shouting “Where is Clay? Where is Clay?” Soon, Har grove came out to the entrance of the dining hall to face the group. He was accompanied by Ryan Moore, a Harvest Table “transition man ager.” The crowd clapped and cheered when the two men arrived, but it quickly became clear that the gathered workers weren’t there to shower their managers with praise. People quickly began voicing their frustrations to Har grove. “You said you’d have an answer for us today,” said one worker. Hargrove responded that he was “working on the answer” and later said he would send an answer by “close of busi ness day,” but would not specify an exact time.
The collective bargaining agreement is the contract between the dining vendor and the dining workers’ union, which all workers sign on to. As workers began voicing their concerns, Hargrove asked, “[Does] everybody know what a collective bargaining agreement is?” and held up a paper copy of the contract. “Sure we do, it’s not the first one that we’ve had,” dining worker Mily Santana, standing at the front of the group, responded. “I’ll read it to you,” Har grove said, and began reading Article 13 of the contract aloud.
“Vacation hours are accrued during one year and become available for use during the follow ing year. All employees regardless of their an niversary date will accrue vacation hours be tween July 1 and June 30 of the following year,” he read, adding, “It’s very clear.” The gathered workers shouted out in disagreement.
“You accepted our contract the way it is; there were no changes done in the contract,” Santana said. The current contract is a wordfor-word copy of the dining workers’ union’s previous contract with Sodexo.
“Aramark,” parent company of Harvest Table, was inserted wherever the former contract said “Sodexo.” Longtime dining workers said the last time Brandeis switched dining vendors, from Ara mark to Sodexo in 2013, they did not have to wait a full year to use their vacation hours.
“Past practice, we’ve always been able to use our vacation we’ve accrued,” one worker said during the protest. Lucia Hsiung has worked at Brandeis since 2000 and said that during both the switch to Sodexo ten years ago, and the switch to Aramark years earlier, workers were able to take paid vacation days during the first year. “Why only [with] Harvest Table [do] we
have the problem?” Hsiung asked Hargrove, standing mere feet away from him at the front of the group.
Santana shared Hsiung’s confusion. She said in her 17 years working at Brandeis, she has always been able to use her vacation time at any point in the year. “Why now that Harvest Table has come aboard I can’t use my vacation as needed for the holidays and the coming vaca tion?” Santana said in a Dec. 1 text correspon dence with the Justice.
Two dining workers, both of whom have been working at Brandeis for over 10 years and asked to remain anonymous, spoke to the Jus tice on Nov. 17 following the demonstration. They said that when Harvest Table took over as Brandeis’ new dining vendor, workers weren’t aware that the company would not allow them to use their vacation hours for a full year fol lowing the switch. “We didn’t know,” one of the workers said, adding that this has “never hap pened before.”
Michelle Pallone has worked at Brandeis for 25 years. Brandeis has switched dining vendors multiple times since Pallone started working at the University, but she said taking paid time off has never been an issue until this year. “I have always been able to use my vacation during school breaks,” Pallone wrote in a text. “Har vest Table should allow us to use our vacation hours NOW, not wait till July.”
At the demonstration, Hargrove said that to allow workers to use their vacation hours before July 2023, Harvest Table would need to “break the contract” between the company and the workers’ union. “The [union] signed a contract that said, I can’t pay them to take their vacation until July 1 of next year,” he said. “So why didn’t the [union] change the clause in the contract before they signed?” This was met with an uproar from the gathered workers, who responded with shouts of “Wrong!”
Gary Mendez, who has been at Brandeis for 13 years, spoke to the Justice on Nov. 17 follow ing the demonstration. “I didn’t see this con tract,” he said about the collective bargaining agreement, which totals 38 pages. He contin ued, “I’m sure a lot of other [workers] hadn’t seen it as well … so we didn’t know the lan guage of the contract.” Mendez said he wasn’t sure if every dining worker was given a copy of the contract,or just briefed on its contents. He said having to wait a year to use accrued vaca tion hours likely would have been a deal break er for workers, had they known this would be the case before agreeing to the contract.
Like many of his coworkers, Mendez was concerned about Thanksgiving break. He said to his managers, “Based on what just happened … we just don’t know whether we’re going to be able to use it next week [Thanksgiving].” Men dez added, “I don’t even know if I’m gonna be able to use it in December. Neither do any of my coworkers.”
Despite Hargrove telling workers at the dem onstration that he would have an answer by the end of the day, Harvest Table requested an extension to respond to the grievance sent by the dining workers’ union a week earlier, ac cording to a post from the BLU on the night of the protest. The club said it would be holding another “emergency action” the following day and called on students to “stand in solidarity at Usdan” to demand that Harvest Table give workers their vacation time. On Nov. 21, Har vest Table agreed to let workers take two paid vacation days over the Thanksgiving break in addition to Thanksgiving Day and the day af ter, which are already paid days off for all din ing workers. On Nov. 29, Hargrove told the Jus tice he “broke the contract” by giving workers these extra days off.
“Vacation days for future breaks have still not been decided upon as of now,” the BLU stat ed in a Nov. 21 post. On Dec. 3, the club posted that Harvest Table “refused to give workers their vacation time for the winter break” and encouraged students to join dining workers on Dec. 7 to demand vacation time.
The collective bargaining agreement states that “employees are encouraged to take their paid vacation time when the operation is closed – that is, at Winter break, Spring break, and at the end of the academic year in May.” If work ers are not allowed to take paid vacation hours, but University operations are closed, they are forced to take unpaid time off.
“It is only fair that while the rest of the uni versity goes on thanksgiving and winter break, that workers should be able to use vacation time to do the same!” BLU’s Nov. 16 post said. The two dining workers who spoke to the Jus tice anonymously after the demonstration said they had to go without pay during the Septem ber holidays this year, when many of Brandeis’ dining services were paused. “I hope [Harvest Table] can understand us, why it’s difficult for us,” one worker said, adding, “We need this money for our life.” For Brandeis’ dining staff, the question of their vacation hours still remains unanswered as the world commences this holiday season.
■ The company recently agreed to give workers two extra paid days off to use during Thanksgiving break, but has not agreed to let workers use their accrued vacation time before this summer.JACK YUANWEI CHENG/the Justice PANEL : Revered journalists Margaret Talbot and Josh Prager spoke to the Brandeis community about the current atmosphere of jouranlism about abortion and how the issue affected midterm elections.
WEEK: 11 languages spoken at All-Language
Dinner, where students take pledge to not speak any English
place on Nov. 16 and a panel discussion about supporting refu gees that took place on Nov. 17. Global Fellows also organized food drives supporting Healthy Waltham and FRESH.
Mandarin, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Kore an, Russian, Spanish, and Yiddish. Prior to entering the room, students took a “language pledge” promising not to speak Eng lish.
The Global Bazaar held on Nov. 17 offered student orga nizations and campus departments an opportunity to set up tables as a tangible representation of “the countless ways in which our community is global.” The event featured food, games, trivia, music, and traditional clothing. Over 20 groups participated in the event, including the International Busi ness School, the ISSO, the Chinese Language rogram, and the French Club. Students also represented individual countries such as Brazil and Mongolia.
Other notable events included the I Am Global Week kickoff event held in the SCC on Nov. 14, as well as the international candy tasting event that took place in the blue sheds in Fel lows Garden on Nov. 15. Other events were more academic in nature, including a town hall on U.S.-China relations that took
Beyond celebrating and bringing awareness to the global presence and diversity on campus, Papadopoulos emphasized the role of I Am Global Week in allowing international stu dents to connect with each other. “It’s really important … be cause it’s their support network in a lot of ways. That ranges from the Global Bazaar in terms of allowing student organiza tions to really highlight who they are and their contributions to the global campus at Brandeis, to the Cultural Connections through Storytelling event that … provided them [internation al students] a really nice way to listen to each other [and] also to have opportunities to share their own stories.”
Many Global Fellows, who, according to the I Am Global Week webpage, are student leaders that work with the ISSO to promote “international education, the integration of interna tional and domestic students, and awareness of global issues” echoed Papadopoulos’ sentiments.
In an interview with the Justice on Nov. 17, Dorji Kyi MA ’25, a Global Fellow and graduate student at the Heller School,
ACCIDENT: Brandeis plans memorial service for Vanessa Mark, among other updates
Joseph’s Transportation.
To support students healing from the aftermath of the shuttle crash, the Office of Health and Wellness Promotion has adapted “Stressbuster” events that were originally planned to help students cope with finals-related stress to also include resources for those in mourning. The Stressbuster events will be offered every day throughout the end of the semester for stu dents seeking support and comfort. In an email to the Justice, Director of Health Promotion and Wellness Initiatives Leah Berkenwald ’07 wrote, “Wherever students are right now is valid, and our goal is to offer programming and support for everyone.”
While Brandeis community members were aware that an individual had passed away in the accident on the night of Nov. 19, it wasn’t until the afternoon of Nov. 20 that it was announced the individual was un dergraduate Vanessa Mark. An event was held by the Center for Spiritual Life on Nov. 21 to come together and recognize Vanessa and the other students injured
in the accident. During the event, the Center for Spiri tual Life expressed that more events would be held as students returned to campus following the Thanksgiv ing break.
