(10/18/11 4:00am)
The Greek Awareness Council agreed to strip itself of powers concerning conflict resolution and rush mediation at the end of September after the GAC had trouble mediating conflicts between member fraternities and sororities, said Co-presidents of the GAC Mariah Voronoff '14 and Dan Leisman '14 in separate interviews with the Justice. The power to resolve conflicts among fraternities and sororities and set rules for Greek rush events will now rest with a Council of Presidents, which is composed of the presidents of the eight member fraternities and sororities of the GAC and the president of the GAC, said the co-presidents. The Council is an organization formed by the fraternities and sororities and has no affiliation with Brandeis. The GAC, however, is an organization recognized by the Union Senate. "All rules to govern the start and end dates of rush and the definitions thereof as well as the mediations of other conflicts or concerns that arise will be determined by a council of the Presidents of all of the Greek organizations and the GAC President(s)," according to amendment V of the new GAC constitution. "The original purpose of the GAC was to raise awareness of Greek life and involve the Greek community on campus, and I think one of the things that was kind of getting in the way was the governing aspect of it," said Leisman. The GAC is now "much better able" to fulfill its original goal, he said. The changes stem mostly from a dispute during rush this semester, when one organization accused another of having a party on a night when rush events were prohibited by the GAC. "During rush, there were a few complications and mix-ups with dates and whatnot because we pushed back our beginning of rush to after Orientation so that there would be no conflicts," said Voronoff. There were also instances of rules being put in place by the GAC that "were simply not followed," said Leisman. It was "hard" for the GAC to enforce its rules because it did not have the necessary powers, he explained. Instead of resolving the conflict within the GAC, Voronoff said she and Co-president Leisman decided to bring the disagreement to the presidents of all the Greek organizations as a way to "nip it in the bud." Greek organizations then decided that "it would be effective to have the heads of the organizations involved, who kind of expediate [sic] any conflict resolution as well as regulating rules of rush like our recruitment process," said Voronoff. The Council of Presidents resolved the original conflict and will continue in a regulatory and disciplinary capacity. "The GAC's purpose has always been to increase awareness of Greek Life on Brandeis and form a line of communication for students, faculty, and administration," wrote Nick Petrocchi '12, president of GAC member organization Alpha Delta Phi, in an email to the Justice. When the GAC tried to use "disciplinary means," however, "this system was deemed inferior to the GAC's original purpose," wrote Petrocchi. The GAC plans to promote Greek unity through events such as Greek Week, expansion of Greek life and philanthropy events, said the co-presidents.
(10/11/11 4:00am)
The search committee for the next vice provost for Library and Technology Services and chief information officer has narrowed the field of candidates to a group of 10 individuals, said co-chair of the committee Prof. Ann Koloski-Ostrow (CLAS) at the faculty meeting last Thursday. The 10 "semi-finalists" are a "good mix of people with very strong library experience and with some very strong [Information Technologies] experience and some with both," said Koloski-Ostrow. The committee will hold a series of interviews this week, and they expect three or four candidates to emerge from the group of 10 for the next round of consideration. "What they have in common … are ... strong leadership skills, a sense of creativity and vision," said Koloski-Ostrow at the faculty meeting. "Our committee felt strongly that the candidates should have had, in the course of their careers, some exposure to higher education." The search firm Isaacson, Miller, will perform subsequent background checks on the finalists, and the candidates will be invited back in early November for another round of interviews. The committee will then recommend candidates and arrange interviews with Provost Steve Goldstein '78 and other senior leaders. A final choice is expected between the middle and end of December. Whoever is hired "will find here at Brandeis a very strong staff with tremendous expertise, and we think that is going to be a great selling point for the candidates that we will be interviewing," said Koloski-Ostrow. Perry Hanson, who announced his resignation last fall, currently serves as the vice provost for Library and Technology Services and chief information officer and will do so until a successor is announced. Following Hanson's announcement, the Library and Technology Services Advisory Committee was asked "to examine succession planning and issues related to future LTS leadership," according to a Feb. 10 campuswide email from University President Frederick Lawrence. The report concluded that "Library and Technology Services should remain a merged organization [and] the LTS leader should report to the Provost." The report also suggested that a "national search" be conducted for the next CIO.
