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It’s been a little over a week since the Washington Nationals beat the Houston Astros in the World Series, and we have all moved on. I’m going to call that the first thing I want to talk about in this column. This column is going to really just be me being me, talking about stuff that I see in pro sports right now.
In commemoration of Kristallnacht, a Nazi pogrom that devastated and drastically threatened the autonomy, security and freedom of German Jews on the night of Nov. 9, 1939, the Center for German and European Studies hosted a conversation on Nov. 4 with Dr. Hans Fisher, who at the age of 11 was a passenger and survivor of the SS St. Louis.
Chances are that you have heard talk of impeaching President Trump. On Thursday, the House of Representatives voted in favor of an impeachment inquiry, the fourth time that our nation has voted in favor of an impeachment inquiry for a sitting president. This impeachment case is primarily based on the accusation that Trump demanded information from the president of Ukraine about his political opponent Joe Biden in exchange for military aid. Whether or not Trump did in fact make these demands, I am most concerned with what will happen after he is out of office, whether that be through impeachment or the end of his term. I think that what would be most beneficial to the country as a whole would be to remove the President from office.
My hometown has been referred to as the ‘Gaza Strip of Kashmir.’ On the fateful night of Aug. 4, 2019, I was shaken from my sleep by the sound of an explosion. When I ran to check if my mother was alright, I found that she had already locked the main doors to our house. She asked me to hide in the attic. “The police have cordoned the area off,” she said.
This past week, several Brandeis Greek life organizations participated in an event aimed at raising awareness of sexual assault on campus, titled These Letters Believe Survivors. Each day of the week, two organizations — a fraternity and a sorority — set up a table in Upper Usdan with petitions to support legislation that would ensure that resources, like the Prevention, Advocacy & Resource Center at Brandeis, are present in all Massachusetts universities. There was also an option for passersby to write a direct letter to Massachusetts representatives stating their support for this bill. Sexual assault is an epidemic, especially on college campuses, and it would be absolutely nescient to think that Brandeis is excluded from this conversation. This effort, which was organized entirely by members of Greek life themselves, was an effective way to raise awareness and to get people directly involved in the fight for prevention. However, efforts by members of Greek life to actively prevent sexual assault leave much to be desired.
This week, justArts&Culture spoke with Adam Fleishaker ’21, a tenor and publicist of Proscenium, about the a cappella club’s ProSCREAMium 2019 event held on Nov. 1.
The Environmental Studies Program hosted a talk last Tuesday with Deputy Director of the New England Forestry Foundation Frank Lowenstein as well as Boston-based conservation consultant Henry Tepper to discuss how land trusts can be used to address climate change. A land trust is a nonprofit organization that works to conserve the land through “acquiring land or conservation easements (or assisting with their acquisition) and/or stewarding/managing land or conservation easements,” per the Land Trust Alliance website.
University President Ron Liebowitz announced in a community-wide email on Thursday that his $84.7 million “Springboard Funding Plan” is ready to go into effect. The proposal, originally valued at approximately $73 million, will “address gaps in University operations that must be filled before pursuing a major capital campaign,” according to a Jan. 22 Justice article.
Recently, I, along with a classmate, formed a club at the International Business School called the Retail and Fashion Club. For this initiative to exist, I had to collect a number of signatures from IBS classmates. I thought to myself: what better an opportunity to see how the perceptions of retail and fashion have changed over the years? Unfortunately people still think that retail and fashion are superficial. The looks on some of the students’ faces told me how disdainful they were toward my idea.
For a lot of students at Brandeis University, college is the first time they leave their homes and the friends they grew up with, and move into a brand new environment. They try out different classes and clubs and participate in all kinds of activities. To showcase the lives of the Brandeis students, the 2019 Family Weekend Variety Show hosted 13 student groups to perform for the community and visiting parents. A combination of improv, music, a cappella, dance and more were showcased last Saturday night, at the event hosted by Dean of Students Jamele Adams, Maryam Chishti ’20 and Arial Nieberding ’20. The Justice had the chance to talk to Rebecca Goldfarb ’21, the student coordinator of the event, about the process of putting on such a massive show and what she learned from being an organizer.
