The Justice- Feb. 10, 2009

ARTS PAGE 19

FORUM Art alternatives 11

‘SIDDHARTHA’

SPORTS Men’s basketball players disciplined 16 THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER

the

OF

BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY SINCE 1949

Justice www.theJusticeOnline.com

Volume LXII, Number 19

Waltham, Mass.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

BUDGET

ROSE ART

Science Center fundraising slowed

Rose Art decision clarified

■ Economic woes and

By MIRANDA NEUBAUER JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER

decreasing donations have hindered the fundraising for the new Science Center.

The University’s fundraising efforts to make up $89 million in projected gifts for the construction of the

new Carl J. Shapiro Science Center and the new Ridgewood Quad have been slowed by the recent economic downturn, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Peter French said at a press conference for

campus media last Thursday.

French said that the University planned to take out $100 million in debt over three years to accompany the fundraising used to finance the

See DEBT, 6 ☛

■ University President

SNEAK PREVIEW

Jehuda Reinharz wrote in a campuswide e-mail that the Rose will remain open.

By HANNAH KIRSCH JUSTICE EDITOR

Reinharz also wrote in the e-mail that he and French will take a 10percent pay cut on their annual salaries, in part to pay for the cost of the contract. He added that although the salary savings from French and himself are more than enough to cover the expense of hiring Rasky Baerlein, the cuts were still necessary because Reinharz

The Rose Art Museum will not close, but “will be more fully integrated into the University’s central educational mission,” University President Jehuda Reinharz wrote in an e-mail to the Brandeis community last Thursday.

The e-mail clarifies Reinharz’s Jan. 26 e-mail and the accompanying University press release, which both announced that the Board of Trustees had “voted to close” the Rose Art Museum.

“The Rose is going to remain open,” Reinharz explained at a forum for students last Thursday.

“How it will function is up to the faculty,” he said. According to Reinharz, “A faculty committee … is working right now in thinking what and how the Rose should function on this campus.” The current committee, whose members were elected by the Faculty Senate, includes Profs.

Eric Hill (THA), Nancy Scott (FA) and Jerry Samet (PHIL).

According to Hill, “[The committee’s] role is to ask three questions: What are the costs and benefits of keeping the Rose open? … Are there any compromise solutions in between? And what is the damage that has already been done and might further be done going forward as we try not to bungle this up any more than we already have?” Prof.

John Plotz (ENG) said in an e-mail to the Justice, “Many on the faculty feel the committee is too small and has too short a time to complete its work.” The committee will give its first report on the results of its discussions this Thursday to the Faculty Senate.

Referring to the way the Rose announcement, which was met with an outcry among students, faculty and members of the outside artistic community, was communicated, Reinharz wrote in the e-mail, “To quote President Obama, ‘I screwed up.’”

The original Board of Trustees resolution stated that “the University administration is authorized to take the necessary steps to transition the University’s Rose Art Museum to a teaching center and exhibition gallery,” including, “to the extent

See RASKY, 6 ☛

See MUSEUM, 6 ☛

RACHEL CORKE/the Justice

A look inside the new Science Center The framework of a science lab inside the new Carl J. Shapiro Science Center is pictured. The Science Center is still undergoing construction, but lab equipment is scheduled to be moved into the facilities after February vacation.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Brandeis hires PR firm to handle Rose media attention ■ The University is paying

the public relations firm $20,000 for two months.

By NASHRAH RAHMAN JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Brandeis has hired the public relations firm Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications, Inc. in light of the increased press

inquiries regarding the Rose Art Museum, University President Jehuda Reinharz explained at a press conference held last week for campus media.

The University has a contract with Rasky Baerlein for two months “for which they will bill us $20,000,” Reinharz wrote in an e-mail to the faculty listserv. Reinharz originally addressed the e-mail to Prof.

William Flesch (ENG) after Flesch

wrote to him inquiring about the administration’s decision to hire Rasky Baerlin. Reinharz responded to Flesch’s concerns and wrote that Flesch should feel free to communicate the message to the rest of the faculty. Provost Marty Krauss and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Peter French forwarded the e-mail to the Justice once it was available on the faculty listserv.

Spring Opener

Recalling our past

Budget contribution

■ The women’s tennis team lost its first match of the spring at home to Colgate University.

■ Brandeis commemorated the 40th anniversary of the Ford Hall takeover.

■ Brandeis graduate schools are looking for ways to raise revenue for the general University budget.

SPORTS 13

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INDEX

NEWS 3

FEATURES 7

ARTS

17

EDITORIAL FEATURES

10 7

OPINION POLICE LOG

11 2

SPORTS LETTERS

16 11

COPYRIGHT 2009 FREE AT BRANDEIS. Call for home delivery.

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10 , 2009

●

THE JUSTICE

NEWS POLICE LOG

BRIEF Union plans on dechartering clubs if club activities are not reported The Student Union Club Support Committee plans to send an e-mail to over 30 club leaders threatening to decharter their respective clubs if they do not report their activities to the Senate, Sung Lo Yoon ’09, chair of the Club Support Committee said.

The committee said it is still finalizing the list of clubs it would e-mail and thus would not publish the list.

Each of the clubs on the list has not approached the Finance Board for funds in the last two semesters, Yoon said. They said they plan to send the letters this week.

The e-mail states, “It has come to our attention that your club has not requested any [Finance Board Allocations Fund] funds over the past two semesters. In order to maintain an efficient use of our limited resources and a vibrant club community, we need to make sure that your club is still active.”

The e-mail also tells the clubs that in order to maintain chartered status, they must respond with “a description of the recent activities of your club and the reasons for your recent lack of funding requests.”

Terrence Johnson, senator for the Transitional Year Program and a member of the Club Support Committee, said that the committee made the list as a result of the dual-purpose rule in the Student Union Constitution.

“If people lose interest in these clubs and they dissolve, but someone wants to start a similar club, they will be unable to do so if the [original] clubs are not dechartered. Through this list, we are able to check on clubs to see if they still exist,” Eric Alterman, senator for the class of 2009 and a member of the Club Support Committee, explained.

The majority of clubs on the list are chartered clubs, which are clubs that are able to receive funding from the Finance Board. The rest of the clubs are recognized clubs that do not receive funding from F- Board regardless.

Article VI, Section 2 of the Student Union Constitution states, “Only Chartered and Secured Organizations shall be eligible to receive funding from the Finance Board Allocations Fund, as hereafter defined, in accordance with this Constitution and its Bylaws.”

Nathan Goldstein ’09, senator for off-campus students, said, “While [the Union] will definitely decharter one or two [clubs], the rest are up in the air,” since the Union does not know the situation of the clubs’ finances.

He said this procedure is “routine and done every spring,” and that last year 15 to 20 clubs were dechartered.

However, Yoon said he hoped to decharter 90 percent of the clubs on the list, since he believes that “they are most likely defunct.”

The committee members do not believe that placing these clubs on the list would anger club leaders.

“If a club no longer exists, we will obviously not receive any response from them at any time, but we certainly do not expect any clubs to be angry with us,” Alterman said.

Medical Emergency Feb. 3—Residence Life staff arrived at Stoneman after a party requested that a student who was suffering from psychiatric problems be transported to hospital.

The student was transported via ambulance to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

Feb. 4—A party reported that a student in Ziv Quad was not feeling well and was vomiting.

BEMCo and University Police responded and the student was treated on-scene with a signed refusal for further care.

Feb. 4—A 32-year-old female in Schneider was reported to be alert and conscious after hitting her head and causing it to bleed.

BEMCo treated her on-scene with signed refusal for further care.

Feb. 5—BEMCo responded to a student in the Shapiro Campus Center who reported that she was suffering from a nosebleed.

BEMCo treated her on-scene with a signed refusal for further care.

Feb. 6—A party reported that an intoxicated student in Ziv Quad was drifting in and out of consciousness. BEMCo and University Police arrived and requested an ambulance. The student was transported to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

Feb. 7—An intoxicated male in Sherman Dining Hall was reported to be vomiting in the bathroom. University Police and BEMCo arrived and treated the student on-scene with a signed refusal for further care.

Feb.7—BEMCo responded to a student in Ziv Quad who reported that he was suffering from a sinus infection. The student was transported to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital via ambulance.

Feb. 8—A party in Rosenthal Quad reported that a student wearing high heels had stepped on another student’s foot. The student refused treatment from BEMCo. Feb. 8—University Police and

BEMCo were alerted that an intoxicated woman had passed out in a taxi at the Main Gate. The party was treated on-scene and transported via ambulance to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

Disturbance Feb. 8—A party in the Foster Mods complained that three students were banging on doors. The students were located and instructed to return to their residence.

Traffic Feb. 7—A party reported that the driver of a vehicle rear-ended another vehicle at the University’s main entrance but that there were no injuries. University Police reported that one of the vehicles belongs to the University.

Photographs were taken of the incident and a report was compiled.

theJustice 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 every Thursday from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Justice office.

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—Compiled by Nashrah Rahman

Village and Ridgewood Quad Senators sworn in

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS

The Justice welcomes submissions for errors that warrant correction or clarification.

E-mail justeditor@brandeis.edu.

Feb. 3—University Police assisted the Waltham Police Department in its arrest of a student who was urinating on the sidewalk off campus.

Feb. 5—A party in the Usdan Student Center reported the presence of graffiti on the walls of a men’s bathroom. University Police compiled a report on the incident, and the Physical Plant Department was contacted to remove the graffiti.

Feb. 5—A University detective interviewed a student worker in Goldfarb Library about an unidentified male who attempted to use the library computer to view explicit material. The detective compiled a report.

Feb. 8—University Police were alerted of a fistfight in the Foster Mods. University Police could not find anyone upon arrival.

SENATE LOG

—Alana Abramson

An article in News last week did not finish. The last sentence should have read, “‘[The Rose] is not a dead corpse; this is somebody that needs life support,’ she concluded, to all-around applause.” (Feb. 3, p. 8).

A photo credit in Forum last week incorrectly spelled the name of the photographer. The photographer’s name is Max Breitstein Matza, not Max Breistein Matza. (Feb. 3, p. 11).

An article in Sports last week incorrectly spelled the first name of the University president. The University president is Jehuda Reinharz, not Juhuda Reinharz. (Feb. 3, p. 13).

An article in News last week incorrectly identified the position of Diana Pisciotta. She is a spokeswoman for the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation, not the executive vice president.

(Feb. 3, p. 6).

Miscellaneous

MICHELLE STRULOVIC /the Justice

Conserving Energy As a part of Climate Change Solutions Day initiative, Sustainability Coordinator Janna Cohen-Rosenthal ’03 on the right shows how the energy emitted by bicycle lights can be conserved.

Executive Senator Andrew Brooks ’09 announced that East Quad Senator Sara Enan ’11 has submitted her resignation.

Union President Jason Gray ’10 swore in Avi Rhodes ’09 as Village Quad senator, Aaron Mitchell Finegold ’09 as Ridgewood Quad senator and Matt Kriegsman ’11 as associate justice of the Union Judiciary.

Chair of the Provost’s Advisory Committee Adam Ross ’09 spoke to the Senate about the Provost’s goals for each of the subcommittees.

He also spoke about the faculty’s positive response to the formation of the committees.

Jenna Rubin ’11, coordinator of the Dining Services Committee, spoke to the senate about the committee’s goals for the year. They have formed a separate committee to address issues with the meal plan system.

She also spoke about the possibility of installing a kosher vending machine.

The Senate granted provisional recognition to the Danzan Ryu Jujitsu Club, Project Noor and Students Organized Against Racism.

Gray spoke to the Senate about Thursday’s open forum with the president and asked the senators to speak about how they felt their constituents were dealing with the economic crisis.

The Senate passed a bylaw banning the use of laptops to solicit votes during Union elections and mandating that the elections commission operate nonpartisan mobile voting stations.

The Senate tabled a bylaw that would require senators to ask permission for absences from Senate meetings because, according to Brooks, its sponsor, more work on the bylaw’s language is needed.

Senator-at-Large Noam Shuster ’11 reported that the Social Justice Committee plans to become involved with an exhibition about the Rwandan Genocide.

Senator for the Class of 2011 Alex Melman reported on the Study Abroad Committee and said that current study abroad applicants who may be denied under the new guidelines would, most likely, still be guaranteed housing.

- Destiny Aquino and Harry Shipps

ANNOUNCEMENTS Why were we susceptible to the Madoff scandal?

Students can join Prof. Jonathan Sarna (NEJS) and the Brandeis University Conservative Organization to learn about the Madoff scandal from a historical perspective while enjoying their dinner. Wednesday from 6 to 7 p.m. in Sherman Dining Hall. For more information, e-mail rwachtel@brandeis.edu.

African Forum Join Dr. Brian William, third annual distinguished visiting practitioner of the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life, for a talk about HIV/AIDS with the African Forum, a group of Brandeis students interested in supporting the development of the African continent, by engaging in educational and social projects. Pizza will be served.

Wednesday from 5 to 6 p.m. at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management.

Hiatt’s Recruiter In Residence Program Students will have the opportunity to participate in an informational interview with an industry expert. Industry experts from Trip Advisor & Communispace will represent various areas within Human Resources, including global recruiting, employee assistance, internship development and benefits management. Thursday from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Hiatt Career Center. For more information, e-mail oshea@brandeis.edu

The Classic Maya Priesthood Students can hear Marc Zender, a lecturer at Harvard University, talk about the epigraphic and archaeological evidence of the classic Maya priesthood. Zender’s research interests include cognitive archeology, historical linguistics and epigraphy. Thursday from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in Shiffman 216. For more information, e-mail lcarpent@brandeis.edu

Justice and Evil: A Holocaust Dilemma Students can attend a colloquium that will provide a critical forum for graduate students and faculty to present and discuss works- in progress, thereby fostering an interdisciplinary intellectual community in all areas of Jewish studies. In each session participants will discuss a paper presented by faculty or graduate students from Brandeis and other institutions. The presenter will begin with a brief overview (five to 10 minutes) of the work, and the rest of the session will be open to questions. Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m. in Lown 315.

Anthropologists and Epidemiologists Students can join a discussion on how anthropologists and epidemiologists incorporate models of cultural diversity in developing effective HIV/AIDS action in sub-Saharan Africa. Friday from 9:10 to 10:30 a.m. in Lown 203.

THE JUSTICE

FRANK ON THE ECONOMY

By MIRANDA NEUBAUER JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

Advocating Regulation Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, discussed in the Rapaporte Treasure Hall yesterday how regulation and legislation can speed up economic recovery. The lecture was sponsored by the Heller School for Social Policy and Management and was open to the Brandeis community.

ACADEMICS

Endowments of Crown and Schusterman Centers down make major budget cuts, but Provost Marty Krauss says they will not close.

By ALANA ABRAMSON JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

The endowments of the Crown Center for Middle East Studies and the Schusterman Center for Middle East Studies are currently “under the water,” according to Provost Marty Krauss, which means that the current market value of the endowment is less than the original amount.

The centers cannot spend any money from their endowments and must seek alternative funds for their programming.

The Uniform Management of Institutional Funds Act, which Massachussetts adopted in 1975, states that endowments that are underwater cannot be used for operating expenses. The current market value of the investments that make up the Crown Center and Schusterman Center endowments are below the initial amount of the endowments, Krauss said. She did not reveal the current endowment figures of either center but said that neither of the endowments have any interest left to spend and that only principle remains. She said that the centers cannot use that principle endowment for spending purposes and thus have to seek alternative funds.

Krauss said that the fact that the centers are so new is a major factor in their financial troubles. “Both of these centers were created in the last five years, so their endowments have not had much time to grow.

Since their endowments are directly tied into that of the University’s, the 25 percent drop in the University endowments have particularly affected them, as their endowments have dropped 25 percent,” she said.

Both Prof. Shai Feldman, director of the Crown Center, and Krauss said that neither center would close, though she acknowl-

3

IBS and Heller respond to deficit their contributions to the University budget despite facing their own budget cuts.

edged that the centers would have to make “pragramatic reductions.”

“We may have to make major budget reductions for these centers, but nothing is closing,” Krauss said.

“In theory, if we failed to raise the funds required then the [Crown Center] would have to close,” Feldman said. “But I have confidence that we will raise the funds required to make the center successful.”

While Krauss said that the centers are ultimately responsible for their operating expenses, the University is collaborating with the centers to seek alternative funds.

She met with the heads of the centers in January to discuss financial strategies “that will allow them to continue to perform the work they want to do.”

Krauss said that ideas for seeking alternative funds involve “multiple strategies of working with donors in creative ways,” but would not to expand on the specifics of these projects.

Like Krauss, Feldman would provide neither monetary figures about the endowment nor any information about the potential alternative funds. “It is all a work in progress,” he said.

Feldman said that in order to deal with the financial crisis the center has cut its travel budget, reduced its publication budget and canceled the conference it was supposed to hold in March to analyze the Middle East from 1979 to 2009.

Feldman said this year’s budget cuts are somewhat minimal because the crisis erupted halfway through the fiscal year. “There are only so many budget cuts we can make when we were so shocked by this crisis,” he said. He said, for example, that they hired the post-doctoral fellows before the crisis occurred and thus will still pay the fellows their stipends.

Feldman said the budget cuts for next year “depend on how many funds the [Crown Center] receives,” but that they could potentially range from “minimal budget cuts to paralyzing the center.” He said he

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2009

BUDGET

■ The schools are increasing

■ The centers may have to

●

would not be able to determine specific budget cuts until he had a clearer picture of the center’s financial state and that he would know the amount of financial resources the center would be able to raise within the next few months.

“We don’t have figures for next year, but we will cut according to the amount of money we have raised,” he said.

Prof. Ilan Troen (NEJS), the director of the Schusterman Center, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that because the Schusterman Center’s endowment is shrinking, “we are therefore re-examining our priorities and aggressively seeking alternative funds,” but “we do have operating funds beyond the underwater endowment that enable us to maintain our commitments and to continue with a significant program next year, and beyond.” He would not expand on what the operating funds were but said that “we are raising some new funds from foundations that have resources and interested in our work.”

“Our emphasis is primarily on supporting graduate students (Sociology, Politics, and NEJS) and bringing visiting faculty to campus,” Troen wrote. “Next year, for example, there will be visiting professors in Anthropology who agreed to come long before the current crisis. There will be a post-doc in Politics who was similarly invited. We had hoped to do more, particularly bringing a visitor for Economics. We would hope to do so in the not distant future,” he said.

Feldman expressed confidence that the Crown Center would raise the funds it needed to sustain itself.

“I think there is a general appreciation for the [Crown Center’s] work.

The [Crown Center] has made huge imprints on Middle East Policy, especially our Middle East briefs, which provides analysis on various issues in the Middle East. I have high confidence that we will persuade individuals that it would be a loss for the center to be crippled by the financial crisis,” he said.

The International Business School and the Heller School for Social Policy and Social Justice have undertaken their own budget cuts in order to help close the University’s budget gap, according to Dean of IBS Bruce Magid and Heller School Dean Lisa Lynch.

Lynch explained that both IBS and the Heller School operate under a system called Responsibility Center Management, in which the University sets a target of how much more revenue the school needs to take in relation to its expenses to determine how much it must contribute to the University’s budget as a whole.

IBS is projected to make a direct contribution of $1.9 million to the overall University budget in fiscal year 2009, an increase of $400,000 from the previous year as was specifically requested by the University, Magid wrote.

In fiscal year 2008, the University’s target under the Responsibility Center Management system for the Heller School was $1.2 million, Lynch said, which Heller exceeded by bringing in $2.6 million. “That net revenue all went to the University,” she said. To help meet the University’s overall projected budget deficit this year, “I committed to increase our target … to $1.8 million,” she said. Lynch explained that there had been some concern among Heller faculty that “we could have used [the $600,000 difference in target revenue] for financial aid at Heller.” Lynch said she responded to those concerns by stating that the Heller School has a responsibility to support the University as it is, “not independent of the University.”