(10/04/11 4:00am)
University President Frederick Lawrence released the report of the Ad-hoc Committee on Alcohol and Drug Policy last week, almost a year after then-University President Jehuda Reinharz formed the committee. The report makes a series of recommendations designed to enhance university policies in a variety of areas and protect students from the negative effects of drug and alcohol use and misuse. The committee, however, "did not assess the extent of the alcohol and drug use at Brandeis, nor even the effectiveness of the multiple programs that exist to deal with substance misuse," according to the report. The committee was formed following the weekend of Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010, during which two students were arrested, several were hospitalized due to intoxication and another was found selling fraudulent wristband tickets to the Pachanga dance hosted by the International Club. Then-President Reinharz—only two months away from handing the reins of the University to current President Lawrence—subsequently sent an email that chastised the behavior of Brandeis students. He then formed an ad-hoc committee on alcohol and drug policy. Reinharz named Prof. Len Saxe (Heller) chair of the committee. According to his faculty profile, Saxe "focuses on human behavior and social policy" and his "research includes studies of community substance abuse programs and development of Jewish identity." Saxe said in an interview with the Justice that although he no longer studies issues of substance abuse, he spent two decades studying the topic and it has been a "long-standing interest" of his. The committee took the last six weeks of the fall 2010 semester to complete its report, said Saxe. The findings of the report focused on prevention. "As part of this prevention focus, our goal is ‘harm reduction'; that is, what can be done to reduce the number and severity of problems associated with alcohol and drug use," according to the report. The report is broken into four dimensions "that follow from a model developed by the U.S. Department of Education's Higher Education Center for Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Violence Prevention and NIAAA," according to the report. These four elements are health and safety, treatment, prevention and awareness and environment/culture. Saxe explained that this organization is based on the "best practices" model recommended by the U.S. government. The six recommendations in the health and safety section focus on ensuring that students are not "afraid" to call BEMCo or University Police "during emergency situations for fear of judicial repercussions." In the treatment section, "the committee is satisfied that Brandeis offers excellent treatment services for students who are identified as being at-risk for alcohol and drug problems," according to the report. One of the five recommendations calls for Health Center medical personnel to "consider adding a standard assessment tool for screening individuals for drug and alcohol use during routine annual physical exams and other appropriate encounters," according to the report. For prevention and awareness, the committee recommended that the "emphasis be on proactive alcohol and drug use prevention, rather than a reactive one." This section of the report also calls for additional resources for prevention, awareness and education and an annual survey to collect data about social norms from students. The final section of the report, environment and community, contains 13 recommendations that suggest that "more attention be paid to the environment that promotes positive Brandeis values and reduces harmful alcohol and drug use." Among the recommendations are suggestions to expand weekend social opportunities, enhance student presence at athletics games and increase weekend availability of both the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center and the library to "provide additional options for social gathering." The report also recommends that the University "consider the relationship of currently unrecognized fraternities and sororities to the student body" and "explore the possibility of serving alcohol at large campus events in a way that models expectations for responsible use." Graduate students and the Heller School for Social Policy and Management are also mentioned several times in the report. Saxe said that graduate students are an increasingly large population at Brandeis and their needs and interests should be considered as well. In his role as committee chair, Saxe said it was important to him that the committee "heard as many voices as possible." "My hope is that the committee, both by pointing to some specific things that can be done and also by putting together this framework, helps everybody enhance what they are doing [and] how they are thinking about it," said Saxe in an interview with the Justice. Lawrence, in an interview with the Justice, said, "I think the most important thing to me that comes out of the report is that the focus is not punitive but rather the focus is in terms of helping and ... making information available to people. … I think that's the framework." Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel will be responsible for assessing the report's recommendations and finding ways to implement them. "The [nature of the] recommendation will [help determine] whether it is an implementation or further exploration of what the next steps might be," said Flagel in a phone interview with the Justice. Flagel will "examine the committee's recommendations and determine how best to integrate them into the life of the University. In the near future, he will assemble working groups to help him conduct that assessment," wrote Lawrence in a Sept. 27 campuswide email. Saxe added that the committee was not intended as an investigation of Pachanga. Rather, Pachanga was a stimulus that "simply made faculty, staff and administrators more aware of some of the issues," said Saxe. "Looking at policies across the board is important to do all the time," added Saxe.