On Dec. 2, Dine informed community members in an email that a memorial service will be held for Vanessa on Dec. 6, from 12 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Sherman Function Hall, Hassenfeld Conference Cen ter. “The service will be an opportunity to remember Vanessa and come together as a community to honor her memory, and support one another,” Dine wrote. Community members unable to physically attend will be able to livestream the event as long as they register in advance.
The Office of the President and Assistant Vice Presi dent of Communications Julie Jette did not respond to the Justice’s request for comment, and Dean of Students Monique Gnanaratnam was unavailable to comment before time of publication. Dean of Aca demic Support and Advising Lori Tesner declined to comment.
STUDENT EMPLOYMENT: The Justice questions student job opportunities on campus
FROM 1
The Justice: Food delivery would be a great op portunity for student employment, has this been considered by Harvest Table?
Hargrove: Student workers are a huge part of making the robot delivery successful. They ensure the bots are filled on time, with accurate orders before the journey across campus for delivery.
The Justice: Can students expect job opportuni ties with Harvest Table in the future?
Hargrove: Absolutely! We are currently hiring GS 1’s [General Schedule], cashiers, and robot de livery/loaders. Unfortunately, we cannot hire for other positions than this, as we have to protect the jobs of our Union Workers.
The Justice: As stated in the Starship FAQ found through the app, some orders may be delivered by humans for various reasons. Could this be a posi tion for students?
Hargrove: If the bots are under maintenance dur ing normal delivery hours student workers could assist in face-to-face delivery.
The Justice: With the increase in student popula tion, is Student Financial Services working to cre ate more jobs for students?
Student Financial Services: Although the Office of Student Financial Services provides students with listings of available positions on campus, it cannot guarantee employment. While Federal Work Study does not guarantee an on-campus po
sition, it does give students hiring priority. Only students with FWS should apply for jobs and be hired prior to Oct. 1. This is stated very clearly on every job that is posted. A large percentage of hir ing is done in those first weeks of school and we spend a great deal of time making sure priority is given to the students with demonstrated financial need. If there is a student who wants to work but is having difficulty finding a job we are always happy to work with them individually.
The Justice: As work-study is outlined in some student financial aid packages, is Brandeis work ing to guarantee that these jobs will be available for students on campus?
Student Financial Services: Each year there are many students who choose not to use their work-study. The FWS allotment is not credited to the student’s account. Instead, students receive a weekly paycheck based on actual hours worked. If a student chooses not to work then they don’t earn that income to use towards indirect costs such as books, supplies and other miscellaneous personal expenses. There is no requirement to repay the unused allotment and it does not prohibit them from being awarded FWS in future years.
The Brandeis campus is filled with delivery robots, and some students continue to question whether these jobs could be given to those who are unwill ingly unemployed. Student Financial Services is willing to help students find on-campus jobs, not including jobs affiliated with Harvest Table. While Harvest Table is open to hiring students for other positions, the Starship robots are here to stay for the foreseeable future.
stated, “This is a really good opportunity for me to [get to] know more people, to make more friends … I think that was the best part [of I Am Global Week] for me.”
Papadopoulos also highlighted the role of the Global Fellows in planning I Am Global Week. “It would not have been possi ble to do this whole week without them,” she said. “They con tributed … in terms of their ideas for events we could do, ideas that they could do during Global Bazaar … the Global Fellows really provided that student voice throughout the week.”
This student involvement and the amplification of student voices is something Papadopoulos hopes to further in future I Am Global Weeks: “I would like to continue to see so much positive student engagement, because they really make I Am Global Week happen,” she said. “[We hope to continue] that collaboration with students ... I’d like to spend a bit more time in terms of meeting with students and finding out what other ways we can really share their stories and voices on campus.”
Though I Am Global Week lasted only a week, it successfully highlighted Brandeis’ vibrant international community and wealth of cultural diversity and the University’s commitment to creating a more inclusive, welcoming environment for all.
SHOWCASE: Digital tokens, water purification technology among recent inventions from Brandeis community
The team wishes to eliminate the in formation gap and allow renters to obtain an optimal housing deal at an affordable price. According to the event guide, their goal is to fully develop an app and web site that “evaluate[s] landlords, offers a consolidated place for resources, and connects students with their peers.” In a conversation with the Justice on Nov. 17, Rugene talked about how her personal ex periences with housing motivated her to pursue this project. She found the housing process to be frustrating because of the discrepancies between expectations and reality, missing information in the lease, and the lack of accountability.
The teams that formed optical-con trolled reusable nano-porous material for water purification won third place. The principal investigator was Prof. Grace Han (CHEM), and there were two teams: the Sprout team and the I-Corps team. The Sprout team consisted of Xiang Li (Ph.D.), and Sungwon Cho ’23. Mingrui Qi M.S. ’22, Scarlett Ren ’24, and Tianyu Gao M.S. ’24 made up the The I-Corps team. The project aims to increase access to clean drinking water, reduce cases of and deaths from diarrheal disease, and treat oil spills and organic solvent pollution. Their wastewa ter treatment device utilizes “nanoporous materials that are capable of adsorbing or ganic pollutants and releasing them upon light irradiation,” according to the event guide.
Additionally, there were some projects focused on fighting disease. One group’s research leveraged phosphatase synergy for tissue specific p38 inhibition. Prof. Niels Bradshaw (BCHM) was the princi pal investigator, and the Sprout team in cluded Emily Stadnicki (Ph.D.) and Staff Research Associate Prem Ramasamy. The I-Corps team consisted of Stadnicki, Kha ing Hnin Hnin Oo M.A. ’23, and Ci Song M.S. ’23. The project’s goal was to create alternative p38 MAP Kinase inhibitors to treat diseases like autoimmune diseases, myocardial ischemia, and cancer. p38 is a protein that regulates inflammation. Be cause existing p38 inhibitors have failed clinically, the team worked to identify other inhibitors.
CapGun Genomics used Sterile Insect Technique to decrease populations of insects that can cause diseases, such as malaria, dengue, and eastern equine en cephalitis. The project was led by Prof. Paul Garrity (BIOL) as the PI, a Sprout team, and an I-Corps Team. The Sprout team included Willem Laursen (Ph.D.)
CONTINUED FROM 3 Image courtesy of CREATIVE COMMONS
and Research Technician Rachel Busby ’22. Manny Glinsky ’24, Omer Barash ’25, and Viraj Gandhi M.S. ’23 made up the ICorps team.
Currently, chemical pesticides are used to kill harmful insects but using this method kills beneficial insects like bees, as well as negatively impacts hu man health. Biological control of insects through SIT provides an alternative solu tion, and while SIT is not a new technique, this project pursues other processes to make male insects sterile. Irradiation is commonly used to sterilize males, but the technique has drawbacks; thus, the team experimented with genetic engineering to target genes required for fertility. Busby stated that one of the reasons this project interested her was the chance to work with nontraditional organisms that are not well studied like mosquitos.
Other people worked on topics related to the pandemic. For example, Prof. Aida Yuen Wong (FA) created her own jewelry brand called ZZZI Jewelry, and the de signs are based on her handwritten cal ligraphy of Chinese phrases that evoke messages of racial equality and common humanity. This jewelry brand responds to the rise in anti-Asian sentiments since the pandemic began, and a portion of each sale is donated to nonprofits that combat racism. Wong hopes her pieces can start conversations and bring people together, according to a Nov. 17 interview with the Justice. Additionally, her production pro cess emphasizes sustainability and ethics by making jewelry on demand to reduce waste and using 100% recycled gold and conflict-free diamonds.
Another area of interest was food, and one team explored sustainable seaweed farming as a way to improve fish popula tions, protect vulnerable fishermen from unemployment, and increase the food sup ply to meet global demand in the future. Beck Hayes M.A. ’22 and Ariel Wexler M.A. ’22 created Sowing Seas of Change, which provides financial aid, training, and channels within the international seaweed market to at-risk coastal commu nities in the Caribbean and Latin Ameri ca, so they can transition from fishing to ocean farming.
features
I don’t want somebody in my house.
ON THIS DAY…
In 1933, a ruling determined that James Joyce’s “Ulysses” was not obscene, allowing for further freedoms in literature.
FUN FACT
The word “taser” stands for Thomas A. Smith’s Electric Rifle.
What can Marriage Pact tell us about dating at Brandeis?
For the second semester in a row, the matchmaking service Marriage Pact, which pairs ostensibly romanti cally-compatible students at 78 participating universities through an anonymous 50-question survey, has come to Brandeis. Just like last time, a third of Brandeis’ un dergraduate population participated. Also, just like last time, the buzz flatlined almost immediately after match es were released.
On the night of Nov. 16, those who filled out the ques tionnaire were sent an email with the subject line “Match Announcement,” fire emojis ablaze on both ends. The email stressed the imperfections of the algorithm and asked that participants maintain decorum, before finally delivering full names and email addresses.
That’s where, for most, the story ended. Despite the hype, though markedly less enthusiastic than last spring, Marriage Pact’s attempt at playing Cupid has failed yet again. Students took to the Brandeis-specific social me dia app, Sidechat, to voice their disappointment.
“my marriage pact is not hot… to say the least…”
“Why does my marriage pact have a gf [sic]”
“Did anyone get matched with someone they like?”
