(01/26/10 5:00am)
Like many college students, Brahm Wachter '12 spends his Sunday evenings watching the HBO television show Entourage. He sits down with a bowl of popcorn, turns on the TV and admires the glamorous lifestyle of the Los Angeles actors around whom the comedy is based.During one episode, Wachter found himself particularly impressed by sneakers that a character named Turtle sported. The sneakers were gold and black Air Force Ones. Wachter immediately wanted a pair of his own.Wachter knew he would not be able to buy his own pair, as there is only a limited amount of the custom-made shoe available. Determined to own a similar pair, Wachter decided to learn how to design his own sneakers, so that he could create a pair like the coveted footwear. "What I wanted to do is take the sneaker I saw and redesign it but make it similar," says Wachter, who is 6 feet 1 inch tall and speaks confidently about his interest in sneaker design. Now, 15 months and approximately 12 pairs of sneakers later, Wachter has started his own unofficial sneaker design company called Brahm Wachter Sneaker Design Studios that has been featured in a magazine and gained the attention of several prominent sneaker blogs. Although the Manhattan native, who is double majoring in History and Business, attests that his first sneaker design was poorly done, his interest was caught by the art form. Last spring, he decided to turn his hobby into an unofficial company. He now produces sneakers for various charities and clients, who are mostly friends of his. Wachter often chooses themes as inspiration for his various sneaker designs. His first design was based around Keith Haring, a New York City artist who uses his art to promote social change.Wachter says his biggest success in sneaker design was a pair he made for the charity Hoops 4 Hope. According to its Web site, Hoops 4 Hope is a global not-for-profit organization that supports youth development in southern Africa by setting up basketball and life skills programs. The sneakers, which are green, yellow and red and are lined with motivational sayings, brought him to the attention of Bounce magazine, a grassroots basketball magazine, and various sneaker blogs. "I connected with this girl from Hoops 4 Hope, and those were a big hit," says Wachter. Bounce describes Wachter as the sneaker "customizing king." The sneakers were displayed at Hoops 4 Hope's biannual fundraiser. Wachter has also made sneakers for a fundraiser for his high school and the Red Sox Foundation. Wachter says the number of pairs of sneakers he designs is limited by time constraints. "Depending on the pair of sneakers it can take me a day, it can take me four days, it can take me an hour. It's a lot of work," he says.Because he only has a certain amount of time, Wachter says he does not make sneakers for everyone who asks. He is selective about his clients."I don't really like to [design] just for clients. I like to do it for a cause," Wachter says.In the future, Wachter plans on reaching out more toward charities. He is currently interested in working with the Oceanic Preservation Society. To design a pair of sneakers, Wachter starts by using acetone to strip the factory sealing off the shoe and wiping it off with an old sock. Then, he lets the acetone evaporate.Next, Wachter makes a blueprint design of the sneaker and asks for the approval of the client, to make sure they like what they see. After that, Wachter begins painting the shoe with special leather paints. Lastly, Wachter gives the sneakers either an acrylic or matte finish and picks out the colors of the shoelaces. Wachter designs sneakers in his dormroom and several of his sneakers line a shelf in his room.Wachter's roommate, Daniel Popper '12, says, "It's exciting [to live with Wachter] because people will come in[to the room] and look at the sneakers all the time."In promoting his company, Wachter has used Facebook and his Web site. "I try and get a lot of people to join the [Brahm Wachter Sneaker Design Studios] Facebook group, obviously," says Wachter. "A lot of the promotion happened kind of naturally I made a Web site. I don't know how exactly it happened, but that's when all the sneaker blogs found out about it, and that's when I got a lot of attention."In the future Wachter hopes to further expand his company. His main goal is to produce the best sneaker designs possible and work with more charities. He is also looking into getting an internship at Nike this summer. "The best way to develop [the company] is to refine my technique. Each time I make a sneaker they're different," he says. "I'm trying to simplify my designs now and make them more succinct.
(11/17/09 5:00am)
CORRECTION APPENDEDCut to commercial break. Suddenly the rehearsed glamor of television has been interrupted and transformed into chaos. Cameras are flashing, the audience is abuzz with commentary and a light is shining so brightly you get the distinct feeling the sun has been imported into the studio. You find yourself surrounded by an army of makeup artists ready to rectify your every imperfection through the use of their weapon of choice: a concealer brush. Television star Howie Mandel baits you with a joke to which you respond with a coy giggle and a look of nonchalance. For Tova Ferstenberg '12, a Sociology major, appearing on an episode of Deal or No Deal in October provided more than just an opportunity to potentially win $1 million. It also fulfilled a secret hope. "I've always wanted to be an actress," says Ferstenberg. "I'm going to pursue law, though, [because it's] more definite, so I was hoping this could be my claim to fame."Ferstenberg, who was a midyear, read that a casting call of Deal or No Deal was coming to her home state of New Jersey in July and was immediately interested. However, Ferstenberg first needed to cajole her parents into driving her to the casting call, which was at a car dealership."My parents observe Shabbat, so they didn't want to drive," says Ferstenberg. "But I told them it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity-when does anything ever come to central Jersey? I convinced my mom to drive me, and we waited on line with thousands of people."Ferstenberg showed up at the casting call ready to make an impression on the show's producers. The 5-foot-10-inch brunette wore her prom dress and heels because she knew she "had to stand out."However, Ferstenberg ultimately got her chance to talk to the producers due to a combination of good luck and her mother's ambition. "The executive producer made an announcement like, 'Listen, I feel badly; we're taking up all this room at the dealership, [so] I will interview the first 20 people who get an oil change.' So the next thing I know, my mom throws my stuff at me, and even though there were thousands of people there she ended up being the first one to get an oil change."Ferstenberg and her mother both landed interviews and after several rounds of questioning were asked go to New York the next day for the second round of casting. In September, the show's producers contacted Ferstenberg again because they were going to have a college-themed episode of the show and asked Ferstenberg to send them a picture of herself in a Brandeis sweatshirt. "I didn't have [a sweatshirt], so I ran around [to get one], but the school store was closing and I couldn't get one," Ferstenberg says. "I ended up borrowing a friend's sweatshirt and sent them a picture."Although the episode Ferstenberg appeared on did not ultimately end up being college-themed, the producers got in touch with her a few weeks later and asked for one final interview. "We talked, and I just tried to stand out," says Ferstenberg. "[The producer] said, 'Okay, we'll call you back with details.' I figured at this point I was going to get on [the show] ,but I didn't want to get too excited."Sure enough, the producers called Ferstenberg the next day and asked her to come to the studio in Connecticut for three days at the end of September to appear on the show. The show is based on a game of chance. Each contestant has to choose from 26 closed briefcases containing varying amounts of cash and is then forced to compete against a mysterious entity called "the banker." "The banker" tempts contestants to accept an offer of cash instead of the amount of money that is contained in their chosen briefcase. Ferstenberg ended up sticking with her chosen briefcase. Although she cannot disclose the amount of money she actually won, she says, "It was nice considering all I did was point to cases." Ferstenberg says that being on the show, which will most likely air in December, felt like a taste of the celebrity life."It was so cool when they went to commercials, [and] there were people running to me and touching up on my hair and makeup," Ferstenberg says. "And even Howie [Mandel, the show's host] was really nice. Like during each commercial he was like, 'Oh, your name is Tova? You go to Brandeis? Chag sameach.'"Ferstenberg says that being on the show also made her realize how fortunate she was because she received ample support from her family and friends.Ferstenberg's roommate, Marina Goreau '12, bought her a handheld Deal or No Deal to practice on."I also looked up all sorts of statistics about probability," Goreau says. "I looked up contestant accounts on various blogs and Web sites ... I was so excited for her. A lot of money can be great for any college student.""Everyone tried so hard to make this work," Ferstenberg says. "It was really kind of eye-opening because you get so caught up [at school] with your work. You lose sight of the fact that everything is amazing and working out. I was able to look at the big scheme of things and realize that I ... [am] incredibly fortunate. Unfortunately, it took just a phone call from a producer to make me see that."Correction: The article originally misspelled the surname of a student. The student's name is Tova Ferstenberg, not Tova Fernsteinberg.
