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The morning of Oct. 7 saw an attack on Israel by Hamas, targeting civilians after breaking through the Gaza-Israel border. The impacts of such an attack were instantaneous, with the immense loss of life and destruction going as far to impact countless members within the Brandeis community halfway across the world.
“Land back, language back” — this was the focus of community organizer Eva Blake’s remarks at the Intercultural Center’s annual Indigenous Peoples' Day teach-in on Oct. 5, which was centered around the theme of building Indigenous sovereignty through community. The event included a discussion with Blake, a member of the Wampanoag Nation, on Indigenous language reclamation and the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project, as well as the opportunity to participate in a round dance, a type of Indigenous group dance performed in social settings.
As a young Black woman who loves engaging with and consuming all kinds of media, I strive to find stories that reflect my identity and interests and tell amazing stories in powerful ways. Often within Black media in particular it can become cacophonous to see the same stories repeated — the films about slavery or the Civil Rights Movement that are only really showcased during Black History Month. I would be remiss to not express and acknowledge that these stories are important and necessary to talk about. These stories need to be told and remembered in order to educate and inspire us to create a better future. It is also important to recognize that these stories do not define us, but rather are part of our shared history.
Lara Verstovsek '25
Last Monday, University President Ron Liebowitz made an appearance in students’ inboxes, informing them of Brandeis’ substantial drop of sixteen spots in the 2024 U.S. News and World Report’s annual ranking of universities. He cited changes to the ranking methodology, specifically the exclusion of class sizes and the inclusion of recognition in research citations, as reasoning for the plunge from number 44 to number 60 in the nation. While lightly challenging the syntax of the criteria, stating that “our actual graduation rate is significantly higher than that of most other institutions, the focus on ‘expected graduation rate’ negatively impacts our score,” Liebowitz still narrated a concerted effort by Brandeis to adhere to the standards of the list. “We see other areas of opportunity,” he wrote.“We have been working with faculty to connect their scholarship profiles to Brandeis, as the number of research citations is now an increased part of the methodology.”
Now that “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” — a show based off the book series by Jenny Han — is on hiatus, it’s time to debate: which brother is best? The show centers around Isabel “Belly” Conklin and two brothers, Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher, between whom she has to choose. It’s great, it’s messy, and it’s endlessly entertaining, but it also garners very, very strong opinions, mostly concerning which brother is the best for Belly.
On Sept. 10 and Sept. 11, the Justice held interviews with Vice President Erica Hwang ’25 and President Noah Risley ’24, respectively, to outline the Student Union’s goals for this year.
On behalf of current and future Brandeis students, alumni, faculty, staff, donors, parents of students, and our concerned community, we strongly implore you to reconsider the proposed elimination of the Ph.D programs in Musicology and Composition and Theory. Although small, the Ph.D programs in Musicology and Composition and Theory have repeatedly proven themselves to be invaluable to Brandeis’ ethos, and its interdisciplinary contributions to the Brandeis community and beyond, as well as strengthening the liberal arts at Brandeis.
It’s no secret that last semester’s housing selection was a turbulent process. The larger-than-usual class of 2026 took up a significant portion of upperclassmen dorms, as they are guaranteed housing for their first four semesters. This left more upperclassmen than is typical, scrambling to find alternative places to live.
Brandeis’ shuttle service, colloquially referred to as the BranVan, has seen its fair share of modifications following last November’s devastating shuttle crash. Joseph’s Transportation is out, replaced by DPV Transportation, a New England ground transportation service. The student-run campus and Waltham shuttles, however, saw an even more drastic change at the beginning of the semester: they are no longer running. As a result, nearly all the shuttle service’s student employees — a reported total of 40 drivers, coordinators and supervisors, according to chief of Public Safety Matthew Rushton — found themselves out of a job.
Social justice begins at home, but sometimes it is hardest to see what is in our own backyard.
It was Brandeis students’ last day of classes on May 3, and University administrators held a listening session addressing student housing concerns. The session took place in Goldfarb Library’s Rapaporte Treasure Hall at 1:30 p.m.
I decided to start my college career because all my friends were doing it and my family expected it from me. All of my friends in high school wanted to go to college, which inspired me to pursue it as well. Being surrounded by that all the time, it felt like the only option after high school. So, I spent years working toward college, getting good grades and leading organizations to make my parents proud.
As a graduating senior, I’m sure many of my peers can relate because I can’t wait to get off this campus. I have wanted to leave since I first arrived as a mid-year student in January 2020, so this has been a long time coming. Was it worth it to stick it out and finish my degree? I’m not sure.
“Brandeis was seen as an institution on the leaning edge of higher education — bold and beyond convention,” said University President Ron Liebowitz during the annual Presidential Address. He spoke before an audience of students, faculty, and administration in Sherman Function Hall on the morning of May 1. In the midst of the speech, a group of nearly 40 students protested housing shortages.
As a brown-skinned girl, and often the only one in some of my classes, I hardly raise my hand to offer my thoughts in class. I am the “quiet kid” who is always listening to the lectures and my peers discussing literature we were supposed to have need. Am I an introvert? Yes, I am. Yet for me, the reason behind not speaking up is because of a fear of not fitting into the standards that seemed to be placed on students like me: students of color.
I enjoy reading poetry, but I am absolutely obsessed with spoken-word poetry and the intersection of theater and poetry; I often end up binge-watching poet performances on Button Poetry or TEDx. Since taking a poetry class this semester, I have had the opportunity to read poetry collections and engage with them in a new way. Recently, I read Franny Choi’s fourth poetry collection titled “The World Keeps Ending and the World Goes On.” The collection does not argue that the world is dying, but instead very explicitly proves that the world has died so many times already. She beautifully articulates all the pain that several groups of marginalized people have faced and explains how the several wars, crimes and violent atrocities committed have created the imminent end of the world. Before diving into her book, I decided to read and learn a little more about Franny Choi: She is a Korean American poet, performer, playwright, and editor. While she has authored several books, she is also an educator for project VOICE, an initiative that allows a collective of poets to do live performances and helps students through workshops and professional development. She has also offered educational resources through her poetry, particularly in the pieces “Teaching the Museum of Human History” and “A new species of beautiful.” Choi received her B.A at Brown University and attended the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writer’s Program where she earned her MFA. Her work lends itself to tackling issues that are pervasive in Asian Diaspora, but I appreciate how inclusive she is of other races, specifically the Black community. I enjoyed listening to her piece on Button Poetry called “Whiteness Walks into a Bar” — its balance of humor is so cleverly written. Her collection does much the same, balancing contemporary social issues while finding dignity and beauty in life.
Neither Astrid Schneider '23 nor Juliette Lillywhite '23 entered Brandeis as Studio Art majors — both found the program by means of pure exploration. “During my freshman year I took 'Drawing Under the Influence'. It was the only class I cared about,” said Schneider during an April 20 interview with the Justice in the Epstein art studios, as they prepared their work for their and Lillywhite’s upcoming exhibit “Dirt Shrine.”