That last post had 11 comments, all of which read, sim ply, “no.”
In the months since it first appeared at Brandeis in Feb. 2022, Marriage Pact has become known on this cam pus as a lead balloon. But where exactly did it fall short? Was it the questions the survey asked, a bug in the algo rithm? Or, did the program run exactly as it was meant to, in fact, never promising anything at all?
Students say that Brandeis differs from many other universities in its relative lack of a hookup culture. “It’s definitely not a hookup school,” David Merges ’25 told the Justice over Zoom on Oct. 17. “Everybody knows every body, so it’s hard to have something purely casual.” Of course, flings happen, but at a school with small, unrec ognized Greek life, casual hookups aren’t exactly encour aged.
“People get weirdly labeled if they’re into hookup culture,” Merges said. Last semester, his Marriage Pact match turned out to be a mutual friend: Eva Smith ’25, who was also present during the interview. He contin ued, “A lot of people here didn’t have a lot of experiences in high school — maybe they’re stuck in that.” Smith added, “No hate, but most kids here don’t really have so cial skills.”
Merges and Smith spoke to the validity of the survey. “It was pretty impressive that we got matched — I’d been told before that I was the female version of David,” Smith said.
Niche, a popular college ranking and review site,
LOADING LOVE......
By LEA ZAHARONI JUSTICE STAFF WRITERgave Brandeis’ student life and party scene a grade of C based on more than 15 sources. This kind of environment doesn’t exactly breed an excessively outgoing student body. Marriage Pact does help students bypass the famil iar hurdle of disparate ideologies in dating, but impor tantly, the responsibility of reaching out and forming a connection lies with participants.
“I know a lot of people who were scared to take that second step even though they found the other person at tractive,” Merges said. “So you got a name — now you actually have to do something about it.”
Merges got lucky with his match since he wasn’t look ing for anything romantic and got paired with someone he already knew. But of those in search of bona fide ro mance, he said, “You can’t really say that nothing comes of it if you don’t try to reach out.”
One anonymous junior was one of over 1,100 students who participated in Brandeis’ first Marriage Pact in spring 2022. “I just did it because everyone else was doing it, too — it seemed funny,” she said during an interview with the Justice on Oct. 16.
She didn’t know when she filled out the survey that she would soon be one half of a successful Brandeis Marriage Pact relationship — the only one currently known to the Justice.
She thought the survey was so silly that she let her friends input joke answers to some of the prompts, though she couldn’t remember which ones. It could’ve been “Do you believe in soulmates?” or “I generally like to take control during sex,” or “Would you keep a gun in your house?” she told the Justice. Her results may have differed if, like other students, she had been completely sincere in her survey — perhaps she wouldn’t have been paired with her current boyfriend, an unnamed junior, whose friends did the same thing.
Marriage Pact’s website touts a 3-4% success rate. For 1,200 students, that figure amounts to 36, meaning that nine new couples should have won the matchmaking lot tery. So far, the anonymous junior and her match –- now boyfriend –- are the only recorded victors.
“When I first got the email, I thought to myself, I’ve never heard of this man in my life,” she said. A few days later, she received a direct message from her match on Instagram.
“We chatted for a few days, and then one night I was out when a frat party got shut down by the police — he had asked me to hang out sometime. It was still early in the night, so I replied, ‘How about right now?’”
They met up, she said, and she admittedly acted a bit too aloof. “I was being so rude to him, but he still wanted to keep talking.” In her own words, it took a couple hang outs for her to warm up to him. There wasn’t an initial “click,” but the pair slowly built the groundwork for a lasting partnership.
“The questions weren’t the reason we hit it off,” she said. “It was more like a fun way to meet someone — it
took some of the pressure off.” The survey proved not to be an algorithmic scientific guarantee of compatibility, but a “meet-cute.”
Marriage Pact doesn’t ask any questions about physi cal type or preferences. In the shuffle of finding a photo of your match, which is not provided in the email, people seem to forget that this is a person whose social and po litical opinions match their own.
Smith and Merges coincidentally look alike — “Have you heard the conspiracy that we’re the same person?” they both said at once — but the matchmaking service requires that its participants be interested in long-term, viable compatibility over attractiveness.
However, many students, evidenced by Sidechat, found a photo of their match that they said dashed all hope of a viable relationship. Unfortunately, this is a pattern at Brandeis — most understand the concept of “Brandeis goggles.” These metaphorical lenses reportedly obscure normal standards of attractiveness to accommodate low er standards. The Brandeis Hoot published an op-ed in 2007 that alluded to a rather shocking adage, apparently popular at the time: “nine out of ten Jewish girls are pret ty and the tenth goes to Brandeis.”
“I think Brandeisians get a bad rap,” Merges said. “We have enough good people that there should be more [cou ples] coming out of something like Marriage Pact.” Yet even when served a possible match on a silver platter, few students end up reaching out at all.
It’s only been three days since this semester’s Marriage Pact results were released, and already campus conver sation has completely moved on. Sidechat’s homepage no longer sings of “ugly” matches, but of Usdan dining or finals dread. Once again, the matchmaking service has proved to be little more than a temporary distraction.
Many consider Marriage Pact to be nothing more than an exciting activity. “I was actually in a relationship when I filled it out,” Smith said, “but I think it’s fun to find people who are similar to me.”
It’s important to note that other schools experience the same Marriage Pact fatigue — articles have appeared in student newspapers at Columbia University and New York University bemoaning the survey’s failures. Shock ingly, it seems that social awkwardness as a phenom enon exists at other schools, too. While Marriage Pact’s reception at Brandeis is illuminating, it also doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Then again, maybe it’s much simpler than that. Maybe the concept is too weak to be real matchmak ing — maybe it’s just an opportunity for students to learn something more about themselves, or a rare chance to take a quiz that isn’t graded.
Two semesters of facilitated matchmaking have yielded little more than empty hype – where does the blame lie?
Saying ‘shalom’ to Prof. Guy Antebi’s new radio show
Last month, Prof. Guy Antebi (HBRW) launched a weekly WBRS radio show – “Shalom Brandeis” –with his HBRW 44b students. The Justice sat in during a live session to catch a glimpse of the new, experiential Hebrew-learning environment.
By JESSIE GABEL JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
A deep and peppy-sounding “Shaaaaalom Brandeis!” floats across the airwaves. It’s time for Professor Guy An etebi’s radio show, which airs on WBRS 100.1 FM every Thursday at 1 p.m. With energy and chutzpah, Antebi is ready to serve and engage with students studying “interme diate high to advanced low” Hebrew.
Every week on air, Antebi and his students attempt to discuss in Hebrew expansive topics within pop-culture and current events, as well as anecdotes from their personal lives. The HBRW 44b course is called “Israeli Culture and Media” and is geared towards listening, reading, and speak ing in Hebrew with an emphasis on using Israeli cultural aspects and background to guide students’ language learn ing.
According to WBRS staff, this is Brandeis’s only program that includes non-English dialogue and discussion, as well as the only radio show hosted by a professor.
On Nov. 17, the Justice sat in on one of Antebi’s shows. He opened the class by asking his students “Ma nishma?” — “what’s up” in Hebrew. One by one, the students gave An tebi updates on their lives in Hebrew. Anetebi then played students’ homemade jingles on the soundsystem while they jammed out in their seats. One student appeared extra ex cited: his parents were listening in on the show that after noon.
The atmosphere of the radio station, in Antebi’s words, is always nothing short of “fun and hippy.”
“The way that I teach my classes is kind of like when you go to do sports — the first thing is a warmup,” Antebi said in an interview with the Justice. “In a language, you have
to do a warmup for the class to be successful. You never introduce new material, you always talk about ‘hey, how’s your weekend?’… [you] get them to switch from English to Hebrew. Once you do that, the second part is the sealing. The sealing is learning something new or reinforcement… And the last part is winding down… leave the class with something positive and wanting more.”
Antebi said he had instituted many lessons and aspects in his classroom that he picked up when he learned English as his second language. “We always look for the real-life experience,” he said. “If we’re learning about apartments or houses, can the student write a real life situation about trying to rent apartments?”
He continued: “When I go to the drive-through and order something, people don’t look at it as a challenge. But for ESL [English as a second language] learners, it is a chal lenge because you don’t see the lips of the person next to you when you have to order, and you sometimes really don’t understand what they’re saying to you.”
Antebi also said he believed that being on-air adds a “good pressure” because you never know who’s out in the world listening. “You need a little pressure,” he said, in or der to best learn vocabulary and correctly pronounce new words.
As of this fall, Antebi has worked at Brandeis for 19 years. He teaches multiple Hebrew courses and is known as being “chill,” “patient,” and “understanding,” as some as his stu dents described. They also agreed that Antebi had accom plished the “good pressure” he said he strived for.
Brooke Schwartz ’25, a student in Antebi’s HBRW 44b
class, explained with humor and seriousness that, “on the off-chance that we have one listener somewhere, I have to try to make it seem like I know Hebrew.”
Davina Goodman ’23, another student in the class, said that the radio show “helps put a little bit of pressure on you because even if nobody’s listening, it’s still a more intimi dating environment [than a classroom], so you want to be able to speak it.”
