FEATURES PAGE 9
FORUM The detriments of Twitter 11
FREEDOM FOR ALL
SPORTS Men’s soccer struggles early 16 THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER
the
OF
BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY SINCE 1949
Justice www.theJusticeOnline.com
Volume LXI, Number 3
Waltham, Mass.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
ADMISSIONS
BUDGET
Endowment returns improved Target ■ The rate of return on the
University’s endowment is stronger than was originally projected in March 2009. By HARRY SHIPPS JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Returns on the University’s endowment have ended fiscal 2009 much more strongly than was originally projected, according to the information presented at a staff budget meeting last Thursday. The endowment return for fiscal 2009 was -17.3 percent, compared to the predicted endowment return of -26 percent presented by Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Peter French in March. The University also ended fiscal 2009 with a positive operating result of $500,000 and is currently projecting a surplus of more than $300,000 for fiscal 2010. In March 2009, University officials estimated that the endowment return would approach -26 percent. Contingent on the completion of the proposals made by the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee, this endowment return could have led to budget deficits for the subsequent years as high as $28 million. In May, that estimate was revised and officials estimated a return of -20 percent, which would have led to deficits between $16 million and $4 million, again dependent on the CARS proposals. The University ended fiscal 2009 at -17.3 percent endowment return; this leads to projected deficits in the next five fiscal years between $14.3 and $2.2 million.
student increase exceeded
Because of the stronger-thanexpected returns due to an improving economic climate and an increase in revenue coupled with a decrease in expenses, the University only used $2 million of the $4 million in reserves granted for use by the trustees in fiscal 2009. “The original deficit estimate of $8.9M was reduced to $6.9M because the University utilized $2M less of reserves in FY 2009 than previously anticipated, and thus did not have to pay that amount back in FY 2010,” French wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. He added that the deficit was substantially closed by the savings from the suspension of contributions to staff and faculty retirement funds, totaling $7.4 million. Both French and Prof. Sabine von Mering (GRALL), who is the chair of the Faculty Senate, stressed that the suspension of retirement contributions is only for this year and will not continue next year. French also wrote that a number of estimates are being reviewed but that currently “these items would indicate that the budget is slightly better than balanced at $300K.” The University has seen its projected deficit shrink by $2 million due to less-than-expected utilization of reserves. Due to this, the University expects that with the money raised from the suspension of contributions to retirement plans and money received from other sources, including midyear enrollment and fundraising, will lead to a more than $300,000 surplus at the end of fiscal 2010. French stressed, however, that this number was continually changing as the economic climate shifts
See ENDOWMENT, 7 ☛
■ The rise in the number of
admitted students is part of the plan to increase total enrollment by 400. By MIRANDA NEUBAUER JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER
The University has exceeded its target for the incoming first-year class size by 45 students and is undertaking new approaches in order to increase enrollment for next year, said Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Jean Eddy at a faculty meeting last Thursday. The University plans on increasing its enrollment by 400 undergraduates over the next five years as one way to increase revenue, according to the recommendations by the the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee. Since former Dean of Admissions Gil Villanueva left Brandeis in July for the University of Richmond, Eddy told the Justice that she has been acting as interim Admissions dean to ensure a “steady state” in the Admissions office. She added that the search for a dean of Admissions usually takes place in February and that she aims to bring a search firm to campus in January with the hope of choosing a new dean by July 1. At the meeting, Eddy said that the Admissions office had the goal to recruit 800 freshmen, 50 transfers and 120 midyears for the Class of 2013. “We conducted our own admitted student questionnaire this summer. We used a research firm who called accepted students. From that survey, two factors for not enrolling emerged—bad press and lack of merit aid,” Eddy wrote. However, the University brought 845 students in the fall. Of that number, 788 are traditional fall admits, 20 are part of the restructured Transitional Year Program, 40 participated in the new Gateway program and 55 are transfer stu-
REBECCA NEY/the Justice
FINANCES: Vice President for Budget and Planning Fran Drolette speaks to staff.
ACADEMICS
Dept chairs discuss changes to curriculum ■ Streamlining of majors
and faculty affiliation were among the measures under discussion last Thursday. By MIRANDA NEUBAUER JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER
Department chairs discussed the guidelines crafted with the assistance of the Dean’s Curriculum Committee concerning the new faculty affiliations policy and the establishment of curriculum committees at a department chairs meeting last Thursday. The streamlining of majors was also briefly under discussion at the meeting, according to department chairs who were present.
The Dean’s Curriculum Committee’s task is to advise the dean on ways to continue delivering the curriculum with fewer faculty members. Those include having faculty affiliated with departments outside their own, forming curriculum committees for each major and examining ways to reduce major requirements. According to a draft of the guidelines, discussions regarding affiliation can originate from a faculty member or another representative from either department. The affiliating faculty member, the home department or program and the affiliating department or program must agree to the affiliation, which a letter from the dean to all three parties will formalize. Affiliation will last three years,
during which time the faculty member will teach one course in the other department at least once or provide equivalent service; after the three years, the faculty member also has the option to renew the affiliation. The affiliating faculty can serve on the other department’s curriculum committee and advise honors theses and Ph.D. students in that department as well. According to the guidelines, the dean of Arts and Sciences will invite the chair of an affiliating department to provide input on the contributions of affiliating faculty for annual performance evaluations and promotions. The guidelines draft also states that the above criteria for a “formal affiliation” policy for faculty does not mean that “informal” affiliations of
faculty from different departments or programs can no longer exist or that every faculty member needs affiliation. Given future reduction in faculty, “[having affiliated faculty] is a way to give us some breathing space and accumulate some good collegial collaboration … for the benefit of students,” Prof. Ann Koloski-Ostrow (CLAS) said. “What was exciting to me was how many faculty already came to me last spring to say they want to affiliate with Classics.” Koloski-Ostrow approved of the three-year time frame, explaining “that if [an affiliation] wasn’t working, … that person wouldn’t continue as an affiliate.” With a faculty of four in Classical Studies, she said that she
See GUIDELINES, 7 ☛
See ADMISSIONS, 7 ☛
Pains play Brandeis
Two home victories
Rose lawsuit
■ The band’s frontman spoke to justArts writers after the show.
■ The women’s soccer team opened the season with two consecutive wins at home last week.
■ The deadlines related to the Rose Art Museum lawsuit have been finalized.
SPORTS 16
ARTS 21 For tips or info call Let your voice be heard! Submit letters to the editor online (781) 736-6397 at www.thejusticeonline.com
INDEX
ARTS
21
EDITORIAL FEATURES
10 9
OPINION POLICE LOG
11 2
SPORTS LETTERS
NEWS 3 16 12
COPYRIGHT 2009 FREE AT BRANDEIS. Call for home delivery.
