(12/04/12 5:00am)
After several months of discussions and proposals, bringing Bob Dylan to campus for an extended SpringFest this spring is no longer on the table. Jesse Manning '13, an organizer of the proposal to bring Bob Dylan back to Brandeis for the 50th anniversary of his initial concert here, said that he could not move forward with the plan because it was not approved by the administration within the necessary time frame. "The time frame that we, the students, set up for ourselves ran out without getting a 'yes,' therefore we weren't comfortable going forward with it. And the administration wasn't comfortable saying yes by the time that our deadline was up," he said. Manning, general manager of WBRS and Student Union chief of staff, said he is now proposing an idea for an indoor one-day concert in Gosman Sports and Convocation Center rather than an outdoors folk festival. Manning was careful to say that the idea is still in the planning stages and hasn't been vetted by all the necessary channels at the University. The event would include a headliner and several other bands from about 2 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 27, the day prior to SpringFest. He declined to name the headliner, but said that it would be a "big name." Manning also declined to say how much the concert would cost or how much tickets would be sold for to non-Brandeis students, only saying that both would be less than the original plan for a Bob Dylan-centric folk festival. Manning said in a previous interview that the tickets for the folk festival would have cost about $90 for non-Brandeis people. Flagel, in an interview with the Justice last month, had cited the cost of bringing Dylan to Brandeis at about $300,000. The total cost of the festival would have been undoubtedly higher with the additional costs associated with an open outdoor concert. Manning said the concert would ideally be open to 5,000 non-students, which includes staff, alumni and others not within the Brandeis community, as well as 2,000 students, who could receive free tickets. Flagel could not be reached for comment by press time for this article. In an interview last month he expressed concerns about the original plan for a Bob Dylan folk festival. The original plan proposed by the group of students, including Alex Pilger '13 and Michael Zonenashvili '13, was to have a two-day folk festival with the first day headlined by Bob Dylan. The festival would have been free for students and it would have been open to 4,300 people from off campus. That plan then changed into a one-day folk festival headlined by Dylan with a "bigger" and separate SpringFest the following day. Ticket prices for the folk festival would have likely exceeded $90, according to Manning. Flagel expressed skepticism about the viability of the original plan in an interview with the Justice in early November. The risks Flagel cited included the openness of the concert to the external community and the additional challenges that that openness would inevitably bring, such as increased security and traffic. Manning said that the administration should be more "comfortable" with the indoor proposal because it is along the lines of something the University has done before-Commencement, for example, garners a large crowd each year. "They do it for Commencement, they've done it for John Mayer, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton ... So I don't think it's as much of an issue as it was with an outside event," said Manning.
(11/12/12 5:00am)
Massachusetts voters approved legalization of medical marijuana in last Tuesday's election, but that doesn't mean the drug will be allowed on campus anytime soon-even for those with prescriptions. Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer said in an email to the Justice that the topic has not been discussed much among the administration, as Gov. Deval Patrick has indicated that it may be a while before the administrative structure around medical marijuana is established. "The passing of the medical marijuana initiative will have little immediate impact on colleges and universities in the Commonwealth, except for confusion in the student body," wrote Sawyer. The new law allows for patients with a "debilitating medical condition," such as Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis or cancer, to possess a 60-day supply of marijuana for "personal medical use," according to the ballot question online. Brandeis University's current policies prohibit the "manufacturing, distribution, dispensation, possession, sale, or use of marijuana," under section 5 of the Rights and Responsibilities Handbook. There is also a question of federal funding. Since medical marijuana is still illegal under federal law, the University could be in violation of several federal statues including the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act and the Drug-Free Workplace Act, if it were to allow marijuana on campus. Those violations could jeopardize federal funding. "Regardless of state laws to the contrary, there is no such thing as 'medical' marijuana under federal law. Marijuana continues to be a Schedule I substance, meaning that it has no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse," according to the White House website. "Federal law trumps state law," explained Sawyer. Sawyer said it's unlikely that the University Health Center would prescribe marijuana. "The sort of conditions that would warrant a marijuana prescription are usually treated