Specifically with HBRW 44b, Antebi said he felt that there was always room for new learning opportunities. “This course is [on] Israeli media, and every Thursday, we are doing a news journal where the students are choosing an interesting article that they read or something on campus.” The students then read and discuss the article in class. “I felt that it was super interesting, and they were very enthu siastic, but that something was missing. And the something that was missing was more real life experience. Going on the radio… will give them [students] something more,” An tebi said.
Thus, the WBRS show “Shalom Brandeis” was born. So far, Antebi’s students see this as an interactive way of learning. Kobi Russell ‘23, another student in Hebrew 44b, said he believed that “Guy, who is the best professor on campus, has struck the balance [of both a fun and academic classroom environment] perfectly.”
Shaaalommmm Brandeis!Dalya Koller, Leah Breakstone, News Editors
Natalie Kahn, Features Editor
Lauryn Williams, Forum Editor
Aiden Guthro, Sports Editor
Megan liao, Arts & Culture Editor
Smiley Huynh, Owen Chan, Photography Editors
Ariella Weiss, Isabel roseth, Copy Editors
Devon
EDITORIALS
The Nov. 19 Joseph’s Transportation crash, which resulted in dozens of injuries and the tragic loss of Brandeis student Vanessa Mark, has brought the safety of University transportation operations into question. On Nov. 30, the Interim Vice President for Student Affairs Andrea Dine notified Brandeis students via email that the Boston/Cambridge shuttle would be suspended for the rest of the semester “while we investigate alternatives for this route.” Joseph’s is still being used for the Waltham shuttle.
This board appreciates the fact that the University has taken this measure to suspend the route temporarily. However, it brings into question why the safety of Joseph’s service was not investigated earlier. The identity of the Joseph’s driver from the crash has not been released to the public, nor has the cause of the crash been determined. It has not been determined whether the crash was related to the driver or the bus itself, and the incident is currently under investigation by the Middlesex District Attorney’s office.
to help students put many in jeopardy and resulted in the loss of a life.
One major problem this board sees with the Boston/Cambridge service was that there was no way to report unsafe driving. Thus, if a student felt uncomfortable with some aspect of the shuttle service, whether that be driving, cleanliness, or timeliness, there was no way to officially document their complaints and/or experiences to Joseph’s or the University. This editorial board first recommends that the University, and Joseph’s, implement a way for students to provide driving feedback, if possible, in real time. The University could also create a rating system similar to Uber or Lyft, where riders rate their trip on a five-point scale, with a comment section.
It has been more than two weeks since the tragic shuttle accident, and the Justice editorial board continues to send our deepest condolences to all parties impacted by this event. While the University has held events to bring students together during these difficult times, it is important to remember that each member of Brandeis will handle these emotions differently. There are no words we can use to express the devastation this incident has caused. As an editorial board, we want to let the campus community know that we are listening to them. We also want to address the difficulty of balancing school work in the wake of these incidents.
As a community, it is vital that we create spaces where students can receive the support they need on their own terms. We understand that many of you want to be an outlet for those struggling, and while we commend the community for supporting one another we do not recommend this practice. Allow people to find their outlets at their own pace. If a friend does come to you and wants to talk, listen to them.
For many people, it can be difficult to even ask for help. Validate this vulnerability by just listening. If they are still seeking more support then assist them in that search as well.
As finals approach, students may be feeling the stress of academics compounding on their emotions of the recent tragedy. The mental health of the student body should come far before performance or attendance in the classroom. In the past couple of weeks, Brandeis has urged its professors to be more lenient about assignment extensions and attendance. In a Nov. 30 email to Brandeis students, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic
Affairs Carol Fierke said, “faculty have been encouraged to consider allowing for extra absences, offering remote participation in classes, late submission of work, and offering alternative formats for exams or even optional exams for students in good standing; “however, no leniency policies are required of faculty. While some professors have granted extensions or even canceled upcoming assignments, students have felt difficulty surrounding in-class attendance. We ask the University and professors to continue checking in with the student body when appropriate, and accommodate students when possible. As we said above, we must continue to create spaces where students can receive the help they need, whether that is academically or emotionally. Brandeis has always prided itself on its elite academics, but the issues that students are facing extend beyond the classroom.
There is nothing we can say or do that will heal the pain the campus is feeling. However, as an editorial board we are proud of the students and faculty that have joined together to help one another through these tough times. When tragedy strikes a community as small and close-knit as Brandeis, it can either come together or divide. These past few weeks have shown us that we can come together when the campus needs it most.
Now, a few weeks removed from the incident, we must continue to find unity as a community.
Provide spaces where people can begin to heal. Be a listening ear if someone needs to talk to you. Find ways to adjust your class structure to meet the needs of the students. We all play a part in how the campus handles this incident.
However, outside of this specific incident, several Brandeis community members spoke of Joseph’s drivers who they felt had driven the Boston/Cambridge route recklessly. Two students mentioned that they took the same shuttle route the night prior, and felt the driving was unsafe then too. One board member’s parent took the Boston/Cambridge shuttle during Parent’s Weekend in 2021, and said, “I remember the driver drove recklessly, was yelling at other drivers, and seemed drunk. I was uncomfortable.”
Though students had concerns for their safety while on the shuttle, it is one of Brandeis students’ — who live outside of a Boston T subway route — limited ways to get around the Boston area if they do not own a car. Though the commuter rail is an option to get to Boston and is close to campus, it costs $7 each way and stops running to Waltham after 11 p.m., leaving students out late on the weekend stranded without a means to get home other than expensive ride-share services.
Beyond the immediate safety concerns students face while on the shuttle, this board would also like to draw attention to the unreliable timing of the service — because, due to staffing issues, the shuttle service and the BranVan often do not show up as posted. Students cannot rely on the Branda app’s tracking service either, which does not track the vans precisely, nor are the trackers always on. Instead, students receive updates on the Escort Safety Service Instagram day- or hour-of, when they are relying on the shuttles or BranVans to get home from the city, or get to work on time. If students are waiting in Waltham alone at night, especially after incidents like the recent assault on the Riverwalk, they are left in a dangerous situation. This board has previously criticized the University’s response to these safety concerns on campus, in Waltham, and in the greater Boston area.
University Administration, it’s time to support students Asking for a friend
Further, if a student frequently takes the commuter rail, the fares add up, and when faced with the option to take the rail or a free shuttle service provided by the University, the choice is obvious. It dismays this board that a service meant
In light of recent events, this board implores the University to reconsider its staffing for the Brandeis BranVans and outsourcing for the Boston/Cambridge shuttles. Even more important, the University needs to ensure the buses are not only reliable, but safe. The University should be requiring, if they are not already, that ride services’ vehicles are regularly inspected and the drivers background checked, at the very least. This board hopes that the University seriously considers the issues of its own services and those it provides by outside contractors before offering them. Students should not have been put in danger for the University to start doing so.
Chaplains in the Center for Spiritual Life are available for one to one conversations with students who are looking for support in or der to take care of themselves during finals! Students of any spiri tual tradition or background are welcome to reach out to any of the chaplains for this reason. We’re here to meet you where you’re at — whatever spirituality means to you—and help you figure out what supports your flourishing as a whole person.
The Center for Spiritual Life will have several events leading up to and during finals as part of the overall Stressbusters campaign in cluding:
“Zen Zone”every Monday at 12:30 p.m. and Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in the Peace Room. A special Zen Zone on Dec. 12 will feature a gentle yoga practice
Yoga Foundations Classes with our Hindu and Dharmic Chaplain, Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in the Dharmic Prayer Space”
Sandler, Eden Osiason Online Editors
“Asking for a friend” is Forum’s advice column where each week we ask Brandeis students their thoughts and opinions, which range from an array of topics. As we end the semester, work can feel overwhelming. So, we asked the Center for Spirtual Life what students can do to unwind during this time. If you are interested in submitting advice for the upcoming column, follow our instagram: @thejusticenewspaper.
“If you have a practice (spiritual or otherwise) that supports your mental health and well-being, plan ahead to ensure you can engage with this practice (meditation, prayer, going for a walk in nature, gathering with a community etc.) during finals as well.
Prioritize students’ safety: It shouldn’t have come to this
Dear Editor,
While I appreciate your advocacy for our custodial staff in Facilities Servic es, your article “We try to do the best we can…” published on 11/8/22 lacked the sort of journalistic balance more typical of the Justice. There were far too many factual errors for me to ad dress in this letter, but I do want to set the record straight regarding the in tent of our recent custodial workload reassignments, staffing levels, and your outreach to Campus Planning and Operations for information. I feel that the piece you published was unfair. An analysis we conducted this past year of custodial workloads revealed a wide variation across the staff. For example, one residence hall custodi an was responsible for cleaning 7,200 square feet (sf) while another resi dence hall custodian was responsible for cleaning 40,200 sf. Wide variations also existed among the custodians for academic buildings and for science. For more workload equity across staff, cleaning assignments were reassessed and adjustments were made where nec essary — about half of the custodians experienced workload decreases or no change, and about half experienced workload increases.
Thus, the reassigned workload range among residence hall custodians was narrowed to 11,900-16,500 sf, with an average of 13,400 sf. The reassignment plan was presented in August and Sep tember to all custodial staff as well as to their supervisors and union repre sentatives. Feedback on how the plan was working was encouraged the first two months of implementation during a trial period. Continuous feedback is encouraged at monthly staff meetings, daily though custodial supervisors and/or the manager, or directly to the director of Facilities Services. As a re sult of your article, a feedback form (in English and Spanish) has also been de veloped through which staff may sub
mit comments anonymously.