(09/01/09 4:00am)
For 22 hours a day, the village of Socma, located in the Sacred Valley of the Peruvian Andes, runs merely on sunlight. But for two hours, after the sun goes down and the moon goes up, Socma is illuminated. Since early August, thanks in part to money raised by the Student Philanthropic Front, Socma has access to electricity for the first time. The electricity will allow the rural village, which is home to approximately 48 families, to open an emergency medical center and give children a chance to study at night. Phront, co-founded by Julian Olidort '11 and Robin Lichtenstein '11 in the fall of 2008, is a student group at Brandeis that helps match student activism with fundraising. "Essentially we elect a cause for a semester, and we do our best to fundraise for them and achieve a tangible impact," Olidort said.Alex Ball '09 initially had the idea to help bring electricity to Socma and wrote up his plan in a proposal he submitted to Phront. Ball learned about Socma's difficulties through his work with an organization called Rustic Pathways, a group that does community service with high school students in underdeveloped regions. Ball had been to Socma, a village that only recently gained the title to its lands from its Spanish owners, several times before he realized how much the village could benefit greatly from electricity, he explained. "I was [at Brandeis] trying to raise money by selling scarves and hats [for Socma]," Ball said. "It was the day [Phront was] having their initial [proposal] meeting, and I found out about it like 10 minutes before. . I went up and did an awful presentation but got really lucky."Lichtenstein said that although Alex had been working on the project for some time, it needed more fundraising. Ball said that months ago, before Socma had any prospects of gaining electricity, Socma residents found an electrical pole and carried it up a mountain to their town. To him, the villagers' willingness to bring back the pole demonstrated their determination to develop their community."[Due to poverty, communities in the Sacred Valley] haven't had access to electricity or drinking water. They also don't have a middle school or high school, so I was really inspired [to help them]," Ball said. The Peruvian government is currently undertaking a national rural electrification project to help bring electricity to villages like Socma. Because of the project's significance, the mayor of Urubamaba, the region in which Socma is located, agreed to match whatever funds Ball, Rustic Pathways and Phront raised."Alex was very connected in the whole project because he was working with Rustic Pathways, high school volunteers and the Peruvian government, who matched our numbers," Olidort said. "[The government] sent over the people who installed the generators [through the] rural electrification company of Peru."However, Ball explained that working with the Peruvian government was not an easy process, as they caused several problems and often made false promises. Nevertheless, news that electricity was installed came at perfect timing."About three weeks ago during their yearly celebration [to commemorate] receiving the title to their land, they finally got the light switch on," Ball said. "It was a really special day in the community and turned out to be a huge success."Yet electricity in Socma is still used very minimally. "[Socma] is in the mountains, but it's also in a valley, so there's a period of time before the sun goes down when the moon goes up, and that's when the children want to be studying. They use the lights for an hour or two at night," Ball said. Ball explained that before they had electricity, residents of Socma would some times use battery-powered lights. However, batteries are more expensive than generator powered electricity and therefore less efficient for the community. Phront helped raise money for the project through several events. They first went dormstorming with several other groups, including Tron, the men's ultimate Frisbee team. They also held a candygram sale as well as a "social night" at Biagio Ristorante and Bar in Waltham. Finally, they had an "a cappella-off" in which five a cappella groups competed in first-year residence halls.Ultimately, Phront raised $1,435.86 in two to three weeks. Still, Ball worries that the electricity project will encourage Socma to become dependent on the support of international organizations."It presents some problems in my mind, because our concept of development with electrification, ... and sponsoring it with outside funds ... creates some problems with dependency," Ball said.In the future, Ball still plans to work with villages in Peru and hopes to help build a high school dormitory for young girls in an indigenous community in Peru.Olidort nevertheless stressed the positive impact electricity will have on Socma."It's essentially their key to education, medical attention, international and even national relations," Olidort said. "Really basic things they didn't have without electricity.
(05/19/09 4:00am)
Upon graduating college, Elliot Danko '07 envisioned himself in the high-end finance and investment world. His career aspirations evoked images of New York City, a suit and tie and 80-hour workweeks. However, years later, after experiencing a layoff, an economic recession and an unrewarding job search, Danko's professional dreams have shifted. He now finds himself heading back to school to become a teacher. "Now I see myself in a classroom [wearing] a button-down and khakis. Instead of having 80-hour weeks, I see myself having a summer vacation, which, I admit, I kind of like," Danko says. Danko's story is not unlike many others' during uncertain economic times. According to Andrea B. Dine, associate director of career development at the Hiatt Career Center, applications to graduate school are historically inversely related to the health of the economy. "In a great economy, applications fall, in a poor economy applications rise," Dine wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. Although the overall percentage of college graduates going to graduate school next fall has not increased significantly, that number is expected to increase next year, Dine wrote. This year, approximately 27 percent of Brandeis' graduating class is going to graduate school. The percentage of graduate school applicants did not increase significantly this year because economic conditions did not look as dire when applications were submitted this fall, Dine wrote. Danko, an Illinois native, graduated from Brandeis with degrees in Economics and History. Soon after, he took a temporary job in Chicago until he was offered a job in personal finance in New York. After he'd worked there for about 1 1/2 years, Danko was laid off."That job ended because of corporate buyout. ... Bank of America bought my company and didn't need us anymore," Danko says.When Danko re-entered the job market, he found that because of the economic recession, offers for his ideal job were not exactly flowing in. "The job process is always difficult, especially now," Danko says. "The best thing that you can do is ... you can never have too many options out there. ... You just want to make sure that you put your name out there and you don't burn any bridges in the process."Danko describes the job search process as frustrating and says that even when a job opportunity presented itself, it did not necessarily suit his career desires."I got a few offers for positions I didn't want [in the mortgage market]", Danko says. "Despite [this], I tried using those interviews to parlay it into a position that I would [want], but that didn't really happen." In lieu of this unrewarding search, Danko decided that instead of continuing to look for a job that might not match his interests, he would return to school to become a high school economics and history teacher. Next fall, Danko will be attending National-Louis University in Illinois, home of a National College of Education."When we got let go, it was a little bit of a stressful time. But you got to put your name out there and figure out other plans," Danko says. "I'm taking losing my job as an opportunity to switch careers because I didn't like finance all that much."Danko says the effects of the recession motivated him to return to school, as he is guaranteed to get something out of more education as opposed to an unrewarding job search.Amanda Eisinger '09, who will be attending Columbia in the fall as part of a postbaccalaureate program in pre-med science, also says current economic conditions affected her decision to return to school upon graduation."I always knew I was going to go back and do the program, but [the recession] affected my decision to not take a year off [in between graduating college and going in to the program] to get a job because there's not much [in the job market] right now," Eisinger says. Among students who graduated within the past few years, many have found it difficult to find permanent employment. Some who decided to stick out the tough job market, such as Josh Golub '07, were eventually rewarded. Golub, who majored in American Studies and minored in Legal Studies, recently found a job in finance after a long and grueling job search. Previously, Golub had worked for his national fraternity, Zeta Beta Tau, before he was laid off due to restructuring. "[My six-month job search was] frustrating because of how may qualified applicants there are in the market. You really have to look for stuff that you might not normally want," Golub said.Even despite the difficult economic times this year, some graduating seniors were also able to find jobs. Sarah Gelman '09 will work for a non-profit organization, Jewish Funds for Justice, in New York next year."[Finding a job] wasn't really hard for me. ... I interned for a nonprofit last summer, and I was offered a job when the summer was over," Gelman says. "There wasn't really a job search involved, so I really lucked out."Yet, Dine said, people are more apt to return to school during times of an economic downturn as poor economic conditions spur fears of the "unknown.""Life transitions are difficult and are often frightening," Dine said. "Leaving college for the 'real world' is no exception. An economic recession and the perception that there are 'no jobs' heighten students' anxiety. Academic study is familiar, which makes the idea of graduate school more attractive."Still, Danko reflects on his decision to apply to graduate school and ultimately believes it was the best option available to him. "I think right now is the best time to go and get a master's [degree]", Danko says. "It really is a rough time out there. I have a lot of friends who have been backstabbed through the interview process. It's just [tough and unpredictable]. ... That's why I keep saying you can't get discouraged. ... You have to keep putting coal on the fire, because you don't know what's going to work out.
(05/19/09 4:00am)
On Sept. 23, 1970, Brandeis University woke up to another day of classes, cool fall weather and news of a murder and bank robbery at the hands of three of its students. There were five people suspected of murder and robbery, three of whom were associated with Brandeis. According to the Sept. 29, 1970 issue of the Justice, the suspects included Robert Valeri, 21, a student at Northeastern University; William Gilday, 41, also a student at Northeastern; Kathy Power '71, 21, a senior at Brandeis; Susan Saxe '70, 20, a Brandeis graduate and admitted Brandeis graduate student; and Stanley Bond, 25, also a Brandeis student. The five were accused of murdering Boston patrolman Walter A. Schroeder during a robbery that gained the group $26,000 from a Brighton, Mass. bank. Schroeder, 42, had nine children; he died from a gunshot wound in the back. Although Brandeis was not new to revolutionary activity-it was home to the National Strike Information Center, and 60 students took over Ford Hall in a 1969 protest-the incident drew much negative attention. Still, according to the Sept. 29, 1970 issue of the Justice, then-University president Charles Schottland expressed "his and the University's 'abhorrence' for the 'criminal' savagery of the slaying and affirmed Brandeis's academic mission." Schottland also emphasized that "the three students [had] recently 'severed all relationships' with Brandeis." Neither Power nor Saxe seemed like the typical murder suspect. Power had graduated at the top of her Catholic Denver high school and had served as an administrative aide to the Brandeis Student Council. Saxe transferred from Syracuse University and graduated from Brandeis magna cum laude in June 1970, according to the Sept. 29, 1970 issue of the Justice. Gilday, Valeri and Bond, however, had been paroled from the Walpole State Prison within 90 days of each other the previous spring. In the Justice, Schottland said that Bond, an honorably discharged Vietnam War veteran, was accepted into Brandeis "because his record seemed such an excellent one for school."Prof. Jacob Cohen (AMST) explained that there are several theories as to why these students robbed the bank. The culprits affirmed that the robbery was an act of protest against the war in Vietnam."The reason given by [Valeri], the man who was first arrested, was that they were going to use the money from the bank robbery toward various projects in the anti-war resistance," Cohen said. Following the incident, Valeri was promptly arrested, and Bond was arrested soon after. Until his arrest several days after the murder, Gilday eluded "the largest manhunt in New England history [at the time], involving 800 policemen," according to the Sept. 29, 1970 issue of the Justice. Saxe went "underground" as she was hiding from the FBI until she was arrested in 1975 and served time in prison until 1982. Power, however, remained "underground" until 1993, when she was placed in prison through 1999. According to an Oct. 12, 1999 issue of the Justice, Power was unable to "suppress her conscience any longer [and] turned herself in to authorities and pleaded guilty to charges of murder." Prior to her arrest, Power took on the alias Alice Metzinger and lived a small-town life in Oregon, according to the Oct. 12, 1999 issue of the Justice.Although it is often assumed that this violence was kindled by a Brandeis precursor to the Weather Underground-as the students involved in the incident and the Weather Underground shared similar missions and mentalities-this is likely not the case. An FBI release from Jan. 29, 2004, "1975 Terrorism Flashback: State Department Bombing," removed a photo of Katherine Powers "because she was inaccurately associated with the Weather Underground."Cohen agreed that there was no formal connection between the Weather Underground and Walter Schroeder's murder."I know that that link between Kathy and the Weather Underground has been made, ... but I don't know of any formal connection between the Weather Underground and that operation," Cohen said. However, Cohen also said there was certainly an ideological connection between the acts of the Brandeis radicals and the Weather Underground in that they were willing to use violent means to achieve their goals. Albert Axelrad, the University's rabbi and Hillel director from 1965 to 1999, described the significance of the bank robbery and murder of the policeman in his thesis paper, "Activism at Brandeis: An Anecdotal Review": "So strong and intense was this opposition [to Vietnam], that it once exceeded all moral bounds and wound up expressing itself in the single most shameful chapter of Brandeis' young history."Following the incident, there was a widespread negative reaction against Brandeis throughout Boston. "For many months after [the incident], it was not intelligent to go into Boston with a Brandeis sticker on your car," Cohen said.Schottland also offered all of Schroeder's nine children full four-year scholarships to the University. Norm Levine, the track and swimming coach at the time, also collected money from Brandeis students for Schroeder's family, according to the 1970 issue of the Justice. Although Cohen maintains that it is hard to generalize about the political and social atmosphere on the Brandeis campus leading up to the incident, Jeff Soref '71 wrote in a letter to the editor in the Oct. 13, 1970 issue of the Justice, "One can say accurately that [the students involved in the illegal incidents'] behavior was influenced in no small way by the environment which has prevailed at Brandeis recently." He went on to explain that "the environment at Brandeis has been one of harassment and coercion, both roundly endorsed by the University community in an effort to appease those people employing such tactics."Upon her release from prison in 1999, Power expressed a great deal of remorse for her actions. According to an Oct. 12, 1999 issue of the Justice, she said, "I will always carry my human responsibility for the sorrow my actions have caused." In response to Power's release from prison, Clare Schroeder, Walter Schroeder's daughter, said, "I don't know what forgiveness is in this circumstance. I'm not going to extract any vengeance. I don't wish her ill will. Other than that, she has no significance for me.
