Punk, Rock n' Roll club gains space
For at least this semester, the Punk, Rock n' Roll Club will occupy an office space in the Shapiro Campus Center that was made available in November by the Office of Student Activities.The group beat out Students Talking about Relationships and Top Score in the application process, which gave them access to Conference Hall D, on the third floor of Shapiro.
The Department of Student Activities sent out a campuswide e-mail in November announcing the availability of the space. The e-mail asked any club leaders interested in the space to submit a written proposal by Nov. 17 explaining their club's contributions to the University community and why they need the space.
Director of Student Activities Stephanie Grimes said the committee reviewing the clubs' applications decided to allocate the office space on a rotating basis for every semester. Grimes said there will be a new application process in the spring for clubs to apply for the fall. The committee made this change during the application review process.
Grimes stressed that one of the factors playing a major role in the committee's decision, handed down in early December, was whether the club contributes to social life on campus. Grimes said the Punk, Rock n' Roll Club, which merged from two clubs last October, has done "a really strong job at creating social opportunities for the campus."
Rachel Pfeffer '08, the club's art coordinator, said they brought at least 15 bands to campus last semester.
"They're making their mark here at Brandeis and that's what they're bringing to the community," Grimes said. "That was the main reason why the committee chose them."
Leor Galil '08 and Ethan Feuer '07, co-presidents of the Punk, Rock n' Roll Club, said they were thrilled to receive the space. Galil said the room will allow them to have undisturbed meetings and store their art projects, such as silk screen T-shirts and vinyl records.
Feuer said the space enables them to store large numbers of promotional material from prospective bands and gives them a place to begin work on a new magazine devoted to music, culture and arts.
"We're trying to build a community here of people who not only enjoy music of every genre but enjoy meeting other people, [and] enjoy doing fun stuff with Brandeis," Galil said.
STAR coordinator Alana Cohen '08 said her club was disappointed about not getting the space. The group currently shares the Women's Resource Center in the Shapiro Campus Center with the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance. Cohen said the room's large windows hinder their ability to maintain confidentiality in their counseling.
Amanda Singer '07, a former STAR coordinator, said after further conversations with Grimes she decided the room would not be a good fit for their club anyway since it would only be available temporarily. Cohen and Singer said they would continue to look for a space of their own on campus.
Grimes said the application committee consisted of Student Union President Alison Schwartzbaum '08, Laura Covey '07, executive senator and Senator for the Class of 2007 and Shreeya Sinha '09, senator at large. The committee also included administrators, including Grimes, Sarah Bordeleau, assistant director of Student Activities and Mark Metevier, the campus center's manager of evening operations.
-Editor's note: Rachel Pfeffer is a staff writer for the Justice
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