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T h e I n d e p e n d e n t S t u d e n t N e w s p a p e r o f B r a n d e is U n i v e r sit y S i n c e 1 9 4 9 Volume LXXVI, Number 15
Tuesday, March 5, 2024
Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer, 2024 Richman Distinguished Fellow in Public Life, delivers address Brandeis community to explore their connection with the natural world. By ZOE ZACHARY
JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
Famous for her synthesis of scientific knowledge and Indigenous wisdom, Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer stands at the forefront of modern ecology. She holds a doctoral degree in plant biology and currently works as a State University of New York Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology. Kimmerer is also the author of “Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Moss” and “Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants.” In recent years, “Braiding Sweetgrass” has become well-known for elevating the use of Indigenous teachings along-
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KEYNOTE SPEECH
■ Kimmerer inspires the
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side traditional scientific knowledge. The overarching metaphor in the book compares the three strands of braided sweetgrass to three essential elements of understanding the natural world: scientific knowledge, Indigenous knowledge and knowledge of the plants themselves. Her writing has given over 300,000 readers access to a new understanding of how they can better understand the world around them. Kimmerer has been named the 2024 Richman Distinguished Fellow in Public Life. The fellowship, created by Dr. Carol Richman Saivetz ’69, highlights an individual whose contributions have had a significant impact on improving American society. On Feb. 28, 2024, Kimmerer accepted the award and gave her keynote speech to a fully-packed Levin Ballroom. She was introduced by Dr. Colleen Hitchcock (BIOL), who nominated Kimmerer for the fellowship. Hitchcock highlighted how Kimmer-
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EXHIBIT: The gallery incorporates photos of Ukranian students, a passage about their character and the cause of death.
BRIEF
Students for Justice in Palestine announce return The University’s former chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine posted a “statement of return” on Instagram on Feb. 29, announcing their intent to continue as an organization despite the branch’s derecognition as a club last semester. Along with the Revolutionary Student Organization, who organized the Nov. 10 protest that ended in seven arrests, SJP posted about a “Vigil for Palestine” that will take place in the Shapiro Campus Center on March 6. Administration decided to derecognize SJP on Nov. 7 “because it openly supports Hamas,” according to Vice President of Student Affairs Andrea Dine. As a result, SJP no longer receives funding from the University, is not permitted to “conduct activities on campus” and cannot associate itself with Brandeis. Following the derecognition, the RSO held a protest on Nov. 10. Three of the seven arrested are students at Brandeis, and they are still facing charges, although they may be permitted to graduate. In the statement of return, SJP wrote that they remain “committed to the Palestinian liberation” and “an immediate ceasefire” despite the University’s efforts to “fragment [their] collective response.” They cited the “roughly 19,878 additional Palestinians” that “have been martyred” since their derecognition and claimed that the need for a free Palestine “is illuminated more than ever.” As of March 1, a total of 30,228 Palestinian fatalities have resulted from the Israel-Hamas war, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. “While Brandeis continues its pattern of censorship, the siege on
the Gaza strip continues to claim innocent lives,” the post said. SJP further wrote that the derecognition was “unjust” but that its timing was “not a coincidence.” “Brandeis understands through its history that the power of student-led collective action is insurmountable,” they wrote. “As our brothers and sisters in occupied Palestine have taught us, the fight for liberation is relentless and unwavering.” They questioned Brandeis’ commitment to its stated mission of social justice, citing the student arrests made at the protest. They claimed that the “active persecution” of said students from the University “highlights a fundamental disconnect” between the University’s purported values and its actions. They further called on the community to support them and “take the necessary leap to continue to advocate for Palestinian rights.” “The SJP will be no different,” the post declared. Wednesday’s vigil will be held to mourn “30,000 martyrs in Gaza,” according to the RSO and SJP’s joint post. In the caption, the organizations asked the community to submit statements for a “collective art piece that will be displayed” during the vigil. On March 1, SJP and RSO uploaded a post entitled “Brandeis Speaks Up” on Instagram to encourage submissions for the art piece. The piece is intended as “an expression of our [community’s] earnest pain and grief through the ongoing genocide of Palestinian people in Gaza.” They hope to gather printed statements through an anonymous form. — Isabel Roseth