At a Jan. 21 budget briefing for faculty, Prof. Steven Burg (POL) expressed concern that IBS and Heller would be exempt from budget cuts and that the administration was not being transparent about the financial role of the professional schools, which he characterized as “cash cows” for the rest of the University. Burg told the the Justice last Thursday that those concerns had been “redressed” after he communicated them to senior administrators who he said are now more transparent about the professional schools’ role.

“They have both made, voluntarily, very generous additional contributions to the University’s bottom line in light of the severe current situation,” Provost Marty Krauss said at a press

conference held last week for campus media. “I think they have acted as true citizens of the University. … They are sharing in the pain.”

IBS has reduced its operating budget for fiscal year 2009, put a long-term growth plan on hold and stopped new faculty and staff hiring in response to the economic crisis, Magid wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. He said IBS can’t increase revenue by increasing its class size. “We do not see significant new sources of tuition revenue at the present time because we have increased our enrollments by over 10% over the last two years and, as a result, many of our classes are full,” he wrote. The number of applications has remained constant after a number of years of significant growth, he added.

Also in response to the financial situation, IBS is looking to expand its options in the summer to increase its revenue, add new courses addressing the current economic climate, encourage students to look at a wider range of career options in a changing job market and reach out to alumni to support current students.

“As a school for social policy we are obviously not a ‘cash cow’ for the rest of the University given our students’ ability to pay,” Lynch wrote. She elaborated that students at Heller interested in social policy “finish their Heller degree with maybe [$40,000] or $45,000 worth of student loans and are going into jobs that are probably paying about $45,000 or $50,000; they’re not in too high-paying jobs.” She said, therefore, that she could not raise tuition or cut financial aid.

The Heller School has also been hit by a decrease in the value of its endowments. It currently has 33 endowments worth $456,000 that are now “underwater,” which support faculty, financial aid and summer internship programs.

Lynch wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that Heller is consulting “with donors to raise additional funds or modify gift agreements so that a portion of restricted gifts can be moved to current use funds.” Lynch also said she halted three faculty searches and left staff positions unfilled to cut operating expenses.

Lynch hopes that Heller can raise revenue due to an increase in applications. She wrote that applications are up 18 percent since last year compared to the undergraduate school. She said this phenomenon is common in a recession because applicants believe they are not “losing some big high-paying job by going back to school right now.”

She added, “it’s a good thing that we have these professional schools on campus that will have this capacity going in to next year and the year after to help out the University as a whole.”

ENDOWMENT

Univ not affected by Madoff ■ Brandeis was on Bernard

Madoff’s list of clients but was not involved in his $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

By SHANA D. LEBOWITZ JUSTICE EDITOR

Brandeis University was cited as one of Bernard Madoff’s clients on a recently released list of his investors, but the University maintains that it did not invest any University funds in Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.

Madoff, a former chairman of the NASDAQ composite, was accused of running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme, a fraud operation in which investors are paid out of the money input by other investors rather than out of profits.

Campus-wide concerns that Brandeis’ endowment would suffer arose when Brandeis University appeared on the list of Madoff’s clients. The University is listed as the address for investor Michael Swartz ’71, the associate vice president for gift planning at the University.

The University announced in a Feb. 5 press release that it appears on the list because “the University received gifts

of securities from one or more donors from brokerage accounts they had established at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities.” As University treasurer at the time, Swartz was the “Brandeis contact for such gifts,” according to the press release. Swartz could not be reached for comment by press time.

The list of clients was filed Feb. 4 in a New York bankruptcy court, according to the Boston Globe.

University President Jehuda Reinharz said at a Feb. 5 press conference with campus media that a donor “used the Madoff brokerage firm” to contribute a gift to Brandeis. Reinharz said Madoff’s brokerage firm opened an account when they sent money to Brandeis, but the University did not engage in any other transactions with the firm.

“That account was opened, the money was sent [and] that was the end of the story,” Reinharz said. “We don’t have a penny invested in Madoff,” he added.

The press release also said that “it is not unusual for the brokerage house to establish an account in Brandeis’ name to facilitate the transfer.”

— Mike Prada and Hannah Kirsch contributed reporting.

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THE JUSTICE

MARCH FOR THE MUSEUM

By MICHELLE LIBERMAN JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

REBECCA NEY/the Justice

FUNERAL FOR THE ROSE: From left, Kathleen Rees ’10, Rebeccah Ulm ’11 and Zev Rowlett ’11 march in the procession.

Students march in effort to revive the Rose Art Museum

and roses as they marched across campus in “Funeral For The Rose” last Thursday.

By JILLIAN WAGNER JUSTICE EDITOR

About 20 students marched in the “Funeral for the Rose” procession last Thursday to protest the Board of Trustees’ Jan. 26 decision to close the Rose Art Museum and sell part of its collection.

Students gathered at the Rabb steps and made their way across campus to the Rose Art Museum chanting, “Don’t Close the Rose.”

They held up signs and carried roses, which they then placed outside the library and the Bernstein-Marcus administrative building, along with a reproduction of a piece of artwork from the museum’s collection, which they left on the windowsill next to the main entrance of the building.

“We’re putting up a shrine at the administrative building so that the administration knows how many students came here tonight to show their support for the Rose Art Museum,” explained Zev Rowlett ’11, one of the organizers of the event.

The procession was sponsored by Art Attack, an arts club on campus.

It was held despite an e-mail sent to students and faculty by University President Jehuda Reinharz earlier that day, in which Reinharz wrote,

5

JuicyCampus shut down due to financial troubles down last Thursday in light of decreasing finances and a decline in online ad revenue.

“The Museum will remain open, but in accordance with the Board’s vote, it will be more fully integrated into the University’s central educational mission.”

However, according to Amy Tsao ’10, a Studio Art major, some of the plans for the procession changed after Reinharz’s e-mail last Thursday.

“We had a casket made and we had a funeral planned, but obviously we had to change our plans a little bit,” Tsao said. “In the e-mail, [Reinharz] said that the Rose would remain open, so it’s not really a death anymore, … so we didn’t think it appropriate. This is meant to be more of a resurrection and just a signal that we do care,” she explained.

“Right now I’m just hoping to show that the students in the Brandeis community don’t think closing the Rose is an option,” Emily Leifer ’11, who organized the procession, said. “While earlier today [Reinharz] said that he never said that he was going to close the Rose, he has talked about making it into an educational facility, … not [a] public museum.”

Leifer said Reinharz’s announcement is just another way of saying that they’re going to close the museum. “I’m not OK with that,” she said.

As the students made their way across campus, they stopped in front of the Shapiro Campus Center to make speeches before arriving at the Rose Art Museum. At the campus center, Kathleen Rees ’10 explained

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2009

STUDENT LIFE

■ JuicyCampus was shut

■ Students carried signs

●

that what Reinharz “is still overlooking and what he overlooked once is that the Rose Art [Museum] is already a big part of art education of this school, and it does mean a lot to students.”

“The Rose has sent out their own statement that seemed to indicate that they would not remain open. It’s important that we don’t get confused or distracted and we maintain energy and find some constructive ways to let the administrators know that this isn’t over yet,” Brian Friedberg (GRAD) said in a speech.

Friedberg later said in an interview, “If we continue, maybe we will be able to actually save the Rose.”

Prof. Mark Auslander (ANTH) said that he attended the funeral procession to support his students. “I think that everyone I have talked to doesn’t understand [Reinharz’s email] yet,” Auslander said. “We’re sure that [Reinharz] will clarify what he said soon, but at this point we understand that the plan is still to sell art, the museum is still in danger and that the [Rose Art Museum] staff is fired,” he said.

“I believe that upon consideration, the University will decide that they really cannot close the museum; it’s too valuable a resource,” Auslander said.

— Nashrah Rahman contributed reporting.

Editor’s Note: Emily Leifer is an Arts staff writer for the Justice.

JuicyCampus, the online gossip forum created in August 2007 for college campuses, was shut down last Thursday, according to a press release distributed on that day from Matt Ivester, the founder and CEO of JuicyCampus.

“In these historically difficult economic times, online ad revenue has plummeted and venture capital funding has dissolved,” Ivester wrote in the press release.

“I’d like to thank everyone who has engaged in meaningful discussion about online privacy and Internet censorship,” Ivester wrote in the press release. “JuicyCampus has raised issues that have passionate advocates on both sides, and I hope that dialogue will continue. While there are parts of JuicyCampus that none of us will miss—the mean-spirited posts and personal attacks—it has also been a place for the fun, lighthearted gossip of college life.

I hope that is how it is remembered,” he wrote.

The media contacts from JuicyCampus did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

The site was controversial at Brandeis as it started gaining popularity last semester when students, under the protection of anonymity, began posting libelous information. “The site enabled some students who are ethically and morally challenged to anonymously hurt, through the words the world could read about other Brandeis students,” Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.

While the Web site had over a million visitors each month from over 500 campuses, “Those in the administration that knew of [JuicyCampus] were appalled that it existed and that our students would post messages on it,” Sawyer wrote.

“I despised every aspect of [JuicyCampus],” said Damien Lehfeldt ’09, who created a Facebook group called “Shut Down Juicy Campus at Brandeis” over Thanksgiving break. “It was a complete contradiction to everything this University stands for. Students were singled out and encouraged to kill themselves. Some posters wrote about their desires for cancer to take the lives of their professors,” he said.

Other students took a more ambivalent take towards the Web site. “I knew that those posting the horrible things about our peers had serious problems that they have yet to face. But similarly, I felt that those who took the accusations too seriously really needed to take a cold hard look at who they were and why they were letting a Web site upset them so much,” Alissa Cherry ’10 wrote.

Efforts had been put in place by the administration to help students who were worried about the posts cope

with the Web site. The administration discussed the possibility of blocking the site from the school server, Sawyer explained. “We assisted individual students who were seeking advice regarding the site. We worked with student government regarding the proper Brandeis response and to educate the student community,” Sawyer wrote. He added that the adminstration also assisted groups such as anti JuicyCampus Facebook groups that were creating strategies for attacking the site through legal means.

The Student Union had been aware of the Brandeis JuicyCampus page and was in communication with the Department of Student Life regarding how best to address the situation. The Union encouraged students to write to advertisers on the Web site and post friendly lyrics on the site, which ultimately dropped the number of posts targeting Brandeis students.

“We always felt that any restriction of free speech by the University should be avoided ,” Student Union Director of Communications Jamie Ansorge ’09 wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.

Some students thought that by spreading the word to decrease the number of people who actually visited the site, they could ultimately shut it down. Rachel Horn ’09 wrote in an email to the Justice, “Ultimately, I hoped that through student efforts to publicize the harm that many JuicyCampus posters did to others through their unnecessary attacks, other people would stop visiting the site as a show of support, and it would be shut down when advertisers realized they weren’t going to reach a good audience.”

The shutting down of the Web site came as a surprise to some who didn’t think it would be terminated for financial reasons. “I thought it would probably be brought down by someone suing the Web site for slander or by a large public outcry against the site,” Sarah Gelman ’09 said.

However, Lehfeldt explained that the site began to lose major advertising sponsors like Google, Victoria’s Secret and Toys“R”US after students from different universities e-mailed sponsors to make them aware of “the kind of malice JuicyCampus promoted.”

“Slowly, these sponsors withdrew from the Web site, and toward the end, [JuicyCampus’s] advertising was from companies like “Pimp Out Your Cellphone,” Lehfeldt said. “I didn’t even bother contacting them. I knew we had won at that point,” he said.

Horn said she felt let down by the Brandeis community after learning about the site. “I always appreciated our community here because I felt that, at heart, most people here were really kind and represented a more mature cross-section of students than your average college,” she wrote.

“After reading what some people put on the site ... some of my positive feelings about the general Brandeis community were erased.”

“I think that the shutdown of JuicyCampus is a huge victory for our community,” Gelman said. “It served no real purpose except to disseminate nasty gossip,” she said.

STUDENT UNION

Senators could be censured or impeached if attendance policy is reinforced ■ The policy, titled the

Attendance Improvement Act of 2009, was tabled at the last two Senate meetings.

By HARRY SHIPPS JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Student Union Senate is considering an act that would reinforce the current senatorial attendance policy for meetings and possibly institute a maximum number of meetings senators are allowed to miss with or without an excuse before facing punishments such as censure or impeachment, said Executive Senator and Acting Vice President Andrew Brooks ’09, who introduced the act.

Senate procedure dictates that bylaws cannot be voted on until the week after they are introduced. The act, titled the Attendance Improvement Act of 2009, was originally in-

troduced at the Feb. 1 Senate meeting, at which it was immediately tabled and set aside for further action during the next meeting. At last Sunday’s meeting, the bylaw was again tabled because the language of the act had not been decided.

According to the current rule found in Article IV, Section I of the Student Union bylaws, “Senators shall attend all meetings of the Senate and committees on which they are assigned, except in extenuating circumstances.

If a Senator must miss a Senate meeting, s/he must notify the President of the Union Senate in advance of the meeting.”

Brooks said he believes some senators have been “abusing the bylaw,” and that “they have taken ‘extenuating circumstance’ to mean any sort of excuse.” By instituting the Improvement Act, Brooks said he hopes to clearly define “extenuating circumstance,” to place a cap on the number of missed meetings, excused or unexcused, and to put clear punishments

such as censure and impeachment in place for senators who violate the bylaw.

The exact language of the bill has not yet been decided, but the cap number Brooks suggested is a maximum of two absences, excused or unexcused, before a senator is subject to punishment in the form of censure or impeachment. This number is only tentative; the exact language is still unclear, and several senators have advocated a higher cap or no cap at all.

Student Union President Jason Gray ’10 said, “I think that attendance is important, and the Senate has the prerogative to do what it thinks is appropriate so that we have a system that is set up to serve students as best we can.” Beyond this, Gray declined to comment, saying that the issue was outside his purview as president and that he would support whatever decision the senate makes.

Brooks and several other senators cited the Feb. 1 Senate meeting as an

example to illustrate the necessity of a stricter attendance policy. At that meeting, the senate had to wait twoand-a-half hours to achieve quorum, the minimum number of senators needed to conduct official Senate business, and had to turn away several clubs seeking charter because the club representatives could not wait until quorum was reached.

Several senators have echoed Brooks’ sentiments, saying the lack of attendance impedes the Senate’s ability to function and that action must be taken to ensure that a majority of senators are present for all senate sessions.

Other senators have expressed concerns, however, that the proposed cap on absences is too low and that it does not leave enough room for legitimate unforeseen circumstances. Brooks said that an excused absence includes any time “a situation arises which is out of … personal control.” Some senators have said that they are worried about the possibility that more than

two ‘excused absences’ could arise in a given semester which, under the proposed act, would lead to punitive action despite the ‘excused’ label.

Castle Quad Senator Nathan Robinson ’11 said that he would vote against the bylaw because he feels that it may be used as “a way to remove senators more easily.” Robinson added that many senators, including Brooks, are “very, very upset about attendance,” and that many have talked about impeachment as a punishment.

As currently proposed, the bill is not retroactive, so if passed, the guidelines it establishes will not effect any senators who may be in violation of the current attendance policy only. Brooks declined to comment about which senators were currently in violation of the attendance policy. He did, however, say that the records are supposed to be public and that when the bylaw comes up for discussion by the Senate, the attendance records of all senators will be read into the public record.

6

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2009

RASKY: PR firm hired to aid Univ with Rose CONTINUED FROM 1 did not wish for the cost of the firm to affect the University’s general operating expenses. “[Rasky Baerlein is] charged with helping the University present a fuller picture of the varied efforts now underway to seize the economic challenges we, and all other institutions of higher education, are facing in proactive, inspired, and creative ways,” wrote Reinharz.

Reinharz initially told members of campus media organizations at the press conference that the exact duration of the Rasky Baerlein contract was not set in stone: “Maybe 30 days, maybe 40 days, it may be two months, … but it’s temporary,” he said then. Reinharz declined to comment at the press conference on how much the University was paying the firm for its services, but did note at the press conference that he had taken a 10-percent pay cut to help finance the hire.

Reinharz wrote in his e-mail to the faculty listserv that the contract with the firm was approved by the Chair of the Board of Trustees, Malcolm L. Sherman, and its two Vice Chairs, Jack M. Connors Jr. and Gershon Kekst.

President of Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications, Inc. Joe Baerlein said that Reinharz called him Feb. 2 to help Brandeis for two months. “This is a limited assignment, and again, most of the work we do in these times of what you call ‘crisis assignments’ are of limited duration, of pretty high intensity, … so we see this as no more than a twomonth assignment,” Baerlein said.

Referring to the increased press coverage due to the Rose, Baerlein explained, “The [Brandeis] communications operation has been inundated with media requests not just from the region but nationally and even internationally, so we’ve been brought in to assist in both getting out the response as well as clarifying what the board’s directive was to the president and the administration.”

The firm has met with senior administrators and senior faculty selected from the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering Committee, which was created to coordinate proposals for the academic programs at undergraduate and graduate levels, and department chairs, Reinharz wrote in the e-mail.

Vice President for Communications Lorna Miles confirmed, “I’ve been working with [the firm] in terms of just the media questions with regard to the [Rose].”

“I suspect that over the next week or two we’ll be having additional meetings with faculty and some of the alumni and perhaps the students,” Baerlein said. He elaborated that over the last week the firm has mostly helped the University respond to national and international media requests regarding the Rose.

Rasky Baerlein is also hired by Lasell College and Northeastern University.

Dean for Institutional Advancement at Lasell College Ruth Shuman said the institution hired Rasky Baerlein in October to enhance Lasell’s standing in the higher education sector. Although the firm has only helped Lasell with general public relations so far, Shuman said, “we are talking to them about the possibility of doing some media training to work with faculty and staff.”

Baerlein said that the firm will not be training the Brandeis communication staff.

“I have great confidence that this renowned firm will be a key asset in our recovering lost ground,” wrote Reinharz.

—Hannah Kirsch and Mike Prada contributed reporting.

●

THE JUSTICE

STUDENT UNION

Four new Union members elected ■ A bylaw banning mobile

polling from future elections was also passed Sunday.

By DESTINY AQUINO JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Three of the four newly elected Student Union members—Associate Justice for the Union Judiciary Matt Kriegsman ’11, Village Quad Senator Avi Rhodes ’09 and Ridgewood Quad Senator Aaron Mitchell Finegold ’09—were sworn in by Student Union President Jason Gray ’10 at last Sunday’s Senate meeting.

Senator for the Class of 2010 Amanda Hecker was unable to attend the meeting but said she hopes to be sworn in at the next Senate meeting.

In prior Student Union elections, candidates used mobile polling to encourage more voter participation.

Union Secretary Tia Chatterjee ’09 explained in an e-mail to the Justice, “Mobile polling is when a student brings their lap top [sic] and sets it

up somewhere like Sherman or Usdan and as people pass by, gets them to vote. The reasoning behind not allowing it is that if a candidate’s asking a person to vote with their laptop, a student could feel pressured to vote for that candidate because they are sitting right there.”

Chatterjee wrote that she decided to ban mobile polling for this election because “during the sign-up period for elections, [Student Union Executive Senator and Acting Vice President Andrew Brooks ’09] had mentioned to me that the Senate was considering a bylaw that would prohibit it. I figured I would add the rule to see what impact it had on elections.”

The Student Union Senate passed the bylaw at last Sunday’s meeting that will ban mobile polling from future elections, Brooks said.

Brooks explained that mobile polling made him feel uncomfortable because it pressured people to vote and was an invasion of privacy.

“In this country, we value the secret ballot; we value privacy,” he said.

Brooks explained that the bylaw

will allow the elections commission to set up polling stations around campus so that voter turnout will not be affected by the bylaw.

Chatterjee wrote in a follow-up email that she thought that “without mobile polling in future elections, there would be a decreased amount of student turnout,” especially in winter elections, because they do not occur regularly like fall or spring elections, so “the student body as a whole doesn’t realize when they are occurring,” she wrote.

Kriegsman defeated Bret Matthew ’11 with about 70 percent of the vote. “It’s something I’ve been looking forward to for quite a while,” Kriegsman said. “To be able to practice what I study and to have people support me, to do that and help out the community is unbelievable,” Rhodes, who ran unopposed, explained that he chose to run for Village Quad senator because he “wanted to give back to the community and help in any way I could.

