"Views on the News": The "Don't Say Gay" bill and its impact on education
(03/22/22 10:00am)
"Views on the News": The "Don't Say Gay" bill and its impact on education
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The Flawed US immigration system for Cameroonian asylum seekers, explained
(03/22/22 5:45pm)
Violence has been on-going for over five years due to infighting among Anglophone separatist in Cameroon. This conflict all started in 2016, with peaceful protests initiated by lawyers and teachers demanding linguistic reform, which rapidly escalated into a war of secession. Protesters were assaulted, attacked with tear gas, imprisoned, and killed causing widespread destruction of homes and villages. This civil war is particularly calamitous, as the native-born citizens are often caught in the middle and experience the brunt of the violence. As a result of this political upheaval and humanitarian crises, over 1.8 million have been internally displaced, with many seeking refuge in other countries, including the United States, to avoid intercommunal violence. Although witness testimonies and satellite images validate the widespread devastation of this civil war, the catastrophic crisis continues to unfold. As Cameroonians flee their country and seek asylum in the U.S., their applications are denied. If they are fortunate to make it into the U.S. while seeking asylum, they are summarily deported back to their country to face persecution, torture, and other serious harm. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Immigration and Customs Enforcement choked, threatened, pepper-sprayed, and forced Cameroonian detainees to sign their deportation papers. In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, Lauren Seibert, refugee and migrant rights researcher at Human Rights Watch shared that under the Trump administration, ICE deported more than 90 Cameroonians on two deportation flights, failing to provide Cameroonians with due process. Experts say that this unsettling and outrageous management of immigration policies resulted in a fragmented and broken system. Seibert also indicated that the “U.S. government utterly failed Cameroonians with credible asylum claims by sending them back to harm in the country they fled, as well as mistreating already traumatized people before and during deportation.” The dysfunction of the immigration system is illustrated by the plummet in the number of Cameroonians seeking asylum and the number of overall asylum applications from fiscal year 2020 to 2021, a decrease by nearly 80% and 60%respectively. As a result, it is predicted that the decrease in asylum requests to the United States is likely to continue. The inept immigration and asylum process did not only occur under the Trump administration. It was drastically flawed when President Bill Clinton signed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. This bill limited “cancellation of removal” to immigrants who had been in the United States for at least 10 years. The Clinton administration also set the stage for the criminalization of immigrants by imposing the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.
The importance of a wellness day for students and faculty after midterms
(03/22/22 10:00am)
As students enter the 10th week of the semester, many are just coming out of the long and arduous midterm season. This board requests that the Brandeis administration require a wellness day in March and incorporate it within the academic calendar moving forward.
University must be proactive in its testing and contact tracing protocols
(03/22/22 10:00am)
In a reversal of policy that was surprising to almost no one, on March 16 the University restored the 96-hour testing window requirement that has been in place for much of the pandemic. This change came less than a week after a sternly worded email from the administration regarding a rise in positive cases and close contacts, and only 11 days after the testing window was reduced to 168 hours. This board had previously questioned the sensibility of reducing testing frequency at the same time as lifting the campus-wide mask mandate. While we appreciate that community members have been able to continue to test at any chosen frequency, we believe that this campus-wide requirement is best-suited to keep everyone safe.
The Kiwibots on campus: friend or foe?
(03/22/22 5:45pm)
You’ve probably had an encounter with some of our new campus-mates by now. They’re hard to miss with their boxy shape, gentle rumbling wheels, and little waving flags. They’re … the Kiwibots.
“Views on the News: US Ambassador declares Russia's actions are war crimes"
(03/15/22 10:00am)
“Views on the News: US Ambassador declares Russia's actions are war crimes"
Letter to the Editor: Contamination without communication?
(03/15/22 10:00am)
To the Editors of the Justice:
Letter to the Editor- Dining Services
(03/15/22 10:00am)
Dear Editor:
"Don’t Bite the Hands that Feed You': a student POV from the rally for union workers
(03/15/22 10:00am)
“Unfortunately, Brandeis has failed to respect union workers on all fronts” said the Brandeis Lefitst Union on their promotion post for the “Rally to Defend Dining Workers.”
The do’s and don’ts while attending Brandeis
(03/15/22 10:00am)
The transition back to in-person learning has hardly been an easy one. This board congratulates these students, and any others new to campus, on their ability to adapt quickly to the ever-changing conditions of a university running in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
University must be mindful as COVID-19 protocols ease
(03/15/22 10:00am)
On March 7, the University amended its COVID-19 health and safety regulations as cases and hospitalization waned in the state of Massachusetts. As a part of the new rules, Brandeis now requires students only to be tested once a week, given they are fully vaccinated, and faculty and staff are no longer required to be tested.