(09/27/11 4:00am)
Despite efforts by the Student Union to increase voter participation and fill more Union positions, election results from last Thursday's votes indicate continued low levels of participation—particularly among upperclassmen—and further "abstain" victories, despite the introduction of a "skip" option for individual ballots. The "skip" option, introduced in a Sept. 18 Union press release, allows voters the opportunity to move past a given ballot without casting a vote for "abstain," which, if it receives the "greatest number of votes," causes the office in question to remain vacant until the next election, according to the Union constitution. According to the press release, the "skip" option was added "in response to problems with [the Union's] voting system" and so that students could "express their right not to vote without penalizing the candidates." In the spring 2011 elections, there were only four senators elected out of a possible 10. This was due in large part to the fact that "abstain," rather than any of the candidates, received the greatest number of votes. In an interview with the Justice, Union President Herbie Rosen '12 noted that, based on conversations with students, a "majority of people had pressed skip at least once." However, Rosen also noted that because data is not collected on it, there is no official way to measure the extent to which the new "skip" option was used. What can be measured is the number of students who abstained on a particular ballot. For example, over the course of the past two elections, only two of the five seats were filled on the Student Judiciary. Yet the number of abstentions in those votes fell from 223 last spring to 146 this fall. The number of abstentions for the position of senator at large remained practically the same: In the spring, 216 abstained, while in this election, 224 abstained. Positions such as the senator for the Mods, senator for Charles River, racial minority senator and three seats on the SJ remain unfilled because of "abstain" victory. After Rosen was elected president last spring, he said in an April interview with the Justice, "Not even 50 percent of the student body voted, which bothers me. But it was still a large percentage … I want more student involvement." This week, Rosen acknowledged in an interview with the Justice that students tend to vote in higher percentages for the spring presidential elections. For this fall's elections, Rosen and the Union made an effort to encourage student involvement. This push included a Union table in Usdan Café, Rosen driving a golf cart around campus asking trivia questions and offering students rides in exchange for correct answers, and an additional email of encouragement from Rosen after Kirkland sent out the voting instructions. Despite these efforts, participation in the fall 2011 elections fell short on certain ballots when compared to results from a year ago. Showing the most enthusiasm in last week's elections were the first-years, while lackluster participation rates of less than 15 percent were recorded for some largely upperclassmen positions. According to the voting data, 42.8 percent of eligible voters voted for the senator for the Class of 2015 position. Comparably, in fall 2010, when the Class of 2014 was new to Brandeis, 44.86 percent of first-years voted for the Class of 2014 senator. In fall 2011, voter participation rates in the elections of senators for the Charles River apartments, the Foster Mods and Off-Campus senator were about 4, 14 and 7 percent, respectively—low, though not markedly different from fall 2010 rates of 5.5, 10 and 8 percent. Participation rates in electing senators for the Classes of 2013 and 2012 this fall stood at about 13 percent for each. These positions were elected this semester because they were left unfilled—all candidates having been beaten by "abstain"—in the second round of spring 2011 elections. In the Castle senator elections, the 32.74 percent voter participation in fall 2011 was notably larger than the 12 percent participation in fall 2010. As might be expected, the introduction of a "skip" option had no apparent effect on the positions of senator for the Charles River Apartments, senator for the Foster Mods and Racial Minority senator, all of which lacked official candidates in this latest election and are thus currently unfilled. Rosen remarked Sunday on the unfilled positions: "Those constituencies didn't seem interested." "We are going to always battle for improvement. We inherited an organization that needs to improve its reputation, and we have to battle against that apathy," added Rosen.
(09/23/11 4:00am)
Sixteen senators, one Alumni Association representative, two Brandeis Sustainability Fund representatives, one racial minority representative to the Finance Board and one member of the Student Judiciary were elected in fall elections Thursday, according to Student Union Secretary Todd Kirkland '13 in an email to the Justice.
