The Justice, December 7, 2010 issue

REINHARZ RECAPPED

ARTS JustArts’ best of 2010 24 FORUM A letter from President Reinharz 15

Reviewing the headlines of a presidency 10

The Independent Student Newspaper

the

of

B r a n d e is U n i v e r sit y S i n c e 1 9 4 9

Justice

Volume LXIII, Number 15

www.thejustice.org

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Waltham, Mass.

ADMINISTRATION

CELEBRATING BRANDEIS

ASAC report released

■ The ad-hoc committee’s report called for a stronger provost among other recommendations.

By FIONA LOCKYER JUSTICE EDITOR

LYDIA EMMANOUILIDOU/the Justice

EMBRACING DIVERSITY: Students danced a hora, an Israeli dance, to show student support for Jewish students targeted by the Westboro Baptist Church Friday morning.

Students react to WBC protest ■ In response to protests

By SARA DEJENE

by the Westboro Baptist Church, students planned community-wide activities to applaud campus diversity.

JUSTICE editorial assistant

Last Friday, seven members of the Westboro Baptist Church, known for its opposition to homosexuality and its public demonstrations, protested on South Street in front of the Main

Gate while students held Celebrate Brandeis in response, a day of performances and activities to celebrate diversity.

According to the Church’s website, the members were picketing Hillel “to remind these Jews that they bear the curse of their forefather’s [sic]

murder of Christ” and to chastise students for “spending their energies on drunkeness [sic] lust, sloth and greed rather than serving the Lord Almighty.” In an interview with the Justice during the protest, Shirley

See WBC, 7 ☛

CAMPUS SAFETY

Two students injured in hit-and-run ■ Two females walking

home to East Quad from the Chabad house were hit late Friday evening.

By ALANA ABRAMSON JUSTICE EDITOR

Two students were hit by a moving vehicle on Loop Road near the Main Gate last Friday night and the vehicle “fled the scene,” according to the University Police Log. Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that both of the victims were hospitalized. According to the Police Log, one student was transported by ambulance to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital and the other was transported by ambulance to Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center. The student taken to Newton-Wellesley was released,

but the other student hadn’t been discharged from Beth Israel as of 6:30 p.m. yesterday, according to Callahan’s e-mail. The student released from the hospital declined to comment.

Callahan wrote in his e-mail that the driver has been identified and the incident is under investigation. Sgt. Timothy King, the spokesman for the Waltham Police Department, could not be reached for comment by press time. A student familiar with the situation who was not on the scene that night and wished to remain anonymous due to the student’s connection to the incident said that the driver was a student. Another source, a student, confirmed that the driver was a student.

That same student said in an interview with the Justice that both students were struck by the vehicle and thrown a distance and there was moderate blood loss as a result. The student also said that the victim taken

to Newton-Wellesley was discharged that night. The student taken to Beth Israel was in the intensive care unit as of noon yesterday, the source said.

The Police Log also states that “a vehicle matching the description wanted was found in East Quad parking lot.”

A student who witnessed the incident and wished to remain anonymous due to uncertainty that the victims would want this information revealed and the sensitivity of the issue said that the incident took place when the two victims were walking with a group of other students on the way back to East Residence Quad from the Chabad house on Turner Street Friday night. This student was part of that group.

“I was on the sidewalk, but two of my friends who were by the car were on the street; ... the next thing I know, a car came,” the student said, adding that no one saw the car coming and

that the vehicle’s headlights were not on. The source further explained that the car hit one of the victims from the side and one from the front, that BEMCo immediately responded and that someone ran after the car to obtain the license plate number. The student also said that the victim hit from the front sustained worse injuries because that victim was hit in the head, and the other victim was bruised.

This student also said that the car that hit the victims moved to the side of the road and continued to drive. A Waltham Police officer and a University Police officer interrogated the student and the other witnesses to discern if the driver wanted to hurt the victims, and during the process, the driver’s identity was revealed.

—Fiona Lockyer contributed reporting.

See REPORT, 7 ☛

Playtime in college

Men win four more

Sustainable news

The Lemberg Children’s Center has a unique approach to early childhood education.

 The men’s basketball team remains undefeated at 8-0 after four wins last week.

 Five of the seven BSF proposals awarded were funding from the BSF board.

FEATURES 12 For tips or info call (781) 736-6397

Last Thursday, University President-elect Frederick Lawrence sent out a campuswide e-mail announcing that he and University President Jehuda Reinharz had accepted the recommendations set forth by the Administrative Structure Advisory Committee report, which included a clarification of the job descriptions of Provost, Senior Vice President of Students and Enrollment and the Dean of Arts and Sciences, among other recommendations.

The ad-hoc committee, announced Sept. 1 by a campuswide e-mail from Lawrence, was formed to, among other goals, most immediately replace two senior administrators who, Lawrence wrote, “have made significant contributions” to the University: Provost Marty Krauss and former Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Jean Eddy.

The committee included administrators and faculty from across Brandeis, representing undergraduate and graduate students and Academic Services and Financial Services, with Heller School for Social Policy and Management Dean Lisa Lynch serving as the committee chair.

In addition to deliberations made by the committee members, a student advisory group, which designed and administered a survey to which over 250 students responded, was also formed.

“They designed a survey for both undergraduates and graduates about areas of concern,” explained Lynch in an interview with the Justice.

According to a presentation made by the Student Advisory Committee, there was an “overarching concern for growing name recognition and developing academic prestige” at Brandeis, which was an administrative challenge identified by students.

Additionally, students expressed a desire for more “open lines of communication between students and the administration.”

The report most prominently outlined that the “Great Recession” had “accelerated and exacerbated trends and changes that will profoundly influence and impact higher education in the United States” in the next 10

Let your voice be heard!

Submit letters to the editor online at www.thejustice.org

INDEX

SPORTS 20 ARTS SPORTS

21 17

EDITORIAL FEATURES

14 9

OPINION POLICE LOG

14 2

COMMENTARY 15

News 2 COPYRIGHT 2010 FREE AT BRANDEIS. Email managing@thejustice.org for home delivery.

2

TUESDAY, December 7, 2010

●

THE JUSTICE

NEWS BRIEF

POLICE LOG

Brandeis Sustainability Fund Board accepts five proposals The Brandeis Sustainability Fund board accepted five student proposals that will use $46,996 of the BSF money, according to a Nov. 23 press release.

The proposals include an energy and water monitoring system, an expansion of the ’DeisBikes program, a wind turbine, cold frames to increase the utility of the campus garden and a vermiculture bin.

The Brandeis Sustainability Fund was approved last semester and adds $15 per year to the Student Activities Fee to fund student projects to improve sustainability at Brandeis.

“SmartMeters,” a $26,000 proposal submitted by Samuel Porter ’14, will install a system called the Building Dashboard Network to monitor energy consumption and water use in five dorms. Students will be able to access this information online. Four meters will be installed in Massell Quad dorms and one in the Village, Porter said.

The proposal also includes a $6,000 touch screen kiosk for students to view the SmartMeters information.

The location has not been finalized but Porter hopes it will be in the Shapiro Campus Center.

According to a Building Dashboard Network price estimate, each SmartMeter system after the initial one costs $4,000. The Office of Facilities Services has agreed to pay a yearly maintenance fee of $4,000, Porter said.

The meters will be installed in the spring and will be ready for use by next fall, according to BSF board member Susan Paykin ’11.

Jessie Stettin ’13 proposed “DeisBikes 2.0: SemesterLong Bike Rentals for Brandeis Students,” a $12,175 initiative that will offer semester-long bike rentals for a fee of $50 in order to reduce students’ use of “fossilfuel dependent modes of transportation,” as well as create a student-run bike shop, according to the proposal. Registration for these bike rentals will open over winter break, and the bikes will be distributed at the beginning of next semester.

The fund covers the purchase of 45 new Trek bikes, 50 helmets, 50 cable locks and 50 bike lights, as well as stickers to label the bikes as ’DeisBikes. Stettin could not be reached for comment by press time.

The BSF board also accepted an $8,000 proposal, submitted by Dorian Williams ’13, which will install a microturbine to generate wind energy. Williams said that the microturbine will replace a broken light in South Residence Hall that needs to be replaced. Williams said that the university will receive a rebate of about $6,000 from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts because the state encourages the use of renewable energy. This money will fund future BSF projects, she said.

The microturbine will produce about 3,000 kilowatts of energy per year, according to Williams.

Linda Li ’13 proposed “Oh The Things We’ll Grow!” for $550 to build cold frames embedded in the ground to trap heat that will allow students to grow herbs and vegetables during the winter, according to Li. The garden, an initiative started by last year’s “Greening the Ivory Tower” class, is located behind Massell Quad.

“We hope to work with Dining Services to maybe incorporate some of the herbs we grow into the soups that they make or the pizza sauce they make,” Li said.

The final accepted proposal, submitted by Cecilia Watkins ’11 for $271, involves the installation of a vermiculture, or worm composting, bin on a Massell Quad residence hall floor. “Worm composting is the fastest way to compost,” Watkins wrote in her proposal. An additional goal is to create a future hall program based on this project, according to the proposal. Watkins could not be reached for comment by press time.

“The projects were really thought through and are exactly what BSF was designed to support,” Paykin said.

Medical Emergency

Nov. 23—University Police responded to a party in Ziv Quad who had a headache and was experiencing nausea. An ambulance transported the student to the NewtonWellesley Hospital.

Nov. 30—University Police and BEMCo responded to a report of a student injuring her knee on an exercise machine in the Village. The party was treated on-scene with a signed refusal for further care.

Dec. 1—An ambulance responded to a request for a psychological patient transport from the Mailman House. The party was taken by ambulance to the NewtonWellesley Hospital for evaluation.

Dec. 3—Two individuals were struck by a motor vehicle on Loop Road. The motor vehicle fled the scene, an ambulance was dispatched and the Waltham Police were notified. A vehicle matching the description was found in East Quad Lot and towed to an impound lot. One ambulance took a victim to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital, and the other victim was taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. University

SENATE LOG and Waltham Police are investigating the incident

Traffic

Dec. 2—A party reported to the University Police that he had struck a parked vehicle in front of Stoneman.

University Police responded by compiling a report on the incident.

Dec. 2—A Facilities Services staff member radioed the police dispatch that he was involved in a car accident in the Abraham Shapiro Academic Complex parking lot.

University Police responded and compiled a report on the incident.

Larceny

Dec. 3—A party reported that his music player was stolen in the Usdan Student Center. University Police complied a report on the theft.

Disturbance

Dec. 1—The Waltham Police Department responded to a report of a plastic cooking utensil melting on stove and causing a minor flame in the Charles River Apartments.

The fire was extinguished and the area was vented.

There was no damage to Uni-

versity property. A report was compiled on the incident.

Dec. 4—A party reported a loud, verbal argument between a male and a female in the adjacent room in Reitman Hall to University Police.

University Police responded, and the parties agreed to quiet down.

Dec. 5—A party complained of noise in the Foster Mods.

University Police advised the residents to turn down music and to quiet down. University Police complied a report.

Miscellaneous

Nov. 30—A party reported that an individual was incapacitated at the front doorway of University property on 157 Prospect St. The individual was transported by ambulance to the NewtonWellesley Hospital.

Dec. 1—The community development coordinator in Scheffres Hall requested assistance from University Police in the confiscation of drug paraphernalia. University Police responded and compiled a report on the property.

—compiled by Tess Raser

Union to distribute doughnuts for finals At the Dec. 5 Student Union Senate meeting, the senate chartered AIESEC Brandeis, a previously recognized club and chapter of the national organization, AIESEC, a campus club that provides members with a variety of opportunities including exchange programs abroad, local networking opportunities and leadership training and experience.

Senator for the Class of 2012 Abby Kulawitz said that Union officials would be distributing doughnuts to students studying in Goldfarb Library during finals week, likely on Dec. 12.

According to Kulawitz, the tentative plan is that for each floor of the building, there will be three Union officials distributing the doughnuts, and other Union officials will clean up afterward.

The Senate then went into executive session for executive senator elections.

Senator for the Class of 2011 Abraham Berin was elected to the position, formerly held by Kulawitz.

Senator for the Class of 2011 Michael Newborn stated that he had met earlier in the week with Village Quad Senator Missy Skolnik ’12 to discuss Union bylaws concerning student eligibility to run for office.

Berin said that he had met with Sustainability Coordinator Janna Cohen-Rosenthal ’03 to discuss the GPS additions to campus transportation vehicles.

Off-Campus Senator Evyn Rabinowitz ’12 stated that he was in possession of the T-shirts that would be distributed at the Midnight Buffet and that he went with Senator for the Class of 2012 Liya Kahan to buy drinks for the event. Rabinowitz also wants to plan an event for the incoming midyears.

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS  An article in News incorrectly stated when cage-free eggs will be offered. Cage-free eggs will be served starting in fall 2011, not next semester. (Nov. 23, pg. 1)  An article in News misstated the number of servicemen and servicewomen surveyed by the Pentagon. That number was 400,000, not 40,000. (Nov. 23, pg. 3)  An article in Arts misspelled a student’s surname. The student is Carlos Angular, not Carlos Anguilar. (Nov. 23, pg. 21)  A caption of a photo in News mispelled a photographer’s surname. The photographer is Robyn Spector, not Robyn Specor. (Nov. 23, pg. 5)

—Hillel Buechler

The Justice welcomes submissions for errors that warrant correction or clarification. E-mail editor@ thejustice.org.

Justice

www.thejustice.org

The Justice is the independent student newspaper of Brandeis University. The Justice is published every Tuesday of the academic year with the exception of examination and vacation periods. Editor in chief office hours are held Mondays from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Justice office.

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The Justice Brandeis University Mailstop 214 P.O. Box 549110 Waltham, MA 02454-9110 Phone: (781) 736-3750

At the Nov. 28 Student Union Senate meeting, Junior Representative to the Board of Trustees Adam Hughes ’12 made a presentation to the union about Certified Green Rooms, a Campus Sustainability Initiative program.

Hughes urged Union members to get Green Room certified and asked if any Union members would be interested in tabling to encourage more students to become certified.

President of Students for Environmental Action Hannah Saltman ’12 proposed a bylaw to clarify the details of the position of the student representative to the Brandeis Sustainability Fund Board. The bylaw was passed unanimously by the Senate.

Senator for the Class of 2013 David Fisch presented a report from the Club Support Committee. He said that the committee is going to start enforcing more policies, such as making clubs hold one meeting prior to asking the Senate to be chartered and only requiring signatures from members of the Senate instead of collecting student signatures if the group has been organized for 13 weeks. Additionally, after 10 weeks, all chartered clubs will be required to come back to the Senate and present their progress as a chartered club, and if the Senate is not satisfied with the progress it can decharter the club with a two-thirds majority vote.

—Fiona Lockyer

—Jillian Wagner

the

Committee to enforce more policies for clubs

TALI SMOOKLER/the Justice

T-shirt time Rachel Goldenberg ’13, Fina Amarilio ’12, and Joshua Kaye ’13 reach for free T-shirts in the Levin Ballroom at the Midnight Buffet, a Student Union-run event that provides free food to students before finals week.

NOTE TO READERS: The Justice is on hiatus for summer vacation. Our next issue will be published Jan. 18, 2011.

Check our website, www.thejustice.org, periodically for updates.

ANNOUNCEMENTS Summer internship funding info session

There will be an information session about internship opportunities from programs such as the Sorensen Fellowship, Davis Projects for Peace, Eli Segal Citizen Leadership Fellowship, Hiatt Career Center World of Work Fellowship, Louis D. Brandeis Social Justice WOW Fellowship and Rapaporte Foundation Internship Grants. Today from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the

Usdan Student Center Alumni Lounge.

Community advisor information session

The Department of Community Living is sponsoring an information session designed for students interested in becoming a community advisors for the 2011-2012 academic year. Today from 3 to 4 p.m. in Polaris Lounge.

BRO/BUCO Hanukkah party

Brandeis Reconstructionist Organization and Brandeis University Conservative Organization will be holding a Hanukkah party as a study break. Food, games, and music will be provided—as well as a surprise. Today from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. in Polaris Lounge.

THE JUSTICE

student life

Alcohol and Drug Policy Committee aims to obtain student feedback ■ Students used the meeting

to discuss the possibility of increase provision of alcohol for on-campus events.

By SARA DEJENE JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

The ad-hoc Alcohol and Drug Policy Committee hosted a town hall meeting last night in Feldberg Lounge in the Hassenfeld Conference Center to gather feedback from students about the University’s policy on alcohol and drug use and the social atmosphere on campus.

The Alcohol and Drug Policy Committee is comprised of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and local medical personnel. It was created in order to examine drug and alcohol misuse at the University, according to an e-mail sent from University President Jehuda Reinharz to the student body. The meeting was attended by four non-committee students as well as Associate Dean of Student Life Jamele Adams, Chief of Neurology at Newton-Wellesley Hospital Dr. Avraham Almozlino, undergraduate student representative to Board of Trustees Heddy Ben-Atar ’11, Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan, Associate Dean for Research and Prof.

Constance Horgan (Heller), Academic Advisor Brian Koslowski, Director

and Clinical Supervisor of BEMCo Seth Merker ’11, and Prof. Margie Lachman (PSYC).

Student Union President Daniel Acheampong ’11 opened the discussion by asking the committee what has been discussed with members and students across campus. Committe Chair Prof. Len Saxe (Heller) responded that a website was set up on the University’s website to receive student input ranging from comments to complaints or concerns about safety in regard to substance use.

Horgan explained that small student focus groups had been created so that students could give feedback on University policies and social life. Saxe explained that the purpose of the focus groups was to target specific groups of students, such as members of off-campus Greek life or community advisors, rather than a broad collection of students.

One of the issues presented was student concern for a lack of student events on campus. Attendees at the meeting referenced the night of the Pachanga dance, where incidents throughout the night, regardless of being associated with the event or not, raised concerns about alcohol misuse on campus. Students suggested that more events like Pachanga should be held, rather than having one main night for students to look forward to.

In addition, students brought up the possibility of serving alcohol at events in order to reduce incidences of “pre-

gaming,” drinking before an event such as a concert or party.

“The seniors won’t host as many pre-games because they’ll be able to just go drink [at these events],” said Rephael Stern ’11. “So there won’t be as many opportunities for underclassmen to access alcohol.”

Ben-Atar changed the direction of the discussion by asking how students think the administration views alcohol usage on campus.

Acheampong said that it was important that Reinharz addressed the issue of alcohol and drug use and that the University has done so by holding events like the town hall meeting.

Saxe asked the attendees if students would be willing to have an ad-hoc group that would primarily represent student opinion and could give feedback to the administration and institutions. Acheampong expressed support, while Stern said that he would be skeptical of a committee’s progress.

President of Brandeis Democrats Amber Kornreich ’12 said that she attended the meeting because she was “curious about what measures the administration was considering in response to events like Pachanga” and that she wanted to give her own feedback.

Stern repeated that he felt “skeptical” about the “benefits” of the progress of the ad-hoc committee but that he felt his views were heard.

ROBYN SPECTOR/the Justice

PARTYING POLICY: Administrators listen to the issues that were raised at the alcohol committee’s town hall meeting yesterday.

●

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2010

3

awArds

Trustees honor Reinharz upon his departure ■ The directorship of the

Mandel Center for the Humanities was also created to honor President Reinharz.

By EMILY KRAUS JUSTICE EDITOR

A new scholarship and an endowed directorship of the Mandel Center for the Humanities have been created in University President Jehuda Reinharz’s name as he ends his tenure in that role, according to a BrandeisNOW press release published yesterday.

The scholarship was a gift from the Board of Trustees, and the Jacobson Family Foundation, which according to Portfolio.com is a foundation that “concentrates on Massachusetts charities,” funded the directorship, according to BrandeisNOW. Reinharz was notified of the gifts at a Board of Trustees dinner held in his honor.

The press release said that two of Reinharz’s priorities during his time as president have been “his unwavering support for educational opportunity through financial aid and his deep commitment to the humanities and the liberal arts” and that these gifts reflect his goals in those areas.

Chair of the Board of Trustees Malcom Sherman said in an interview with the Justice that the Board aimed to raise $1 million for the scholarship fund, and it exceeded that goal by raising $1.2 million so far.

All of the donations for the scholarship came from the Board of Trustees, according to the press release. Sherman went on to say that some Board members had not yet donated and that the Board is hoping to raise more money for the fund.

Reinharz said in the press release that having a scholarship named after him was gratifying because, “as a person who benefited from full scholarships and fellowships as both an undergraduate and a graduate student, and as president of a university where over 70 percent of our students receive some form of financial aid, I am very conscious of the importance

of scholarships. They enable some of the best students in the world to come to Brandeis regardless of their ability to pay.”

In an interview with the Justice, Reinharz said that he would not determine the details of the scholarship, but it would be the responsibility of the new administration. Reinharz also expressed gratitude that a scholarship was being named in his honor.

“I am really deeply honored that the Board decided to make this gift in my name. I think it very much appropriate and very much in keeping with one of my great passions, so I am absolutely delighted,” he said.

The Jacobson Family Foundation endowed the directorship of the new Mandel Center for the Humanities; the new title of that position will be the Jehuda Reinharz director of the Mandel Center.

The current director of the Mandel Center, Prof. Ramie Targoff (ENG), will be the first person to assume that title.

Targoff wrote in an e-mail to the Justice, “I was deeply honored to be named the Jehuda Reinharz Director of the Mandel Center for the Humanities. … The gift of an endowed chair seems a very fitting way to recognize President Reinharz’s dedication to advancing the study of the humanities on our campus, as the earlier gift of the beautiful building, ... so strongly affirms.”

In the press release, Reinharz said of the endowed directorship, “To have my name on the directorship of the Mandel Center is doubly gratifying given the fact that I am about to become president of the Mandel Foundation, whose name graces the humanities center.”

Reinharz announced his resignation as University president in a Sept. 22 2009 campuswide e-mail.

Former George Washington University Law School Dean Frederick Lawrence will take over as president Jan. 1, 2011.

—Nashrah Rahman contributed reporting.

ADMINISTRATION

Faculty approves Gateway Scholars program ■ The program is designed

to acclimate international students to the English language and culture.

By harry shipps JUSTICE senior WRITER

The University faculty voted at their meeting on Thursday to make the Gateway Scholars program, which began as a pilot last year, permanent. The program will be reviewed by the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee in three years, according to an e-mail to the Justice from Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe.

According to an overview of the program presented at Thursday’s faculty meeting and attached to Jaffe’s e-mail, the Gateway Scholars program is intended to “attract and admit high-performing talented international students who were qualified to be at Brandeis but needed focused attention on their

English language skills to succeed fully here.” Prospective students do not apply specifically to the Gateway program, but are identified from the general applicant pool as “students who meet Brandeis admissions standards except for their English skills,” according to the overview.

All students enrolled in the Gateway program participate in English as a Second Language courses during the summer prior to their first year at Brandeis; these courses are intended to improve “their skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing in English,” according to the overview.

Nancy Nies, director of the ESL program and a member of the committee overseeing the Gateway program, said in an interview with the Justice that the summer program includes 25 hours of instruction per week dedicated to language comprehension courses over 6 weeks. The courses deal with academic material such as articles, novels, and poems that would normally be encountered

at Brandeis. “The purpose of the summer is to both advance their English proficiency, but also to acclimatize them to the cultural norms of the American classroom,” said Nies.