by primary care physicians or specialists. I doubt that our medical staff would be in a position to be initiating such scripts," wrote Sawyer. The Harvard Crimson reported last week that Harvard officials are still debating the effect of the new law on the university campus. Stanford University, according to the Stanford Daily, has an "unclear" policy toward medical marijuana because of conflicting federal and state laws. Medical marijuana is legal in California, which was the center of a 2005 Supreme Court battle. In that case, Gonzales v. Raich, the Court ruled that the Commerce Clause gave the federal government the authority to ban marijuana. With the new law, Massachusetts became the 18th state to legalize cannabis for medicinal purposes. Just over 63 percent of voters approved the decriminalization of medical marijuana, while nearly 37 percent opposed the measure. The law takes effect Jan. 1, and the Department of Public Health is charged with developing regulations for the program. -Andrew Wingens
(11/06/12 5:00am)
Fifty years since Bob Dylan first sang at Brandeis University in 1963, Brandeis students are once again making a push to bring Dylan to Brandeis and create a folk festival in spring 2013. Jesse Manning '13, general manager of WBRS and Student Union chief of staff, said he, along with Alex Pilger '13 and Michael Zonenashvili '13 have been putting a proposal together for a festival at Brandeis for the past two years. In order to lobby the University administration for support for the initiative, Manning, Zonenashvili, Pilger, Student Union President Todd Kirkland '13, Rachel Nelson '13 and SuWei Chi '13 are holding a town hall forum on Wednesday, Nov. 7, at 8 p.m. in the Shapiro Campus Center atrium. The forum will be an opportunity for the student organizers to gage student support and explain the concept behind the folk festival to students, faculty, staff and administrators who are in attendance. "You're not going to get a bigger student-pushed event than this," said Manning in an interview with the Justice. As of press time, the Facebook event had over 450 attendees. Andrew Flagel, senior vice president of students and enrollment, said that the idea is exciting, but there are several significant challenges that need to be evaluated before a folk festival can be approved. "The challenge that we face at this point is this is not a question of Bob Dylan's interest in coming to campus, but of us contracting with Bob Dylan," explained Flagel in an interview with the Justice. The last price estimate Flagel said he saw was $300,000 to bring the singer to campus. At this point, Manning said, the decision on whether or not to move forward with the festival depends solely on the administration. "It's totally on the school. It's not on Bob Dylan; he'll come. It's not on the students; they want it. It's totally on the administration to be willing to take the risk. So they're going to have to see that there's more reward in it than risk," said Manning. "I think the evidence of this shows that there's so much reward here that it outweighs the risk that you're taking." Flagel, however, said he was more skeptical in evaluating the potential risk and reward of the event. Flagel said the risks include the openness of the concert to the external community and the additional challenges that the oppenness would inevitably bring, such as increased security, traffic and portable bathrooms, among others. "We're still vetting the business aspects," he said, including whether or not the financial plan for the event is feasible. Regarding the student-led forum on Wednesday night, Flagel said that holding a folk festival will not be "decided by referendum" and that the University will weigh the "complex business decision." The plan originally proposed by the group of students was to have two days of a folk festival with the first day headlined by Bob Dylan. The festival would be free for students and it would be open to 4,300 people from off-campus, said Manning. An off-campus ticket would cost $90 for the first day of Bob Dylan and $120 for a two-day pass. Manning said that a new, one-day option is now being considered. It calls for a one-day folk festival headlined by Dylan with a "bigger" and separate SpringFest the following day. Ticket prices for the folk festival would likely exceed $90 for the one-day plan, according to Manning. Manning said the University has signed a contract with Jay Sweet, the producer of the Newport Folk Festival, to be the liaison between Brandeis and Dylan. Sweet has also said the budget for the festival is feasible, according to Manning. "Even in investigating the possibility, that's something the University took on," Manning said of Sweet's fee. If Bob Dylan were to come to Brandeis this spring, it would be his third time performing on campus-his last visit was in 1975 as part of the Rolling Thunder Revue. At least one student shared Flagel's skepticism of the folk festival idea: "I think while it may seem like a great idea, the actual work involved for students and the means to bring him here are not feasible. It's just a lot of work for something that not many people are very passionate about," said Samantha Gordon '14, Student Events social coordinator, in an interview with the Justice.
(09/25/12 4:00am)
The Supreme Court will revisit the use of race as a factor in university admissions decisions, putting in jeopardy court precedent allowing affirmative action as a means to maintain diversity in higher education.