University reinstalls exhibit in honor of Ukranian students who lost their lives ■ Photographs of Ukranian students who lost
their lives as a result of the war are on display in the Mandel Center for the Humanities. By SOPHIA DE LISI JUSTICE EDITOR
Two years into the Russo-Ukraine War, the University re-created the “Unissued Diplomas” exhibit, displaying students who lost their lives as a result of this invasion. The University displayed the exhibit almost one year ago, created by Ukrainian graduate student Sofiia Tarasiuk MBA ’24 and Prof. Irina Dubinina (RUS), but since the war has yet to conclude, Tarasiuk worked with Ukrainian graduate students Kamila Haieva MBA ’25 and Yuliia Stelmakh MBA ’25 to re-install the exhibit. The updated exhibition opened on Feb. 29 in the Mandel Center for the Humanities and displays 40 Ukrainians’ photographs — compared to last year’s 36 — paired with a short passage about their character and how they died. Since each individual was a student who died before they could graduate, the profiles are formatted as diplomas. “We decided to do this exhibition again because unfortunately, we still have war in our country,” Tarasiuk said in a Feb. 28 interview with The Justice. She said that finding ways to keep the public engaged with the war has been challenging, since people are “used to” the conflict whereas the war is Ukraine’s reality. “It’s very hard to explain to people why they need to support us even now,” Tarasiuk said, “So we think that through stories, through such cultural events, we can touch more hearts and explain more. I think storytelling is the most powerful through the ages.” Tarasiuk recalled that she did not have a lot of support when she created the exhibition last year. However, with Haieva and Stelmakh, Tarasiuk said that “everything changed” and they were able to “[unite] their strengths.” This exhibition comes to campus at a particularly notable point during the Russo-Ukrainian war, considering Russia made what The New York Times reports as its
Guccione honored
Alumna Leslie Martin ’76 led protests against Brandeis honoring Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione in 1975.
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Looking beyond our differences
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largest advance since May on Feb. 17. Russian forces captured the Ukrainian city Avdiivka and have since been pushing past the city center, with The Times noting “rudimentary earthen fortifications” with a trench for infantry troops “but little else.” The same article notes that these defenses could be lacking for a number of reasons: an overall focus on offensive efforts, the cost of added defense and a lack of manpower to build them. The Washington Post stated that Ukraine’s lack of clear plan to find new soldiers has created dissent within Ukrainian society because it has “left the military relying on a hodgepodge of recruiting efforts and sown panic among fighting-age men,” causing some to go into hiding for fear of dying as a conscripted soldier. Regarding the international aid Ukraine has received to mitigate its smaller pool of resources, Tarasiuk spoke about how she appreciates the support, but “compared to the scale of Russia, it’s unfortunately not enough. And that is why a small country … it’s harder to defend and support people,” she said. Support for Ukraine has also been a divisive issue in the U.S., splitting between party lines. The Associated Press explains that Democrats are more likely to say the government is not spending enough on aid for Ukraine, whereas most Republicans believe that it is. In the same Feb. 28 interview, Stelmakh said that while she expected the war to proceed for as long as it has, she felt many Ukrainians did not feel the same way. Rather, she explained that most Ukrainians did not expect the war to last longer than a month, telling The Justice that her mother continued to go to work during the invasion’s early days. Tarasiuk added that she didn’t expect the war to start in the first place, recalling her disbelief when her father, a history teacher, mentioned the possibility of an invasion. “I was laughing, I thought, ‘That’s impossible in the 21st century because we’re … thinking about launching rockets into the universe to learn about new territories, but not to still fighting against each other.’” Tarasiuk said. She described that after spending the first month of the war in a bomb shelter, her family realized that [they]
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Women's History Month By RANI BALAKRISHNA
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