Nies said that in many other cultures, classroom instruction is based on repetition of what the teacher says but that at Brandeis, much of the instruction is based on exploring new ideas and participating in the classroom setting. She explained that this difference can be very “culturally unnerving for people who are not accustomed to that.” Nies also said that writing norms in other countries can be much different from those in the United States in terms of the ways in which papers and other academic writing is structured and how arguments are presented.

According the overview, “Students who make sufficient progress based on this summer program transition to regular Brandeis student status in the

Fall semester.” Students who are judged to need more instruction continue Gateway coursework in the fall semester while also enrolling in two regular Brandeis courses. Nies said that the Gateway coursework completed by students counts toward academic standing at Brandeis but does not count for credit and is not factored into the students’ grade point averages.

In the program’s first year, 10 of 39 Gateway students fully enrolled in Brandeis courses in the fall semester, according to the overview presented at the faculty meeting.

This year, 22 of 46 students were fully enrolled in the fall semester.

Both sets of students are provided with additional ESL support throughout their first year at Brandeis and into their sophomore year.

According to the overview, students continuing with Gateway coursework receive ESL tutorials twice a week in the fall, once a week in the spring semester, while enrolled in a composition course

and once a week the following fall while enrolled in a University Writing Seminar. Students who have moved on to a full Brandeis course load receive ESL tutorials once a week throughout their first year. Nies said that these students may also be supported into their sophomore years.

Nies said that, as Brandeis becomes more globalized in its focus both in terms of the work students do on campus and in the number of international students at Brandeis, it is important to have a program that supports outstanding students who lack only the necessary English proficiency to succeed at Brandeis.

“This … diversifies the campus in a very rich way by bringing very strong and capable students to campus,” said Nies.

Jaffe has established a committee of staff and faculty that will provide oversight and guidance for the program. In 3 years, the program will be reviewed by the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee.

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THE JUSTICE

awards

also gave a lecture on the meaning of the “other” after he received the award.

By MARIELLE TEMKIN JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Prof. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, a world-renowned scholar on Islamic science, religion and philosophy and a current professor at George Washington University, was awarded Brandeis’ second Joseph B. and Toby Gittler Prize last Tuesday in the Rapaporte Treasure Hall and subsequently gave a lecture titled “Re-evaluating the Meaning of the Other in Our Lives.”

According to its website, the Gittler Prize was created in order to recognize “outstanding and lasting scholarly contributions to racial, ethnic and/or religious relations.”

The award consists of a prize of $25,000 and a medal, both of which were presented to Nasr at the ceremony on Tuesday.

The prize was first given out in 2008 to a philosophy and human rights professor from Princeton University.

University President Jehuda Reinharz opened the event, explaining that there were 2,500 nominees who came from very different countries.

Reinharz said that the committee “did not take long to realize that Nasr was the proper person for the award.” On the website for the prize, Reinharz is quoted as saying that “Professor Nasr’s life’s work testifies to the personal values and highest scholarly contributions that the Gittler Prize seeks to acknowledge.”

Following Reinharz’s introduction, Prof.

Joseph Lumbard (NEJS), one of Nasr’s former students, praised Nasr’s “unique blend of expertise” and said that he is “one of the most influential thinkers of the past 50 years.”

According to Lumbard, Nasr exemplifies the “peace, unity and justice that the Gittler prize embodies.”

Nasr started his lecture by saying that he was “very grateful for this prize.”

He then continued to provide background to his life and interests, saying that he has always been concerned with

Jewish-Islamic relations and that he wishes Brandeis would work more with this field in the future.

“We need a direct discourse about [the relations] in this country,” Nasr said.

Following the award ceremony, Nasr gave a lecture about how people are now very concerned with what he termed the “other” and how everyone needs to reevaluate their priorities in relation to the “other.” Nasr said that cultures are beginning to lose their quality of sameness due to the effects of modernism.

Nasr said that answering who the other is in the world has become very difficult in this time because of the fact that even within cultures people are becoming very different from one another.

Nasr said that the most important factor in identifying the self is religion. “There is not one religion that does not have teachings in unselfishness … religion is a practice in transcending the self.”

In the same vein of thought, Nasr stated that he “has problems with how people say others will be damned [for their beliefs]. That power is God’s, and people should let that [power] stay purely with him.”

Nasr also spoke of nature, which he explained is a type of “other” whose importance is often diminished. He warned that if “we do not focus on it, we are facing a choice of life and death,” because the environment is what sustains us.

“It makes me sad that environmental issues take a back burner when economic issues come up,” he said.

He reminded the audience that some of the “greatest transformations in the world, … such as the scientific revolution, came about because a minority made an effort toward [supporting the cause], not a majority.”

Joshua Kaye ’13 said in an interview with the Justice after the event that he “really liked [Nasr’s] message of interfaith cooperation and also the fact that you can learn more about your own faith by learning about other people.”

Kaye used the example that Nasr had spoken of earlier, where he said how he had gotten students more involved with their own faiths by seeing his devotion to Islam. He also said that he enjoyed seeing the connections Nasr drew between Judaism and Islam.

Tuesday, DECEMBER 7, 2010

5

DINING FOR A CAUSE

Prof Nasr receives the Gittler Prize ■ The GWU professor

●

TALI SMOOKLER/the Justice

ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM: Students enjoyed a variety of food and activities at the Green Unity Gala last Wednesday.

Two-week climate change program concludes at gala ■ The 2-week period from

Nov. 15 to Dec. 1 consisted of six events to foster environmental awareness.

By harry shipps JUSTICE senior WRITER

The Brandeis Climate Change Campus Weeks, a two-week series of events focused on issues and solutions surrounding growing problems associated with climate change, wrapped up on Dec. 1 with the Green Unity Gala in the Levin Ballroom.

The Climate Change weeks, according to the Brandeis website, were co-sponsored by the Center for German and European Studies in cooperation with the Campus Sustainability Initiative, the class “Greening the Ivory Tower,”the Environmental Studies Program, the Sustainable International Development Program and Students for Environmental Action. According to Kilian Leibundgut, a graduate student assistant for the Center for German and European Studies, there were six events during the two weeks, from Nov. 15 to Dec. 1: the Students for Environmental Action coffeehouse, a screening of the film A Sea Change, a local and organic food banquet, a panel discussion on becoming a low-carbon society, pre-

sentations by Joseph Ole Tipanko and Prof. Bob Lange (PHYS) and the Green Unity Gala.

Leibundgut wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that he thought the gala was the most successful event, in terms of attendance and discussion, during the two weeks.

The events were initiated by the Transatlantic Climate Bridge program, which according to the website of the German Mission in the United States is an effort “to foster transatlantic cooperation and partnerships between Germany, the US and Canada on climate and energy policies, at the German Embassy, wrote Leibundgut. Prof. Sabine von Mering (GRALL) said during an interview with the Justice that the German Embassy, in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of German unification, conducted a number of events around the country to celebrate the progress made on climate change, and Brandeis was one of the universities involved in the programs Hannah Saltman ’12, president of Students for Environmental Action, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice, “While all … events at Campus Climate Weeks were successful, I think the Gala was the most exciting as it brought everyone involved with sustainability on campus together in celebration of all we have accomplished at Brandeis thus far.” Lei-

bundgut wrote that the Gala had a great turnout and that it included a good mixture of presentations which provided “a wonderful finish to the two climate change campus weeks.”

The gala included “posters describing the differences between Germany and the US in their approaches to climate change, the debate society discussing the role of Nuclear power in Germany, a raffle with over 20 intriguing and fun prizes, [and] performances by Voicemale and Up the Octave,” wrote Leibundgut.

Leibundgut and Saltman agreed that the events were publicized very well and that publicity was enhanced by the Maasai home constructed outside of the Usdan Student Center.

According to a Nov. 16 feature in the Justice, the Massai house was constructed by Lange and his colleagues as an example of the kinds of sustainability work, including introducing more efficient stoves and installing solar panels, that he has been conducting with the Maasai tribe in Kenya and Tanzania.

Von Mering said that she was “blown away by the dedication of the students.” She said she had never seen a response from the Brandeis community like the one received at the Green Unity Gala.

—Alana Abramson contributed reporting.

TECHNOLOGY

Discussion series to address future policies for the library ■ The series is designed to

generate discussion about the future of the library and to create a plan for it.

By ANDREW WINGENS JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

The Faculty Senate announced Nov. 30 that in cooperation with the Library and Technology Services Advisory Committee, it will sponsor a series of lectures and community discussions on “the Future of the Library,” according to a campuswide e-mail sent by Prof Tim Hickey (COSI), chair of the Faculty Senate.

The goal of the lecture series is to generate a discussion of ideas in order to address changes facing the Goldfarb library and to create an improved strategic plan for the library’s future, said Hickey in an

interview with the Justice.

In August, LTS extended Goldfarb’s hours until 2 a.m. in all areas of the library, after budgetary concerns the previous year led to only the Farber Green Room being open until 2 a.m. At the time, the LTS Advisory Committee found that the added benefit of study time for students outweighed the costs of operating the library according to an Aug. 24 Justice article.

The lecture and discussion series began as a result of challenges encountered by the university library, including higher library operating costs, a lower library budget, a question of creating an open-access repository where professors can make their work available to the public for free and other issues that students, faculty and administrators wish to discuss at the lecture series, explained Hickey.

The “Future of the Library” lec-

ture series is an attempt to discuss and consider the LTS strategic plan for fiscal 2010 through fiscal 2014 that was released in June 2009 and consider strategies to utilize as the library moves forward.

The strategic plan identified changes in computing, changes in the world of information and economic factors as a context for the strategic plan. According to the plan, “Today, information is ubiquitous and global, not special and local. … Libraries must choose among formats, deciding between archival print formats (and their storage costs) and digital formats, which offer access 24/7/365.” Additionally, it stated, “The challenge confronting institutions of higher education today is to determine the most cost-effective way of providing technology resources without compromising security of data and information or stifling creative use

of new technologies.”

Prof. Robert Sekuler (PSYC), chair of the LTS Advisory Committee explained in an e-mail to the Justice that “the Faculty Senate’s series on the Future of the Library has two main purposes: first, to educate the entire community about the possibilities and opportunities of the inevitable changes; and second, to allow various constituencies to offer informed input into the process of planning for those changes.”

Hickey added that LTS and the Faculty Senate recognize that undergraduate students as well as many other constituents such as faculty, graduate students and undergraduates use the library; therefore, the lecture series will try to create a discussion between the different groups. Hickey said that any decisions that are made regarding the library should be considered with student desires in mind, and these

desires should be expressed if students attend the lecture series.

The first event is scheduled for today and features David W. Lewis, the dean of the university Library at Indiana University—Purdue University Indianapolis, and assistant vice president of digital scholarly communications. The event is scheduled to be a 45-minute lecture about the future of the library followed by a 45-minute discussion period. Hickey said that Lewis would speak about the growing trend toward libraries’ digitalization. The event will be held in the Mandel Center for the Humanities, G03 from 10 to 11:30 am.

Hickey said that the plan is to hold a lecture and discussion session monthly, and this will likely continue for several years as the library continues to face new and growing challenges. There is no set completion date for this project.

Marjory Collins/Library of Congress

WBC: Seven arrive to protest CONTINUED FROM 1 Phelps-Roper, daughter of WBC pastor Fred Phelps, said that the church had picketed earlier that morning at nearby locations such as the Islamic Center of Boston and Framingham High School and were planning to picket at Harvard University Hillel later that day.

“I couldn’t miss this opportunity [to picket Brandeis],” she said.

Phelps-Roper explained that in the past 6 months, she had been talking to Brandeis students about what she described as “doctrines” that concerned Jews in what she referred to as “the last days,” or a prophesied apocalypse.

Phelps-Roper was unable to say who the students were but said that they had contacted her. “I talked to one all the way home from the airport,” she said.

According to Phelps-Roper, the mission of the Topeka, Kan.-based WBC is to “preach the gospel unapologetically.”

“You got people who are going to multiply words instead of saying plainly, ‘You have to obey God,’” she said, going on to refer to individuals and organizations that do not oppose issues such as homosexuality as much as the WBC does and quoted them saying, “This is the [group that says], ‘God loves everybody,’ [and] ‘It’s okay to be gay.’

When asked if the WBC promotes hate, Phelps-Roper responded, “You can’t preach God’s word without talking about his hatred.” She also said, “For every one verse about his love and mercy for his people that obey him, there are five verses about his wrath and his destructive vengeance against those who don’t.”

Three adult members of the church held signs that bore phrases such as “Destruction is imminent,” “Your Rabbi is a whore,” “Rabbis rape kids” and “God is your enemy.” There were also four children with the protesters, one of whom was Phelps-Roper’s child.

One of the protesters yelled out phrases similar to those on the signs.

Students, many of whom were informed of the WBC’s arrival through news on Facebook, an e-mail sent out

by Jehuda Reinharz or by word-ofmouth came down to the entrance to see the protest from 8:45 to 9:15 a.m.

While some students tried to go to South Street to interact with the WBC protesters, many students formed a crowd by the University entrance and watched the picketers from a short distance.

“I was just curious to see how many of them were actually here,” said Anna Duey ’14.

Duey said that she had come from and was planning to go back to Celebrate Brandeis, a day of speeches, performances and activities put together by students, purposely scheduled at the same time as and in response to the WBC protest.

The Celebrate Brandeis activities were held on the Great Lawn from 8:30 until 9:30 a.m. and included musical performances from Manginah, remarks from Student Union President Daniel Acheampong ’11 and Hillel President Andrea Wexler ’11, short

THE JUSTICE

By TYLER BELANGA JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

speeches from University President Jehuda Reinharz and President-elect Fredrick Lawrence, face painting by Triskelion, hora dancing with Adagio and B’yachad and free breakfast and coffee. Events continued in the Shapiro Campus Center with an art gallery display, dance performance groups in the Atrium and an open lunch and discussion.

According to an interview with Erica Shaps ’13, the campus relations coordinator for Hillel, who was involved in planning Celebrate Brandeis, student groups like Hillel, the Brandeis Interfaith Group, the Brandeis Justice League (an organization of Brandeis students who advocate social justice), the Student Union, Triskelion, the Queer Resource Center, the Graduate Student Association and the Interfaith Chaplaincy assisted in organizing the event. “[The planning] was overwhelming because there was so much energy and so many ideas,” said Shaps. “But what we really wanted was to create a framework that allowed for all of those ideas and plans to happen in a structured way that still allowed for creativity.”

In an interview with the Justice, Sahar Massachi ’11, who writes for the student blog Innermost Parts, is part of the Justice League and was heavily involved in planning Celebrate Brandeis, said that the idea first originated as a counterprotest in front of the WBC but later changed to a plan to ignore the WBC while creating a positive event. “[The WBC] is sort of a catalyst or excuse to have this celebration, but I

think the celebration is a good thing in any case,” said Massachi. “I think the need for something like this [celebration] has been out there for a long time.”

Both Massachi and Shaps said that although Celebrate Brandeis was sparked by news of the WBC protest, it was focused on uniting the University and said that they were unaware if the WBC protesters knew of Celebrate Brandeis.

“We talk about the Brandeis community, but it’s great to have a chance to show up and form those bonds,” said Massachi. “The main driving thought behind this day is how can we actually not just show, but actually create a Brandeis community.”

According to Shaps, over 300 students, faculty and community members attended Celebrate Brandeis, and over $4,000 was raised in the past few weeks for Keshet, an organization that supports lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals of all Jewish backgrounds and denominations.

Shaps said that the students she talked to after Celebrate Brandeis were positive about the turn of events, the involvement of students and the support of the Brandeis administration.

“It’s funny how something like hate, something like this terrible intolerance, like the Westboro Baptist Church can really unite a campus,” said Shaps.

“I hope it sent the message that Brandeis is a place of both unity and diversity,” said Megan Straughan ’11, the coordinator of the Queer Resource Center, who worked to plan Celebrate

7

Past senior years recalled

President-elect Lawrence discussed their college experiences with students.

LYDIA EMMANOUILIDOU/the Justice

TUESDAY, december 7, 2010

EVENT

■ President Reinharz and

CHURCH LEADER: Shirley Phelps-Roper shows her beliefs through clothing and signs.

●

Last Thursday night, University President Jehuda Reinharz and President-elect Frederick Lawrence spoke to the senior class in the Rose Art Museum’s Foster Gallery for an event titled “When We Were Seniors,” a forum for the Class of 2011 to ask Lawrence and Reinharz about a variety of topics concerning their experiences in college.

Planned and presented by the Senior Class Gift Committee, just under 30 seniors attended the event.

According to Aaron Louison ’11, the co-chair of the committee, the fact that Brandeis currently has two presidents presented a unique opportunity that he and the other co-chair, Jennifer Shapiro ’11, did not want to pass up.

“The point of the event was to be able to have seniors ask any question they wanted in order to learn more about [the presidents],” said Louison, “and to ask questions that many of us really need to know about ourselves.”

The first question asked was whether senior roommates had any impact on Reinharz’s or Lawrence’s thinking or development.

Lawrence said that he had the same roommate his freshman, sophomore and junior years. Both served as residential advisors for their first 3 years and lived in the same building their senior year.

“We got each other through a variety of crises,” said Lawrence.

“We spent a lot of time talking about careers—what he was going to be and what I was going to be— and we went through a number of different career paths together.”

When asked what career he saw himself pursuing after graduation, Lawrence, who graduated from Williams College in 1977, said that he went to law school because that was what interesting and “largerthan-life” people were doing, and it seemed to be the best path at the time. He also said that he would never have pictured himself in his current role.

“I would have assessed the likelihood of being a college president at zero,” said Lawrence. “But living through my life, there were so many decisions that could have gone the other way.” Lawrence said that at the time, he had dreamed of becoming a judge at some point

down the road. He also warned the seniors “not to plan too far ahead, because you really can’t see that far.”

Reinharz, who graduated from Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1967, shared that he was the first person in his family to attend college. He applied only to Columbia and was “somehow” accepted, but the transition was not easy for him.

“Today, we have orientations that are a week long, [with] staff running around you. I showed up the first day of classes on the Columbia campus and I looked around me and had no idea what I was doing,” recalled Reinharz. “I had no idea I would get into administration or that I would have this job.”

Reinharz changed his major “four or five times,” but he eventually settled on history. He explained that he took a total of 13 courses over the course of his senior year at two separate schools while maintaining a relationship with his girlfriend and teaching soccer. Looking back, Reinharz wished that he had been more involved outside of simply academics.

When asked about their alcoholic beverages of choice in college, Lawrence recalled that on the occasions that he did drink alcohol he usually drank cheap beer or wine.

He joked that he would have considered Rolling Rock a high-quality beer at the time. Reinharz replied that he rarely drank in college and is still not a drinker today. He then quickly added, “But we smoked all kinds of stuff.”

Lawrence reminisced about the days when the dorms were quiet at 11 p.m., he used a typewriter to type all of his papers, and cell phones smaller than bricks did not exist.

“Without a cell phone, it meant you were on your own a lot more. … I spoke to my folks once a week on Sundays because the rates were lower.”

He also described a box of letters that his brother wrote to him during college, a possession that he treasures.

Reinharz echoed this sentiment, saying, “In the old days, you treasured phone calls a lot more.”

Lamenting the loss of “old-fashioned” methods of communication such as letter writing, Reinharz added, “The future is going to write your biography one day, and what will there be? A bunch of e-mails?”

Despite these feelings of nostalgia, however, Reinharz also credited students’ all-around excellence in the modern day to the age of “instant knowledge.”

REPORT: University adopts plans for administrative change CONTINUED FROM 1 years and recommended that, given those challenges, “it is a propitious moment to think about how to structure the senior administrative leadership to best serve the university going forward.”

The report recommended that the University “redefine the role of Provost more in line with its peers in the Association of American Universities,” by having the provost position be second-in-command to the president. This would be instead of a more recent system where then-Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Peter French had filled that role.

The new provost position is described as “Brandeis University’s Chief Academic Officer and the second-ranking member of the administration,” according to the ASAC report. The provost will be responsible for providing strategic leadership for the University’s schools and research centers and institutes; understanding and advocating student growth; and working with the Chief Financial Officer to assure that financial, capital, physical and human

resources match the academic mission of the University.

In an e-mail to the Justice, Krauss explained that the new position description clearly lists the provost as the administrator that works directly under the president. “This was not the case during my time as provost,” she wrote. “The next Provost must be a strong leader able to advocate for both the students and faculty and promote excellence both in and out of the classroom,” wrote Lawrence in an e-mail to the Justice, explaining further that the next provost will need to have strengths in both the financial and academic aspects of the University.

Additionally, the role of the senior vice president for Students and Enrollment was redefined. The report described the position as an administrator who will “focus on the recruitment, retention, quality of life and post graduation outcomes for the entire student body,” and also work closely with the Integrated Planning and Budget Committee to “establish and execute the priorities and objectives related to undergraduate student enrollments.”

Krauss will step down by June 2011 after seven years as Provost to return to the faculty at the Heller School, wrote Lawrence in his email that announced the formation of the committee. After Eddy stepped down at the end of September, her responsibilities were overseen by Vice President for Enrollment Keenyn McFarlane and Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer.

According to an e-mail to the Justice from Lawrence, the searches for the provost and the senior vice president for Students and Enrollment will begin in early January, although there is no deadline to fill those positions.

Additionally, the reporting structures for both the Office of the University Registrar and the Office of Academic Services were both changed. In the past, the registrar has reported to the senior vice president for Students and Enrollment, but now, the registrar, which is “based in the core academic function of the University,” will report to the provost instead so that the provost can “provide strategic leadership

and oversee … goals as they relate to academic programs and student affairs.” To pursue a similar goal, the Office of Academic Services will also report to the provost instead of reporting to the dean of Arts and Sciences as it had in the past.

In addition to the recommendations that the report set forth, ASAC also reflected on other issues that arose during conversations with different University constituencies.

The report reviewed the focus that the University gives to graduate and international students. According to the report, graduate students now make up 40 percent of students at Brandeis, and the number of international students is increasing in both undergraduate and graduate populations. The report called for “greater collaboration between [Arts and Sciences], [the Heller School] and [the International Business School] regarding graduate students” and an expanded role of Graduate Student Services in addition to determining which resources are needed to best support international students, visitors and researchers.

“As we’ve added more graduate

students, and IBS and Heller students have grown, I think that prior arrangements haven’t really been able to meet all of the needs of the student body,” said Lynch in an interview with the Justice. “As the University is expanding, they’re expanding the revenues that come in from groups, and they need to be thinking about expanding the services that go towards the students that we have.”

The report also noted that there was “a lack of clarity in the respective functions of the Provost and the Dean of Arts and Sciences.” According to an e-mail from Lawrence, Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe plans to step down at the end of the academic year, at the end of his term, and a faculty committee will be created to make recommendations to Krauss about the search for his replacement, according to regulations outlined in the Faculty Handbook.

The report noted, “As the University moves to appoint the next Dean of Arts and Sciences the role and scope of this position will need to be examined to determine how it will best complement the responsibilities of the Provost and other Deans.”

Join the Arts section of

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Contact Bryan Flatt at arts@thejustice.org for more information.

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features

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2010

VERBATIM | VIC BRADEN The moment of enlightenment is when a person’s dreams of possibilities become images of probabilities.

ON THIS DAY…

FUN FACT

In 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the United States Constitution.

The average person spends 2 weeks of his or her life waiting for a traffic light to change.

Nobel Prize winner Dr. Sidney Altman shared the struggles and breakthroughs of his research on RNA

By ARI SALINGER JUSTICE Contributing writer

PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL MARSLAND

REVOLUTIONARY SCIENTIST: Dr. Sidney Altman is a Nobel Prize winner for his work on ribonucleotides.

