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(02/06/18 11:00am)
A Jan. 31 Washington Post article detailed the lengths to which American cities are going to become the site of Amazon’s second headquarters. Cities like Baltimore and Newark have signaled they are willing to fork over billions of dollars in taxpayer money in the form of subsidies and tax cuts to win over Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Supporters view this as a worthwhile investment, while detractors allege that Amazon would pocket the money and leave its host penniless. Should cities be willing to put taxpayer money on the line to attract big businesses like Amazon?
(01/30/18 11:00am)
This is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that Americans will live through a key event in our history. History has germinated before our very eyes, just as news spread of bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or when we watched mankind reach the moon, or not too long ago, when the country saw Barack Obama become president, less than half a century after Martin Luther King said that he had a dream, so too does history germinate before our very eyes. The millions-strong Women’s Marches, the #MeToo movement, the rapidly transforming nature of the American workforce — these are the seeds of tomorrow’s history. Future generations of American students will walk into a 21st Century Studies class and look back on our time just as we look back on Americans pre-Revolutionary War — as a time of movements and massive developments in the story of the United States. Just as we see those people as witnesses of the Boston Tea Party and protesters chanting “no taxation without representation,” so too will future generations study our society as the stage upon which our history plays out. What sets the key events of today apart from the key events of the past is that the nature of the United States itself is changing faster than it has in generations. America is transforming in ways that have never been possible before, and as a result, we have more than the rare privilege of observing monumental moments in history. We are not special because we can watch history in the making. We have a unique opportunity to influence the future, rather than just watching important events develop, because the fundamental nature of what it means to be an American is changing. The unprecedented speed and magnitude of America’s cultural, political and workforce transformation has granted us the privilege of writing the future like never before.
(01/30/18 11:00am)
Following in the footsteps of other professional sports teams and universities, the Cleveland Indians have finally acknowledged that their logo and mascot are offensive — not to mention racist — and will discontinue their use in 2019. Beginning next year, the Cleveland Indians will no longer use the Chief Wahoo logo on their uniforms, according to a Jan. 29 New York Times article. In a statement published on Jan. 29 in an ABC News article, baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said, "Major League Baseball is committed to building a culture of diversity and inclusion throughout the game," and that the logo "is no longer appropriate for on-field use." The decision made by Major League Baseball and the Cleveland Indians reflects the movement among sports teams in recent history to retire Native American nicknames, symbols and mascots. According to a Sept. 12, 2013 USA Today article, Stanford University was among the first universities to change its mascot from the Indians to a Cardinal in 1972, and schools such as Dartmouth University, Siena University and Eastern Michigan University quickly followed suit.
(01/30/18 11:00am)
On Jan. 28, the 60th annual Grammy Awards, held in New York City, continued the long and storied tradition of honoring the complete mediocrity that the Recording Academy strives for. Once again, the Grammys chose to elevate bland and predictable pop acts over cutting-edge hip-hop and rap artists. Bruno Mars’ milquetoast pop retread “24 Karat Magic” bested far more worthy contenders like Kendrick Lamar’s “DAMN.” and Childish Gambino’s “Awaken, My Love!” for album of the year, repeating the annual cycle of hip-hop being kept out of the top spot by any means necessary. Once again, the Grammys have marked themselves as the laughingstock of the award season, hopelessly out of touch with anything close to the cultural zeitgeist and seemingly clueless to music’s current form. Disturbingly, the Recording Academy seems to care less about artistic integrity or creativity and more about ensuring a basic standard of whiteness and complacency is maintained in its top honors. If the album of the year winner isn’t an accessible and inoffensive white pop album, it’s an oddball album from white industry veterans the Academy should have honored years ago, like Daft Punk’s “Random Access Memories” or Beck’s “Morning Phase.” The last album of the year that can be charitably described as anything close to a daring pick is Outkast’s 2004 LP “Speakerboxx/The Love Below,” a legitimately forward-thinking album that only won because of the runaway success of its lone traditional stab at pop songwriting, the smash hit single “Hey Ya.” Since then, no hip-hop album has ever won album of the year, despite the wealth of fantastic works in the genre and its meteoric rise as the dominant form of popular music. No matter the pick, the logic behind it is always the same. The Grammys are only capable of looking backward, clinging dearly to musical artifacts and outdated preconceptions. Mars’ “24 Karat Magic” is a hollow replica of classic R&B albums like Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life” and Janet Jackson’s “Control”, containing all their flair but none of their punch or immediacy. Traditionalist pop and rock acts always manage to find their way into the top spot, cultural relevance or critical acclaim be damned. Any remotely daring album put out by a Black artist is to be cast aside by the Grammys, regardless of artistic merit.
