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Brandeis. Founded in 2000, the club team competes in a Division IV league called the New England Rugby Football Union, participating in tournaments such as the Beast of the East and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Prom Dress.
This year's Student Union elections have arrived, and six students are contending for the Union presidency. Although several of these candidates demonstrate qualities and goals that the leader of next year's student government should possess, one in particular stands out. This board endorses Joshua Hoffman-Senn '13 for Union president because of his tangible goals and unique approach to improving student life here. Mr. Hoffman-Senn is impressive because of his specific solutions to problems that many students on this campus note on a regular basis: a lack of dining options and difficulties with club management and funding. His plans to bring food trucks to campus and encourage outside sponsorships of clubs to increase their budgets are novel concepts that mark a departure from typical solutions that students have posed in the past. However, we believe Mr. Hoffman-Senn should also consider that clubs may be reluctant to allow outside sources to potentially influence their activities and interests. Mr. Hoffman-Senn must include club leaders in the discussion to ensure productive relations with private sponsors. Even if his specific initiatives turn out to be unattainable, we hope that, if elected, Mr. Hoffman-Senn will continue to take a creative approach to solving pervasive on-campus issues. Mr. Hoffman-Senn's experiences-both within the Student Union as an assistant treasurer and as a club leader through the Economics Society and Business Club-indicate that he will be able to handle the responsibilities as the next Union president. Moreover, his platform and goals demonstrate that he possesses a mindset that can make the Union more effective moving forward. By approaching club chartering and funding pragmatically and forming visible, tangible solutions to student concerns, Mr. Hoffman-Senn will be able to improve the functionality and efficiency of the Union. In that vein, this board would also like to commend candidates David Fisch '13 and Dillon Harvey '14 for their desires to unite the student body through various public relations campaigns and Union-sponsored events. It would behoove the winning candidate to combine Mr. Fisch's and Mr. Harvey's commitment to fostering sense of community and good will between the Union and its constituents. As these candidates have proposed, we hope that the next president recognizes the importance of remaining connected to the student body through social functions that promote school unity, such as the party earlier this semester commemorating the opening of the pool at the Joseph M. Linsey Sports Center. While each candidate has ambitious ideas and plans to transform the University, we hope the next president will realistically approach these issues and remain open to student input. While this year saw some impressive candidates, this board endorses Mr. Hoffman-Senn for Union president because he has identified problems that affect all students on a regular basis and has proposed ways to address those issues that go beyond traditional approaches.
The six Student Union presidential candidates and two vice presidential candidates participated in a debate cosponsored by the Justice, the Hoot, the Student Union and the Brandeis Academic Debate and Speech Society last night in Olin-Sang..
On Thursday, the student body will vote in the first round of Union elections. The open positions are president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, all seats on the Finance Board and representatives to the Board of Trustees, Alumni Association. Senator and Student Judiciary elections will take place in the second round of voting, on Thursday, April 26.
On Thursday, students will vote in the first round of Union elections. The open positions are president, vice president, treasurer, secretary all seats on the Finance Board and representatives to the Board of Trustees, Alumni Association. Senator and Student Judiciary elections will take place in the second round of voting, on Thursday, April 26.
JustNews: What are your overall thoughts or reflections on your first year in office? President Lawrence: I think it was a very successful, energizing year. A lot of the year was spent building relationships with faculty, with students, staff, friends of the University, alumni. A lot of that time was spent on campus building those relationships, and a lot of that time was spent traveling all over the country and, indeed, around the world. So I figure that I met literally thousands of alumni in my first year, at events all over. Something like 20 cities in the United States and several cities abroad where we did alumni events. Met long-time friends of the University, from all over. But a lot of time spent on campus, and a lot of that was being able to begin to launch a lot of initiatives here. So, when I think back over the year, I think, structurally, of getting the administration redesigned. Even before I started, we formed the Administrative Structured Advisory Committee, ASAC, and based on that committee's recommendations, we redesigned the provost's position, and then over the course of my first year hired Steve Goldstein ['78] to become our new provost. We redesigned the students and enrollment senior vice presidency, and hired Andrew Flagel for that position. Spent a lot of time with students, at student events, student activities, meetings with students, trying to get a sense of what this 'Brandeisian' thing is and become part of the community. In many ways, that's been the most rewarding thing of all. The opportunity to feel like I've been part of this place. And of course, that includes the opportunity to teach a course last semester. So I've been able to be a new president, but also be a new faculty member. A number of the particular projects that I thought needed attention that I was glad we were able to bring to closure. One was the solution of the Rose Art matter, and to get the museum reopened and reenergized and to be launching forward, and we are well along now in the search for a new director, and I hope that we will have that concluded relatively soon. Another was to reopen the [Joseph M. Linsey] Pool, and to be able to get the Linsey Pool and all of that structure renovated, so we could have that great opening of the pool, the January pool party on the first Saturday night you guys came back. And finally, I would say it was a year to begin to work on some thoughts about the global footprint of Brandeis. To travel to Israel, travel to India, and in both places see connections that Brandeis can make and collaboration opportunities for our scholars and our students. Actually, one other thing was launching the strategic planning process, which will help provide the blueprint for much of what we're going to try to accomplish over the coming years. I've been very excited about the level of engagement that that has received around the community. And again, from all sides of the community. From students, from faculty, from alumni, from friends, from staff. From all of us engaged in thinking about where are we and where do we want to go. So it's been a busy first year. It's sort of fun putting it all together in one place as we talk and hearing this whole list. It has been a very busy year, but a very good one. What has the transition been like for the University as a whole? I think there's a lot of excitement and energy, I think there's a lot of anticipation. I think we also need to be careful and manage our expectations, because there are a lot of challenges that we face, there are a lot of challenges that American higher education faces. And financial issues coming out of the financial crash of 2008 aren't going to be resolved overnight, they didn't happen overnight. But I think having said that, and still dealing with some of the short term implications of that, I think there is a great deal of excitement about what we can accomplish long term. Could you elaborate a little more about the trips you made to Israel and India? One of the things that the strategic planning process is working on, with my strong encouragement, is giving some focus and shape to our global programs. Let's take a step back. Brandeis has an enormous global reach. We have students from well over 100 countries on campus, 116 countries I think are represented on campus. 