(09/20/11 4:00am)
Correction appended
(09/13/11 4:00am)
Correction appended
(09/13/11 4:00am)
The Student Union Senate will hold its first meeting of the academic year on Thursday at 10 p.m. in order to avoid violating the Student Union Bylaws, said Student Union President Herbie Rosen '12 in an interview with the Justice, a change from the originally planned meeting scheduled for Sept. 25.
(09/06/11 4:00am)
Then-University President Jehuda Reinharz made $1,536,401 in salary, benefits and other compensation as University president in calendar year 2009, making him the most highly compensated individual at the University during that calendar year, according to Brandeis' federal tax filings.
(09/06/11 4:00am)
The Human Frontier Science Program Organization granted the 2012 HFSP Nakasone Award to Prof. Gina Turrigiano (BIOL) "for introducing the concept of ‘synaptic scaling,'" according to a HFSP press release.
(08/30/11 4:00am)
University President Frederick Lawrence announced in a August 8 campuswide email that he appointed Andrew Flagel to the position of senior vice president for Students and Enrollment.
(08/30/11 4:00am)
Scattered branches. Pools of water. Droves of first-years following yellow-shirted orientation leaders.
(08/30/11 4:00am)
A recent United States Supreme Court ruling has caused the University to evaluate its policies regarding intellectual property rights, according to Associate Provost for Innovation and Executive Director of the Office of Technology Licensing Irene Abrams in an interview with the Justice. In June, the United States Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of Roche Molecular Systems over Stanford University in a patent dispute. The case originated from a situation in 2005 in which Stanford University sued Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. for patent infringement, said Senior Vice President and General Counsel Judith Sizer in a November 2010 interview with the Justice. An appeals court decision in 2010 ruled against Stanford and granted Roche the rights to federally funded research that was done at Stanford. The patent in dispute was for methods of evaluating the efficacy of anti-HIV therapies, which Stanford University postdoctoral fellow Mark Holodniy developed with funding from the federal government. In November, Abrams said that if the Federal Circuit Court decision were to stand, this case could create a problem for the University. "The concern is that it will put a chill over investment in early stage research, which is an issue for Brandeis as a university," she said. According to Sizer, at the heart of this case was the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, which attempts to clarify ownership of research conducted at universities and give universities the clear title to their research that is funded by federal money. Abrams explained in a November 2010 interview with the Justice that Brandeis has benefited from the Bayh-Dole Act with patents on products such as Smart Balance, developed by lipid expert Prof. K. C. Hayes (BIOL) and research scientist Dan Perlman (BIOL). According to a Nov. 4 BrandeisNOW press release, the University has nearly 300 active patents and 53 active license agreements. Abrams added that Brandeis receives most of its research funding from the federal government. Roche argued that Stanford did not hold the full title to the patents because the Stanford faculty inventor had signed a visitor confidentiality agreement while using a Roche lab, which gave Roche ownership of any invention from subsequent research at the lab. In response, Stanford claimed that the involvement of federal funds provided the University with ownership to the patent because of the Bayh-Dole Act, which is legislation that gives universities the right to assume ownership of federally funded research. In December of 2010, after the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, Brandeis and 53 fellow members of the Association of American Universities filed a brief arguing that the Supreme Court should overturn the earlier appeals court decision that had granted Roche the rights to the research, according to Sizer in an email to the Justice. In August 2011, following the Supreme Court ruling against Stanford, Abrams said in an interview with the Justice, "In some ways [the ruling] doesn't change anything because [the University wasn't] really relying on Bayh-Dole as our means of ownership. … From that point of view, what it really did is highlight the fact that universities have to be really careful about their policies." Abrams said she, in coordination with the General Counsel's office, is evaluating the University's policies to determine if changes need to be made. According to a June 7 Brandeis press release, the AAU and the Biotechnology Industry Organization issued a joint statement following the ruling of the Supreme Court. "Although BIO and the undersigned higher education associations held different views on the Stanford v. Roche case, the organizations are united in the desire to ensure that the U.S. technology transfer system continues to generate these public benefits through the robust provisions of the Bayh-Dole statute," it read. "We are committed to working together in light of the Supreme Court's decision to ensure the continued vibrancy of public-private partnerships and success of our shared objectives."
(08/30/11 4:00am)
Correction appended.