During my three years leading Cam pus Planning and Operations, 15 custo dians have been hired to fill positions vacant due to promotions, retirements, resignations, and the unfortunate passing away of staff. There are cur rently three open positions (a typical number of openings for a large orga nization) for which the Facilities Ser vices Director Lori Kabel and her team are hiring. Early in the pandemic, there were another five positions put on hold due to the consequent hiring freeze and university-wide budget re ductions; we continue to advocate for budget increases to cover the remain ing vacancies.
Finally, I appreciate that the Justice interviewed Facilities Services em ployees; however, given the amount of accusations and vitriol in your ar ticle specific to the director, I do think that an interview with her and/or me was more than warranted to ensure fair and responsible reporting. You emailed me for answers to detailed questions on staff counts and budget over the years, but there was no indi cation this piece would so directly and negatively target a member of my lead ership team. When we asked for more information about the story, you invit ed us to provide a statement, which we did. At no time did we receive a request for an interview as reported in your ar ticle. Again, I feel that the piece you published was unfair and a disservice to the Brandeis community, to Campus Planning and Operations, and the di rector of Facilities Services.
Sincerely, Lois Stanley, VP for Campus Plan ning and Operations -Editors note, the Justice intially re cieved this Letter to the editor Nov. 17
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Dear Justice readers,
We, the editor in chief and man aging editor of the Justice, want to clarify some factual inaccuracies brought up in a recent “Letter to the editor” from Vice President of Cam pus Operations Lois Stanley (see left). Stanley responded to an article published in the Nov. 8 edition of the Justice called “‘We try to do the best we can’: Facilities custodians faced with impossible workloads.”
Stanley claimed that Justice edi tors Leah Breakstone and Dalya Koller who wrote the story gave “no indication [to Stanley or Director of Facilities Lori Kabel] this piece would so directly and negatively tar get a member of my leadership team” in reference to Kabel. However, this is untrue. Below are screenshots of emails sent from Breakstone and Koller to Kabel, Stanley, and Assis tant Vice President of Communica tions Julie Jette on Nov. 4 asking for a statement from Kabel. Breakstone and Koller explicitly stated that their article concerns “complaints from facilities workers about unfair and unrealistic workloads as a result of being understaffed, attributed to a lack of room in the budget to hire more employees.” They told Kabel that they would include a statement from her if she desired, “as the mat ter greatly involves you.”
Stanley also claimed in her letter that the Justice reported a request for an interview with Kabel and Stan ley in our Nov. 8 article. Again, this is factually incorrect. At no point in the Nov. 8 article did we mention a request for an interview with Kabel and Stanley.
Stanley referenced various data points and other information in re gards to facilities staff’s workloads
and building assignments. We great ly appreciate being given this infor mation; however, the Justice asked for this data from Stanley on Oct. 25, two weeks before we published the Nov. 8 article in question. Stanley responded on Oct. 27, passing off the questions to Kabel. The Justice nev er received a response beyond that, even after Breakstone called Stan ley’s office phone and left a message on Nov. 2 (see below).
Stanley repeated twice that she be lieves the article is “unfair.” Stanley also broadly claimed that “[t]here were far too many factual errors [in the article] for me to address in this letter.” We believe this statement to be problematic as it vaguely criti cizes the journalistic integrity of the Justice’s article without any specific or documentable examples to back it up. In light of the inaccuracies we have highlighted in Stanley’s cri tiques, her complaints do not have many specific details to substantiate them beyond a general dislike of the content of the article, which portrays facilities management in a largely negative light.
We at the Justice always value feedback, constructive criticism, and input on our reporting. This letter was not written with the intention of discouraging future letters to the editor; rather, we want to clarify the record for the benefit of our readers. We hold our reporting to the highest standard of journalistic ethics.
Sincerely, Jen Crystal, editor in chief of the Justice, Jane Flautt, managing editor of the Justice
The University’s inconsistent support is detrimental to students
By ANYA LANCE-CHACKO JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER,
Editors Note: Jaiden Wolfman contributed research. After the traumatic accident that the Brandeis community experienced, the response of and support from the administration at Brandeis has been less-than ideal.
Despite a clear and desperate need for more mental health support at Brandeis, multiple students have reported long waiting lists, frequent counselor resignations, and generally frustrating experiences with the Brandeis Counseling Center. Jevon Bunting ’25 told the Justice, “I called the BCC last week to try to get an assessment during their hours, [Tuesday, Nov. 29 at 2 pm] and the call bounced … No ringer, no answering machine, just rejected.” This report was interesting to hear, especially after the email released from Ron Liebowitz on the 20th said, “I want to reiterate the resources that are available for us to draw upon at this difficult time. Students can contact the Brandeis Counseling Center 24-7 at 781736-3730.”
Student frustrations with the lack of support from various administrators have been an issue long before this incident. The following is an anecdote from Nile Marsh ’24 on his experiences with the mental health care support at Brandeis: “When I experienced an extremely upsetting event in September, I told four of my five teachers (one of my classes has homework that is so scheduled and accessible that I ended up needing no extensions) and asked for extensions and support. Three of them responded with kindness, with one telling me explicitly ‘The mental health of my students is more important to me than grades,’ one extending every deadline I had by weeks, and one writing me a compassionate email sharing their empathy for my situation and offering to report me to the school to receive extra support. The fourth professor I told, who I had asked for an extension on a twelve hundred-word essay due two days later on topics I had already missed due to having COVID, simply responded to my email with ‘I hope your friend feels better.
You can have a one-day extension on the essay.’ I dropped that class and accepted my other teacher’s offer to report me. Fearful that Brandeis admin would make me feel worse (when I arrived on campus freshman year, they scheduled a meeting with me to make sure I was over the difficulties I’d written about in my application essay; the
meeting ended up making me feel like a liability they wanted to erase), I ignored the Dean’s office representative that tried to set up a meeting with me for a few weeks before finally agreeing to see them. At the meeting, the representative advised me to ‘say no to your friends and go to the library’ to catch up on the classes I’d received extensions in. When I mentioned that one professor had offered so little support that I had dropped the class, the representative exclaimed in dismay and asked if I still had the proper course load for the semester.
I left the meeting in tears, feeling worse than I had before I utilized the school’s resources.”
Since this recent tragedy, the consequences of academic pressure on students’ mental health and the lack of necessary resources, support, and understanding have only become more glaringly evident.
On Monday, Nov. 28, after the incident, students were greeted in the Shapiro Campus Center by a variety of tables hosting various craft wellness activities, and also were given access to therapy dogs for the majority of the week. Although these resources are supportive, the immense need that students have to speak with professional mental health specialists at this time needs to be prioritized. The University needs to increase the number of counselors available to students. Oftentimes, with general communityallocated resources, such as “stress busting events,” like the therapy dogs, the tonal nature is harder to gauge. Therefore, it is necessary for them to come in conjunction with the opportunity for students to speak to empathetic professionals one-on-one. In discussions of tragedy, curated phrases aren’t enough.
This was particularly clear at the first table in the SCC where students were supplied with a variety of stickers with phrases like, “Everything happens for a reason,” “Don’t let it break your heart,” and “I am happy.” Synthetic phrases such as this, or emails declaring Brandeis’s support without this being demonstrated by the University’s actions, aren’t what students need during this time.
It is essential that the University prioritize allocating funds to ensure that there is enough genuine professional support for the student body.
Adding more mental health counselors to support students managing the pressures of academia after this traumatic incident, as well as generally through the very emotionally complicated time that is
emerging adulthood, is vital. Academic Services released an email to the student body that noted that students “may request an incomplete” from their instructors or be granted excused absences from final exams. Additionally, the Pass/Fail option was reopened.
Options such as these are great strides towards allowing students to prioritize their mental health over productivity, but academic leniency should always be available, as students, and educators, are individuals themselves with personal lives that can interfere with their mental health and the ability to meet deadlines. Nile Marsh ’24 stated:
“I appreciate the individual kindness shown to me by some of my professors. I wish there was an official mechanism for students to request extensions or extra support due to personal circumstances or mental health issues.
Getting accommodations is both a lot of work and inaccessible to students that can’t pursue therapy or get a diagnosis for a variety of reasons.
I would rather some students abuse the mechanism to get extra time for their assignments (and if they’re using it, they obviously need it) than have everyone forced to fall on their professor’s mood and personal bias whenever they need help.”
From personal experience, within some departments, such as the English department, there is a leniency granted to students, and a general culture of
the encouragement of intellectual conversation and engagement over hard deadlines and perfect exam scores. However, this culture doesn’t carry out across all departments, and oftentimes students feel pressure for perfection over taking care of themselves.
The world of academia, especially as it exists within capitalist structures that promote worker productivity over an individual’s well-being, makes it difficult to navigate advocating for personal wellbeing at any level.
Although the larger world and workforce aren’t free of deadlines and expectations, this doesn’t mean that those with authority at the educational level shouldn’t make an effort to curate understanding and support for students. Educators themselves have their own lives, as well as deadlines, and assignments to grade, and should be treated with the same level of empathy and understanding to the extent that this is possible.