12 percent of our undergraduates are international students. A large number of students spend at least a semester abroad at some point in their four years. And if you add to that the students who have spent a summer abroad, or the summer before coming to Brandeis abroad, it's got to be the vast majority. So that's great. And I think that's important and that makes us who we are. I think we need to focus our efforts beyond that on a number of countries where we can have deep and sustained engagements. Israel and India strike me as two very strong candidates for that. There will be others. I think the strategic planning process can talk about that. So my hope is to see that kind of sustained engagement on multiple levels. How would you describe your relationship with the student body? You're my kids. One of the things I love about being here is the opportunity to be as much part of student life as I can. You guys understand that there are a lot of demands on my time and a lot of times that I can't be here. But you also know this is where my heart is. And so the goal has been to try to be involved in as wide a range of activities as possible. So over the course of the year, I try to be at least one match or meet of each of our sports teams, sometimes more, sometimes some of the away games. Certainly as many of the home games as I can. We had a great time with the men's soccer championship in the Eastern College Athletic Conference. Plays, concerts, other kinds of cultural events on campus, religious events. I think everyone knows that when I'm in town on Friday night I go to one of the student-led Shabbat services, I rotate around among the services, go to the Catholic mass at least once a semester. Just different ways of being able to connect with students where students live. Nothing wrong with what you and I are doing right now, but I don't want to just talk to students in my office. That's not where students live. Students live in campus, students live in the activities they do, students live in the classroom, which is why I wanted to teach. So it's important for me to be involved in all those levels. What about your relationships with the faculty? First and foremost, the president of a university is the member of the faculty. I always call them my faculty colleagues. The first thing I said when I addressed the faculty, I think I hadn't even become president yet, I think I was president-elect, that among the best piece of advice I ever got was that you should never become dean or provost or president in any place where you are not first and foremost proud to be a member of the faculty, because you are. So I have very much enjoyed my time with my faculty colleagues, on faculty committees, in a range of faculty interactions coming out of the strategic planning process, and in the formal interactions like the faculty meetings, but also the informal interactions socially. It's an extraordinarily gifted faculty in terms of a twin commitment, both to teaching and to scholarship. At the same time, you ask most Brandeis faculty what they like best about being here, and pretty quickly in conversation they talk about the students. And I get it, from having had the chance to teach and to be with Brandeis students in the classroom, I get it. I'd add to that, that these are committed teachers, these are dedicated scholars, productive scholars, but these are also overwhelmingly people who are really involved in helping to run this place. As one of the most prominent representatives of the University, what qualities of the school do you try to reflect to the public? Commitment to excellence in our teaching and excellence in our scholarship. A devotion to social justice, which means giving back. Taking our work seriously without taking ourselves too seriously. And a sense of great optimism about what we can accomplish together in the future. This is going to send terribly corny, but I do ask myself on a regular basis, "what would Louis Brandeis say." I told you it was going to sound corny. But it's true. Because Brandeis was somebody who understood that theory and practice went together, he was a brilliant scholar, a brilliant Supreme Court justice, but also an extremely effective tactical lawyer. And Brandeis was someone who understood social justice, his nickname was "The People's Lawyer," and that social justice is not spent sitting around talking about it, it's spend out there doing it. He got that. And Brandeis was somebody of moral courage. He stood up for what he believed, even if it put him at personal risk. When he became head of the American Zionist Movement in 1915, it was not an easy thing to do. So I'd like to think this is a school of which he'd be proud, and I'd like to think that he's still giving me advice, it's just that I have to listen pretty hard to hear it. *
JustNews: What are your overall thoughts or reflections on your first year in office? President Lawrence: I think it was a very successful, energizing year. A lot of the year was spent building relationships with faculty, with students, staff, friends of the University, alumni. A lot of that time was spent on campus building those relationships, and a lot of that time was spent traveling all over the country and, indeed, around the world. So I figure that I met literally thousands of alumni in my first year, at events all over. Something like 20 cities in the United States and several cities abroad where we did alumni events. Met long-time friends of the University, from all over. But a lot of time spent on campus, and a lot of that was being able to begin to launch a lot of initiatives here. So, when I think back over the year, I think, structurally, of getting the administration redesigned. Even before I started, we formed the Administrative Structured Advisory Committee, ASAC, and based on that committee's recommendations, we redesigned the provost's position, and then over the course of my first year hired Steve Goldstein ['78] to become our new provost. We redesigned the students and enrollment senior vice presidency, and hired Andrew Flagel for that position. Spent a lot of time with students, at student events, student activities, meetings with students, trying to get a sense of what this 'Brandeisian' thing is and become part of the community. In many ways, that's been the most rewarding thing of all. The opportunity to feel like I've been part of this place. And of course, that includes the opportunity to teach a course last semester. So I've been able to be a new president, but also be a new faculty member. A number of the particular projects that I thought needed attention that I was glad we were able to bring to closure. One was the solution of the Rose Art matter, and to get the museum reopened and reenergized and to be launching forward, and we are well along now in the search for a new director, and I hope that we will have that concluded relatively soon. Another was to reopen the [Joseph M. Linsey] Pool, and to be able to get the Linsey Pool and all of that structure renovated, so we could have that great opening of the pool, the January pool party on the first Saturday night you guys came back. And finally, I would say it was a year to begin to work on some thoughts about the global footprint of Brandeis. To travel to Israel, travel to India, and in both places see connections that Brandeis can make and collaboration opportunities for our scholars and our students. Actually, one other thing was launching the strategic planning process, which will help provide the blueprint for much of what we're going to try to accomplish over the coming years. I've been very excited about the level of engagement that that has received around the community. And again, from all sides of the community. From students, from faculty, from alumni, from friends, from staff. From all of us engaged in thinking about where are we and where do we want to go. So it's been a busy first year. It's sort of fun putting it all together in one place as we talk and hearing this whole list. It has been a very busy year, but a very good one. What has the transition been like for the University as a whole? I think there's a lot of excitement and energy, I think there's a lot of anticipation. I think we also need to be careful and manage our expectations, because there are a lot of challenges that we face, there are a lot of challenges that American higher education faces. And financial issues coming out of the financial crash of 2008 aren't going to be resolved overnight, they didn't happen overnight. But I think having said that, and still dealing with some of the short term implications of that, I think there is a great deal of excitement about what we can accomplish long term. Could you elaborate a little more about the trips you made to Israel and India? One of the things that the strategic planning process is working on, with my strong encouragement, is giving some focus and shape to our global programs. Let's take a step back. Brandeis has an enormous global reach. We have students from well over 100 countries on campus, 116 countries I think are represented on campus. 