(08/08/11 4:00am)
University President Frederick Lawrence announced today in a campuswide e-mail that he has appointed Andrew Flagel to the position of Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment.
(06/30/11 4:00am)
The 2-year-old lawsuit that was brought against the University by four Rose Art Museum overseers concerning its management of the museum during the 2009 financial crisis has been settled, according to a BrandeisNOW press release.
(06/01/11 4:00am)
The Board of Trustees voted to appoint Steve A.N. Goldstein '78 as the provost of the University, University President Frederick Lawrence announced today in an e-mail to the Brandeis community. Goldstein is a professor of pediatrics at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and director of the Institute of Molecular Pediatric Sciences. He will replace Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Marty Krauss, who announced last August that she would resign as provost by this month. The informal transition period for Goldstein will begin this week, and Krauss will serve in her current position until the end of June, according to Senior Vice President for Communications and External Affairs Andrew Gully in a June 1 e-mail to the Justice. Goldstein will serve as the first provost following the November 29, 2010 report of the Administrative Structure Advisory Committee to then-President-elect Lawrence and then-President Jehuda Reinharz, which evaluated the roles of Provost and Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment. The committee, among other suggestions, strengthened the role of the provost and defined the position as the "Chief Academic Officer and the second-ranking member of the administration," according to the November committee report. Under these new guidelines, which Lawrence and Reinharz accepted and announced in a Dec. 2, 2010 campuswide e-mail, both Academic Services and the Office of the University Registrar now report to the provost instead of the Senior Vice President of Students and Enrollment, according to the report. Lawrence wrote in his June 1 e-mail that, "As provost, Steve will serve as the university's chief academic officer." In that role, he explained, Goldstein will supervise many of the University's senior officers as well as the Office of the Arts, the Rose Art Museum as well as research centers and institutes. Since becoming president in January, Lawrence has placed an emphasis on developing a strategic plan for the University, and Goldstein will have a leadership role in that planning process, said Lawrence in a June 2 interview with the Justice. According to Lawrence, "One of the most important goals for Steve is that he will play a very important leadership role in the strategic planning process that will begin even this summer and continue on through into the fall as we begin to plan the next steps for Brandeis." In an interview with the Justice, Goldstein also emphasized the role of a strategic plan for the University's future. "I think where we are is excellent, where we've come in 60 years is impressive, and where we can go is hard to fathom, and so I think the strategic plan is crucial to charting the right course for the next 5 to 10 years, and so I am enthusiastic about being involved in that with all levels of the institution," he said. A search committee to find Krauss' successor was formed in January. According to a Jan. 5 e-mail from Lawrence, the committee was comprised of six faculty members, three staff members, a trustee, a graduate student and one undergraduate student. The provost search committee was chaired by Prof. Sacha Nelson (BIOL), includes Ph.D. candidate Jane Harries, Student Union Director of Academic Affairs Marla Merchut '12, Prof. John Plotz (ENG), Chair of East Asian Studies Prof. Aida Yuen Wong (FA), Prof. David Cunningham (SOC), Prof. Anita Hill (Heller), Prof. Carol Osler (IBS), Senior Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer Frances Drolette, Dean of Academic Services Kim Godsoe, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Michaele Whelan and member of the provost Board of Trustees member and Heller School Board of Overseers Thomas Glynn, according to a Jan. 18 Justice article. The committee also partnered with the search firm Storbeck/Pimentel and Associates, LLC, the same firm that helped identify Lawrence as a candidate for president, to recommend potential candidates for the position, according to that Justice article. In a June 2 interview with the Justice, Plotz, who served as a faculty representative on the committee, said, "The thing that came up again and again [in the search process] that I think really relates to Steve is that people really wanted vision, and they wanted people ... who were not afraid to take chances and to try out new ways of thinking about the model of what makes a great university. The president had signaled really strongly that he was interested in ... people looking forward to completely different ways of conceptualizing what a university is. [Goldstein] was exciting in that way. Steve Goldstein was someone who stood out, I think, to everyone who met him as someone who has this incredible creativity, imagination and vision." When asked in an interview with the Justice what advice she would impart on Goldstein, Krauss said, "He is going to need a good year to really understand the calendar of Brandeis and to get to know the faculty and the academic programs and I think he should take that year to become fully aware of all of the strengths and challenges Brandeis faces." Lawrence wrote in his e-mail that Goldstein grew up in New York City and earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University in biochemistry in 1978, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. Goldstein also holds an M.D. and Ph.D. in immunology from Harvard University and "is a leading authority on the molecular mechanisms underlying normal cardiac function and sudden life-threatening diseases of the heart," wrote Lawrence. Goldstein served from 1993 to 2004 on the faculty at the Yale University School of Medicine and in 2004 he became the chairman of the department of pediatrics and physician-in-chief at Comer Children's Hospital at the University of Chicago. Goldstein said, "Both as an undergraduate and as a postdoctoral trainee at Brandeis, I received the precious gift that the school bestows so naturally: a personalized education," in a BrandeisNOW press release. "Here, students are given a remarkable opportunity to pursue their dreams. I cannot think of a more exciting challenge than returning to Brandeis to help others find new ways to shape the world in which we live." Emily Kraus contributed reporting. Editor's note: This article was last updated on June 2 from the original version posted on June 1.