Reflections from Quarantine: Why Brandeis should reconsider the quarantine policy
(03/15/22 10:00am)
On Thursday night, March 3, I found out that I had been placed in quarantine. I had not received any communication, but rather found out because I tried going to Sherman for dinner and saw that my passport was gray. This was the first of many issues and missteps with the University’s quarantine policies. I was glad that I could at least commiserate about quarantine with a bunch of friends who happened to be in quarantine at the same time. Here are my thoughts on quarantine and the University’s policies.
The fight for change: Ruthzee Louijeune, Boston city council at-large
(03/08/22 11:00am)
Since the 1950s, the Haitian community has been an undeniably strong force in Massachusetts, making it the state with the third highest Haitian immigrant population in America Throughout the decades they have established churches, non-profit organizations, and community outreach programs for those who have newly immigrated. Despite the enormous presence of this growing population, Haitians are drastically underrepresented within local and state government. This has not gone unnoticed to Ruthzee Louijeune, a Boston City Councilor. On Oct. 14, 2021, I had the great fortune to attend a meet and greet with candidate Louijeune and one of her strongest supporters, State Representative Liz Miranda. Ruthzee’s journey was not borne out of sheer luck or happenstance, but rather from communal commitment, hard work, sacrifices, and the adversities her family experienced.
‘My name is Pauli Murray’ The significance of amplifying Black voices
(03/08/22 11:00am)
On Monday, Feb. 28, the Journalism program screened the documentary, “My Name is Pauli Murray,” and hosted a conversation with one of the directors, Betsy West, on March 7. Pauli Murray’s legacy is widely considered to be unknown and unrecognized, despite the long lasting impact they’ve had on the education and judicial system.
Brandeis Public Safety fails to meet student demands
(03/08/22 11:00am)
For the past few years, University Police has received a lot of criticism for their lack of transparency and resolution to their discriminatory practices. This board feels that there hasn’t been sufficient change in improving their procedures, both in efficiency and effectiveness. University Police officers are known among the student body for their hostile responses to student needs. This has recently been exemplified by negative police interactions recounted by three students sources.
The lack of transparency in COVID-19 protocols put students at risk
(02/15/22 11:00am)
Since late 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has defined a close contact as someone who has been within six feet of a person who has COVID-19 for 15 minutes over a span of 24 hours. Brandeis has stated on their COVID-19 dashboard that they follow these protocols as. However, the University also stated in a Jan. 7 email that each positive test is dealt with on a case-by-case basis. According to Michelle Hart, lead administrator of the Brandeis Community Tracing Program, “The protocols currently in place are created and approved by the Clinical Director at the Brandeis Health Center, BCTP, and the members of the Brandeis Steering Committee with input from the [Local Board of Health], [Massachusetts Department of Public Health], and current CDC guidelines. Data is reviewed daily to ensure the protocols in place are reflective of the current COVID dynamics at Brandeis.”
Resolving freedom’s identity crisis
(02/15/22 11:00am)
Among the many persisting struggles for freedom in the world, there are two simultaneous struggles that strike a contrast like no other. Across the northeastern border between the United States and Canada, there are a series of not new, albeit far larger in scale, protests by truck drivers against vaccine mandates and other pandemic restrictions across the country. The truckers have, over the past several weeks, turned what was a series of loosely organized protests in the city into what is essentially an active blockade and campaign of general intimidation, threatening other drivers and pedestrians, as well as a significant portion of trade occurring between Canada and the U.S. in the process. Protesters, described by observers in Ottawa as being “highly determined and volatile,” see their cause as a justified defiance against what they perceive to be tyranny on part of the state, with vaccine requirements constituting a gross violation of their bodily autonomy and choices.
Views on the News: Supreme Court and the prospect of diversity
(02/15/22 11:00am)
President Joe Biden’s promise to appoint a Black woman as a Supreme Court Justice during his presidency has been met with criticism despite the Supreme Court historically being devoid of racial and gender balance. As Ketanji Brown Jackson stands as the front runner for the SCOTUS post, how does that impact the future of the Supreme Court? Will her decision making in the future empower those who are marginalized? What is gained when there is diversity amongst our politicians and judges?
More Clubs Than is Fair: The Brandeisian struggle for balance
(02/15/22 11:00am)
Last week, Brandeis hosted an involvement fair, where representatives from dozens of student organizations and clubs gathered to invite students to join. Clubs employed various methods to help draw students in, from free candy scattered on tables to extroverted and outspoken student representatives volunteering a friendly spiel. However, many students joined clubs more willingly and enthusiastically than free candies could account for; students also joined clubs based on their interests and passions.
“Views on the News: The boycott of the Beijing 2022 Olympics”
(02/08/22 1:48pm)
The United States is diplomatically boycotting the Beijing 2022 Olympics due to concerns of human rights violations in Xinjiang China. Other countries such as India, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom have followed suit as well. How does this impact international and foreign relations? Will this lead to more division in our global community? What can we do as a Brandeis community to bridge that gap going forward?