12 percent of our undergraduates are international students. A large number of students spend at least a semester abroad at some point in their four years. And if you add to that the students who have spent a summer abroad, or the summer before coming to Brandeis abroad, it's got to be the vast majority. So that's great. And I think that's important and that makes us who we are. I think we need to focus our efforts beyond that on a number of countries where we can have deep and sustained engagements. Israel and India strike me as two very strong candidates for that. There will be others. I think the strategic planning process can talk about that. So my hope is to see that kind of sustained engagement on multiple levels. How would you describe your relationship with the student body? You're my kids. One of the things I love about being here is the opportunity to be as much part of student life as I can. You guys understand that there are a lot of demands on my time and a lot of times that I can't be here. But you also know this is where my heart is. And so the goal has been to try to be involved in as wide a range of activities as possible. So over the course of the year, I try to be at least one match or meet of each of our sports teams, sometimes more, sometimes some of the away games. Certainly as many of the home games as I can. We had a great time with the men's soccer championship in the Eastern College Athletic Conference. Plays, concerts, other kinds of cultural events on campus, religious events. I think everyone knows that when I'm in town on Friday night I go to one of the student-led Shabbat services, I rotate around among the services, go to the Catholic mass at least once a semester. Just different ways of being able to connect with students where students live. Nothing wrong with what you and I are doing right now, but I don't want to just talk to students in my office. That's not where students live. Students live in campus, students live in the activities they do, students live in the classroom, which is why I wanted to teach. So it's important for me to be involved in all those levels. What about your relationships with the faculty? First and foremost, the president of a university is the member of the faculty. I always call them my faculty colleagues. The first thing I said when I addressed the faculty, I think I hadn't even become president yet, I think I was president-elect, that among the best piece of advice I ever got was that you should never become dean or provost or president in any place where you are not first and foremost proud to be a member of the faculty, because you are. So I have very much enjoyed my time with my faculty colleagues, on faculty committees, in a range of faculty interactions coming out of the strategic planning process, and in the formal interactions like the faculty meetings, but also the informal interactions socially. It's an extraordinarily gifted faculty in terms of a twin commitment, both to teaching and to scholarship. At the same time, you ask most Brandeis faculty what they like best about being here, and pretty quickly in conversation they talk about the students. And I get it, from having had the chance to teach and to be with Brandeis students in the classroom, I get it. I'd add to that, that these are committed teachers, these are dedicated scholars, productive scholars, but these are also overwhelmingly people who are really involved in helping to run this place. As one of the most prominent representatives of the University, what qualities of the school do you try to reflect to the public? Commitment to excellence in our teaching and excellence in our scholarship. A devotion to social justice, which means giving back. Taking our work seriously without taking ourselves too seriously. And a sense of great optimism about what we can accomplish together in the future. This is going to send terribly corny, but I do ask myself on a regular basis, "what would Louis Brandeis say." I told you it was going to sound corny. But it's true. Because Brandeis was somebody who understood that theory and practice went together, he was a brilliant scholar, a brilliant Supreme Court justice, but also an extremely effective tactical lawyer. And Brandeis was someone who understood social justice, his nickname was "The People's Lawyer," and that social justice is not spent sitting around talking about it, it's spend out there doing it. He got that. And Brandeis was somebody of moral courage. He stood up for what he believed, even if it put him at personal risk. When he became head of the American Zionist Movement in 1915, it was not an easy thing to do. So I'd like to think this is a school of which he'd be proud, and I'd like to think that he's still giving me advice, it's just that I have to listen pretty hard to hear it. *
JustNews: What are your overall thoughts or reflections on your first year in office? President Lawrence: I think it was a very successful, energizing year. A lot of the year was spent building relationships with faculty, with students, staff, friends of the University, alumni. A lot of that time was spent on campus building those relationships, and a lot of that time was spent traveling all over the country and, indeed, around the world. So I figure that I met literally thousands of alumni in my first year, at events all over. Something like 20 cities in the United States and several cities abroad where we did alumni events. Met long-time friends of the University, from all over. But a lot of time spent on campus, and a lot of that was being able to begin to launch a lot of initiatives here. So, when I think back over the year, I think, structurally, of getting the administration redesigned. Even before I started, we formed the Administrative Structured Advisory Committee, ASAC, and based on that committee's recommendations, we redesigned the provost's position, and then over the course of my first year hired Steve Goldstein ['78] to become our new provost. We redesigned the students and enrollment senior vice presidency, and hired Andrew Flagel for that position. Spent a lot of time with students, at student events, student activities, meetings with students, trying to get a sense of what this 'Brandeisian' thing is and become part of the community. In many ways, that's been the most rewarding thing of all. The opportunity to feel like I've been part of this place. And of course, that includes the opportunity to teach a course last semester. So I've been able to be a new president, but also be a new faculty member. A number of the particular projects that I thought needed attention that I was glad we were able to bring to closure. One was the solution of the Rose Art matter, and to get the museum reopened and reenergized and to be launching forward, and we are well along now in the search for a new director, and I hope that we will have that concluded relatively soon. Another was to reopen the [Joseph M. Linsey] Pool, and to be able to get the Linsey Pool and all of that structure renovated, so we could have that great opening of the pool, the January pool party on the first Saturday night you guys came back. And finally, I would say it was a year to begin to work on some thoughts about the global footprint of Brandeis. To travel to Israel, travel to India, and in both places see connections that Brandeis can make and collaboration opportunities for our scholars and our students. Actually, one other thing was launching the strategic planning process, which will help provide the blueprint for much of what we're going to try to accomplish over the coming years. I've been very excited about the level of engagement that that has received around the community. And again, from all sides of the community. From students, from faculty, from alumni, from friends, from staff. From all of us engaged in thinking about where are we and where do we want to go. So it's been a busy first year. It's sort of fun putting it all together in one place as we talk and hearing this whole list. It has been a very busy year, but a very good one. What has the transition been like for the University as a whole? I think there's a lot of excitement and energy, I think there's a lot of anticipation. I think we also need to be careful and manage our expectations, because there are a lot of challenges that we face, there are a lot of challenges that American higher education faces. And financial issues coming out of the financial crash of 2008 aren't going to be resolved overnight, they didn't happen overnight. But I think having said that, and still dealing with some of the short term implications of that, I think there is a great deal of excitement about what we can accomplish long term. Could you elaborate a little more about the trips you made to Israel and India? One of the things that the strategic planning process is working on, with my strong encouragement, is giving some focus and shape to our global programs. Let's take a step back. Brandeis has an enormous global reach. We have students from well over 100 countries on campus, 116 countries I think are represented on campus. 