The nature of learning inherently includes making mistakes and adjusting from them — especially within scientific fields where experimentation is often a conglomerate of trial and error — and asking further questions.
As this is the nature of these fields, and education as a whole, it is essential to approach productivity with the same awareness and attempts to balance human error, with a compassionate consciousness.
The Justice welcomes letters to the editor responding to published material. Please submit letters through our Web site at www.thejustice.org.
Anonymous submissions cannot be accepted. Letters should not exceed 300 words, and may be edited for space, style, grammar, spelling, libel and clarity, and must relate to material published in the Justice. Letters from off-campus sources should include location. The Justice does not print letters to the editor and op-ed submissions that have been submitted to other publications. Op-ed submissions of general interest to the University community — that do not respond explicitly to articles printed in the Justice — are also welcome and should be limited to 800 words. All submissions are due Friday at noon.
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.
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.
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QUADBALL: Creating a family on campus
teams competing. In the summer of 2023, the International Quadball Association will be holding their World Cup in Richmond, Virginia. The sport has grown exponentially, and the community has welcomed these new players with open arms.
Jha is proud of where the team has come, but she seemed most delighted with the family they have established on campus. At the end of her interview, she urged newcomers to come to a practice and meet the team. And when asked who could
join the team, the answer was pretty straight forward: everyone.
“Some people were coming from tackling sports and some people had never played team sports in their life,” Jha said. “We are really used to a wide range of athletic skill levels and entering these people into confident athletes.”
So if you or a friend are thinking about joining a team on campus and you don’t know where to start, check out Quadball. It may just be the family you are looking for.
MAN U: Tensions run high as Ronaldo demands a transfer
FROM 16
so that he left the pitch before the full time whistle was called.
Ten Hag then made the decision to drop Ronaldo from the squad for the team's upcoming game against Chelsea.
In an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan, Ronaldo went on record saying that “there was no evolution” from when Fergueson was managing the team, and Ten Hag tried to embarrass and provoke him when he tried to bring Ronaldo out in the final minutes of the match against Tottenham. Ronaldo also claimed that United was more of a “marketing club” because there is a reputation that all United cares about is making money and not actually winning. This could be attributed to the club’s
struggle in the past decade, since Fergueson’s departure.
Ultimately, Manchester United terminated Ronaldo’s contract Nov. 22, two days after the World Cup in Qatar began.
It is clear that Ronaldo is currently focused on Portugal and their chance in the World Cup, as they have advanced to the round of 16 and will face Switzerland on Dec. 6. However, after reading all the news outlets' coverage, soccer fans across the globe would surely find it difficult to not think about what Ronaldo’s plans are with his club career after the World Cup ends. Ultimately, the public will just have to wait and see which club Ronaldo decides to bring his talents to.
WORLD CUP: US future looks bright as young talent shines
hard for the red, white, and blue; Brendan Aaronson, Gio Reyna, and Haji Wright made their impact on the field clear. Wright, in the 74th minute, had his opportunity to put away a goal when a defensive mistake gave him the ball in front of the goal. Unfortunately, a heavy touch would set him up for failure, and he was unable to correct his mistake. The U.S. was able to find the back of the net in the second half, briefly filling players and fans with a feeling of optimism. In the 76th minute, Pulisic was able to cross the ball in from the right wing. Wright caught the ball with the back of his foot, and it spun off into the far post of the Dutch goal
to pull the gap closer. Yet, the U.S.’s inexperience was shown yet again when an unmarked Dumfries would score five minutes later after the U.S. did.
The lack of a clinical finisher for the U.S. meant threatening passes and crosses lacked a receiver. That, combined with an alarming number of unmarked players, gave way for the deserving Netherlands to qualify and continue to play third ranked Argentina this Friday at 2 p.m. The Netherlands played excellent defense; veteran center back Virgil van Dijk played a major role throughout the game, thwarting countless U.S. opportunities. Yet, all in all, it’s
important to take away the positives from this tournament as the U.S. looks forward to the 2026 World Cup. Although players like defender 35-year-old Tim Ream will most likely not be returning, the beauty of the young squad will be seen in the familiar faces come four years. There are plenty of big names that weren’t selected, from 19-year-old Ricardo Pepi to 25-year-old defender Miles Robinson. The U.S. has the potential to develop and nurture its young talent, perhaps emerging as a true threat when the 2026 World Cup travels to North America.
QUADBALL: Brandeis bounces Tufts back to Medford
By AIDEN GUTHRO JUSTICE EDITOR
ON THE LOOKOUT: Adrian Koretsky ’23, Brandeis beater, checks their shoulder as the Tufts offense charges down the field.
IN THE NICK OF TIME: Andres Zalowitz ’26 barely gets the quadball out of their hand before they are taken to the ground.
READY FOR BATTLE: The Brandeis defense looks on as the Tufts attackers make their move towards the goal hoops.
TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAMWORK: Wesley Wei ’26 and Shakthi Kodeswaran ’25 find each other for the easy pass.
■ The Brandeis Quadball team sqaured off against Tufts University in a match-up held Nov. 19 on the Brandeis club fields.
SPORTSMANSHIP: Brandeis and Tufts players congratulate one another after a hard fought battle.
Sports just
Ronaldo slams club after coach reduces playing time
■ One of the world’s biggest soccer superstars has suddenly decided to leave one of the most well known English club soccer teams in the world.
By PRATEEK KANMADIKAR JUSTICE STAFF WRITERIt is evident for soccer fans around the world that Cristiano Ronaldo has been getting irritated with the front office at Premier League Club Manchester United. Due to a bitter relationship between Ronaldo and the current manager Erik Ten Hag, Ronaldo has been upset with the way the club has treated him in their past matches. According to Jorge Mendes, Ronaldo’s agent, Ronaldo tried to transfer to a different club team that was competing in the Champions League. However, multiple sources have revealed that due to Ronaldo’s age and the cost of transfer, the negotiations fell through. This news came right before the 2022 World Cup, being held in Qatar, where Ronaldo is representing his home country, Portugal. Ronaldo is also representing Portugal with fellow Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes.
There was not always a bitter relationship between the star left-winger and the club. Ronaldo began his professional career
at Manchester United way back in 2003, coached by legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguerson. Ronaldo’s first stint at United was considered his breakthrough phase, and he quickly established himself as one of the alpha players on United, and eventually the entirety of the Premier League.
Ronaldo won the 2008 Ballon d’Or and the 2008 FIFA World Player of the Year. Ronaldo then transferred to La Liga Club side, Real Madrid, where he continued his individual success and helped Madrid win five Champions League titles. Ronaldo then transferred again to Serie A club Juventus in 2018. At Juve, Ronaldo helped the team win consecutive Serie A titles before departing again in 2021 back to Manchester United.
Ronaldo’s second stint at Manchester United came with an abundance of problems. Ronaldo went two months without scoring a goal, and the team struggled to win games. This resulted in the team finishing sixth in the UEFA Europa League. Ten Hag failed to bring Ronaldo out “out of respect for his career,” and in another match a few days later, Ronaldo refused to be brought out as a substitute. Ronaldo was visibly irritated with Ten Hag trying to bring him out in the last few minutes of the game, so much
U.S. Soccer falls short to the Dutch
■ In the World Cup Round of 16, the U.S. Men’s team lost a tough 3-1 battle, effectively ending their tournament run.
By AKI YAMAGUCHI JUSTICE STAFF WRITERAfter a devastating loss to Trinidad and Tobago back on Oct. 17, 2017, the United States men’s national team failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. This marked the first time the team didn’t qualify since 1986. Yet this time around, the young team showed no sign of hesitation as they went head-to-head with some of the world’s best. It’s clear the heartbreak of 2018 only propelled this squad.
Led by the youngest U.S. captain ever, Tyler Adams, the squad earned five points during the group stage matches. Standout performances from Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie had the offense moving along. After holding off England in the group stage, the U.S. team, who
arguably had the better opportunities against the Three Lions, were hopeful for their matchup against the Netherlands.
Unfortunately, the inexperience of the youthful U.S. squad was shown very clearly in their matchup against the veteran Dutchmen. The U.S. dominated in the beginning minutes with an early chance on net, but the Dutch killed any momentum with their goal in the 10th minute. The Netherlands skill on the counterattack and ability to find the switch to Denzel Dumfries overwhelmed the hesitant U.S. defenders. Netherlands player Memphis Depay found the low left corner to give the Dutch the early lead. Despite having a strong lineup offensively, the U.S. failed to build up and finish in the final third of the field. The game-deciding goal came in the lone minute of stoppage time for the first half when Dumfries found his teammate Daley Blind on a beautiful pass through the middle to give the Dutch a 2-0 lead heading into the half.
The second half had multiple players coming off the bench fighting
BEATERS, KEEPERS, AND SEEKERS, OH MY!
Brandeis Quadball competed against Tufts University in a match held on Nov. 19 at Brandeis’ club field, pg. 15.
TROUBLE IN PARADISE
the Justice, and for good reason. As said above, sports can be a daunting arena to enter. Jha and the Brandeis Quadball team are finding ways to break this stereotype and foster a fun and safe contact sport environment, not to mention the fact that the team is pretty good too.