(05/24/11 4:00am)
United States President Barack Obama nominated two Brandeis alumni to posts in his administration April 12, according to a White House press release. Lisa Kubiske '75 was nominated to be ambassador to Honduras and Robert J. Zimmer '68 was nominated to be a member of the National Science Board of the National Science Foundation. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Kubiske graduated from Brandeis with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Psychology. She is currently the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia and has previously served as the Director of the Office of Regional Economic Policy and Summit Coordination in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. Kubiske joined the Foreign Service in 1983 and has served in many different positions, including deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo; director for the Office of Economic and Political Affairs at the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong; economics officer at the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai; and Science/Technology officer and consular officer at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico.She has also been assigned to positions in the U.S., including special assistant to the Undersecretary of State for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs; financial economist in the Office of Monetary Affairs; economic/commercial officer in the Office of China and Mongolia Affairs; staff officer and operations watch officer in the Office of the Executive Secretariat.After graduating from Brandeis, Kubiske earned an Master of Science in foreign service from Georgetown University.Zimmer, who was nominated to the National Science Board of the National Science Foundation, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice, "I would be eager to contribute towards the ability of the NSF to continue and in fact enhance its crucial national role." Zimmer, who is the current president of the University of Chicago, graduated from Brandeis with a bachelor's degree. in Mathematics and obtained his doctorate from Harvard University in 1975. He was the provost at Brown University from 2002 to 2006. Zimmer also serves on the executive committee of the Council on Competitiveness and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He served on the President's Committee on the National Medal of Science until 2010. He wrote in his e-mail that two Brandeis faculty members, Michael Spivak and Al Vasquez, had a big impact on his thinking regarding mathematics. While at Brandeis, Zimmer "spent a great deal of time in the library working on mathematics ... and a great deal of time discussing, analyzing, and arguing with [his] friends," he wrote. Zimmer added that his undergraduate work at Brandeis "was very stimulating and . was an excellent foundation for everything I have done since graduating."These two nominations of Brandeis alumni follow the nomination of Daniel Shapiro '91 in March to be the U.S. ambassador to Israel. Shapiro, a Near Eastern and Judaic Studies major, was nominated to the post of U.S. ambassador to Israel on March 9, according to a White House press release. He is currently the National Security Council's senior director for the Middle East and North Africa and is considered the Obama administration's central liaison to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
(05/24/11 4:00am)
In the May 6 inaugural Saul G. Cohen Memorial Lecture, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer of New York-the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate-said that in order for the U.S. to grow economically, the country must transition from being a "consumption giant" to a "production giant.""This is the first decade during which median income actually declined," and median income is an indicator of the well being of the middle class, explained Schumer. This decline in median income creates "anguish" in the middle class, forcing individuals to question if the "American dream is bright," he said. During the lecture, Schumer spoke in a full Carl J. Shapiro Theater and proposed six policy areas-education, immigration, infrastructure, scientific research, the tax system and regulation-in which the government can assist the middle class and promote economic growth. First, Schumer pointed to education as "the key" to economic