2
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
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THE JUSTICE
NEWS POLICE LOG
AP BRIEF Lynch announces consideration of run for Kennedy senate seat BOSTON —U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch said Friday he is considering getting into the race to succeed the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. The 54-year-old conservative Democrat from South Boston issued a statement confirming a supporter had taken out nominating papers on his behalf on Friday morning. A special election to replace Kennedy, who died Aug. 25 of brain cancer, will be held Jan. 19. The primary vote to narrow the Democratic and Republican fields is scheduled for Dec. 8. “The seriousness and urgency of this decision is compounded by the untimely passing of my friend and colleague, Sen. Ted Kennedy, and by the momentous challenges that lie ahead for our commonwealth and our country,” Lynch said in the statement. “This is the first step, and over the next week or so I will finalize my plans.” The former ironworker said much of his work in Congress has been dedicated to “fighting for working men and women and protecting our seniors and our veterans.” He previously served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and was elected to the state Senate in 1995, replacing former Senate President William Bulger. Lynch won a special election in 2001 to replace the late U.S. Rep. Joseph Moakley, a Democrat who also lived in South Boston. Attorney General Martha Coakley is the first Democrat to officially announce her candidacy. Like her, friends have described Lynch as unaffected by whether Kennedy’s nephew, former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, or the senator’s widow, Vicki, would mount a campaign to succeed the late senator. Aides say Vicki Kennedy has ruled out a campaign. Yet other members of the congressional delegation, including Reps. Michael Capuano, Edward Markey and former Rep. Martin Meehan, have indicated they would defer to a campaign by Joseph Kennedy. Possible Republicans include Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, state Sen. Scott Brown and former White House chief of staff Andrew Card. Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling said this week he also may run.
Medical Emergency Sept. 2—A party in Reitman Hall complained of stomach pain. BEMCo and University Police responded. The party was treated on-scene and then transported to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital. Sept. 2—A party in Ridgewood Quad reported that she believedshe broke her nose after being struck in the face by a falling object. BEMCo treated the party onscene with a signed refusal of further care. Sept. 4—A party in Gordon Hall reported a female who had consumed too much alcohol. University Police and BEMCo responded and treated the party on-scene with a signed refusal for further care. Sept. 4—A party in the Usdan Student Center requested BEMCo for a worker who had lacerated a hand. The subject refused medical care but was transported to the Newton-Wellesley
Hospital by University Police. Sept. 4—University Police received a call about two intoxicated female students at the Volen National Center for Complex Systems. BEMCo and University Police responded and the parties were treated on-scene with a signed refusal for further care. Sept. 5—A party in Rosenthal Quad reported an intoxicated female. University Police and BEMCo responded, and the subject was transported to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital. Sept. 6—University Police and BEMCo responded to a report of an intoxicated female in Reitman Hall. The subject was treated onscene with a signed refusal for further care.
Disturbance Aug. 31—A party in Rosenthal Quad reported a large group of individuals grilling and playing loud music near Chapels Field.
The crowd was dispersed without incident, and the grill was removed from the perimeter. Aug. 31—A report of loud drums being played was received from 110 Angelside Road. University Police checked the area and found nothing. Sept. 4—A call from 110 Angelside Road reported loud music coming from a suite in the Charles River Apartments. University Police checked the area on foot and found the music coming from apartment B7. They told students to shut off the music. Sept. 5—University Police responded to a report of loud music in the Foster Mods. Officers broke up a party in Mod 9 and confiscated an empty keg. Judicial charges will be filed by the University Police. Sept. 6—University Police responded to a complaint of people shouting on Charles River Road. Officers spoke to residents, and they quieted down.
CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS The headline of an AP Brief in Sports last week incorrectly spelled the name of a New York Mets pitcher. The pitcher’s name is Nelson Figueroa, not Nelson Figuerora. (Sept. 1, p. 11) A photo caption in Arts last week incorrectly identified the sponsor of an event on campus. Girl Talk’s 2008 performance was sponsored by Student Events, not Punk, Rock n’ Roll Club. (Sept. 1, p. 14)
The Justice welcomes submissions for errors that warrant correction or clarification. E-mail justeditor@ brandeis.edu.
theJustice The Justice is the independent student newspaper of Brandeis University. The Justice is published every Tuesday of the academic year with the exception of examination and vacation periods. Editor in chief office hours are held every Wednesday from 1 to 2 p.m. in the Justice office. Main Line News Forum Features Sports Arts Ads Photos Managing
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Miscellaneous Aug. 31—University Police received a report of a strong odor of propane gas at the Old South Street Garage. University Police checked the area but found no odor upon arrival. —compiled by Harry Shipps
Student Union Senate passes discretionary fund
BOSTON—Massachusetts officials are using hightech tags to track the movements of two great white sharks near Cape Cod—the first time the fearsome fish have ever been tagged in the Atlantic Ocean. The electronic tag uses satellite technology to record the travels of the sharks, allowing scientists to better understand their migratory patterns. The sharks were spotted Saturday by scientists investigating sightings off Monomoy Island in Chatham. Officials say a harpooner tagged them with help from a state shark expert. On Sunday, a number of Massachusetts beaches were closed after four great white sharks were spotted Saturday off the coast, including the two that were tagged. An expert said they were up to 10 feet in length. Sharks are common in Cape waters during summer, though great white sharks are relatively rare around New England.
The Quote of the Week in Forum last week directed the reader to the wrong page and section. The quote was taken from Features, page 7, not Arts, page 21. (Sept. 1, p. 8)
Sept. 1—University Police responded to a report of items taken from the office area in the Shapiro Campus Center. University Police compiled a report, and an investigation will follow. Sept. 1—A student in Pomerantz Hall reported that his bicycle was stolen. University Police compiled a report on the theft. Sept. 5—University Police filed a report on a male party observed shoplifting on the closedcircuit television within the Usdan Student Center. An investigation will follow.
SENATE LOG
Great white sharks tagged by scientists off of Cape Cod
An article in News last week incorrectly implied that both the original Rose Art Museum archives and Robert D. Farber Special Collections and Archives pertaining to the Rose were removed from their original locations. In fact, only the Robert D. Farber archives were removed; the Rose Art Museum archives still reside in the museum. (Sept. 1, p. 1)
Larceny
MAX BREITSTEIN-MATZA/the Justice
Fire up the grill Rafi Stern ’11 and Yoni Cohen ’10 served up hamburgers and hot dogs at the barbecue that took place yesterday afternoon on the Great Lawn. The event was sponsored by Chabad at Brandeis.