One of the biggest things affecting the Village right now is, unfortunately, they’re turning the Village

into a midyear dorm, and I find it horrible that some of the residents that really love the Village won’t be allowed to live here next year, so I’m really trying to explore other options to see if some of the residents can still live here next year,” he said.

Finegold, who also ran unopposed, said he hopes to “foster quad pride through the successful planning and execution of quad events such as Ridgewoodstock,” a “fun outdoorsy event like Woodstock in 1969 except safer,” he wrote in an email to the Justice. Finegold also plans to voice “my quad’s and upperclassmen’s concerns as the University continues through its perpetual mission to deal with the financial crisis.”

Hecker said she plans to “get more involved and have student voice be more important on campus,” she said. “I really want to further that and throw some really cool events for the Class of 2010.” she added.

—Jillian Wagner contributed reporting.

MUSEUM: Reinharz clarifies Rose’s future CONTINUED FROM 1 appropriate, … an orderly sale or other disposition of works from the University’s collection.” The resolution also specified, “The proceeds shall be used to help address the University’s needs and preserve the University’s assets during this period of economic challenge.”

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 “if and when we need to sell, we have the option of selling.” 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 press release misrepresented what the board actually said, as did the initial statements,” Reinharz told the Justice at a press conference held last Thursday for campus media.

Chairman of the Rose Board of Overseers Jonathan Lee said about the Feb. 5 e-mail, “I think this is what you call spin doctoring. [The administration is] not going to run the Rose Art Museum as the Rose Art Museum. … They still intend to sell the art, and they still intend to kill the museum,” he said.

Lee told the Justice last week that he will meet with members of the attorney general’s office to pursue legal blocks of the closing of the Rose Art Museum and sale of its artwork.

According to Lee, looking into donor restrictions and remaining Rose building and staff salary endowments could halt or delay the museum closing and art sales. He said this week that “I don’t think anything

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

SETTING THINGS STRAIGHT: University President Jehuda Reinharz speaks to campus media at a press conference last week. changes” about his plans to try to halt the repurposing of the museum.

Lee also expressed doubt about general University transparency.

“There’s the open model [of a university], and then there’s the closed model. Brandeis is the old-fashioned closed model, where one man runs everything,” he said.

After Thursday’s open forum, Student Union President Jason Gray ’10 called Reinharz’s Feb. 5 e-mail “a good step. I’m looking forward to see how this all proceeds from here.” He

later said, “I think that as far as students understanding what the University is talking about [in the Rose decision], the way that really developed is through the open forums that we had the past two weeks. I think that really gives people the opportunity to understand a decision that is made in the context of the economic situation,” Gray said.

“I think [Reinharz] was great today,” said Michal Pearl ’11 after the open forum last Thursday. “Most

importantly, he admitted to be wrong in the way that he presented the issue to begin with. … I think it’s a bad time to sell art, but if it’s got to go, it’s got to go.”

“I’m at least glad that [Reinharz] admitted he was wrong,” Jessica Stearns ’10 said. “He’s starting to accept responsibility for the way the administration has been acting instead of just deflecting it.

—Mike Prada contributed reporting.

FUNDS: Fundraising for Science Center not completed CONTINUED FROM 1 Science Center and Ridgewood. The Board of Trustees approved the plan in November 2005. This plan anticipated $80 million in debt and $74 million needed in gifts to fund the construction of the new Shapiro Science Center, along with $20 million in debt and $15 million in gifts to fund the construction of the new Ridgewood Quad.

In accordance with this plan, the University took out $60 million in debt in 2006 and $40 million last August to fund both construction projects, French said. According to Vice President for Financial Affairs and Treasurer Maureen Murphy, an additional $5 million in “project costs” was incurred along with each of these loans.

The University currently has $65 million in gifts and future commitments intended for the Science Complex Renewal project, Vice

President for Capital Projects Dan Feldman said, adding that the University is still in the process of fundraising for the new residence quad. The University has, however, paid all the bills for the construction, he said.

The downturn in the economy has slowed the University’s plan to make up the projected $74 million in gifts for the Science Center and $15 million for Ridgewood Quad, as the school has received less than it predicted in fundraising and grants due to the troubled economy, French said. “The economy has also impacted the amount of money that we’re having to allocate for financial aid, and it is putting pressure on the budget,” he said.

“As part of the plan, we had made assumptions about gifts that would support the operating budget, and we’ve seen donors impacted in terms of their ability to meet those obligations.”

However, Murphy explained,

“There’s not a direct correlation between the budgeting gap and the debt that we took out.” She later noted, “If you had known four years ago what could have happened today, would we have planned differently?

Maybe.”

French said the University had reduced its projection of gifts from $14 million down to $10 million for this year. “We’ve also had an assumption that we would have about $15 million a year in money that would go into the endowment to help build the endowment, and it’s been very, very difficult … to expect that we’ll meet that, and that’s going to impact how much revenue we have,” French said.

He said at last Thursday’s campus media conference that the debt, endowment and gift revenue funds are interconnected and affect each other in University finances.

“Debt has not been used in anticipation of gifts,” French stressed. “The debt has been used to finance capital

projects pursuant to a plan that included both debt and gifts.” He said the University had been working on bringing that debt down. Repayment of the debt is part of the University’s plan to balance its budget as a whole, Murphy said, and includes all sources of revenue for the University.

“There’s not a one-to-one source,” she said.

Murphy said the University’s scheduled debt payments have not been directly affected by the economy because the University took out fixedrate debt, whose payments had been planned far in advance of the economic downturn. “It was actually hugely to our benefit that the rate didn’t increase,” Feldman said. “It hasn’t become a burden by virtue of the economic downturn,” Feldman said, adding that many colleges and institutions were adversely affected.

—Hannah Kirsch and Mike Prada contributed reporting.

THE JUSTICE

just

features

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2009

7

VERBATIM | Jackie Mason I have enough money to last me the rest of my life, unless I buy something.

ON THIS DAY...

FUN FACT

Volleyball was invented by W.G. Morgan in 1895.

The word democracy is banned in online chat rooms in China.

FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS: On Jan. 8, 1969, Brandeis students took over Ford Hall to speak out against the administration’s treatment of racial minorities. Left, students hold picket signs outside Ford Hall.

Below, students congregate outside the building.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ROBERT D. FARBER UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ROBERT D. FARBER UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Demanding

change Remembering the Ford Hall student takeover

By NIRJA PAREKH JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

The words Malcolm X University were seen on buttons distributed throughout campus. Crowds gathered as a group of students took hold of a single building, refusing to leave and chaining the doors shut.

It’s a scene too cinematic to be real. Yet it was reality on a winter day at Brandeis, Jan. 8, 1969, when more than 60 Brandeis students took over Ford Hall, the towering red brick building that housed the communications department, classrooms and laboratories. During the 11 days of the takeover, the students, many of whom members of the Brandeis AfroAmerican Organization, presented a list of 10 demands to the University’s administration.

The Joseph and Clara Ford Hall was torn down in 2000 to make room for the Shapiro Campus Center, which now stands in its place. It once stood in the middle of campus.

On Jan. 22, 2009, the University Archives and Special Collections Department commemorated the 40th anniversary of the Ford Hall takeover with a “Show and Tell” event featuring University documents and photographs on display.

Prior to the takeover, racial and political tensions were already rising across the United States. Months before the event, Brandeis students proposed that the administration make several key changes to the University’s treatment of minorities.

According to Prof. Gordon Fellman (SOC), a visit from a sociology pro-

fessor and black student from San Francisco State University further motivated students to take action against the administration.

The professor and student spoke about their university’s five-month strike, which started in November 1968 and focused on the establishment of equal opportunity education and formal ethnic studies classes.

Fellman said he believed the discussion “taunted black students … [to] take over a building” at Brandeis and enflamed already high tensions among students on campus.

The day after the talk, students took over Ford Hall to call attention to the administration’s failure to change their treatment of minorities.

Faculty received telegrams at their homes from then-University President Morris Abram calling for an emergency faculty meeting in OlinSang.

After chaining the front doors shut, the Afro-American Organization refused to leave the building until the administration fulfilled their demands.

Fellman was one of six faculty members who bypassed the locked doors and climbed into the window of Ford Hall to talk with the students occupying the building and hear their perspectives. “[The takeover was] an amazing act of organization, defiance and triumph,” Fellman said. There was a “buzz” and energy about the takeover among students, faculty and staff.

The demands included increased year-round recruitment of black students and professors, the establish-

ment of an Afro-American Center designed by black students and the establishment of 10 full-tuition Martin Luther King Jr. scholarships for black students.

The takeover “was chaotic and [complex] … on both sides,” Assistant Archivist Maggie McNeely, who researched and organized the exhibit, said, referring to the students that participated and the administration.

To represent student and administrative voices, McNeely featured numerous first-person accounts and primary sources such as student bulletins and alumni letters that reflected assenting and dissenting opinions on the takeover.

In addition, the exhibit featured many publications and flyers from the students who occupied Ford Hall and supported the takeover from outside. For example, the “Strike Daily” was produced on Jan. 15, 16 and 17, the last three days of occupation.

These flyers gave readers a daily log of events, perspectives of occupiers, and support from students and professors.

Fellman donated his personal archives of the takeover to the University Archives. The Gordon Fellman Collection houses copies of FBI files and photographs from the Ford Hall event and transcripts of interviews with students and faculty that Fellman procured from the FBI through the Freedom of Information Act, which allows citizens to acquire government documents.

According to University documents released after the takeover, one week after the beginning of the Ford Hall occupation, five black students entered the Reserve Room in Goldfarb Library. The students, all women, pushed reserve books off the shelves and forced the librarian in

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ROBERT D. FARBER UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

ACTION AGAINST INJUSTICE: The Afro-American Organization held a banner that read “Malcolm X University” out of frustration with the administration. charge at the time to walk to the front exit, where they left her before they ran away. The document said it was not clear if the incident was directly related to the Ford Hall takeover.

The images of the Reserve Room incident, with books littering the floors and aisles, are especially poignant for those familiar with the library setting, like Sherry Keen.

Keen, who is currently a librarian for technical services, has been working at Brandeis for over 40 years. She was at the library when an administrator came to tell her about Ford Hall.

“It was a scary time for staff,” Keen said. “One never knows what’s going to happen.”

Racial and political tensions plagued other university campuses as well. Harvard University experienced a student strike and building takeover over the Vietnam War in April 1969, and similar events happened a month later at Dartmouth University.

Reggie Sapp ’73 reflected on the tensions of the 1970s and their relation to Brandeis.

“To understand what happened at Brandeis, you’ve got to understand the mood of the country at the time,” Sapp said.

Sapp came to Brandeis as a part of the first class of Transitional Year Program students in 1968. He grew up on a small farm outside of Gainesville, Fla. and believes his experiences with racism showed him that with respect to people, it was “color on one side, white on the other.”

At Brandeis, Sapp said students were becoming conscious of racial injustices throughout the United States. Even students uninvolved with the Afro-American Organization staged strikes in and out of classes and maintained communica-

tion with the students inside the building, he said.

In addition to the 10 demands students made, they worked to establish a campuswide strike on classes, that included all students and faculty, to support the future of marginalized black students on campus. The strike was also part of students’ efforts to establish a stronger connection with the black community of Roxbury, Mass, through volunteer programs.

Sapp served as a key liaison to students and professors who didn’t participate in the takeover. He described faculty, such as Profs. Bob Lange (PHYS), Maurice Stein (SOC), Morris ‘Morrie’ Schwartz (SOC) and Fellman as “ahead of their time … and phenomenal [in] their own stature and accomplishments.”

In characterizing Brandeis after the takeover, Sapp recalls a heightened level of cultural and racial sensitivity.

The intellectual environment “felt great” for Sapp, who noted how Brandeis led the way for similar movements at other universities.

“The intellectual image at Brandeis was just incredible,” he said.

Fran Forman ’67, a current scholar at the Women’s Studies Research Center, was one of many alumni who signed a press release denouncing racism at Brandeis and extended support to the students in the Ford Hall takeover.

Forman said that what was happening at Brandeis reflected national trends at the time. Without the political and cultural chaos of that time period, she said, the United States would not be where it is today. She cited the election of President Obama as an example of the country’s progress.

“In a blink of an eye,” Forman said, “history changed.”

8

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2009

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THE JUSTICE

Reviving a legend

FHOTO COURTESY OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHANGING THE GAME: Former NFL player Benny Friedman is the subject of Murray Greenberg’s book, ‘Passing Game: Benny Friedman and the Transformation of Football.’

A football hero inspires author Murray Greenberg ’77

By HARRY SHIPPS JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Not an especially large man, wearing a neatly pressed sweater and dark slacks, author Murray Greenberg ’77 seems just about as far removed from the muddy playing fields and bone-jarring hits of 1920s American football as a person could be. Yet it is the 1920s, when the National Football League teetered on the edge of existence and when men risked the very real possibility of grievous injury for one or two hundred dollars a game, that serves as the backdrop for Greenberg’s book Passing Game: Benny Friedman and the Transformation of Football.

Speaking in Rapaporte Treasure Hall last Wednesday before an audience of students, members of the Waltham community and several Brandeis alumni, Greenberg talked about Benny Friedman, a 1920s football player and former Brandeis football coach. Friedman is the subject of Greenberg’s book, which was released in Nov. 2008. He committed suicide in 1982, a fact that Greenberg mentioned in the book but not the presentation.

According to Greenberg, Friedman was a “one-of-a-kind player with the unprecedented skill to throw the forward pass and the audac-

ity to do it time and again. … A sensation in the truest sense of the word.”

Greenberg quoted sportswriter Paul Gallico, who said that Friedman, the son of two orthodox Jewish immigrants, was “the greatest football player in the world.” From 1924 to 1934 Friedman played with the University of Michigan and then in the fledgling NFL with the Cleveland Bulldogs, Detroit Wolverines, New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers.

After his days as a football player, Friedman went on to become head football coach at City College of New York and then athletic director and head football coach at Brandeis University until the team was disbanded in 1959.

Greenberg’s fascination with Friedman’s life stems from his own experiences as an athlete. He was the goalie on the Brandeis men’s soccer team in 1976 when it won the National Championship and was inducted into the Brandeis University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997.

After graduating from Brandeis, Greenberg studied at Hofstra University School of Law and worked as a practicing attorney for over 20 years. Recently, however, Greenberg became interested in writing and took courses at the Columbia School of Journalism, hoping to

pursue a career as an author.

Greenberg first learned of Benny Friedman at a Hall of Fame Tribute dinner. Many of Friedman’s former players, known as “Benny’s Boys,” had been trying to resurrect Friedman’s legacy after he had largely faded from the public eye and the football hierarchy.

Inspired by these men’s passion for Friedman, Greenberg made it his mission to shed light on this largely forgotten icon.

“I felt like I had been let in on some kind of secret, but it shouldn’t have been a secret, and I felt like it was a story that really should be told,” Greenberg said of Friedman’s legacy.

Friedman’s story is “more than just a football story,” Greenberg said. “It’s really a human interest story. It’s the story of rediscovery of a genuine American innovator and hero to the Jewish community who had fallen through the cracks of time.”

To emphasize Greenberg’s significance in the American Jewish community, Greenberg quoted Hal Leibowitz, sports editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer in the 1920s and ’30s, “‘To American Jews, more than a savior of the New York Giants, or of the National Football League, more than a revolutionary forward passer, Benny Friedman was their hero.’”

In Friedman, Greenberg, too, found a hero, impressed by his role as an athlete and a Jew. “This young man, this sensational, unique football player was the embodiment of the tough Jew; the living, breathing retort to the stereotype that Jews excelled only in the intellectual realm,” he said.

Friedman’s story chipped away at the stereotypes of Jews in America and was an inspiration to young Jews all over the country.

“He was celebrated by Jews throughout the nation,” Greenberg said, adding that on road trips, Friedman frequently spoke at synagogues.

Only recently, due in great part to the determined efforts of Benny’s Boys and the influence of Passing Game, has Friedman begun to receive the recognition Greenberg believes he deserves. In 2005, he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in a ceremony attended by many of his former players and Greenberg.

Just as Greenberg was largely unaware of Friedman’s story until the 1998 Hall of Fame dinner, many Brandeis students present at Greenberg’s lecture were in the dark about this figure in the University’s history. Said Eric Frieman ’12, “I never knew that someone that amazing coached the football team.”

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2009

Evening of charity

RACHEL CORKE/the Justice

VOICES OF HOPE: Voices of Soul was one of several Brandeis a cappella groups that performed at the Winter Gala last Saturday. The benefit raised money for the non-profit organization hopeFound.

Brandeis student hosts a benefit to raise homelessness awareness

By REBECCA KLEIN JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

The light murmur of a piano fills the space amid the sounds of people chatting and glasses clinking.

Waiters and waitresses offer appetizers as a photographer greets guests adorned in cocktail dresses and suits.

Surrounded by the elegant decor of the Faculty club last Saturday, 200 guests gathered to help fight homelessness. The 2009 Winter Gala was held in support of the nonprofit organization hopeFound.

The event, which had a coat and tie dress code, raised $4000 for hopeFound, an organization dedicated to helping the homeless in the Boston area.

Aaron Mitchell Finegold ’09 planned the event to raise awareness about homelessness in the Boston area. Finegold was inspired by hopeFound after learning of its work during his sophomore year at Brandeis.

“I was really impressed by the uniquely holistic approach that [hopeFound] take[s] to helping homeless people not only find emergency relief but also become self-sufficient,” Finegold said.

Established in 1983, hopeFound is based in Jamaica Plain, Mass. and shelters more than 3,500 homeless adults in the greater Boston area.

The organization also offers ongoing services to more than 139 individuals who once were homeless. Specifically, hopeFound works to help the homeless become self sufficient and runs services based around recovery, employment and housing, said Barbara Shenker, hopeFound director of

development.

Although the organization was initially a homeless emergency shelter, it has since become a more comprehensive agency.

“Quickly after establishing themselves as a shelter [hopeFound] realized that [although] that kind of service is necessary, there is so much more that the people who were visiting them at the shelter needed,” Finegold said.

Finegold said that hopeFound realized they needed to help their clients learn how to live life independently.

“They needed help getting jobs, they needed help with stabilization [if they had] substance abuse problems,” Finegold said.

Finegold began planning the event by approaching different clubs and departments on campus to request donations. He collaborated with Student Events, the Student Union, the Office of Communications, the Office of the Arts and the Social Justice and Social Policy program for help with finances, volunteers and auction items.

Finegold said that through the gala, he was “introducing Brandeis students to a cause that is right here [in Boston]. It’s important because it’s one more way that they can give back, … and it is my personal connection, which I’m sharing with the rest of the community.”

The event included a silent auction, a raffle, a brief performance

by Brandeis a cappella group Voices of Soul and a DVD presentation profiling several hopeFound clients who the organization interviewed about 16 months ago.

The individuals represented “the kind of familiar stories that

we [often see]: largely men, many who came from backgrounds of poverty, substance abuse, long years on the street, lots of mental health issues,” Shenker said.

However, Shenker told gala attendees that the average profile of a hopeFound client has recently changed.

“The changed stories we are hearing now are more related to people being laid off, people who have not been chronically homeless, people who are living from paycheck to paycheck. We haven’t seen [that] in the past,” she said.

Shenker spoke of the increase in demand for hopeFound services in the past year, especially from women. Women’s demand for hopeFound services has increased by 51 percent.

In general, Shenker said, because of the nation’s recent economic problems, the demands for emergency shelter have gone up 28 percent since September.

Jarred Fitterman ’12 was impressed by the organization of the gala as well as the information he learned about hopeFound.

“I thought the atmosphere [at the Winter Gala] was classy, and people were truly interested in the cause,” Fitterman said. “I learned a lot about the resources available for homeless people [through hopeFound].”

For Shenker, the goal of the event was to provide people with a better understanding of homelessness and hopeFound efforts to end it.