(08/27/12 4:00am)
If you've seen just one of Aaron Sorkin's works, you know his classic style -witty, verbose, entertaining and fast-paced-and his newest HBO series, The Newsroom, is no exception. The series is Sorkin's first crack at a television series since his much-beloved The West Wing ended in its seventh season and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip failed in its first season six years ago. Just as The West Wing provided liberals with the perfect president in Josiah Bartlet, The Newsroom offers a romanticized news anchor willing to bash the Tea Party and Republican candidates. The premise of the first season revolves around a popular news show hosted by veteran anchor Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels). The show was a success until Will had a breakdown and took a hiatus forced on him by his corporate bosses. When he returned to work, Will found that his staff had jumped ship to run a different broadcast. Will is forced to rebuild his show with the few remaining staff and his former girlfriend and newly appointed executive producer, Mackenzie MacHale (Emily Mortimer). It isn't long before we learn that Mac, as she is known, cheated on Will when they were dating several years earlier, providing one of several romantic plotlines. This new nightly broadcast-affectionately called "News Night 2.0" by its energetic and surprisingly competent staff-gives Sorkin his chance to build an idyllic newsroom that ignores the ratings and isn't afraid to offer opinion based on Will's understanding of the facts. Sorkin believes the news industry has lost its way and The Newsroom may just be his instructions on how to fix it. Perhaps the most intriguing difference between The West Wing and The Newsroom is Sorkin's use of the recent past in his new series, which allows for an even more potent message. This device, however, also creates new problems for Sorkin's TV show. One episode, for example, tracks the news team's response to the killing of Osama Bin-Laden. The viewer watches as the team (John Gallagher, Jr., Alison Pill, Olivia Munn and Dev Patel, among others) tries to confirm that the terrorist leader is dead. Other episodes take aim at the Koch brothers, the Tea Party and Nancy Grace's coverage of the Casey Anthony trial. "The commoditization of news has created an environment in which we're told that certain things are important that simply aren't," Sorkin told The New York Times. Overall, the mission of the show seems to be twofold. One: convince viewers that there is something wrong with the way this generation of newspeople reports the news, and two: bash the Republicans. The message, however, is all too clear in the characters' diatribes and rants. Sorkin's sermons therefore are often patronizing and self-righteous. They are particularly condescending because of the real-life element of the show. Mackenzie, for example, erupts in a rant in the first episode: "There is nothing that's more important in a democracy than a well-informed electorate," she says to Will. "When there's no information, or much worse, wrong information, it can lead to calamitous decisions and clobber any attempts at vigorous debate." A great writer allows viewers to absorb a lesson through the length of a TV show or book; Sorkin, however, tries to shove it down our throats. Sorkin has been known to spout his political views through The West Wing and lectures in Studio 60. The difference is that the Washington-based show maintained the allusion of pure fiction. It was believable to imagine a utopian presidency in a make-believe realm. However, injecting fiction with reality, as Sorkin does in The Newsroom, turns me off to his lessons of newsroom purity. *
(08/27/12 4:00am)
Andrew Gully, senior vice president for communications and external affairs, resigned his post at Brandeis June 15 to become senior vice president, worldwide director of communications for Sotheby's, an international art auction house, on July 16.
(08/27/12 4:00am)
Steven S. Manos, the former executive vice president of Tufts University, has been appointed to oversee Brandeis' budgeting, administrative and financial operations.
(07/12/12 4:00am)
After a search that took nearly two years, the Rose Art Museum will have a new director starting this September who hopes to transform the museum into a landmark for both the campus and the greater region. Christopher Bedford, the chief curator at Ohio State University's Wexner Center for the Arts, will lead Brandeis' prized museum as the Henry and Lois Foster Director of the Rose. The position has been vacant since the University chose not to renew former Director Michael Rush's contract in 2009. Since Rush's departure, Director of Operations Roy Dawes has filled the role. In an interview with the Justice, Bedford said that one of his goals will be to make the Rose a place for social discourse and gathering. "Basically what I would like to do is turn the museum into a social and intellectual hub both for the campus and for the broader Boston community." Bedford declined to name specific projects that he will pursue because he wants to give them "time to unfold" and assure support from the University. He said, however, that he would like to commission a "major work of public sculpture for outside the museum that would also serve as a beacon for the broader institution." The sculpture would also relate specifically to Brandeis, he said. "I am very interested and have been compelled throughout this process by this idea of Brandeis as a university committed to social justice, so I imagine this work of public art having a pretty direct relationship to that agenda." Bedford's expertise is in modern and contemporary art, a condition required by last year's settlement of a lawsuit brought against the University by several Rose patrons. Commenting on the 2009 Rose controversy, he said the difficulties were "resolved in exactly the right way." Bedford noted the recent renovations to