(04/28/09 4:00am)
Cheers can be heard from almost any point on campus. "Yes, we can!"Students embrace with a sense of urgency. "Yes, we can!"Blue state. Red state. Electoral votes. CNN projections. "Yes, we can!"It is 11 p.m. on November 4, 2008, and Barack Obama has just been elected the 44th president of the United States of America. Contained chaos has erupted.At Brandeis, a consistently left-leaning university, Barack Obama's election swept the campus with a feverish frenzy. One hundred days after Inauguration Day, most of the emotions surrounding Obama's election have cooled, and students have begun speaking more rationally of his presidency. The April 19 event hosted by Gen Ed Now, "Obama's 100 Days: A Progress Report," featured a distinguished panel of experts who evaluated the Obama administration's conduct in three key areas: the economy, foreign policy and health care.Speakers at the event included Greg Mankiw, a Harvard professor of economics and former chairman of President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers; Stuart Altman, professor of national health policy (Heller) and former deputy assistant secretary for Health Policy; and Charles Dunbar, professor of international relations at Boston University and former ambassador to Qatar and Yemen. Prof. Peniel Joseph (AAAS) moderated the panel.The calm, bespectacled Mankiw, gave his insight into the current financial crisis and how well he thinks Obama's economic policy has dealt with it. He started off by describing what makes the United States' current financial situation unique and said it was caused by a "lack of imagination." He said that in order to fix the situation, the administration has to fix the bank system because it goes to the "heart of the problem." He said that Timothy Geithner "rolled out a plan . that is quite reasonable." However, he went on to criticize Obama's proposed fiscal stimulus package."The biggest long-term problem has to do with the [proposed] budget. [It's] unsustainable," Mankiw said. "We set up a social safety net for the elderly that is going to cause government spending to rise above tax revenues."Still, Mankiw was optimistic about Obama's environmental reform policy. Describing himself as a "fan of global climate change," he said, "What [Obama's administration] is proposing basically makes sense" by putting limits on the amount of carbon we can emit, among other things.Despite his general doubts regarding the Obama administration, Mankiw said he was "not forecasting another Great Depression."Still, Mankiw also expressed concern about Obama's health care reform plans. "I am personally skeptical that we are going to save a lot of money through health care reform. Health information technology may be a good thing, [but it] may be a bad thing. What's driving health care [costs are] advances in technology-which are not going to be changing," he said. Altman, who had reddish hair and a warm smile, also talked about his views on Obama's health policy. Although he said the "stars are aligned for significant health reform," he also described some of Obama's major obstacles. Firstly, he said, Obama needs to create universal health care coverage. Secondly, America needs to reduce the rate of the growth in health care spending."We spend 50 percent more than any other country in the world, and we really don't get the [benefits]," he said. Altman said Obama has adopted a philosophy that is working toward universal health care coverage and shared responsibility among the government, the individual and the employer. He also said Obama put off debate on controlled health care spending. Charles Dunbar said that in his opinion, Obama has had the most difficult first 100 days in office in American history. Dunbar praised Obama's progress in forging America's relationship with Russia. He also praised Obama's approach to relations with the Muslim world as "quite reasonable." Dunbar also addressed U.S. affairs with Cuba and Obama's increased effort towards friendly relations. "[There is] a new beginning with Cuba, [which is] interesting. [There are] substantive changes [being made]," he said. "[By] easing travel with Cuban Americans, [it is] making it possible to make remittances. We already see the Cubans ready to respond in kind. That's substantive tilling of the garden in the way the garden should be tilled."In reponse to a question from a member of the audience about how he thinks Obama will handle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Dunbar answered, "The two states solution.""All around the world," Dunbar concluded, "Peoples and governments are prepared to say, 'This is a new beginning.'"Benjamin Bechtolsheim '09 praised how informative the event was and said, "I was pleased that students took the initiative to present this forum, and I found it to be a valuable way of looking at the beginning of the Obama administration."-Greta Moran contributed reporting
(04/28/09 4:00am)
The recent recommendation made by the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee to convert the Classical Studies department into an interdepartmental program has caused much dismay among the department's professors and students, who staunchly oppose the proposal. In response to the release of the CARS report, several students stood outside last week's closed faculty meeting holding protest signs with phrases such as "Save the Classical Studies Department" and "We Love Prof. [Cheryl] Walker." Undergraduate Department Representative to the Classics department Alex Smith '09 explained that the protest was held to promote "awareness of the Classical Studies department as a very dedicated department. We're willing to sit outside the faculty meeting, not saying anything, completely peaceful, just [to] show them how much we care about this," he said. Lee Marmor '10, also a Classics UDR, explained that in addition to the protest, Classics students have attended the three CARS proposal forums and are asking alumni for support. The investment of students in the Classics department did not go unnoticed by administrators, and Provost Marty Krauss explained, "Both [student forums] were pretty much dominated by students from the Classics department, and they made a very impassioned plea to the committee about the quality of their experiences with the Classics department, and I thought they did a lovely job and a thoughtful job of expressing their views." Prof. Ann O. Koloski-Ostrow (CLAS) explained the Classics department's opposition to potentially being turned into an interdepartmental program. "It's a very serious thing to turn a department into a program," Koloski-Ostrow said. "We have some very distinguished programs with very distinguished faculty on campus. This is not a slight at those existing programs, but none of those programs were created by the demotion of a department. A department of Classical Studies does do a lot of interdepartmental work, we don't deny that, but to turn us into an interdisciplinary program would be a real demotion in prestige already achieved by the department, and we are concerned about it first and foremost in terms of the reputation of Brandeis University." Koloski-Ostrow said that she believes that eliminating the Classical Studies department would damage Brandeis' reputation because almost all of the universities Brandeis competes with for the best students have Classical Studies departments. "We are trying to explain this to the administration," Koloski-Ostrow said. "We understand the administration is in a bind [and] the CARS committee's mission is to try and be more efficient and save money, [but] this is not going to save money; they have admitted that," she said. Koloski-Ostrow elaborated in an e-mail to the Justice that "the administration and CARS were asked several times (in private meetings and in front of the whole faculty last week at the faculty meeting on April 23) how closing down the THREE departments recommended for 'demotion' into interdepartmental programs would save money? Each time the question comes up, the administration and CARS members say that this recommendation is 'not about money.' Instead, they say that the restructuring is aimed at eliminating duplication of courses and strongly encouraging various academic units to reach across disciplines to fulfill needs that a smaller faculty (in the future) will not be able to fulfill in any other way."Walker said that upon reviewing the CARS proposal she did not see "any documentation to suggest that [turning the department into an interdepartmental program] would a) save money or b) facilitate faculty reduction, which is the charge of the committee." Johnston said that she was "appalled [and] really disgusted" about the CARS proposals. Prof. Patricia Johnston (CLAS) said she was "very proud" and "gratified to have so much support" from the Classical Studies students who held the protest.Walker (CLAS) agreed that she could "not be happier with the students.""I have been so pleased that on their own volition they have taken up the torch and decided that [supporting the department] is something they want to spend time doing," she said, "not only the students on campus but [also] alumni. I have gotten three notices from people who have graduated in recent years. Can we turn all that energy into something positive? I have hope.
