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Brandeis University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1949 | Waltham, MA

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Zeitouna, all-women’s Jewish-Palestinian peace group, speaks to Brandeis students at J Street U event

(04/01/25 10:00am)

Mandel G03 is lit up by the projector screen as students pile in. It’s 7:30 p.m. Participants greet each other as they haphazardly cut chocolate babka from Bakey, and the president of J Street U, Ayla Wrubel ’25, does a sound check on Zoom. Once everyone has adjusted in their seats, quiet descends on the room. The two women on the screen, Leonore, an Israeli Jew, and Randa, a Palestinian, smile graciously. They are the founding members of Zeitouna, an all women’s peace group in Ann Arbor, Michigan that meets bimonthly to engage in dialogue on the Israel-Hamas conflict. The group is where Leonore and Randa have fostered a friendship that has lasted over 20 years, since they met in the summer of 2002. After some technological kinks are smoothed out, the students watch a Columbia Broadcasting System clip from April 2024 of a Zeitouna meeting with six Palestinian and six Jewish members, one of whom is a Holocaust survivor. The women eat together before sitting with reporter Lisa Lang, to whom they express how the group has supported them but also challenged them. 

https://www.thejustice.org/article/2025/04/zeitouna-all-womens-jewish-palestinian-peace-group-speaks-to-brandeis-students-at-j-street-u-event

Columbia as a case study: The cost of caving to federal pressures

(04/01/25 10:00am)

On March 21, the New York Times reported that Columbia University’s administration would be moving to make significant changes to many of its academic and student life policies. These changes are taking place in response to President Donald Trump’s threat to pull $400 million in research grants and other federal funding due to claims that Columbia tolerated antisemitism on its campus. Tensions at the university have been high throughout the Israel-Hamas War since April 2024 with frequent protests and demonstrations, and Trump has taken to social media to insist that, “All federal funding will STOP for any College, School or University that allows illegal protests.” He added that “agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS.” 

https://www.thejustice.org/article/2025/04/columbia-as-a-case-study-the-cost-of-caving-to-federal-pressures

The rise and fall of the Nike Air Force 1’s

(03/25/25 10:00am)

In 2016, I, like most other teenagers of the time, realized that the apparent key to fitting in — the so-called “missing piece” in the puzzle of adolescent chicness — was an unassuming white sneaker: Nike’s iconic Air Force 1. Once this registered, suddenly, they were everywhere I looked — at my school, at the local grocery store, stacked neatly in the cubbies where students had to store their shoes before my martial arts lessons. Sheepishly, I bought a pair for myself and vowed to never admit that there was a time prior to my ownership of them — and I certainly acted like it. 

https://www.thejustice.org/article/2025/03/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-nike-air-force-1s

Advice to a Brandeis underclassman

(03/25/25 10:00am)

If you’re reading this, you might be a first-year student, still adjusting to life at Brandeis. At this point, you may be trying to figure out your schedule, debating whether to join certain clubs or wondering if you’ve found the right group of friends. The truth is, no one arrives at college knowing exactly how things will play out, and that’s a part of the experience. Over the past four years, Brandeis has taught us that flexibility, patience and a willingness to embrace the unexpected matters far more than having a perfect plan. With that in mind, the following is what members of this editorial board wish they had understood earlier.

https://www.thejustice.org/article/2025/03/advice-to-a-brandeis-underclassman

AI in academia and its overlooked toll on the environment

(03/18/25 10:00am)

In just a few years of artificial intelligence being introduced for public use, machine learning has grown exponentially in its accuracy, reasoning and generative capabilities. These developments have posed an unforeseen challenge for higher education institutions to keep up with these developments. Because AI has become an undeniable part of our future, educators are forced to rethink what accountability will mean as we approach that future. Now, the question has evolved from how educators should resist and prohibit the use of AI into the question of how AI should be incorporated in academia. 

https://www.thejustice.org/article/2025/03/ai-in-academia-and-its-overlooked-toll-on-the-environment

The Opinion: Issue one

(03/18/25 10:00am)

Welcome Brandeisians far and wide, to the first edition of this splendid column that I will call The Opinion. Now, in a day and age when many opinions are being thrown into the public, some may find my column tactless. I mean, with so much happening in the world, how does one Jewish, non-binary history major think that their opinions about the world/school/life/everything matter to the extent that they want to write a piece in the University newspaper? I mean, come on! There are people more deserving of a platform who haven’t had the voice to speak.

https://www.thejustice.org/article/2025/03/the-opinion-issue-one

Letter to the Editor — Jon Hochschartner

(03/18/25 10:00am)