12 percent of our undergraduates are international students. A large number of students spend at least a semester abroad at some point in their four years. And if you add to that the students who have spent a summer abroad, or the summer before coming to Brandeis abroad, it's got to be the vast majority. So that's great. And I think that's important and that makes us who we are. I think we need to focus our efforts beyond that on a number of countries where we can have deep and sustained engagements. Israel and India strike me as two very strong candidates for that. There will be others. I think the strategic planning process can talk about that. So my hope is to see that kind of sustained engagement on multiple levels. How would you describe your relationship with the student body? You're my kids. One of the things I love about being here is the opportunity to be as much part of student life as I can. You guys understand that there are a lot of demands on my time and a lot of times that I can't be here. But you also know this is where my heart is. And so the goal has been to try to be involved in as wide a range of activities as possible. So over the course of the year, I try to be at least one match or meet of each of our sports teams, sometimes more, sometimes some of the away games. Certainly as many of the home games as I can. We had a great time with the men's soccer championship in the Eastern College Athletic Conference. Plays, concerts, other kinds of cultural events on campus, religious events. I think everyone knows that when I'm in town on Friday night I go to one of the student-led Shabbat services, I rotate around among the services, go to the Catholic mass at least once a semester. Just different ways of being able to connect with students where students live. Nothing wrong with what you and I are doing right now, but I don't want to just talk to students in my office. That's not where students live. Students live in campus, students live in the activities they do, students live in the classroom, which is why I wanted to teach. So it's important for me to be involved in all those levels. What about your relationships with the faculty? First and foremost, the president of a university is the member of the faculty. I always call them my faculty colleagues. The first thing I said when I addressed the faculty, I think I hadn't even become president yet, I think I was president-elect, that among the best piece of advice I ever got was that you should never become dean or provost or president in any place where you are not first and foremost proud to be a member of the faculty, because you are. So I have very much enjoyed my time with my faculty colleagues, on faculty committees, in a range of faculty interactions coming out of the strategic planning process, and in the formal interactions like the faculty meetings, but also the informal interactions socially. It's an extraordinarily gifted faculty in terms of a twin commitment, both to teaching and to scholarship. At the same time, you ask most Brandeis faculty what they like best about being here, and pretty quickly in conversation they talk about the students. And I get it, from having had the chance to teach and to be with Brandeis students in the classroom, I get it. I'd add to that, that these are committed teachers, these are dedicated scholars, productive scholars, but these are also overwhelmingly people who are really involved in helping to run this place. As one of the most prominent representatives of the University, what qualities of the school do you try to reflect to the public? Commitment to excellence in our teaching and excellence in our scholarship. A devotion to social justice, which means giving back. Taking our work seriously without taking ourselves too seriously. And a sense of great optimism about what we can accomplish together in the future. This is going to send terribly corny, but I do ask myself on a regular basis, "what would Louis Brandeis say." I told you it was going to sound corny. But it's true. Because Brandeis was somebody who understood that theory and practice went together, he was a brilliant scholar, a brilliant Supreme Court justice, but also an extremely effective tactical lawyer. And Brandeis was someone who understood social justice, his nickname was "The People's Lawyer," and that social justice is not spent sitting around talking about it, it's spend out there doing it. He got that. And Brandeis was somebody of moral courage. He stood up for what he believed, even if it put him at personal risk. When he became head of the American Zionist Movement in 1915, it was not an easy thing to do. So I'd like to think this is a school of which he'd be proud, and I'd like to think that he's still giving me advice, it's just that I have to listen pretty hard to hear it. *
While Brandeis athletics give the University much reason to be excited about the present, the Hall of Fame induction last Saturday night allowed for some reflection on past accomplishments. Held at the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center, the 2012 induction to Brandeis' Sports Hall of Fame featured the initiation of six individuals. Ruth Porter Bernstein '57, the late Harold Warren Zinn '61, Robert Nayer '70, William Carpenter '81, Geoff Getz '99, and Maya Marx '04 were all recognized for their contributions in front of a crowd of 100 alumni, friends and athletics staff. Speaking at the beginning of the ceremony, Senior Vice President of Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel explained that athletics exemplify the many positive qualities of the University. "Athletics in so many ways represents the heart of this institution," said Flagel. "Leadership. Commitment. A common thread in our society is excellence in athletics. Camaraderie. Leadership. Putting others above yourself." Porter Bernstein, a Winthrop, Mass. native, was inducted under the contributor category for her service on the board-and as president-of Friends of Brandeis Athletics (FOBA). Bernstein, who was also a member of the first undefeated women's basketball team that went 13-0 in 1956, mentioned that she was glad to have her young grandchildren in the crowd. She expressed her hope that they would understand how she earned her induction. "I want my grandchildren to know that finding something you love and giving your best to it will bring untold reward," she said. "Thank you so much for this wonderful honor." Zinn, honored posthumously, was one of the founding members of the Brandeis golf team. Though he passed away in 1991, his legacy endures as one of the finest golfers in not only school history, but in the New England region. Nayer, who ranks 18th in points and second in rebounds on the men's basketball team's all-time list, said that he was honored to be inducted into such a prestigious group of individuals. "I was very thrilled," said Nayer, who works as the director of operating and capital budgets at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore. "Honored. Humbled. Really appreciative, very proud," he said. "It means so much to me." Carpenter, the Greater Boston League MVP his senior year, had a two-year stint in the minor leagues. After a memorable season in which he batted .458 in his senior year, Carpenter remembered the good times he had on the diamond, mentioning how excited he was to come back to campus. "I got just as excited driving down South Street towards the school today as I did 35 years ago," said Carpenter, who currently coaches American Legion baseball in Connecticut. A three-time NCAA Division III National Champion in the 800-meter run, Getz still manages to run competitively at 35 years old. He is currently employed as an IT consultant for Z-TECH Associates, a company he began working for while a sophomore at Brandeis. Though Getz is not as quick as when he ran a scorching time of 1:50 for the 800-meter, Getz, who lives in nearby Wayland, still reflects on his days as a Judge with great pride. "We had some really talented middle-distance runners under [coach] Bruce Bickford [who was at one point ranked first in the world at 10,000 meters]," he said. "I think we got fourth at [NCAA Division III] cross-country nationals one year." Amid his extensive accomplishments, Getz said that he was humbled to be honored. "I was surprised," he added. "I'm flattered, of course. There are a lot of other good athletes here. I don't know what the selection criteria [are], but I'm very honored." Marx, a three-time qualifier for the NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships and three-time All-American in the breaststroke, cited her then-coach [and current Assistant Director of Athletics] Jim Zotz as her mentor. During her induction speech, Marx announced something personal-she and husband, former Judges swimmer Nick Dufresne '04, are expecting their first child this fall. "We hope they'll swim, but we won't pressure them," Marx joked. Though the next induction has already been planned for Oct. 12, 2013, there will be plenty of time for the Brandeis community to commemorate the accomplishments of these individuals. With current success on the fields, courts, trails and track, the task for those selecting future nominees will only be more challenging. *
