the
Justice www.thejustice.org
The Independent Student Newspaper Volume LXXV, Number 4
Medication delivery service comes to campus ■ The Student Union partnered with e-pharmacy Capsule to deliver over-the-counter and prescription medications to University students. By ISABEL ROSETH JUSTICE EDITOR
With the numerous hills, stairs, and limited number of elevators, accessibility — or rather inaccessibility — has long been a point of contention on campus. This rang true for Hana Klempnauer Miller ’25 as she managed the Student Union presidential campaign of Peyton Gillespie ’25 and Lia Bergen ’25. Through personal experience and testimonies from other students, Miller became increasingly aware of the lack of accessibility at the University. This applied to many areas of campus, but one relatively unexplored need was that of access to medications. After meeting with the Disabled Students Network, it was clear to Miller that there were simply more accessibility issues to address than the director of health and wellness position in the Student Union could oversee. The Student Union needed a new position to focus specifically on Brandeis’ pressing need for increased accessibility. Now the Director of Accessibility for the Student Union, Miller set her sights on promoting access to prescription medications for University students. While it is true that there are pharmacies in the surrounding area, their locations pose challenges to students, whether it is mobility issues or simply a lack of time to go to a pharmacy amid workloads and extracurriculars. The issue appeared to be a pretty easy fix, as opposed to some more systemic issues plaguing the University. This semester, through a partnership with the relatively new e-pharmacy Capsule, Miller and the Student Union are aiming to solve this problem, and the initiative will kick off on Oct. 13. The decision to do so was compounded by what Miller described as the University’s “hands-off” approach when it comes to accessibility. To her knowledge, the administration often defers issues of accessibility to Student Accessibility Services — issues which Miller believes require interdepartmental collaboration. Miller and the Student Union hope that partnering with Capsule will tackle problems regarding access to prescription medications, which Miller believes is one of the issues that was deferred to SAS. In her
view, “This is an opportunity for the University to see how easy it is to make accessibility improvements, and how they can better support those kinds of initiatives.” Miller first heard about Capsule from Dr. Colleen Collins, the medical director of the Health Center at Brandeis. Capsule, she learned, had reached out to campus health centers in the past, and because of that, a lot of campus practitioners are aware of their existence. “It kind of just stuck in the back of my mind,” Miller said in an Oct. 2 Zoom interview with the Justice, “and [when] I was looking at these issues … I came back to Capsule.” She wrote an email to the start up explaining the University’s problem with access to prescription medications and proposed a partnership. Within two hours, they responded, willing and enthusiastic to partner with the University. This new initiative will allow students to order prescription medications directly to campus; students can sign up through Capsule’s website or download their app. Doctors have the ability to prescribe medications through Capsule like any other pharmacy, and once processed, Capsule offers same-day deliveries as well as scheduled deliveries to those ordering the medication. Participating students will be able to pick a (preferably) easy-to-find location for delivery drivers on campus, such as the Admissions Lot. “It’s essentially the same as Uber Eats,” Miller said, “but just with medication.” The “Uber Eats model” that Capsule follows brought up a few concerns, namely about privacy. This, however, will not be an issue, according to Miller. The delivery couriers will not know what medication it is that they are delivering to students. That information is kept private between the student and their prescriber. Anonymity is a top priority for both the Student Union and Capsule alike, and Miller said that Capsule has lately taken “incredible steps” to ensure security for their clients. Privacy is of the utmost importance given the medications Capsule provides, which includes prescription medication, birth control, and even medications required for a medical abortion. Miller also believes it unlikely that prescriptions or orders will get mixed up. “Every package is individually packaged. It is marked with your name so you know that you are receiving your package,” she explained. “There are an incredibly comprehensive set of checks and balances
See CAPSULE, 5 ☛
of
B r a n d e is U n i v e r sit y S i n c e 1 9 4 9
Tuesday, October 4, 2022
Waltham, Mass.
DINING HALL PROTEST
ELLIOT BACHRACH/the Justice
WORKER VOICES: The Brandeis Leftist Union gathered students and workers to protest for Merisier's reinstatement.
Harvest Table calls police on student-worker delegation ■ The police were called on Brandeis Leftist Union members who were protesting, alongside a dozen dining workers, the abrupt firing of Kevintz Merisier. By ARIELLA WEISS, ELLIOT BACHRACH, AND NATALIE SALTZMAN JUSTICE EDITOR AND CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
At Sherman Dining Hall, there is a black bulletin board adjacent to the entrance. Students can voice their
opinions on brown paper napkins and attach them to the board. One comment read, “Please bring back skim and 2% milk” with a smiley face. A small yellow sticky note attached on top of the napkin, presumably from a dining worker or Harvest Table employee, read “on the way!” in response. Sure enough, skim and two percent milk were back in the dairy section. A fair amount of the napkins, however, read statements such as “Reinstate Kevintz.” There were no yellow sticky notes attached to these suggestions. Veteran Catering Lead
Kevintz Merisier was not back on the job. According to dining worker Lucia Hsiung — who also serves as a Union Steward for Boston Local 26, the union that represents the Brandeis dining and catering team — Director of Hospitality Clayton Hargrove declined to rehire Merisier on Tuesday, Sept. 27. Since the dismissal of Merisier on Sept. 7, neither Harvest Table nor the University has released an official statement on his job status. Two weeks later, on Sept. 22, over a dozen
See DINING, 5 ☛
Brandeis Professor unearths Mayan civilizations ■ Brandeis Prof. Charles Golden (ANTH) has been part of a team working to excavate an ancient Mayan ruin. By LOLA HAMILTON
JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Prof. Charles Golden (ANTH) can be found around campus teaching introductory anthropology courses and attending meetings with students and colleagues. Golden’s responsibilities also include searching to fill in the gaps of human history and uncovering missing pieces to a historical puzzle. A recent New York Times article documents how Golden uncovered a monumental discovery that confirms the location of the Mayan city Sak Tz’i’. Although there had been guesswork in the anthropological field before, it was the work of Dr. Golden’s team that prevailed and allowed the understanding of Mayan society
and culture to move forward. The article recounts how Golden and his colleague Dr. Andrew Scherer, a bioarchaeologist at Brown University, had been awaiting an opportunity to excavate Mayan ruins — those discovered just before the pandemic. On Sept. 28, the Justice corresponded with Golden via email about the excavation and what it means for Brandeis students. He acknowledged that the excavations “are destructive,” but also how he “balance[s] that with efforts to conserve the architecture and other cultural patrimony.” The New York Times finds the most notable discovery to be a two-by-four wall panel with Mayan glyph inscriptions detailing battles, rituals, natural disasters, and descriptions of fantastical creatures in “poetic couplets.” Artifacts with such great detail create “a major advance in our understanding of Classic period Maya politics and culture.” Jancinto Gomez Sanchez, a cattle farmer and resident of the excavation site, took much consideration before
See ANTHROPOLOGY, 5 ☛
Views from the Crowd
‘Ramy’
Boston Poet Laureate Porsha Olayiwola visits campus
Live music is back in the Boston area, and the Justice has the photos to prove it.
A recap and some reflections on the previous seasons of the Hulu series ‘Ramy.’
The Board addresses lack of support for student employment
By NATALIE KAHN
By MEGAN LIAO
Photo courtesy of ZOE POPOVIC
Waltham, Mass.
FEATURES 7
Photo courtesy of CREATIVE COMMONS
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By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
NEWS 3 FORUM 8
Men’s, women’s soccer teams fall short in UAA Weekend Opener
ARTS AND CULTURE 14
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By AMANDA CHEN
By AKI YAMAGUCHI
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SPORTS 11