Replace Schumer and Jeffries By Jon Hochschartner I began President Donald Trump’s second term deeply skeptical of the willingness and ability of Democratic minority leaders in the Senate and House to stand up to the fascist Republican. Since that time, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries have shown I wasn’t worried nearly enough. Democrats must replace them with leaders willing to fight. As Trump rapidly destroys what’s left of American democracy, Schumer and Jeffries are telling the press they’re picking their battles and waiting for the president to make a mistake. While the Republican provokes one constitutional crisis after another, without consequence, the Democratic leaders are sending out generic press releases about inflation. Trump and his gang of fascist criminals are playing for all the marbles right now. It’s clear from their actions, which are constantly and brazenly in violation of the law, this group doesn’t believe they will ever face any kind of accountability. Their confidence suggests to me Republicans don’t plan on allowing completely free-and-fair elections going forward. I hope I’m wrong, but recent history has shown the most alarmist view of Trump and his cohort to be the most predictive. Schumer and Jeffries need to be acting with a fierce urgency, like the window of electoral resistance to fascism is closing. The pair’s defenders frequently blame the media for not giving proper weight to Trump’s threat. This is a justifiable criticism. On the other hand, it’s hard to condemn the press too harshly when leaders of the nominal opposition party are acting, in many ways, as if we are in the midst of politics as usual. Schumer and Jeffries need to be screaming from the rooftops. They should be throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. Confronted about their quietism, the Democratic leaders throw up their hands and ask what voters expect of them, given Republican control of all three branches of the federal government. Notably, when former Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell faced these circumstances in 2009, he didn’t whine and give up. Instead, McConnell launched a wildly successful strategy of obstruction. Schumer and Jeffries should be doing the same on a far greater scale. They wouldn’t be able to stop all of Trump’s power grabs. But if they showed up, and behaved like they were in the midst of a five-alarm fire, the pair might at least stop some of them. Schumer and Jeffries need to gum up the works of government in every manner possible. Stalling the fascist agenda is a kind of victory. The more Democrats can run out the clock until the midterms — when they have a chance to regain the Senate and House, and exercise more control over this renegade White House — the better. The anti-fascist coalition has a wide variety of goals. For instance, I want to see a massive infusion of public funding into cultivated-meat research, which I view as the most promising means of advancing animal welfare. However, none of our aims can be achieved under a right-wing authoritarian state. We must defeat Trump. The Democratic Party needs leaders who are willing to fight. Schumer and Jeffries have made very clear they are not up to the task. We don’t have time to wait and see if they can turn things around. Too much is at stake. The pair should stand aside or be removed by their colleagues in favor of leadership better suited for this perilous moment. Jon Hochschartner lives in Connecticut. He is the author of a number of books, including The Animals’ Freedom Fighter: A Biography of Ronnie Lee, Founder of the Animal Liberation Front. 

https://www.thejustice.org/article/2025/03/letter-to-the-editor-jon-hochschartner

Addressing misinformation: Official statements regarding the confrontation between Hillel at Brandeis and the Brandeis Jewish Bund

(03/11/25 10:00am)

On Feb. 9, Rabbi Seth Winberg, the Executive Director of Brandeis Hillel, sent an email to the Hillel mailing list titled “Addressing Misinformation about Hillel at Brandeis,” in which he referenced “false rumors that Hillel at Brandeis is supporting or assisting a group of students identifying as the ‘Jewish Bund.’” He clarified that Hillel does not recognize or support the Jewish Bund, a Jewish anti-Zionist socialist group on campus that was inspired by the Bundist movement. The Bund has recently released a list of demands on their Instagram page. Winberg claimed that the group has “conducted activities in the library that many students have found disruptive,” “misrepresented Hillel and [their] professional staff” and “tried to misuse Hillel’s space reservations for their activities.” He asserted that Hillel will be taking steps in response through established Brandeis channels and that this response is not about any particular group but rather a “matter of principle.” The vague description of how the Jewish Bund misrepresented Hillel and misused their spaces demanded further elaboration; however, the Jewish Bund has yet to release a statement on their Instagram page. I have reached out to both Hillel and the Jewish Bund for statements in hopes of clearing up the details of this issue, specifically asking about the “misuse of Hillel’s space reservation and misrepresentation of Hillel and the professional staff,” in order to provide both sides of the story. 

https://www.thejustice.org/article/2025/03/addressing-misinformation-official-statements-regarding-the-confrontation-between-hillel-at-brandeis-and-the-brandeis-jewish-bund

Why I Support Re-imagining Brandeis

(03/11/25 10:00am)

Every week with increasing volume tells us this: higher education is in trouble. It is too expensive. There aren’t enough students to go around. Schools are going to close. And those that remain will be different from what they were before. People aren’t sure they should spend four years of their life learning things they can’t apply to jobs that might not be there when they’re done.

https://www.thejustice.org/article/2025/03/why-i-support-re-imagining-brandeis

The future of press: Journalistic integrity in an era of influence

(03/11/25 10:00am)

Regardless of which bubble you filled in last November — or whether you filled one in at all — the role of the press in shaping public discourse and accountability remains important. Journalism has undergone a profound transformation, evolving into an industry that surpasses even the most ambitious visions of our nation’s founders. Yet, recent developments have cast a troubling shadow over the future of a free and independent press, raising urgent concerns about its integrity and sustainability.

https://www.thejustice.org/article/2025/03/the-future-of-press-journalistic-integrity-in-an-era-of-influence

The westerner bites back

(03/04/25 11:00am)

The fog, the slog, the mess of it all. I left it behind. With increasing frequency, I curse my naïve decision to move back East. You see, I grasped idle, quiet, undisturbed perfection for a little over a decade without knowing it. I curse my own ignorance. How could I have looked onto that endless horizon and not recognized its beauty? How did I breathe the aridity of that fine desert air and dream of breathing in clouds of self-importance? I walked into the wilderness this break and felt my own vanity vanish into the Western air. This is Peace. 

https://www.thejustice.org/article/2025/03/the-westerner-bites-back