the Rose and said that the president and provost have shown a strong commitment to the museum. "Even negative circumstances like that can create great opportunity. One byproduct of the really difficult period was that it raised the consciousness of the Rose in the art world, and I think there's that consciousness there to be exploited right now and it's my every intention to do exactly that," said Bedford. Although the search committee for a new director was formed in September 2010, it did not begin to look for candidates in earnest until fall 2011 due to the pending lawsuit against the University. After the suit was settled last summer, the committee hired search firm Phillips Oppenheim to conduct a national search. Nine candidates were interviewed on-campus and six were recommended by the committee to Provost Steve Goldstein '78, who made the final decision, according to Scott Edmiston, chair of the search committee and director of the Office of the Arts. Edmiston said the search committee "felt this was not a typical search." "Because of the unique position that the Rose was in historically, given the crisis of 2009 and [the fact that] it had been without a director for three years, we really wanted to get this one right," said Edmiston in an interview with the Justice. "We made sure we were really thoughtful and deliberative in the process." Edmiston lauded the provost's choice as a good fit for the University and a final step in moving past the 2009 controversy surrounding the sale of Rose artwork. "I think Chris is an exceptional match for Brandeis. Brandeis tends to attract people of bold ideas and bold ambitions," he said. "I think Chris is very much that kind of person." Goldstein, who appointed Bedford, said, according to BrandeisNOW, "Chris Bedford understands the potential for art to impact society, the importance of art to help us understand the human experience, and the ability of art to change us. ... He has a breadth of understanding that is rare and inspiring, even awe-inspiring. "He also has his feet on the ground," Goldstein added. "He knows how to get shows on, how to communicate with artists, donors, collectors and others in the museum world. He understands what it takes to do the work of the modern art museum." Bedford, a native of Scotland who grew up in England and the United States, graduated with a B.A. in art history from Oberlin College in 2000 and received a master's in the same subject from Case Western Reserve University in 2003. He previously served in various curatorial roles at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In 2008, he began as the curator of exhibits at Ohio State University's Wexner Center for the Arts and became its chief curator in 2010. Bedford has written widely for a variety of publications, including The Burlington Magazine, Artforum, Art in America, and more. Prof. Jonathan Unglaub (FA), a member of the search committee, said Bedford would generate new excitement at the Rose, according to BrandeisNOW. "During the interview process, Chris demonstrated a commanding knowledge of the contemporary art world and earlier modernism, a thoughtful eloquence in articulating the challenges of running a museum, a real strategic vision about building audiences and reaching out to university constituencies and a practical know-how that belied his seeming youth," Unglaub said. Bedford said he believes university museums have the potential to flourish, especially by collaborating with academic departments and serving the students and faculty. "The primary constituents [of the museum] are the students and the faculty so it will be my absolute commitment, particularly using the expertise of the curator of education, to extend ourselves as much as possible to the faculty," he said. He added that he taught courses while at Ohio State and he hopes to continue teaching if called upon. "I can't say that I'll be in university museums my entire career, but right now it's absolutely my passion and one of the reasons for that is the students and faculty," said Bedford. *
(06/08/12 4:00am)
Andrew Gully, senior vice president for communications and external affairs, will resign his post at Brandeis University June 15 to become senior vice president, worldwide director of communications for Sotheby's, an international art auction house, on July 16. "Sotheby's is such a leader in the art business and such an esteemed company that it's a great opportunity and hard to pass up," said Gully in an interview with the Justice. "We wish him well and this is a great adventure for him and a great next step for him, but he will be terribly missed. He's done a wonderful job for us since he came on board," said University President Frederick Lawrence in an interview with the Justice. Brandeis' Office of Communications will be run by its current staff, led by Associate Vice President for Communications Bill Burger and in coordination with the Office of the President, according to Lawrence and Gully. A search process for a new senior vice president for communications and external affairs will be announced shortly, said Gully. Lawrence added that Gully's resignation provides an opportunity for the University to evaluate its communications needs because "the whole world of communications is changing so rapidly." "The successful candidate [for senior vice president for communication and external affairs] will be someone who is a strategic thinker and a team player who is very comfortable in the world of digital media," wrote Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff David Bunis in an email to the Justice. Gully became familiar with Sotheby's through Brandeis' connection with the institution in the wake of the Board of Trustee's 2009 decision to sell artwork from the Rose Art Museum. Sotheby's asked Gully earlier this year if he would apply for the communications director position, he said. He applied and went through a series of interviews before he was selected to