Radical views

of

RNA

PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL MARSLAND

ALL EYES ON SCIENCE: Dr. Sidney Altman conducts biochemical research in his lab at Yale University.

9

The concept of an international award seems distant to Brandeis students. However, for the 1989 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry Dr. Sidney Altman, it seemed a great distance further. Born to poor immigrants in Montreal, Canada during the Great Depression, Altman found himself in a place where he had no choice but to go forward. The soon-to-be Nobel Laureate’s humble upbringing lead him to believe very strongly in the mantra that he lives by to this day: “Work hard.”

On Nov. 19, Brandeis hosted Altman as a guest lecturer. He currently does biochemical research at Yale University. Each week, the Biochemistry department hosts a speaker for a “Pizza Talk,” during which the entire community is invited into one of the Gerstenzang lecture halls for free food and a presentation on current biochemical research.

About 70 students and 10 faculty members attended the lecture; among those in attendance was Altman’s former Ph.D. student and current Brandeis Biochemistry faculty member, Prof. Daniel Pomeranz Krummel.

Krummel was the Brandeis faculty member who contacted Altman and asked him to speak.

Altman not only spoke about his work on RNA-catalyzed reactions, but also about his path to success, which was filled with a lot of academic and social difficulties. His awardwinning research, which was an overhaul on the world’s view of ribonucleotides, was met with a large amount of scrutiny from the newborn biochemical community because his work seemed radical compared to information that was previously published.

“In my lab,” Altman recalled, “this brilliant postdoctoral woman found activity of an RNA as an enzyme, when the tube she was working with was supposed to be a negative control.” This means that there was supposed to be no activity in this sample; however, it became the only one sampled that showed results.

RNA was known at the time to act as the carrier of information from the nucleus of a cell to the rest of the cellular machinery.

The information is then translated into proteins, which carry out tasks for the cell. RNA was also known to be used in enzymes, but only as mediators: Enzymes need to be in certain shapes in order to work correctly, and RNA was used to help the protein fold into this specific conformation.

For 5 years, Altman struggled to prove his research.

“The men and women that I was working with were all around my age [30 years old], and I wasn’t going to allow careers to be ruined due to pettiness,” Altman said. People looked at his research as fraudulent because the concepts that Altman was trying to prove were so different from that which had previously researched.

The scientific community at the time was set in its beliefs and refused to take what Altman was studying as valid. Those scientists were blatantly “overlooking the truth,” Altman said.

Altman’s courage in taking on the entire biochemical community was apparent in the early 1970s as he prepared his work for publication.

Because the field of biochemistry was just blooming, referees, or editors for publication, were often chosen from a small pool of knowledgeable researchers. The community, which was small at the time, had a majority of people who were against the research that Altman was conducting.

“No one seemed to appreciate the idea that a ribonucleotide could act as a reusable catalyst. They acted irrationally because of that,” Altman said. The referees unfairly judged the prepublications of Altman—criticizing and ridiculing his articles in order to prevent publication.

Altman was threatened with a loss of fund-

ing and an ostracized name among scientists.

“We had basically created the field of RNA processing in my lab, and too many people relied on its success.” Had his project failed, all of the hardworking men and women in Altman’s laboratory who relied on his grants and guidance would be out of their jobs.

Kelsey Anthony, a third-year Ph.D. student of Biochemistry in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, reflected on Altman’s visit to the University. “He was real. He told us the good and the bad part of being a scientist.” The good part, of course, is the success and the thrill of research—following an idea until the fulfillment of an answered question. -The bad part was the competitive nature of the unfortunate maxim “publish or perish.”

“It was incredibly inspiring to listen to the hardships of [Altman’s] career path,” said Clarisse Van Der Feltz, a second-year Ph.D. student in Biochemistry.

“It’s the part of science that is usually behind a closed door. There is no one better to tell their story than [Altman],” continued Anthony.

Altman’s childhood endowed the young scientist with the ability to have determination in whatever he put his heart into. His mother, a textile worker, and father, a grocer, married and settled down in a mostly Jewish neighborhood in Montreal.

“It was made clear to the first generation of Canadian-born children that the path to opportunity was through education,” explains Altman in his autobiography available through the Nobel website.

Six years after his birth, the first atomic bombs wreaked havoc in Japan over Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II. These explosions that shook the world opened the eyes of young scientists in every corner of the earth, including Altman’s.

Inspired by the research behind the bombs, Altman set out from that point on to study physics.

Though Altman excelled at physics, he explained that he “did not have a superb record as an undergraduate.” He applied to any graduate school that he believed would take him.

Gaining entrance into only Columbia University, the choice was made for him as to where the next path of his journey to success would lead him.

At Columbia, Altman spent two semesters taking classes and waiting to do real laboratory work. As he became more and more frustrated, Altman decided it was best to leave Columbia. “I quit before they kicked me out,” Altman said. “I didn’t want to be there anymore, and it was clear they didn’t want me either.”

From Columbia, Altman moved to Colorado, where he met the famous physicist and author Dr. George Gamow. Gamow took a liking to Altman and introduced him to professors at the University of Colorado Medical School. There, Altman’s mentor, Dr. Leonard Lerman, gave him the counsel and companionship that he needed to become a productive scientist—not in physics, but in molecular biology.

Connections were made after Altman was received his Ph.D., and he left America to join Dr. Francis Crick in the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England.

“I know it’s cliché, but it’s true,” Altman said. “No one ever gets anywhere without hard work. So find what you love and work hard. It doesn’t have to be science. You just need to believe in it.”

Having been ridiculed for his research and underestimated in his knowledge, Altman’s work eventually became the building blocks for our current understanding of RNA and the way it acts in a cell.

Currently, his work is focusing on using the catalytic RNA that he classified and purified for his Nobel-winning research in attempts to use it as antibiotic therapy in humans.

10

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2010

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THE JUSTICE

Reinharz in retrospect:

March 8, 1994

Reinharz Named Next University President

Reinharz, Winnokur and Perlmutter

May 26, 1998

Dalai Lama visits Brandeis His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, received an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters during his two-day visit to Brandeis on May 8 and 9.

Brandeis was the Dalai Lama’s only northeast stop on this visit to the United States.

The Dalai Lama and Reinharz

September 19, 1995

Louis Perlmutter ’56, chairman of the board of trustees, said Wednesday, after receiving a unanimous faculty committee endorsement. ...

Students, faculty and staff overwhelmingly endorsed Reinharz’s appointment emphasizing his accessibility and open-style. Reinharz understands the relationship between faculty and students, and has always been open to student ideas, Student Senate President Larry Leonard ’95 said.

Fifty years young: A weekend of festivities

“The fact that we are given a definite rank is an improvement,” he said.

October 3, 1995

Brandeis 2000 Report Proposes Major Changes

President Jehuda Reinharz formed the Brandeis 2000 committee last February to address financial problems facing the university, most notably a projected $8 to $10 million budget shortfall by the end of the decade. ...

Reinharz said he is aiming to present final recommendations to the board of trustees at their meeting in late January, and he added that community discussions need to conclude by the end of this semester if this goal is to be met.

October 25, 1994

Complex Studies Center Dedicated A new era of scientific research began Saturday with the dedication and official opening of the Benjamin and Mae Volen National Center for Complex systems, speakers at the event said.

“With the dedication of the Volen Center, we have the opportunity to launch a new dimension of sciences at Brandeis,”

“Before students and faculty leave for winter break, … meetings will take place.

I want to make sure there is as wide a chance for communication as possible,” Reinharz said.

Associate Provost Arthur Reis, Jr., said.

1996

October 20, 1998

JAMES DWYER/Justice File Photo

“We did not need to look further, we had the best man here,”

An overall ranking of 30 was given to Brandeis, as reported in the Sept. 18 issue of U.S. News & World Report in an article entitled “America’s Best Colleges.” …

Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid David Gould said he is glad U.S. News made the decision to assign numbered rankings to more schools in the listing.

DAVID SCHAER/Justice File Photo

Perlmutter, Reinharz and Thier

JOSH FLAX/Justice FIle Photo

U.S. News Ranks Brandeis at 30

In a widely anticipated announcement, the board of trustees named Provost and Senior Vice President of Brandeis for Academic Affairs Jehuda Reinharz as seventh president of Brandeis University, making him the first alumnus ever appointed to the post.

1995

On Sunday, Brandeis inaugurated Jehuda Reinharz as its seventh president, and the first alumnus and faculty member to assume the school’s highest post.

“Brandeis is an institution close to my heart,”

1994 2010 to

Reinharz said. “For more than 27 years, it has played a vital role in my life, first as a student then as an alumnus, a faculty member, an academic administrator, and now as its seventh president. I accept the obligations of the presidency as a high honor and privilege. I recognize my responsibility as a steward, called upon to preserve all that is best about Brandeis while helping to prepare our university for the 21st century,” he said.

— Compiled by Alana Abramson, Rebecca Blady, Hillel Buechler, Rebecca Klein, Asher Krell and Tess Raser

1994

Reinharz Inaugurated as Seventh President

SUSANNA CHILNICK/Justice File Photo

To mark the conclusion of Jehuda Reinharz’s presidency, we delved into the Justice archives to sift through some of the key events of his tenure. In this timeline, we present the Reinharz years directly out of the pages of the Justice with excerpts from articles, along with their headlines, preserved in their original forms.

April 11, 1995

RACHEL NEWLANDER/Justice File Photo

The Justice looks back on 16 1/2 years of headlines under the University’s seventh president

1997

1990s

1998

Members of the Class of 1952

“Now, go and party!”

President Jehuda Reinharz ’72 said, to a robust crowd of students, alumni, board members, faculty and staff at the kick-off picnic this Friday on Chapels Field. Members of the Brandeis community celebrated Brandeis’ 50th anniversary this weekend with events ranging from a postal card dedication to a gala at the Copley Marriott.

April 27, 1999

Reinharz signs new contract The Board of Trustees approved a new five-year contract for President Jehuda Reinharz to continue in his current position. …

Reinharz, who became Brandeis University’s President in 1994, said he is very content remaining at Brandeis for at least another five years.

“I get a lot of satisfaction with what has been happening at Brandeis, and even though the job is very difficult, it also has a lot of rewards,” Reinharz said.

1999

2000

2001

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2010

January 27, 2009

Administrators defend campus center, students bemoan delays REBECCA DREILINGER /Justice File Photo

The Rose Art Museum, which houses a collection of modern and contemporary masterpieces, will close in the summer of 2009 after the Board of Trustees voted unanimously yesterday to do so in the wake of the current financial crisis, according to a campuswide e-mail sent by University President Jehuda Reinharz. …

REBECCA NEY/Justice File Photo

Rose Art Museum to be closed

September 24, 2002

“These are extraordinary times,”

April 20, 2010

Reinharz to lead Mandel Foundation Reinharz, who has served on the Mandel Foundation Board of Trustees since 2005, said in an interview with the Justice, "My interest and my passions are totally in sync with what [the Mandel Foundation] does." He elaborated that he was particularly interested in the foundation's projects on "leadership development, its work in the Jewish world [and] its work in urban renewal."

Reinharz said in the press release. “We cannot control or fix the nation’s economic problems. We can only do what we have been entrusted to do-act responsibly with the best interests of our students.”

The Shapiro Campus Center will officially open Oct. 3 with a gala ribbon-cutting ceremony to inaugurate the new focal point of the Brandeis campus and thank the Shapiro family for their gift to the University of $25 million. The building’s opening has been repeatedly delayed, but the University decided finally on the October opening date in June. …

November 2, 2010

“Most student groups, when they see the space, are very excited,”

Univ endowment figures released

Alwina Bennett, associate dean of Student Life, concurred. “All of us are frustrated that it wasn’t ready for the opening,” she added, echoing student leaders.

Mandel Center is officially dedicated Paul Sukijthamapan/Justice File Photo

February 2, 2009

Both [Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Peter] French and Reinharz emphasized that the endowment had been seeing large gains before the unforeseeable financial downturn. The endowment had grown from $190 million when Reinharz became president in 1994 to $715 million through many gains and gifts, French said.

Members of the Mandel family and Reinharz

February 10, 2009

Position on Rose clarified

October 21, 2003

At the open forum last Thursday, Reinharz reiterated that the intention was never to sell “all the art” in the Rose’s collection but said that

Heller gets $15 mil for new building

“if and when we need to sell, we have the option of selling.”

A $15 million donation from trsutee emeritus Irving Schneider made in July 2003 will nearly double the size of The Heller School for Social Policy Management, creating much needed space for the expanding school and a new, state-of-the-art facility.

The Jan. 26 press release stated, “After necessary legal approvals and working with a top auction house, the University will publicly sell the art collection.” The museum’s collection currently comprises 7,180 works.

The Mandel Foundation, founded by Morton Mandel and his brothers, Joseph and Jack, gave the University a grant of $22.5 million to build the Mandel Center. University President Jehuda Reinharz noted that this is the largest grant ever given by the Mandel Foundation and it is among the largest gifts ever given to support the humanities in the United States. …

“Without the study of the humanities, our own humanity is diminished,” said Reinharz. “The Mandel Center is a clear message to everyone that the humanities are important here at Brandeis, that architecture is important at Brandeis, and beauty is important at Brandeis. These are values that the Mandels share with us.”

September 1, 2009

ASHER KRELL/Justice File Photo

Shapiros give $25M for science quad

The University’s largest donors—Carl and Ruth Shapiro—matched their previous record-donation, contributing $25 million toward rebuilding the science center.

The $154 million Carl J. Shapiro Science Center, the University's largest capital proposal ever, is slated to break ground at the end of the summer, University President Jehuda Reinharz said.

2002

2003

2004

Number of international firstyears rises The international students were part of a firstyear class that included 910 first-years as well as 60 transfer students, according to an e-mail from Jennifer Abdou, the orientation programs specialist.

Last year, 78 international students were part of a first-year class of 754; This year, the number of international students within the entire first-year class has increased by 4 percent. The number of international students is far greater than in any year in the past decade, said Elwell.

October 6, 2009

Search to begin for new president The University Board of Trustees is creating a presidential search committee in light of University President Jehuda Reinharz’s Sept. 24 announcement to resign. …

Reinharz told the Justice Sept. 24 that his decision to resign is based on

“the realization that I’ve completed most of the things that I want to complete [at Brandeis]. ... I have an opportunity to do something different. ... I decided this was a good time.”

2005

2000s

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

DESIGN BY BRIAN BLUMENTHAL/the Justice. PHOTO BY ASHER KRELL/the Justice.

January 24, 2006

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TUESDAY, december 7, 2010

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THE JUSTICE

P lay tim e

in college

KIDS AT PLAY: Children at the Lemberg Children’s Center engage in a variety of exciting activities during their school day, including art projects, indoor play and bundling up to run around on the playground outside.

Lemberg Children’s Center has a unique approach to daycare

By CLAIRE GOHOREL JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

In the midst of finals, most of us wish we could go back to being a kid, when life was simpler.

When naptime and recess were part of the daily routine. When we could run and jump and swing on the swing set. A time without exam anxiety and before all-nighters. Believe it or not, there is a place on campus where kids play and snacks are served twice a day.

Lemberg Children’s Center is an on-campus preschool for children aged 2 to 6, and it operates with sliding-scale tuition adjusted to parental income level.

All children are welcome, even if their parents are not affiliated with Brandeis. Currently, the center cares for 38 children. Lemberg hires many Brandeis students who are completing degrees in Psychology or studying early childhood education as teaching assistants, and it has positions for Federal-Work Study students as well.

Lemberg was established in 1971 by Brandeis faculty, staff and students to provide care for children while parents worked and studied, recalls Howie Baker, the executive director of the center. Prior to that, there was a nursery school for only 2 hours a day, which did not satisfy full workday needs.

Snunit Gal was one of the founders of Lemberg and served as its first director from 1971 to 1974.

Born and raised in Israel, where she lived in a collective community, or kibbutz, Gal received a Master’s degree in education at Harvard University. This led her to Brandeis, where she developed Lemberg Children’s Center with her unique vision of community, one inspired by her childhood experiences living in a kibbutz. “[Gal] was a visionary person … who had raised two children in a kibbutz world, and she and her husband decided, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to have a nuclear family and still maintain some of those values of being a community?’” says

Baker.

Younger and older children play and learn together, and parents are encouraged to stop by throughout the day. In this way, “The Center then becomes what it really should be—an extension of the home,” said Gal in a winter 19881989 issue of The Brandeis Review.

Gal left Lemberg in the mid-1970s to become an educational supervisor for daycare centers in the southern Negev region of Israel, reported Brenda Marder in a fall 1986 issue of The Brandeis Review.

Baker has been working at Lemberg for 38 years and feels that the center has adhered to Gal’s vision. “We work hard to have children and parents close but [also to] be part of [a] community that works together,” says Baker.

“It is a very close community. The parents come to know each other, and the kids see each other after school and during holidays.

The school environment continues beyond the school,” says Prof. Elif Sisli Ciamarra (IBS), whose child attends Lemberg.

Lemberg’s approach to early childhood education was a refreshing option to overwhelmed parents. It emphasized positive behavioral management strategies at a time when most early childhood education programs used punishment to instill discipline. Today, this mode of thinking has become popular in early childhood education circles.

The Lemberg program philosophy pamphlet says that all teaching assistants and teachers use the words no and don’t sparingly with the children.

“Young children learn much of their language through imitation. If they constantly hear, ‘no’ and ‘don’t,’ they may frequently say ‘no’ and ‘I won’t,’” according to the pamphlet. Instead, teachers and assistants are encouraged to offer suggestions as to what the children can do.

“I think a lot of people misunderstand that.

It’s not that we don’t ever tell a child that [he or

she] can’t do something. Instead of saying ‘Don’t climb up there,’ we say, ‘Put your feet on the ground,’ explains Al Hoberman ’09. Hoberman started working at Lemberg as a teaching assistant in 2006 and was hired as a teaching fellow upon his graduation from Brandeis.

“The issue is forming a relationship where you are trusted; we want children to want to be with you, to learn with you. People don’t learn to read with someone they don’t want to be with.

Be positive; explain what choices there are. Let the child feel comfortable in learning,” explains Baker.

Offering guidance and suggestions for alternative behavior is an effective approach because “it minimizes defensiveness and maximizes collaborative thinking,” according to Baker.

Simply put, the center believes that encouragement yields better behavior than punishment because a demoralized child is less eager to learn or cooperate with others.

Parents have the opportunity to observe the positive behavioral management strategies at work in the classroom. Prof. Can Erbil (ECON) and his wife Susannah Madan-Erbil’s daughter attended Lemberg last year before starting kindergarten this year.

“It was a really nice, friendly environment. … If somebody did something that wasn’t nice, they wouldn’t reprimand the child that that did the wrong thing; they would give them advice about how to act. I think over time, that helped to manage things like anger.”

While the environment at Lemberg is friendly and encouraging to the children, its teaching philosophy is wary of giving blind praise. At Lemberg, the staff encourages students to be driven by internal motivation, not the motivation to please others.

“There is nothing wrong with [giving praise], but be specific about what in particular you like that someone is doing. ‘That’s great’ is fine, but it shows more engagement when you are more

descriptive; it shows you are truly interested,” says Baker.

Emotional management and cooperation are skills that are cultivated through group play and conversation. Children are permitted to bring toys from home, but the center requires that the children share personal toys with their peers. There is free play every morning, as well as more structured group activities like dance and theater, taught by head teachers Katharine Braun-Levine and Chandra Pieragostini, respectively.

“Kids are born with their senses very well developed; They smell well, they see well, they taste well and they touch well. [But] they don’t understand at all. Our job as parents and teachers, is to put words on the senses and to have them, when they touch something, start to put the data together in some sort of coherent way,” Baker says.

Music is also used in the day-to-day schedule to enrich children’s verbal and non-verbal communication skills.

It is not unusual to see the teachers and teaching assistants sing a song to accompany seemingly mundane tasks, like washing hands.

“Singing is not just a fun thing to do with kids, but it helps with transitions. We sing, ‘Let’s wash our hands; and all of a sudden, it’s fun. It gives them a rhythm with which to do the task. ... It’s more effective—it’s not just us telling us them verbally, it’s a multifaceted way of communicating,” Hoberman says.

Madan-Erbil said her daughter really enjoyed the musical element at Lemberg. “Her favorite thing was … when the teachers would play music and the kids would sing.”

Most important, Baker stresses, are the children’s social and cognitive developments.

“We want a place where the young children get to know about their peers, feel close to adults … and to grow up being very connected and involved in the world,” Baker says.

Photos by Asher Krell  the Justice

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2010

13

Outer space,

underground

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY LYDIA EMMANOUILIDOU/the Justice

ROTATING RIDE: Ian Schleifer watches Howard Simpson prepare for a spin on the rotating chair, nicknamed the HULK, a machine in the Ashton Graybiel Spatial Orientation Lab that is able to move in two axes at a time.

Research conducted in the Ashton Graybiel Spatial Orientation Lab makes important contributions to the future of space travel By dafna fine JUSTICE editor

PHOTO COURTESY OF ABLERTO PIEROBON

BALANCE: Forces make it hard to stand up straight.

LYDIA EMMANOUILIDOU/the Justice

CONTROL: Joel Ventura runs equipment in the lab.

You enter a round, windowless room, and a large metal door is shut behind you. You stand with your body against the wall, and the room begins to move. Your body weight is up to 547 percent heavier than normal. You attempt to stand straight, but your body leans forward in an effort to maintain your balance. You try to lift your arm in front of you, and it is pulled to the right. The room is spinning at up to 40 revolutions per minute, and you’re only in the basement of the Rabb Graduate Center.

The slow rotation room, a room that can rotate up to 40 RPM, is located in the Ashton Graybiel Spatial Orientation Laboratory on campus and was designed to study the effects of a rotating environment on motor control and orientation.

Research in the lab focuses on a wide ranch of topics, including motion sickness and “all aspects of human orientation and movement control related to space flight,” Prof. James Lackner (PSYC), director of the laboratory, says. The work of the lab has made instrumental breakthroughs and contributions toward preparing astronauts for space flight.

“If people go on long space voyages, they can’t spend long periods in weightlessness without significant changes taking place in their bodies.

The body is very efficient. If you don’t need a resource, your body gets rid of it. Since you don’t need your skeleton to support your weight in space, [the] body gets rid of [your] bones,” Joel Ventura, a research scientist in the lab, says. After 9 months in space, you can no longer return to earth, according to Ventura. A rotating environment, such as the one build in the Graybiel lab, could solve this problem.

In a rotating environment in space, astronauts could experience artificial gravity to manage staying in space longer durations of time. A rotating environment, such as the one built on campus, can serve as a “cure for loss of gravity,” according to Ventura. “A rotating environment has artificial gravity. On Earth, you can mimic aspects of what artificial gravity would be like in space, but you can’t completely mimic it because you always have the 1-G force [the force of gravity at the Earth’s surface ],” Lackner says.

The idea for the lab at Brandeis University developed over 25 years ago through Lackner’s collaboration with Dr. Ashton Graybiel, a scientist who studied the effects of manned space flights, including weightlessness, orientation and motion sickness, according to Lackner.

“When Sputnik was launched, [Dr. Graybiel] realized man would be going out into space and there was a lot of research that had to be done before that,” Ventura says.

Graybiel therefore created a slow rotation room at the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory in Pensacola, Florida, to conduct research on artificial gravity.