“I think homelessness is a national problem,” she said. “It’s never going to be solved by organizations; it really takes the involvement of everyone in the community.”

SARA BRANDENBURG/the Justice

A COMMUNITY EFFORT: Above, Aaron Mitchell Finegold ’09, who planned the event, speaks to gala guests. Below, students participate in the silent auction that raised money for the non-profit organization hopeFound.

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2009

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THE JUSTICE

the Justice Established 1949

Brandeis University

MIKE PRADA, Editor-in-Chief ANDREA FINEMAN, Managing Editor HANNAH KIRSCH, Deputy Editor J OEL HERZFELD, DAVID SHEPPARD -B RICK and DANIEL D. SNYDER, Associate Editors JILLIAN WAGNER, News Editor SHANA D. LEBOWITZ, Features Editor REBECCA B LADY, Acting Forum Editor IAN CUTLER, Sports Editor JUSTINE ROOT, Arts Editor JULIAN AGIN -LIEBES and MAX B REITSTEIN MATZA Photography Editors KATHRYN MARABLE, Layout Editor B RIAN FROMM, Acting Copy Editor C OURTNEY B REEN and SARA ROBINSON, Advertising Editors

PR firm is a waste of resources With the hiring of Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications, a Bostonarea public relations firm, the University administration is trying to reverse the damage done by its disastrous communication of the Jan. 26 decision regarding the future of the Rose Art Museum. Unfortunately, it’s too late for that. The media storm has already passed and hurt Brandeis’ reputation, and any coverage of the administration’s backpedaling won’t be anywhere near as widespread. In other words, it’s a lost cause. Honesty, in this case, is a better policy than any PR wordsmith could devise.

Were the firm being hired for more than just Rose repairs or to train Brandeis’ in-house communications staff and other administrators in the handling of future announcements, then its hiring would be justified. But that is not the firm’s purpose according to University President Jehuda Reinharz, and hiring a high-profile PR firm to try to repair our already-damaged reputation is not worth the cost.

President Reinharz and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Peter French have volunteered to pay for the firm’s services out of their own paychecks, each taking a 10percent pay cut in order to do so. Yet the nature of this gesture is undermined when some of those funds go to a cause like PR instead of into the University’s operating budget or endowment. At best, the gesture is admirable but misguided.

President Reinharz’s recent e-mail announcement, in which he left many members of the community befuddled as to whether or not the Rose is actually remaining open or being fiscally gutted, underscores the need for such a

Save funds with straight talk new policy. At this point, the frustration lies not in the termination of the Rose but in the ambiguity and confusion with which the administration is treating such a delicate issue.

In order to clarify the exact state of the museum, President Reinharz should come forward and answer these questions for the student body: First, initial reports implied that the Rose is closing as a museum, but President Reinharz’s recent message left this statement in question. His statement that the museum will be “more fully integrated into the University’s central educational mission” does not tell us if it will remain open as a public museum. Right now, those who have not closely examined the differences in the language of President Reinharz’s e-mails may well be under the impression that the Rose will remain open indefinitely and unchanged.

Second, what art is the school selling, and when does it plan to do so? As more restrictions to the selling of the collection arise—the salary endowments, the donor wills—the administration’s constant adjustment of policy reads more like an attempt to sidestep these obstacles by clouding the issue.

As it stands, the administration has made it seem as if the museum is both staying open and keeping its collection. If this is the case, and these statements are true, then why have we gone through the trouble of upsetting the student body and damaging our reputation? If the administration has merely hired Rasky Baerlein to placate the press and the school, then we are only wasting time and resources.

Gray goes above and beyond Our student government, like all governments, gets its share of criticism, much of it deserved. But one member of the student government who deserves much more praise than criticism is Student Union President Jason Gray ’10. We at Brandeis are lucky to have a student leader like Mr. Gray in this tumultuous era in our University’s history. Mr. Gray’s accessibility and constant vigilance have benefited our student body in significant ways over the past few weeks.

Mr. Gray has consistently risen above the sometimes petty arguments that frequently embroil members of any government. The high-stakes Jan. 22 faculty budget meeting, which featured a student protest—and promptly became old news in light of the Rose Art Museum decision—kick-started a series of student-administration conflicts that kept Mr. Gray in meetings with both parties daily. After the Friday, Jan. 16 mass e-mail informing students that they could no longer use their merit scholarships toward study abroad, Mr. Gray sprang into action, scheduling meetings the very next Monday to try to get the decision overturned.

In the ensuing days, the administration began to re-examine its initial decision and is continuing to do so as we speak. Throughout the semester, Mr. Gray has been mediating between

Union pres is a model leader frustrated students and administration in a professional, effective way.

By helping to organizing open forums and helping to argue for the students’ cause in administrative meetings, he has served the student body well.

At the Jan. 22 faculty budget meeting, a conflict between Innermost Parts bloggers demanding to be allowed inside and Assistant Provost of Graduate Student Affairs Alwina Bennett threatened to turn ugly when police were called in to restrain the bloggers. After hearing of the situation from observers, Mr. Gray came to the scene, where he respectfully approached the police officers, asking to talk to the angry students as their peer and leader. The officers conceded, and Mr. Gray calmly talked the bloggers down. The bloggers and police left the building, and no arrests were made.

Mr. Gray signs his e-mails, “Yours in service.” Such a closing might sound affected from another student government representative. Mr. Gray, however, has truly made good on his role as our most powerful student leader. His office is up for re-election this spring, and if he chooses to run again, his track record so far this semester will make him a formidable candidate. If not, he’ll be a hard act to follow.

ELI TUKACHINSKY/the Justice

Study abroad merit awards a must for IGS

By STEPHANIE KAROL SPECIAL TO THE JUSTICE

I was incredibly disturbed and shocked to hear about the new study abroad policy.

According to the Office of Study Abroad’s Web site, “Students may not receive any form of merit aid while on study abroad.” These words represent a breach of “contract” to those who, like me, were told upon their acceptance that their merit-based scholarships would cover all four years, including semesters spent abroad. This is particularly egregious when one considers the character of the Brandeis student body, especially our merit award recipients and students pursuing the International and Global Studies major.

Brandeis attracts a class of individuals eager to realize their global citizenship in an experiential manner. I do not mean that this is the top priority of every Brandeis student, but I think that this generalization, however broad, more than stands up to scrutiny.

This holds true in particular when one visits the Brandeis Web site. Quite prominently displayed is a link to “Global Brandeis.” While this link does not directly pertain to studying abroad, it is directly correlated to this most flaunted of the University’s values. But is Brandeis all talk? Why should the University exhibit such an admiration for global citizenship— by which I mean the process of experiencing a foreign part of the world for an extended period of time, such as the length of a semester—but then deliberately throw obstacles in the path of merit award recipients trying to attain it?

The fact that one of Brandeis’ most popular majors is the International and Global Studies program is highly indicative of the level of global awareness on this campus. IGS is a wonderful program with much to offer any student who chooses to pursue it.

However, these days, IGS is looking less attractive to those with merit-based scholarships because it has an international experience requirement. I do not suggest that IGS should get rid of this requirement because to do so would significantly impair the program. Studying abroad is essential to the IGS major, and pursuing the program using only lectures, textbooks and the Internet would leave graduates entirely unprepared for the real-world application of their classroom learning.

But, when someone like me, a Justice Brandeis Scholar, chooses to attend Brandeis, this decision is based on a contract with the school that implies that the cost of receiving one degree will not exceed the cost of any other. Justice Brandeis Scholars pay no tuition so long as a certain GPA is upheld. I personally resent being charged extra for following my dreams in choosing the IGS major and, therefore, studying abroad.

Recently, I have looked into doing a summer study abroad in lieu of a fall or spring study abroad. I am looking into programs in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I learned that many summer study abroad experiences do not fulfill IGS’ international experience requirement because of a small difference in the number of credit hours involved in the summer versus during the fall or spring semester. Additionally, if I were to find a summer internship in Buenos Aires, this would not count either because summer internships are meant to fill this requirement if they are domestically based with an international focus.

It is not impossible that one of the summer programs in Buenos Aires will fulfill the requirement, but if it does not, and an internship in Buenos Aires is out of the question, I will be effectively barred from completing an IGS major the way I feel an IGS major is meant to be completed—with some experience of another part of the world and culture.

I understand that Brandeis has been hit hard by the economic crisis and that cuts are being made in many places besides merit aid portability. However, the University is wronging those of us who are here on merit scholarship.

The study abroad experience is key to producing the kind of global citizen that Brandeis openly strives to create. Adding a higher price tag for this experience, which is also a literal requirement for one of Brandeis’ most popular majors, is completely unethical. Breaking contract with those the University determined to have earned merit-based aid is likewise unethical. If it behooves the University not to make such contracts for future classes or to raise the GPA standards for current students wishing to study abroad, then so be it, but the University has an agreement with current Brandeis students that must not be broken.

OP-BOX Quote of the Week “To quote President Obama, ‘I screwed up.’”

—University President Jehuda Reinharz apologizes in an email to the entire campus for his handling of the Rose Art Museum situation. (See News story, page 1.)

Brandeis Talks Back What’s your reaction to University President Jehuda Reinharz’s apology for confusion over the Rose Art Museum proceedings?

AKILAH JONES ’12 “I guess I accept it.”

HILA LANDESMAN ’11 “Actions are stronger than words, so we’ll see what he does now.”

CHRISTIAN MANI (GRAD) “It’s quite a prudent act, if he made a mistake and came out ... that he is actually sorry for what he did.”

WAJIDA A. SYED ’12 “Oh, God.”

The writer is an International and Global Studies major and a member of the Class of 2012.

THE JUSTICE

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Suspending golf program is risky

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2009

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Use PR warily to attract more students

To the Editor: In response to your article “Golf program to terminate at season’s end,” (Feb. 3): I was a junior in college when Bill Shipman took over as coach of our golf team. I can tell you firsthand that he put in monumental effort transforming a program that was best characterized as unmanaged, unfocused and underachieving into a top-performing team. A change like that does not happen overnight, and in this case things were certainly still on the upward trend.

Without stability in the program, all is undone as current players lose focus and recruits go elsewhere. In the board meeting this was just a $22,000 light switch, but when they go to turn it back on, see how long it takes for the program to return to a level Brandeis can be truly proud of.

—William Tickle ’03

Rebecca

BLADY MAELSTRÖM

I don’t often think in terms of mathematics, but Brandeis is currently experiencing a financial crisis whose ramifications have put together an equation that has been troubling my thoughts: Bad public relations plus efforts to attract prospective students equals … what? Grabbing the attention of impressionable high school seniors is not as simple as throwing around tidbits of our latest brilliant economic maneuvers.

Fortunately, the authorities seem to be working steadily at solving this deceptively simplelooking puzzle of equating two very contrary concepts, according to a Feb. 5 article from the Boston Globe: “To help quell public outcry and internal dissent over the decision to shutter the museum, University President Jehuda Reinharz and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Peter French said yesterday that they would reduce their annual salaries by 10 percent—two days after retaining the services of Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications, a public relations firm known for strong crisis management. Reinharz will give up $50,000, French $40,000.”

Our administrators clearly took these pay cuts out of a clear desire to pacify the outrage of the followers of the Rose Art Museum soap opera. In a most respectable motion, Reinharz and French showed the extent of their generosity and alleviated their image as the purported villains of this episode of museum melodrama.

That’s definitely an improvement if the admin-

Alumni deserve more consideration To the Editor: Brandeis, in its most recent fiscal crisis, has reverted to its tradition of treating its alumni like mildly interested bystanders.

I learned about the Rose from a friend in the art world, then read about it in The New York Times. Only this past Friday did we receive an e-mail from an alumni representative to the Board of Trustees.

Yes, I receive an annual call from a charming undergraduate asking for a donation. No, the University’s president, its trustees and its development office never seem to have considered asking the alumni to dig deep into our hearts and our pockets to help bail out our alma mater and shore up the value of our degrees. It is in the University’s DNA to rely on a small cadre of extremely wealthy donors.

Now, Brandeis has a public relations disaster, alienated donors and further alienated alumni.

The University needs to learn to treat its alumni as its first line of support, not its last.

Brandeis squandered this crisis. It was an opportunity to bring alumni into the fold; instead, many of us are angry.

What will I do when I receive that annual call from the usual charming undergraduate? For the first time in many, many years, I don’t know.

—Marian Bass

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istration wants to give the impression that those responsible for choosing which aspects of our education to eliminate are sympathetic characters.

If only the next line of the Globe’s article didn’t give away the ulterior motive for these pay cuts.

Now, Reinharz did not admit outright that he and French actually planned to use their pay cuts to hire a very professional and very pricey PR firm. But nonetheless, he did impress me with his sincerity at last Thursday’s open forum with administrators. When presented with the aggravating problem of figuring out how Brandeis would remain attractive to rising college first-years while sporting lots of negative press, Reinharz said, “Now everybody knows about Brandeis. This is why we’re taking the opportunity to make it better.”

Opportunities like this don’t materialize very often. In order to make the most of this chance to create a new, sturdier name for Brandeis, it’s probably a good idea to bring in the best and the brightest. Rasky Baerlin does sound like it’s the quite the expert. Its Web site claims, “We help institutions navigate challenges such as global competition, financial transparency and affordability for students. We will develop a creative communications strategy that will help you stand out from the competition.”

Since our administrators have only been under the influence of Rasky Baerlin for only one week, I won’t judge this alleged “creative communications strategy” too hastily. But I will advise the administration to keep its focus.

This University has a responsibility to a considerable number of people in the global community. A strategy based exclusively on financial transparency will not appease everyone.

There is more to this University than minute monetary details.

Reinharz is correct to say that Brandeis

needs to act appropriately while it’s in the spotlight. Hiring a PR firm was a wise move to make in order to improve financial transparency and affordability. But a prospective student’s search for the college that best fits him or her is not limited to a school’s financial status or decisions.

When thinking about whether to redesign Brandeis’ beloved liberal arts curriculum or indirectly install obstacles to study abroad, the University must keep in mind that these are among the many celebrated factors that keep Brandeis unique and attractive.

Major change is necessary, and heavy criticism is a natural side effect of such major change, but the University needs to be wary of where it comes from, particularly as rising college first-years begin to seriously consider where to enroll this fall. Prospective students should be a top concern when administrators consider plans to modify distinctive aspects of this University. If the administration and its hired professionals have decided that it’s time to create a new name for Brandeis, they must remember to market our school to its most important consumers: the people who want to come here to study.

Universities across the country are experiencing the same dilemma of maintaining a unique draw while making necessary cuts to programs. But when considering the element of competition, the administration and its new buddies at Rasky Baerlin Strategic Communications must keep in mind why the students who came to Brandeis chose it initially—its generosity, well-rounded education and high regard for the arts were not insignificant factors. While pay cuts and professional communications officers may impress many, there are other, more important ways to impress the audience that inevitably is responsible for keeping the University in existence.

Univ should keep the Rose’s art in academia

By DANIEL D. SNYDER JUSTICE EDITOR

Reassure Brandeis’ values To the Editor: In response to your article “Rose decision took great courage,” (Feb. 3): Sixty years ago, my parents participated in their quiet way in the fundraising to establish Brandeis, which has always been viewed as a beacon of liberal Zionism, in the spirit of Justice Louis Brandeis.

Holding high this unique identity, Brandeis attracted donors and patrons beyond its borders, from around the globe.

The establishment of the Rose and its extraordinary collection reflect the trust in this vision for which Brandeis long stood. In a single announcement, Reinharz destroyed the ability to raise funds in the future—no art patron will think of donating his collection or supporting the silent Art faculty at Brandeis now. Neither will those executives, scientists or truck drivers for whom Brandeis was a jewel in its entirety.

In both the arts and sciences, Brandeis has some exceptional faculty—who add funds to the school through their grants and exceptional scholarship. Here, the ability to attract excellent talent is dependent on the vision of the University and its location, not the highest salaries. Brandeis can easily succeed by reestablishing the Rose Art Museum as a museum-in-perpetuity and returning to the liberal Jewish Zionist roots. Then the donors will emerge.

—Dennis J. Solomon

Media storm was not unpredictable To the Editor: In response to your article “Rose decision took great courage,” (Feb. 3): As an alum in media who graduated 20 years ago, it’s nice to see Reinharz admitting that they didn’t anticipate the media storm over the Rose Art closing.

But you have to wonder why not, given that Brandeis Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Gershon Kekst runs one of the largest public relations agencies out there. There’s also a few prominent journalists on the board, though based on my conversations with them, they weren’t consulted on this. Closing the Rose Art is problematic enough. Ruining the Brandeis name in the process ought to be a firing offense.

—Michelle Leder

Write to us

The most ardent Rose Art Museum cut protestors would have you buy into an image of the Rose bulldozed into dust and its collection in the hands of shady, nefarious private collectors. Though this may have been accurate at the outset, it isn’t any longer.

While even a quick glance at the Rose situation’s coverage in the national press might be enough to murder the hope that our reputation may yet be repaired, there remain some options that could tilt the scales in our favor.

University President Jehuda Reinharz just needs to be honest about the Board of Trustees’ original plan and the degree to which the outcry from both the school community and the public affected their subsequent decisions about the Rose. He needs to push the Rose’s new function as an educational institute, signifying the University’s continued commitment to the arts and silencing critics who claim the school is forsaking its academic purpose.

The sale of the collection is the more dangerous ground by far, but people need to realize that there are more ways to disperse the museum’s assets than selling them to private collectors, never to be seen again.

What the University has is a chance to undo some of the damage done by the initial wave of bad press.

While there is a temptation to sell to the highest bidder, the school should sell to a small group of reputable donors under a specific set of conditions. At only 30 to 40 pieces, the number of works sold would be small enough to be kept on display as the Rose Art Museum collection, thereby preserving the collection’s Brandeis legacy and connection with the school.

Ideally, the collection could be sold to another Boston-area university and displayed as the Rose Art Collection at Tufts or Harvard where it would remain available as an academic resource and set an example for solidarity and collaboration between universities, something that should be done for the symbolism alone, if not the financial benefit.

While the mainstream media may lose interest in the Rose story as other universi-

The Justice welcomes letters to the editor responding to published material. Please email letters to justletters@brandeis.edu, or through our Web site at www.thejustice online.com. Anonymous submissions cannot be accepted. Letters should not exceed 300 words, and may be edited for space, style, grammar, spelling, libel and clarity, and must relate to material published in the Justice. Letters from off-campus sources should include location. The Justice does not print letters to the editor and oped submissions that have been submitted to other publications. Oped submissions of general interest to the University community—that do not respond explicitly to articles printed in the Justice—are also welcome and should be limited to 800 words.

All submissions are due Friday at 5 p.m.

REBECCA NEY/the Justice

FACING THE FUTURE: With the option to sell the Rose Art Museum’s artwork, the administration can take the opportunity to save Brandeis’ tarnished reputation by selling the art to respectable collectors. ties encounter similar financial crises (though any school that witnesses Brandeis’ public beating will think twice, long and hard, about any similar announcements), the fate of such a high-profile collection will remain a hot topic among the arts media and any good press that flows from the fate of the Rose collection is certainly welcome.

In a recent e-mail to the Brandeis community, Reinharz attempted to renege on the school’s initial statement that the museum would, indeed, be closed and its collection

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sold, claiming that the entire Brandeis community had simply misunderstood the administration’s announcement. He even cited President Barack Obama’s recent display of humility, declaring, “I screwed up.”

But if Reinharz really wants to evoke this new era of responsibility, he should do more than just quote from the president’s playbook and take the necessary measures to repair our reputation and turn the Rose debacle into something that is ultimately beneficial.