(04/07/09 4:00am)
When Linda Rottenberg co-founded Endeavor, a nonprofit group that provides support for entrepreneurs, she had ambitions of transforming the private sector in emerging markets, identifying businesses that would employ thousands of workers and even putting an entirely new word in the dictionaries and minds of developing countries. Rottenberg sported a stylish pink suit and contagious smile as she talked to students and faculty at Lemberg Academic Center Monday, March 23 about handling businesses in times of financial crisis, global development and how the private sector can make a social impact. Additionally, Rottenberg described what inspired her to help put the word entrepreneur on the radar of developing countries. "It all started when I was riding in the back of a taxi in Buenos Aires, [Argentina years ago]," said Rottenberg, in a confident voice that reflected her magnetic presence. "I struck up a conversation with the cab driver, who told me he had an engineering degree. I asked him, 'Why are you driving a cab? Shouldn't you be an entrepreneur?'"Rottenberg continued with a focused tone that reflected involvement in her story and explained that the cab driver had no idea what the word entrepreneur meant. "I said, 'An entrepreneur ... you know, someone who starts a business.' He replied, 'Oh, you mean an empresario,' meaning the Spanish word for 'big businessman' which is associated with corruption and greed," Rottenberg said.Rottenberg explained that in Argentina, as well as in countries such as Brazil, Turkey and Egypt, there was no word equivalent to the English term "entrepreneur." "It was my simple discovery of this fact that led me down the path ... to establish a global framework for those emerging market entrepreneurs with high-gross, innovative businesses," Rottenberg said.Rottenberg, recently named one of "America's Best Leaders," by US News & World Report, came to Brandeis to accept the 2009 Asper Award for Global Entrepreneurship presented by the International Business School. The Asper Award honors business leaders who have succeeded in markets through creative business strategies, created global connections across cultural and geographic borders and demonstrated commendable corporate citizenship. "The Asper Award for Global Entrepreneurship at Brandeis IBS was established by Leonard J. Asper '86, president of Canada's largest media conglomerate, to celebrate and honor outstanding global entrepreneurs," said Prof. Benjamin Gomes-Casseres (IBS), director of the MBA program and director of the Asper Center in an e-mail to the Justice. "Ms. Rottenberg certainly fits this description: Her vision, leadership and tenacity not only started a successful global enterprise, but also encouraged other entrepreneurs to start new businesses in their home countries. And, on top of this, her organization targets entrepreneurs who will have a positive social impact on their societies."Rottenberg, 40, attended Harvard University as an undergraduate and went to Yale Law School before beginning work with Ashoka, a nonprofit group that provides a network of support for idealistic entrepreneurs working toward social change. However, Rottenberg felt that while it was important to alleviate poverty through social change, it was also important to create jobs and provide the intense strategic and management support necessary for entrepreneurial growth. With this idea in mind, Rottenberg co-founded Endeavor in 1997. Rottenberg, Endeavor's current CEO, explained that in developing countries the young entrepreneur had nowhere to go because large corporations and wealthy families dominated the market. "There was nowhere for him to seek advice or financing. There were no established mentor networks. There were no self-made role models. In fact, there wasn't even a word for what they were doing," Rottenberg said emphatically. "Our stated purpose was to establish high-impact entrepreneurship as the leading and most widely accepted force in global economic development. Our unstated purpose was to put the word entrepreneur in every Spanish and Portugese dictionary and eventually in every Arabic one, too," Rottenberg joked. In 1998, Rottenberg brought Endeavor to Argentina and Chile with its co-founder, Peter Kellner. However, just as Endeavor began its journey in the South American private sector, the world economy was hit hard by the Asian financial crisis as the Thai Baht collapsed, creating fear of a worldwide economic meltdown."I was told it was destined to fail. I wanted to prove an emerging market crisis was the best time to launch Endeavor. ... I knew during a crisis is when the best entrepreneurs always emerge. ... [It is an] opportunity to beat out competitors and hire better workers," Rottenberg said.Rottenberg's perseverance in times of crisis paid off, and by 2005 Argentina was ranked 12th in the world in entrepreneurial activity by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Rottenberg had confidence in Endeavor's unique model, and Endeavor expanded to Brazil in 2000. Over the next 10 years, Endeavor screened nearly 18,000 companies in 11 countries, including Turkey, South Africa, India, Colombia, Egypt and Mexico.Additionally, more than 330 entrepreneurs have been selected for support, creating about 90,000 jobs that generally pay at least 10 times the minimum wage. Endeavor supported entrepreneurs made $2.5 billion in revenue in 2007. Rottenberg also explained that when Endeavor goes into countries, it does not search for just any entrepreneur but rather a high-impact entrepreneur.When asked by a member of the audience what differentiates an entrepreneur from a high-impact entrepreneur, Rottenberg responded, "[A high-impact entrepreneur is] someone with big ideas and ambitious plans with the potential to generate tons of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue in wages [as well as] a story that inspires others."Rottenberg reflected on her success by way of making entrepreneurship the norm in developing countries. The new word emprendedor, which means "entrepreneur" in Spanish, has recently been installed in the lexicon of several Latin American countries. "Today throughout Latin America you can hear about young people speaking about becoming an emprendedor," Rottenberg said.Throughout the presentation, Rottenberg gave off an infectious sense of optimism. She ended her presentation on an idealistic note and with a piece of advice to the students in the audience."Now, for those of you who are students in the room, I encourage you to look around and start asking questions: Where is the need? The gap? What's currently being overlooked by both government and the private sector? Where is the opportunity to bridge the gap? Today, looking back on my own entrepreneurial 'aha' moment riding in that cab in Buenos Aires, . I have to smile.
(04/07/09 4:00am)
Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe presented Prof. Peter Kalb (FA) with the Michael L. Walzer '56 Award for Teaching and Prof. David Rakowski (MUS) with the Lerman-Neubauer '69 Prize for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring at last Thursday's faculty meeting.Prof. Bruce Foxman (CHEM) also won the Brandeis Prize for Excellence in Teaching. While Foxman's award was announced at the faculty meeting, it was not presented because he was unable to attend due to a previous professional commitment off campus, according to Jaffe. However, he will be presented with the award at the May 14 faculty meeting, Jaffe wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.Jaffe explained in an e-mail to the Justice that he selects the recipients of the awards based on recommendations from nomination committees.The Michael L. Walzer Award is given every year to a tenure-track faculty member who "combines superlative scholarship with inspired teaching," Jaffe said at the faculty meeting.At the faculty meeting, Jaffe delivered a small speech to the professors being honored and read comments submitted by students who nominated them to be considered for teaching awards. During his time at the University, Kalb has taught a variety of courses on Modern, Postwar and Contemporary Art and Culture, as well as the History of Photography."It's great," Kalb said. "I like teaching, and it's very flattering to hear that I've got students who like taking my classes."One of the students whose testimony Jaffe anonymously read aloud at the faculty meeting said, "Professor Kalb cares about his students as people, acting as a mentor and a friend to any student who walks through his door. "Amanda DiSanto '09, an art history major who nominated Kalb for a teaching award, said he "has a lot of passion for the subject. He's just a really brilliant professor." The Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer '69 and Joseph Neubauer Prize for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring Prize was created by Trustee Jeanette Lerman. Rakowski currently teaches Graduate Composition, Graduate Analysis, Orchestration, Fundamentals of Music, Music Theory and Independent Studies. "I try to get students to understand things the way a composer understands things," Rakowski said. Andrew Litwin '11, who has been Rakowski's student for four semesters and is his advisee for the music major, said that Rakowski "manages to make class just a really enjoyable place to be." Foxman could not be reached for comment about his award by press time.Laura Aducci '09, who is one of Foxman's students said that he is " There's nothing more important to him than sitting with students and answering their questions to make sure they fully understand what he's teaching them."-Shana D. Lebowitz, Hannah Kirsch and Jillian Wagner contributed reporting.
(02/10/09 5:00am)
The light murmur of a piano fills the space amid the sounds of people chatting and glasses clinking. Waiters and waitresses offer appetizers as a photographer greets guests adorned in cocktail dresses and suits.Surrounded by the elegant decor of the Faculty club last Saturday, 200 guests gathered to help fight homelessness. The 2009 Winter Gala was held in support of the nonprofit organization hopeFound.The event, which had a coat and tie dress code, raised $4000 for hopeFound, an organization dedicated to helping the homeless in the Boston area.Aaron Mitchell Finegold '09 planned the event to raise awareness about homelessness in the Boston area. Finegold was inspired by hopeFound after learning of its work during his sophomore year at Brandeis."I was really impressed by the uniquely holistic approach that [hopeFound] take[s] to helping homeless people not only find emergency relief but also become self-sufficient," Finegold said.Established in 1983, hopeFound is based in Jamaica Plain, Mass. and shelters more than 3,500 homeless adults in the greater Boston area.The organization also offers ongoing services to more than 139 individuals who once were homeless. Specifically, hopeFound works to help the homeless become self sufficient and runs services based around recovery, employment and housing, said Barbara Shenker, hopeFound director of development.Although the organization was initially a homeless emergency shelter, it has since become a more comprehensive agency."Quickly after establishing themselves as a shelter [hopeFound] realized that [although] that kind of service is necessary, there is so much more that the people who were visiting them at the shelter needed," Finegold said. Finegold said that hopeFound realized they needed to help their clients learn how to live life independently. "They needed help getting jobs, they needed help with stabilization [if they had] substance abuse problems," Finegold said.Finegold began planning the event by approaching different clubs and departments on campus to request donations. He collaborated with Student Events, the Student Union, the Office of Communications, the Office of the Arts and the Social Justice and Social Policy program for help with finances, volunteers and auction items.Finegold said that through the gala, he was "introducing Brandeis students to a cause that is right here [in Boston]. It's important because it's one more way that they can give back, . and it is my personal connection, which I'm sharing with the rest of the community."The event included a silent auction, a raffle, a brief performance by Brandeis a cappella group Voices of Soul and a DVD presentation profiling several hopeFound clients who the organization interviewed about 16 months ago.The individuals represented "the kind of familiar stories that we [often see]: largely men, many who came from backgrounds of poverty, substance abuse, long years on the street, lots of mental health issues," Shenker said.However, Shenker told gala attendees that the average profile of a hopeFound client has recently changed."The changed stories we are hearing now are more related to people being laid off, people who have not been chronically homeless, people who are living from paycheck to paycheck. We haven't seen [that] in the past," she said. Shenker spoke of the increase in demand for hopeFound services in the past year, especially from women. Women's demand for hopeFound services has increased by 51 percent.In general, Shenker said, because of the nation's recent economic problems, the demands for emergency shelter have gone up 28 percent since September.Jarred Fitterman '12 was impressed by the organization of the gala as well as the information he learned about hopeFound."I thought the atmosphere [at the Winter Gala] was classy, and people were truly interested in the cause," Fitterman said. "I learned a lot about the resources available for homeless people [through hopeFound]."For Shenker, the goal of the event was to provide people with a better understanding of homelessness and hopeFound efforts to end it."I think homelessness is a national problem," she said. "It's never going to be solved by organizations; it really takes the involvement of everyone in the community.