The Senate passed a Union Government Budget that includes a Senate discretionary fund of $10,850, $1,500 for the free newspaper distribution program on campus, $5,500 for office resources, $1,100 for election systems, $1,050 for the course evaluation guide and $6,000 for the Executive Board. Student Union President Andy Hogan ’11 reported that the Constitutional Review Task Force would be established by the middle of October to be complete its review by the first week of March. He encouraged senators to listen for concerns about the new wet suite and party registration policies. The Senate tabled a bylaw that would decrease the length of the provisional club charter from 10 weeks to four weeks. Hogan suggested that the definition of a charter be changed to require a check-in with the Senate after 10 weeks and to eliminate the term “provisional charter.” Senator for the Class of 2011 Jenna Rubin had said that clubs with provisional charter status had been having difficulty requesting spaces with Student Activities or requesting money from the Union treasurer. The Senate tabled a bylaw change to remove the limit on two allowed absences per semester for senators and the requirement for senators to receive permission to miss meetings. The Senate tabled a bylaw change that would leave the destinations of Student Union shuttle services open to student interest and change the requirement for an “all-you-can-eat-buffet” to an “event with free items for students.” The Senate tabled a $2,000 Senate Money Resolution for the ’DeisBikes program. Hogan reported that the program would enforce policies regarding damage to the bikes more strictly this year and purchase bikes that would be more robust. The Senate chartered Songha, a nondenominational Buddhist club, which practices meditation and discusses Buddhist texts. The Senate chartered the Brandeis Law Journal, which aims to solicit law writing from students, faculty, staff and alumni. It also hopes to be a venue to teach undergraduates the rules of Bluebook citation. —Miranda Neubauer
ANNOUNCEMENTS Study Abroad Info Session
Commemoration of September 11
This information session is designed to give an overview of off-campus study procedures at Brandeis. Topics include tips for researching programs and destinations, the application process, getting credit for your work off-campus, financial aid and resources and services the Office of Study Abroad provides. Attendance at an information session is mandatory for students wanting to study abroad. Today, from 4 to 5:55 p.m. in Usdan 112. For more information, call the Office of Study Abroad at (781) 736-3483.
Join the Interfaith Chaplaincy and the Student Union for a peace vigil to commemorate the eighth anniversary of Sept. 11. The vigil will be an opportunity to remember the events of Sept. 11 and also to reflect on how we can all join together to promote a world of hope and peace. Friday, Sept. 11 from 12:10 to 12:30 p.m. at the Peace Circle. For more information, call the Interfaith Chaplaincy at (781) 736-3570.
Roundtable Discussion of Sotomayor Confirmation Profs. Richard Gaskins (AMST), Anita Hill (Heller) and James Mandrell (ROMS) will participate in a discussion about the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Thursday, Sept. 10 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the Dubois Lounge of the Rabb Graduate Center.
The Great Brandeis Scavenger Hunt Teams can sign up in the Department of Student Activities to take part in the second annual Great Brandeis Scavenger Hunt. Saturday, Sept. 12 from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m. For more information, visit www.brandeis.edu/ activities.
On-Campus Recruiting Orientation This workshop will give students tips on the job search process and provide an oppor-
tunity to learn about job postings, upcoming employer visits and on-campus interview schedules. RSVP on Hiatt NACELink. Monday, Sept. 14 from noon to 1 p.m. in the Hiatt Career Center. For more information, e-mail hiattcenter@ brandeis.edu.
TMI (Too Much Info): Social Justice in the Age of Facebook Take part in sessions IV and V of this twoday discussion about the effects of modern inventions such as YouTube, Twitter and text messaging, co-sponsored by LTS and the Student Union. Session IV is titled “Does Digital Deepen the Divide” and session V is “Students Speak.” Friday, Sept. 11 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Rapaporte Treasure Hall. For more information, visit www.brandeis.edu/ethics.
THE JUSTICE
Students aid in filling Miles’ post committee will help select a new senior vice president of Communications. By NASHRAH RAHMAN JUSTICE EDITOR
A student committee is providing input on the hiring of the University new senior vice president of Communications by conducting interviews with the three finalists for the position, according to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Peter French. The University received 20 applications for the position, French wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. The three finalists are also being interviewed by University President Jehuda Reinharz, trustees, the Faculty Senate Council and senior administrators, he wrote. He declined to provide specific candidate information out of concern for candidates’ confidentiality. Former Senior Vice President of Communications Lorna Miles left the position in July to work for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. French wrote in his e-mail that the post is expected to be filled by the end of this fall. Student Union President Andy Hogan ’11 wrote that the six-member student committee was formed after many senior administrators, including Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Jean Eddy, became concerned about including student input in the selection process. “The committee was formed recently with students that represent all different facets at Brandeis and most of these members have experience in communications,” Hogan wrote. The members were selected by Hogan, who declined to provide the name of one of the committee members because he or she did not wish to be identified. Five of the six committee members are Student Union Director of Communications Sydney Reuben ’10, Union Vice President Amanda Hecker ’10, Union Director of Academic Affairs Supreetha Gubbala ’12, Union Executive Senator Jenna Rubin ’11 and Hoot staff writer Emily Maskas ’11. The student committee conducted one interview last week and is scheduled to hold another two this week, Reuben said. In an email to the Justice, Hogan wrote that the committee members are provided with the candidate’s résumé earlier in the day so that they can prepare relevant questions for an hour-long interview. The impressions formed during the inter-
views are passed to Chief of Staff of the Office of the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Arlene Carey, Reuben wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. “Input from all those who interview candidates, including the student panel involved in interviewing candidates for the Senior VP for Communications position, is taken into account by [University President Jehuda Reinharz], to whom this position reports and who will make the final decision in this search,” French wrote. Eddy wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that although she had been in contact with Hogan about student involvement in the hiring of the senior vice president of Communications, she “called [Hogan] very late in the process after finding out the interview schedule for the first candidate.” “I had less than 24 hours notice, so unfortunately [Hogan] had less,” Eddy wrote. French wrote that in the past, students have been involved in interviewing candidates for senior positions within the Hiatt Career Center and the Admissions office. “We are searching for the right candidate for this important position, and the criteria for that include the ability to work well with students. Input from students themselves is helpful in our efforts to assess candidates in this regard,” French wrote. “A senior VP for communications will represent the University in every respect. A university belongs to its students—students have to be involved with this search,” Eddy wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. Hecker, who was approached by Hogan to be on the committee a few days prior to the first candidate interview last Wednesday, said, “I am really proud that Brandeis allows students to get involved in [the hiring process].” She added that “it really shows that the administration is reaching out to students, that we are a community and that we are all involved in what affects Brandeis.” Rubin said that she was also approached by Hogan a few days before the first interview was scheduled to take place. She stated that Hogan did not provide her with a reason as to why she was selected to be a part of the committee. Rubin commented, “The [first] candidate had some good ideas that I thought would be useful.” Nevertheless, she added that she was a little underwhelmed by the first candidate and looked forward to interviewing the remaining two finalists.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
3
MUSEUM TALK
ADMINISTRATION
■ A six-member student
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MAX BREITSTEIN MATZA /Justice File Photo
ROSE LITIGATOR: Meryl Rose (center), a plaintiff in the lawsuit, speaks at an on-campus event held at the Rose in March.