Working closely with Graybiel, Lackner decided to build a similar room at Brandeis. In 1983, NASA decided to focus all funding on the room at Brandeis, which was bigger, according to Lackner. Lackner chose to name the Ashton Graybiel Spatial Orientation Laboratory for the man he views as a “pioneer in space.”

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY LYDIA EMMANOUILIDOU/the Justice

ON TARGET: Howard Simpson makes accurate reaching movements by adjusting for Coriolis forces.

Using the space provided by the University in the basement of Rabb and the funding that came from NASA, work on a slow rotation room began at Brandeis. The room was designed by Dr. Lackner and Dr. John Evanoff, who was the Research Director at the time.

“Arti Larson helped build it and his father [Art Larson II] did detailed design work,” Ventura says. Larsen, who is the electrical and mechanical technician for the lab, began working at the lab in 1983 while he was still in high school and has been involved there ever since.

His father had been the head of the machine shop at the University during the time the lab was developed.

“It took close to 10 years to complete the project. We did everything ourselves,” Lackner says. In 1982, the Graybiel Lab officially opened, with prestigious speakers including former NASA Astronaut, William E. Thornton.

Following the start of work in the Graybiel lab, use of the slow rotation room in Pensacola decreased dramatically, and the room was demolished recently, according to Lackner. This has left the slow rotating room at Brandeis the only one of its kind in the country. The lab is run by Lackner and Prof. Paul DiZio (PSYC), the lab’s associate director since 1986; as well as by staff members and graduate students who conduct research.

The 22-foot diameter slow rotation room in the Graybiel lab has the capacity to move at 0 to 35 RPM, producing effects far beyond any

amusement park ride. While rotating at a speed as low as 10 RPM, movements of the body are already drastically altered. A task as simple as throwing a tennis ball across the room is nearly impossible, curving each time to the side of the room as a result of the Coriolis effect, which deflects movements that occur in a rotating environment.

While the effects of the rotating room may be startling for newcomers who reach for an object and find their hand pulled to the side, research in the Graybiel lab has radically transformed previous theories, proving that adaption in a rotating environment can make regular movement possible.

“People will initially make reaching errors and then adapt,” Ventura says, explaining that a person’s body soon learns to compensate for the forces and will begin to reach more accurately within minutes.

Studies in the Graybiel lab are performed on Brandeis staff and students. Though NASA is currently not providing any funding for the room, research continues. “Someday, I hope NASA will fund an experiment where people will stay in the room for a few weeks,” Ventura says.

“The room is designed to be able to run virtually indefinitely without stopping, except for food and for waste disposal as necessary,” according to Lackner. Perhaps when NASA is ready to send man into space for long durations, Brandeis will be the first stop en route to space.

14

TUESDAY, December 7, 2010

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THE JUSTICE

Justice Justice

the the

Established 1949, Brandeis University

Brandeis University

Established 1949

Brian Fromm, Editor in Chief Rebecca Blady, Managing Editor Brian N. Blumenthal, Production Editor Hillel Buechler, Ian Cutler, Rebecca Klein, Nashrah Rahman and Jillian Wagner, Associate Editors Alana Abramson and Fiona Lockyer, News Editors Dafna Fine, Acting Features Editor Tess Raser, Features Editor Eitan Cooper, Acting Forum Editor Jeffrey Boxer, Acting Sports Editor Bryan Flatt, Arts Editor Wei-Huan Chen, Acting Arts Editor Asher Krell and Robyn Spector, Photography Editors Debra Friedmann, Layout Editor Emily Kraus, Copy Editor Cody Yudkoff, Advertising Editor

BSF proposals require promotion On Sunday, the Brandeis Sustainability Fund announced its accepted proposals for fall 2010. While this board sees potential in the accepted proposals, we feel that students would have benefitted from more-detailed descriptions of the projects.

Additionally, this board finds that Smart Meters, the most expensive proposal, requires a significant amount of student participation in order to be successful. We therefore urge those involved in implementing this proposal to find methods to increase student participation in the project.

Each student who drafted a proposal to the Brandeis Sustainability Fund was required to submit a lengthy application. This application detailed how much the project cost and how it would impact sustainability at Brandeis.

This board feels that the short, somewhat vague descriptions released in the e-mail do not adequately report the criteria required by the application.

Additionally, the descriptions do not offer substantial information about price breakdown or comprehensive reasons why each project is beneficial for sustainability at Brandeis.

Given that the Brandeis Sustainability Fund uses a significant amount of money contributed by every student, this board feels that a more comprehensive explanation of how and why student money is being spent was merited.

In addition to the insufficient descriptions, this board notes that the most

Projects need clarification expensive proposal that the Brandeis Sustainability Fund accepted requires a great degree of student participation.

The Smart Meters proposal, offered by Sam Porter ’14, will cost $26,000. The Building Dashboard Network, powered

by Lucid Design Group, provides highly accurate statistical information about electrical usage on a website.

Each school or organization can participate in competitions designed to motivate a community to decrease energy usage and promote environmental living.

While this initiative has been successful at other schools, it should be noted that its success depends largely on active student participation.

In order for Smart Meters to be implemented effectively, students who live in the building in which the system is installed must be willing to check the website relatively frequently and care enough about lowering the statistics of their buildings. If a strong push is not made for this program to the student body by its organizers, the money spent may go to waste. This board is concerned that the most expensive project requires a tremendous amount of active student interest in order to be successful.

We hope that the Brandeis Sustainability Fund will find creative and effective ways to advocate and inform students of the project so that students can take advantage of its potential.

Celebrate Brandeis was a success On Friday morning, hundreds of students, as well as faculty and administrators, gathered on the Great Lawn in celebration of our university. That morning’s event was part of Celebrate Brandeis, a program that was pieced together by many students in response to the planned protests of the Westboro Baptist Church.

The juxtaposition of that day’s events speaks for itself. Seven members of the Westboro Baptist Church picketed outside the Main Gate to express their unfounded hate, and hundreds of Brandeisians gathered to publicly proclaim the Brandeis community’s values. It is true that there was a significant group of people responding to the protesters at the picketing site, but the majority of the response took place, as planned, on the Great Lawn.

Student initiative impressive

The Westboro Baptist Church announced that they would be protesting here shortly before Thanksgiving break; however, students were quick to take initiative to organize an appropriate response. We were impressed by the scope of involvement across a range of student groups.

This coordination led to the day’s success, as well as success of the fundraising effort for Keshet, an advocacy organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Jews.

As this editorial board noted in November, often it seems that school spirit is lacking here, so we were especially glad to see so many members of this community gather at the morning event.

It truly represented the Brandeis spirit.

Appreciating President Reinharz This board would like to extend its gratitude and appreciation for all of University President Jehuda Reinharz’s hard work and dedication to improving this university during his time here.

In the last 16 1/2 years, the University’s endowment has tripled, the acceptance rate has decreased dramatically and the student body has become more diverse in many senses of the word.

Mr. Reinharz’s commitment to making Brandeis a place of which students, faculty and all members of the University community can be proud has become evident in the numerous buildings

Many positive changes seen that have been constructed during his tenure as well as the initiatives undertaken to improve student life and academic standards.

While controversies have at times caused us (and the student body as a whole) to question Mr. Reinharz’s choices, looking back at the last decade and a half proves that he has truly transformed this university for the better.

We thank him for all of his work and wish him the best of luck as President of the Mandel Foundation.

A. ELI TUKACHINSKY/the Justice

Anthropology can be blended with science Leah

Smith In a word

My decision to become an Anthropology major was a bit of a fluke. I entered Brandeis dead-set on International and Global Studies, but I fell in love with Anthropology after taking the introductory course, a requirement for IGS. From there, I jumped into Anthropology headfirst and never looked back.

I was so attracted to Anthropology because I saw it as a discipline for all humankind. Not only does Anthropology study all different kinds of people and all different aspects of their lives, but it also utilizes many different methodologies in order to do so. The possibilities are endless.

That said, it surprised me to read a Nov. 30 Inside Higher Ed piece discussing the fissures in the discipline regarding its relation to science. The debate about science in anthropology is an ongoing one, but according to the article, it has been revived because the American Anthropological Association has released a new, long-range plan that has removed the word science from its vision. The debate is largely between sociocultural anthropologists—who find science problematic because in many ways it “embodies Western and colonial ideals”—and those archaeologists and biological anthropologists who rely on the empirical methods that science provides.

It is true, of course, that science does present problems in anthropology. For all its empirical methodology, science came about in the Western world, and as a result, it contains certain assumptions about the world that can be difficult to reconcile with anthropology, which attempts to study people without any preconceived notions about the way the world works.

But despite this difficulty, I still believe that science has a place in anthropology. Cultural phenomena are extremely complex, and while anthropology’s interpretive methods can help explain much of these phenomena, our understanding of human cultural behavior can only be deepened if we also understand the roles that science and biology play. Just because humans have created complex sociocultural systems does not mean that we exist in a vacuum, totally untouched by our innate biological functions. Furthermore, empirical scientific methods of observation are a central part of ethnographic methodology.

That’s why reading this article concerned me. If anthropology really is a discipline for all humankind as I originally thought, shouldn’t science be included in that, even if it does present problems? Despite the fact that science often carries with it Western and colonial ideals, its methods still provide anthropologists with valuable tools for understanding the world as humans live in it. If the AAA is going to exclude science from its vision, perhaps I made the wrong decision in choosing anthropology as a comprehensive and holistic field.

But an interview with Prof. Janet McIntosh (ANTH) put things in perspective. According to her, “The actual change in wording [of the vision] should be uncontroversial. … The original wording defines anthropology as a whole as a science, [but] many anthropologists can agree that not all anthropologists see themselves as involved in a science.” Though empirical observations are often used in anthropology, most anthropologists see their work as more interpretive than scientific.

So perhaps the change in wording of the AAA’s vision should actually be seen as a way of making the field even more comprehensive. Instead of defining anthropology strictly as a science, the new wording says, “The purposes of the Association shall be to advance public understanding of humankind in all its aspects.” This new wording is broad enough so as to allow for as much exploration of humanity through as many means as possible, including science.

For this reason, I believe the change in the AAA’s vision was a positive one that will improve the overall integrity of anthropology as the study of humanity. As McIntosh puts it, “science is able both to access certain empirical realities using very important methods … and smuggle in cultural priorities, … and it takes a kind of subtlety of thought to recognize that science both has successful methodologies and that it can also bring with it cultural biases.”

In changing its vision, the AAA has demonstrated that very subtlety of thought. Anthropology as a whole is not a science, and to define it as such would smuggle in cultural priorities and assumptions. But to allow anthropology to operate as a comprehensive discipline that includes scientific methods means that anthropology can continue to access the empirical realities of humanity.

OP-BOX Quote of the Week “My a cappella group is my family on campus.”

—Ellyn Getz ‘13 on her experience with Starving Artists and its semester show Monday night (See Arts, page 18).

Brandeis Talks Back What are your thoughts on Jehuda Reinharz concluding his presidency?

Guaris Frias ’13 “I know Jehuda was a great president, but President-elect [Frederick] Lawrence is awesome. I am a Posse student, and I recently heard him speak about keeping the program running. That was convincing for me.”

Adam Cohen ’12 “I don’t care that much either way. He doesn’t affect my day-to-day life, though I think he’s been given a bad wrap lately. I heard he’s a great guy.”

Alana Torre ’12 “I don’t know what to say.

I didn’t know him that well. I’m sure people are sad about it. I’m sure he’s a nice guy.”

Nicole Tiger ’13

“He will be missed.”

—Compiled by Eitan Cooper Photos by Robyn Spector/ the Justice

THE JUSTICE

READER COMMENTARY Counterprotest was necessary In response to your article “Don’t fall for picketers’ trap; avoid a response” (Forum, Nov. 23): I can understand the intent of Ms. Diamond’s opinion. In a perfect world, everyone would hear the call to ignore the Westboro Baptist Church and isolate opinions like this until they die on the vine.

Unfortunately, that idealized world doesn’t exist. You aren’t going to keep people from commuting down South Street on a Friday morning.

This is one of the reasons they chose a weekday and not a weekend to protest outside of Brandeis. They will have a built-in audience one way or another. I also disagree that the solution in any case is isolation of The WBC’s message. Isolation of that message only serves to condone it.

If anyone is unfortunately miserable enough to buy into the church’s message, then when viewed on its face with a lack of opposition, it will come out as clarion rather than insipid.

Increasingly on the political stage, we’ve seen the result of attempted “ignore-to-marginalize” campaigns against the provably false accusations and opinions of a limited group of liars and spin-pushers.

The result is that the members of the WBC embolden their base to accept the lies in the absence of presentation of the overwhelming truths out there. The lies then reverberate, and the end result by many is their acceptance as facts. When it then becomes expedient to expel those myths, they’re hardened in the minds of the willing rather than exposed as they should have been in the beginning.

There will always be a certain element that will wholeheartedly accept whatever lie fits the ill-conceived notions that they already hold dear. No amount of the truth will shake that.

But we live in an age where to ignore is to tacitly accept as valid, or worse, as fact, the opinions of the ignored. The correct response to such despicable opinions is to address them.

—Karl Clodfelter Boston

WBC protest is exceptional In response to your article “Don’t fall for picketers’ trap; avoid a response” (Forum, Nov. 23): Ordinarily, I agree with the general sentiment of Ms. Diamond’s remarks. However, the Westboro Baptist Church is one of the most universally reviled institutions in all of the U.S. Many have speculated that the WBC’s appearances substantially benefit the causes that they protest (especially gay rights) because of a) hyperbole they use and b) the way that their protests unite and recruit counterprotestors, especially counterprotestors who might not otherwise have been likely to take a stand. The WBC’s protests outside numerous high schools, for instance, have raised the profile of LGBT rights among high school students far more than gay-straight alliances alone could have.

—Matthew S. Meisel Boston

Rev Cuenin’s service is admirable In response to your article “Chatting with the chaplain” (Features, Nov. 23): As a Brandeis alumna and a staunch atheist, I am so proud to have Father Cuenin as part of the Brandeis community. Even though I never spoke with him directly during my time there, I only heard warm descriptions of him from my fellow students and always saw him as a positive and respectful force in the often ugly world of religion. I wish him all the best and hope he continues to serve Brandeis for many years to come.

—Amy Hoffman ’10

Foster positive discourse on Israel In response to your article “Lamenting the fractured condition of Zionism at Brandeis” (Forum, Nov. 16): Thank you for stating your ideas so eloquently. As a Israel History teacher in a Jewish day school and as a Brandeis graduate, I think that you speak for many of us who love Israel and see both its strengths and its weaknesses. I hope that you will continue to share your views and help us (modern Jews and Zionists) reshape the discussion on Israel to focus on the ideas of democracy so that people can see the values of Judaism that care for the widow, elderly and poor as governing values for a country.

—Tamara Beliak ’00

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TUESDAY, December 7, 2010

Treasure what Brandeis offers us

By JEHUDA REINHARZ Special to the Justice

On Dec. 31, 2010, I will end my role as president of Brandeis University after 16 1/2 years.

When I took the job in the spring of 1994, I had no idea what challenges and joys awaited me.

In this year’s fall letter to the Brandeis community, I outlined some of the changes that took place here over these past years. But in this letter, I would like to make a few comments specifically to you.

Almost all of you realize that you have many opportunities at Brandeis, and it pleases me immensely that you take advantage of them.

I love the fact that there are almost 300 clubs on campus, and the number is growing. Obviously, this means that many of you are presidents, vice presidents, treasurers and more.

In other words, a very large number of you are willing to take on leadership roles.

I have so enjoyed going to your concerts, art exhibits, sports events, dance performances and talks. Shula and I have been invited to your dorm rooms for dinner and to your proms, and we, in turn, have had the opportunity to host you in our home. I have been presented with your petitions to sign, your causes to support, your complaints to address and your questions to ponder.

Your concern for global issues has led me and members of my administration to create the International and Global Studies program; your interest in health care has led to our creation of the Health: Science, Society and Policy program; your passion for media and film has led me to endorse our Film and Media Studies; and your curiosity about ways that the economy works has led me to join others in creating the undergraduate Business major. Your desire to protect the environment persuaded me to support the installation of one of the largest solar panel systems in New England.

During these years, I have held open office hours on a frequent basis, attended classes and participated in many student events. One of the aspects of my job as president that I will miss most is my opportunity to interact with you on a regular basis. I have been amazed continuously by your maturity, intelligence, friendly disposition and global outlook.

But I also have some concerns. I still see too many students smoking. You sometimes drink to excess. Once in a while, you forget the boundary between vigorous discussion and hurtful expression.

And some of you have not yet learned how important it is to go outside your comfort zone by taking a class that’s far from your major

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or that might appear to be too difficult at first sight.

Sometimes when I see people of the same background interacting exclusively with one another, I feel that you are missing a real opportunity to benefit from one of the great advantages of the residential college experience, namely, learning from your peers.

As you know, Brandeis continues to be a Jewish-sponsored university while at the same time it has become increasingly diverse both in its undergraduate and graduate populations. Take advantage of this diversity. Use every chance you have to go abroad, to learn new languages, to learn about other religions and your own and to become a caring citizen of the world.

Most of all, remember that you have an enormous privilege of studying at one of the finest universities in the world and that few people in the world, relatively speaking, have that kind of advantage. Many people have made all of this possible for you, and I hope that during your years at Brandeis you will have assimilated the joy not only of receiving, but of giving back as well. The concept of paying it forward is a good one to follow for the rest of your lives.

Editor’s note: The writer is president of the University.

Academic, economic stresses hinder learning Shafaq

Hasan Into the fire

College is hyped up to be the best time of your life. You discover who you really are, meet your future bridesmaids and, perhaps most importantly, get an education.

However, due to the academic pressures and economic insecurities plaguing students today, the overwhelming stress to perform has superseded the desire to learn. The larger mentality of this country to succeed and make money at any cost has permeated the college classroom. Thus, the stress and anxiety of creating one’s future through the lens of a college course guide accompany students through their years in school.

Instead of taking an art history class out of curiosity or a science class other than for a school requirement, students are pigeonholed into believing every class must be a stepping stone toward their future professional endeavors. Not only is the sanctity of learning soiled, but, more than ever, college students are failing to cope with the tremendous stress of exams and school work. According to the American Institute of Stress, 75 to 90 percent of the visits college students make to their physicians are a result of stress or stress-related disorders.

I would say that it is this discernible change in colleges from learning for the sake of learning to cramming for the sake of getting an A that has led some students to effectively selfdestruct. According to numerous studies, coping mechanisms ranging from binge drinking and drug abuse to cheating and suicide are all on the rise. A study conducted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University found that between 1993 and 2005, the rate of college students abusing dangerous drugs like heroin, cocaine and hallucinogens had risen across the board. The same study found that the number of college students who abused prescription medications tripled from 1992 to 2003. This seems to be indicative of the overworked and overstressed college environment that students are living in now.

According to a survey of approximately 17,000 college students by the American College Health Association, only 13 percent of students said they were able to get enough sleep to make them feel rested in the morning. Given the course load students are subjected to, homework takes priority over sleep and rest.

The stress of academic competition manifests itself even more dangerously in the rising depression and suicide rates of college students. According to a recent survey by the National Mental Health Association, 10

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percent of college students have been diagnosed with depression. To those that argue that depression has always been prominent among college students, a recent survey by the American College Health Association reports otherwise. The survey indicates that the suicide rate among young adults aged 15 to 24 has tripled since the 1950s. Moreover, suicide is currently the second-most-common cause of death among college students. It’s undeniable that students now have more to worry about than ever before.

Additionally, the prevalence of cheating has also increased markedly. In a recent article published in the Columbia Spectator, Columbia University’s newspaper, the number of cheating cases at Barnard College reportedly doubled from 12 cases in the 2008 to 2009 academic year to 30 for the 2009 to 2010 academic year. Is a C or D on a paper really capable of derailing a student’s entire future that he would consider compromising his integrity to perform well? Spurred by the stress of academic competition, students are dispensing with learning and instead are turning to cheating to get ahead.

Similarly alarming results of college pressure are the methods through which students attempt to alleviate the stress. The Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia

The Staff

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University found that college students have much higher alcohol and drug addiction rates than the general public. Compared to the 8.5 percent of the general public who have substance abuse problems, 20 percent of college students are predisposed to struggle with addiction during their time in school.

Finals week will send the college population scrambling to find Adderall or Ritalin, two prescription drugs notorious for being abused to help students stay awake longer and study for longer hours. Logically, the stress of multiple papers and final exams will only exacerbate the abuse documented on college campuses.

The purpose of going to college has essentially changed for the worse. College is no longer the arena for self-discovery when the pressure to succeed is constantly hounding students.

The stress of finding a major that correlates with your career choice and only taking classes that fulfill the requirements for your major have produced overworked students with dangerous drinking habits and psychological problems. However, the stress plaguing college students stems from the greater societal issue of success measured by how much money one makes and how reputable one’s job is.

Only when we change this mentality will we be able to help destress the overworked college students of America.

Editorial Assistants News: Sara Dejene Arts: Aaron Berke Photos: Yosef Schaffel, Tali Smookler Copy: Marielle Temkin Staff Senior Writers: Harry Shipps, Melissa Siegel Senior Illustrators: Rishika Assomull, A. Eli Tukachinsky News: Tyler Belanga, Andrew Wingens Features: Sarah Gilson, Claire Gohorel, Rocky Reichman, Deborah Salmon, Gabi Santoro Forum: Hannah Goldberg, Shafaq Hasan, Rebecca Kellogg, Ryan Kuhel, Ethan Mermelstein, Liz Posner, Leah Smith, Avi Snyder, Elizabeth Stoker, Naomi Volk Sports: Josh Asen, Julian Cardillo, Jonathan Epstein, Max Goldstein, Sam Liang, Jacob Lurie, Adam Rabinowitz,

Jonathan Steinberg, Arts: Taylor Baker, Eric Chow, Alex DeSilva, Julia Jerusalmi, Elly Kalfus, Morgan Manley, Amy Melser, Douglas Moore, Alex Pagan, Bryan Prywes, Emily Salloway, Sujin Shin, Shelly Shore Photography: Genevieve Armstrong, Amy Bissaillon, Lydia Emmanouilidou, Nathan Feldman, Morgan Fine, Nathaniel Freedman, Hilary Heyison, Davida Judelson, Joshua Linton, Mansi Luo, Alex Margolis Copy: Taylor Baker, Rebecca Brooks, Allyson Cartter, Jacob Chatinover, Hilary Cheney, Erica Cooperberg, Philip Gallagher, Ariel Glickman, Patricia Greene, Celine Hacobian, Jeff Herman, Rachel Herman, Liana Johnson, Rachel Mayo, Mailinh Phan-Nguyen, Zane Relethford, Maya Riser-Kositsky, Mara Sassoon, Dan Willey, Amanda Winn Layout: Nadav Havivi, Nan Pang, Denny Poliferno Illustrations: Ari Tretin Ads: Alex Fischler

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TUESDAY, December 7 2010

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THE JUSTICE

FORUM

In legitimizing WBC, Brandeis trumps Harvard Liz

Posner But I Digress

If you were asked to describe the ideology of the Westboro Baptist Church in one word, what would it be? Heinous or offensive? Ludicrous or absurd? All four would be fitting.

In response to these hateful Westboro protestors, students at Brandeis voiced ideas to the organizers of the counterprotest directly, attended an open meeting in the Castle Commons and posted comments on the event’s Facebook page.

Organizers ultimately decided to hold a “Celebrate Brandeis” event to reaffirm support for the Brandeis community internally and raise money for Keshet, an advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Jews.