Newborn, Deborah Frisch Forum: Richard Alterbaum, Hillel Buechler, Matt Lawrence, David Litvak, Doug Nevins, Eileen Smolyar, Naomi Spector Features: Rebecca Klein Arts: Wei-Huan Chen, Marianna Faynshteyn, Laura Gamble, Rachel Klein, Emily Leifer, Wei Sum Li, Daniel Orkin, Alex Pagan, Layout: Brian Blumenthal Ben Strassfeld, Brad Stern News: Nashrah Rahman Photography: Rachel Corke, Rebecca Ney, Adina Paretzky, Danielle Schivek Sports: Sean Petterson, Adam Rosen STAFF Senior Writers: Miranda Neubauer, Jeffrey Copy: Ariel Adams, Emily Kraus, Marissa Linzi, Danielle Myers Illustrations: Lisa Frank, Gail Goldspiel, Eli Tukashinsky Pickette, Melissa Siegel Senior Photographers: Sara Brandenburg, Layout: Lee Marmor David Brown, Hsiao Chi Pang News/Features Staff: Alana Abramson, Sam Datlof, Reina Guerrero, Michelle Liberman, Ruth Orbach, Greta Moran, Michael

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS ARTS: Sarah Bayer

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2009

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THE JUSTICE

University should solve censorship issue

By ADAM KISSEL SPECIAL TO THE JUSTICE

When I wrote an e-mail to University President Jehuda Reinharz and all of Brandeis’ trustees last summer saying Brandeis was in “revolt,” little did I know the big revolt was yet to come.

The Rose Art Museum controversy is just the latest issue to put the president’s judgment in question. With a declining endowment, donor outrage, withering press coverage, a sharp decrease in applications and extensive faculty and student resistance, Brandeis is only one or two steps from the brink of chaos. It cannot afford a leader whose decisions lack transparency and reasonable decision-making processes.

Given these conditions, I can understand why tensions are high. But this recent string of incidents is not the first episode that eroded trust in the administration.

The most notable incident was the “Hindley affair” last year. By attempting to resolve this issue, Brandeis would once again show respect for student and faculty views and demonstrate an intent to maintain a fair, open relationship with the rest of campus.

Last year, Provost Marty Krauss put a monitor in Prof. Donald Hindley’s (POL) classes to keep him from racially harassing his students. The problem was that he never did any

such thing in the first place.

After Prof. Hindley explained the historical connotations of the term wetbacks in a relevant course, he was found guilty of racial harassment. He never even got a hearing, and after a few months the provost simply declared the matter closed.

Following that, however, the faculty withdrew support for the harassment policy. The Faculty Senate also passed multiple resolutions about the abuse of power in the current administration, regretting that this issue “has damaged the collegiality of our University, its academic and intellectual function, its faculty governance procedures and its public reputation.” Meanwhile, the faculty’s Committee on Faculty Rights and Responsibilities stopped hearing new grievances essentially because the administration couldn’t be trusted in such matters of faculty governance.

In a Nov. 6, 2007 editorial, the Justice called the idea that the Hindley fiasco was designed to punish Hindley for his outspokenness about unrelated issues “disturbing”.

Indeed, many students have become quite concerned about the issues of general student rights and free speech on campus. For one thing, the new Office of Student Rights and Advocacy is a major initiative of the Student Union. Even more new student organizations formed to protect student rights, including

Advocates for Event Education with Police Instruction and Brandeis Students for Free Expression and Academic Freedom.

Now the lack of transparency and process has reared its head once again in the Rose decision. Even those who support the decision can criticize the administration for its bungling, keeping the facts hidden and then having nowhere to go when the sun came out.

Brandeis needs to restore a campus culture in which most faculty members and students actually trust the administration. Brandeis should be a place that truly values academic freedom, freedom of speech and due process.

The alternative to healing these wounds is another year of diminishing confidence in Brandeis’ administration both on and off campus.

My organization, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, put a fullpage, color advertisement in U.S. News & World Report, right next to the annual college rankings, warning prospective students that they should think twice before applying to Brandeis. Brandeis is one of only five schools in the country with this notorious “Red Alert” classification. The case also has been covered in the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Providence Journal, Huffington Post and many more media outlets.

Expressions of lack of confidence will build until Brandeis’ administration changes

course and earns back the trust it has squandered. The blogosphere and freelance columnists like Nat Hentoff will keep speaking out, and FIRE will keep reminding students that their rights are in jeopardy if they go to Brandeis.

On campus, faculty members and students continue their involvement in rights issues.

Indeed, as the Faculty Senate suggested, the Hindley case will keep impairing Brandeis’ reputation, which will limit Brandeis’ ability to recruit students and faculty and to raise funds.

Brandeis could be a great school again, but it is not there yet. The president’s apology over the Rose fiasco was a good start, but until the Hindley affair is resolved and that finding of guilt is rescinded, bad blood will pervade Brandeis.

President Reinharz doesn’t even have to say he was wrong about anything. It will be enough that people know that his administration finally did the right thing and rescinded Hindley’s guilty verdict. Now is the perfect time. Brandeis is focusing its attention on staying solvent, but bringing justice for Hindley would win the trust, credibility and respect the administration deeply needs.

The writer is the director of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Education’s Individual Rights Defense program.

UNIQUE PERSPECTIVES

ADINA PARETZKY/Justice File Photo

EXPLORING DIVERSITY: From left, Mateo Aceves ’11, Shirah Moses ’11 and Daniel Acheampong ’11 discuss their personal experiences at the BOO-BBSO Night of Identity. Kaamila Mohamed ’11 moderated the panel.

Brandeis takes a small step toward religious pluralism

By REMZ POKORNY SPECIAL TO THE JUSTICE

Last week, the International Lounge was packed with Orthodox Jewish and black students, two groups that one would typically not expect to be in the same room in a social setting.

The Brandeis Orthodox Organization and the Brandeis Black Student Organization decided to organize an event that brought these groups together in celebration of identity. These groups realize that a pluralistic campus is a healthy campus.

Though we are forced to interact in a classroom setting on a daily basis, all too often we find fragmentation among students of varying ethnic or religious groups. In Sherman dining hall, one typically finds observant Jews hanging with other observant Jews, international students with other international students, black students with black students, South Asian students with South Asian students and so forth.

Brandeis is a small campus, yes, but it is also a microcosm of the world at large. We have people of many different backgrounds here on a quest for knowledge that cannot be completed if

we do not engage each other. Furthermore, as a progressive University, we cannot be a mere reflection of the world, but rather the world must look to us as an example of what it could be. But in order to do that, we must start the conversation here on campus.

In these past weeks and months, we have witnessed many tragic events involving faith identity. The attacks in Mumbai, a city known for peace and coexistence, were especially shocking in their scope and the diversity of the men, women and children who perished.

Likewise, the recent escalation of violence in Gaza is a brutal reminder that the conflicted Middle East still has a lot of progress to make before achieving peace in the region. Every day we see images that repulse the senses, of children dying and their parents grieving, all because of conflicts involving religion.

Last month, newly inaugurated President Barack Obama made clear, in a number of different ways, that his administration would be committed to addressing religious conflict and promoting religious pluralism in its stead. In his inaugural address, he juxtaposed the rising tide of religious hatred abroad with America’s mul-

tifaith landscape. “For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness,” he said in front of a crowd of almost two million in Washington, D.C. “We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus and nonbelievers.”

Furthermore, Obama specifically addressed the Muslim world, seeking “a new way forward based on mutual interest and mutual respect.”

Through the appointment of two envoys to the religiously conflicted regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan on his second day in office, President Obama has shown resolve and dedication toward addressing these conflicts. But envoys will not be enough. If we long for an end to religious conflict, we cannot simply expect our government to solve it through skilled diplomats, however great a role they can play. The change must start with each one of us. We must get to know one another, and with that must come a dedication to a world free from religious intolerance.

Here at Brandeis, there is little shortage of religious conversation. Whether in dorm rooms or in the dining hall, religious identity is discussed at length. Yet despite this, there is still a

sense of fragmentation among many groups on campus. Faith and identity must come more into the public discourse.

There have been efforts made to do this: BBSO and BOO coming together to discuss identity is an excellent example of two communities meeting to start a conversation. But this is just a small step forward. In this time of many challenges at home and abroad, we need real, sustainable unity. We need to build a movement that is not simply reactionary, like those for Mumbai and Gaza, but proactive in building strong bonds between different people so that such incidents as those in Mumbai and Gaza are not simply realities that we choose to live with, albeit reluctantly.

Brandeis is, as we all know, a unique campus.

It has the opportunity to be a leader for change in these times. And with the inauguration of a new president, it is time for our generation to say, “Yes, we can.” Allow Obama’s inspirational words and decisive action to set an example for us. Religious pluralism will only be reality if we work for it.

The writer is a member of the Class of 2009.

THE JUSTICE

MBBALL: Judges falter on the road

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2009

13

FINDING HER STROKE

CONTINUED FROM 16 “Although it wasn’t really a big deal, it was a team rule nonetheless,” Meehan said. “They had to deal with the consequences.”

As a result, forwards Rich Magee ’10 and Vytas Kriskus ’12 and guard Tyrone Hughes ’12 joined two regular starters, guard Kevin Olson ’09 and DeLuca, in the starting lineup. This was the first collegiate start for Kriskus and just the second for Hughes.

WashU hit its first nine shots of the game, including four three-pointers, building an early 26-16 lead. Brandeis responded with a seven-point run to close the gap to three points, but the Bears pushed the lead to 42-30 with just three minutes left in the first half.

Three-pointers from Olson and guard Beau Bonness ’11 helped trim the Judges’ deficit to four at 42-38 with 39 seconds left in the first half, but WashU junior guard Ross Kelley drained a three-pointer just before the first-half buzzer to give the Bears a seven-point lead at the half.

WashU senior guard Sean Wallis, who, along with DeLuca, was a D3hoops.com preseason All-America selection, missed all but two minutes of the first half, picking up two early personal fouls. Wallis responded right away by scoring seven of the Bears’ first 12 points of the second half as WashU took a 57-40 lead with 15 minutes to play.

WashU would only allow the Judges to come within 14 points after that and cruised to a 25-point victory, Brandeis’ most lopsided defeat this season.

Only six Brandeis players played more than three minutes in the contest. Bonness logged 18 minutes off the bench to supplement the starters, and guards John Weldon ’10 and Jaime Shannon ’12 saw a combined four minutes of action.

“It’s tough [playing shorthanded], especially when you’re playing against the defending National Champions at their place,” McKoy said. “We did the best we could, you can’t ask for more than the guys gave us.”

DeLuca said fatigue may have contributed to the team’s second-half performance.

“I was pretty tired; I think [Olson] was tired. Shots weren’t really falling in the second half,” DeLuca said.

Kriskus and Hughes led the team in scoring with 15 and 14 points respectively. “[Kriskus and Hughes] played well.

They had their moments; they showed us that we do have a bright future ahead of us,” McKoy said.

Hughes said he was told he would start in place of Roberson at the team hotel prior to getting on the bus for the WashU athletic center.

“I was definitely not nervous,” Hughes said. “I’m always ready to step in. I work hard every day in practice.

[Roberson] pushes me every day; I push him every day.”

Against Chicago, Brandeis shot 60.4 percent from the floor, including 68.8 percent in the second half, but 17 Maroon three-pointers negated the Judges’ offensive performance.

Chicago built an early 17-4 lead, but Brandeis went on a 17-3 run in the next eight minutes to give the Judges their last lead of the game, 21-20, with 6 minutes, 47 seconds left in the first half.

Trailing 38-28 at the half, Brandeis fell behind by as many as 19 in the second half, before cutting the deficit to just six with 53 seconds left. Still, Chicago held on for the nine-point win.

“It was frustrating,” DeLuca said.

“Every time we thought we were going to make a little run, they hit a three and extended the lead.”

Olson led the way for the Judges with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including a game-high six three-pointers.

Brandeis next travels to Carnegie Mellon University Friday at 8 p.m. and then to the University of Rochester Sunday at 11:30 a.m.

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

STEPPING IN: captain Gabrielle Helfgott ’09 strides into a backhanded shot in the Judges’ 7-2 home loss against Division I Colgate University last Saturday afternoon.

Team falls in first match of season ■ The women’s tennis team

fell 7-2 at home to Colgate University last Saturday.

By ADAM ROSEN JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

The tone of the women’s tennis team’s spring season opener against Division I Colgate University at home last Saturday was defined in the No. 1 doubles match: an early deficit, a brief comeback, but a loss in the end.

After falling behind 5-2 against Colgate juniors Elise DeRose and Cameron Williams, Rachel Rosman ’11 and captain Gabrielle Helfgott ’09 were able to cut the score to 5-4. They were then were just a point away from tying the match but ended up losing the next three points of the game and ultimately the set and match 8-4.

The Judges went on to lose to Colgate 7-2, dropping their season record to 2-1 after two victories in the shorter fall season.

“[This was our] first match of the year,” head coach Ben Lamanna said.

“We have a lot of room to improve, and I think that’s a good thing.”

Brandeis fell behind early, as the Judges were swept in all three doubles matches. No. 2 doubles partners Mackenzie Gallegos ’11 and Sarah Richman ’12 fell 8-5 to Colgate’s pair of seniors, captain Erin Fenn and Cameron Thaney, while No. 3 doubles partners Ariana Sanai ’10 and Emily Weisberger ’10 dropped their match 8-2 to rookies Alexandra Erickson and Stephanie Brown.

Once again, Brandeis players rallied, allowing the team to cut the overall deficit to one after singles victories by No. 1 Rosman, 6-2, 6-3, over DeRose, and No. 3 Sanai, 6-3, 6-3, against Fenn.

“Two folks that came to play clearly, I thought, were [Rosman] and [Sanai],” Lamanna said. “Just dominant performances.”

For Rosman, a quick shift in focus helped key her singles victory over DeRose, who had defeated her in the No. 1 doubles match.

“I had to put behind what happened in doubles and just move on,” she said. “I just had to shift focus to my next match,” she said.

However, despite cutting Colgate’s overall lead to 3-2, the Judges would not win another match, dropping their last four singles contests.

“Overall, we were just a little too choppy,” Lamanna said. “We just weren’t out there playing real consistent tennis in the key points. A couple of key mistakes on big points, that’s all it was.”

Helfgott, Gallegos, Weisberger and Richman were all swept in their matches. Helfgott lost 7-5, 6-3 at No. 2 singles, Gallegos fell 6-1, 6-4 at No. 4 singles, Weisberger dropped her match 6-2, 6-1 at No. 5 singles, and Richman came up short, losing 6-4, 63 at No. 6 singles.

“We need to not let the points we lose get to us. We need to stay positive on the court and believe that we can compete at this level,” Sanai said.

“Colgate was definitely a team that I think we could beat, or I don’t think the score was a reflection that they

were that much better than us by any means.”

Last Saturday’s match was the Judges’ first since Oct. 14, 2008, the last match of the fall season, when they defeated Simmons College at home 6-3.

“I was really excited to get back into playing matches,” Rosman said.

“You have a while off at the end of the fall and then at the beginning of the spring, so it was really exciting to be competing again.”

Overall, Lamanna said he was satisfied with the team’s performance, especially since Colgate was a Division I opponent.

“We were right there,” he said.

“Early in the season, a lot of the girls haven’t played a ton of matches yet, and that’s exactly why we played this match, because it’s a good quality [Division I] opponent in the middle of a [Division III] league.”

Both the women’s and men’s teams will next compete Feb. 18, when they travel to Orlando, Fla. to square off against Webber International University at 1 p.m.

WBBALL: Brandeis loses twice to continue skid CONTINUED FROM 16 Brandeis also struggled to stop Evans, who had a season-high 21 points, including 17 in the first half.

Evans averaged just 6.2 points per game coming into the contest and had just four points in the Judges’ 61-55 home loss to the Bears last weekend. “[Evans] is just a tough player,” Simon said. “In the first half she was just getting very deep into the paint and getting a lot of good opportunities to score a little bit. When she gets that deep, she’s just very tough to stop.”

The Judges got off to a quick start against WashU, going up 13-4 just over six-and-a-half minutes into the game. However, the Bears went on a 19-2 run to take a 23-15 lead with 6:17 left in the first half. Evans scored eight of the Bears’ points during the run.

“We were hitting shots; the tempo was good,” Simon said of the Judges’ play early in the game. “Again, I thought we didn’t do an awful job.

When they go on their runs, those were coming off of turnovers. They were getting a lot more shot opportu-

nities than we were.”

The Judges later tied the game at 23, but the Bears answered with a 163 run to go up 38-26 at halftime.

A Chapin three-pointer pulled Brandeis within seven points at 43-36 with 16:43 left in the game, but the Judges could not get any closer as WashU pulled further ahead for the victory.

Chapin led the Judges with 18 points and five assists. Cincotta also reached double figures with 12 points, while reserve forward Amanda Wells ’09 recorded her second career dou-

ble-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds in the losing effort.

Last Friday, the Maroons avenged their loss at Brandeis Feb. 1 with a 6350 victory over the Judges. Brandeis struggled from the field, shooting just 17-of-66 for the game, including just 7of-28 from three-point range. The Judges’ defense allowed the Maroons to shoot 43.9 percent from the field, including 64.7 percent in the first half.

The Judges next play at Carnegie Mellon University Friday at 6 p.m. and at No. 3 University of Rochester Sunday at 2 p.m.

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2009

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THE JUSTICE

INDOOR TRACK

FENCING

Sax qualifies for Nationals at Tufts University Invite

Foil squad leads women’s team to winning record

■ Ali Sax ’09 qualified for the NCAA Championships in the triple jump last Saturday at the Tufts Invitational. Both teams ran at the nonscoring event.

By SEAN PETTERSON JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

At the Bowdoin Invitational Jan. 17, jumper Anat Ben Nun ’09 was the first member of the women’s indoor track team to qualify for the NCAA Division III Championships in the triple jump event. Last Saturday at the Tufts Invitational, a nonscoring team meet, Ali Sax ’09 achieved a milestone, joining Ben Nun on the NCAA Championships qualifying list.

Sax jumped a personal-best 11.26 meters to qualify for the NCAA Championships in the triple jump for the first time in her collegiate career, as Ben Nun and Sax finished the triple jump at the Tufts Invitational in first and secondplace, respectively. Ben Nun took the event with a jump of 11.67 meters. “[Ben Nun and Sax] were outstanding,” coach Mark Reytblat said, “[Ben Nun] increased her jump by 1 centimeter and [Sax] for her first time ever qualified provisionally for the NCAAs.” Ben Nun was competing in her third meet this season after surgery on a torn meniscus in her knee ended her 2007 to 2008 season.

The last time Ben Nun and Sax competed together at the Tufts Invitational was Feb. 3, 2007. The

duo failed to take the top two places in the event, instead taking second and third place, respectively, and Sax said this year the two were prepared to do better.

“It felt pretty good,” she said. “I was joking with [Ben Nun] that Tufts is bad luck and we have to break the curse, and I was happy that we both performed well at Tufts and broke the curse there.”

In other field events, Suzanne Bernier ’10 took fourth-place in the high jump at 1.60 meters. Sax also captured a fourth place finish, leaping 4.98 meters in the long jump to end the day as the only competitor for the Judges to finish in the top four in two different events.

The women’s team had a strong overall performance, placing in distance and sprint events as well.

Beth Pisarik ’10 led the squad, winning the one-mile run with a time of 5 minutes, 10.4 seconds.

Brandeis displayed its depth in recording seven of the top 14 onemile times—Katie Warwick ’12 (third), Grayce Selig ’11 (seventh), Katy Agule ’09 (eighth), Alyssa Pisarik ’12 (10th), Molly Shanley ’12 (11th) and Hannah Lindholm ’11 (14th). “[Pisarik] ran an awesome race,” distance coach John Evans said. “She is in great shape now; there is definitely a lot more in [her] and how fast she can run.”

In the sprints, Michelle Gelman’s ’11 fourth-place finish in the 200-meter race paced the Judges.

“She ran the 200 in 26.80, [seconds, which proves] she is in excellent shape,” he said.

Julia Alpaio ’10 finished third in the 800-meter race in 2:23.16, nar-

rowly losing to sophomore Lindsay Pinkham and rookie Susan O’Connell of Stonehill College. Pinkham won the race in 2:21.48, while O’Connell took second place in 2:22.25.