ROSE ART MUSEUM
Timeline for Rose Art Museum lawsuit finalized ■ Any motions of dismissal
or preliminary injunctions in the Rose suit must be filed on or before Sept. 15. By ALANA ABRAMSON JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
The date of the first hearing regarding the lawsuit filed against the University by three members of the Rose Art Museum Board of Overseers and the deadlines for filing motions of dismissal and preliminary injunctions were set at the case management conference that took place Tuesday, Sept. 1, according to University outside legal counsel Thomas Reilly. The motion to dismiss a case or to file a preliminary injunction, an injunction that takes place before the verdict is determined, must be filed on or before Sept. 15, according to a schedule provided by Jill Butterworth, deputy press secretary for Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley. The first hearing is scheduled for Oct. 13, and the deadline to oppose the motion to dismiss the case is Oct. 6. The lawsuit was filed by Rose overseers Jonathan Lee, Meryl Rose and Lois Foster July 27 in the Supreme Ju-
dicial Court of Massachusetts and was subsequently transferred to the Suffolk Probate Court. The lawsuit seeks to maintain the Rose’s collection by stating that the University’s decision to close the museum and sell its paintings would violate both the museum’s ethical codes and Brandeis’ commitment to the Rose family to maintain the museum solely as a public museum. Lee, the chairman of the Rose Board of Overseers, said that he and the other plaintiffs were filing a preliminary injunction and that they were confident it would succeed. “I feel very good about the way the court system is handling our case,” said Lee. “We are getting huge attention and very rapid treatment and are having a lot of success. … We are being dealt with in an extremely positive way by the attorney general’s office.” Reilly said that the case management conference went as expected in the sense that it set a schedule for the case and that the University would file a motion to dismiss the case on or before Sept. 15. He added that he was confident that Brandeis’ version of the story would emerge as the case continues to unfold. Reilly said that while the opposing counsel had the right to file a preliminary injunction, the injunction would
be superfluous: it would be implemented to prevent Brandeis from selling art, but the University has no plans to do so. “There are exhibitions planned throughout the fall. As we speak, there are no transactions to sell art that are in place right now,” said Reilly. Butterworth wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that the attorney general’s office could not comment on an ongoing litigation. Reilly said, “I am confident that we will get to the truth in this case. The truth is that the trustees and the administration are doing exactly what they are supposed to do, which is preserve their commitment to academic excellence.” However, Lee condemned the University’s claims of prioritizing scholarship, saying that the Rose is part of Brandeis’ academic excellence, and the lawsuit is seeking to display the core values of Brandeis. “The University is using the line of attack that we don’t care about the University, just the esoteric art collection. We are trying to save this piece of Brandeis because it’s a crown jewel,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that Brandeis can find itself in a situation that it may have to sell art, but it is doing so for the right reasons. That is the essential truth of this case,” Reilly added.
ACADEMICS
University to search for Justice Brandeis Semester manager ■ Members of the Justice
Brandeis Semester overview committee were also selected last week. By DESTINY AQUINO JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
The University has begun the search for a Justice Brandeis Semester manager and has finalized the members of the JBS overview committee this week. The JBS overview committee consists of faculty administrators and student representatives who will discuss and then finalize all plans having to do with the JBS pilot program. The committee will also create a review committee, which will meet to decide which JBS proposals should go to the faculty and Undergraduate Curriculum Committee for a vote. Approved programs will be implemented this summer and continue into next fall and spring. The JBS was created last spring to allow students to learn in immersion-
based instruction both on and off campus with additions to the curriculum such as internships and research labs. The JBS programs will run over the summer in eight- to 10-week blocks as well as over the fall and spring semesters of 2010 and 2011. Student Union President Andy Hogan ’11 appointed Student Union Director of Executive Affairs Sofya Bronshvayg ’11 and member of the Student Union Executive Task Force Danielle Wolfson ’11 as student members to the overview committee last Friday. Hogan sent an e-mail to the Brandeis community Aug. 27 informing students of these open positions and how to apply. Hogan chose students for the positions on the JBS overview committee based on applications and a personal interview. The JBS manager will be responsible for complete administrative responsibilities regarding the JBS semester, including the organization of the application process for both students and faculty, the planning of JBS orientation and publicity events. The JBS
manager will not head the overview committee but will oversee the implementation of any recommendations made by the overview committee, Dean of Arts and Science Adam Jaffe said. According to the job description, the post requires that the JBS manager perform administrative duties such as tracking student applications for the program and coordinate the review of academic and student life standing. “The position was created because JBS is a new structure which requires extensive coordination between the administration and faculty,” Vice President of Students and Enrollment Jean Eddy wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. Both faculty and administrative committees formed last spring have been working since June on the many aspects of JBS that need to be considered before the program begins, Jaffe said. The overview committee includes Wolfson and Bronshvayg, as well as faculty and administrative committee members from the Curriculum on Aca-
demic Restructing Steering subcommittees. Overview members include Prof. Timothy Hickey (COSI) and Sacha Nelson (BIOL) as well as University Registrar Mark Hewitt and Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences Elaine Wong. Wong could not be reached for comment by press time. Hogan told the Justice in an interview that “the overview committee has not yet met as a whole but will be meeting soon they were mostly waiting on my student appointments before coming together.” Once the committee convenes, it will begin the creation of a review committee that will review all JBS proposals submitted by students and faculty. The review committee will then decide which programs to send to the faculty and UCC for a vote. Hogan explained that he searched for students with prior knowledge about the JBS program during his interviews with committee candidates “since they’re going to be thrown into this committee that worked last year
and over the summer on the program.” “I was also hoping to find students that would make sure the student voice got heard while also working with the faculty and administration well,” Hogan said. Bronshvayg told the Justice that she felt honored and excited to be on the committee. “I plan to personally make sure student life on campus isn’t negatively impacted. Things such as campus overcrowding, how the social scene of friends leaving, dining options while on a JBS program and making sure there are interesting programs people want to participate in,” she said. Wolfson explained to the Justice why she was so interested in the position. “My number-one goal is to make sure all students have a voice and student concerns and fears about this program are addressed. Overall, I think JBS is a really amazing program that, done correctly, has a lot of promise.”
—Harry Shipps contributed reporting
Attention, sports enthusiasts! If you enjoy watching sports more than playing them, write for the Justice Sports section! Cover the exciting details of Brandeis sports games and events.
For more information, e-mail Ian Cutler at ianc@brandeis.edu.
Do you want to share your bright ideas with the Brandeis community? The Forum section wants to hear your opinions. E-mail Rebecca Blady at rblady@brandeis.edu.
THE JUSTICE
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
5
UPPERCLASSMEN HOUSING
MAX MATZA/the Justice
OVER 21: In quads for upperclassmen, such as Ridegwood Quad pictured above, the University will no longer require that a majority of residents in a suite be over 21 in order for that suite to register a party.