fill the role. "I'm really excited about the opportunity at Sotheby's, but I will always have a great affection for Brandeis," said Gully. "It's been an amazing two-and-a-half years here and it really was a pleasure to work at Brandeis." Gully began working at the University in November 2009 under then University President Jehuda Reinharz. He dealt with the aftermath of the Board's decision to sell artwork from the Rose and remained when Lawrence replaced Reinharz in 2011. "He did a terrific job in his first major project-which predates me-dealing with the aftermath of the Rose Art Museum, and then throughout his time he has been terrific in all capacities, especially as a good judgment person," said Lawrence. The University has also made "arrangements" with Boston firm Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications, Inc, "if circumstances require the services of an outside communications consultant," according to an email announcement from Lawrence. Gully graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Northeastern University and worked as a reporter and editor at the Boston Herald for 21 years before beginning work at Boston branding firm Kelley Habib John. He came to Brandeis in 2009 from Sovereign Bank, part of the Santander Group, where he headed Corporate Affairs. *
(02/13/12 5:00am)
There is no dearth of savory sushi in David Gelb's first documentary feature film, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, but the movie is more than just a sea of close-up shots displaying colorful fish and rice as well as chefs massaging octopus and slicing tuna. For the sushi lover, the images transmit umami (Japanese for deliciousness), but the film also offers a human story for those less interested in the difficult process of getting the fish from sea to mouth. The Magnolia Pictures documentary, which was screened in the Wasserman Cinematheque on Thursday night ahead of its scheduled limited release March 9, focuses on Jiro Ono, an 85-year-old sushi master who is widely considered to be the best susushi chef in the world. Jiro owns Sukiyabashi Jiro, a 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant, located in a Tokyo subway station. The restaurant has won numerous awards, including the esteemed three-star ranking in the Michelin Guide, a European hotel and restaurant guide. To get a seat, you need to make a reservation a month in advance and be willing to shell out upwards of 30,000 yen (about $350). The film, at 81 minutes, draws viewers in with slideshow images of freshly made sushi set to classical music. The plot holds their attention by telling the story of Jiro and his son's encounters with sushi. The movie portrays sushi making as an art form, which Jiro practices and has mastered over decades of work. Food critic Masuhiro Yamamoto compares the three-course meal to a symphony of sorts. Each course serves a purpose, with a crescendo of flavor during the final serving. "In dreams, I would have visions of sushi," said Jiro in the film. The film also delves into Jiro's personal life. The chef was orphaned at the age of nine and was forced into an apprenticeship in the food industry. He discovered, however, that he loved the art of sushi making and has worked his entire life to be the best in his profession. Jiro has always loved his job and rarely takes breaks or vacations. But he insists that he has not yet reached perfection, and he always strives to create a better piece of sushi. Jiro is a creature of habit. He follows a strict daily routine and understands the value of repeated practice; that is how he became the best. "You have to fall in love with your job. You must dedicate your life to mastering your skill," said Jiro. Jiro's two sons, Yoshikazu and Takashi, also play crucial roles in the film's storyline. Takashi is the younger of the two and served as an apprentice under his father but left to open his own restaurant so as not to fight with his elder brother, Yoshikazu. Yoshikazu works as the chief apprentice in his father's restaurant and plans to carry on the family business. In Japan, culture largely dictates this right of primogeniture. Jiro was especially hard in training his sons, as he hopes that they will continue his legacy of reaching for perfection in the creation of sushi. The film also briefly touches on challenges that Jiro and his sons expect to face in coming years, including a serious shortage of fish in Japan. Over-fishing in the country has caused prices of a simple fish, such as tuna, to skyrocket while other, more exotic fish, have disappeared completely. After the screening of the movie, director David Gelb answered questions from the audience during a 30-minute question-and-answer session moderated by BTV president Ethan Mermelstein '12. Gelb said this movie brings together his two greatest passions: sushi and filmmaking. He said that he originally envisioned the movie to be like the BBC series Planet Earth, so he shot video of multiple sushi chefs in the United States. However, Gelb realized the footage was unsustainable as a feature film, because there was no "human through line [within the plot]." Once Gelb found Jiro, he "could tell there was a real kind of human story here. I got very excited," he said. Gelb added that he draws inspiration from acclaimed filmmaker Errol Morris, who created such films as The Fog of War, in the sense that he tries to portray a story through an expert's eyes. It is the people and their stories, said Gelb that make a documentary special. "I was just glad that I could find that in Jiro, someone who could tell not only everything that I wanted to convey about sushi, but an incredible perspective on living and how to work and live a life," concluded Gelb.
(02/13/12 5:00am)
The Student Union Senate is considering changes to the way student clubs are recognized, but some members dispute how certain problems should be addressed by the Senate and one member walked out of last Sunday's meeting.