Rookie Chris Brown ’12 was the men’s team’s only winner on the day. He took the one-mile run in 4:22. “[Brown] is really talented, and he’s just getting used to the training, but he is going to be really good. He has tons of potential,” Evans said. “It was good to see him end very strong in the race this weekend.”

In the 1,000-meter race, Matt Jennings ’09 and Devon Holgate ’11 finished third and fourth, respectively. Joe Otto, who is unaffiliated with any school, took the race in 2:31.23, with Keene State sophomore Jeff Trethewey finishing in second place just 0.02 seconds behind Otto. Jennings missed out on first by 0.85 seconds, finishing the race in 2:32.10, while Holgate came in just behind him at 2:33.18.

Holgate missed last season due to injury and said that he is glad to be racing again and has improved since returning to action.

“Not being injured really helps,” he said. “I’m running more than I have before, mileage-wise, and that is definitely helping [my running].”

Sam Donovan ’11 was 11th in the 1,000-meter race at in 2:36.64, and captain Pat Gregoire ’10 finished 10th in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.68 seconds.

Both teams will next travel to Boston University Saturday at noon for the Valentine’s Day Invitational.

■ The women’s fencing

team went 4-1 at the Stevens Invite last Sunday.

By ANDREW NG JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

After its strong performance in the competitive Brandeis/MIT Invitational the week before, the women’s fencing team looked forward to an easier meet at the Stevens Invitational in Hoboken, N.J. last Sunday. But with starting épées Caitlin Kozel ’09 and Emma Larkin ’11 sick and sitting out some matches, the Judges had an unexpected situation to overcome Even with those obstacles, the women’s team finished the day 4-1, with wins against Johns Hopkins University 17-10, Drew University 198, Stevens Institute of Technology 19-8 and Fairleigh Dickinson University 22-5 and an 18-9 loss against Temple University.

“There was less energy during the meet than I would’ve liked to have seen, but the fact that a lot of people on the team are sick was a contributing factor. We just tried to get through the day,” captain, foil and saber Jessica Davis-Heim ’09 said. “It’s a point of pride to be able to win against these teams fairly handily. We just tried to take it a point at a time and understand that we have a lot more work ahead of us until the end of the season.”

The saber and foil squads fenced well, with the sabers going 31-16 on the day and the foil team going 33-12, but the épée squad performed inconsistently due to Larkin’s absence during the middle rounds and Kozel’s during the later rounds of the meet.

“Having [Kozel] and [Larkin] out was very hard on the team because they both fence épée, but we were able to make up for their absences,” captain and saber Jenny Press ’09 said.

“Luckily, they weren’t out at the same time. If they were out at the same time, I don’t think we would have fared as well,” With some fencers out due to illness, the team relied on its depth to defeat its less experienced competition. Saber and foil Alexandra Turner ’11 finished 11-4 on the day and foil Tess Woehlren ’09 also took advantage of her opportunity to start, going 6-1.

“A couple of girls were a bit too much for [Turner] because they had a lot more experience, but [she] was able to take advantage of some of her weaker opponents,” coach Bill Shipman said.

Shipman said the Judges’ experience was the key factor in their four victories.

“Our fencers are more experienced and we recruit a little better than the other schools,” he said. “We are more mobile and athletic in our fencing.”

While the Judges thrived against Fairleigh Dickinson, Drew and Stevens, they experienced some difficulty against Temple. “[Temple is] much more explosive and faster,” Shipman said. “Especially with the épée squad not fencing its best, we had a hard time hanging with them. Even on our best days, we have difficulty competing against them.”

“To a certain extent, we overestimated Temple,” Davis-Heim added.

“We could have fenced them harder and smarter. They traditionally have a very good team, so there’s always a sense of apprehension going into a match against them,” Both the women’s and men’s teams will next compete in the New England Championships in South Hadley, Mass. Feb. 22. The teams will return early from February break to prepare.

“Most of us are going to focus on our weaknesses so we can bring a wider variety of moves,” Press said. “All of us have a few things that we do very well.”

Attention Sports Fanatics:

the Justice wants you to give the Brandeis community a play-by-play of campus sporting events.

E-mail Sports Editor Ian Cutler at ianc@brandeis.edu for more information.

THE JUSTICE

■ The women’s indoor track jumper won the triple jump for the third consecutive time at the Tufts Invitational last Saturday afternoon.

2 11

top-four finishes for Ali Sax ’09 at the Tufts Invitational last Saturday. Sax was the only member of the indoor track team to finish in the top four, placing second in the triple jump and fourth in the long jump.

combined games dropped by women’s tennis players Rachel Rosman ’11 and Ariana Sanai ’10 in their singles matches against Division I Colgate University at home last Saturday, while the Judges lost the match 7-2. Rosman won her singles match 6-2, 6-3, while Sanai took hers 6-3, 6-3.

3

bench points scored by the University of Chicago in their win over Brandeis in last Friday’s men’s basketball game.

Despite the lack of contribution from their reserves, the Maroons beat the Judges 90-81 at home for only their third victory of the season.

18

minutes played off the bench for guard Beau Bonnes ’11, who tallied a season-high six points in the Judges’ 25-point loss at Washington University in St. Louis last Sunday.

Bonnes had played a total of 17 minutes in the Judges’ 19 previous games this season and missed all of last year with an injury.

14

points for women’s basketball rookie Morgan Kendrew ’12, who tallied a career-high in replacing injured guard Lauren Rashford ’10 in the Judges 63-50 loss at Chicago last Friday.

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

to improve upon her second-place finish at the NCAA Championships as a rookie and third-place finish as a sophomore.

When asked about her chances of winning the triple jump in the NCAA Championships this season, Ben Nun

said, “Everything’s possible, but this year the competition is tougher than it was three years ago and two years ago, so it’s going to be hard, but I’m going to do my best.”

—Sean Petterson

UAA STANDINGS Men’s Basketball

Women’s Basketball

Not including Monday’s games UAA Conference W L Washington 9 0 Carnegie 6 3 Rochester 6 3 JUDGES 5 4 Chicago 4 5 Case 3 6 New York 2 7 Emory 1 8

W 19 16 15 12 4 6 13 6

L 1 4 5 8 16 14 7 14

Overall Pct. .950 .800 .750 .600 .200 .300 .650 .300

Not including Monday’s games UAA Conference W L W L Rochester 8 1 19 1 Washington 8 1 16 4 New York 6 3 17 3 Chicago 5 4 14 6 JUDGES 3 6 13 6 Emory 3 6 12 8 Case 3 6 10 10 Carnegie 0 9 5 15

Overall Pct. .950 .800 .850 .700 .684 .600 .500 .250

TEAM LEADERS MBball (points per game)

MBball (rebounds per game)

Forward Steve DeLuca (GRAD) leads the Judges with an average of 15.2 points per game.

Forward Steve DeLuca (GRAD) leads the Judges with an average of 6.7 rebounds per game.

Player Steve DeLuca Kevin Olson Andre Roberson Kenny Small Terrell Hollins

Player Steve DeLuca Terrell Hollins Christian Yemga Rich Magee Kevin Olson

PPG 15.2 11.6 10.8 10.2 9.4

RPG 6.7 6.4 3.4 3.0 2.9

WBball (points per game)

WBball (rebounds per game)

Guard Jessica Chapin ’10 leads the team with an average of 14.2 points per game.

Guard Jessica Chapin ’10 leads the Judges with an average of 5.6 rebounds per game.

Player Jessica Chapin Lauren Orlando Lauren Rashford Cassidy Dadaos Amber Strodthoff

Player Jessica Chapin Cassidy Dadaos Lauren Orlando Lauren Rashford Amanda Wells

PPG 14.2 9.9 8.1 6.7 5.9

RPG 5.6 5.2 4.3 4.2 3.6

UPCOMING GAME OF THE WEEK Swimming and Diving at UAA Championships Both swimming and diving teams race for the championships starting Feb. 11.

22

combined points for WashU women’s basketball senior guard Halsey Ward in the Bears’ two victories over the Judges this season. Ward scored 11 points in each of the two contests.

15

Rodriguez tested positive for banned substances in 2003

Anat Ben Nun ’09

Judging numbers

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2009

AP BRIEFS

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

After undergoing season-ending surgery last year on a torn meniscus, Anat Ben Nun’s ’09 future as an indoor track jumper was unclear.

“The doctors didn’t know if I would be able to jump again. Some doctors said I could; some others said I couldn’t.” she said. “I decided to give it a try because [this year] is my last chance.”

Ben Nun did, indeed, return from her surgery Jan. 17 and has not missed a stride since her return.

She won the triple jump in all three meets she has competed in this season: the Bowdoin Invitational Jan. 17, the Reggie Poyau Memorial Invitational at Brandeis Jan. 24 and last Saturday’s Tufts Invitational.

Ben Nun not only beats her competition but truly dominates the field.

At the Bowdoin Invitational, Ben Nun qualified for the NCAA Division III Championships in the triple jump for the third time in her career, winning the event with a jump of 11.66 meters.

At the Tufts Invitational, Ben Nun out-jumped teammate Ali Sax ’09, who took second place in the event, by .31 meters.

Sax said the team has benefited from Ben Nun’s experience and knowledge of the sport.

“She is very good to have [on the team] because she is very knowledgeable about the jump,” Sax said. “Just to have her around is very helpful.”

Ben Nun promises to “take it one meet at a time,” but she said she hopes

●

After the women’s swimming and diving team finished its dual-meet season with a record of 6-3 and the men finished at 4-5, both teams will compete in the University Athletic Association Championships at the University of Chicago starting Feb. 11 and lasting through Feb. 14.

Angela Chui ’12 broke five individual

school records to highlight the women’s team this season.

Nick Rice ’09, Bobby Morse ’09 and James Liu ’10 led the men’s team, by recording multiple top-10 all-time finishes in team history in an array of individual events.

Both teams finished in last place at last year’s conference championships.

NEW YORK—As Barry Bonds prepares to defend his name, the Steroids Era has ensnared the slugger who may eventually surpass him as the all-time home run leader: Alex Rodriguez.

Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids during his MVP season with the Texas Rangers in 2003, Sports Illustrated reported on its Web site Saturday.

Major League Baseball and the players’ union issued statements Saturday, refusing to confirm or deny the report, citing player confidentiality.

An e-mail from The Associated Press to Rodriguez’s agent, Scott Boras, was not immediately returned. The New York Yankees and Rangers declined comment.

The SI revelations come at a time when basebal’s focus on drugs has concerned Bonds and the legal maneuvering leading to the start of his trial March 2. The government is trying to prove Bonds lied when he told a grand jury he never knowingly took performance-enhancing drugs.

A three-time American League MVP, Rodriguez has hit 553 career homers. At age 33, the all-star third baseman is the highest-paid player in baseball and regarded by many as the most likely to break Bonds’ record of 762.

With this latest report, Rodriguez joined a growing who’s-who lineup of drug-tainted stars that includes Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and José Canseco.

Rodriguez’s name appears on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in a 2003 baseball survey, SI said. He reportedly tested positive for Primobolan and testosterone.

In a December 2007 interview with 60 Minutes, three days after George Mitchell’s report on drugs in the sport was released, Rodriguez denied using peformanceenhancing drugs.

“I’ve never felt overmatched on the baseball field. ... I felt that if I did my work as I’ve done since I was, you know, a rookie back in Seattle, I didn’t have a problem competing at any level,” he said.

Mitchell said he included in his report the names of players about whome he “had received credible evidence of their illegal purchase, possession, or use of performance -enhancing substances.”

“I did not have access to the results of the 2003 drug testing, and to this day I do not know which players tested positive then,” Mitchell said in a prepared statement Saturday night.

Baseball’s drug policy has prohibited the use of steroids without a valid prescription since 1991, but there were no penalties for a positive test in 2003.

As part of an agreement with the players’ union, the testing in 2003 was conducted to determine if it was necessary to impose mandatory random drug testing across the major leagues in 2004.

The results of the testing of 1,198 players were meant to be anonymous under the agreement between the commissioner’s office and the union. SI reported Rodriguez’s testing information was found after federal agents with search warrants seized the 2003 results from Comprehensive Drug Testing, Inc., in Long Beach, Calif.

That was one of two labs used by baseball in connection with the testing. The seizure in April 2004 was part of the government’s investigation into 10 baseball players linked to the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative scandal, the magazine reported. Rodriguez has not been connected to BALCO. Primobolan, also known as methenolone, is an injected or orally administered drug. It improves strength and maintains lean muscle with minimal bulk development and few side effects. Bonds tested positive three times for methenolone, according to court documents unsealed by a federal judge Wednesday.

Primobolan is not an approved prescription drug in the United States. Testosterone can be taken legally with a prescription.

Rodriguez played for the Rangers in 2003, when he won the American League home run title and MVP award. He was traded to the Yankees in 2004. He is drawing a major league-high $27 million salary after signing a record $275 million, 10-year contract with New York in 2007.

San Antonio hands Celtics their second consecutve home loss BOSTON—Roger Mason pulled up and leaned into a three-pointer with 20.4 seconds left in the game, and Tim Duncan scored 23 points with 13 rebounds Sunday to lead the San Antonio Spurs to a 105-99 victory over the Boston Celtics.

It was the second loss in three games for the defending champions, who lost to the Los Angeles Lakers last Thursday to snap a 12-game win streak.

Kevin Garnett scored 26 points with 12 rebounds, Paul Pierce had 19 points and eight rebounds and Rajon Rondo had 16 assists for the Celtics.

Matt Bonner scored a season-high 23 points, and Manu Ginobili had 19 as a reserve for the Spurs, who won for the ninth time in 11 games. They lost to Denver on Tuesday, when Duncan, Michael Finley and Tony Parker all sat out; for Finley, it snapped a streak of 284 consecutive games.

Duncan converted a three-point play to give the Spurs a 90-87 lead before Ray Allen’s basket cut it to one point, and Garnett hit a pair of jumpers to give Boston a 93-90 lead with 1:36 to play. But Bonner hit a jumper from the foul line, and Garnett missed; then Mason hit his three to make it 95-93.

The Celtics were inbounding the ball when Ginobili stole the pass and drew a clear-path foul, giving him two shots and the Spurs the ball. San Antonio extended its lead to 101-93 before Eddie House and Kevin Garnett each hit a three-pointer to help cut the deficit to three points.

The Spurs scored the last five points of the first half to open a 60-52 lead, but the Celtics opened the second with 12 straight points to retake the lead.

Boston is 24-4 at home, with all four losses coming against the Western Conference. The Celtics are in a stretch where they play three of the top four teams in the Western Conference in four games.

just

A NATIONAL FEAT

Sports

Page 16

Ali Sax ’09 qualified for the NCAA championships in the triple jump for the first time last Saturday, p. 14

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Waltham, Mass.

WEEKEND WOES

Conference foes beat shorthanded Judges ■ The men’s basketball

team was overmatched in two conference road losses last weekend.

By JEFFREY PICKETTE JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER

MATT MITGANG/STUDENT LIFE

SLIPPING BY: Washington University in St. Louis senior forward Tyler Nading drives around Steve DeLuca (GRAD) last Sunday.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Brandeis drops fourth in five games and slips in standings ■ The women’s basketball

team lost twice last weekend and fell out of the d3hoops.com top-25 poll.

By MELISSA SIEGEL JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER

With 9 minutes, 6 seconds left in the first half of the then-No. 24 Brandeis women’s basketball team’s game at then-No. 17 Washington University, the Judges found themselves tied with the Bears after having led by as many as nine points earlier in the contest.

The Judges then called a 30-second timeout in hopes of producing a solid possession, but on the ensuing play WashU junior forward Janice Evans stole the ball from Judges’ guard Diana Cincotta ’11 and scored

a fast-break layup on the other end to give the Bears a 17-15 lead, their first of the contest.

WashU never trailed again and went on to win 71-56. This loss, coupled with the Judges’ 63-50 loss at the University of Chicago last Friday night, dropped the Judges to 13-6 and 3-6 in the University Athletic Association.

The Judges have now lost four of their last five games, and their hopes of returning to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight season are dwindling. Brandeis dropped out of the latest d3hoops.com top-25 poll.

The Judges were without starting point guard Lauren Rashford ’10 last weekend, who may miss the rest of the season after possibly tearing her ACL according to Coach Carol Simon (see sidebar, right).

“When you lose a starting point

guard it’s always a blow to the team emotionally, obviously,” Simon said. “She’s been leading the team, but we know as a team we need to step up. We control what we can control, and that’s each player taking up minutes for her and doing what they need to do.”

The Cincotta turnover was one of 18 for Brandeis. The Bears scored 27 points off the 18 Brandeis turnovers, while the Judges could only muster four points off nine WashU turnovers. WashU also had a 29-13 advantage in bench points.

“We had 18 turnovers, which against good teams is a little higher obviously than we want,” Simon said. “We’re trying to keep it under 14, but it’s where those turnovers came [that hurt us]; a lot of them led to easy layups. ”

See WBBALL, 13 ☛

After being upset 90-81 by the University of Chicago, who entered the game with a 2-16 record last Friday night, the men’s basketball team trailed 45-38 at the end of the first half against No. 2 Washington University in St. Louis last Sunday on the road.

But despite digging itself out of two double-digit deficits in the first half, Brandeis was unable to complete its comeback effort and faded down the stretch, losing 8257 in the University Athletic Association contest. “[WashU] executed very well in the second half,” forward Steve DeLuca (GRAD) said. “We made a few early turnovers in the beginning of the second half, and they just capitalized by making great plays on offense.”

With the two losses, Brandeis falls to 12-8 on the season and 5-4 in UAA play. Brandeis was already out of the top 10 in the NCAA’s first New England Regional Rankings before the contest, so the two losses further jeopardize the Judges’ hopes of returning to the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year.

The Judges were without five of their regular contributors in last Sunday’s game against WashU. Starting guard Andre Roberson ’10, starting forwards Terrell Hollins ’10 and Christian Yemga ’11, reserve guard Kenny Small ’10 and reserve forward Napoleon Lherisson ’11 all missed the WashU game for a “violation of a team rule,” according to head coach Brian Meehan.

Meehan confirmed that the five players were not in violation of any University policies (see sidebar, right).

Five players disciplined Starting guard Andre Roberson ’10, starting forwards Terrell Hollins ’10 and Christian Yemga ’11, reserve guard Kenny Small ’10 and reserve forward Napoleon Lherisson ’11 did not play in last Sunday’s 82-57 road loss against No. 2 Washington University in St. Louis because of a “violation of a team rule,” according to head coach Brian Meehan.

Meehan declined to elaborate on the specific rule, but said that the players did not violate any University policies.

“We have very few rules, and we expect the guys to follow the simple rules that we have,” Meehan said.

“This was a situation where, although nobody got in trouble for anything, I just needed to take action because you have to follow through on your word.”

Meehan said that Yemga and Lherisson will also miss next weekend’s games at No. 21 Carnegie Mellon University Friday and the University of Rochester Sunday. Roberson, Hollins, and Small will be in uniform for next weekend’s games, but Meehan said he has not yet decided whether they will play.

Hollins, Small and Roberson did not respond to phone calls requesting comment.

—Jeffrey Pickette

See MBBALL, 13 ☛

Starting point guard injured Lauren Rashford ’10, the women’s basketball team’s starting point guard, injured her left knee at last Tuesday’s practice, and coach Carol Simon “is assuming” Rashford will miss the rest of the season, Simon said.

The team has not yet received the results of an MRI, but Simon added that she assumes Rashford tore her anterior cruciate ligament, one of four ligaments connecting the bones of the knee joint.

Rashford was going after a loose ball in practice when she injured the knee, according to Simon.

When asked about the injury, Rashford said, “I really won’t know [the extent of the injury] until the end of this week. That’s why I can’t really answer much right now.”

Rookie guard Morgan

Kendrew ’12 has replaced Rashford in the starting lineup in the past two games, but Simon said that might change in the future.

“It could rotate; it depends on who’s performing, what we need personnel wise, who we go against,” Simon said.