Friday’s on-campus festivities could have taken on a different tone, though. As many students already know, the WBC did not only make an appearance at Brandeis this past Friday.

In addition to stints at the Islamic Center of Boston in Wayland, Mass. and at Framingham High School, the WBC staged a protest outside the Harvard University Hillel. That means Harvard students faced the same debate we saw at Brandeis in the weeks leading up to the announced protest.

According to a recent Harvard Crimson article, though, Harvard students chose a different method of response. Organizers of the counterprotest held a “Surprise Absurdity Protest” to mock the beliefs and values of the WBC. It was “a whimsical event” that included “live music, food, and signs with sayings such as ‘God hates figs’ and ‘The sky is too blue.’” Though this is obviously an amusing demonstration, I think Harvard’s protest organizers made a mistake in choosing this type of response.

Honestly, I’m happy the WBC came to Brandeis to protest. As members of a university community, we live somewhat in a bubble, where controversial discussion is almost always conducted in an atmosphere of intellectual sophistication.

Take, for example, the on-campus debate sparked by the recent Israeli Occupation Awareness Week. As contentious as the discussion eventually became, participants supported their arguments with rationality and acted respectfully towards one another.

Unfortunately, we cannot say the same for members of the WBC, whose presence on Friday was a healthy reminder that we do not live in a world of totally lucid, intelligent and likeminded people like the ones who surround us in college.

Thomas Jefferson wrote after Shay’s Rebellion in 1787 that “a little rebellion now and then is a good thing” to act as a check on government.

The same principle applies to the WBC protest at Brandeis. It may have come as a shock, but we were reminded on Friday that there are a lot of stupid and hateful people out there in the real world who refuse to listen to debate or reason.

Harvard’s “Absurdity” protest missed an opportunity to take the WBC seriously. Harvard students decided to scoff at the church’s despi-

RISHIKA ASSOMULL/the Justice

cable and archaic values instead of recognizing them as a true threat.

This is a kind of snobbery that refuses to consider extremist fringe views as even worthy of notice. In choosing its own, more sophisticated method of response to the protest on Dec. 3, Brandeis student organizers also subconsciously chose to treat the WBC as a legitimate organization representing a serious and established point of view. And rightly so.

The WBC’s values are hardly as radical as those images of 6-year-olds holding “God Hates Fags” picket signs would suggest. Though their hateful language and well-publicized stunts, like protests at soldiers’ funerals, make the church members obvious extremists, some of their views are shared by more moderate think-

ers. It seems to me that their beliefs echo a fair amount of what one hears daily in mainstream American public life. Among its other controversial claims, the WBC’s website declares its belief that United States President Barack Obama is both the Antichrist and a closeted Muslim.

While I doubt most Americans would agree with the statement found on the church’s website, “The Antichrist Bloody Beast Obama is going to become king of the world,” we should remember that, according to a Pew Research Poll from August 2010, one in five Americans believes that Obama is a Muslim. And though most do not outspokenly sympathize with the WBC slogan, “Fags are nature freaks,” gay Americans are denied full civil rights, and our

elected representatives still question the merits of allowing gays to openly serve in the military.

I hope one day we can all laugh at the Westboro Baptist Church’s obsolete and irrelevant protests in the midst of our future enlightened society. On that same day, I’m sure I will turn on the news and hear nothing of hate crimes, terrorism and religious intolerance.

But Friday was not that day, and until it comes, we should be wary of laughing in the face of groups and ideas that reflect opinions that are not uncommon in contemporary political discourse.

Until we as reasonable individuals adopt this mindset, we cannot be positive that extremists will not be the ones who ultimately have the last laugh.

WikiLeaks’ Assange can take a lesson from JuicyCampus Rebeca

Blady MaleströM

Over the past week, I’ve read many different reactions to the latest WikiLeaks document dump. I’ve found the commentary on it both scandalous and thrilling and do admit to losing some sleep upon discovering WikiLeaks’ fancy Cablegate, which lets you sort through cables based on their country of origin and classification.

Of course, once I found this function, I rushed to read all the cables marked “Top Secret,” figuring that section would provide me with the most earth-shattering news and mind-boggling stories about my country’s diplomats.

And then, in the midst of my mad rush, it occurred to me that my instinct upon reading the cables—which many in our nation undoubtedly shared—wasn’t very unlike another website I had read before. In a moment of clarity, I realized that WikiLeaks was sort of like JuicyCampus for the government.

Remember JuicyCampus? Around two years ago, this website was the subject of great controversy on college campuses. Just to recap: Created in August 2007 by Duke graduate

Matt Ivester, JuicyCampus hosted a collection of forums unique to 500 individual colleges (Brandeis included) for users to discuss anonymously and explicitly the newest, juiciest and oftentimes vulgar and mean-spirited gossip. In November 2008, I urged readers of this newspaper not to visit the website: “Although college students created JuicyCampus, the Web site does not embody the goals and needs of students within a university setting. Free speech should not be taken for granted. In a society in which this right is considered an absolute, we must consider its limitations.

We are obliged to curb free speech for the sake of our classmates’ emotional well-being.

Four years of college grant us the opportunity to take advantage of the various media that advance this right. We don’t need to take it out on our peers.

As college students who claim to positively influence our society, we should encourage free speech. But not in this twisted, libelous manner. Channel your first amendment right into a more productive form, not the profane gossip forums of JuicyCampus.”

Harsh? Perhaps. But at the time, the site really did ruin people’s lives. It called them out by name and exposed their sexual lives and drug habits. Here at Brandeis, the forums had some students so distraught that one student initiated a petition to the administration to ban the website on campus.

At the time, Dean of Student Life Rick Saw-

yer said that blocking access to JuicyCampus at Brandeis was under serious consideration—even though Brandeis had never before blocked any websites of similarly questionable nature.

The problem solved itself when JuicyCampus shut down in February 2009 due to plummeting online ad revenue and the loss of venture capital funding, according to Ivester’s press release then. Fortunately for many, the site that could have done good reputation damage ended up being a short-lived fad.

While JuicyCampus lives on—sometimes fondly, sometimes with horror—in the memories of many college students who are still around to tell the tale, I think it’s safe to say that once the site disappeared from our collective mentality, the desire to know everybody’s dirty secrets for the sake of knowing everybody’s dirty secrets disappeared as well.

Now back to WikiLeaks, whose founder Julian Assange probably didn’t intend to create a gossip forum for the world’s diplomatic representatives. Such a thing would most likely be quite unproductive, considering a diplomat makes a living from being kind to and cooperative with other diplomats. Imagine if the world had access to a website that chronicled the secret lives and private conversations of the diplomats around the world! Wouldn’t that be— Oh, wait.

It’s true that Assange’s stated purpose—“to humiliate the U.S. government,” according to Bloomberg News’ Albert R. Hunt’s letter from

Washington published in Sunday’s New York Times—reflects nothing more than his desire to exploit the functions of a good democracy.

But gradually, after reading cable after cable of U.S.-Arab relations and discovering nothing particularly new and exciting (Persian egoism has affected international relations since Biblical times), I think the world has come to realize that WikiLeaks has done nothing but what it planned on doing. Having exposed many secrets of many states, Assange has created a global forum open to any ordinary person to simply humiliate the government.

I wholeheartedly agree with the short-term result Hunt predicted, which, to the detriment of open, serious diplomacy among nations, “will be to discourage candor in cables.” Why? Because it’s just plain embarrassing for people who are simply trying to do their jobs to have a world full of critical citizens have a look a bit too far behind the scenes.

Think back to the less significant stories posted on JuicyCampus two years ago. Despite their relative unimportance, at the time, the crucial thing was the mental health of our classmates. It seems that diplomats should deserve the same kind of respect—the ability to work unimpeded by global gossip channels toward a safer, more peaceful world.

In the meantime, as long as it’s up on WikiLeaks for everyone to see, I may just have to revisit the Cablegate’s “Top Secret” classification. Good democracy is good democracy, after all.

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, December 7, 2010

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SPORTS tRACK & fIELD

Several place in the top 10 at first meet ■ The men’s and women’s

indoor track teams ran in their first meet of the year at Northeastern last weekend.

By sAM LIANG JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Last weekend at the Jay Carisella Track and Field Invitational, the Brandeis men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams ran to several top finishes in the team’s first meet of the season.

The women’s team led the way, with the team placing jumpers in the top 10 of all three events.

In the high jump, Lily Parenteau ’12 finished fourth with a height of 1.57 meters.

In the long jump, captain Lucia Capano ’11 finished sixth with a distance of 5.12 meters. Capano thought that she was rusty in her first meet.

“The kinks need to be worked [out],” she said. “I need to perfect my technique so that it’s fluid. Right now, my rhythm is off.”

Capano also performed in the triple jump, finishing fourth with a jump of 10.92 meters.

Kim Farrington ’13 also competed in the triple jump, placing seventh with a distance of 10.45 meters. Farrington said that she could have had placed higher but that she was happy with the results nevertheless.

“I could have done better, but it was only the first meet,” she said.

Capano also ran in the 55-meter dash, finishing 13th out of 46 runners with a time of 7.61 seconds. She said she was satisfied with her overall performance, noting that she is at about the same level of fitness as she was at the end of last year’s season.

“I am right where I want to be.

I should be moving to where I was last year. This season should progress the same as the last, which is exciting, because that progress should hopefully be enough for me to make it to nationals.”

In the 4x400 meter relay, the women’s team placed 10th with a time of 4:15.68.

The men’s squad also had a successful start to the season.

The men were led by rookie Vincent Asante ’14 in the 55-meter dash.

He placed third out of 82 runners in the preliminaries with a time of 6.56 seconds. In the finals, he placed fourth with a time of 6.61 seconds.

Asante said that he was disappointed that his performance in the preliminaries was better than his performance in the finals.

“I had high expectations, but I do realize that I am rusty,” he said.

In the 200-meter dash, Asante finished 15th out of 82 runners with a time of 23.25 seconds. Charlie Pino ’12 finished 26th with a time of 23.71 seconds, while Stanley Xuelin ’12 finished at 24.11 seconds, good for

45th place.

In the 400-meter dash, Brian Foley ’13 finished 21st out of 64 runners with a time of 51.90 seconds. Mingkai Lin ’12 finished 32nd with a time of 52.88 seconds. Josh Hoffman-Senn ’13 finished 37th with a time of 53.89 seconds.

Lin was not happy with his result.

“I didn’t do as well as I wanted.

But [the team] should improve over winter break, because practices will get much harder.”

Taylor Dundas ’14 ran a 4:27.53 mile, earning him seventh out of 60 runners.

“I was satisfied with my performance,” Dundas said. “For a preseason, we all did pretty well.”

In the shot put, Kris Stinehart ’14 placed 39th with a distance of 11.11 meters. Steve Melnik ’12 recorded a distance of 10.16 meters, good for 47th.

Asante said that it was a good first meet for the team but that it has room to improve.

“All in all, it was a good start.

[We] just need to work harder throughout the season,” he said.

Capano agreed, saying that the invitational demonstrated that the team could be very successful this year. “Overall, I was satisfied. We looked very good this weekend, and I think we’ll keep it up for the rest of the season.”

The squads will next compete in the Harvard Invitational on Saturday.

MBBALL: Judges remain unbeaten CONTINUED FROM 20

added.

Kriskus, guard Derek Retos ’14 and center Youri Dascy ’14 combined to score 36 of the Judges’ 60 points in the game. Dascy led the team with 14, followed by Retos with 12 and Kriskus with 10. Hughes led the team with eight assists to go along with his 7 points and was named the most valuable player for the tournament. Dascy was also named to the all-tournament team.

On Saturday, Brandeis defeated Babson 59-53 to move to 7-0. Babson went up by 3 on a jumper by junior forward Kris Noonan 2 1/2 minutes into the first half, but Kriskus hit a 3-pointer to tie the game, which was followed by another by guard Ben Bartoldus ’14 to give Brandeis a lead it would never relinquish.

Dascy and Kriskus led the way for Brandeis once again, with each scoring a game-high 17 points. Dascy was eight for 10 from the field, while Kriskus was 6-8, including three for five from 3-point range.

On Thursday, the Judges handled Framingham State 73-47. Brandeis had a balanced scoring attack, with only Dascy and fellow rookie forward Alex Stoyle ’14 reaching double figures. Each contributed 10 points, and Kriskus and Retos added 9 each.

Dascy was also the only Judges player to connect on more than three field goals, as 12 players got into the scoring column for Brandeis.

“All the freshmen are contributing,” Meehan said. “It might not be

every night, but they’ve been pretty consistent, so we’ve been very fortunate. As always, we tend to be very unselfish, so different guys have opportunities different nights.”

Dascy scored 7 points or fewer in his first five games but now has scored in double figures in each of his past three games.

“In the beginning, he had some trouble with plays,” Kriskus said of Dascy. “But he’s learning those plays now. He’s really a force; you can’t stop him inside because he’s just so strong and he has a big body.

As long as we get him the ball, I don’t think there’s a person who can stop him.”

On Tuesday night, the Judges came from behind to beat Clark University 67-65 in overtime. Brandeis never led in regulation and was down 29-8 with 6:45 left in the first half. The Judges kept chipping away and tied the game with 25 seconds left after a free throw by guard Ruben Kanya ’14, and Yemga missed a jumper to win the game in regulation for the Judges.

Brandeis took the lead for the first time on a 3-point shot by Retos 20 seconds into overtime. Clark came back to tie the game with 6 seconds left, but Yemga rebounded a missed free throw and passed the ball to Hughes, who drove the length of the court for a game-winning layup as time expired.

The Judges next action will be Jan. 6, 2011, when they play at Emerson College at 5 p.m.

WBBALL: Women win two close contests CONTINUED FROM 20

ASHER KRELL/the Justice

ON THE ATTACK: A Brandeis women’s foil fencer faces off against a Yale opponent during the squad’s loss to Yale at the Brandeis Invitational last Saturday.

FENCING: Teams drop three each at home CONTINUED FROM 20 all nine matches, but lost 7-2 in foil and 5-4 in épée. Brandeis’ prowess in saber, however, was enough to carry them to victory.

The women lost their three meets against St. John’s, Yale and Cornell. Against St. John’s, Brandeis was defeated 18-9, losing in saber (7-2), foil (6-3) and épée (5-4).

The team played a tight meet against Yale and was narrowly defeated 14-13. Brandeis lost 6-3 in foil

and 5-4 in épée but took a 6-3 victory in saber.

Cornell defeated Brandeis 21-6, winning 8-1 in saber, 7-2 in foil and 6-3 in épée.

Saber Anna Hanley ’11 was optimistic about the women’s efforts at the meet.

“The women’s team pulled through a lot of injuries, a lot of illness, and just a lot of hardship to even just show up and … pull off some wins,” she said. “I’m really proud of what we accomplished.”

Vikki Nunley ’13, who fences foil, fell ill during the meet, and Alex Turner ’11, who is normally a saber, acted as a foil in Nunley’s place. “[Turner] fenced foil in high school, but she has been a sabrist in her whole time at Brandeis,” Hanley said. “It was taking one for the team, and she did quite well,” she said.

Hanley also said that the team will build off of the team’s defeats for future meets.

“I think we’ll definitely do a lot

better,” she said. “We had a really tough time—especially against Cornell—today. Cornell, a team who we usually beat and dominate, actually, we just got smashed by. I think in the future, we will learn how to focus quicker and work together as a team. We do have a lot of new freshmen, and we’ll only get better.”

The fencing team is off until Jan. 22, 2011, when it will compete in the Northeast Conference Meet at Brown.

“We’re really deep; it comes down to confidence with our team, especially with our freshmen who are very talented,” Kendrew said. “Sometimes they get into their heads and lose their confidence, but they’re great players and can help us out tremendously.”

Kendrew also attributed the team’s early successes to how seriously the players have taken practice.

“I think that we’ve been concentrating on pushing each other in practice and rebound, which was our weak part so far,” she said. “We’ve been focused in practice.”

Roger Williams sophomore Alexandria Lenieri led all scorers with 18 points and was an impressive 9-14 from the field. Senior guard Carly Spagnola added 10 points, and Junior Ryan Weeks nearly had a double-double, finishing with 9 points and eight boards.

Last Tuesday, the Judges had to battle back to defeat Emmanuel. Brandeis started the game slow and eventually ended the first half down 32-29.

The second half did not begin well, either, as Emmanuel put together an 8-0 run and began the half outscoring the Judges 14-6. Brandeis, however, bounced back and took the lead with 2 minutes left to play as Strodthoff converted a 3-point play. Brandeis did not look back, and the Judges iced the game with a 3-pointer from Rodriguez. Strodthoff led Brandeis with 15 points, and senior Emmanuel guard Kristin Lebel led all scorers with 27.

The team is off until Dec. 31, when it will take on Husson College.

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THE JUSTICE

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

8 3 17 4 2

straight wins for the men’s basketball team to start the season.

losses apiece for the men’s and women’s fencing teams at the Brandeis Invitational last weekend.

points for Youri Dascy ’14 in the team’s victory over Babson College last Saturday. It was a career high for Dascy.

th-place finish for Lucia Capano ’11 in the triple jump. She jumped 10.92 meters.

straight wins for the women’s basketball team last week. The team moved to 5-3 on the year.

19

Nelson Figueroa ’98 signs a $900k contract with the Astros

■ The junior guard drove the length of the court to hit the winning shot in overtime as the clock expired to give the Judges a 67-65 victory over Clark University last Wednesday.

Judging numbers

TUESDAY, December 7, 2010

ALUMNI BRIEF

Tyrone Hughes ’12

Last Wednesday, guard Tyrone Hughes ’12 hit the game-winning layup in overtime to propel the 19th-ranked Judges to a 67-65 win over Clark University.

The play occurred with 5.9 seconds left on the clock and with the game on the line. Clark junior forward Jonathan Phillips’ second free-throw attempt careened off the rim and landed in the hands of forward Christian Yemga ’11. Yemga fed the ball to Hughes, and with the game in his hands, Hughes did not disappoint. He dribbled the length of the court down the right side and hit the game-winning layup at the buzzer.

The 250 people in attendance at the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center were ecstatic, and Hughes’ teammates stormed the court as the final buzzer sounded. Describing the moment, Hughes said that it actually came as a surprise to him. “The last play was designed so the ball would land to Vytas [Kriskus] ’12 or Derrick [Retos] ’14 on the curl,” Hughes said. “[Me] keeping the ball was the last option. However, they both weren’t open, so I saw my defender, ran down the court, and the play unfolded perfectly from there.”

Overall, Hughes had an impressive showing against Clark with 8 points, four rebounds and five assists. On the season, he is fourth on the squad with 7 points per game and holds a team-leading average of 6.4 assists per contest.

The men’s team has gotten off to a hot start and is now 8-0 on the season. However, Hughes says that the team still has room to improve.

“We need to keep our composure and

●

Nelson Figueroa ’98 has been the epitome of a journeyman since making his Major League Baseball debut for the Arizona Diamondbacks more than a decade ago. Since his debut on June 3, 2000, Figueroa has pitched for seven MLB teams, the AAA affiliate of an eighth and in multiple foreign leagues. After signing a deal last Wednesday with the Houston Astros, Brandeis’ sole alumnus in one of the “Big Four” sports in the U.S. knows where he’ll be next season for the first time in his career.

Figueroa and the Astros agreed to a one-year, $900,000 deal with contract incentives with the starting pitcher just one day before the deadline to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players. It was the first time that Figueroa was eligible for arbitration and the first time that he was offered a guaranteed contract.

“That’s one of the best parts,” Figueroa said in an interview with MLB.com. “I can go ahead and plan out Christmas presents and getting everybody the jersey they wanted all season long. To have a place to call home and have the security of knowing that I’m going to be there Opening Day. I’m really excited and thankful for the opportunity.”

The 35 year-old Figueroa, who was an American Studies major at Brandeis, went 7-4 with a 3.29 ERA last season in games with both the Philadelphia Phillies and the Astros.

On his career, Figueroa is 20-32 with a 4.29 ERA. He has 60 starts and 137 total appearances in the majors.

“They showed tremendous faith in me, and I’m thankful for the opportunity, and I’m preparing like never before to do my part next season,” Figueroa said. ­—Jeffrey Boxer

AP BRIEF JOSHUA LINTON/Justice File Photo

stop teams when we have the chance; we must execute our offense.”

However, Hughes is extremely upbeat about the team’s prospects for the rest of the season. “[Kriskus] definitely opens up the of-

fense,” he said. “We have everything we need to be successful. At this point, it’s not about talent but about keeping up our hard work and dedication.” ­—Adam Rabinowitz

UAA STANDINGS Men’s Basketball

Women’s Basketball

UAA Conference Overall

W L W L Pct. JUDGES 0 0 8 0 1.000 Emory 0 0 6 0 1.000 New York 0 0 5 0 1.000 Rochester 0 0 6 2 .750 WashU 0 0 3 3 .500 Carnegie 0 0 3 4 .429 Chicago 0 0 2 5 .286 Case 0 0 1 5 .167

UAA Conference

W L Rochester 0 0 WashU 0 0 New York 0 0 JUDGES 0 0 Chicago 0 0 Emory 0 0 Case 0 0 Carnegie 0 0

Not including Monday’s games

Not including Monday’s games Overall W L Pct. 6 1 .857 5 1 .833 4 2 .667 5 3 .625 4 3 .571 4 3 .571 3 3 .500 1 6 .143

TEAM LEADERS Men’s BBall (points per game)

Women’s BBall (points per game)

Vytas Kriskus ’12 leads the team with a 16.9 points-per-game average.

Morgan Kendrew ’12 leads the team with a 13.9 points-per-game average.

Player PPG Vytas Kriskus 16.9 Derek Retos 11.1 Youri Dascy 7.8 Tyrone Hughes 7.0 Ben Bartoldus 6.8

Player PPG Morgan Kendrew 13.9 Amber Strodthoff 9.0 Mia DePalo 6.6 Kelly Ethier 6.0 Janelle Rodriguez 5.5

Men’s BBall (rebounds)

Women’s BBall (rebounds)

Christian Yemga ’11 leads the team with 6.4 rebounds per game.

Amber Strodthoff ’11 leads the team with 6.5 rebounds per game.

Player RPG Christian Yemga 6.4 Vytas Kriskus 4.9 Youri Dascy 4.4 Alex Schmidt 4.4 Tyrone Hughes 3.3

Player RPG Amber Strodthoff 6.5 Brighid Courtney 5.0 Mia DePalo 4.6 Shannon Hassan 4.0 Samantha Anderson 3.9

UPCOMING GAME TO WATCH Men’s basketball vs New York University The Judges will face NYU in their UAA contest Jan. 8 at Red Auerbach Arena After kicking off the season with an impressive eight-game winning streak, the men’s basketball team has more than a month off before returning to action Jan. 6 to face Emerson College on the road and coming home for their UAA opener two days later.

The NYU Violets also are undefeated

on the season, having won their first five matches. The Violets have five more matches before they face the Judges.

Last season, Brandeis fell on the road to NYU 62-50 but defeated the Violets 69-62 when the two faced off at Brandeis a month later.

Oregon and Auburn stay unbeaten to reach the BCS Championship For Oregon, it’s not so much the funky uniforms as the players who wear them. For Auburn, it’s not so much about the bumpy road this season as where it will end.

The Ducks and Tigers locked up spots in the national title game Saturday, while the nation’s other undefeated team, Texas Christian University, closed the day looking at a oncein-a-lifetime trip to the Rose Bowl that still feels like a consolation prize.

Ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25, Oregon (12-0) defeated Oregon State 37-20, and No. 2 Auburn (13-0) routed No. 18 South Carolina 56-17 in the SEC title game to secure spots in the BCS title game, which will take place Jan. 10 in Glendale, Ariz. No. 3 TCU watched it all from home but got no help and got left out the way some team does almost every year in a sport that refuses to adopt a playoff.

Oregon opened as a 3-point favorite Saturday night at the Las Vegas Hilton sports book. but within 30 minutes, the line went down to 1 point. The title pairing will become official Sunday night when the BCS awards spots in the Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta Bowls along with the national championship game. Going into Saturday, the top two teams were flipped in the BCS standings, with Auburn at No. 1 and Oregon ranked No. 2.

“It hasn’t really set in yet,’’ said Auburn coach Gene Chizik, who has a month-plus to prepare for stopping the nation’s top-scoring offense in the title game. ``I know that’s where we’re going.”

Oregon, the team with a multitude of uniform combinations that includes four helmets, five jerseys and four different-colored-socks, is seeking the first national title in program history. Behind running back LaMichael James, the Ducks average more than 50 points per game.

“The one thing I think, and now I hope, is that we’re not known for our uniforms, we’re known for the players inside the uniforms, and that’s what makes this thing special,” Ducks coach Chip Kelly said.

Auburn has been on a crazy ride this season, which has brought sometimes-daily revelations about a pay-for-play scheme involving quarterback Cam Newton’s failed recruitment to Mississippi State. Earlier in the week, Newton was cleared by the NCAA to play in the SEC title game and, once again, he played undistracted football, leading an SEC team to the BCS championship game for the fifth straight year.

“It was a lot of guys keeping me focused,” Newton said. “I just want to thank them. ... There’s some resilient guys on this team. I’ve said that a billion times, but without the guys on this team, I wouldn’t have had the success I did.”

Newton, who threw for 335 yards and four touchdowns Saturday, and James, who ran for 134 yards and two scores, are among the favorites to win the Heisman trophy when it’s awarded next Saturday. One day short of a month later, they go for an even bigger prize.

The coaches traded compliments about their upcoming opponents and the stars they’ll be trying to stop come January.

“I think, obviously, you’ve seen clips of Newton,” Kelly said. “He’s a tremendous football player, but it’s not just Cam Newton.”

Newton is the latest in a long line of Auburn greats including Heisman winners Pat Sullivan and Bo Jackson but the school’s only other national title came in 1957, when Shug Jordan was coach. In 2004, the Tigers came close again, finishing 12-0 but getting left out of the championship game.

That was one of the most controversial episodes in what has become an annual debate about who got the best and worst of the deal in college football’s widely derided system of determining a champion sans playoff.

This year’s have-not is TCU, which finished 12-0. But it topped the non-BCS Mountain West Conference, not the highly regarded SEC, and it never had the cachet to break into the top two. The Horned Frogs will almost certainly end up making their first trip to the Rose Bowl, where they’ll likely play Wisconsin, the pick from a three-way tie for the Big Ten title because of its higher BCS ranking.

“Everyone won. There’s nothing we can do about it,’’ TCU coach Gary Patterson said. “I can live with all three being undefeated.”

just

Sports

Page 20

RUNNING WILD

The men’s and women’s track teams raced to a fast start to their season in their first meet of the year, p. 13.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Waltham, Mass.

FENCING

NOTHING BUT NET

Judges grab two straight at home

Squads falter at Brandeis Invite

■ The men’s and women’s fencing teams went 1-3 and 2-3, respectively, at their home matches last weekend.

■ The women’s basketball

team defeated Roger Williams and Emmanuel to move to 5-3 on the season.

By jACOB LURIE JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

By Max Goldstein JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

The Brandeis women’s basketball team bounced back after losing two out of its previous three games to pick up two big wins at home last week and move to 5-3 on the season.

The Judges defeated Roger Williams University 62-52 in a seesaw affair last Saturday after defeating Emmanuel College 72-67 last Tuesday.

Last Saturday, the Judges battled Roger Williams throughout the early minutes, which featured six lead changes in the first 10 minutes.

Brandeis fell behind 14-13 with 10 minutes, 26 seconds to go, but the team responded by scoring the next 17 of 21 points to cruise ahead 30-18. The Judges ended the half up 30-21.

Roger Williams stayed in the game, however, and cut the lead to 32-26 early in the second half. Brandeis again responded with a scoring binge: a 20-6 run in a 5:52 span. The Judges hit eight of their 11 shots while holding Roger Williams to just two for six shooting, and forced four turnovers during the run.

The Hawks refused to go away, however, and on their own 10-0 run they cut the lead to 10. Brandeis missed eight straight shots until Samantha Anderson ’14 finally put one in off of an offensive rebound.

“We had them up by 20, we tried to keep building on that lead, and unfortunately, they want on a couple of runs,” guard Morgan Kendrew ’12 said.

“I think we handled it well,” she added.

Roger Williams cut the lead to seven with a minute to go, but that was not enough as the Judges held on to win the match.

“I just think ... we really clicked: had a couple of defensive breakdowns but were able to score really well, and we got a lot of touches between our post and our guards which really helps,” Kendrew said.

Kendrew led Brandeis with 17 points and has led the Judges in scoring for seven of their first eight games. Kendrew also moved into eighth place on the Brandeis all-time 3-pointers list, with 66 career treys.

“I’m trying to concentrate more on my shots and take it aggressive to the hoop,” she said. “They gave us a lot of shots because they played a lot of zones, and we’re a really good shooting team.”

Forward Amber Strodthoff ’11 grabbed an impressive 13 boards, including six offensive rebounds. She missed her first career double-double by just a basket as she finished with 8 points and four assists, and she led all players with three steals.

Mia DePalo ’11 registered her best game for Brandeis this season, scoring 12 points on five-for-nine shooting and going two for four from behind the arc.

The Judges’ bench was also exceptional, outscoring their counterparts 20-6 with six points apiece from Anderson, Courtney Ness ’13 and Janelle Rodriguez ’14.

See WBBALL, 17 ☛

JANEY ZITOMER/the Justice

BATTLE FOR POSITION: Ruben Kanya ’14 (left) and Christian Yemga ’11 look on as Vytas Kriskus ’12 nails a free throw.

Men win four more to continue perfect start ■ The men’s basketball

team captured the New England Big 4 Challenge to stay unbeaten on the year.

By MELISSA sIEGEL JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER

Just over 8 1/2 minutes into the No. 19 Brandeis men’s basketball team’s game last Sunday afternoon against Tufts University, forward Christian Yemga ’11 hit a layup off a pass from guard Tyrone Hughes ’12 to put the Judges up 12-0.

The Judges never looked back from there, winning 60-52 in the final of the second annual New England Big 4 Challenge at Babson College. Brandeis defeated Babson 59-53 last Saturday to make the finals of the Challenge

and now stands at 8-0 on the season after wins against Clark University last Tuesday and Framingham State University last Thursday.

“We started the game well,” forward/guard Vytas Kriskus ’12 said. “We built a good lead. I think at the end of the game they got closer because they started pressuring us a little bit, and I don’t think we did a really good job handling the pressure.”

Tufts scored the next 5 points to pull within 7, but got no closer the rest of the half. After the Jumbos got within 7 again with 7 minutes, 50 seconds left in the half, Brandeis went on a 15-5 run to go up 32-15 at the break.

The Judges continued their run early in the second half, scoring the first 6 points to go up by 23, their largest lead of the day. The lead remained in double digits un-

til a layup by Jumbos junior forward Alex Orchowski put Tufts within 8 points with 2:33 left.

Brandeis was able to hold on for the win, but coach Brian Meehan thought fatigue after playing four games in one week might be a factor in the team’s struggles down the stretch.

“We’ve had a tendency in the last few games, where we haven’t really done a great job executing,” he said. “I think we’ve been a little bit tired; we had four games this week, and I think the effects of that were starting to show a little bit today.”

Meehan specifically pointed out that Hughes played all 40 minutes both Saturday and Sunday.

“We need somebody on the bench to step up and be able to give us some minutes so that [Hughes] can get some rest,” he

See MBBALL, 17 ☛

Last Saturday at the Brandeis University Invitational, Brandeis hosted Haverford College, Yale University, St. John’s University, Brown University and Cornell University. The men took a 1-3 record at the event, falling to 5-4 on the season, while the women went 2-3 and are now 7-4 overall.

Cornell does not have a men’s fencing team, and thus only the women’s team faced Cornell.

The men’s team’s first match was against St. John’s, and Brandeis lost 22-5. The fencers battled in saber, falling 5-4, while in foil they were defeated 8-1. They were swept 9-0 in épée.

Against Brown, Brandeis lost 1413, winning 7-2 in épée and 5-4 in saber but losing 8-1 in foil.

Brandeis also lost its meet against Yale by a score of 16-11. The team won 6-3 in saber but lost 7-2 in foil and 6-3 in épée.

The men took their only victory of the day against Haverford, winning the match 15-12. Brandeis lost 5-4 in foil but defeated Haverford in both saber and épée, winning by scores of 6-3 and 5-4, respectively.

Saber Ben Schmidt ’14 thought that the team fought well despite its record.

“Overall, I think today was a strong effort,” he said. “We could have done better. We really pulled together at the end.”

Schmidt also said that fighting shorthanded played a role in the team’s struggles this weekend.

“We were suffering from some illness, and there were some injuries,” he said.

Lucas Gelwarg ’13, a saber on the team, also thought that the team did well against tough competition.

“We had St. John’s first, which is one of the best fencing teams,” he said. “After that, the team started to rally around Adam [Austin] ’11 and Jon Rollock ’11, and they did a good job of pumping up the team and we showed a lot of good effort against Brown. It carried over to the meet after the lunch break, to the Yale and Haverford meets. We showed a lot of effort after the St. John’s meet.”

“It’s hard coming off of Thanksgiving, but coach [Bill Shipman] kept it the same as usual, and we brought the same intensity that we bring to practice,” he added.

Gelwarg also said sickness was a major factor for the team.

“Sean Norton ’12 was sick for the first half of the day, … but he was able to come back,” he said. “It was good that he was able to come back, because he’s a great leader for the foil squad and for the whole team.”

The women’s team defeated Haverford by a score of 18-9 and Brown by a score of 15-12 to open the meet. Against Haverford, the women won 8-1 in saber and 6-3 in épée, only dropping the foil bouts by a score of 5-4. The women swept Brown in saber, earning victories in

See FENCING, 17 ☛

just

December 7, 2010

ARTS

Announcing

the

best of

2010 p. 24

Photos Courtesy of Warner Bros. and Odino/GameFAQs. Design by Robyn Spector/the Justice.

22

TUESDAY, December 7, 2010 ● THE JUSTICE

POP CULTURE

INSIDE ON CAMPUS

23-26

■ Boris’ Kitchen review

Boris’ Kitchen performed this past weekend in its 11th annual semester show along with several guest improv troupes in the Carl J. Shapiro Theater.

23

■ Too Cheap For Instruments 23 Brandeis’ all-female folk a cappella group gave a memorable performance to an energetic crowd in the South Campus Commons last Thursday.

■ ‘Alex and Me’: The Movie

26

■ Jazz Ensemble concert

26

Prof. Irene Pepperberg’s (PSYC) groundbreaking study of parrots and her special bond with one named Alex will become the subject of a new film based on her book, ‘Alex and Me.’

JustArts reviews the ensemble’s latest performance, consisting of works by Thelonius Monk arranged by Oliver Nelson. The Brandeis Jazz Ensemble is directed by Prof. Bob Nieske (MUS).

OFF CAMPUS

27

■ 2011 movie preview

27

■ ‘The Nutcracker’ review

27

JustArts looks forward to next year’s upcoming films, including The Eagle, No Strings Attached, Sanctum, The Adjustment Bureau and Restless.

The Boston Ballet presents a revival of the classic ‘Nutcracker,’ performing at the Boston Opera House.

CALENDAR

Interview

Chatting with Starving Artists

by Shelly Shore

Celebrity gossip magazines are hardly known to be particularly reputable sources of facts.

More often than not, those big, juicy headlines are the product of semi decent Photoshop and great imaginations.

This week, though, Star Magazine published an outrageous article claiming that Britney Spears had called her ex-husband, Jason Alexander, and accused her current boyfriend and agent, Jason Trawick, of beating her. Star also reported that Britney was pregnant with Trawick’s baby earlier in the year.

Representatives for Britney and Trawick’s immediately denied the story, but RadarOnline received Star’s audio of the alleged phone call between Britney and Jason Alexander, where “Britney” states that Trawick beat her. The audio features a woman (presumably Britney) claiming that a man she is in a relationship with “beat on me.”

Larry Rudolph, Britney’s manager, told Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush that the woman in the recording is “100 percent not [Britney].”

He went on to say that “lawyers are amassing.

We are 100 percent taking stern and legal action.” On behalf of Britney’s headquarters, Arlo West, a certified forensic audio expert, told TMZ Wednesday evening that the female voice on the recording isn’t Britney. After comparing the audio on the recording to previous recordings of Britney’s voice, West told TMZ, “In my opinion, it’s not her voice on the recording.” Another hit against Star.

According to Camp Britney, there has been no contact between Britney and Jason Alexander for several years. An official statement from BritneySpears.com states, “Every aspect of the story published by Star Magazine is completely and utterly false. … This is just another example of the irresponsible nature of the tabloid media relying on shoddy sources and false information for the sole purpose of selling magazines,

 Ellyn Getz ’13, the events coordinator for the co-ed a cappella group, talks about her recent show.

SETH ROSSMAN/Wikimedia Creative Commons

LIAR, LIAR: Star Magazine claimed falsely last week that Britney Spears’ boyfriend abused her. without regard to the truth and without regard to who they hurt in the process.” Awkward grammar aside, the statement clearly denies any truth to Star’s report, and the magazine is definitely going to be facing legal troubles from Britney’s headquarters.

Gossip magazines spreading totally false stories against celebrities is something that most of us see right through, but sadly there are plenty of people who take them at face value. What do you think, Brandeis? Is there value to truth even unto its innermost parts, even if it’s just about good ol’ Britney Spears?

What’s happening in Arts on and off campus

ON CAMPUS EVENTS

Brandeis University Improv Collective

The Brandeis University Improv Collective, led by saxophonist Tom Hall, features a group of Brandeis students who love to improvise music on the spot. Open to instrumentalists, vocalists and other performers, the group engages students in learning to speak to each other through the medium of music. The Improv Collective’s performance will bring two groups of improvisers to the stage in this spontaneous, original concert.

Tonight at 7 p.m. in the Slosberg Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public.

Israeli Drama: Creativity Through Expressive Arts

This presentation by the Hebrew department will include an assembly of original scenes from contemporary plays. Children’s stories, dancing and singing will be major parts of the night’s line-up. Refreshments, including jelly donuts, will be served.

Tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Spingold Merrick Theater. Admission is free and open to the Brandeis community.

Last tasting of the semester

JOSHUA LINTON/Justice File Photo

SINGING HALLELUJAH: The Brandeis University Chorus (above), the Brandeis Chamber Chorus and the Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra will fill the Shapiro Campus Center with selections from Handel’s ‘Messiah.’

The Brandeis University Cheese Club sponsors its final cheese-tasting event of the semester, featuring all the finest varieties of cheese any dairy-obsessed Brandeis student could ever want.

Tonight at 8:30 p.m. in Shapiro Campus Center Multipurpose Room. Event is free and open to the public.

ers presents an evening of new compositional works. The performance will feature the additional talents of the Radnofsky saxophone quartet.

Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Slosberg Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public.

BOO coffeehouse

National Theater in HD: ‘Hamlet’

OFF CAMPUS EVENTS

The Brandeis Orthodox Organization holds its annual semester-ending event, featuring musical numbers, comedy routines and some special surprises. The event will include a commemorative candle lighting for the seventh night of Hanukkah preceding the performances. Snacks will also be served.

Tonight at 9:30 p.m. at Cholmondeley’s. Admission is free and open to the public.

The classic Shakespeare tale of the Prince of Denmark and his quest for vengeance against his uncle, the treacherous King Claudius.

Rory Kinnear plays the titular Hamlet in this special one-night performance at Boston’s National Theater.

Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Shalin Liu Performance Center, 37 Main St., Rockport Mass.

Tickets are $22, $26 and $29.

Annual ‘Messiah’ sing-along

‘Nine’ theatrical production

The Brandeis University Chorus, the Brandeis Chamber Chorus and the BrandeisWellesley Orchestra unite to perform selections from Handel’s Messiah at this annual sing-along event. A Menorah lighting and Christmas tree decoration will follow the performance.

Tomorrow at 4 p.m. in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium. Admission is free and open to the Brandeis community.

Chamber music recital

The Chamber Music Ensemble performs under the direction of Prof. Judith Eissenberg (MUS). The ensemble is comprised of student instrumentalists who apply theoretical knowledge to practical music composition.

Tomorrow at 7 p.m. in the Slosberg Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the Brandeis community.

‘New Music Brandeis’ performance

This group of Brandeis graduate compos-

Emerson College presents this adaptation of Maury Yeston’s Nine, a play following filmmaker Guido Contini during the making of his next film. His struggle to bring the film to life is presented through the narration of the women in his life, including his wife, producer, leading lady, mistress, mother and other important figures from his past. This journey allows Contini to finally create the masterpiece of his career. Nine is based on Frederico Fellini’s 1963 film 8 1/2 and is directed by Bill Fennelly.

Thursday through Sunday at the Greene Theater, Tufte PPC, 10 Boylston Place, 6th Floor, Boston. $10 general admission.

‘Marisol’ theatrical production

Boston University presents this Obie award winning-play by Jose Rivera. The story follows a young woman who finds herself lost in an urban wasteland where coffee and apples are missing, the color blue is extinct and the moon has disappeared. Marisol encounters her guardian angel, who amid this chaos is preparing to lead an army against

God, while Marisol must find a way to survive in this world that has been turned upside down.

Week-long performance schedule begins Friday at 8 p.m. at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, 527 Tremont St., Boston Mass. Tickets are $12 general admission, $10 for students.

WGBH presents ‘A Christmas Celtic Sojourn with Brian O’Donovan’

This dance ensemble performance will include numerous Irish routines of dancing, singing and music to present a fanstastic dose of lively holiday spirit.

Friday at 7:30 p.m. at The Hanover Theatre, 2 Southbridge St., Worcester, Mass. Tickets range from $44 to $56.

‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ film screening with roboticist Dennis Hong

The Coolidge Corner Theatre continues its Science on Screen series with this special showing of Robert Wise’s 1951 classic, The Day The Earth Stood Still. The film chronicles the journey of the alien envoy Kaatu, who travels to Earth alongside his robotic protector Gort to warn the humans of Earth that they must cease their indulgence and obsession with war and death or face disastrous consequences.

Considered by many to be one of the greatest science fiction films of all time, Dr. Dennis Hong, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering and director of the groundbreaking Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory at Virginia Polytechnic Institute Mass., will join the screening to speak about the remarkable robotics development process taking place at his lab, including the creation of humanoid robots that require no remote power source and possess the ability to walk as humans.

Monday at 7 p.m. at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard St, Brookline, Mass.

Tickets are $9.75 general admission, $7.75 for students.

Starving Artists’ semester show, “Will Sing For Food,” is not only a play on the group’s name but also description of the performance’s role as a food drive. JustArts e-mailed with an Artist about the process of putting on the final show of the semester.

JustArts: What has Starving Artists been up to lately?

EG: Starving Artists has been performing at coffeehouses and gigs on campus as well as rehearsing for our fall semester show “Will Sing For Food.” We’ve also been busy preparing and fundraising to record our newest CD, which plans to be released in Spring 2011! And we’re psyched to mention that we recently selected a bunch of new songs to add to our repertoire. During break, we plan to arrange these numbers and start learning them at the beginning of next semester.

JA: Tell us about your show, “Will Sing for Food.”

EG: We call our annual fall semester show “Will Sing for Food” because we host an annual food drive to donate food to a local homeless shelter. We enjoy performing for the Brandeis community, and in this semester show, we debuted a bunch of fun, catchy arrangements that we’ve been working on for the past semester! We also retired a bunch of solos that we’ve been performing for a year, as this semester show marked our last show of the semester. We were so honored by the amount of people that came out to support us—especially during a pretty rough time with finals just around the corner. We collected a TON of food and we look forward to donating it during our recording week right before we all leave for break.

JA: Do you usually incorporate food drives and charities into your shows?

EG: We take pride in coordinating and hosting events that raise money for charities. We enjoy performing at coffeehouses on and off campus to raise money for clubs and organizations, as well as hosting our annual A Cappella Fest, which includes all of the a cappella groups on campus to perform together and donate proceeds. Last year, we raised over $650 and donated the money to the Brandeis Haiti Relief Effort. We look forward to our annual fall semester food drive as well. We’ve found through the years that donating money or food, as well as our time to share our music with the community has been a really meaningful experience.

JA: What are some of the challenges what you come across while preparing for a show?

EG: Space is always the biggest issue. There are only so many spaces big enough with decent acoustics on campus to host performances, and Brandeis is fortunate to have so many talented a cappella groups on campus. Unfortunately though, there are always conflicts with scheduling and reserving desired locations—especially because we all want to attend the other semester shows to support our friends.

JA: How did the new members of the group do this year?

EG: We’re so honored to have Jason Dick ’14 as a member of our group. He’s been such a pleasure to sing with, and he always brings such a positive energy to rehearsals. At our fall semester show, he solo-ed a number that we’ve kept in our repertoire for at least the past five years, called “King.”

I think people were so impressed with his voice and can’t wait to hear his new solo, which he’ll be debuting next semester!

JA: What do you do as events coordinator for Starving Artists?

EG: I plan our semester shows as well as an annual campus wide fundraiser called A Cappella Fest that features performances from every a cappella group on campus and raises awareness of and money for local charities. In order to successfully plan these activities, I’m in constant contact with faculty, Conference and Events Services, Sound and Lighting technicians, Public Safety officers, as well as the Brandeis Department of Student Activities. I also designate jobs for our group members to complete in order to publicize the show on and off campus, sell tickets, and decorate the performance spaces. Essentially, I couldn’t plan these events without such a devoted, enthusiastic a cappella group to work with!

JA: What’s your favorite part of singing a cappella?

EG: My a cappella group is my family on campus. I love singing and spending time with everyone in the group, and it’s always so much fun to work on arrangements and perform them on and off campus. I’d say my favorite experiences as a group member have been performing on campus at [Cholmondeley’s] and during semester shows, working hard in rehearsals and hearing an arrangement come to life or “click,” as well as performing in Salem during Halloween.

JA: Do you have any closing thoughts regarding your experience with Starving Artists?

EG: I recently declared a business minor and my work in coordinating events has been a really great role for me to experience the business aspect of a cappella! And I love being a part of Starving Artists. I can’t wait to record our newest CD! —Wei-Huan Chen

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ON CAMPUS COMEDY

A hilarious evening with Boris’ Kitchen ■ Boris’ Kitchen shared the

stage with multiple sketch comedy groups from the Northeast for its big show.

By Alex DeSilva JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

I’ve seen a lot thanks to Boris’ Kitchen. I’ve seen the ravages that come with drinking pretend Four Loko. I’ve seen the pure, inflatable awesomeness that is a Jet Raptor. I’ve seen the glory of sandwiches. I also saw a man in a thong giving out those little Hanukkah chocolate coins to people sitting just one row away from me. I’m less excited about that last one. Loss of innocence aside, I saw a lot of entertaining stuff at Boris’ Kitchen’s 11th annual semester show last Friday, some of it from other colleges, some by classmates and all of it really funny.