(01/30/12 5:00am)
Lisa Lynch, dean of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, formed a Diversity Steering Committee this month to address issues of diversity at the Heller School after the school's strategic plan, completed over summer 2011, recommended that the committee be formed. The committee comprises students, staff, faculty and alumni, with Prof. Anita Hill (Heller) serving as its chair. The objective, according to the strategic plan, is in part to "recruit a more diverse faculty, research staff, and administration to match its student body, its programs and its mission." In order to accomplish this and further enhance the school's focus on diversity, the plan recommends that the committee be formed to "develop programs, policies and procedures that will permanently embed equity, inclusion, and diversity in the fabric of Heller's academic and work environment." Hill said in an interview with the Justice that she would look at the broadest definition of diversity available. The strategic plan and an email from Lynch to the Heller community indicate that diversity includes "racial, gender, sexual orientation and identity, national origin, ethnic, socioeconomic and intellectual" factors. "One of the things that was absolutely clear was that our work on social policy and management needed to take on the issue of how we develop policy, how we do our research and how we prepare our students to interact with the issues of a diverse population," said Hill. Hill stressed the broad scope of the word "diversity" and its relation to the Heller School. She said the committee plans "to study diversity in terms of not only in the makeup of our student body, faculty and staff but also to look at diversity in terms of our research and teaching." Dr. Laurie Nsiah-Jefferson '80 M.A '06 Ph.D. '06, who will serve on the committee, said "My sense is that we will be focusing on a number of different areas, which would include student and faculty diversity as well as faculty development in reference to equity and diversity, curriculum review and development as well." Jessika Zimmerer, a second-year master's student in social policy and women's and gender studies at Heller, stressed that students have been organizing for at least the past five years to discuss issues of diversity of students, faculty and curriculum. Last year, she helped form an ad-hoc student diversity working group. "It was our intent to push for more integrated discussions about the intersection of race, class, gender, religion—all of those—in each of our classes," she said. Diversity is "not ever going to be finished," said Zimmerer. "The bigger issue to me is in terms of curriculum, there is not a lot of focus on diversity." Both Hill and Lynch said that, though this committee specifically focuses on diversity within the Heller School, it is not entirely separate from the University as a whole. Lynch said the committee could be helpful in a University-wide discussion of diversity. Hill also chairs the Provost's Steering Committee on Campus Diversity Issues and is a senior adviser to Goldstein. "I do have a variety of roles, and I'm involved in the strategic plan of the University. I think that all of those things work together. We are not looking at diversity as something that is separate and apart from anything else that we do. It is part of who we are," said Hill.
(01/23/12 5:00am)
Spring semester started with a splash as students dove into the newly renovated pool in the Joseph M. Linsey Sports Center Saturday night after it had been in a state of disrepair for over three years.
(12/24/11 5:00am)
Evelyn E. Handler, 78, Brandeis' fifth president, died Dec. 23 after being struck by a car in Bedford, N.H. Handler served as president of the University from 1983 to 1991 and is the only woman to have held that position. Before joining Brandeis, she served as the first female president of the University of New Hampshire. Bedford police said Handler was walking across South River Road to meet her husband, Eugene Handler, when an oncoming vehicle struck her at about 5:20 p.m. Dec. 23, according to the Nashua Telegraph. "On behalf of the entire Brandeis community, we extend our deepest sympathies to the Handler family," wrote University President Frederick Lawrence and Chairman of the Board of Trustees Malcolm Sherman in a campuswide email announcing the death on Christmas day. John Hose, associate vice president for university affairs, worked with Handler in various roles since 1972—11 years before they came to work at Brandeis together in 1983. From 1980 to 1983, Hose was an executive assistant to Handler at the University of New Hampshire. "Evelyn Handler was a woman of principle, strong convictions and creative vision. Both the University of New Hampshire and Brandeis are better institutions today because of the standards she set and what she was able to accomplish in the course of her presidencies. She had amazing personal strength," wrote Hose in an email to the Justice. During her tenure, Handler sparked controversy when she introduced pork and shellfish to Usdan cafeteria in what she termed an attempt to diversify and accommodate minorities at Brandeis. Pork and shellfish are prohibited under Jewish dietary law and their introduction sparked outrage from many in the larger Jewish community. Handler also removed the names of Jewish holidays from the academic calendar and scheduled Founder's Day Convocation on a Saturday, the Sabbath, in 1987. These changes all contributed to the fear among some that Handler was trying to diminish the University's Jewish nature. Some donors, Board members and students believed these acts to be an affront to the Jewish character of the University. Handler characterized her actions as an attempt to diversify the Brandeis student body and be more welcoming of international students. "I intend to turn the face of the University outward, to broaden our appeal to the best and the brightest of our country's young people," said Handler in her inaugural address. As president, Handler's accomplishments included the opening of a multi-million dollar science center and the strengthening of life sciences programs at the University, according to her profile on the Brandeis website. Handler also gained the University admission to the Association of American Universities and Brandeis became a founding member of the University Athletic Association under her guidance. "She made the case that by any measure, Brandeis deserved to be in the AAU despite its youth and relatively small size," said Sherman, chairman of the Board of Trustees, in a BrandeisNOW press release. Handler was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1933. She immigrated to the United States with her family in 1940. She received a bachelor's degree from Hunter College, master's and doctoral degrees from New York University and a law degree from Franklin Pierce Law Center. Handler began her career in education as a biology professor and dean of math and sciences at Hunter College in New York. She then came to Brandeis after serving from 1980 to 1983 as the first female president of the University of New