University abolishes wet suite contracts ■ Under the new rules,
suites do not need a majority of residents over the age of 21 to register parties. By ALANA ABRAMSON JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
The Department of Community Living has discontinued the policy of wet suite contracts in quads with a majority of residents over 21 in an effort to make it easier for students to register their parties, according to Director of Community Living for Juniors and Seniors Erika Lamarre. Lamarre explained that in previous years, wet suite contracts en-
abled students over age 21 to register parties where alcohol would be available. Since wet suite contracts no longer exist, party registration is available to all residences in which there is a host over 21. “You had to be a wet suite to register a party, and we didn’t want to suppress anyone’s ability to register a party so we feel like we opened a door by setting that aside and focusing more on party, registration,” said Lamarre. Katherine Keyes, the community development coordinator for the Ziv and Ridgewood Quads, explained in an e-mail that last year, three people in a suite had to be of drinking age in order to register a party, whereas this year, in which there is no wet
STUDENT UNION
Independent task force will review constitution ■ The task force must
complete the review by the first week of March. By NASHRAH RAHMAN JUSTICE EDITOR
The Student Union Constitution will undergo a compulsory review next month conducted by an independent Constitutional Review Task Force, according to Student Union President Andy Hogan ’11. The review, which is mandated to take place every four years as per the Union Constitution, will be conducted not by a University administrative body, but departments such as the Department of Community Living may be approached for advice, Hogan said. The review will entail “a full review of all aspects of the Union, including the operation of clubs, secured organizations, and Union Government,” according to the Union Constitution. The final report on the Union Constitution must be released by the task force by the first week of March, according to the Union Constitution. Hogan said that a campuswide email on how to apply to be a part of the task force will be sent in October.
“Our goal is to have some people appointed by [Hogan], … maybe Student Union people or people he knows from other organizations he thinks would be appropriate,” Student Union Director of Communications Sydney Reuben ’11 said. The Union Constitution states that representatives from the Student Union Executive Office, Finance Board and Senate should be appointed or elected to join the task force. Representatives from the wider Brandeis community, including members of secured major media organizations, club sports and religious organizations will either be elected or appointed by their respective clubs, as per the Union Constitution. Hogan clarified that the constitution of the Union Judiciary is a part of the Union Constitution and that both will be under review. “I am considering starting [the review] in October so we have plenty of time,” Hogan said. He said that he has no predictions regarding the outcome of the review. “It’s cool that [preparation for the review] is happening now because we’re going to look over [the Union Constitution] and see what works and what doesn’t work,” said Union Vice President Amanda Hecker ’10.
suite policy, students can register parties regardless of how old their suitemates are. Lamarre, who headed the Alcohol Task Force last year, said the Department of Community Living made this decision in consultation with the Student Union and the Alcohol Task Force. Jeremy Leiferman, the senior director of community living, said that this decision, in addition to extending the option of party registration to more people, also stemmed from the fact that wet suite contracts were essentially redundant in relation to party registration because the aspects of registering for a wet suite were similar to registering a party.
“The elements of the wet suite agreement are covered through party registration, elements about what it means to be responsible in terms of drinking, so we essentially combined the efforts,” Leiferman explained. However, Lamarre also said that this decision does not necessarily reflect a change in alcohol policy, since only students who are of drinking age can do so; it merely reflects the DCL’s desire to make it easier for students to register their parties. “The wet suite was just a way of tracking who was 21 and making it not a big deal to have alcohol in the suite. If you’re 21 and over, you can still have alcohol in the suite. There isn’t really a change in policy,”
she said. “We are not trying to crack down on alcohol policy but open a door,” she added. Jenna Brofsky ’10, a resident of Ziv quad and a member of the Student Union, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that she feels this change is positive because it allows students to be more responsible while simultaneously making the party registration process easier. Keyes said that she believed this policy was universally beneficial, as well. “Already during this academic school year I have had a handful of party registration forms, the parties that were registered were a success,” she wrote.
AP BRIEF US and South Korea aim to engage North Korea in talks SEOUL, South Korea—Top nuclear envoys from South Korea and the United States held talks Saturday on a strategy to bring North Korea back to disarmament talks a day after the North claimed it is in the final stages of enriching uranium. U.S. special envoy on North Korea Stephen Bosworth and South Korean envoy Wi Sung-lac made no comments after their meeting. Bosworth later met with South Korea’s minister in charge of relations with North Korea, and the Unification Ministry said the two agreed to closely cooperate in resolving the nuclear dispute. Bosworth said in Beijing on Friday that any nuclear development in North Korea was a matter of concern. “We confirm the necessity to maintain a coordinated position and the need for a complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” he said. Bosworth is to leave for Tokyo on Sunday for similar consultations with Japanese officials. Chief U.S. nuclear negotiator Sung Kim plans to return to Seoul on Tuesday to meet with Russian nuclear envoy Grigory Logvinov. North Korea also announced it is continuing to weaponize plutonium. Uranium offers an easier way to make nuclear weapons, and ura-
nium-based bombs may work without requiring test explosions. Washington shows no signs of easing pressure on North Korea through new U.N. sanctions despite a series of conciliatory gestures by the North, including the release of two detained American journalists and a reported invitation to top U.S. envoys, including Bosworth, to visit Pyongyang. “We are prepared for both dialogue and sanctions,” the North said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council carried Friday by its official Korean Central News Agency. If some members of the council put “sanctions first before dialogue, we would respond with bolstering our nuclear deterrence first before we meet them in a dialogue,” it said. The North warned it would be left with no choice but to take “yet another strong self-defensive countermeasure” if the standoff continues. It did not elaborate. A pro-North Korean newspaper in Japan urged the U.S. to hold talks with the North to make the Korean peninsula nuclear-free. The Choson Sinbo newspaper, widely seen as a mouthpiece for North Korea, said time is not “limitless” for the U.S. to decide whether to hold talks or continue to pursue sanctions. The U.S. has pressed for North Korea to return to six-nation talks on its nuclear program with the
U.S., South Korea, China, Russia and Japan. North Korea has said it will only talk one-on-one with the Obama administration. Bosworth said Friday the U.S. is willing to have direct talks, but only within the framework of the six-nation talks. Analysts said the North appears to be trying to add urgency to the standoff. “The North is saying that the more delayed U.S.-North Korea talks are, the greater its nuclear capabilities will become,” said Yang Moojin, a professor at Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies. Meanwhile, a report by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security said there is no sign of reconstruction at the North’s main Yongbyon nuclear reactor, which was partially disabled under an agreement reached in the six-nation talks. It cited commercial satellite imagery taken Aug. 10 by DigitalGlobe. Separately, North Korea also said it will continue to seek self-defensive measures in response to an alleged U.S. move to develop a new bunker-buster bomb, Korean Central News Agency reported. It claimed the U.S. is accelerating production of the bomb to destroy “underground nuclear facilities” in North Korea and Iran.
