Volume 12 Issue 17
“To acquire wisdom, one must observe.” Brandeis University’s Community Newspaper • Waltham, Mass.
www.brandeishoot.com
October 9, 2015
Harvard prof. speaks on stigma of fat
Students attend Sanders rally By Charlotte Aaron and Hannah Schuster Editors
By Elianna Spitzer
Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT) addressed a crowd of over 20,000 at a rally in Boston where he touched on key liberal issues including education, income inequality and mass incarceration. Sanders’ speech focused on social issues, though he also discussed Wall Street, campaign finance, energy and climate change. Sanders spoke at the Boston Convention Center on Saturday, Oct. 3. He called for a “political revolution,” to improve a government he said many have lost faith in and a government Sanders believes caters to the “billionaire class.” “I do not represent the agenda of the billionaire class or corporate America, and I don’t want their money,” said Sanders of his opposition to Super PACs.
Staff
administrators address student concerns over campus climate survey
photo by karen caldwellthe hoot
Susan Greenhalgh, a professor at Harvard University, shared her views on the cultural and personal effects of what she calls “fat-talk,” the obsession with being skinny and the prevalence of “fat-shaming” in America. Through her book, “Fat-Talk Nation: The Hidden Costs of America’s War on Fat,” published this spring, Greenhalgh starts a new conversation about what she has identified as “America’s war on fat.” Her book has garnered national attention by news sources such as National Public Radio and the New York Times. During her Friday, Oct. 2 visit, she said, “America’s antipathy towards fatness is nothing new. In the last few decades though, there’s been a critical cultural shift in our concern about fatness from self-control or virtue See FAT-TALK, page 4
See BERNIE, page 3
Univ. releases results of Campus Climate Survey By Jess Linde Editor
Multiple high-ranking members of the Brandeis administration held a town hall in Sherman Function Hall Thursday night, Oct. 9 to discuss the results of a “campus climate survey” sent out last semester. The survey was designed to gauge the effect of sexual misconduct and assault on Brandeis students. The results, which were released Thursday morning and called “deeply troubling” by Interim President Lisa Lynch, reflected 34.5 percent of the Brandeis student body. “This will be the first of many discussions we are going to have about what
we have learned and how we need to improve,” Lynch said. Of the respondents, 22 percent of women, five percent of men and 35 of trans* or otherwise non-binary identifying students had “indicated they had been sexually assaulted, including inappropriate sexual touching, fondling, grabbing and groping.” Six percent of female-identifying undergraduate respondents and one percent of male-identifying undergraduate respondents said they had been sexually assaulted or raped. Despite these numbers, and insistence by student activists over the years that sexual violence is very prevalent
at Brandeis, a total of six people have been found “responsible for sexual misconduct” by the university in the past three years. Five of these individuals were “removed” from campus, according to Vice President of Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel. What disturbed administrators most, however, was that only 54 percent of the survey’s respondents said they had told another person about their assault, and less than five percent had ever reported an incident to the university. “This is not the Brandeis way,” Lynch told the audience. “This disturbing and heartbreaking statistic cannot be the Brandeis way.” Many on
the function hall’s stage with Lynch were familiar with the issue of assault at Brandeis, including Flagel, Sexual Assault and Prevention Specialist Sheila McMahon, Brandeis Title IX Coordinator Linda Shinomoto and Title IX Investigator Rebecca Tiller. Also sitting on the stage were Associate Provost for Academic Affairs Kim Godsoe, Assistant Dean of Students Monique Pillow Gnanaratnam and Director of Community Living Timothy Touchette. In the audience were Dean of Students Jamele Adams, a representative from the Department of Public Safety and Professor Bernadette Brooten (NEJS), a feminist ac-
tivist and member of Brandeis’ Sexual Assault Task Force. After Lynch and Flagel spoke and the team introduced themselves, the floor was opened. Many of the students in attendance were recognizable as longtime anti-assault activists, including members of Brandeis Students Against Sexual Violence and student coordinators at the Rape Crisis Center. The students came prepared with questions and criticisms for the administrators, and used the statistics from the survey to their advantage. The administrators, Lynch and Flagel in particular, were visibly See CLIMATE, page 4
Sustainability Committee and Sodexo partner to host ‘Meatless Monday’ By Emily Sorkin Smith Editor
photo by sharon cai/the hoot
meatless monday Sherman offered a variet of vegan and vegetarian
options on its first “Meatless Monday” earlier this week.
Inside this issue:
News: Four positions filled in Union elections Opinion: FMLA promotes positive body image Arts: Group hosts poetry revival at Chum’s Features: Students participate in hackathon Editorial: Change campus culture
Sherman Dining Hall served a variety of vegetarian and vegan options, but no meat dishes, in its first “Meatless Monday” on Oct. 5. Members of the Sustainability Committee worked with Sodexo to produce a healthy, sustainable and appetizing dinner without using any meat. One of the organizers of “Meatless Monday,” Matt Smetana ’17, hoped that the night would encourage students to consider the economic and environmental benefits of meatless meal options. Smetana is the chair of
benefit concert
Page 3 Page 12 Page 8 Page 5 Page 7
Local jazz group hosts benefit concert for fellow musician with multiple sclerosis.
Arts: Page 8
the Brandeis Sustainability Committee and chair of the President’s Task Force on Sustainability. In an email to The Brandeis Hoot, Smetana explained the motivations behind the event. “We chose to have this event because we wanted to reduce our meat consumption just for the night,” he wrote. “Livestock produce tons of greenhouse gasses, particularly in the form of methane and carbon dioxide. The production of meat is also the cause of 80 percent of Amazonian deforestation and extreme runoff heading into the Gulf of Mexico.” Smetana emphasized the impact of reduced meat consumption on pub-
lic health, arguing that “The factory farming industry is also known for the overuse of antibiotics on their animals, causing superbugs that infect tens of thousands of humans; with no antibiotics that can work, almost all the people who receive them die.” He related the factory farm issue to Brandeis’ history of commitment to social justice. “Being that we are a social justice institution, people understand that environmental and animal rights issues are important,” he argued. According to Steve Canario, general manager for Sodexo, the event “did
history in concord Athropology students unearth history at site in Concord.
Features: Page 5
See MEATLESS, page 2