On Thursday Brandeis students and faculty presented "The Status is Not Quo," a play written in 1996 by Professor Joyce Antler's History as Theater class. The play depicts the first 25 years of Brandeis history through a collage of vignettes and comical sketches, monologues taken from archives of the Justice and past speeches, conversations between students reflecting some of the traditions of Brandeis (many of which are still in existence) and subtle visual aides directed by Kaitrin McDonagh and staged by Katherine Shea '03.Highlights of the show included Assistant Dean of Student Life Alwina Bennett impersonating the docile first lady of Brandeis welcoming students to her home for tea and crumpets. Robin Parks-McConnell's portrayal of President Abraham Sachar was powerful and impressive, while Professor Liz Terry's (THA) Eleanor Roosevelt impersonation was humorous and entertaining. Students in the production were effective in communicating the energy that ran through the student body in Brandeis' early days.

The tension between an activist student body and an unaccommodating administration was a running motif throughout the play. The second act of this play, if written today in honor of the 50th anniversary of Brandeis' first commencement, would include the debates, rallies and sit-ins regarding the dismissal of Professor Jyl Lynn Felman (WMNS) last year. She is the successor of several other outspoken professors who were forced to retire or resign because of their radical statements or lifestyles.

If the stubbornness of the Brandeis administration has not changed in 50 years, neither has the political activism of the students. From peace rallies to Black Panther sit-ins, from students taking over Pearlman and Ford Hall to protesting in downtown Boston, Brandeis students have fought racial segregation in the South, decried the war in Vietnam, sheltered political refugees and draft-dodgers and supported various civil rights movements. Sit-ins, sleep-ins, picket lines and protests are the blood that has run through the veins of this university since its inception.

The search for identity as a non-sectarian institution has been, and will continue to be, one of Brandeis' major struggles. The earliest students felt that the school was not accommodating enough for Jewish religious holidays. It took two years before Sachar was convinced that sukkahs could be erected for Sukkot without sacrificing the school's non-sectarian policy. Just a few years later, students were complaining that the school's policies were too accommodating for Jewish students, and Christmas trees were displayed all around campus.

Less politically-charged traditions and experiences have also carried over across the decades of Brandeis history. For example, Bronstein Day was once a day for LSD-laced punch, has expanded but toned down to a weekend of activities and games before finals. From the first day, Brandeis felt compelled to compare itself with Harvard, in jest as well as in earnest. And Cholmondley, photographer Ralph Norman's pet dog, was a common site on campus during the school's first years.

The story has very little relevance for anyone outside of the Brandeis community. Students and Brandeis affiliates, however, if they are not turned off or put to sleep by an often slow moving pace and repetitious script, would have appreciate the play for shedding light on Brandeis' past, and in doing so, helping to explain the problems that Brandeis is currently facing.

So, although we may not have a football team any longer, and students pay a tuition much higher than the initial $250 a semester, we can come to realize that we are not all that different from the pioneers and activists who first came to Brandeis 50 years ago, and continue to be drawn in towards its ideals of justice and equality that have yet to be fully attained.