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THE JUSTICE
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
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ENDOWMENT: Univ projects reduced deficits CONTINUED FROM 1
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and revenues are projected with new data. When the original budget estimates were released, the endowment return stood at -26 percent. Based on this return, the University projected two sets of deficit numbers corresponding to the estimated deficits if the CARS proposals were not met and the estimated deficits if CARS proposals were successfully completed. If the proposals are met, projected deficits would range between -$24 million in 2011 and -$13 million in 2014; if the proposals are not met, projections range between -$28 million and -$22 million. In May, the projected endowment return had improved to approximately -20 percent and “indicated that the deficits would range from $8M in FY 2011 to $4M in FY 2014 if CARS objectives were met. If CARS objectives were not met, the projections in May indicated that the deficits would range from $12M in FY 2011 to $16M in FY 2014,� French wrote in his e-mail. Based on the current endowment return of -17.3 percent, estimated budget deficits for the upcoming years are much lower than originally projected. If the University is not able to achieve the CARS proposals, the deficits will be between -$11.0 million in fiscal 2011 and -$14.3 million in fiscal 2014. If, however, the University is able to meet the objectives set forth by CARS, the projected deficits range between -$6.8 million in fiscal 2011and -$2.2 million in fiscal 2014, according to French. French added that “FY 2011 is the first full-year of implementation of the various CARS objectives, and the target is to achieve the CARS goals by 2014.� Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe said of the CARS proposals, “We are working on all of them; none of them was expected to be complete by now. The [increase of] 400 students is beginning with the class that will be entering next fall. As for the reduction in the faculty, we’ve announced incentives for retirement which the faculty
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did not think she would want more affiliates than the number of faculty in the department. The department chairs also briefly discussed recommendations by the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee regarding the streamlining of majors. That recommendation states that “Brandeis currently provides no guidelines regarding the structure or construction of a major, other than requiring that the majority of courses counting for a major be taken at the university.� The UCC encourages all departments to review the total number of courses required for the major. In an e-mail sent to Psychology majors last week, department chair Prof. Malcolm Watson wrote that “in conjunction with the efforts [of the University] to increase the efficiency of the required-course structure of majors,� the department faculty were recommending reducing the number of quantitative courses from two to one and reducing the number of required 100-level courses from three to two. Psychology Undergraduate Departmental Representative Jonathan Cohen ’10 said faculty felt that “having students get caught up in calculus, which was definitely a significant hurdle for many students, or not adding much to their psychology education, wasn’t optimal.� Prof. Gary Jefferson (ECON) noted that his department recently added econometrics as a requirement in part because many potential employers expect economics major graduates to have this skill. “I don’t think in Economics we’re likely to cut back on the number [of] requirements,� he said, noting that most peer universities now require econometrics as part
GRAPHIC DESIGN BY JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES
are thinking about. ‌ The JBS semester, we’re working on, there will be a pilot next semester.� Another effect of the improved endowment returns is that the University reserves, which currently total around $85 million, will last much longer than originally expected. French wrote that in March it was estimated that the University reserves
GUIDELINES: Chairs discuss curriculum CONTINUED FROM 1
of an economics major. The guidelines further state that each undergraduate major will have a curriculum committee, to be established by Oct. 1. The department chair will appoint the committee in consultation with the members of the department. In addition, the guidelines state that it is optional whether committee members hold specific roles or not; whether the department chair is a member of the committee; or whether departments offering multiple majors set up one committee. The curriculum committee will create an initial three-year curriculum plan to be finalized by the department or program chair by Dec. 1, specifying which courses will be offered when, as well a teaching plan for the following year and who will teach certain courses. In addition, the guidelines suggest that the committee identify curricular gaps that existing faculty cannot fulfill and discuss sharing resources with the curriculum committees for other majors. In an e-mail to the Justice, Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe wrote that the DCC decided that it was “not a practical exercise� for the curriculum committees to make hypothetical projections based on the target faculty sizes suggested by the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring steering committee. The CARS committee initially suggested that practice to examine whether the new numbers would be viable. He wrote that DCC would be talking about another process for “stress-testing� and would share it with department chairs after finalizing such a proposal. Koloski-Ostrow also noted that it was up to individual departments to form the curriculum committees for each department and that the committees could differ depending on a department’s size.
would only support the budget through fiscal 2011, but with the improved returns, “the University will not use the reserves as quickly as previously anticipated.â€? “I wouldn’t have signed off on it if I didn’t think that it was possible. ‌ I am always optimistic, but there is no question that this will be extremely difficult,â€? said von Mering when
asked if she was optimistic that the CARS proposal would be successfully implemented. Prof. Timothy Hickey (COSI), another member of the CARS committee, said, “In the next few months we should start seeing faculty being affiliated with different departments. ‌ That’s one step. The other is the Justice Brandeis Semester ideas.â€?
Von Mering said, “I think that our financial team ‌ has done a yeoman’s job this summer to bring us to where we are now.â€? She added that while she was aware that Brandeis had fared much better through this crisis than other institutions, “We are not kidding ourselves that this is a good situation, and looking forward, we are still facing deficits
ADMISSIONS: Brandeis exceeds class size target for the Class of 2013 CONTINUED FROM 1 dents, she said. The new TYP program had students who meet certain requirements automatically enroll in their sophomore year. The Gateway program is geared toward students whose scores on the Test Of English as a Foreign Language were below the number required for admission. While applications went down by 12 percent this year, the University emphasized diversity in recruiting the Class of 2013, Eddy said at the meeting. Nearly a quarter of the incoming class, 24 percent of students, identify as students of color, up from 20 percent the previous year, Eddy said. Of those students, 6 percent identify as African American, 14 percent as Asian, 5 percent as Latino and 1 percent as Native American with mixed-race students making up the remaining percentage. The admission rate was 40 percent, up from 32 percent last year. Eddy wrote that she thought the fall entrance was larger because fewer students were admitted from waiting lists at other schools and that the midyear class was smaller because students received large financial aid packages from other institutions so that “the pressure was too great to wait for Brandeis in January.� Of the admitted students, 29 percent applied to Brandeis earlydecision. “If that number becomes higher, that would certainly help us going forward,� Eddy said. In a year when the average SAT score declined nationally, the Brandeis average dipped from 1360 to 1355, Eddy said at the meeting.