(01/30/18 11:00am)
There is a reason that fewer than 10 percent of Americans support Congress, as found in an Aug. 3, 2017 Quinnipiac University poll. They view the institution I visit nearly every day as ineffective, weak and lacking American interests. This summarizes the view by many as of late January, when the spineless Congress chose to vote to fund the deportation of 800,000 young Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients such as myself who, since Sept. 5, have been unable to see their futures beyond six months. This lack of principle is not partisan, which is why GOP members such as Reps. Carlos Curbelo ,R-Fla., and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen ,R-Fla., and Democrats like Sen. Elizabeth Warren ,D-Mass., and Sen. Kamala Harris ,D-Calif., all voted against the ineffective short-term management of congressional funding, better known as “CRs.” Americans also view this institution as ineffective, because since 2001 they have failed to pass any solution for Dreamers, even though more than 80 percent of American constituents urgently want this to be solved, according to a Jan. 20 CBS News article.
(01/30/18 11:00am)
A Jan. 24 Washington Post article reported that the U.S. Census Department is considering adding the question “Are you a citizen?” to the 2020 Census. Supporters claim that this would provide more accurate data about the country's population and demographics, while detractors allege that this is an effort to suppress Hispanic voters and give the Republican Party an unfair advantage. Do you believe the U.S. Census Department should add citizenship to the 2020 census, and if so, what effects do you think such a decision would have?
(01/30/18 11:00am)
Muhammad Xhemali has joined the University’s Multifaith Chaplaincy as the new Muslim chaplain, Director of Religious and Spiritual Life Rabbi Elisabeth Stern and Chief Diversity Officer Mark Brimhall-Vargas wrote in an email to the University community. This board applauds the University on its appointment of Xhemali to the position, which marks a step toward a more inclusive Brandeis.
(01/30/18 11:00am)
(01/30/18 11:00am)
(01/30/18 11:00am)
(01/30/18 11:00am)
According to a Friday email from East Quad Department of Community Living staff, an “incident with a sprinkler head” on the fifth floor of Hassenfeld Hall led to water rushing into up to 72 rooms — the number of rooms on the fourth and fifth floors of Hassenfeld — and two hallways on Thursday evening. According to the same email, University Police are still investigating the cause of the incident and asked students to offer any information that they had on the matter. This board applauds the University’s efforts to quickly defuse the situation but urges it to conduct a thorough investigation into the root cause of the flooding and find a way to prevent similar incidents in the future. It is also imperative that the University remain transparent and communicative throughout this process.
(01/23/18 11:00am)
On the first day of 2018, popular YouTube blogger Logan Paul uploaded a video showing close-up footage of a deceased man in Aokigahara, in Japan. In a Jan. 19 interview with Seventeen Magazine, actor Dylan Minnette revealed that season two of popular Netflix series “13 Reasons Why” will delve deeper into the life of the character whose suicide is the focus of the show. The very next day, Paramount Studios dropped the red band trailer for their TV anthology remake of cult classic film “Heathers,” which features teenagers finding posthumous adoration when their murders are staged as suicides.
(01/23/18 11:00am)
(01/23/18 11:00am)
Facebook will begin implementing user surveys to determine the validity of news sources in the era of “fake news,” according to a Jan. 19 BBC article. Founder Mark Zuckerberg chose this approach because allowing staff to decide what users see is “not something we're comfortable with,” according to the same article. While this is an admirable approach to tackling the issue of false information, it may not be the best method for doing so.
(01/23/18 11:00am)
In a powerful statement read in court on Jan. 18, 22-year-old McKayla Maroney shared the unfortunate story of her time with USA Gymnastics team. According to a Jan. 18 article in the Washington Post, Assistant Attorney General Angela Povilaitis read a statement on Maroney’s behalf, saying, “I had flown all day and night with the team to get to Tokyo. He had given me a sleeping pill for the flight, and the next thing I know I was all alone with him in his hotel room getting a ‘treatment.’ I thought I was going to die that night.”
(01/23/18 11:00am)
Bridging the partisan divide on global warming seems next to impossible at first glance — and understandably so. Global warming clearly ranks low on the U.S. government’s priority list, and the lack of any serious climate-related proposals from a Republican-controlled Congress speaks volumes. It is no secret that the U.S. has alienated the rest of the world by failing to act, and much of this is due to the bizarre politics surrounding climate change.
(01/23/18 11:00am)
Dorm bathrooms — especially in suites, where residents are charged with tidying up — can be less than clean, promoting the spread of unwanted germs. It certainly does not help that in many dorm bathrooms, the toilets do not have lids, and flushing can scatter bacteria across surfaces.
(01/23/18 11:00am)
(01/23/18 11:00am)
(01/23/18 11:00am)
As a result of frequent delays and interruptions in BranVan service, this board urges the Escort Safety Service and the University to coordinate an effort to improve lines of communication between riders and the shuttle service operators, including the creation of a notification system that would allow students to be informed of any service changes.