Rashford started the first 17 games for Brandeis this season, averaging 26.1 minutes per game.

She is third on the team in scoring with 8.1 points per game and is also third on the team with 44 rebounds.

Rashford has led the team in scoring twice this season, most recently in a 63-53 win against the University of Chicago at home Feb. 1, when she had a career-high 18 points.

—Melissa Siegel

February 10, 2009

Prof. Eric Hill’s (THA) ‘Siddhartha’ reaches theatrical nirvana p. 19 Photos and Design: David Sheppard-Brick/the Justice

18

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2009

THE JUSTICE

POP CULTURE

INSIDE ON CAMPUS

When someone mentions Disney Channel pop stars, Miley Cyrus is probably the first person to pop (pun completely intended) into mind. The 16-year-old singer/actress has given tabloids field days for months with her antics from her breakup with Nick Jonas to her relationship with 20-year-old model Justin Gaston (to quote The Soup: “It’s still a felony!”). And while she may have raised some alarms with her risqué Vanity Fair photo shoot in 2008, she hasn’t really offended anyone—at least until now.

Disney Channel princesses have a habit of having incriminating photos appear on the Internet, and this isn’t the first time it’s happened to Cyrus. But there’s a fine, fine line between PG-13 MySpace pics and borderline racist jokes. This week, a picture of Cyrus and her friends imitating Asian faces was posted on her website, and it promptly sent the press into a frenzy. Despite Cyrus’s halfhearted apology (“I’m sorry if those people looked at those pics and took them wrong and out of context!” she wrote on her blog), the Organization of Chinese-Americans is demanding a better one. “That’s not enough.

It’s not a real apology. We’re not backing down without a fuller apology,” George Wu, the director of the OCA, said on Friday.

They’ll probably get one, since Cyrus is still a minor, and if her parents tell her to apologize, she will. But let’s be serious for a bit, here. Cyrus is a 16-year-old kid, and she’s going to do some stupid things. Now, granted, she should be smart enough not to let evidence of those stupid things leak onto the Internet, especially on her official site, but what can you do?

I’ll be the first to admit that Cyrus’ work isn’t my cup of tea, that she’s fairly overrated and that she needs a lot more parental

18-21

■ ‘Siddhartha’ 19 Prof. Eric Hill’s (THA) adaptation of the classic novel featured fantastic costumes and an exploration of Herman Hesse’s psyche.

19 ■ The Black Mozart Ensemble The group, directed by Roy “Futureman” Wooten, played songs from a variety of genres, including bluegrass and hip hop.

20 ■ Sudanese Art Exhibit In order to share their stories, refugees from the genocides in Sudan contributed art based on their experiences to this event.

21 ■ The Week in Pictures JustArts provides a glimpse of those concerts and exhibits you may have missed.

OFF CAMPUS

22-24

22 ■ ‘The Class’ Though incredibly true to life, the awardwinning French film based on its lead actor’s novel occasionally floundered due to a lack of engaging content.

22 ■ ‘Dark is the Night’ Sales from this compilation album, which features such artists as Cat Power and Feist, will go toward AIDS research.

23 ■ 5W!TS One JustArts writer explores 5W!TS’ TOMB show—in which visitors solve puzzles in an Egyptian environment—in an effort to become cultured for under $20.

CALENDAR

U-WIRE

by Michelle Shore

Will ‘Arrested’ film sell?

■ The movie may be defeated by

problems such as alienating jokes and themes, which caused the show on which it is based to fail.

By VIJAY PARTHASARATHY DAILY TEXAN (U. TEXAS)

JASON DECROW/the Associated Press

TEEN TWIT: Miley Cyrus was accused of racism due to pictures in which she imitated Asians. supervision. But the fact of the matter is that when you combine a 16-year-old with several million dollars and not a whole lot of boundaries, there are going to be times when her freedom comes back to bite her where it hurts. To be fair, she’s handled most of her scandals pretty well, and so far, she’s done the same with this. Cut the kid some slack, media. At least she’s not following in Lindsey Lohan’s footsteps and and getting hooked on crack.

You know. Yet.

What’s happening in Arts on and off campus

Justice New Writers Night Brandeis’ independent student newspaper welcomes all students interested in writing for the newspaper or seeking an editorial position. Positions for writers are available in all sections: News, Arts, Features, Forum and Sports. The Justice is also looking for photographers, artists, copy editors and those who wish to participate in the business aspects of running a newspaper. Returning writers are also welcome to attend. For more information, contact Andrea Fineman, managing editor, at afineman@brandeis.edu.

Refreshments will be served at this event.

Tuesday from 7 to 8 p.m. in Room 252 in the Shapiro Campus Center.

Slam Poetry with Jamele Adams In honor of Black History Month, students are invited to attend a slam poetry event featuring special guest, renowned slam poet and Assistant Dean of Student Life at Brandeis, Jamele Adams. Adams will share some of his poetry with students and teach those in attendance how to do slam poetry. Apple cider and cookies will be served.

Wednesday from 8:30 to 10:20 p.m. in the Shapiro Lounge of Shapiro Hall.

PHOTO COURTESY OF PARAMOUNT VANTAGE

A ‘REVOLUTIONARY’ ROLE: Michael Shannon, who has earned an Academy Award nomination for his role as a mentally ill man in ‘Revolutionar y Road,’ will visit Brandeis on Februar y 12.

Linda Bamber Reading Poet and author Linda Bamber will read from her debut book of poetry Metropolitan Tang, described as “erudite, sassy, urban and urbane. Whether she is examining the breakup of her marriage or watching bulls in a field, considering Derrida’s concepts of ‘presence’ or her hairdresser’s less theoretical philosophy, Bamber receives stimuli as indiscriminately as an antenna, all eyes and ears.”

Books will be available for signing and refreshments will be served.

Thursday from 5:15 to 6:30 p.m. in the Pearlman Lounge.

Revolutionary Road, Shannon has appeared in Groundhog Day, Pearl Harbor, 8 Mile, Vanilla Sky and World Trade Center.

Shannon is also known for originating the role of Peter Evans in Bug on the stage.

Tickets for this event will be distributed to the first 175 students to arrive on February 10 between 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. at Olin-Sang 219.

All remaining seats will be filled on a first come, first serve basis on the night of the event.

Thursday from 7 to 9:45 p.m. in the Wasserman Cinematheque in the Sachar International Center.

Academy Award Nominee at Brandeis This fifth installment in the “Los Angeles Times East Coast Screening and Q & A Series” will feature a showing of Revolutionary Road. This screening will be followed by a question-and-answer session with Michael Shannon, whose performance in the film opposite Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor just over a week ago. In addition to

WHAT’S ON?

Food for Thought Luncheon The Rose Art Museum invites the public to partake in curator-led tours of the current exhibitions: “Hans Hofmann: Circa 1950,” “Saints and Sinners” and “Master of Reality.”

Tours will be followed by lunch in the galleries. Advanced registration is required. For more infomation, please contact Emily Mello, Director of Education, at emello@brandeis.edu.

Feb. 18 from 11 a.m. to 9:45 p.m. in the Rose Art Museum.

‘Intended Consequences: Rwandan Children Born of Rape’ Opening Reception “Intended Consequences” is Jonathan Torgovnik’s portrait series of Rwandan women who were raped during the 1994 genocide and have had a child as a result.

Torgovnik’s work gives a voice to these victims who are isolated by circumstance and struggling to restart their lives. With his photographs Torgovnik aims to create an international response to aid these women, the survivors of the Rwandan genocide. The event will include a conversation with Torgovnik followed by a reception with refreshments. This event has been co-sponsored by The International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life. Aperture, a not-forprofit organization devoted to photography and the visual arts, organized this traveling exhibition.

Feb. 23 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the LibermanMiller Lecture Hall in Epstein.

Rumors of an Arrested Development movie have been swirling for months; Everyone from Will Arnett to Jason Bateman has displayed interest in reprising their parts. The show’s creator, Mitchell Hurwitz, dropped hints last week that a movie was on.

Only Michael Cera, who plays George Michael, recently said that he wanted to see the script before committing. Cera, star of movies such as Juno and Superbad, finds himself in the peculiar position of having to shake off the effects of stereotyping without displeasing the show’s unusually vocal fans.

Arrested Development fans feel a strong sense of ownership when it comes to the Bluth family; they have hijacked the show’s comedic style and cult status to assert their own intellectual identity. They want a mainstream movie out of this—perhaps to validate their good taste—while claiming that the show’s low ratings were a sign that it was too classy for most audiences.

This declaration sidesteps the curious fact that the show was willing to indulge in supposedly low-brow slapstick. In truth, Arrested Development tried a little bit of everything: goofy lines, risqúe lines, awkward pauses, non-sequiturs, inside jokes, obvious jokes, jokes that make you laugh out loud, jokes that make you smile inwardly, verbal puns, visual puns—and then each of these styles layered on some of the others.

Take, for instance, Tobias Fünke and his obsession with the Blue Man Group, a minor narrative arc that extends mainly over the course of season two. At different points, whether or not Tobias is in the frame, his (blue) palm prints can be spotted all over the house and, a couple of times, even on his brother-in-law Michael’s shirt. On one level, this is funny because of the visual gag. On another level, it is funny in a surreal way to be confronted by a character who for no particular reason is obsessed with men covered in a coat of blue paint. On a third level, the joke is a pun on the fact that the Bluth family is engaged in the business of building model homes. (The link: blueprints.)

The main reason for the show’s failure was not narrative complexity. It was that viewers were overwhelmed by the different kinds of jokes flying toward them, seemingly without pattern. Self-indulgence in a sitcom works effectively until the audience begins to lose the thread.

Although the show created an arc of intimacy between the Bluth family and the viewer, the characters were extraordinarily unsympathetic. Arrested Development went about its business without seeming to care if jokes on themes such as incest—controversial under any circumstances—might alienate viewers.

Hurwitz is under pressure from the fan base to deliver a script abound with arbitrary jokes. He will want to persist with this degree of cleverness for artistic reasons. And with any luck, it would pay off with movie audiences, since cinema holds greater pretensions to art than television.

The presence of familiar faces like Cera and Portia de Rossi cannot hurt a complex film’s box-office chances. And given the show’s politics—the plot centered on the situation in Iraq and weapons of mass destruction —the movie script might address the current financial crisis.

An Arrested Development movie will follow in the tradition of TV shows like Sex and the City, The Simpsons and Miami Vice, which all made the transition to big-budget cinema, but unlike those films, “Arrested Development” will probably evoke the feel of an indie production.

Then again, with Ron Howard presumably having a hand, you never know.

Top 10s for the week ending February 10

Box Office

College Radio

Billboard

WBRS

1. He’s Just Not That Into You 2. Taken 3. Coraline 4. The Pink Panther 2 5. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 6. Push 7. Gran Torino 8. Slumdog Millionaire 9. The Uninvited 10. Hotel for Dogs

1. David Byrne and Brian Eno – Everything That Happens Will Happen Today 2. Los Campesinos! – We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed 3. Killers – Day And Age 4. Ladyhawke – Ladyhawke 5. Glasvegas – Glasvegas 6. Of Montreal – Skeletal Lamping 7. Love Is All – A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night 8. Her Space Holiday – XOXO Panda, And The New Kid Revival 9. Dears – Missiles 10. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

1. Bruce Springsteen – Working On A Dream 2. Taylor Swift – Fearless 3. Beyonce – I Am ... Sasha Fierce 4. Nickelback – Dark Horse 5. Kanye West – 808s & Heartbreak 6. Various Artists – Grammy Nominees 2009 7. Jamie Foxx – Intuition 8. Keyshia Cole – A Different Me 9. Franz Ferdinand – Tonight: Franz Ferdinand 10. Britney Spears – Circus

1. All Time Low – “Umbrella” 2. The Killers – “Losing Touch” 3. Violetvision – “Try Harder” 4. Loquat – “Big Key, Little Door” 5. Love Is All – “Movie Romance” 6. Grieves – “Kings” 7. Crystal Castles – “1991” 8. Jim Noir – “Same Space Holiday” 9. Bob Dylan – “Huck’s Tune” 10. Andrew Bird – “Oh No”

Album information provided by Billboard Magazine. Box office information provided by Yahoo! Movies. Radio charts provided by CMJ.

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2009

19

ON CAMPUS THEATER

‘Siddhartha’ enlightens audiences ■ Prof. Eric Hill’s (THA) adaptation of the classic play is a memorable experience.

By WILLIAM-BERNARD REID-VARLEY JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The version of Siddhartha currently being performed at Brandeis is Prof.

Eric Hill’s (THA) adaption of the Hermann Hesse novel of the same name.

Written between 1919 and 1922 during what the play’s guest director, Richard Corley of the Madison Repertory Theatre, describes as a period of artistic crisis in Hesse’s life and a period of economic crisis in his native Germany. The novel is, most simply, a retelling of the story of Buddha’s life; however, it is also far more than that.

To paraphrase poetically Hesse’s biographer Ralph Freedman (quoted by Corley in his Director’s Note), Siddhartha is an Eastern epic sung by the lips of a German Romantic. It speaks not only to the nostalgic and pastoral longings of a war-weary nation but to the tortured soul of the author himself.

As the young Hermann Hesse, played

by Ben Rosenblatt (GRAD), reveals in the prelude, “Instead of destroying his personality, they succeeded only in teaching him to hate himself.” At the same time, however, “the love of his neighbor was as deeply in him as the hatred of himself.” It is this focus on contradiction, on the struggle between the “murderer and the moralist” in all of us that has spoken to millions of readers over the past 90 years. And now in what Corley recognizes to be similarly trying circumstances in this country and the world, we at Brandeis are privileged to have the opportunity to immerse ourselves in a masterful theatrical bildungsroman, “if only we will listen.”

Siddhartha opens with a soliloquy by the older Hermann Hesse, played by career actor Andrew Neiman. A meta-meditation on the creative personality, the strong and moving Romantic assertions in the monologue provide a glimpse of the conflicted spirit of Hesse and his historical shadow, the tortured Siddhartha. The audience is drawn into Hesse’s personality and, through this life force of the play, begins to visualize the spirit of the drama. Then, suddenly, a curtain behind him rises, revealing the three goddesses (who also help narrate the story) in brilliantly colored costumes standing on stilts and towering over the stage. This magnificent display of costume genius is matched throughout the rest of the play by the quality of the lighting and sound design. The lights, which alternate between harsh white, blood red, deep

PHOTO COURTESY OF MIKE LOVETT

ACHIEVING NIRVANA: From left, Amy Klesert ’09, Equiano Mosieri (GRAD), McCaela Donovan (GRAD) and guest actor Andrew Neiman come together for a scene in ‘Siddhartha.’ blue and pitch black, and the sound effects—which include projections of the deep and all-encompassing “Ommm,” the soft gurgle of the river and a sharp, cold gunshot—play integral roles in the creation and enhancement of the mood of each scene.

Held in counterpoint to the rich costumes, lighting and sound is the simple grandeur of the set, which provides an often stark contrast that highlights Siddhartha’s own conflicted internal journey.

The architectural genius of the play, however, lies in its coursing, riverine flow. As each scene courses into the next, the audience (in a transfixed state of mental, if not physical, engagement in the drama) experiences

samsara, the process of rebirth, delving simultaneously into the characters and themselves in the realm of the Magic Theatre. Equiano Mosieri (GRAD), who plays the boatman Vasudeva and who most recently delivered equally strong performances in the Brandeis Theatre Company’s production of Tea and Flowers, Purity and Grace, comments that, like the river, “everything returns.” And it does. We follow young Siddhartha from his luxurious yet unfulfilled life at the home of his Brahman father to his quiet determination to pursue the life of a shramana (ascetic) to his disillusionment with asceticism and his entry into the realm of worldly pleasures to his tragic fall to a gambling ad-

diction and ultimately to his attainment of nirvana, which had been his goal from the beginning. Throughout his trials and seemingly endless wanderings we are painfully aware of the inner conflict tormenting Siddhartha.

Also, while the excellent acting (which was only slightly marred when Neiman stumbled over his lines a bit at the end of the play) and writing were integral in the realization of the characters, the choreography by Sarah Hickler, an assistant professor at Emerson College, played an absolutely crucial role in the emotional delivery of the drama. The flowing arms of the goddesses juxtaposed with the writhing agony of Siddhartha, whose movements—alternating be-

tween violent and strenuously controlled—lay bare the desperation of his soul, and the harsh staccato drumming of the ensemble was art at its most evocative.

Like the life of Siddhartha himself, the play is a beautiful juxtaposition of seeming opposites: It is at once ascetic and amply aesthetic, personal and panoramic, romantic and rational.

Corley recognized the valuable contribution of Hesse’s novel in its core theme of the oneness of creation. From this potentially chaotic cacophony of irreconcilable features he molded a united whole. In so doing, he produced a Hegelian synthesis in a microcosm of a complete, if not wholly contented, nirvana.

MUSIC

Futureman and the Black Mozart Ensemble revive classic genres ■ The eclectic director

brought together bluegrass, hip-hop and classical music.

By DANIEL BARON JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

If I had to describe the Black Mozart Ensemble’s performance in the Slosberg Recital Hall in one word, it would be “fun.” If I were able to use more words, I’d go on to call it fastpaced, lively, vibrant and exciting.

The group is insanely talented; Roy “Futureman” Wooten, the conductor and the night’s emcee, could not get over how skilled his violinist, Tyler Andal, was and continued to exclaim aloud that Andal’s mom would have never expected her son to be so devilishly good with his instrument. But, come to think of it, no mother would really expect her son to be able to play so rapidly, precisely and rhythmically as Andal, who also managed to add his own flavor to the music while playing.

Most of the evening’s selections were either written or inspired by Mozart and Chevalier de Saint Georges, though there were also

African-American spirituals; the first thirty seconds of “Swing Low, Swing Chariot” were so beautifully executed by the Black Mozart Ensemble’s cellist Jesse Hale that the vibrations sent shivers through my body.

The program also included a traditional bluegrass tune, “Blackberry Blossom.” If you enjoy Nickel Creek, this was your song, and the same applies to fans of the musicals Spring Awakening and Floyd Collins.

It is fitting that a concert focusing on the Renaissance—a “time of enlightenment and a time of terror,” as Wooten articulated—utilized the creations of a true Renaissance man. We learn that James Madison dubbed composer Chevalier de Saint Georges “the most accomplished man in Europe” in terms of riding, running, shooting, fencing, dancing and music.

Wooten himself is a kind of jack-ofall-trades, noted inventor of the “drumitar” (a “guitar-shaped instrument with a keyboard that generates the sound of a drum kit”), composer, conductor, percussionist and, to some extent, comedian. His funniest moments involved the different cackling noises that he produced while conducting and drumming at the same time. But

I also got a kick out of his attire, which involved a captain’s hat that made him look more like a Caribbean pirate than, say, an actor who portrayed one for Disney.

Futureman was not the only guy with different tricks up his sleeve; there was also Todd Johnson, a slam poet/rapper, dancer and all-out enthusiast who graced the stage. At one point, I realized that Johnson was a mix of Mos Def, Michael Jackson and Fred Astaire. Suffice it to say he wore multiple bowler hats, danced with the smoothness of pop’s former king and twirled a cane with so much dexterity that I was ready for him to put on the Ritz.

Five Brandeis musicians, who represented their turf quite well, joined the artists visiting our campus. Without a doubt they gained street cred.

The students were violinist Georgia Luikens (GRAD), violist Hannah Saltman ’12, cellist Noa Albaum ’12, cellist Eric Alterman ’09 and last but not least, bassist Dan Newman ’09. An additional slew of Brandeisians entered the scene when audience members volunteered to dance alongside the strings after being summoned by Johnson, who led them in what can

only be described as electric-slide-barmitzvah-reception-DJ choreography.

All in all, it was a community event. Wooten sees the orchestra as a “metaphor for society,” an idea exhibited through the diversity of pieces and engagement of all those present in the auditorium. Music affects all people from all backgrounds and classes, from the musician to the listener. Wooten reminds us all that music is central to our lives and persuades us to fight against the uptight notion that classical music and being cultured in general must always have serious connotations. Again, this was a fun show.