growth. "America grows when we are better educated, and America doesn't when we're not," he said. In order to improve education, Schumer suggested drawing from ideas proposed by both the Democrats and Republicans. These include increasing salaries for teachers while raising standards in primary and secondary education. With regards to higher education, Schumer said the "quality [of education] is excellent," but the government should help the middle class pay for college. Cutting back on Pell Grants, federally funded financial aid packages, "makes no sense," he said. Schumer then noted the importance of immigration reform for the U.S. to grow. "It is absolutely absurd that the best and brightest people around the world want to come to our universities and then we send them home to compete against us," he said. "We need comprehensive immigration reform. . Immigrants are the lifeblood of America." Schumer said he is working on a bipartisan proposal with Senator Lindsey Graham that suggests "you get a green card the day you get your diploma." This program would help keep the "best and brightest" students who study at institutions in the U.S, said Schumer. On the topics of infrastructure and scientific research, Schumer stressed the importance of federal investment to create jobs and help the economy grow. "If you don't have infrastructure, . your country can't grow," he said. "When the federal government invests in scientific research, . it creates thousands and thousands of companies and millions and millions of jobs for every area of research and development." Schumer added that the tax system "encourages" consumption rather than production and it is "filled, it's riddled with holes, that make no sense, that were done for political purposes." Finally, Schumer said the government needs to analyze regulations relative to their impact on job and wealth creation. In the question-and-answer session following Schumer's talk, University President Frederick Lawrence asked Schumer about the University's role in helping the U.S. remain ascendant. Schumer answered, "The number one thing that you can do . is allow people who deserve to go to Brandeis to come to Brandeis."He added that the Brandeis Transitional Year Program and Posse scholar programs make "eminent sense" and emphasized that the University should provide "encouragement" and "support" to its students. Schumer also fielded a question that he summarized as "Given the need to balance the budget, why don't we take our troops out of Afghanistan"? "We are not going to balance the budget by just cuts alone, we are going to have to increase revenues and we shouldn't balance the budget by just slashing across the board. . We need to deal with our deficit problems," he responded. Schumer added that it is "hard to have much faith in [President of Afghanistan Hamid] Karzai," but that the U.S. can probably ensure its security even with a smaller force in Afghanistan. Schumer made these remarks at the inaugural Saul G. Cohen Memorial Lecture. Family and friends of Professor Emeritus Saul Cohen established the Cohen Lecture Series in his memory. Cohen, who died April 2010, taught at Brandeis from 1950 to 1986. While at Brandeis, Cohen became the first chairman of the Chemistry department and science school, the first dean of the faculty and the first University professor. According to Prof. Irving Epstein (CHEM), Cohen "was, perhaps more than any other individual responsible for Brandeis becoming the quintessential liberal arts university." Cohen was the first dean of the faculty from 1955 until 1959 during which time he played a crucial role in "transforming" Brandeis from a liberal arts college into a research university, said Epstein.Elisabeth Cohen, the daughter of Saul Cohen, said, "Schumer was the best person to begin this series devoted to the theme of citizen of the world.""My father was a renaissance man with knowledge and interests in a wide range of fields. It is fitting that this lectureship be devoted to leadership not only in science but also in politics, the humanities and the arts," she added. President of the Brandeis Democrats Jake Weiner '13, who attended the event, said in an interview with the Justice, "I really enjoyed hearing [Schumer] speak. I liked that-at least from my perspective-he offered a lot of solutions that a lot of people are talking about but he offered them in a way that was concise.
