After Class of 2008 Senator Asher Tanenbaum expressed that his committee found potential dualities of purpose between two clubs, Transitional Year Program Senator Kamarin Lee responded with an e-mail to selected Union officials that offended Tanenbaum. In an e-mail sent Nov. 1 by Tanenbaum, who is on the Ways and Means Committee, regarding clubs coming up for charter or recognition, he wrote that "for the African Club, we found some potential dualities of purpose with the Brandeis Black Student Organization."

Lee then wrote in an e-mail to various Union members, not including Tanenbaum, that Asher's email was "both offensive and inappropriate," and that "Asher's idea of the African Club is full of ignorance by believing racial stereotypes and sounds like something that would come from a White, Jewish Middle-Class Conservative."

Tanenbaum said this line offended him and that Lee's e-mail was out of line in response to what he originally wrote. Lee issued a public apology at the Senate meeting last Sunday night.

One criterion for a club to be qualify for charter is that it "must not duplicate the purpose or goals of a currently chartered organization," according to Article 8, Section 2 of the Union Constitution.

Tanenbaum's e-mail stated that BBSO's and the African Club's purposes from the club center page on the Brandeis Web site were redundant.

"There are many similar elements in both [clubs], particularly in cultural awareness and activities," Tanenbaum wrote.

Tanenbaum said in an interview last Monday night that both clubs talk about things like culture and politics that affect Africans around the world. "Aside from the name of the club, the purposes overlap to a great extent," he said.

Tanenbaum said last Monday that he and other senators didn't know of Lee's e-mail until the Nov. 4 Senate meeting, when the message was brought up by Class of 2009 Senator Yuki Hasegawa, one of the recipients of the e-mail. Hasegawa said at the meeting that he thought it was inappropriate to send this e-mail over the Senate listserv, not realizing that the e-mail wasn't actually sent to the list.

Lee wrote in his e-mail to Union members that Tanenbaum's remarks were personally offensive and indicated that the "club's inner elements are basically the same, and that all 'Africans' and 'African Americans' are the same, regardless of where they came from." Lee wrote that the African Club cannot be incorporated into BBSO because African American culture is very different from African, or black, culture.

Senator-at-large Andrew Brooks '09 said in a phone interview that he "was grossly offended by [Lee's e-mail]," calling it "completely racist" and "completely unmerited." Brooks said he asked Hasegawa about the email Nov. 5 and sent it to Tanenbaum, which was the first time Tanenbaum saw it.

"Apparently the email pretty much leaked and spread among various senior officers and became a bigger deal than I think Kamarin intended for it to be, so I called for a public apology," Brooks said.

Brooks said he and others who saw Lee's email met with Associate Dean of Student Jamele Adams last Sunday, and Brooks said Adams "felt a good discussion could result from this." Union Vice President Alex Braver '09 said Adams will also meet with involved students this week.

"I think this is a very personal issue and I am glad we're having these meetings this week to discuss this intensely," Braver said.

Brooks said he did not know who directly persuaded Lee to make a statement of apology at last Sunday's senate meeting, or whether Lee decided to apologize on his own.

In an e-mail to the Justice, Lee wrote, "At [the Senate] meeting, we had a productive discussion about what race means on our campus- something that we, as a legislative body, will continue to explore. I look forward to moving past this and working with my fellow Senators to best represent my constituents in the Senate."

Tanenbaum said that when representatives for the African Club came to the Senate meeting last Sunday night, they agreed with him although the club had a similar purpose to BBSO, the clubs are different in practice. He said the senate voted to charter the African Club based on those arguments by the African Club.

Tanenbaum said that Braver told the Union at the meeting that he didn't want this issue to be discussed and that they should probably table a resolution by Hasegawa asking for the Senate to reprimand Lee for his conduct, which they did. Tanenbaum said the tabling was followed by a discussion about the issue.