By AIDEN GUTHRO JUSTICE EDITOREntering a new sport can be nerve wracking: You don’t really know your teammates, you might not know the rules of the sport, and you may have never played a sport in your entire life. Quadball, formerly known as Qudditch, is creating an environment where all prospective athletes can find a community that values them no matter their background. Quadball is one of a handful of contact club sports at Brandeis and competes against universities in the greater Boston area.
The Justice spoke with Captain Vidisha Jha ’23 about her time spent on the team, as well as the welcoming environment her and her teammates are creating for all new players. Jha’s pride surrounding the team was evident in her interview with
Quadball underwent a rebranding process after J.K. Rowling, the author of the “Harry Potter” series, tweeted various transphobic comments.
For example, in June 2020, Rowling response to an op-ed piece which used the phrase “people who menstruate,” tweeting “‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” These discouraging comments only continued after fans of the series condemned the author. Trying to separate themselves from Rowling, the U.S. Quadball association decided to rename the sport from Quidditch to Quadball, dawning a new era for the sport.
The name change wasn’t the only difference. There have also been a few rule changes to the game as well. One of the most notable changes is the flag runner. In the original format, the golden snitch would be released, and whatever team captured the
snitch would win the game. From an outsider’s perspective, the snitch didn’t make a lot of sense. The flag runner is released at the 20 minute mark of the game with a ball attached to their wrist-band. The seeker from each team tries to catch the flag runner and retrieve the ball. Instead of ending the game, the ball only counts for 35 points. This helps to keep the game more competitive and exciting.
Jha, a beater for the team, recounted her hesitations about joining a contact sport with limited athletic experience. However, Jha is now mentoring new players and teaching them the ropes of contact athletics.
“Joining the quadball team has made me confident tackling and being tackled and just going into that aggression, safely of course, that I would not have found anywhere else because the community was so supportive,” she said.
Quadball has developed into a sport of its own, and it has cut messages surrounding magic or fantasy and established itself with a sportfocused mentality. Beginning in 2005, Quadball now is played in close to 40 countries with more than 600
■ Brandeis Quadball is changing the narrative of contact sports and is creating a space for all people to find a community of welcoming peers.Photo courtesy of CREATIVE COMMONS BITTER GOODBYE: In the midst of the World Cup, questions swirl surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo and his future in Manchester.
Photo: Eliza Bier/the Justice. Design: Smiley Huynh/the Justice.
Greece: Under Theo Angelopoulos’s lens
By ELIJAH CHEN JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITERMidnight: In a dimly lit bus, the poet Alexandros and a boy witness three nameless figures riding their bicycles through the rainy night, their bright yellow raincoats forming a strong contrast with the darkness behind. It is very hard to forget remarkable scenes like these from the cinema of Greek director Theo Angelopoulos, who shot the aforementioned scene in Palme d’Or-winning “Eternity and a Day” (1998). His films illustrate sheer visual beauty woven into myth-like stories. And what does this profound cinematic gaze capture in the 13 films he created? The silhouettes of his home country Greece.
In his portrayal of Greece, Angelopoulos faced the same challenge that bothered all Hellenes since the formation of modern Greek identity — the quest for this consistent identity across Greece’s vast history equally full of hope and despair.
In a similar vein, esteemed Greek poet Giorgos Seferis spoke on the fluctuation of the Greek language at the Nobel Banquet in 1963: “The Greek language has never ceased to be spoken. It has undergone the changes that all living things experience, but there has never been a gap.” Yet, while that language was consistently spoken, Greece had also endured a complex history over the millennia, from the fall
of Constantinople to the Nazi German occupation. The distant and recent pasts are juxtaposed with the present in Angelopoulos cinema. For example, Aeschylus’ “Oresteia” is re-enacted with an actor troupe wandering through Greece during World War II and the Greek Civil War in Angelopoulos’ “Traveling Players” (1975). Homer’s Odysseus is reimagined as a Greek-American director in the 1990s and travels across the Balkans in search of three mysterious reels in another Angelopoulos film, “Ulysses’ Gaze” (1995). There is also the legacy of medieval and early modern Greece, strange and exotic to most foreign audiences, in the Greek countryside captured by Angelopoulos’ camera, such as in “O Megalexandros” (1980).
This film is based on a legendary reincarnation of the Macedonia conqueror Alexander the Great, who often appears in postByzantine Karaghiozis puppet shows. The myths and legends that Greeks proudly cannonized in their national myth are frameworks that Angelopoulos uses to give chaotic modernity a more familiar form, like what James Joyce did in “Ulysses.” History, meanwhile, is something that refuses to go away, with all its bright and shameful chapters continuously returning to haunt the present-day people.
If Angelopoulos was ever trying to construct a narrative of the Greek nation, it does not appeal to right-wing nationalism.
In some of his films, he implicitly criticized the Greek Junta, the military dictatorship that ruled Greece from 1967-74. He critiqued this viewpoint more subtly in his film “Days of 1936” (1972) before openly doing so in “The Hunters” (1977) after the Junta fell. In one scene from “The Hunters,” the bourgeois hunters who benefitted from the right-wing regime sing a joyful nationalist march, before being suddenly silenced when they hear the elegiac folk song sang by people sailing on the river with red flags — the heirs of the left-wing partisans defeated in the Civil War who are yet to be put to rest.
Having worked for a socialist newspaper, Angelopoulos’ leftist sympathy is more than obvious. Yet, he would also reflect upon communist authoritarianism in the portrayal of the titular tyrant in “O Megalexandros.” What these films of his earlier career tried to argue was less a leftist agenda and more so a message about the recovery of another Greece that was long buried by the right-wing government after the Greek Civil War. Angelopoulos visualized this forgotten Greece as the dead communist guerrilla fighter uncovered by bourgeois hunters in “The Hunters.”
On the whole, political ideol ogy does not dictate Angelopou los’ cinema. He seems to instead have inherited the humanism of authors like Seferis, who said in the same Nobel speech quoted above, “When on his way to The bes, Oedipus encountered the
Sphinx. His answer to its riddle was: ‘Man.’ That simple word destroyed the monster. We have many monsters to destroy. Let us think of the answer of Oedipus.” Angelopoulos’ earlier films depict ordinary, flat characters experi encing the real and brutal events of the 20th century. The later films saw more interiority, but the characters reflect the same humble Greeks who live and love and suffer within the flux of time — a returning communist exile, an aging and hopeless beekeeper, two children seeking their father working in Germany, and refu gees. These characters are the lenses through which the audi ence peeks at history. They are the modern containers of the souls of classical heroes. More than anything, however, they are the children of Greece and wit nesses to her misery.
Indeed, this Greece seen in An gelopoulos’ films is miserable. The director showed his sorrow for both individuals and the na tion as a whole. Many of the films can be seen as elegies for this country dragging the burden of its past glories toward a future as unclear as the title of “Land scape in the Mist” (1988). There are more visible miseries like the wars, famines, and dictatorships that ravaged this country. How ever, the most deadly of them all, as Angelopoulos showed us, is the seemingly irreversible process of this country fading into nothing ness. Greece, as shown in “Voy age to Cythera” (1984) and “Land scape in the Mist,” is divided
between pale cities and a wither ing countryside. Villages are be ing drained as men leave for op portunities in Germany. Ancient Athens is drowning in the influ ence of Western pop culture, and Thessaloniki is a bleak, rusted port. “Greece is dying,” the taxi driver in “Ulysses’ Gaze” shouted to the blizzard. “We are dying as a people.” However, in the face of this dilemma, Angelopoulos re fused to lecture the audience or provide any obvious solution. As a director, Angelopoulos showed and mourned for a once prosper ous and iconic Greece that is end ing in a whimper.
Thus, the Greece that Angelopoulos depicted throughout his cinematic career is a nation that experienced a long and complex history and is now unsure of how long its tomorrow will last. But still, this is a real nation, a nation that has always existed and still affects the people living there and beyond. And unexpectedly, Angelopoulos ended “The Dust of Time” (2008), his last completed film, with a rare moment of hope for the future: On the first morning of the new millennium, the old man Spyros and his young granddaughter Eleni hold each other’s hands and run joyfully forward together. The snow, as the film’s narrator says, is falling “on all the dead and the living, on time passed and time passing, on the universe.” On any journey in search of a national identity, one may want to reflect on Angelopoulos’ Greece.
Reimagining Wednesday
By CRAIG DISKIN JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITERI think “The Addams Family” might be one of the first shows I remember watching. My dad used to put on the old 1960s TV show when I was little. I don’t remember many details from any of the episodes, but I do remember snapping along to the show’s catchy and iconic theme song. Reboots can be seen as unnecessary and uncreative, especially for characters like The Addams Family, who have starred in beloved adaptations, such as 1991’s “The Addams Family” film and the aforementioned 1960’s TV show, across half a century. I’m inclined to agree. For instance, I had no interest in watching the recent 2019 animated Addams family movie. However, Netflix’s “Wednesday’’ is a welcome exception to the trend of unoriginal reboots.