JustNews: What are your overall thoughts or reflections on your first year in office? President Lawrence: I think it was a very successful, energizing year. A lot of the year was spent building relationships with faculty, with students, staff, friends of the University, alumni. A lot of that time was spent on campus building those relationships, and a lot of that time was spent traveling all over the country and, indeed, around the world. So I figure that I met literally thousands of alumni in my first year, at events all over. Something like 20 cities in the United States and several cities abroad where we did alumni events. Met long-time friends of the University, from all over. But a lot of time spent on campus, and a lot of that was being able to begin to launch a lot of initiatives here. So, when I think back over the year, I think, structurally, of getting the administration redesigned. Even before I started, we formed the Administrative Structured Advisory Committee, ASAC, and based on that committee's recommendations, we redesigned the provost's position, and then over the course of my first year hired Steve Goldstein ['78] to become our new provost. We redesigned the students and enrollment senior vice presidency, and hired Andrew Flagel for that position. Spent a lot of time with students, at student events, student activities, meetings with students, trying to get a sense of what this 'Brandeisian' thing is and become part of the community. In many ways, that's been the most rewarding thing of all. The opportunity to feel like I've been part of this place. And of course, that includes the opportunity to teach a course last semester. So I've been able to be a new president, but also be a new faculty member. A number of the particular projects that I thought needed attention that I was glad we were able to bring to closure. One was the solution of the Rose Art matter, and to get the museum reopened and reenergized and to be launching forward, and we are well along now in the search for a new director, and I hope that we will have that concluded relatively soon. Another was to reopen the [Joseph M. Linsey] Pool, and to be able to get the Linsey Pool and all of that structure renovated, so we could have that great opening of the pool, the January pool party on the first Saturday night you guys came back. And finally, I would say it was a year to begin to work on some thoughts about the global footprint of Brandeis. To travel to Israel, travel to India, and in both places see connections that Brandeis can make and collaboration opportunities for our scholars and our students. Actually, one other thing was launching the strategic planning process, which will help provide the blueprint for much of what we're going to try to accomplish over the coming years. I've been very excited about the level of engagement that that has received around the community. And again, from all sides of the community. From students, from faculty, from alumni, from friends, from staff. From all of us engaged in thinking about where are we and where do we want to go. So it's been a busy first year. It's sort of fun putting it all together in one place as we talk and hearing this whole list. It has been a very busy year, but a very good one. What has the transition been like for the University as a whole? I think there's a lot of excitement and energy, I think there's a lot of anticipation. I think we also need to be careful and manage our expectations, because there are a lot of challenges that we face, there are a lot of challenges that American higher education faces. And financial issues coming out of the financial crash of 2008 aren't going to be resolved overnight, they didn't happen overnight. But I think having said that, and still dealing with some of the short term implications of that, I think there is a great deal of excitement about what we can accomplish long term. Could you elaborate a little more about the trips you made to Israel and India? One of the things that the strategic planning process is working on, with my strong encouragement, is giving some focus and shape to our global programs. Let's take a step back. Brandeis has an enormous global reach. We have students from well over 100 countries on campus, 116 countries I think are represented on campus. 12 percent of our undergraduates are international students. A large number of students spend at least a semester abroad at some point in their four years. And if you add to that the students who have spent a summer abroad, or the summer before coming to Brandeis abroad, it's got to be the vast majority. So that's great. And I think that's important and that makes us who we are. I think we need to focus our efforts beyond that on a number of countries where we can have deep and sustained engagements. Israel and India strike me as two very strong candidates for that. There will be others. I think the strategic planning process can talk about that. So my hope is to see that kind of sustained engagement on multiple levels. How would you describe your relationship with the student body? You're my kids. One of the things I love about being here is the opportunity to be as much part of student life as I can. You guys understand that there are a lot of demands on my time and a lot of times that I can't be here. But you also know this is where my heart is. And so the goal has been to try to be involved in as wide a range of activities as possible. So over the course of the year, I try to be at least one match or meet of each of our sports teams, sometimes more, sometimes some of the away games. Certainly as many of the home games as I can. We had a great time with the men's soccer championship in the Eastern College Athletic Conference. Plays, concerts, other kinds of cultural events on campus, religious events. I think everyone knows that when I'm in town on Friday night I go to one of the student-led Shabbat services, I rotate around among the services, go to the Catholic mass at least once a semester. Just different ways of being able to connect with students where students live. Nothing wrong with what you and I are doing right now, but I don't want to just talk to students in my office. That's not where students live. Students live in campus, students live in the activities they do, students live in the classroom, which is why I wanted to teach. So it's important for me to be involved in all those levels. What about your relationships with the faculty? First and foremost, the president of a university is the member of the faculty. I always call them my faculty colleagues. The first thing I said when I addressed the faculty, I think I hadn't even become president yet, I think I was president-elect, that among the best piece of advice I ever got was that you should never become dean or provost or president in any place where you are not first and foremost proud to be a member of the faculty, because you are. So I have very much enjoyed my time with my faculty colleagues, on faculty committees, in a range of faculty interactions coming out of the strategic planning process, and in the formal interactions like the faculty meetings, but also the informal interactions socially. It's an extraordinarily gifted faculty in terms of a twin commitment, both to teaching and to scholarship. At the same time, you ask most Brandeis faculty what they like best about being here, and pretty quickly in conversation they talk about the students. And I get it, from having had the chance to teach and to be with Brandeis students in the classroom, I get it. I'd add to that, that these are committed teachers, these are dedicated scholars, productive scholars, but these are also overwhelmingly people who are really involved in helping to run this place. * As one of the most prominent representatives of the University, what qualities of the school do you try to reflect to the public? Commitment to excellence in our teaching and excellence in our scholarship. A devotion to social justice, which means giving back. Taking our work seriously without taking ourselves too seriously. And a sense of great optimism about what we can accomplish together in the future. This is going to send terribly corny, but I do ask myself on a regular basis, "what would Louis Brandeis say." I told you it was going to sound corny. But it's true. Because Brandeis was somebody who understood that theory and practice went together, he was a brilliant scholar, a brilliant Supreme Court justice, but also an extremely effective tactical lawyer. And Brandeis was someone who understood social justice, his nickname was "The People's Lawyer," and that social justice is not spent sitting around talking about it, it's spend out there doing it. He got that. And Brandeis was somebody of moral courage. He stood up for what he believed, even if it put him at personal risk. When he became head of the American Zionist Movement in 1915, it was not an easy thing to do. So I'd like to think this is a school of which he'd be proud, and I'd like to think that he's still giving me advice, it's just that I have to listen pretty hard to hear it.