Hampshire. Taking office on July 1, 1983, she replaced former University President Marver Bernstein. Kriss Halpern '83 served as a student representative to the Presidential Search Committee that ultimately chose Handler to replace Bernstein. Halpern wrote in an email to the Justice that he remembers meeting Handler in her office at the University of New Hampshire: "Evelyn Handler was extremely warm and charming on first meeting her and it was easy to like and respect her immensely." Halpern commented that Handler satisfied both Board members who wanted a president with a strong fundraising and management background and those who wanted one with strong academic and progressive credentials. "She was seen as having a very substantial academic and fundraising background. The fact that she was a woman was something that I think satisfied some concerns with Brandeis moving forward in a more progressive and inclusive direction," wrote Halpern. Handler announced her resignation June 15, 1990 and was succeeded by interim President Prof. Stuart Altman (Heller). Altman served as an interim president until former President Samuel Thier was chosen. After leaving Brandeis, Handler was a research fellow and associate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a senior fellow at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. She was the executive director and CEO of the California Academy of Sciences from 1994 to 1997. Handler is survived by her husband, Eugene; her two sons Bradley Handler and Jeffrey Varsa; a sister, Adrianne Gluckmann; and three grandchildren.
(12/22/11 5:00am)
The Justice spoke to John Unsworth, the next vice provost for Library and Technology Services and chief information officer. Unsworth currently serves as the dean of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and will begin at Brandeis in mid-February. Below are excerpts from the interview. JustNews: Why were you attracted to Brandeis and what are your goals for the University? John Unsworth: One of the things that's particularly appealing about it to me is its size and the fact that at that size it functions as a research university. I was looking for an excellent school that had what I think is a fairly unique combination of undergraduate liberal arts and graduate education and research, and Brandeis is really one of the few places in the country that had that particular combination. I think there are some special opportunities and some special challenges at the scale that we are talking about. You have faculty and students who have pretty high-end information needs, and some of those needs will have to be met by intelligent service design and also intelligent kinds of collaborations with neighboring institutions. JN: What are the opportunities and challenges? JU: Well, I think the organizational design of this particular part of the operation is not unprecedented, but it is somewhat unusual to have combined the library and the IT services, and I think that's both an opportunity and a challenge. Those are both often very different cultures of work in universities—the ITs and libraries. But they are two core information services, and they represent core information resources for the whole campus. What particularly attracted me to this job at Brandeis is that that combination, I think, can work really well together and when it does can provide really interesting work opportunities for staff [and] really interesting support opportunities for faculty and students. The challenge is that the world of information is changing very rapidly, and it is hard for everybody to keep up and hard to figure out how to position yourself to take advantage of it rather than it taking advantage of you. But I think Brandeis has already done a really good job on that. For example, you guys as a campus are already on voice over IP. JN: What are your priorities regarding LTS infrastructure? JU: Well, again, I need to get to know that better. I know that there's been a major push to upgrade the networks, and that level of infrastructure functionality is very important to every campus. … But I also know that there are other kinds of infrastructure issues awaiting; for example, deferred maintenance on the library building. And there are some important collections that are potentially at risk if those issues aren't addressed. So those will be the challenges. Nobody has infinite resources; making the right decisions about which things to do first is part of the job. JN: Do you teach library and technology? JU: My background is in English, and I've taught courses at the University of Illinois, which have generally been offered through the Graduate School of Library and Information Science and cross-listed in English, so I teach a graduate seminar in digital humanities, which is my area of interest. I also teach a course at the undergraduate and graduate level: … 20th-century American bestsellers. JN: Are there other trends that will have to be addressed while you're at Brandeis? JU: Well, there has been for some time now, both on the library side and the IT side, to outsource various kinds of services or collections. So that's something that is now just part of how people operate. But, again, making the right decisions about what to outsource and when is key. You do sacrifice some control; you usually gain some kind of cost-effectiveness by doing that, so that's a trend across the board that is sort of inescapable but needs to be handled wisely. I also think, although this trend hits different disciplines at different times, that in general there's a trend towards the digitization of primary research data in different disciplines and that drives the tendency to move in the direction of computational methods for analysis, and that's hitting the humanities and the social sciences now. That, I think, will be one of the challenges for a combined library/IT organization in the future. … And in general in the sciences there's computational work that people want to do, and figuring out how to make available the necessary resources to do that is a challenge. JN: What can Brandeis do to address these challenges specifically? JU: I think there's no doubt that it needs to reinvest some in the library and technology infrastructure, and, after talking to the president and the provost as part of the search process, I think there's a will to do that. It's a matter of their wanting to have the leadership in place to have the leadership of how to make those investments. JN: Do you have specific ideas? JU: I have changed positions and changed institutions about every decade, and they have always been very different kinds of jobs from the last job, and sometimes very different kinds of institutions. I've found that it really helps me a lot to spend the first month or two just talking in-depth and listening in-depth to what people have to say inside the organization that I am running and people who use its services. All its students, faculty and alumni are its clients in some way. So I am going to be doing a lot of that at the outside. Then on the basis of that I'll be, I hope, arriving at some shared vision about where we go from there.