With 87 midyears expected, the University is still working on maximizing the number of students entering in January, she explained, because midyears go to other institutions or take jobs before coming to Brandeis. “We don’t know what will happen going forward with that number,� she said. “There will be some students who decide to stay where they are. That number [of midyears] was supposed to be 120, but because we brought in 845 freshmen in the fall, we are well-positioned to still make the goal in January,� Eddy said. Eddy said that the University would institute January admissions this year for transfer students, another way to ensure the University meets the larger student enrollment goals set by the CARS committee. The Admissions office is focusing on new ways to encourage students to apply, particularly by reaching out to high school admissions counselors. New students direct about 53,000 inquiries to Brandeis a year of whom about 7,000 people apply, she said. To increase applications, the University is working on hosting breakfasts with guidance counselors in eight regions with high potential, such as Chicago, Seattle and New Jersey, she said. She emphasized that guidance counselors helped students draft their shortlists of colleges. “What we need to do is to really wow the guidance community so that when they go back they [direct] their students to Brandeis,� she said. “To do that, we bring somebody from the Admissions office, but we need faculty there. We need somebody who can talk about Brandeis
and have them see Brandeis the way our students will see Brandeis,� she said at the meeting. In an e-mail to the Justice, Eddy wrote that the Admissions Jean Eddy office consulted faculty in prioritizing goals for this past year. “Goals are always dependent on the number of applications received, so when applications are down it is important to ask what goals are the most important,� she wrote. “For me, for the existing students and for the faculty, making sure that we have a richly diverse population on campus is the most important goal.� She said she had already been in contact with faculty who have volunteered to make visits in order to help recruit more students. Prof. Stephen Dowden (GRALL) is one such faculty member who will be travelling to his home state of Texas to talk to prospective students about Brandeis. “Texas is important because the population of college-age kids is growing rapidly, much more so than here, and it is already a very populous state in any case. We’d like to see students from all over the country in Brandeis. They need to know about us!� Dowden wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. Eddy added that the same company that surveyed admitted students found that the informational sheets on Brandeis majors were “not doing the best job telling students how great our majors are.� She wrote that “We hope to emphasize the quality of our majors in a more dramatic way.�
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THE JUSTICE
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
VERBATIM | George Carlin I’m not concerned about all hell breaking loose, but that a part of hell will break loose—it’ll be much harder to detect.
ON THIS DAY...
FUN FACT
In 1996, rapper Tupac Shakur was shot on the Las Vegas Strip; he died six days later at age 25.
Forty percent of profits at McDonald’s comes from the sales of Happy Meals.
Modern-day emancipation
REBECCA NEY/the Justice
FREEDOM FIGHTER: Dr. Kevin Bales, a Pulitzer Prize nominee and President of Free the Slaves, is dedicated to ending modern-day slavery around the world. Currently, there are 27 million enslaved people.
Dr. Kevin Bales talks about ending modern slavery By REBECCA KLEIN JUSTICE EDITOR
Flash back to 1850. You are in Alabama, picking cotton for 15 hours a day and getting paid nothing. At any moment you could be separated from your family and sent to another plantation as part of the national slave trade. Now, flash forward to 2009. You are still working 15-hour days and getting paid nothing; however, instead of working in a field, you are cleaning houses in a suburb of Washington, D.C. This time, instead of being enslaved under a national, legal form of commerce, you were lured into slavery under the false pretenses of money and education. But isn’t slavery illegal? Pulitzer Prize nominee and president of Free the Slaves Dr. Kevin Bales came to speak at Brandeis about modern-day slavery as part of the Social Justice Leadership Series presented by The Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism on Wednesday, Sept. 2. Free the Slaves is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to “liberat[ing] slaves around the world, help[ing] them rebuild their lives and research[ing] real world solutions to eradicate slavery forever,” according to its Web site. Bales, relaxed and cordial, spoke confidently about what modern slavery is, where it comes from and why it exists in the present day. He also spoke about how slavery can come to an end and the important role investigative journalism could play in helping to expose it. Bales told the audience in Goldfarb Library’s Rapaporte Treasure Hall that today 27 million people are enslaved all over the world, approximately 14,500 of whom are brought into America each year through human trafficking, the modern-day slave trade. Today, most slaves are found in India and African countries and can work in fields, brothels, homes, mines and restaurants, according to the Free the Slaves Web site. Bales discussed how slavery has has existed ever since humans have existed.
“There has never been a day in America without slavery. From the time Columbus landed right up to the present moment, there has been slavery every single day, ... sometimes to a greater extent, sometimes to a lesser extent, but never [has the country existed] without slavery,” Bales said. Bales talked about how slavery exists today due to extreme poverty and the resulting desperation. People who live in desolate areas torn by internal strife and civil war are rarely protected under the rule of law. As such, people are able to take control of other people’s lives using weapons and false promises of education and food. Bales spoke of a little girl who lived in a destitute village in Ghana. In the village there was no school, and the girl’s single mother had trouble supporting their family. “Someone came along and said [to the mother], ‘I’ve got a job for your daughter in the fishing industry. ... I’ll make sure she gets plenty to eat, time to go to school,’” Bales said. “The mom was faced with this horrible devil’s choice: Do I let my daughter go to what could be a much better life, or do I keep her where she's under at least my protection?” In the end, the little girl was enslaved in the fishing industry, where she worked 18 to 20 hours a day. “Most people who are lured into slavery in the year 2009 are lured because they want what we want; they want food for their children,” Bales said. Bales said that although the nature of capturing slaves has been altered from the past, there is little difference between slavery today and that of the past. “There’s a little less slavery today caused by armies marching and capturing whole populations into slavery, but throughout human history people have been lured into slavery either by promises or they’ve been captured into it,” Bales said. Bales noted another difference between slavery today and slavery of the past: Today, slaves come at a much cheaper price.
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“Throughout all of human history, human beings have been commerce purchases ... significant investments. And today they’re at the lowest price they’ve ever been in history,” Bales said. He continued, “For most of human history, the price of a slave was around $48,000 in today’s dollars. Now, the average price of a slave worldwide is around $90.” This, Bales believes, creates the concept of “disposable people,” that because the price of humans has become so cheap, slaves are now looked at as replaceable, economic inputs as opposed to significant investments. “The [world’s] population explosion ... has created a pool of potentially enslavable people,” Bales said. “That pool [of a] billion people ... lives on a dollar a day and lives in situations where the rule of law doesn’t protect them. That pool is so large that it’s the law of supply and demand. The potential supply is so large that the process has collapsed and put [humans] at the lowest possible price for all of history.” According to Bales, because slaves are now seen as being “disposable,” they tend not to be in slavery for their whole lifetime anymore. People tend to be enslaved for short periods of times. “If they’re injured or ill, [slave owners] don’t give them treatment. Simply like a Styrofoam cup, [slave owners] use them hard, crumple them up, throw them away and replace them very cheaply,” Bales said. Bales went on to say that the only way to end illegal slavery is through awareness. He said that, fortunately, the moral battle has already been won and people everywhere agree that slavery is wrong. Now governments have to help enforce the law to end slavery. Fortunately, Bales also said that although 27 million slaves is huge, ending slavery is not as daunting as one might think. “There’s a way out of this, and it’s not even that difficult and it won’t take as long as you would think.” Bales said that “27 million people in the world in slavery is the largest num-
ber of people enslaved in history, but in a population of almost 7 billion on the planet, it’s also the smallest fraction of the global population to ever be enslaved.” Bales said the average cost of freeing all slaves worldwide, which includes bringing them to a rehabilitation center, keeping them safe, well fed, providing them with medical and psychological care, reuniting them with their families and then working with their families to make sure they never get enslaved again, is about $10.8 billion. Although Bales said that this sounds like a lot of money at first, if each person in the U.S. donated $4.86, the 27 million slaves in the world could be liberated. Responding to Bales’ presentation, Dana Schneider ’11 said, “The goal and the process is very complicated for what he’s trying to achieve, but he made it sound so simple, which I appreciated.” Bales also said that in addition to being morally correct, freeing slaves would help the global economy. “Slaves know how to work,” Bales said. “And when you let them work for themselves, they work like crazy. ... When you let them work to let their kids go to to school, which is what they’ve always dreamed of, when you let them work to build a life and safety away from the sexual assault of the slaveholder, they work like Trojans, and they build local economies.” In the past, Bales said, investigative journalists brought the horrors of slavery to the public’s attention. In this way, he called for journalists to start exposing the atrocities of slavery. “[Investigative journalists] are the secret to abolition,” Bales said. Tahl Mayer ’10 said that through Bales he realized how slavery, albeit ignored, is within our society. “The lecture made me realize … we care more about things that are directly related to us. The only way that thing really can be changed is when we create awareness,” Mayer said.