(05/24/11 4:00am)
With their contract set to expire on the last day of June, Dining Services workers and UNITE HERE Local 26 will begin negotiating a new contract with Aramark on May 26, said Dana Simon, a staff member with UNITE HERE Local 26, in an interview with the Justice. UNITE HERE Local 26 is the union that represents about 125 unionized Brandeis Dining Services workers. The current contract between Aramark-the food service provider contracted by the University-and the workers was last negotiated 5 years ago, wrote Director of Dining Services Aaron Bennos in an e-mail to the Justice. If a new contract is not negotiated by the last day of June, the current contract will expire. However, Simon said he plans to continue negotiating. Senior Vice President for Administration Mark Collins declined to comment on the negotiations, saying that the University contracts with Aramark to provide dining services and is therefore not involved in the talks between Aramark and the workers. Dining Services workers have been meeting for several months in an effort to come to a consensus regarding which proposals they will put forth during the bargaining process with Aramark, according to Simon.As of May 13, Simon said the proposals were finalized and that UNITE HERE representatives and volunteers from among the workers would meet with Aramark executives for the first time on May 26. At that meeting, the union and the workers plan to present their proposals to Aramark management, said Simon. The most important issues for the union members include livable wages, decent and affordable health insurance and regular and predictable employment, said Simon. Simon said these issues are connected to the "movement for sustainability," which includes food grown and produced in sustainable ways. Sustainability also refers to jobs "on which you can sustain yourself and your family" and have reliable employment, said Simon. "One of the problems many or most of the Aramark workers have right now that we want to solve in the bargaining process is they don't necessarily know what their income is going to be week-to-week," said Simon. "Many people are struggling to be able to get 40 hours of work [per week]. Part of that is the result of the overuse of temporary workers-workers that are brought in from the outside that are very specifically not paid a livable wage with decent benefits."Simon added, "The issue of sustainable jobs has become really heightened over the past few years as people have been struggling to get full-time work in many cases while at the same time they have seen dramatically increased use of temporary workers."Temporary workers are brought in "almost every single day," and those involved in the bargaining process will thus try to reduce the number of temporary workers employed by Aramark, said Simon. Workers have won greater wages and benefits over the years, but "those wages and benefits are not all they could be, and we want to address that in bargaining," said Simon. Additionally, "wages have not kept pace with the cost of living, so it is time to renegotiate the wages," he said. "You have a group of Brandeis dining hall workers that are very committed to Brandeis and understand Brandeis. They are also very committed to the students. Some of those workers have worked here 20, 30 years and have very strong bonds with the institution and with the students," Simon said. Simon added that there is a "very strong feeling with the workers that everyone in the workplace deserves to be treated with respect. . One of the things that they are going to want to express in bargaining is they feel very strongly that workers day-in, day-out need to be treated with respect as human beings." Therefore, Simon said, "we want an affirmative and active commitment that everyone will treat each other with respect-managers and workers alike."When asked if the negotiations will affect students who work for dining services, Simon said, "hopefully it will make their lives better also," both in terms of wages and "issues of workplace respect." Simon declined to go further into detail about the bargaining proposals, as they have not yet been presented to Aramark management. Bennos, who is employed by Aramark, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that "all decisions are important when it relates to our employees," and that salaries have increased for employees every year and that is expected to continue. Bennos also wrote that a commitment to sustainable employment is "already in place." He did not respond to a further request for comment. The Aramark website includes a section titled "Social Responsibility." The site states, "As one of the world's largest employers, our 255,000 worldwide employees are our most valuable and important asset. We provide competitive wages and benefits, embrace diversity, promote inclusion and encourage personal and professional development."Rachel Sier '11, a member of the Brandeis Labor Coalition, a student club that focuses on promoting economic justice, described the goal of the BLC in an e-mail to the Justice. "In the upcomingnegotiationsthe Brandeis Labor Coalition's role is to rally the support of the Brandeis community so that the diningservices workers win a contract with raises, rights, respect," she wrote."It is important to acknowledge that the dining services workers are contracted directly with Aramark and not the University, so it is our goal todemonstrate to the Aramarkadministrationour Brandeis values and the inclusive community we have here on campus," she added. The BLC recently circulated a petition titled "We support workers" that was designed to demonstrate "that Brandeis students, faculty,and staff are in favor of a contract that provides raises, rights and respect for all workers," according to the petition. The online version of the petition garnered about 250 signatures with an additional 150 signatures in print. Bennos wrote that Aramark would consider student opinions in the process. "We appreciate and listen to students opinions as it [sic] relates to dining," he wrote. UNITE HERE Local 26 also represents other food services and hospitality industry workers in the greater Boston area. For example, the union represents Harvard University dining services workers, who are involved in a similar bargaining process with the Harvard administration. On May 13, Harvard dining hall workers and UNITE HERE members marched in Harvard Yard displaying signs and chanting, "We want justice!" and "Union power!" according to a Harvard Crimson article published that day.