(01/27/09 5:00am)
The program started with two. Ten years ago, Tom Urquidez and his father Thomas A. Urquidez decided they wanted to enact change within three Wichita Falls, Texas high schools by putting together the Academic Success Program.The program is designed to boost minority students' academic performance, said Director of Operations Michael Martinez, who was a sophomore in Wichita Falls High School when the program began.The initiative has since expanded to 15 Texas high schools, and last year over 300 program participants graduated from colleges nationwide.This year, Brandeis collaborated with the Dallas-based ASP to create scholarships that cover all four years of tuition for five ASP students who will enter the University in fall 2009.Dean of Admissions Gil Villanueva noted the importance of the ASP in light of the high value Brandeis places on social action."Social justice is an integral component of the Brandeis mission," he said. "Our commitment to attracting scholars from diverse backgrounds and our recent success in enrolling such students make us a natural partner for the Academic Success Program." Urquidez, now 29, was a high school senior, and his father was a counselor to at-risk students when they decided to launch the program, Martinez said. "[Urquidez and his father] started very simply," he added, identifying students that "came from the under represented minority backgrounds [and] had a lot of potential but weren't living up to [it]."Initially, the program offered students only leadership and SAT workshops."Throughout this process, [Urquidez and his father] started this conversation about college," among Texas high school students, Martinez said.The concept of a college education was new to many students, Martinez said. Many from Wichita Falls High School are first-generation college students. Urquidez, who took advantage of the program's academic resources, entered Dartmouth College in 2000. Three years later, Martinez enrolled at Princeton University. "It started [when] Tom and students just began going to places that people in Wichita Falls never really thought were possible for them," Martinez said. He added that just witnessing their peers' successes motivated some program participants to strive for academic achievement. "Really, the key to why ASP is so successful is because [of] the interaction that Tom had . with the underclassmen in [his] high school," he said"That is, whenever you see someone in your high school go off and do something, you start to think that you can do it, too."Many of the ASP's facilitators are recent college graduates who were the first members of their families to attend college, Martinez said.The facilitators can therefore "relate to the students, and the students begin to look to the facilitators [for] what's possible," he said.Facilitator Eloy Gardea, an alumnus of the ASP in Wichita Falls who graduated from Columbia University in spring 2008, said that as a high school student, he looked up to students like Urquidez and Martinez. They made the idea of attending a prestigious university seem possible."Michael Martinez . was my role model because hey, [he] went to [an] Ivy League school," Gardea said. "The program creates students looking to other students for inspiration."Gardea said that the goal of attending college is enough to motivate students' academic achievement."Often in inner-city schools, . expectation is what's lacking-that expectation of doing something after high school," he added.In addition to leadership training and SAT workshops, the ASP also teaches students about the process of applying to college. Genevieve Armstrong '12, who participated in the ASP at Hillcrest High School in Dallas, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice, "I'm embarrassed to say how many schools I applied to because [applying] was so easy."Initially, Armstrong said, "I was terrified about applying to college, not to mention I knew hardly any schools outside of Texas, unless they were state schools or Ivy League." Armstrong said she learned about Brandeis at one of the information sessions led by representatives from universities all over the country.The ASP and the Brandeis Committee on Admissions will select the five ASP students to receive the scholarships. The Brandeis Committee on Admissions will select the recipients based on who they think will benefit most from the Brandeis experience, Villanueva said.Though she's been at Brandeis for only one semester, Armstrong already appreciates the school's impact on her education.Said Armstrong, "Thank God for this program, ... or else I have no idea where I would've ended up.
(01/13/09 5:00am)
As part of the first class to graduate from the Brandeis film graduate program, Andrew Harmon '68, M.A. '70, remembers staring at packing crates of expensive film equipment in awe before being instructed by theater professor, David Hardy, to pick up the cameras and shoot footage. It was 1969, and students in Harvard Square were rioting in protest against the Vietnam War."The next thing we knew, we were in two cars driving down the Mass Pike to Cambridge, and the only thing I could see was a plume of smoke where they were burning their dorm furniture in Harvard yard. We shot this footage, and it was processed instantly, and it appeared on television that night," Harmon said. For Harmon, the early days of Brandeis' film program were "kind of an 'if you could dream it, you can do it' type of thing."Now a theater director, playwright and acting teacher, Harmon also enrolled in some of the first undergraduate film courses offered at Brandeis in 1967 and was among the first students to graduate from Brandeis' graduate film program.The university will offer a Film Studies undergraduate major starting in the 2009-2010 academic year, in addition to the Film Studies minor that was introduced in 1994.Brandeis offered its first film course in 1967, a film production course taught by British filmmaker David Hardy. Hardy's cameraman, David Westfall, helped teach the course, in the Spingold Theater. Students in the class were provided with expensive, state-of-the-art film equipment and given the freedom to make their own films.Many of Hardy's former students, now filmmakers and film editors, recall Hardy's quirky personality and steadfast belief in the power of film."David [Hardy] believed in making good materials available to creative young people and letting them explore on their own," said Marty Ostrow '69, a former student of Hardy's, now a filmmaker in Cambridge. "He was there to offer guidance, but he wasn't there to offer any hardened, steadfast dogma about what film was." Wendy Caplin '69, now a film editor in New York City, described some of Hardy's offbeat assignments."In one assignment called 'Burnt Toast,' Hardy divided the class into groups of five. Each group was given a subject and equipment and had to make a movie called 'Burnt Toast,' Caplin explained. In each film, there was a couple that had an argument, a piece of burnt toast and a death, Caplin said. In addition, at the end of the semester each student in the class was required to complete his own film."It was probably one of the most groundbreaking things for me," Caplin said. "It was such an opportunity. I don't think anything like that ever existed anywhere else, where there were so many brilliant professors all there just to hold our hands and guide us through."Hardy's teaching philosophy, Caplin said, was, "You don't sit [students] down and [make them] study [something] relentlessly; you teach them something and then throw them out to do it."Filmmaker Mickey Lemle '69 especially valued Hardy's hands-on approach to teaching."David taught [us] you can learn process and technique, [but] you can't learn how to determine if something works or not- that has to be done by doing. . An ability to make creative decisions, that's what you need to hone, and the only way to get good at it is to do it." Hardy was especially focused on making sure the film program reflected the social change in the Boston area during that time.Harmon said Hardy saw film as an important tool for social change. In the late 1960s, "there was a lot of radical theater stuff happening," he said. "A lot of us thought theater was really important as a kind of social movement or social statement." Harmon said some of the film students filmed the legendary Ford Hall takeover in 1969, in which black students took over the Ford Hall in an attempt to win better minority representation. "We shot footage of a lot of stuff around this thing. It was our way of protesting," said Harmon. "There was such a lot of social activity, social unrest and this mission, that we could actually make a difference in the way people behaved toward each other."Passionate about the importance of film, Hardy helped to create the Brandeis film graduate program in 1968 and came up with clever ways of raising money for the initiative."David had a golden tongue," Lemle said. "He would fly business class wherever he went, and by the time he landed he would have sold a movie to the person next to him. He would invite filmmakers to give a lecture, and we would film it, and he would somehow get it on PBS." In May 1970, Hardy tragically died in a car crash on his way back from a fundraiser. The program struggled on for a few years after his death, but disintegrated soon thereafter. There is currently no film graduate program. In addition, after his death, the undergraduate film program slipped into inactivity as well, explained Film Prof. Alice Kelikian (HIST).The film graduate program "was short-lived, but it was magnificent while it lasted," Harmon said. Harmon was one of two students to receive an M.F.A. in Directing Theater and Film in 1970. (Ostrow received the same degree in 1971.)Because Hardy found the money to run the film program, Lemle said the administration allowed Hardy a certain amount of discretion to coordinate the program as he pleased."There was all this pressure on him for not teaching film appreciation, but he said, 'I got my own money,' [so] bug off," Lemle said. "It proved the golden rule, which was, 'if you have the gold you make the rules'.
