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Election results for the Student Union were released on the morning of Jan. 29 by the Student Union Secretary Carol S. Kornworcel. Many seats were available for senators, Allocation Board members, co-treasurers, and associate justice positions.
MEDICAL EMERGENCY
On Jan. 24, the Department of Community Living sent an email to Brandeis students regarding the housing selection process for the 2024-25 academic year. Applications are officially open and due Feb. 14 at 12.
Since Jan. 19, the Newton Teachers Association has been on strike with increasing pressure to return students to school as soon as possible. 98% of NTA’s members voted to strike after reaching an impasse in contract negotiations with the Newton School Committee. Every day, union members march outside City Hall along with students, parents, community members and fellow educators from neighboring school districts. Due to Massachusetts law prohibiting public employees from striking, hefty fines are lodged against the NTA, starting at $25,000 on the first day and doubling with each subsequent day. As of Jan. 26, fines amassed to $375,000 for canceling six consecutive school days. A Middlesex judge ruled that fines will continue at a lowered rate of $50,000 for every day past Jan. 28 if a deal is not reached.
This past weekend, Brandeis hosted its seventh annual DeisHacks, a competition intended to come up with ideas to better improve the business models of local nonprofits. The “hackathon” worked with local nonprofits and organizations to seek to provide more opportunities for the groups. Some of the groups included Brandeis-alumni-founded Project Insulin, the Boston-area Jewish Education Program and the Brandeis International Business School. The competition commenced on Friday, Jan. 26 and ended on Sunday, Jan. 28.
On Jan. 17, President Ron Liebowitz sent out an email regarding the ongoing debate on free expression on campus. In order to enable “respectful discourse” and learn “from various perspectives,” Liebowitz will be appointing a task force to review the University’s Principles of Free Speech and Free Expression. Previous measures to promote free speech on campus include several faculty panels and a day-long teach-in. “The creation of a task force on free expression has been the subject of a motion passed by the faculty and I have solicited input from the Faculty Senate Council on nominations for task force membership,” Liebowitz wrote.
In October 2021, Brandeis alum Eric Moyal ’17, M.A. ’18, M.S. ’22 founded the nonprofit Project Insulin. He first thought of the idea when he learned from his partner, who has Type 1 Diabetes, about the patent of insulin recently expiring after being unchanged for 30 years.
On the morning of Thursday, Jan. 18, New Hampshire stood five days out from the Jan. 23 New Hampshire Presidential Primary. In the small town of Hollis, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, pitched her campaign to a crowd of approximately 250 New Hampshirites and the press. Hollis, which borders Massachusetts, is a 50 minute drive from the University, making it one of the closest events she has held to Brandeis’ campus. Prior to announcing her run for the presidency, Nikki Haley was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President Trump, a role in which she gained a reputation for her tough style and stalwart support of Israel.
On Jan. 21, current Florida governor Ron DeSantis announced on X that he was ending his Republican campaign for the presidential election. The governor referenced his second-place win in the Iowa Caucus, winning 21.1% of the vote, trailing behind former president Donald Trump’s 51%, according to The Associated Press. DeSantis said that he and his team looked for ways to proceed with the campaign, but to no avail. “If there was anything I could do to produce a favorable outcome — more campaign stops, more interviews — I would do it,” DeSantis told his followers.
On Jan. 18, author Curtis Chin visited the Mandel Humanities Center to give a talk on his first book and memoir “Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant.” The memoir, published in October 2023, details Chin’s experience and challenges growing up as an Asian American, queer man in Detroit. He was a first-generation college student at the University of Michigan as a creative writing major.
MEDICAL EMERGENCY
On Tuesday, the Student Union released the list of candidates running in their winter election, which will take place on Friday, Jan. 26. Student Union Secretary Carol Kornworcel ’26 sent an email to students providing candidate biographies and other announcements concerning the Student Union. Nine positions with a total of 11 seats are up for election.
The Brandeis Faculty Senate held meetings on Dec. 8 and Jan. 19 to continue to discuss proposed motions following the University's derecognition of Students for Justice in Palestine and the subsequent protester arrests.
As early as March, the weight room in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center will be unrecognizable, featuring brand new machines and equipment for Brandeis community members to use. The renovation plans were spearheaded by personal trainer Mo Re Kim ’24 — the same student who advocated for the significant changes brought to the Village B/C Gym last summer. Following the successful renovations, Kim set his sights on updating the widely used Gosman space.
This semester, the Athletics Department decided to convert one of its multipurpose rooms in the Joseph M. Linsey Sports Center to a dedicated cycling room. Adjusting this room’s function elicited strong reactions from dance clubs on campus, who are no longer able to practice in the room.
On Nov. 22, an anonymous faculty member contacted the Justice with a redacted copy of the police arrest report from the pro-Palestine demonstration that ended in seven arrests — three of which were Brandeis students and four were individuals unaffiliated with the University. The complete report includes testimonies from six Brandeis Police Department officers who detailed their accounts of the demonstration’s escalation.
MEDICAL EMERGENCY
On Dec. 3, city councilors Colleen Bradley-MacArthur, George Darcy, and Jonathan Paz held a town hall meeting at First Parish Church in Waltham to discuss their thoughts about renovating the Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center in a way that represents the public’s concerns about memorializing the institution. Residents spoke about the plans to renovate Fernald, modeling public disagreement over what changes should take place. A common theme that residents agreed on was that they expect more communication from the Waltham City Council, with some stressing how the renovations ignore the institution’s history.
Brandeis is holding 14 separate sessions throughout campus today all relating to the continuing war between Israel and Hamas. The lectures are part of a teach-in organized to respond to increased polarization on campus over the last two months regarding various opinions about the war. These events will begin at 9 a.m. and continue throughout the day until 5:50 p.m.
After facing closure in Sept. 2022, the Embassy Theater, located at 16 Pine St. in Waltham, reopened its doors on Oct. 13, 2023. The Brandeis Student Union has joined forces with Tim Nasson, executive director of the theater, to breathe new life into the cultural landmark.