Another communal aspect became apparent as each member of the ensemble was singled out to play a quick solo, as is often done in jazz, to symbolize the importance of every citizen’s contribution.

But societies have their flaws, too.

The program refers to the “simultaneous reality of the Classical Era, Negro Spirituals and the height of the slave trade” in order to provide the context in which much of the music was composed and performed. Today we have a similar situation, with new struggles for minorities, radical shifts

in the interchange of ideas and philosophies, rapid advancements of technology, real hip hop’s comeback (a modern-day Renaissance) and terrible crimes against humanity all happening simultaneously.

The evening did have its negative points, however. For example, I only barely heard the connection to hip hop that I had been expecting. Don’t get me wrong; there were hip hop moments. Andal’s many solos, with urban beats thrown in with the typical classical nature of a violin, reminded me of MF Doom’s “Sofa King” track. Then there was the multitalented rapper who accompanied a few of the pieces, albeit with relatively short rhymes. And yes, the percussion was apparent during the entire evening. But the music was no more related to hip hop than it was to jazz and bluegrass. If anything, these latter two forms were more pronounced, and some of the music was too loud for me to hear the vocalist spit out the few words of poetry he had. That being said, the show was truly amazing, and my biggest disappointment was its brevity. In other words, I wish it were longer. That’s how good it was.

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2009

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THE JUSTICE

Sudanese refugees share their stories

By ANDREA FINEMAN JUSTICE EDITOR

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

LIFE ON THE RUN: The Southern Sudanese genocide created a population of child refugees, who came to be called the “Lost Boys” depicted here.

“Painting Faces on War: Spirit and Witness in the Art of Southern Sudanese Refugees” is one in a long line of Brandeis efforts to increase awareness of the genocides occurring in Sudan. The Southern Sudan Cultural Documentation Center, headed by Prof. Mark Auslander (ANTH), works to help Sudanese people document their stories through various forms of performance, including visual art. One of Auslander’s Cultural Production masters students named Atem Aleu is continuing the program of Sudanese art at Brandeis. “Painting Faces on War” includes Aleu’s paintings, lithography and sculpture as well as works by members of the African Refugee Artists Club, an organization Aleu has worked with since 2005.

Aleu himself has an insight into the experiences of the Sudanese refugees he has met through ARAC. As a member of the Sudanese Dinka tribe, Aleu learned to paint at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya, a refugee camp that has served victims of the Southern Sudan genocide since 1992.

The exhibition, which opened on Feb. 2 in conjunction with last week’s symposium titled “Hitting Close to Home: Art and Human Rights from Slavery to Guantanamo,” is sponsored by the Master of Arts Program in Cultural Production and runs until the end of this month.

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

FACES OF FLIGHT: In order to pass along their stories to others, a group of refugees formed the African Refugee Artists Club and proceeded to host artistic workshops.

S

pirit of survival JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

VISIONS OF A LIFESTYLE DESTROYED: Many may recall hearing about the Southern Sudanese genocide, part of a conflict between northern and aouthern Sudan that began to ravage the aouthern countryside in earnest in the late 1980s.

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

STAMPEDE: Dave Eggers’ 2006 novel ‘What is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng’ followed the story of a Southern Sudanese refugee from a Dinka village through Kakuma and on to the U.S.

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2009

THIS WEEK IN PICTURES

Expressions celebrates local artists with festival at Biagio

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

LOCALCORE: Justin Becker ’09 organized a fundraiser for Expressions, his arts grant foundation. The Feb. 8 gala featured performances by Emerson College slam poets, such as the one pictured above, and FRIT, a funk band, shown at right.

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

‘Dimensions 2’ exhibits new work by Fine Arts students

REBECCA NEY/the Justice

LADY OF THE NIGHT: A woman passes the Brooklyn Bridge in this piece from a painting student, which will be shown until Feb. 23.

REBECCA NEY/the Justice

REBECCA NEY/the Justice

ART ARRAY: A student views artwork on display in the Dreitzer Gallery that was produced in painting, photography and printmaking classes.

BASKET CASE: This brightly colored painting of a picnic scene evokes happy moods in visitors to the ‘Dimensions 2’ exhibit, which opened with a reception on Feb. 4.

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2009

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THE JUSTICE

EDUCATING AUDIENCES

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SONY PICTURE CLASSICS

MARIN THE MENTOR: François Bégaudeau, left, who wrote the novel upon which ‘The Class’ is based, plays M. Marin, a teacher struggling to find the best way in which to interact with his challenging students.

‘The Class’ fails to earn high grade ■ The French film, which is based on a novel by lead actor François Bégaudeau, lacks an involving plot.

By JUSTINE ROOT JUSTICE EDITOR

I find my longest class—which clocks in at a murderous 80 minutes—almost intolerable; every Monday and Wednesday, I must summon every ounce of willpower in my being in order to drag my worthless carcass to said educational session, and along the way I pray to God that this class will not be the one in which I meet my untimely demise at the hands of boredom.

Thus, I suppose I should not be surprised that The Class, which is

essentially a two-hour film about one of my least favorite activities (except in French), failed to hold my attention for the entirety of its duration.

However, The Class, which details the happenings at a multicultural French middle school over the course of one year, certainly doesn’t deserve a failing grade. The students—in addition to looking like genuine, awkward teens—are played by incredibly good actors whose performances contain no trace of the over-the-top ham that taints those of most young entertainers. The movie’s lead, François Bégaudeau, is also a natural in his role as M. Marin, the teacher of the film’s namesake (although, this may be on account of the fact that Bégaudeau is an actual teacher in addition to being the author of the semiautobiographical novel upon

which The Class is based). And the movie itself is incredibly true to life.

With its documentary-style camerawork, I actually thought at several points during The Class that the film was a documentary.

But there are certain points where The Class is almost too realistic; when two students start debating the merits of certain soccer teams during class or when teachers begin discussing the profitability of the school’s coffee machine at a staff meeting, I began to feel that all-toofamiliar soul-crushing tedium. Not only that, but The Class never features a scene set in a location other than the middle school. Granted, this one-locale technique has been used successfully in other films (such as the 1987 Italian masterpiece La Famiglia, in which the entire movie takes place in a single household), but in this particular movie it

hinders character development because the school setting only allows us to see students as they are in class and teachers as they are among fellow faculty in the break room. As a result, the audience is almost never granted any knowledge regarding the backstories of the film’s cast, and accordingly, certain students appear to be little more than pretentious, snot-nosed brats with no rhyme or reason behind their attitudes.

But as a friend of mine pointed out, this lack of cinematic investigation may have been intentional. For to delve into the life of every student would have created a film with a excessively large scope. Not only that, but part of what makes The Class unique is its emphasis on in-themoment interactions rather than plot development.

The film does provide an interest-

ing examination of certain educational principles, though; M. Marin’s frequent fights with his students—which usually degrade into squabbles in which he acts like a teen himself and which are due in part to his attempts to be lenient— lead one to consider whether it is a good idea for teachers to relate to their pupils as equals. And when at the beginning of the school year certain faculty members inform their fellows as to which of their students are “nice” and which are “not nice,” it makes us question how often pupils are condemned to fail before even taking their first exam.

Thus, while The Class does not exactly earn high marks in the realms of plot or action, it is still a worthwhile venture for those looking to learn more about the inner workings of that omnipresent institution, education.

MUSIC

‘Dark’ raises funds to light the way for AIDS study ■ The musical charity effort features such artists as Cat Power and Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie.

By ANDREA FINEMAN JUSTICE EDITOR

It’s hard to walk into a store or open your e-mail inbox without being asked to contribute to organizations working to fight AIDS. Not a day goes by that one doesn’t receive e-mails from friends or Brandeis figures announcing the gravity of the fight against the disease. The Gap has been selling items as part of the Product Red campaign, such as T-shirts emblazoned with slogans like “INSPI(RED)” and “DESI(RED),” for almost three years. These charitable efforts are certainly noble, but at this point it’s difficult to stand out in the sea of anti-AIDS products available to American consumers. Aaron and Bryce Dessner’s upcoming independent music compilation, Dark

Was the Night , which hits stores next Tuesday, is a unique fish in that sea.

The Dessners, two brothers who make up part of Brooklyn rock band The National, are something of men-about-town in the music world.

Despite their rock band’s relative obscurity until the advent of their most recent album, May 2007’s Boxer , the two men have been involved in organizing music festivals, collaborating with artists as varied as Philip Glass and New York City music organization Bang on a Can Allstars, and now have delved into charity efforts with Dark Was the Night . The two-disc compilation, produced in cooperation with Red Hot Organization, a charitable AIDS foundation, features original songs, covers and collaborations by and between notable independent rock musicians.

While many compilation albums of this type feature one or two standout tracks by blockbuster names along with a collection of songs by minor acts, Dark Was the Night manages to keep the quality

and the starpower going until the end of the second disc. The album starts off with a collaboration between the Dirty Projectors, an experimental Brooklyn-based band, and David Byrne, formerly of the Talking Heads. From there, the first disc continues with a cover of a song by 1960s folk singer Vashti Bunyan performed by Feist and Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie followed by a song by The National arranged by contemporary composer Nico Muhly, then a song by Sufjan Stevens—and the list goes on. The second disc includes works

by Spoon, Arcade Fire, My Morning Jacket, TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek and Andrew Bird.

One of the album’s great strengths is its variety of songs.

While a compilation made up solely of new tracks by some of the most popular and highly respected independent musicians currently working would be exciting, Dark Was the Night features covers of traditional songs by famed musicians like Bob Dylan and contemporary musicians like The Castanets in addition to

new songs by popular bands.

The musicians performing the songs crop up in unusual circumstances as well. The multiple collaborations between high-profile names like Feist, Ben Gibbard, David Byrne, Cat Power and Jose Gonzalez give us an exciting take on songs such as “Amazing Grace.” Including solo performances by musicians normally encountered as part of a band, such as Sitek, the Dessners and Jónsi Birgisson of Sigur Rós, is another way this compilation breathes extra life into an already lively group of songs.

Personally, I think the first half, billed by Aaron Dessner as “more bright and evocative of the best of independent rock music at the beginning of the 21st century,” is more entertaining than the second half, described as “dark and homegrown with almost classical arrangements of folk themes.” I’ll chalk that up to a preference for bands like The National and Feist to, for example, Cat Power and the Dirty Delta Blues Band’s meandering rendition of “Amazing Grace,” or Sharon Jones

and the Dap-Kings’ version of Shuggie Otis’ “Inspiration Information.”

For those who love indie rock and the blues, that second half will certainly please.

The compilation’s record label, 4AD, has been streaming online one song per day from the two-disc set since Jan. 15. The last streaming song runs Feb. 15, so readers still have five days to catch new works

by Andrew Bird, Blonde Redhead and Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene on the compilation’s Myspace page. For anyone interested in supporting AIDS as well as independent music, I’d certainly recommend streaming the music and—this is the hard part—paying money for the album come Tuesday. Perhaps this is the future of recorded music: it’s easy to download an album illegally, but pirating an album for AIDS is more difficult, morally speaking. This time, do your part and contribute to AIDS research.

Not only will it make those endless e-mails easier to delete, it’ll get you a hard copy of some of the best music on the market right now.

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2009

23

OFF CAMPUS CULTURE

Egyptian adventure at a low price ■ A local production company has blended art and entertainment to create an interactive exhibit for visitors of all ages.

By CAROLINE HUGHES JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Planning a trip into Boston can be daunting and damaging to one’s mind and one’s wallet. Want dinner in the Back Bay? Plan on spending at least a week’s worth of P.O.D. market grocery funds in one night.

Fortunately, this Brandeis student grew up in a suburb of Boston and is an expert on where to go and how to enjoy it cheaply.

My friends and I flipped through a guide to museums in Boston on a Saturday morning, attempting to find a locale where we could be both sophisticated and culturally savvy; however, the high prices discouraged us from visiting the science museum and the city’s various historical sites. Then, we found an establishment that sounded both exciting and sexy: the 5W!Ts museum, which featured a price tag that fit our college budgets.

Okay, okay, I have to add a caveat here. In case you are not aware, Brandeis students can attend the Museum of Fine Arts, an internationally renowned art museum in Boston, for free. So if I really wanted to embody the spirit of this particular article, I would have visited the MFA. However, the MFA closes early on the weekends, so it is not a

viable place to spend a Saturday night. Also, the museum contains historical, beautiful artifacts, masterpiece paintings and ornate sculptures, and it takes a certain type of intellectual Brandeisian to visit this particular museum on a Saturday: the archetypal college student sleeps until 2 p.m. and wakes up with a headache instead. I often embody that intellectual Brandeisian who inundates herself with Roman art and American modernity, but on this particular Saturday I sought excitement and action.

The premise of 5W!TS is simple yet adventurous. 5W!TS, a production company, has installed its current exhibit, “TOMB,” in a local studio and turned the building into an ancient Egyptian burial site in keeping with the exhibit’s title. The waiting area contained picture books of ancient Egypt, plastic statues of Isis and Osiris and wooden inscriptions of hieroglyphs. I eagerly perused a book with images of a crystal-clear Nile and gently swaying reeds. Since the show runs every 15 minutes, we did not have to wait long to be guided into the “debriefing tent,” where we learned about our task.

In the tent, we perched on wooden benches and old leathery suitcases.

Our wistful guide, probably an aspiring actress stuck in a dead-end job, informed me and my friends at the museum that an ancient tomb had been discovered under the building. We entered the tomb screaming and grabbing one another when our flashlights went out and we had to complete a series of tasks set out by a disgruntled

mummy.

One review of TOMB refers to the experience as Indiana Jones, another as Disney World, a sort of mélange of intellectual mummyfighting and unrealistic role playing. One frequently asked question on its Web site wonders, “Can you die?” Yes. You can. But don’t worry: My group of intelligent Brandeis students survived, thanks to a group of drunk middle-aged women celebrating a birthday (the 45-year-old birthday “girl” was wearing a pink tiara) and a 20-something couple (MIT graduate students, I guessed) who participated in our experience.

This motley crew of 11 people joined forces to answer riddles, solve puzzles and survive. One activity involved my hall mate lifting me up to the ceiling—the highlight of his experience, I am sure. Since the museum wishes to avoid any lawsuits, please do not attempt this experience if you are deathly claustrophobic or afraid of the dark.

The show caters to college students and offers a discount with a student ID, making the entry fee only $15 for a 45 minute “show.”

After we successfully appeased the mummy, I felt euphoric and giddy and I had learned absolutely nothing about ancient Egypt. It was the perfect college student’s activity.

The 5W!TS interactive museum is located at 186 Brookline Ave. in Boston, the area near Fenway that is right off the D-Green Line train. For more information, visit www.5wits.com.

Grand total: $15 entry + $4 for the T = $19 (or, with a CharlieCard, $15 + $3.50= $18.50).

PHOTO COURTESY OF 5 WITS, INC.

TOMB TEAM: Visitors must cooperate to make it through 5W!TS’ interactive exhibit.

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2009

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THE JUSTICE

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Doing something nice for others is typical of the generous Arian. But be prepared for some jealous types who might try to question one of your more recent acts of kindness.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) You’re eager to take on new responsibilities. But before you do, you might want to check out exactly what would be required of you so that you don’t face any surprises later.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) It might be best to put off an important decision until a fluctuating situation becomes more stable. Recently received news could help resolve a long-standing family matter.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) If you still have a problem getting that information gap closed, you might consider asking a higher authority to resolve the matter, leaving you free to move on to another project.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) A family matter needs to be dealt with at the start of the week.

Once it’s resolved, the Big Cat can devote more attention to that new opportunity that seems to hold so much potential.

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) Pay attention to those niggling doubts. They could be warning you not to make any major decisions until you’ve checked them out—especially where money matters might be involved.

LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) A business venture might need more of your attention than you are able to provide. Consider asking a trusted friend or family member to help you work through this time crunch.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) A more positive aspect helps you get a clearer focus on how to handle your time so that you ACROSS 1. Uses an abacus 5. Predicament 8. Thick chunk 12. Gilpin of “Frasier” 13. Hearty brew 14. Story-telling dance 15. Membership 16. Subway component 17. Related 18. Start a journey 20. Parking lot attendants 22. Eve, originally 23. Acknowledge applause 24. Galley supply 27. Comfy footstools 32. Justice Dept. div.

33. “So that's it, eh?”

34. “Flying Down to—” 35. Jack-of-all-trades 38. Increases the volume 39. Half-ton measure 40. Pussycat’s partner 42. Assails 45. Snub 49. Kamehameha Highway locale 50. Pitch 52. 49-Across, e.g.

53. Memo acronym 54. Swelled head 55. Night light 56. Stitches 57. Church seat 58. Mined-over matter DOWN 1. Basilica section 2. Consider 3. Uninteresting 4. Long-necked lutes 5. Soldier’s footwear

can deal with several responsibilities that are just now showing up on your schedule.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) A very close friend (you know who that is!) has advice that could help you work through a confusing situation. So put your pride aside and ask for it. You’ll be glad you did.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) A workplace situation could turn a bit tense. The best way to handle it is to confront it and deal with it openly. Doing so can help reveal the underlying reasons for the problem.

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) A colleague’s remarks appear to be especially cutting. But don’t waste your time or your energy trying to deal with the situation. You have more important things to do.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Support for your work comes as a surprise from someone you thought was critical or at least indifferent.

Your spouse or partner has big plans for the weekend.

BORN THIS WEEK: Your spiritual strength often acts as an inspiration to help others make decisions about their lives.

BRANDEIS

Through the Lens

Solution to last issues’s crossword.

RACHEL CORKE/the Justice

On the Brink?

A tree casts its shadow on the brick facade of the Science Center in the February sun. Punxsutawney Phil predicted last week that in six

Sudoku

6. Carte lead-in 7. Mogul Griffin 8. Kin of “aloha” 9. Tepid 10. Settled down 11. Prohibits 19. Smallest st.

21. Blood-group letters 24. Vacationing 25. Lawyers’ org.

26. Man-powered transport 28. Calendar abbr.

29. Annie’s song?

30. Pinch 31. ABBA song

36. Traffic problems 37. Make up your mind 38. The monk in The Da Vinci Code was one 41. Lindbergh book 42. Downy neckwear 43. Relaxation 44. Dance lesson 46. —friendly 47. Berg portion 48. Marshy areas 51. Time of your life?

King Crossword Copyright 2007 King Features Synd., Inc.

■ Noted American journalist, essayist, satirist and culture critic of H.L. Mencken made the following sage observation: “Strike an average between what a woman thinks of her husband a month before she marries him and what she thinks of him a year afterward, and you will have the truth about him.”

■ It may seem odd, but the Drug Enforcement Agency supports, in a fashion, a publication that advocates the legalization of cannabis; the DEA has three subscriptions to the magazine High Times.

■ There was a time when cartoon character Fred Flintstone appeared in ads for Winston cigarettes.

■ In an anthropological study once conducted in Papua New Guinea, it was found that one in three adult deaths were the result of homicide. And it seems that those murdered were often targeted because they were suspected of practicing sorcery.

■ There seems to be quite a rivalry between the towns of Rosehill, N.C. and Wilmington, Del. Both locales claim to be the home of the world’s largest frying pan, with a diameter of 10 feet. This begs some questions, of course: How many eggs are being fried at once to require such a large piece of cookware? And what sort of stove is required to heat such a mammoth pan?

■ In today’s troubled economic times, you might not be surprised to learn that in his famed Devil’s Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce defined a corporation as “an ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.”

■ According to estimates made by United Nations researchers, approximately 25 languages became extinct in 2008, meaning the last native speaker had passed away.

Thought for the Day: “Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they’ve told you what you think it is you want to hear.”— Alan Corenk

Enter digits from 1 to 9 into each blank space so that every row, column and 3x3 square contains one of each digit.

Sudoku Copyright 2007 King Features Synd., Inc.

weeks spring will arrive, melting the snow and causing the trees to blossom. Veteran New Englanders suspect it may take longer.