Members of the Brandeis PERIOD club traveled to Boston City Hall Plaza to join other PERIOD chapters in celebrating National Period Day on Oct. 19. In an interview with the Justice, Linzy Rosen ’22, founder and current president of the Brandeis PERIOD chapter, stated that the group wanted to achieve two goals at the downtown Boston celebration: to “bring attention to a highly stigmatized issue” — menstruation and associated struggles — and to rally in support of the ‘I AM’ bill, which Rosen said “would provide funding, if passed, for period products to be available in public schools, prisons and homeless shelters.”
Brandeis’ mission statement claims that the University prepares students for “full participation in a changing society,” and with over 20 political and activist student organizations, a political event on campus is not a rare sight. Some of these groups and events laud specific candidates, while others focus on exchanging ideas. In the first part of this two-part exploration of politics on campus, the Justice spoke with representatives of Brandeis for Bernie and Brandeis for Warren about their organizing for the 2020 campaign.
This week, justArts&Culture spoke with Alysa Noda-Hines, the president of the Japanese Student Association, about the club’s Haunted House event on Oct. 26.
You’ve seen the photos on Instagram: selfies framed by a bastion of mirrored globes, oblong balloons alight with polka dots, maybe a giant pumpkin whose bulging folds are a garish yellow — Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Rooms have become ubiquitous across the art and social media worlds. In its most recent iteration, “Yayoi Kusama: LOVE IS CALLING” (open through Feb. 7, by advance ticket only), sits in one of the main galleries at the waterfront space of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, accompanied by another show, “Beyond Infinity” (also open through February).
After a contentious hearing last Tuesday night, the Union Judiciary ruled against Student Union President Simran Tatuskar ’21, finding that she failed to communicate effectively across Union branches and unconstitutionally sidestepped the vice president and executive senator in deciding the role of the executive senator, according to the Judiciary’s formal opinion, which was released on Friday.
In honor of Mental Illness Awareness Week, I wanted to address one major issue facing a segment of the community at Brandeis. I would like to preface this by making a distinction between mental health and mental illness. Mental health refers to an individual’s psychological, social and emotional well-being. Mental illness is defined by the National Institute of Mental Health “as a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder.” At one point or another we all experience a time in our life when our mental health is challenged. From my experience as a Brandeis student, I can say that the stress from academics has at times put a strain on my mental well-being. Mental illness is a health condition and should be treated as seriously as any other disease. As the Canadian Mental Health Association says, “Just as it’s possible to have poor mental health but no mental illness, it’s entirely possible to have good mental health even with a diagnosis of a mental illness.” It is important to clearly define these two terms because they are too often used interchangeably.
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Really? Let’s start with where the whole recycling thing came from. Recycling began in the 1960s as an effort to be less wasteful and protect the environment. Plenty of us know how to rinse our aluminum cans and separate them from paper. However, after that, it gets incredibly complicated. Sometimes, the consumer is asked to separate paper waste from “everything else.” Other times, all recycling is done in a single stream, where paper, glass, aluminum and plastic are all tossed into the same receptacle and sorted off-site.
Every year, the Brandeis Latinx Student Organization holds their cultural show performance, Incendio, to showcase Latinx artists and activists who strive to bring attention and change to the issues impacting their community. The theme this year was “Golden Touch,” honoring the important works of individual members within Latinx culture. BLSO continues to be a significant part of the Brandeis community and their events help to engage and interact with students to learn and appreciate the Latinx culture and traditions.
This week, the Justice spoke with Irma Reyes Aragon ’21, the president of Brandeis Latinx Student Organization, about their multi-part FuturX event on Oct. 19.
This past week, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the 2019 winners for all seven scientific Nobel Prizes for 2019, with the awards ceremony set to take place on Dec. 10. Of the 12 winners announced, 11 are men and one is a woman, despite the Academy attempting to diversify the Nobel Prize award process. Historically, women have been awarded only 3% of all Nobel Prizes. One physicist at the University of Copenhagen claims that a systematic bias against women accounts for this discrepancy in Nobel Prize awards, with the odds of women being nominated for any prize significantly lower than those for men. How do you view this selection process and lack of women Nobel Prize recipients? How do you see this lack of recognition for women’s achievements in the context of the greater academic community?