Last week, the Club Support Committee of the Student Union's Senate continued their mandatory club renewal project first initiated last November. In the email to select club leaders, the committee members asked students for a second time to promptly fill out the club renewal form to avoid dechartering and de-recognition. While we commend the committee for continuing to weed out idle clubs, we also encourage club leaders to consider absorbing other smaller clubs with similar agendas into their own organization. By undertaking these steps, both club leaders and the Senate can work to effectively increase the overall productivity of clubs and funding allocations. As this most recent email indicates, 83 clubs passed the Nov. 23 deadline from last semester without filling out the appropriate form. Among those included in the email were Women's Ultimate Frisbee, Voices of Soul and the Ski Team-clubs that routinely demonstrate their active club membership and role on campus. Instead of dechartering these clubs, the committee took the extra step to allow leaders another chance to reiterate their interest and commitment to operating their club. Further, according to the chair of the committee, Shekeyla Caldwell '14 in an email to the Justice, the committee members are also personally emailing club leaders and only plan on dechartering non-existent clubs, "not clubs that are, even slightly, active." We appreciate their intentions to help club leaders rather than simply dechartering clubs that missed a deadline. While the committee works to increase the productivity of the myBrandeis page, we urge club leaders to also consider the productivity of their own clubs and the benefit of incorporating their functions into a larger club that has a similar interest and purpose. For example, while currently two separate clubs, the Mountain Club and the Alpine Snow Sports Club are both chartered clubs that plan and execute trips specifically for snowboarding, rock climbing and hiking among other activities. Though both clubs have very similar functions, they each receive separate funding from the Finance Board and further deplete our resources. Aside from affecting funding, clubs whose purpose and level of activity change over time are then also hurting new prospective clubs that hope to become chartered as well. As the committee moves forward with the club renewal process, we urge them to remember the purpose of the undertaking. Clubs that do not fill out the form again-if the committee follows through with their second warning-should effectively be dechartered. While we appreciate the second attempt at eliciting responses, the committee should follow through with the initial purpose of the project to eliminate inactive clubs and help leaders fully maximize the value of their clubs by reducing redundancy. *
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After questions regarding Pachanga's fate this semester, International Club President Andrea Verdeja '14 and Vice President Michael Mutluoglu '14 said in an interview with the Justice that Pachanga will not take place this semester. The reason, according to Verdeja and Mutluoglu, is a lack of venue. Pachanga was originally booked to take place in Levin Ballroom, but the International Club members raised concerns about whether Levin's capacity was enough for anticipated attendance. Verdeja said that in the past, tickets for Pachanga have sold out within a few days and attendance would probably exceed Levin's capacity, of about 700 people. For this reason, Verdeja and Mutluoglu said that they attempted to schedule the event at the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center, which would be able to hold more people, but all spaces were booked a year in advance. Unless the coordinators of one event agreed to let the International Club use the space instead of them, the club would have to wait until next spring semester to hold Pachanga. In any case, Verdeja said that Pachanga will be held every spring semester, while Rumba will be held every fall semester. In addition, Verdeja and Mutluoglu said that the administration was completely supportive of holding Pachanga again. "The event itself has never been a bad event," said Associate Dean of Student Life Jamele Adams in an interview with the Justice. "It's an incredible event. That's been [the University's] stance since the beginning." Pachanga, which was previously held every semester, was changed to an annual event, according to Director of the Intercultural Center Monique Gnanaratnam in a February 2011 interview with the Justice, following the Oct. 23, 2010 Pachanga, which resulted in overcrowding and hospitalization of multiple attendees, who were treated for intoxication. The decision to hold Pachanga every spring was made in order to avoid "having a duplication of the negative things that surround the event happening," according to Adams in a February 2011 interview with the Justice. Adams said in the recent interview that the University will also work with the International Club to ensure that a location of reasonable size is secured, working with health education resources to educate students on alcohol consumption and addressing the issue of fraudulent ticket sales, which contributed to overcrowding at the last Pachanga. In addition, Verdeja said that Pachanga will eventually be self-sustainable, meaning that although the first Pachanga event will most likely be funded by the Finance Board, all subsequent Pachangas will be funded by their own ticket sales. F-Board had allocated $10,000 to the International Club in the event that Pachanga would be held this semester, according to F-Board Chair Gabriel Weingrod-Nemzow '12 in a February interview with the Justice. According to Weingrod-Nemzow in a recent interview, that money will be returned to the F-Board for reallocation in the future. Mutluoglu said that the next Pachanga will be an "opportunity to show that Brandeis can step it up," and Verdeja commented that their goal is to make Pachanga something "the University can be proud of." "I think the community will love [Pachanga]," said Adams. "I think it will be successful."