(12/09/08 5:00am)
The Brandeis Labor Coalition is working on an initiative to urge club leaders to amend their club constitutions to include a pledge to buy only sweatshop-free apparel. The BLC has been meeting with individual club leaders to successfully fulfill this initiative, explained BLC member Kaitlin Schofield '08. The initiative to focus on raising awareness about sweatshops began two years ago. The BLC made a club packet explaining what sweatshops are and why the BLC is working to eliminate them, Schofield explained. The BLC's sweatshop information packet now has several definitions for sweatshop. The first definition is "an employer that violates more than one federal or state labor law regarding minimum wage and overtime, child labor, industrial homework, occupational safety and health, workers' compensation or industry regulation." In addition, it also defines sweatshops as factories often associated with mass-produced items in developing countries, sometimes characterized by instances of sexual harassment and violence against workers who try to unionize. Schofield said the BLC tried many ways to keep apparel made in sweatshops from being bought and sold on campus before deciding to focus on working with other clubs to limit the amount of merchandise those clubs purchase that is made in sweatshops.Schofield said the BLC originally focused on working with the Brandeis bookstore to carry sweatshop-free clothing by United Students Against Sweatshops. She said this proved difficult because the store is run by Barnes and Noble, a national chain, and it would be difficult to get them to change the distributor from which they buy apparel.She said the group then "decided to attack it at a different angle by talking to our peers in clubs and making sure that the clothing and apparel they bought is sweatshop-free," Schofield said.She explained that because clubs are not run by a giant organization, they can decide individually where they buy their apparel, which helps people realize their own purchasing power.So far the Mixed Heritage Club, the Activist Resource Center, Students for a Democratic Society, Students for Environmental Action, Aikido and the Student Union have vowed to buy only sweatshop-free apparel. Waltham Group, Reslife, Student Sexuality Information Service and Adagio have also pledged to buy only sweatshop-free apparel, although they do not have constitutions. SEA's constitution states that the club will only buy organic apparel in addition to sweatshop-free apparel. SEA President Stephanie Sofer '09 explained that the club constitution now states that "In accordance with SEA's mission, it is official SEA policy to only purchase SEA clothing that is certified to be sweat-free and organic."In addition to talking with clubs about changing their constitution, BLC member Claire Charny '09 said the BLC wants a general awareness-raising campaign on campus about the issue."We have a big campaign plan for next semester, so I think it's really going to get off the ground. We have a lot of movie showings, and we're bringing speakers to campus. We're having a forum all around the issue of sweatshops, and hopefully that ... will kind of go into a more broader, longer sense of people [understanding] where we're coming from," Charny said. However, the BLC had to go about a step-by-step process to get its plans off the ground. First it had to figure out what exactly they wanted to define as "sweatshop-free," Schofield explained."At the beginning we just went over what we defined as sweatshop-free, which is still kind of in the works. ... Is it made in a union? Or not? And what constitutes as ethical apparel?" Schofield said. Charny said the BLC started with a "top-down" approach talking to the administration before they spoke with individual clubs. Some of these administrators included Assistant Dean of Student Life Maggie Balch."First we tried to see if this would be a campuswide thing. We tried to go to the administration to see if they could pass a mandate that said that everything should be sweat-free, but that's really an impossibility. That's when we turned to clubs, and we turned to an individual department like Reslife, because they [make] all of their [Community Advisor] and some of the orientation T-shirts," Charny said. Charny added that after talks with Reslife, they got them to sign on. "A big win was the following year, all their T-shirts [were] made by a company called No Sweat Apparel, which is all union-made clothing," she said. Although the BLC has not met much resistance, Charny explained that some people have been more enthusiastic than others about their initiative."Most clubs have been pretty receptive, and it's not like clubs would refuse [to change their constitutions]. They would just be like, 'I don't understand why this is important,' and not necessarily take the time to do it. [While] changing the constitution takes two minutes, changing someone's views takes a lot longer," Charny said.
(11/25/08 5:00am)
For 16 years, 25,000 letters sat in Prof. Anita Hill's (HELLER) basement, gathering dust and paying silent tribute to a time when details of Hill's private life were broadcast over most news channels.In 1991, Hill spoke out against her former boss, Clarence Thomas, then a nominee for U.S. Supreme Court justice.Despite Hill's accusations that Thomas had sexually harassed her while they worked together at the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, he was appointed. During the Senate hearings in which she testified against Thomas, Hill, now a professor of social policy, law and women's studies at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, began receiving thousands of letters from people who'd heard about the hearings.By 1992, Hill had received roughly 19,000 such letters. Curious to find out how Americans had reacted to her decision to testify against Thomas, Hill initially read a certain portion of the letters she received each day. "I gave myself a daily assignment to read so many letters ... in '91 and '92 just to see what was in them," Hill said.Yet, despite her enthusiasm, Hill found it almost impossible to read the thousands of letters piling up in her mailbox.She decided to wait until she was able to categorize the letters in an organized system before reading any further."I just got overwhelmed in terms of the numbers," she said.In 1991, Bea Porter, a retired librarian, volunteered to help Hill develop a system of organizing the letters.Porter divided the letters into categories, including "supportive, non-supportive, professional colleagues, personal friends and harassment stories," Hill wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.Sixteen years later, confident that this organized system would make her task significantly easier, Hill pledged to read every letter she'd ever received in a single year.Hill felt that she had a responsibility to read the letters. "At some point, even though I had not made the time to begin to read them, I realized that [the letters are] personal correspondence, and I felt that I had an obligation to read them if I could," she said."One of the things I think sort of pushed me into gear was that about a year ago, someone was talking and said, 'You know, it's been 16 years since the hearing,' and I thought, 'Wow, that's a long time to have this mail.'"Among the 25,000 letters, Hill found a mixture of ardent support and disdain for her controversial role in the Senate hearings."Part of what the sorting [system] did was to sort out the positive from the negative," she said. "The overwhelming majority [of letters] were positive, but there were a significant number of letters that were negative as well."Yet Hill found even negative opinions intriguing."Even [from] the negative [letters], you can even learn something," she said. "You can't completely discount it because maybe they're not flattering or put you in the best light."Hill explained that there wasn't just one type of person who wrote to her. She said she received letters from people of both sexes, various ages and a range of ethnic backgrounds.Hill's accusations against Thomas prompted a wide range of responses. While some people were interested in the political implications of Hill's testimony, others identified personally with her decision. "Some people relate to [these incidents] on a political basis; some people relate to them on a personal basis. They provoke different kinds of behavior and different kinds of reactions," she said."A lot of people [who wrote to me] were angry, a lot of people found humor in the scene that they saw, and in a lot of people it created a better understanding of something that they had gone through."For Hill, it was interesting to see how people came to conclusions about "whose side to take" in the hearings against Thomas."Some people say, 'Well, I've listened to both sides, I've read the newspapers, and I've talked to my friends.' Some people draw on their own personal experiences, and they say, 'Oh, this is just like what happened to me,'" Hill said. "And that's one thing that I was exploring-how people come to . their own understanding of what happened during the hearing."Reading thousands of letters, Hill found that while everyone reacted differently to the hearings, her decision to speak out against Thomas affected some on a very personal level.Hill said some people liked to tell stories. She relayed, "'This is the hearing that made me want to get out and get politically engaged and politically active.' Other people might write and say, 'This gave me a chance to talk to my daughter about something or talk to my husband about something that happened to me.'"Although it's been 17 years since her trial, Hill explained that the letters have not stopped coming in. "I still get letters, I still get e-mails, I still get all kinds of things even today," Hill said. "In October of 2007, Clarence Thomas wrote a memoir, and that prompted a lot of people to write."However, Hill explained that she feels grateful for all the letters she receives. "I think part of the problem is when you go through an experience like I went through in 1991, ... there's an automatic feeling of disconnect and isolation and, 'Gosh, I am the only person who is experiencing this.'"Yet Hill explained that the letters reminded her how much her decision inspired other Americans."The letters made me feel much more connected to a lot of people, people who had maybe gone through a similar experience or sympathized with me and could express what I had experienced and the feelings," she said. "And I really have seen that connection and I think that that has changed me.