The night started off with The Fifth Humour, a student group from Yale University. Rivaling Boris’ Kitchen in terms of size and with a name that’s a pun on Galen’s “four humors” (something I’m not sure whether I should be proud or ashamed of getting so fast).

The group offered a solid and lengthy block of sketch comedy. There were a lot of sketches, and they were all good, but the standout was the one on the dangers of prom when “beers, wines” and a blood alcohol content of 3—not 0.3, just 3—come into play, and the tragedies that can occur.

After The Fifth Humour, it was time for Hello…Shovelhead! from Boston College. Responsible for the abovementioned Four Loko sketch, this group had fewer members than The Fifth Humor but its material was just as good. Besides the Loko skit, its best was probably the one on The Sound of Music’s Von Trapp family attempting to escape from the Nazis, and how breaking into song is not helpful when trying to secretly cross into Switzerland. All in all, these guys had some really tight sketches that would do Boston College grad Amy Poelher proud.

There was a short break in the

ALEX KRELL/the Justice

DOCTORS WITHOUT LIMITS: Jordan Warsoff ’11 tries to get some medical attention as doctors Charlie Kivolowitz ’11 and Briana Bensenouci ’12 try to heal him with sexiness. schedule when a surprise video by Little Hands, a new video sketch comedy group from Brandeis, was shown.

The group only had one video, but it reminded me of the better SNL digital shorts. Then there was The Miserables, a professional comedy group from Chicago that features Boris’ Kitchen grads Matt Hope ’09 and Sam Roos ’09. Honestly, the group’s material was great. These guys are truly professionals and offered up some of the funniest, most random and, at times, downright weird sketches of

the night. This was the group that had one of its thong-clad members hand out chocolate to the audience, and it was also the one behind the sandwich sketch. What started out as a seemingly regular sketch that used withholding sandwiches as a metaphor for the gay marriage debate soon took a hard left turn. Sandwiches were found in the audience, sandwiches were being given out, sandwiches were thrown; it was a veritable flurry of sandwiches. It was, without a doubt, one of the most memorable, sandwich-filled moments

of the night.

Finally, it was time for Boris’ Kitchen to take the stage. There was some awesome stuff on display, and it was all written by Boris’ Kitchen members. There was Jet Raptor, a commercial for the titular action figure that harkened back to the commercials of the ‘90s, which meant every word was delivered through the medium of screaming. Later, there was “Make Out Point,” a look into the world of the multiple, competing and increasingly dapper Peeping Tom societies.

The night ended with “Sexy Hospital,” which is basically what the title says; a hospital that remembers that sexiness can cure just about anything—except massive internal injuries. The hospital doesn’t really have anything for that. It was a long night with a lot of promising talent on display. I wasn’t able to make the Saturday show, which featured Tufts’ We’re Major: Undecided, Cornell’s Skits-O-Phrenics and the New York duo Two Fun Men. But if Friday night was any indicator, it was quite a show.

MUSIC

Too Cheap for Instruments brings noise, folk ■ Too Cheap for Instruments’

semester show showcased the group’s talent with standout songs and poetry.

By TAYLOR BAKER JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

I think that one of the reasons I love a cappella groups is that there are simply no instruments. As a person who cannot play an instrument to save her life, I appreciate and wonder at the possibility of being able to create beautiful music without crafty guitar skills or a prodigious inclination toward the piano or violin.

That said, Too Cheap for Instruments’ semester show demonstrated this past Thursday exactly why forsaking instruments is a perfect way to create a fun and entertaining musical experience. Held in the South Campus Commons, Brandeis’ all-female folk/folk-pop a cappella group performed numerous songs highlighting its fun and deft approach to songs along with splashes of playful banter, novelty acts, slam poetry and belly dancing.

The show was downright entertaining; regardless of whether or not they perfected their harmonies or sang loudly enough, the members of this a cappella group sang with passion in a fun, intimate atmosphere.

The evening kicked off with a rendition of Catie Curtis’ “Strange.”

The song was a fine introduction to TCFI’s repertoire and style—the song was peppy and layered, and one soloist, Jordan Hinahara ’12, talked through the song in a typical

ASHER KRELL/the Justice

FEELING THE MUSIC: Charlene Liao ’14 belts out a solo at the a cappella group’s show. folk manner.

The group’s next song was truly entertaining.

“Revenge Song,” originally by Bob and Tom, was an amusing rendition in that the members of Too Cheap for Instruments not only sang but also simul-

taneously acted out the lyrics. The lyrics themselves were enough to incite laughter and hilarity, but the addition of the skit made the performance feel much more like a musical rather than just a song being sung. Personally, it is just fas-

cinating to see music as something so organic rather than coming from guitar strings or from cymbals in a drum set.

Another standout song was “Lonely Jew.” A Jew who feels left out and lonely on Christmas because she is unable to participate in the typical festivities narrates the song, an original from the show South Park. However, a seeming non-Jew enters the picture and posits that it’s all right to miss out on Christmas because of the obligatory trips to see a stinky Santa at the mall. The song was really quirky and was performed expressively by soloists Deena Horowitz ’13 and Hinahara.

After a brief intermission, there was a showcase of slam poetry courtesy of Hinahara and Rawda Aljawhary ’13 as well as a belly dance performance from Horowitz.

The performances were powerful and intriguing, highlighting the talents of the three sans instruments.

Hinahara spoke passionately of a deteriorating mother-daughter relationship. Aljawhary recited multiple poems that spoke about the more sensual but painful aspects of relationships; one poem particularly stuck out in which Aljawhary spoke of bumping into people on the streets. “The people I brush, they carry memories on their shoulders,” she said, one example of her introspective and weighty verses.

Horowitz danced to two songs, bringing a different dynamic to the event by changing the pace and switching up a night that was dominated by vocal performances.

After a divergence from singing, Too Cheap for Instruments came back up to sing several more songs.

One song that I was genuinely excited to hear was “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” by the Charlie Daniels Band because it seemed so random for a folk a cappella group to sing. However, TCFI soon proved that the song was clearly made for an all-female a cappella group. The group acted out the song with TCFI President Chaya Bender ’11 playing the Devil and Horowitz playing Johnny, the group acted out the song—something I had always wished to see since the lyrics of the song are so direct and vivid. The song was portrayed quite comically, and the song had a much lighter feel than Daniels’ original. One of the best parts of the performance was Ariana Hajmiragha ’13 imitating the screwy fiddle from the original song; it was a funny imitation that contributed to the comic dynamic of the performance.

Too Cheap for Instruments ended its semester show with the group’s signature song, “Scotsman,” a traditional folk song. Once again, the members acted out the song, which is a narrative about a drunken Scotsman who passes out and two girls who come across and wonder what’s under his kilt. The performance was tongue-in-cheek and extremely funny—the members had really great chemistry when performing together.

Overall, Too Cheap for Instruments’ semester show was a blast.

Filled with hilarious one-liners from the members—Bender mused that she would be belly dancing but then said that would be “horrifying”—exuberant performances and clear dedication, the group showed that its frugality when it comes to instruments really pays off.

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THE JUSTICE

JustArts’ Year in Review TOP 10 FILMS: The heights of cinematic achievement

By AARON BERKE and WEI-HUAN CHEN JUSTICE STaff wrITErS

This year was an outstanding year for film. What really stood out in this year’s offerings was just how unique, though provoking and intellectual they were—with typical Hollywood entertainment fare thrown in the middle, of course. Th exciting time for deep thinkers excites us here at the Justice and has formed the basis for our picks of the top 10 movies of 201 7. How to Train Your Dragon This is arguably DreamWorks Animation’s best animated film and the strongest 3-D film this year. A heartwarming and visually breathtaking tale about a gangly teenager who struggles to fit in with all of the other dragon-slaying Vikings, How to Train Your Dragon is the perfect film to watch with your family over winter break.

10. Please Give Nicole Holofcener’s New Yorkbased drama was released at the Sundance Film Festival in January and had a quiet release in April, falling somewhat through the cracks despite an 89-percent approval rating on RottenTomatoes.com. Starring Catherine Keener as an upper-middle-class furniture storeowner, this is a brilliantly written, sophisticated comedy about real people and real problems.

6. Shutter Island Before Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio starred in another suspenseful tale involving the human psyche, which unfortunately has not received the acclaim that it should. Martin Scorcese’s picture about a remote island filled with the criminally insane is absolutely riveting. While not truly a horror film, it manages to deliver plenty of frights and pulls viewers into the psychology of the island’s inhabitants in a manner so disturbingly realistic that the audience members just might leave the film thinking they’ve gone crazy—in a good way.

9. Waiting for Superman Academy Award-winning director Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) may be getting his second Oscar soon. His passionate and important documentary intensely debates the future of American public education, examining our current system’s failures through an in-depth look at several teachers and students. Waiting for Superman raises issues that may lead to the first step toward education reform.

8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 David Yates’ third entry in the Potter series is the most compelling one yet. Dark, moody and absolutely Hogwarts-free, the film takes our favorite trio on the ultimate quest to defeat Lord Voldemort. What really sets this film apart from the others is that it manages to stay completely faithful to the book, yet it also stands alone as a film. Splitting the novel into two movies just might be the smartest decision the Potter producers ever made.

4. 127 Hours This story about a mountain climb Aron Ralston (a phenomenal Jam Franco), who after an unfortunate ac dent finds himself trapped in the crev of a mountain, is a visually stunni film. Director Danny Boyle weav together a tapestry of visual elemen that transports the viewer in and out Aron’s fascinating thought process. I a fairly straightforward story that tra forms into a cinematic force.

PHOTO COURTESY OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES

TRAPPED IN PRISON: Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark ruffalo search for answers in Martin Scorsese’s masterful thriller, ‘Shutter Island.’

5. The Social Network This year was the year for Facebook films. Director David Fincher (Seven, Fight Club) and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin’s (A Few Good Men) adaption of Ben Mezrich’s book, The Accidental Billionaires, presents a stunning portrayal of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. If you haven’t seen it yet, then go and find out why this film has Oscar written all over it.

3. Toy Story 3 Pixar has done it again. The final venture of Woody, Buzz and the rest Andy’s toys is a marvelous and hea wrenching adventure that pits the to against their worst nightmare: An growing up. This sets the stage for absolutely beautiful story that will su ly leave audiences crying by the film conclusion. If Toy Story 3 becom the first-ever animated film to win t award for best picture at the Oscars, j tice will have been served.

PHOTO COURTESY OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES

FLYING FURIES: Hiccup, the protagonist of ‘How to Train Your Dragon,’ interacts with the elusive Night fury dragon in a climactic scene.

2. Catfish I know what you’re thinking: what t heck is Catfish and why is it the numb two film this year? Don’t bring yo torches and pitchforks yet, though, un you’ve seem this gem of a documenta directed by Henry Joost and starri Ariel Schulman about the ramificatio of living in an Internet-driven world. a jaw-dropping and unbelievable sto of a New York photographer who me and falls in love with a mysterious wo an on Facebook, this film will leave y both touched and shocked.

TOP 10 VIDEO GAMES: Innovation and tradition collide

By WEI-HUAN CHEN JUSTICE EDITor

10. ModNation Racers Rounding out this year’s incredible list of games is ModNation Racers, a hybrid between Mario Kart’s fast-paced racing mayhem and LittleBigPlanet’s focus on user-created content. Designing, sharing and racing your own tracks is insanely fun, as is immersing yourself in a community of other brilliant creators. Like its pseudo-predecessor, LittleBigPlanet, players are granted the ability to create almost every element in the game, from tracks to racers to the cars themselves.

9. Motion Control releases (PS3 and Xbox 360) The PlayStation Move and Microsoft Kinect are neither single games nor single releases, but Sony and Microsoft’s foray into the motion-sensing platform made significant enough changes to the industry that their efforts have to be mentioned. The Move controller enables precise aiming in games such as shooters, while the Kinect offers a variety of options such as dance games with its webcam peripheral. Our top recommendation for family fun? If you get your parents Dance Central for the Microsoft Kinect, it should definitely prove more than entertaining.

8. Fallout: New Vegas (multiplatform) If justArts could give out an award to the best role-playing game of 2010, Fallout: New Vegas would win it without a doubt.

While not a direct sequel to Fallout 3, it takes all the best elements in the 2008 game and improves upon them while adding new features such as a weapon modification system. Post-apocalyptic America has never been so fun.

The past 12 months have been a period for innovation in gaming, with outstanding releases on all major consoles and for a types of gamers. With the winter gift-giving season coming up, what better list is there than the 10 best video games of the 2010 7. Limbo (Xbox Live) Where does one go in a world without explanation, without dialogue? As a young boy who wakes up in a forbidding forest, the protagonist of Limbo must navigate a world of darkness. It’s a chilling and unique adventure that’s sure to make players ponder the frequently discussed question: “Are video games art?”

6. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii) This is a wonderful game, to put it simply. With cheerful atmosphere, perfected controls, mind-blowing level design from famed developer Shigeru Miyamoto and one of the best orchestral scores to appear in a video game in recent memory, Super Mario Galaxy 2 proves that Nintendo is still the best at reinventing the classics.

5. Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition (multiplatform) Borderlands may have come out in 2009, but the newly released Game of the Year edition is such a great deal for gamers that it’s the fifth-best game of 2010. The original game’s blend of cooperative, first-person shooter and roleplaying elements was already amazing, and now buyers get all four add-on packs along with a couple of extras in one case.

4. Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty (PC) At long last, Starcraft II has arrived, and it’s hands-down the best real-time strategy game on the market. Wings of Liberty is a full-fledged gaming experience, and one that will consume hours upon hours of your life—that’s a good thing, right? And don’t worry, the established gameplay elements of the battle between the Terrans, Zerg and Protoss are still here, so Starcraft veterans and newbies alike should be able to jump right into its online community.

3. Halo: Reach (Xbox 360) Bungie’s final and best Halo game takes a look back to the events preceding the original trilogy, featuring an emotionally driven storyline about the inevitably doomed Noble Team.

While the knowledge of humanity’s impending extinction can be despairing, Halo: Reach never fails to engage the player in a suspenseful and thrilling experience.

ODINO/GameFAQs.com

2. Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii) Game developers are constantly utilizing cutting-edge technology to create photorealistic interactive experiences.

In a year filled with visual and technological marvel, how does a 2-D platform game come on top? It’s not just nostalgia that’s at work here. This is developer Retro Studios (Metroid Prime series) and Nintendo at their best, creating a superbly designed and visually charming combination of old-school gameplay and newly implemented features.

ODINO/GameFAQs.c

1. Red Dead Redemption (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) Here it is: justArts’ game of the year for 2010. Rockstar Games, developer and publisher of the Grand Theft Auto series, released this free-roaming Western game this spring, and it became one of the highest-rated games of all time, with The New York Times calling it “the leading edge of interactive media.”

We agree. Be ready to delve into the im-

mersive world of former outlaw Jo Marston as he engages in gunfigh explorations and countless missio You’ll never have more fun riding into the sunset.

These were the best of the best for 20 but honorable mentions include Ass sin’s Creed: Brotherhood, God of War I Goldeneye, Mass Effect 2, Kirby’s E Yarn and numerous Nintendo DS a Sony PSP games. Happy gaming!

THE JUSTICE

w: 2010

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2010

JustArts names the best movies and games of the year in preparation for the holiday season

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PHOTO COURTESY OF WARNER BROS.

DREAM IS COLLAPSING: The world turns upside down in this mind-bending dream sequence from Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece ‘Inception’ starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page.

1. Inception Did you really expect anything else? Christopher Nolan’s mindshattering masterpiece about invading the realm of dreams is not only his best film, but one of the most original and superbly crafted

films ever made. What Nolan does is take a simple idea like dreaming, turn it completely on its head, and use it to create a complete world that is fantastic, yet at the same time completely believable.

Although the story may appear

a bit convuluted to the untrained eye, the true deep thinkers we love so much will find much to hypothesize about. (Seeing the film five or six times, like we did, also helps.)

The film excels in every production area, including the beautfiul

cinematography by Wally Pfister and the pulse-pounding score by Hans Zimmer. The acting is spectacular all around, with even the smallest role by Michael Caine played to perfection. Leonardo DiCaprio made some excellent

career choices this year—here’s hoping the Oscars do, too. The Academy certainly owes Nolan fans after snubbing his other masterpiece, The Dark Knight, 2 years ago. Hopefully the voters will have a change of heart.

TOP 10 MOBILE GAMES: High scores for pocket fun

By BRYAN FLATT JUSTICE EDITor

10. Phoenix Wright - $4.99 A game based on finding evidence and prosecution might sound boring to anyone without the title of Esquire, but ask anyone familiar with this Nintendo DS original and he or she will tell you it’s a must buy. With great graphics, engaging storylines and hours of gameplay, this fully-ported game (that retails for $30 for the DS) is goofy and fun enough to stop anyone from yelling “Objection!”

9. Tilt to Live - $1.99 Tilt controls are one of the coolest aspects to mobile gaming, and Tilt to Live uses it perfectly. You literally tilt for your life in the game, trying to get the many unique weapon power-ups as little red dots chase after you. Though the premise sounds very basic, there are three huge game modes and many planned updates that make this game a lot of fun.

8. Space Miner: Space Ore Bust - $4.99 If Asteroids with a plot line and power-ups sounds appealing, then this game is for you. With some of the most content I’ve ever seen from a mobile game, great graphics and fun objectives to work toward, this game is huge.

7. Jet Car Stunts - $1.99 This platform racing game has you compete against the clock as you jump and boost your way over platforms and through twists and turns to try and complete the races in the fastest times. The game is much harder than it sounds and is a great challenge that is enough fun to be worth the initial frustration.

Over the past 2 years, a brand-new gaming console has burst onto the scene in an unprecedented manner. Around 300,000 games and applications for the iPod Touch and the iPhone have already been released, with 7 billion downloaded around the world. With so many games to sort through, I will try to help by naming my top mobile games of the year.

6. Robot Unicorn Attack - $1.99 In this game from the television network Adult Swim, you’re a robot unicorn, and you jump and dash to the super catchy 1994 song “Always” by Erasure. It’s an endless running game that you just want to keep playing to improve your score.

5. Sword & Poker 2 - $2.99 When you combine a role-playing game with poker, you get this. In the genre-crossing game, players attempt to make hands (which have hit-point values) to defeat their enemies before they are relinquished to the cards.

With hours of game-play, the game is a ton of fun for everyone from casual gamers to hard-core poker players.

4. Skee-Ball - $0.99 Bring the fun of the carnival and arcade home with a trip down memory lane. Tons of achievements and prizes for which players can redeem “tickets” make for endless replay ability and fun for fewer than 10 tokens.

3. Plants vs. Zombies - $2.99 In my opinion, the best “tower defense” game ever made for PC and Mac was excellently ported for the touchscreen. You plant tons of unique plants to save your farm and stop the oncoming zombie horde. Goofy cut scenes, graphics and minigames make this ridiculous premise endlessly addictive.

2. Fruit Ninja - $0.99 This longtime App Store favorite charted to fame with its stylishly simple gameplay. Multiple kinds of fruit pop up on the screen, and you must swipe across to make combos while avoiding the bombs, which end the game. With constant aesthetic updates, three unique game modes and informative fruit-facts, this is a nobrainer buy.

GENESIS/GameFAQs.com

CASTLE CRASHERS: The premise of angry Birds is to strategically launch birds and knock over the evil pigs’ buildings.

1. Angry Birds/Cut the Rope $0.99 These two casual games have been battling for first place in the App Store for the past few months, so it is only fitting that they tie for first on my list. Both games have such simple concepts (fling birds at evil pigs in castles and cut rope to help feed candy to a hungry lizard) and stylish game-play with incentive to replay again and again to get a three-star score. With hundreds

of levels of content and regular updates promised, both games are worth every penny for mobile gaming fun.

Honorable Mentions: Peggle: the ultimate port of the ‘Plinko’-esque game has tons of content and characters to keep you occupied for a long time; Zenonia 1&2: easily the best role-playing game in the App Store, multiple classes and engaging storylines recreate the Zelda magic; Flight Control: this simple line drawing

game allows players the opportunity to take the seat of an air traffic controller; Zen Bound 2: a basic concept, and a soothing soundtrack make the game as relaxing as a trip to the spa.

With the average application averaging only $3.67, these are some of the most affordable games ever offered, and with sales almost assured this holiday season, the App Store and Android market are definitely places you will want to watch. Have a great holiday with your games.

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THE JUSTICE

Film

Alex the parrot to fly onto silver screens ■ The real-life story of the

fascinating bond between Prof. Pepperberg and her parrot Alex will become a motion picture event.

By Bryan Flatt JUSTICE editor

What if we could talk to animals?

The 1967 classic film Dr. Doolittle originally posed this fascinating question, but nobody ever thought it would amount to more than a couple fun songs and a family-friendly plotline. Prof. Irene Pepperberg (PSYC) sought to prove doubters wrong with an unlikely animal: the African Grey parrot. The parrot in question was named Alex, and he and Pepperberg worked together to make shattering breakthrough after breakthrough in the field of cognitive intelligence and understanding with animals. But Alex and Pepperberg’s story was much more than strictly science; there was a unique bond that existed between them. For 30 years, the two interacted daily, enforcing their relationship and mutual understanding. As odd as it may seem, Pepperberg truly understood Alex, and he understood Pepperberg.

Unfortunately, on Sept. 6, 2007, Alex prematurely passed away, leaving behind a legacy of research, but more importantly, a friendship that Pepperberg will forever cherish. Pepperberg’s research with Alex and the other birds at the lab, Griffin and Arthur (who goes by the nickname Wart), has been filmed in many documentaries, Animal Planet specials and articles all over the world. Just the same, the news of Alex’s death resulted in an outpouring of obituaries and support.

Just one year later, in November 2008, we were all able to look back on Pepperberg’s incredible experiences with Alex through her New York Times best-selling book, Alex & Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot Uncovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence—and Formed a Deep Bond in the Process. The book was a great success at bringing people around the world into the research of avian intelligence and personal experience of 30 remarkable years.

Now, a new page has turned in the unforgettable story. Earthrise Pictures and FaR Out Productions announced just a few months ago, “[they] have acquired the theatrical rights to Dr. Irene Pepperberg’s book, Alex & Me.” While the production is still in its very early stages, the announcement is quite exciting nonetheless.

PHOTO COURTESY OF EARTHRISE PICTURES

AVIAN GENIUS: From left to right, screenwriters Trever James and Luke Rold, Prof. Irene Pepperberg and producer Josh Dinner pose with one of Dr. Pepperberg’s smart birds.

“The story is just fascinating,” the film’s producer, Josh Dinner, said in an exclusive interview with the Justice in September 2010, when he and script writers Trever James and Luke Rold visited Pepperberg in her lab on campus. “We finished the book, and there are all these amazing scenes and we just said, ‘OK, Movie. This is totally a movie.’”

In just the 2 years since Thanksgiving 2008, when Dinner’s mom first told the filmmaking team, “You should do a movie about the bird,” a cryptic comment that took Dinner and James the better part of the meal to decode, they acquired the rights to the cinematic adaptation. Soon they started work on the script, did research at Brandeis and in Boston, talked with Pepperberg and applied for multiple grants to keep their work going.

“It’s so funny that this communication breakdown ended up leading towards the story that has so much

to do with communication,” Dinner recounted. Communication does happen to be one of the filmmaking team’s strongest points. The team has set up a website that contains lots of information about the project, the filmmaking team, Pepperberg’s book, a progressively growing movie lab with multimedia from videos about Alex, pictures of the team with Pepperberg, a comment and poll section and so much more. James put it best when he said, “We really want to make sure that people can follow along with our journey as we move from early stages to the final film.”