This week, International Club President Andrea Verdeja '14 told the Justice in an interview that Pachanga would not be taking place this year due to lack of an appropriate venue. The Shapiro Gym in Gosman Sports and Convocation Center, the venue chosen for its larger capacity, was unavailable. While this editorial board understands students will be disappointed that the popular event will not be taking place this year, we appreciate that the club has seriously considered the potential dangers of continuing to hold Pachanga in a smaller venue like Levin Ballroom. Overcrowding has been one of the more significant problems with the event in the past, and this board is glad the International Club is taking steps to solve it. For many upperclassmen, Pachanga is an event ingrained in the Brandeis social scene that they look forward to every semester. As a result of the dangers of overcrowding, as well other past complications like the hospitalization of several attendees for alcohol poisoning, the event which was once semesterly became annual, and the University officially suspended last fall it until this spring. In attempting to plan Pachanga this semester, however, the I-Club chose not to hold it in a venue that would create unsafe circumstances for attendees. We applaud the I-Club for considering the safety of the students before the pressures to administer the event. While the I-Club members could simply have continued the tradition and held Pachanga in the same venue, they are actively trying to improve their event to make it as enjoyable for students as possible. If space permits, I-Club plans to hold Pachanga next year in a safer environment. Furthermore, following the release of the Alcohol and Drug report, we expected increased communication between students and the administration to avoid making the same mistakes from last year. We are pleased that the partial result of these talks is an increased focus on safety. While we understand the reasons for this second postponement, we also believe students expected that the I-Club and the administration would be able to follow through with the event after the hiatus. While we are disappointed with the cancellation after its three-semester ban, it is also important that Pachanga live up to the standards of the University in terms of safety. We hope that next year the I-Club and the administration plan accordingly in order to meet students' expectations for this fun and traditional campus event.
It felt like summer outside last Thursday, and the heat was present inside Gosman Sports and Convocation Center as Theo Didn't Make it Either notched a tight 2-0 victory over IBS Coed. The two-week indoor intramural soccer season initially had not been scheduled to occur this year, but because of high demand from the student population, Associate Director of Athletics Tom Rand revived the sport for the 2012 season. While the gym was packed with Brandeis students cheering on IBS Coed, the overall skill and persistence of Theo Didn't Make it Either, which includes senior varsity midfielders Theo Terris '12 and Ari Silver '12, were too much for IBS Coed to handle. Terris notched both goals, hitting the first one off of a rebound in the first half. He then ensured victory in the second half by sending the ball into the lower right corner of the net with 10 minutes left in the game. However, the game was not over yet. After the second-half goal from Terris, IBS Coed made a ferocious attempt at a comeback. With five minutes left in the game, things got interesting. Taylor Bracken '11, MA '12, goaltender for Theo Didn't Make it Either, let a ball slip past him to seemingly cut the lead to 2-1. However, the referee's call would define the game-he ruled that the goal was invalid due to sliding. Frustrated by the call, members of IBS Coed mobbed the referee, hoping to convince him to change his decision. Gosman Manager Zach Malis '12 stepped in to settle the situation, maintaining the call on the field. The controversy would not end there, though. With three minutes left in the game, a questionable tackle at the top of the box led to another altercation between IBS Coed player Ben Zimmerman '11, MA '12 and Terris, leading to red cards and ejections of both of the players. IBS Coed was able to notch a few more shots on goal, but Bracken kept the ball out of the net, giving Theo Didn't Make it Either the chance for those coveted intramural t-shirts. The Semi-Pro Tryoutees won T-shirts in the men's indoor intramural league 4-0 against Alex Yovanoff-Meyerowitz. In the women's championship, Kickin Ballz earned a tight 4-3 final score, in which the result ultimately came down to the final penalty kicks. In the end, they notched the victory against The S-Dogs. Brandeis students can look forward to intramural softball next, which is set to begin this week. *
The New Orleans Saints have met their maker. After years of collecting payouts for deliberately hurting other players, such as quarterback Brett Favre, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell suspended coach Sean Payton for the 2012-2013 season, while also seizing the franchise's next two second-round picks. Plays in the bounty system started with a standard pass. Cleveland Browns quarterback Colt McCoy snatched the ball from his center. As his receivers struggled to get open, McCoy scrambled to evade the flashes of the Pittsburgh Steelers defense that barged toward him. Approximately one second later, however, a vicious helmet-to-helmet assault from Steelers' linebacker James Harrison sent McCoy reeling. He then lay writhing on the ground. Football is inescapably a rough sport. However, with the increase in awareness about the dangers of helmet-to-helmet collisions, rules have been instituted to ensure that hits like the one suffered by McCoy occur less frequently. Still, however, these hits happen. According to a poll conducted by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, Alzheimer's and similar diseases related to memory loss have been diagnosed in former players at a rate of 19 times the standard for men ages 30 to 49. Another poll from the University of North Carolina's Center for the Study of Retired Athletes discovered that over one-fifth of former NFL players that claim to have sustained three or more concussions have also developed depression-like symptoms. These polls suggest a link between the head trauma obtained from participating in football and neurological disorders developed later in life. This sobering data affirms why news of the New Orleans Saints' bounty scandal is so disturbing. "We are all accountable and responsible for player health and safety and the integrity of the game," said Goodell. "We will not tolerate conduct or a culture that undermines those priorities." Payton attempted to cover up the bounty system, even when the league established that no such system could exist. Gregg Williams, the Saints' former defensive coordinator who now works with the St. Louis Rams, has also been indefinitely suspended by the league. The Saints were also fined $500,000 . The bounty program officially began in 2009, the year in which Williams first joined the Saints and New Orleans secured their franchise's first Super Bowl championship. The bounty system continued up through the 2011 season, even after continued warnings from the league that warned teams to put a stop to any potential misconduct. Players were paid hundreds of dollars out of a pool created by the players, coaches and others affiliated with the Saints. At one point, during the team's 2009 championship run, the pool grew to as large as $50,000. Who is truly to blame for the Saints' scandal? Certainly Williams had a role in perpetuating the bounty scheme. Payton and the players involved can't be excused either. Football is a form of entertainment. In today's fast-paced world, hard-hitting football is a must. We want to witness brute contact. We need explosive collisions that dismantle players like McCoy. The focus of the American people does not yet take into account the safety of the players involved in the sport of football. The Steelers crowd booed emphatically as Harrison was tagged with a penalty in a game, indifferent to a man twisting on the ground. If you are looking for someone to blame for the Saints' bounty scandal, perhaps we should all take a long look in the mirror. The coaches and players broke rules and endangered the livelihood of many individuals. However, perhaps it is the spectators' attitude towards the sport that also needs readjustment.