(11/18/08 5:00am)
Last Tuesday Wellesley College announced that current Brandeis Chief Investment Officer Deborah Foye Kuenstner would be leaving Brandeis in February to assume the same position at Wellesley College.Kuenstner started at Brandeis at the beginning of 2007 as chief investment officer, after the "Investment Committee and Administration decided that the size and sophistication of the [University's investment] portfolio called for a dedicated in-house investment team," Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Peter French told the Justice by e-mail. "Debby joined Brandeis to build our investment office, which she accomplished, hiring an excellent team," French wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.Wellesley began its search for a new chief investment officer last March after Wellesley's former Chief Investment Officer Jane Mendillo announced that she was leaving the school to head Harvard's endowment, Kuenstner explained. Kuenstner attended Wellesley College as an undergraduate and said that was part of her motivation for wanting to work there."Brandeis is a great place; there is a fabulous investment committee here. I built a great team, but Wellesley is my place-it's my school," she said. Kuenster said that she is going to continue her duties as chief investment officer at Brandeis until February and will remain available to the Student Union's new Committee on Endowment Ethics and Responsibility if it comes to her with questions. The purpose of the committee, whose members are currently being selected, is to research and make recommendations to the Board of Trustees with regard to targeted divestment, new investment, changes in investment levels and shareholder resolutions. Committee members were supposed to meet with Kuenstner if they had questions about investment recommendations. "I made the offer, and it still stands," Kuenstner said. Student Union President Jason Gray '10 said that CEER was going to continue to move ahead as planned. "We will have to speak to the new chief investment officer once the new chief investment officer comes, but I think that it's okay timing because we are building the committee this semester and doing a lot of preliminary work that will involve research and building a list of all the questions to ask regarding our investments. Hopefully the integration will be smooth between an outgoing chief investment officer and an incoming chief investment officer," Gray said. Senator for the Class of 2011 Alex Melman told the Justice by e-mail, "Since CEER expects to work closely with the CIO, we hope that the new [CIO] will be open to CEER's work and strongly consider environmental and social ethical considerations, as well as community involvement in proxy voting decisions."In the upcoming months, Brandeis will begin its search for a new chief investment officer. Kuenstner said she will play a limited role in determining whom to hire."I won't be in a decision-making capacity but I know more than anybody else at the University about potential candidates, so I certainly will suggest people, and I'll talk to whatever executive search firm [the University] hire[s]," Kuenstner said. Peter French explained in an e-mail to the Justice that "the first step in a search process is the preparation of a job description and qualifications. Once that has happened, the search begins and candidates apply for the job. It is too early to know if there will be candidates for the position from Brandeis. Several trustees, President Reinharz and myself will be involved in the selection."Gray expressed confidence that the transition in hiring a new chief investment officer will be an easy one. "Peter French is on the ball and will make sure that everything works smoothly. I have complete confidence in that. I wish [Kuenstner] the best of luck, and I hope for a smooth transition, especially in the financial climate that we have today. I am confident that everything will be fine," Gray said. French expressed a similar confidence in the process of finding a new chief investment officer."We will move quickly to ensure that the investment of the endowment is properly staffed, and I do not foresee any disruptions to the program," French wrote in his e-mail.
(11/18/08 5:00am)
A Faculty Senate task force conducted a faculty-wide survey regarding the possibility of making the Wednesday before Thanksgiving a holiday in future years and instead holding an additional day of classes, most likely on Labor Day.In order to hear the opinions of other faculty members, the survey conducted in the last week of October asked how the faculty would feel about holding class on Labor Day. The results of the survey were presented at the Nov. 6 faculty meeting and showed that the faculty was generally not willing to make that trade, as 54.7 percent said no, while 29.5 percent said yes and 15.7 percent had no preference.The task force has been exploring several alternatives to holding class on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving since its creation on Aug. 28 at the first senate meeting of the year. Some of these alternatives include starting the semester a day earlier, holding class on Labor Day, pushing back the final exam schedule by a day or having the day off on some years but not on others depending how early finals fall and the schedule of the Jewish holidays. "None of those [options] is easy," said Prof. Judith Herzfeld (CHEM), a member of the task force committee. "We put [the idea of] teaching on Labor Day out there due to the fact that it could be done relatively simply. It's kind of odd to have a three-day weekend right after you've had just one day of class on Thursday and one day of class on Friday," Herzfeld explained. "On the other hand, Labor Day is a historically important day." "On the survey there was a very high response rate from faculty, which indicates their interest in the issue, and what's even more impressive was almost half of them actually wrote comments instead of just clicking the right buttons. So I think there's a lot of sentiment out there about this," Herzfeld explained.Herzfeld told the Justice that it seemed as though the faculty thought there were several better alternatives to teaching on Labor Day. However, out of these alternatives, it has still been difficult to find one that could work. Herzfeld explained why the other options would be more difficult to implement.Starting the semester a day earlier means that the University would have to either shorten orientation or postpone it, Herzfeld explained. "We've reviewed [shortening orientation] with the people who organize it, and we can't see any good way to shorten it," she said, "[Starting the semester a day early] means you push back move-in, which means you push back dorm prep, which means you push back the summer schools, and that gets to be complicated," she added.In addition, Herzfeld also felt that the idea of changing the final exam schedule so that it starts later is not viable because it would delay winter vacation, especially during years all the Jewish holidays fall on weekdays. Herzfeld explained that this did not seem like a good option as it cuts too close to travel time for the holidays. "Folks at the University sometime ago realized that some years they could [give us the day off] but [they] wanted it to be the same from year to year. That's not obvious as to why that should be, but that's something we have to get to colleagues about," Herzfeld said.Prof. Sabine von Mering (GRALL), also a member of the task force committee, said that the day before Thanksgiving is essentially a "lost day" for faculty that do hold classes because most of the class is not in attendance. "Those of us who are holding classes cannot really proceed with our material because if half the class is not there then we have to repeat it again the following week when everybody's back," von Mering said.Von Mering said it's important that students have the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off because, "[on that day] the majority of classes are cancelled, so students are getting a mixed message.
(11/11/08 5:00am)
Student Union President Jason Gray '10 sent an application by e-mail last Friday to all undergraduate and graduate students, inviting them to apply to be a part of the Committee on Endowment Ethics and Responsibility. The e-mail was addressed to the Brandeis Student Committee and stated that "the Student Union is establishing a Committee on Endowment Ethics and Responsibility that will serve as a channel for community involvement in the investment decisions made by the University pertaining to social and ethical issues."Faculty members are also invited to be part of this committee. All applicants will be invited to an information session, and there will be interviews to follow.The committee will research and make recommendations to the University Board of Trustees about targeted divestment, new investments, changes in investment levels and shareholder resolutions. Committee members will meet with the University's chief investment officer, Deborah Kuenstner, if they have questions about potential investments."Essentially, the Student Union has always had the authority to make recommendations to the executive and investment committees of the Board of Trustees about levels of investment or [about] initiating shareholder resolution," Gray said. "What we're doing is not changing the process but formalizing it; we're actively utilizing the channel of communication that's available so students can be involved in a high level," he explained. In the past, students have made recommendations to the Board of Trustees with access points through the Student Union, the Graduate Students Association, the Faculty Senate and President Reinharz. In the '80s, students effectively got the Board of Trustees to divest from South Africa and companies doing business in South Africa because of apartheid. In recent years, students also got the Board of Trustees to divest from Darfur and any companies doing business in the Sudan. Committee members will be required to attend bimonthly meetings as well as to do research in order to make effective investment recommendations and investment reports to the Board of Trustees. "We have a selection committee that's made up of Executive Board and Senate that will be making these selections," Gray said.Gray hopes that the application process will result in a strong group of undergraduate and graduate students for the committee. He hopes to get undergraduates of all years so that there are students on the committee next year, and graduates who are "maybe from the Green MBA program or from the Heller school program in sustainable international development," he said. "I'm looking for students who are willing to balance both social and ethical issues with an understanding of the University's needs to make the most of its investments [from] its endowment because there's a social good in us having money as a University," Gray said.
(11/11/08 5:00am)
University construction is still underway on four major campus projects, which University administrators say have not been affected by the economic crisis. Admissions staff explained that prospective students and their families are excited by the idea of the construction and improved facilities. The projects currently underway include phase one of the Carl J. Shapiro Science Center, the Ridgewood Residence Halls, in which most of the suites will be open for occupation in the spring, the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Admissions Center and the Mandel Center for the Humanities. Construction on the new admissions center is scheduled for completion in summer 2009. Vice President for Capital Projects Dan Feldman explained in an e-mail to the Justice that all the construction projects had previous gift funding and/or approved debt funding, so the economic crisis has not impacted any facet of construction. Currently, admissions is using offices in the Bernstein-Marcus administration buildings, and admissions staff are pleased with the quality of the temporary space. In regard to the new admissions center, Feldman wrote in his e-mail, "Construction has just begun and is going well. We have just begun [the] forming and pouring of footings for the new building." Dean of Admissions Gil J. Villanueva explained, "Like everyone else [at the University] we're really excited to get this done because it is going to be a fabulous new place."Villanueva said he thinks the temporary admissions space will not affect this year's applicant pool. "This is a great new site. One would think this has always been the admissions office. The University has done a remarkable job converting this office space; it feels really like home." Assistant Director of Admissions Katy West explained to the Justice in an e-mail that prospective students and their families have not been put off by the construction projects."Most students and parents that I have spoken with are actually excited by all of the construction going on around campus. They take it as a sign of positive campus development and are happy to see that facilities are constantly improving," West said.Chemistry Department Chair Prof. Irving Epstein told the Justice by e-mail, "The Science Center Renewal Project is a very positive development for the Chemistry Department. It will provide greatly improved undergraduate teaching laboratories and modern research laboratories for several of our faculty members."He said the new space will be used for a variety of laboratory courses and house research laboratories for faculty members doing work in the areas of physical and biophysical chemistry. Phase one of the new science center's construction is slated to finish in January 2009 and is scheduled to be occupied by February. Two of the existing science buildings, Friedland and Kalman, are expected to be demolished in the summer and fall of 2009, respectively. Feldman told the Justice last August that phase two of the science complex renewal project will be the construction of a chemistry building on the footprint of Kalman. Epstein explained that while the construction period has been difficult, the Chemistry department is optimistic that when the new facilities open, teaching and research efforts will benefit significantly from the availability of modern facilities.Construction on the Mandel Center for the Humanities is expected to begin in June 2009. Feldman said, "The architectural firm Kallmann, McKinnell and Wood [is] currently working on developing construction documents for the project." The Mandel Foundation provided a $22.5 million grant for the new building. According to a Brandeis press release, Morton Mandel said at the groundbreaking of the new center that they chose Brandeis for the foundation's gift because of the University's "character, passion and soul."Feldman explained in his e-mail that for every construction project, a project advisory group is formed in order to provide input to the design team. This allows students, faculty and staff to help design the facilities."The makeup of this group depends upon the project. For example, a residence hall advisory group will, of course, have more student representation than faculty representation, [as well as] representatives from the Offices of Student Life and Residence Life," he wrote.Feldman wrote that although construction is a complex process that one enters without entirely knowing what the outcome will be, the construction projects are going well thus far.