(12/05/11 5:00am)
The trial shuttles to the Riverside MBTA station failed to attract a substantial number of students, challenging the Student Union's claim that students want and need transportation to Riverside.
(12/05/11 5:00am)
Student Union Treasurer Daniel Lee '12 reported $650 missing from the Student Union safe on Nov. 21, said Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan last night in an interview with the Justice.
(11/21/11 5:00am)
Student Union President Herbie Rosen '12 has called for a constitutional review of the Student Union Constitution, two years before an official review would be mandated by the constitution, he said in an interview last night with the Justice. According to Article XIII of the Student Union Constitution, a Constitutional Review Task Force instructed to conduct "a full review of all aspects of the Union" must be formed every four years. The task force would comprise students from various constituencies, including secured groups, club sports, the Union Senate, artistic and performance organizations and religious organizations, as per the constitution. Rosen said the review would be implemented due to questions that have been raised about the constitution. "We are doing it because people have asked me to, … and I looked at [the Constitution] when I got elected and was just like, ‘I don't want to be the president of a Union with this as a constitution, '" said Rosen. Rosen listed past troubles with the student elections voting system and the term lengths of senators as two issues that helped prompt the review. "The voting system, the question of abstain and can that just be worded better—that's the main thing, making our constitution be more clear and less pretentious sounding," he said. Earlier this year, a Justice review of election results revealed that the instant runoff election system used by the Union incorrectly tallied votes and failed to express voter desires in the election results. This tabulation error was largely due to the way the system counted the "abstain" vote. At the time, Rosen said in an interview with the Justice that he would work to fix the voting problems. "Honestly, this is something our union came to inherit. And it's things like this that get brought to our attention that we will move to correct and fix. Sorry for the confusion and inconvenience, but you can expect better from us in the future when we come up with a solution," he said. The last Constitutional Review Committee was convened in fall 2009 by then-Student Union President Andy Hogan '11. The committee submitted 11 proposals to a vote by the student body after months of discussions and town hall meetings designed to hear student opinions. Proposals by the 2009 committee included changes to the structure of the Student Union, added secured organizations, increased funding for BEMCo and the implementation of an instant runoff voting system, among others. The student body approved eight of the 11 proposals, while students rejected major structural changes to the Student Union and did not grant secured status to Students for Environmental Action. Rosen said, "We are a different Student Union, things have changed in two years. … We are not just going to copy what was done there." Rosen expects the review process to formally begin later this semester. The constitution mandates that the task force submit its final proposals no later than the first week of March. As mandated by the Union Constitution, the task force must be composed of one representative from each of the following groups: intercultural community, club sports, religious organization, artistic/performance organizations, secured major media organizations, secured non-media organizations, non-sports competition organizations, Division of Student Affairs, Student Union Executive Office, Student Union Finance Board and the Student Union Senate. Each constituency chooses its respective representative. Rosen, as Union president, would be empowered to appoint three alumni, two members at large and one community advisor to the task force. He would also appoint a chair from among the representatives.
(11/14/11 5:00am)
Executives of data storage and security companies from both Israel and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Massachussetts Governor Deval Patrick arrived at Brandeis yesterday for a daylong summit to discuss the possibilities of collaboration between Israeli companies and those based in the Commonwealth.
(10/31/11 4:00am)
The Justice sat down for an exclusive interview with Sherron Watkins, the former Enron executive who alerted then-Enron CEO Ken Lay to accounting fraud within the company. Watkins travels around the world lecturing about "whistle-blowing" and ethics in business. Below are excerpts from the interview.