Netflix’s rendition crafts a fresh take on the famous family by shifting focus onto their daughter Wednesday who is quite a troublemaker. After playing a particularly cruel prank on some local bullies, she is forced to move out of her house and attend Nevermore Academy — a school specifically for “outcasts,” which, in this show, include all sorts of children with supernatural powers, from the very standard werewolves to the more inventive paranormal groups like Sirens (the kind Odysseus encountered) and Medusa-like children who are humorously called “stoners.” The show then unfolds as a cross between a coming-of-age high school series and a supernatural mystery. Wednesday struggles to relate to her classmates while she simultaneously hunts a murderous monster.
That being said, the show is
formulaic at points. As expected for a teen drama incorporating magic, secrets, romance, and werewolves, it does tread on some familiar ground. It features standard teen drama elements such as a convoluted love triangle involving two moody, whiny, unremarkable boys; roommates who clash because of opposing personalities; and a mean queen bee who acts out due to a traumatic upbringing. At times, the school can seem a lot like Hogwarts — another famous magical school where students are classified into different groups. The show also uses the outside world’s treatment of “outcasts” as a clunky metaphor for discrimination, another common theme in recent magical and supernatural media.
However, the show is boosted by its acting — there are some truly incredible takes on charac ters both old and new. For start ers, Jenna Ortega was born for the role of Wednesday Addams. Her deadpan delivery is perfect for the character and makes for some of the show’s funniest lines.
Her Wednesday has all the lack of respect for social mores and mor bid obsession with death you’d expect from an Addams. At the same time, Ortega’s Wednesday is surprisingly likable. I found her refusal to let anyone else dictate her actions refreshing and ad mirable. Even when Wednesday had clearly made a mistake and alienated the people around her, I empathized with her position and rooted for her to persevere, regardless of the effect of her ac tions.
“Wednesday” also hosts an equally strong game when it comes to casting. Emma Meyers gives a breakout performance as Wednesday’s roommate Enid. Her bright and bubbly personal ity is the perfect foil to Wednes day’s cloud of darkness. Another
character, Bianca Barclay, is perfectly snarky and judgmental while playing the school’s resi dent mean girl, played by actress Joy Sunday. Gwendoline Christie is also well cast as the icy and sometimes mysterious headmis tress Larissa Weems.
The show’s casting director also made excellent choices in choos ing the actors who inherit the Ad dams family’s most iconic charac ters. Luis Guzman and Catherine Zeta-Jones are perfect heirs to the roles of Gomez and Morticia Ad dams. They have great chemistry with each other and bring genu ine heart to the roles that make the larger-than-life family seem touchingly human. Thing — the Addams family’s relative who is nothing more than a disembod ied hand — was played by a live puppeteer who does a fantastic job bringing genuine emotion to an often one-note character. Fred Armisen was a surprisingly good fit for the bizarre Uncle Fester.
Aesthetically, the show is beautifully crafted. Nevermore, the boarding school at the center of the show, is a Gothic palace that looks like it should be home to a Catholic mass or a plucky hunchback. The show’s costume design is excellent. The Nevermore purple and black striped blazer is a school uniform I’d actually choose to wear. Wednesday, on the other hand, is constantly wearing all black — perfectly representing her personality while also making her a goth icon. Her dress for the school dance is a particularly standout piece — it perfectly complements her bizarre dance moves that have garnered much attention on TikTok. The show’s visual choices — from set design to costumes to hair and makeup — create a cohesive atmosphere that is so enthralling it can even distract from the show’s dialogue. The show is also quite enjoy
able and well-written. The ec centricity of the Addamses has always been part of their charm, and Wednesday herself has their signature kookiness in droves. The dialogue contains lots of sarcastic, dark, and deadpan hu mor that continuously made me chuckle, even in the more seri ous or frightening moments. Al though it is not a full-on horror experience, it does have genu inely frightening moments, espe cially some great jump scares.
Finally, the mystery at the center of the show is genuinely compelling. Throughout the show, it is incredibly unclear who Wednesday and the viewer can trust as so many adults and students are revealed to be hid ing things. I would get a hunch about one character being a vil lain, only for that character to be revealed as innocent as soon as I was certain they were evil. The story features multiple twists
and turns that kept me intrigued through to the last episode. For fear of spoiling the show for those who haven’t watched it, I’ll leave my discussion of this plotline at that.
Overall, “Wednesday” is a de light from start to finish. The show’s fantastic performances (especially that of Jenna Ortega), immersive visual worldbuild ing, and genuinely compelling writing raised the show above its more formulaic or tired ele ments. It is well worth the watch — I think most will enjoy it, and at the very least, I rarely found myself bored during my viewing. With Netflix increasingly relying on reality competition shows and canceling many scripted shows well before they arguably should, “Wednesday” was a breath of fresh air. There is already buzz about the confirmation of a sec ond season, and, for me, it can’t come quickly enough.
Africa’s Best
Portraying kid crime reporters
By MINA ROWLAND JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
I am the kind of kid who is late to the party. In a literal sense because I don’t actually go to parties — my point is when “Hamilton” was all the theater buzz in 2015, I was not listening to it. I was a little middle schooler who wasn’t interested in musicals; yet, when I started high school, I became obsessed with the historical hip-hop piece. When new shows come out I usually wait for all the buzz to quiet before I finally judge it for myself. My sister actually saw the trailer to “Home Before Dark” on Youtube while trying to find something else and eventually recommended it to me, and I immediately knew I had to watch it.
“Home Before Dark” tells the story of a little girl, Hilde Lisko, who is an extremely talented investigative journalist. She is only nine, people! I was shocked to find out this story is loosely based on a real life little girl, Hilde Lysiak, who at eight started her own newspaper and became famous for covering a murder mystery. She recently wrote her own memoir, “Hilde on the Record: Memoir of a Kid Crime Reporter.” The now 15-year-old
is uncertain to claim journalism as her future forever, but she encourages young kids to find their passion but also to know when to move on.
“Home Before Dark” begins with our heroine, Hilde, played by Brooklyn Price. She narrates the story throughout the series, starting with her introduction that “ink is probably a part of her DNA” because her dad, Matthew, portrayed by Jim Sturgess, is an investigative reporter for a New York tabloid. The inciting incident is Matthew losing his job in Brooklyn, forcing his family to move back to his hometown Erie Harbor, a fictional city in Washington state. The first few episodes of season one focus on a local mystery of a neighbor, Miss Gillis, who dies in an “alleged accident.” Hilde, through her persistence, uncovers the truth and proves that the neighbor was, in fact, murdered. The death of Miss Gillis is in connection to a thirty-year-old unsolved disappearance of a young boy named Richie Fife, who turns out to be a dear friend of Hilde’s dad.
The mystery not only uncovers the truth about what happened to Richie but also uncovers who is actually responsible. As the story unravels, the process of investigation reveals underlying social issues such as racism,
wrongful conviction and corruption. “Home Before Dark” keeps us on edge to discover what truth really means. It also explores Hilde’s family dynamics such as her parents’ relationship and her sisters, Izzy, played by Kylie Rogers, and little sister Ginny, portrayed by Mila Morgan. Izzy is new to high school, mean girls, and boyfriends, but she navigates to make the right decisions despite peer pressure. Izzy is also more than embarrassed by her sister Hilde’s obsession with journalism and finding the truth. Little sister Ginny is your average adorable bundle of joy who is often accompanying Mom — also known as Bridget — played by Abby Miller, who is fully supportive of her daughters and balancing a lot. She is a mom and a public defender.
We also see some representation of diversity through the Sheriff’s Department and in Hilde and Izzy’s friend group. Within the small town police department, one woman stands out. Deputy Mackenzie, played by Aziza Scott, is the only Black woman on the force and the only one who decides to take Hilde seriously rather than an imaginative kid. Hilde also finds her editorial board and fellow reporters Donny and Spoon through their solidarity after her dramatic reading of
hate comments while standing on top of a lunch table. Donny, played by Jibrail Nantambu, is comedic relief, and he is also incredibly knowledgeable in medical information. Spoon, played by Deric McCabe who is known for his role in “A Wrinkle in Time,” is a Filipino kid who is spontaneous and passionate about fashion, despite being criticized frequently for dressing too femininely. Mean girl-turned friend Jessica Fife, portrayed by Whitney Peak, known for her role as Zoya Lott in “Gossip Girl,” is another Black girl on screen, which is so important to see. Seeing yourself represented on screen is a validation of who you are in a way, and I think the series does an amazing job with having accurate representation and not just for the sake of representation.
I think there are not enough shows that focus on a young perspective while at the same time being very nuanced. “Home Before Dark” dives into important issues, and it shows the reality of being a kid with big dreams. By focusing on Hilde we see how often adults can underestimate youth, especially surrounding intelligence. The family dynamic is very interesting because even though Hilde is not a normal kid and regularly misses school, her
parents are very supportive of her passion and admire how good she is. The blurred lines between journalism and detective work adds a nuanced perspective and treats the show with care and less of a “kiddie perspective” that might be expected with a young protagonist.
The series brilliantly balances mystery and humor in “a Veronica Mars meets Harriet the Spy” kind of way. Hilde’s character cultivates an image of an emotionally mature, intelligent, and true journalist despite facing criticism because of her age and gender. The show is so captivating, funny, mysterious, and extremely interesting. It is great for all ages and proves that no matter your age, you can be extraordinary.
By ZACHARY GOLDSTEIN JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