(11/04/08 5:00am)
Over 40,000 women and girls are estimated to have been raped in the conflict ridden zone of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And while most Brandeis students pride themselves on being worldly, there are many who remain ignorant of important issues like the atrocities that are occurring in the DRC.On Thursday, Oct. 30, filmmaker Lisa Jackson held the Boston premiere of her documentary The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo in the Wasserman Cinematheque in the Sachar International Center. The documentary has gained much acclaim since it took the Special Jury Prize in Documentary at the Sundance Festival in 2008, which is given to only one documentary film. In addition, on April 8, 2008, the documentary premiered on HBO. The movie will also be shown in the DRC this year and will reach millions of Congolese viewers. Jackson prefaced the showing of her film by saying, "You know that things are bad when The New York Times features the DRC two days in a row." While her film does not focus on the current fighting occurring in the country, war is still a constant presence throughout the film as it chronicles Jackson's journey to southern DRC to document the stories of rape victims. The documentary was originally intended to be a smaller segment in a film on modern conflicts viewed through the lens of gender; however, once she began the process of interviewing rape survivors, Jackson found that the subject required a full-length film. Jackson covers many aspects of the situation, encompassing a broad range of topics as she interviews rape survivors, sex slaves, the doctors who treat them, the United Nations soldiers who are supposed to protect them and even rapists themselves. Jackson brings a unique perspective to the story. As a survivor of a gang rape that occurred while she was in her mid 20s, Jackson was able to share her own story and encourage the women in the film to tell their own. All of the stories are extremely disturbing, and a few drew audible gasps of shock from the audience. However, as Jackson points out in her film, there is no pleasant way to talk about the situation. The reality of these women's lives, while unimaginable to those of us who live in the Western world, is only becoming more commonplace in the DRC. The women in the film explained that they are often subject to lifelong health issues like HIV. And while there are now groups where women can live together and share their stories with one another, some of the women in the film explained that they are not happy and did not want to have the children who were the result of pregnancies induced by the rape. Jackson also explained how children born into communities ridden with rape are surrounded by shame and violence for much of their life. In this way, a cycle is created, in which it is hard for them to beget peace. "Why is this happening? Why use sex in order to humiliate and defeat someone? To threaten someone so they flee their village? Why use sex?" asked the Congolese doctor who worked at a clinic for women who have fallen victim to sexual violence.A civil war has been being waged in the DRC since the late '90s, with rebel forces continuously fighting each other. And while there is a U.N. peacekeeping force in place, it is difficult to patrol most of the jungle where the soldiers have hidden themselves, though a portion of the film does document these seemingly futile sweeps by the Pakistani peacekeeping force. Jackson even interviewed the U.N. general in charge of the operations in the DRC, who appeared uncomfortable talking about the experiences of these women.The continuous rape of women is a direct result of the fighting. In the film, soldiers expressed their beliefs that raping women helped them to gain strength and overcome the enemy. Others claim that they have been alone in the jungle without women for too long, and if a woman denies them they have no choice but to take her by force. Most of the soldiers unabashedly admitted to raping women, and in one case, a soldier had said that he lost track of how many rapes he had committed after 25 women. All of the fighting units use rape and sexual violence as a method of destabilization and disenfranchisement. "If she resists, I must take her by force, and if she is strong, I'll call some friends to help me," one of the Congolese soldiers tells Jackson as he shields his face from the camera. There are a few organizations featured in the film that are trying to help the survivors of rape and their families-necessary establishments considering the fact that many women are disowned by their families after they are raped.Organizations like Women to Women International teach these women skills in order to help them make a living. There are also two hospitals that treat survivors free of charge, but many women do not have access to the hospitals, and of those who do, injuries are sometimes so severe that they have to stay there for up to a year. Sister Clotilde, a nun in one of the villages shown, holds a weekly support group; with a donation of $600, she recently bought five acres of land and built a soap factory and homes for displaced women. One of the most inspiring people featured in the film is Major Mungale, the one-woman Special Victims Unit. Major Mungale, a single mother of four children, works tirelessly to help victims of sexual violence and abused children in southern Kivu. Using an old typewriter in her office-a shack without a door-she writes down these women's stories and tries to bring them justice. However, with a system as corrupt as the one in the DRC, justice is often fleeting if at all present. After the film, Jackson held a question-and-answer session. Many of the questions focused on her experiences, and many attendees wanted to know how they could do more to help. "One of the first things you need to do is get yourself informed," Jackson said, and encouraged students to read about this issue in King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. The book, written by Adam Hochschild in October 1999, discusses Belgian King Leopold's reign of terror that resulted in the deaths of 4 to 8 million residents of the Congo. Jackson also recommended visiting the Friends of the Congo Web site (www.friendsoft hecongo.org), which can refer students to organizations working in the region. "Make it part of the conversation the same way that Darfur was for years and years, and the Congo is even more of a catastrophe than Darfur was," she said.Dr. Kelley Ready (HELLER) urged those present to become active in groups like STAND and Shalupe, which try to bring awareness about the issue to campus. Shalupe is an organization based in Braintree, Mass. that uses donations to provide services, information and education in the DRC. STAND is a a student anti-genocide coalition that works on helping to end the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. Ready also urged people to sign a petition to urge their senators and representatives to support the Conflict Coltan and Cassiterite Act of 2008. This legislation, which was introduced on?May 23, 2008, by Senators Sam Brownback (R-Kn.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), would require the certification of minerals like Coltan from the DRC. Coltan is essential for the manufacturing of electronic devices such as cell phones and laptops. It is found in abundance in the DRC and is responsible for funding many of the militia-controlled groups that are responsible for the rapes. The last comment of the night, made by a member of the Shalupe Foundation, urged those present not to treat the film as a sad movie they watched and then forget about, but to take action and help to end the violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
(10/28/08 4:00am)
The voices of hundreds of people in Harvard's packed Paine Hall echoed loudly and clearly the pledge to take action against global poverty:"Campaigners world-wide will stand up and take action to push their governments for more and better aid, debt cancellation, education for all boys and girls, health care, trade justice, gender equality and public accountability!"With these words, a group of enthused college students and recent college graduates initiated the Stand Up and Take Action Against Poverty Rally, held Oct. 17. The conference was part of the Stand Up and Take Action movement, an international initiative in which over 100 million people in more than 100 countries registered to fight poverty at a variety of events focused on the Millennium Development Goals, which are eight goals for international development that the United Nations hopes to achieve by 2015, including decreased child mortality, improved maternal health and the elimination of extreme poverty and hunger. The Oct. 17 rally featured an idea bank contest, in which attendees submitted their ideas to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The event was hosted by the Youth Alliance for Leadership and Development in Africa at Harvard, one of the founding organizations of Millennium Campus Network's, a college student-led organization that aims to eliminate world poverty.MCN combines the efforts of 11 anti-poverty student groups at seven universities across the country. Sam Vaghar '08 and Seth Werfel '10 created the organization in August 2007, along with students from Brandeis and other Boston-area universities. Will Herberich, a Tufts University junior, is currently MCN's executive director and president.A variety of student leaders spoke at the event, including members of Circle of Women, a group that seeks to improve girls' formal education in underprivileged areas, and Black Men's Forum.The conference made a significant impact on at least one of its student attendees."Parts of [the conference] I thought were also shocking, as far as how many people there are in the world impoverished," Madeline Barr '12 said. "One of the statistics was one out of [about] seven people . are malnourished." For MCN organizers, the conference served to strengthen their belief in students' ability to fight poverty."You look around at all these talented teens and you think, 'This is something that could really happen,'" Herberich said.Before founding MCN, Vaghar and Werfel were very active in Positive Foundations, a Brandeis anti-poverty organization. Vaghar described the moment when he realized that ending poverty would be an attainable goal for the future if people were given the proper resources and tools."I read this book called The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs. It didn't just talk about what our problems are, but it talked about real solutions," he said. "So, I basically decided that [helping to eradicate extreme poverty] is my passion, and I want to keep doing this."Herberich became involved with MCN through his friendship with Vaghar and his involvement in a grassroots organization at Tufts devoted to ending extreme poverty.MCN's overarching goal is to "bring as many student groups together who are devoted to ending poverty," Herberich said. "[MCN] wants these groups to share resources with each other, and [the Network] wants to share resources with them from connections with the non-profit world and other funding sources."MCN now has nine directors and several associate directors. The organization held its first conference last April at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where about 1000 students showed up.The conference featured guest speakers and anti-poverty advocates such as Paul Farmer, Jeffrey Sachs, Senator John Edwards D.-Illinois, John Legend and Ira Magaziner. Conference attendees discussed plans for a new global health movement.According to Gabe Verzino '10, a member of MCN, in the future, MCN plans to organize student groups from different universities into regions all over the country, including New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area."The main problem we've seen is that there are students on every single campus that want to tackle global poverty and global disease but they don't have the resources," Vaghar said. "Oftentimes other student groups are doing very similar work, but they're not talking to each other and we want to help fill in those gaps."Herberich described MCN's extreme passion for fighting world poverty, even at the expense of the members' academic records."You have to believe that the sacrifices [you make for the organization] are maybe worth taking a couple of points off your GPA," he said. "If you really want to dive into creating social change, you've got to dive in headfirst; you can't just sort of dip your toes in."Herberich said he was optimistic about the future of MCN."I think five to 10 years from now, when people think of students that are active participants in ending extreme poverty . they will think of MCN." Editor's note: Gabriel Verzino '10 is a contributing writer.