Further, the team is presenting an extremely unique option to anyone who wants to get more involved in the process. They have a donation page set up to help aid their process as independent filmmakers. Furthermore, they promise to put the names in the credits for everyone who donates $20 or more to the project. James continued, “We

are saying, if you help us out, you can be a part of this journey with us. …

We will constantly have updates and promise to give back to [everyone] for helping us do this.”

For the purists worried about the filmmaking process distorting the true nature of the research, the relationship and the book, all three filmmakers assert that they too are passionate about Pepperberg and her achievements.

“Our biggest concern is just showing that her work is respected and that is so much data that goes involved in it,” Dinner said. “She is just an amazing, incredible scientist, and her life story has been really inspiring. Where she’s been, the places she’s been, the new ground she wants to break through and the new ground she did break through. She had Alex for 30 years, and the book itself is remarkable and it will really inspire a lot of the students here as it did us when we read it,” he added.

Though they have a big task ahead

of them, they seem to be up to the challenge. “Whenever we tell 30 years in 2 hours’ time, no matter what, we will stay true to the science out of respect for her and make that 110 percent accurate in terms of her science, life and personality,” the screenwriters James and Rold promised.

The script for the project is just currently being written, and the film itself is still a few years away from completion, but, as a chance to revisit the fascinating story of Pepperberg and Alex, it will certainly be worth the wait. “It’s fascinating; a talking bird who can do all those things.” It’s not quite the way Dr. Doolittle did it, and with a few less songs and dances, but it’s certainly just as fun and inspirational. And it’s all true.

Read more about Dr. Pepperberg’s research at www.alexfoundation.org.

More information about the film (and the chance to donate) can be found at www.alexandmethemovie.com.

music

Jazzy performance brings fun for audiences ■ The Brandeis University Jazz

Ensemble performed a stirring array of tunes Sunday at the Slosberg Recital Hall.

By sujin shin JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

To be honest, I’m not really a jazz person. I prefer classical music. Something about eighth-note runs that are not straight scare me. I’d never even been to a jazz concert before, and I thought that by recognizing the name Thelonious Monk, I had done more than enough to establish my acknowledgement that jazz was a respectable art form. But I guess I’d never really given it a chance. The Brandeis University Jazz Ensemble’s concert led

by Prof. Rob Nieske (MUS) on Sunday was a truly great experience for me. The showcase of talent and great jazz made me start searching for some more tunes to listen to when I returned to my dorm that night.

The concert was held at the Slosberg Recital Hall, and music stands were arranged in a neat semi-circle, a familiar sight to me. However, the presence of a drum set and two amplifiers was surprising. Then the concert started and I found myself getting lost in the great music. The atmosphere was light and felt less like a concert and more like an informal jam session with people dressed in black. There wasn’t any real conducting going on. Nieske would sit

in the front row and informally lead the band with occasional hand movements to bring out the next solo player.

Each soloist was incredibly talented and brought his or her own special interpretations to the ensemble, and there’s no way that it would be fair to simply pick one out for special mention.

Each group of the first act was comprised of one person on one part. But despite not having the comfort of having a dozen other instruments to hide behind should an instrument be out of tune, the members of the ensembles were quite well in sync with each other both in pitch and pace, though occasionally the tempo seemed to run away from them.

My favorite piece of the night was called “Brilliant Corners” in the second act, a great tune with runs and slick melodies accentuated by a very obvious and in unison arpeggio at the end. The entire Brandeis Jazz Ensemble came out together to play pieces

by Thelonious Monk, arranged by Oliver Nelson. The band performed with great ease, and tempo changes kept the excitement coming. The tempo kept running faster and faster until the music grew to such huge proportions that when the music seemed like it could go no further, a resounding jazz chord brought the song to an end.

I was glad that I had given jazz a chance. It’s an acquired taste, but the Brandeis Jazz Ensemble gives the music life and makes it fun for all to listen.

NATHAN FELDMAN/the Justice

MONK’S TUNES: The Brandeis University Jazz Ensemble performs riveting selections by renowned composer Thelonius Monk.

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, december 7, 2010

27

OFF CAMPUS FILM

Previewing the films of 2011

■ Next year offers many

‘Brewmasters’ discovered Douglas

Moore

promising new films, which hopefully will top 2010’s impressive list.

innermost Brew

By EMILY SALLOWAY JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

2010 brought us great film after great film, and 2011 promises to follow suit. With at least 10 films in 3-D released throughout the year and many superhero and cartoon sequels, next year’s cinematic experience will certainly be eye-catching.

Here are five films with stories, that from previews seem strong enough to match their visual appeal: On Feb. 11, 2011, The Eagle, based on the book The Eagle of the Ninth

by Rosemary Sutcliff, will be released. Directed by Kevin Macdonald, the film takes place in Britain in the year 140 CE, where centurion Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum) must search for the Eagle standards, which the Ninth Legion was forced to surrender in Caledonia 20 years earlier, and redeem the good name of his father, leader of the legion. Esca (Jamie Bell), a British slave, accompanies Aquila, and together the two must confront the tribes who live where the legion disappeared. The film was shot on location in Hungary and Scotland and promises a lot of action and beautiful scenery.

No Strings Attached, starring Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman, will also be released next year.

Directed by Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters I and II), the film explores the consequences of being friends with benefits. The film, due out Jan. 21, is advertised as a romantic comedy, and its primary focus on sexuality is sure to be really funny.

James Cameron’s new film, Sanctum, will be in theaters on Feb. 4 2011. Shot in extraordinary 3-D, the movie tells the story of a master diver and his son who become trapped in an underwater cave in the South Pacific. Utilizing many of the photographic techniques that Cameron developed for Avatar, director Alister Grierson portrays a thriller inspired by the near-death experience of the film’s screenwriter, Andrew Wight. Featuring several new faces, the movie has some hauntingly stunning underwater scenes in which the characters must face all kinds of unfamiliar moments of peril.

The Adjustment Bureau, a science fiction romance film, has an all-star

Food

PHOTO OWNED BY UNIVERSAL PICTURES

UNDERWATER IN 3-D: James Cameron’s Sanctum follows divers trapped underwater. cast including Matt Damon, Emily Blunt and Daniel Dae Kim (Lost).

The film, acquired from Media Rights Capital by Universal Studios at an auction in 2009, depicts the mysterious failed romance of David Norris (Damon) and a gorgeous ballerina (Blunt) whose inability to get together is due to powers beyond their understanding. According to the trailer, the Adjustment Bureau’s members “are the people who make sure things go according to plan. [They] monitor the entire world.” Can these two defy fate and opposing forces in order to be with each other? Find out in March 2011.

An extremely interesting-looking film, Restless, was originally sched-

uled to be released on Jan. 28, but it has now been pushed back to later in the spring and has been withdrawn from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival in order to build more publicity. This happened with 2010’s highly successful film Conviction, which was pulled from last year’s Sundance Festival where it was initially entered titled Betty Ann Waters. Restless, starring Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland), is the story of a terminally ill girl who falls in love with a boy whose best friend is a ghost. The two outsiders together come of age in what appears to be a truly moving film.

Keep an eye out: this one looks well worth the wait!

In recent years, the Discovery Channel has become a channel of documentaries about crazy careers.

From American Chopper, to Dirty Jobs, all the way to Deadliest Catch, if you can think of an awesome career, Discovery probably has a show about it. Now, it has come up with its most ultimate idea about a career: being the head of a craft brewery on the show Brewmasters.

Brewmasters follows Sam Caligione, president of the Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Del., as he travels the world searching for recipes and dealing with the problems of operating a high-demand brewery in this era of explosive growth in the craft beer market. In the first three episodes, Sam has been to New Zealand, Peru and to Ethiopian-American neighborhoods to discover both ancient and new experimental forms of brewing. He has created a corn beer that breaks down starches via human saliva and a porter made with tamarillos, a new Zealand fruit similar to tomatoes. He also went through the process of creating the collaborative Miles Davis Bitches Brew, one of the first beers I reviewed for this column.

All the while, as Sam is traveling the globe, his team back at the brewery is dealing with the challenges of a commercial operation. In the first episode, a metal rod falls into one of the bottles, causing production to grind to a standstill as the team tries to isolate the defective bottle. In the third episode, it receives the wrong type of bottles, and the mistake is not caught until several hundred cases are produced, costing the company thousands of dollars.

You really see the struggles that the brewery faces but also just how fast Dogfish Head has grown. A greater concern during all these emergencies is the fact that production is on a tight schedule, and if the employees fall behind, they have to dump tanks of beer just to keep up with demand for certain products. I think one of the best parts of the show is it offers a very interesting look at a job many people wish they could do.

I think it’s safe to say that most people who drink craft beer or any beer in general have thoughts of quitting their day job, and becoming brewers. It’s the adult form of being

Willy Wonka, and I think this show gives off the idea that this is what Sam Caligione’s life is like. Countless times in the program, I have thought to myself, “Wow, I want to be Sam right now.” That being said, Brewmasters also shows the sacrifices Sam has gone through in his family life. He is frequently away from his children for weeks at a time in order to promote and explore his brand.

This show also provides a great understanding and respect for how beer is made. I think they’ve struck a great balance between the aficionado and the regular viewer. There is some well-explained technical detail as to how starch in the grain is broken down into sugar and then is fermented into alcohol, but it is never so technical that the common person wouldn’t be able to follow along. This show works because it’s accessible, and it is quite educational, which is something I think Discovery Channel has lost over the years.

That isn’t to say I like everything about the show. Sometimes Sam acts as though the only good beer is the one which defies the traditions, one that must put some kind of fruit or spice in the brew to create a delicious and exotic beer. Many of the best beers I’ve ever had have stuck to the big four ingredients: malted barley, hops, water and yeast. I understand why this is portrayed on the show; Dogfish Head is big on experimentation, and Sam is a firm believer in creating completely new beverages.

I just feel it’s a vast oversimplification.

Also, there are constant advertisements for Blue Moon, a brand owned and created by Coors, a brewing conglomerate that has been hurt by the recent explosion of craft beer. The company created Blue Moon to compete with the small breweries and beat them out with lower costs due to the size of the operation. It hides under the veil of being “Artfully crafted,” and this is deceptive to the consumer and takes away some of the impact the show should have on craft beer.

These concerns are minimal at best, however. Brewmasters is a fantastic show. It is one of the best things to air on Discovery in a very long time. Brewmasters is shown on Thursdays at 8 p.m.: Be sure to check it out.

This concludes the semester here at Innermost Brew. I hope you have enjoyed reading this column as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

I’ll be back next semester with more reviews, interviews and discussion of beer. Until that time, support your local brewery, and be sure to drink responsibly. Cheers!

BALLET

‘The Nutcracker’ brings cheer back to the Boston theater scene ■ The Boston Ballet’s

‘Nutcracker’ adaptation is a mixed bag but features prominent performances.

By SUJIN SHIN JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

The Nutcracker, with its long-beloved melodies and secure dominance over the airwaves of the holiday season, has returned to Beantown alongside the creeping Bostonian chill.

The Boston Ballet’s adaptation of this long-standing favorite is a gem, though it could not be called perfect. As a familiar production for many of the company’s dancers, it was played as such—the wear of a thousand performances begins to turn the sugary stylings of Balanchine and Tchaikovsky to vanilla. However, there are moments where the performance shines, where the sense of confidence and artistic precision of the company combine to showcase the true talents and elegance of the Boston Ballet.

The story of The Nutcracker is quite possibly just as well known as the story of Santa Claus. Set in Germany during the height of the Christmas season, a young girl named Clara (or Marie in some productions) receives a nutcracker as a gift from her magic godfather, Drosselmeier. Her brother breaks the nutcracker in jealousy, but

Drosselmeier, using his magic, fixes it.

In the middle of the night when Clara checks on her nutcracker, everything around her magically comes to life and, in addition, grows nearly twice in size. An ensuing battle occurs in which the Nutcracker and his army of toy soldiers fight the Rat King and his army of rodents. Clara helps the Nutcracker defeat the Rat King, after which the Nutcracker returns to his original form before he was turned into a nutcracker: a handsome prince. In gratitude, the prince takes Clara to the Sugar Plum Fairy’s realm. In honor of Clara’s courage, the Sugar Plum Fairy and the other natives of the Kingdom of Sweets dance for her.

The Boston Corp was supplemented by dozens of new feet from the Boston Ballet School and will probably be the biggest company that the stage of The Boston Opera House will see during the whole season. Balanchine choreographed the ballet with children in mind, and despite their fumbles and missteps, or maybe because of them, they danced delightfully.

However, when these blunders were repeated by dancers in the professional corps, they were less cute.

Throughout the performance, during multiple sections, some dancers were simply desynchronized from the rest of the group. It’s difficult to be forgiving of dancers who are behind two beats again and again while his or her other

partners are exactly on the conductor’s baton.

Despite this, there are moments of jaw-dropping beauty and exquisite technical excellence. John Lam, who played the short-lived but endlessly memorable Harlequin doll, drew fervent applause with his boundless leaps and charming quirkiness. Laws of nature seemed unable to contain him; his leaps sent him rocketing up into the air with supreme ease and his body seemed to twist and jerk in any way he wanted.

In contrast to the stiff and erratic Harlequin was the mercurial Kathleen Breen Combs, who played the female half of the famous Arabian pas de deux. A dancer with never-ending legs and impossible flexibility, Combs combined her fluid talents with resolute technique to create one of the most memorable dances of the night with her equally steely partner, Lasha Khozashvili.

However, Misa Kuranaga, the slight and porcelain principal dancer who claimed the role of Sugar Plum Fairy that night, needed no leaps or loud movements to establish why she was a principal dancer of the Boston Ballet.

She exemplifies what a dancer should be: technically perfect, expressive without cartoon-isms and perfectly in cue with the music. The music didn’t play background to her—in fact, it almost felt as if she were conducting

Tchaikovsky’s score herself with every cascade of her arm, her every quivering pointe, her every gymnast-like extension. So precisely attuned to the conductor, so fiercely perfect in her technique and yet so velvety soft in her interpretation and grace, Kuranaga rose above the rest of the dancers in the corps.

And though Kuranaga danced perfectly to the music, the orchestra sometimes fell flat. At times the score was muggy during fast-flying runs, other times it was just not powerful enough to fill the hall during the larger scenes.

The action onstage would escalate to a chaotic rumble and the music would not deliver. But during the second act, the music’s propensity to quiet subtleties wrought a quite beautiful and delicate version of “The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.” Also, the spirited and animated “Trepak,” or Russian dance, provided the perfect setting for the orchestra to shine alongside the energy bounding from the stage.

One noticeable facet of this particular production was its obvious indulgence to its young audience and young performers. The audience was largely comprised of parents with their children and parents watching their children on stage. High-flying stunts, magic tricks and the Alice in Wonderland-esque transformation of the background dominated the first act. Falling snow showered the danc-

ers as they leapt amid a backdrop of glistening evergreens. The second act’s background was a bit of a sugar rush: the shapes framing the background were dominated by whipped cream towers and candied windows. The color scheme was comprised almost solely of pastels. But far from detracting from the performance, this is exactly what I would imagine the Sugar Plum Fairy’s dominion to look like; a Kingdom of Sweets without sweetness would just seem wrong. And their pandering worked—not one child stirred or whispered throughout.

The Boston Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker may not be perfect, but it’s a Bostonian favorite for a reason.

It’s a visual feast as well as an aural delight. It is difficult to resist feeling uplifted by Tchaikovsky’s dynamic score. What makes The Nutcracker so successful is that it speaks to that spark of innocence and wonder that still lies within everyone. Who hasn’t wanted to escape to a beautiful new land filled with sweets? Tchaikovsky’s score strikes a chord with all of us, and ballet, with its exaggerated mime and essentially effervescent nature, is the perfect medium to convey this to kids who have grown up.

It’s a magical night and a perfect way to welcome in the most wonderful time of the year.

The Nutcracker plays at the Boston Opera House until Dec. 31.

28

TUESday, december 7, 2010

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THE JUSTICE

TOP of the

ARTS ON VIEW

TRIVIA TIME 1. What is the measurement of time called?

2. What kind of metal is bauxite used to create?

3. Which is the strongest hand in a poker game?

4. Who killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel?

5. Who was the first president born in a hospital?

6. Where would one find the popular tourist spot called “Vieux Carre”?

7. What kind of a creature is a gibbon?

8. Rhea is a moon of which planet?

9. Which comedians were famous for the “Who’s on First?” vaudeville routine?

10. In The Silence of the Lambs, what was Hannibal the Cannibal’s last name?

CHARTS Top 10s for the week ending Dec. 5 BOX OFFICE

1. Tangled 2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 3. Burlesque 4. Unstoppable 5. Love & Other Drugs 6. Megamind 7. Due Date 8. Faster 9. The Warrior’s Way 10. The Next Three Days

WBRS

ANSWERS 1. Chronometry 2. Aluminum 3. Royal flush 4. Aaron Burr 5. Jimmy Carter 6. New Orleans (The French Quarter) 7. Ape 8. Saturn 9. Abbott and Costello 10. Lecter

SHOWTIMES 12/10–12/16

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 Fri - Sun: 1:20, 4:35, 8:00 Mon-Thurs: 2:50, 7:30 Burlesque Fri - Sun: 1:00, 3:45, 6:30, 9:15 Mon-Thurs: 2:10, 4:50, 7:50 127 Hours Fri - Sun: 1:50, 4:25, 7:10, 9:35 Mon-Thurs: 2:40, 5:10, 8:20 The Social Network Fri - Sun: 1:10, 3:55, 6:40, 9:20 Mon-Thurs: 2:00, 4:50, 7:40 The Tourist Fri - Sun: 1:40, 4:15, 7:00, 9:30 Mon-Thurs: 2:30, 5:00, 8:10 Love and Other Drugs Fri - Sun: 1:30, 4:05, 6:50, 9:25 Mon- Thurs: 2:20, 5:00, 8:00

The Embassy is located at 18 Pine Street in Waltham

JEFFREY BOXER/the Justice

A BREAK FROM THE ACTION: On a trip filled with vuvuzelas and packed cities, Jeffrey Boxer ’13 said that his trip to Hout Bay, South Africa provided a “serene view” and a nice break from the World Cup.

CROSSWORD ACROSS 4. Mel of baseball lore 7. Bull’s offspring 11. Sandwich shop 13. Lawyer’s payment 14. Sandwich cookie 15. Platter 16. E-mail alternative 17. Eastern potentate 18. Villain’s look 20. Madeline of Blazing Saddles 22. Taxi 24. Nuanced 28. Continue 32. React to a pun 33. Lotion additive 34. Symbol of intrigue 36. Greek liqueur 37. Violin virtuoso Stern 39. Profligate 41. Standard 43. Homer’s interjection 44. Grouch 46. Chutzpah 50. Martial art 53. Lair 55. Regrets 56. Related 57. Writer Buscaglia 58. Cut quickly 59. Simmons or Kelly 60. Blunder 61. TV Tarzan portrayer Ron DOWN 1. Probability 2. Harness part 3. Otherwise 4. Vacationing 5. Ship-building wood 6. Largest of the 48 7. Film directors Joel and Ethan 8. Branch 9. Hawaiian memento 10. In support of 12. Scoop holder 19. Beam of light 21. Embrace 23. Acknowledge applause 25. Go sightseeing

1. Rihanna – “Only Girl (In the World)” 2. The Radio Dept. – “Never Follow Suit” 3. Cloud Nothings – “Hey Cool Kid” 4. Crocodiles – “About A Month Ago” 5. Daft Punk – “Derezzed” 6. Diamond Rings – “All Yr Songs” 7. Dom – “Living In America” 8. First Aid Kit – “Heavy Storm” 9. Orange Juice – “Rip It Up” 10. Robyn – “Call Your Girlfriend”

COLLEGE RADIO

1. Belle & Sebastian – Write About Love 2. Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest 3. Eskmo – Eskmo 4. Tom Zé – Estuando a Bossa: Nordeste Plaza 5. Tu Fawning – Hearts on Hold 6. Marnie Stern – Marnie Stern 7. Junior Wells & the Aces – Live in Boston 1966 8. Mavis Staples – You Are Not Alone 9. Sharon Van Etten – Epic 10. No Age – Everything in Between

BILLBOARD

26. Lounge around 27. Carbon compound 28. First murderer 29. Additionally 30. Bellow 31. Fresh 35. Lousy 38. Automobile 40. Trinity member 42. Punch-bowl accessory 45. “Cheers” request 47. Mystical character 48. Bridal cover 49. Catch sight of 50. Binge 51. Guitar’s cousin 52. Cacophony 54. Neither partner 55. Blackbird

1. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy 2. Nicki Minaj – Pink Friday 3. Susan Boyle– The Gift 4. Taylor Swift – Speak Now 5. Jackie Evancho– O Holy Night 6. Rihanna – Loud 7. Justin Bieber– My Worlds Acoustic 8. My Chemical Romance – Danger Days 9. Ne-Yo – Libra Scale 10. Soundtrack – Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album Album information provided by Billboard Magazine. Box office information provided

by Yahoo! Movies. Radio charts provided

by CMJ.

STAFF PLAYLIST Solution to last week’s crossword

King Crossword Copyright 2010 King Features Synd, Inc.

STRANGE BUT TRUE  It was French playwright Albert Guinon who made the following sage observation: “There are people who, instead of listening to what is being said to them, are already listening to what they are going to say themselves.”

 What do King Henry VIII, science fiction author H.G. Wells, English naturalist Charles Darwin, American author Edgar Allan Poe and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff have in common? They all married their cousins.

 Most people at all familiar with the name Max Schmeling know him as the Great Nazi Hope, the boxer produced by Adolf Hitler in the 1930s to defeat Joe Louis, supposedly proving Aryan superiority. (He did defeat Louis in a match in 1936, though he lost a rematch in 1938.) What most people don’t realize, though, is that Schmeling did not subscribe to Hitler’s beliefs—he wasn’t even a member of the Nazi party. In fact, during World War II, Schmeling risked his life to save two Jewish children.

 The 1958 film Gigi, starring Leslie Caron and Maurice Chevalier, has the distinction of having the shortest title of any film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

 For reasons that are unclear now, in 1983, the Supreme Court declared that a plant eaten during a main course was a vegetable and one eaten afterward was a fruit.

 The home of sitting U.S. presidents, the White House, didn’t become widely known as the White House until 1902, during Theodore Roosevelt’s term in office. The building was originally called the President’s Palace, but the word palace was deemed to be too royal-sounding, so the name was changed to the Executive Mansion.

Thought for the Day: “We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.”

“Resonant Rock”

By ADAM RABINOWITZ Justice staff writer

This set list represents my two favorite genres of music: classic and alternative rock. They seem to conflict, but whenever I listen to them, the songs mesh perfectly with each other. Harping on topics such as love, angst, nostalgia and power, these songs resonate with me on a daily basis. Simply, I can relate to them at any time.

THE LIST 1. The Beatles – “Let It Be” 2. The Who – “Baba O’Riley” 3. Queen – “Somebody to Love” 4. Queen – “Bohemian Rhapsody” 5. Van Halen – “Jump” 6. Third Eye Blind – “Motorcycle Drive By” 7. Nickleback – “Gotta Love Somebody” 8. Bon Jovi – “You Want to Make a Memory” 9. Semisonic – “Closing Time” 10. Modest Mouse – “Float On”