* Medical Emergency * March 19-A party reported that two students playing basketball in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center had collided and might be injured. BEMCo responded and treated both parties on-scene with a signed refusal for further care. * March 21-A party in the Gosman lower -level training room reported that he was having trouble breathing and requested BEMCo. BEMCo treated the party on-scene. The party was transported via ambulance to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care. * March 23-A reporting party stated that a female in the Spingold Theater Center fainted. University Police and BEMCo responded, and the party was transported to Newton-Wellesley Hospital via ambulance for further care. * March 25-University Police received a report of an intoxicated male student in need of medical attention in Ridgewood B. University Police responded, requesting additional officers for crowd control. The Community Development Coordinator on call also assisted. The party was treated on-scene by BEMCo with a signed refusal for further care. * Larceny * March 22-A reporting party stated that his back license plate, I20 form and vehicle registration were stolen from his vehicle one to two months ago while parked in the South Residence lot. University Police compiled a report on the theft. * Traffic * March 19--A student reported an accident at the intersection in front of the Spingold Theater Center in which there was no damage to either vehicle. There were no injuries. University Police sent to speak with the involved student and subsequently cleared the incident with no further action. * March 23-Two students arrived at the police dispatch center to report that a Crystal Shuttle bus was on fire on Loop Road in front of the University Police station. The Waltham Fire Department was notified and extinguished the fire. The Crystal bus dispatcher was notified to have the bus towed off campus as soon as possible. There were no reported injuries. * Miscellaneous * March 20-University Police encountered a white male near the rear of a Turner Street home whom they identified as a homeless person well-known by Waltham Police. University Police arrested him for trespassing after notice and transported him to the Waltham Police Department. * March 23-University Police observed a male party wearing only black underwear behind the Slosberg Recital Hall. The party fled when police attempted to stop him; police eventually apprehended the party and identified him as a student. University judicial charges will be filed. * March 24-A party reported a suspicious male party at the Foster Mods, describing him as 30-to 35-years-old with brown hair and a mustache, a sunburned face and wearing a plaid shirt. A party matching this description was found and identified by University Police as the guest of a graduate student. A check revealed that there were no warrants for the party in question. University Police took no further action. * Disturbance * March 22-University Police received a call from a Waltham resident who reported that students were yelling near Chapels Pond. Police checked the area, as well as Massell and Rosenthal Quads, and found nothing. * March 24-A reporting party stated that there appeared to be over 100 students outside the lower Foster Mods. University Police found parties in three Mods and dispersed them without incident. The CDC on call was advised of the events. * -compiled by Tate Herbert
Though there are many different sports teams that utilize Gordon Field, one team, while lesser-known, has made its name in Brandeis athletes.
While most careers involve the mundane numbers-crunching and marketing presentations, there exist paths to careers in business that are by no means conventional. Andrew Kahn '03 pursued one of those unconventional routes to his business career after graduating from Brandeis. Kahn began his journey into capitalism with a detour "down under." A first team all-conference outfielder and winner of the Athletic Director's Award for outstanding athletic and academic performance on Brandeis' baseball team. Kahn, however, was not ready to give up on his dream of playing baseball just yet, and so, he made the decision of a lifetime: he scraped up his savings and flew to Australia with fellow teammate Jon Brown '03 to play professional baseball for a year before returning to the United States. "It was amazing," said Kahn in a phone interview with the Justice. "[The Brandeis baseball team] had a great run in '02 and '03, making the NCAA tournaments in consecutive seasons, and Jon and I were looking to keep playing. An old Brandeis coach got us connected with the opportunity in Sydney, and so we took advantage of the opportunity to play professional baseball." "We lived out of a Suzuki Sidekick the team gave us, which we eventually had to sell because we ran it into the ground. It was an awesome experience." At Australia, Kahn got his first taste of the business world. Besides playing baseball, he and Brown ran baseball clinics at local elementary schools and gave private lessons. Following his time in Australia, Kahn decided to head back to the States. An Economics major who wrote his honors thesis on the economics of minor league baseball wanted to try his hand at sports business, reputed for its difficulty at getting a foot in the door. Luckily, a fortuitous opportunity arose with Mandalay Entertainment Group. "I had a family friend who connected me to Mandalay," he said. "They told me that if I wanted to learn the sports business the right way, I had to move to 'Frisco,' to which I replied, 'Sure, I would love to go to San Francisco. Little did I know that they meant Frisco, Texas," Kahn laughed. He worked at Mandalay for five years, eventually rising to the role of vice president of business development for the Frisco RoughRiders, managing a department of seven and $5 million in sponsorship funds. Eventually, however, Kahn's California roots tugged hard enough at his heartstrings that he began to look for a path back home. Kahn pursued his Master's in Business Administration at UCLA Anderson School of Management, graduating last spring. With the digital revolution taking place, in which many industries are forced to shift from paper to computers, a company's need to capitalize on the Internet and its many distribution channels is the norm. This has never been more true than at his current employer, Ticketmaster, where Kahn works in strategy and business development. "We are concerned about the way that the market changes," said Kahn. "We are very progressive and focusing on setting trends." His experience at Mandalay, Ticketmaster and his MBA internships at Universal Sports Network and a NYC-based hedge fund have helped Kahn learn the inner workings of business, especially in terms of strategy. "I am intimately involved in planning the strategy of our business," he said. "I work as an internal consultant, figuring out what the future of our business will be like. Mergers and acquisitions, business development, new product development, and solving general business issues are all things for which I am responsible." Just as there is uncertainty in the business world, Kahn admitted that, as a West Coast native, he was taking a chance in coming to Brandeis. "I did not know anybody and I was forced to start over in terms of making friends," he said. However, he added that Brandeis' academic strength and the camaraderie of the baseball team, where coach Varney and his teammates pushed him to become a "better teammate and person"-coupled with his decision to write a senior thesis on something that he was passionate about- proved to be key factors in career success so far. A former cartoonist for the Justice, Kahn still enjoys utilizing his creative talents in his spare time and remains an avid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Lakers. He admits that the best part of being in Los Angeles is the ability to surf. Just 31 years old, Kahn has had quite an illustrious career and looks to have a bright future ahead.