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HANNAH L. KIRSCH, Editor-in-Chief J OANNA SCHORR, Senior Editor ANDREA FINEMAN, Managing Editor ANYA B ERGMAN, SHANA D. LEBOWITZ and DAVID SHEPPARD -B RICK, Associate Editors NASHRAH RAHMAN, News Editor REBECCA KLEIN, Features Editor REBECCA B LADY, Forum Editor IAN CUTLER, Sports Editor JUSTINE ROOT, Arts Editor SARAH BAYER, Acting Arts Editor JULIAN AGIN -LIEBES and MAX B REITSTEIN MATZA, Photography Editors B RIAN N. B LUMENTHAL, Layout Editor B RIAN FROMM, Copy Editor B RAD STERN, Acting Advertising Editor
Student involvement misguided In July, Lorna Miles, former senior vice president of Communications, left the University. With the interview process now under way in search of Ms. Miles’ replacement, a committee of students has been assembled to help fill the vacant position. We question the process by which this committee was formed. Student Union President Andy Hogan ’11 was charged with the duty of appointing students to this committee three days before the first candidate’s interview with Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Jean Eddy. Since Ms. Miles left in July, we find it hard to understand the reasons behind contacting Mr. Hogan nearly two months after her departure. Moreover, Ms. Miles must have informed the University of her plans to leave before the July announcement. The process to establish a student committee should have begun at this stage. Forming this committee seemed like an afterthought. The delay in this process has led to further problems. Because Mr. Hogan found out about the need to form the committee so late, students had little to no opportunity to express their interest in joining it. While the student body did elect Mr. Hogan to represent their interests and, with that, the authority to appoint students to committees at his discretion, Mr. Hogan’s selection puzzles us. Mr. Hogan appointed mainly Student Union members. While these students were chosen to represent various facets of the student body, this committee is out of
Search committee faulty the scope of their responsibilities. With more time, we hope Mr. Hogan would have reached out to the student body at large, asking all interested in joining the committee to step forward. We further question the necessity of a student committee to aid in filling Ms. Miles’ vacancy, especially since no such committee exists to replace Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Peter French, a position that affects everyone. While senior vice president of Communications is a key role in the workings of the University, we wonder why this particular position was awarded a student committee. Unlike replacing the dean of Admissions, where students have a firm grasp on what they want from the person filling the position, students have no particular expertise in recognizing a good candidate in communications. With no communications major offered at the University, the students best suited to aid in this process are those representing the Journalism program and media outlets on campus. However, to our knowledge, only one campus media outlet was represented on the committee, an unbalanced situation to which the rushed organization of the committee contributed. While we respect the efforts made to include students in University decisions, the student body’s interests would best be served by timeliness, transparency and taking on tasks that speak to all students’ interests.
Preserve value of education The Undergraduate Curriculum Committee has suggested several ways to reduce the major and minor requirements in each area of study as the University begins to consider reducing the number of faculty members and courses in each academic department. While we find many of these ideas reasonable, we caution the University not to sacrifice the value of students’ liberal arts educations in order to conserve resources. Several departments recently expanded their selection of cross-listed courses to help the University make use of its fewer course offerings. The Anthropology department, for example, now permits students to fulfill certain major requirements with courses in the Classical Studies department. However, Brandeis should be careful to limit the number of cross-listed courses students can take. A liberal arts education should encourage students to take a variety of courses in different areas of study and not to complete their majors quickly by taking the fewest possible amount of classes. The UCC also recommended creating suggested tracks within each major “to be determined by a student’s post-graduate goals.” Each track would comprise a series of classes that best prepare a student either for graduate school or a specific career. This tactic would be the most detrimental to the quality of students’ liberal arts educations. Instead of motivating students to explore different post-graduate options by taking a range of courses within a
Alter requirements carefully department, suggested tracks would make classes a means to an end. Students might feel obligated to figure out their post-graduation plans when they declare their major sophomore year and to take only classes that help them achieve those goals. Departments can easily reduce the number of available courses by offering just one section of each introductory course. Brandeis currently offers certain intro classes in multiple sections, such as two of Introduction to Economics and nine of Techniques of Calculus (a). Some students can place out of these courses by earning Advanced Placement credit in high school. Brandeis should allow students who took other types of advanced classes in high schools to pass out of introductory classes as well. The University already grants exemptions from foreign language courses (other than through Advanced Placement credit and SAT Subject Test scores) on the basis of a placement test. A similar test could determine which students are qualified to skip these introductory courses. The University can choose from many viable ways of changing major and minor requirements. As they restructure department curricula, Brandeis should look toward those methods that not only make more effective use of its academic resources but also preserve the value of Brandeis students’ liberal arts educations.
A. ELI TUKACHINSKY/the Justice
Use college to take risks, make mistakes Ethan
MERMELSTEIN MIND OVER MADNESS
According to the 2007 U.S. Census, the “real median household income in the United States [is] … $50,233.” The tuition for one year at Brandeis (plus required fees and basic room and board) is $49,554—almost 99 percent of the median household income in the United States. While many schools offered financial aid even before our current economic crisis, affording tuition at a private university requires a significant proportional financial investment for most families. Today, the economic downturn has forced students and families (or, at the very least, myself and my own family) to think of college education in bottom-line terms. The notion of thinking about college in terms of bringing the greatest return on an investment is interesting and potentially worthwhile. Without regular self-examination, it’s not that difficult to waste away four years at a university. But constantly asking the question “Am I getting my money’s worth?” can be dangerous. This is because the easiest way of gauging success in a university is through data that could be laid out on a spreadsheet or put on a résumé— GPA, number of clubs in which you are involved, awards won, etc. Assessing the worth of a college experience in this way entirely overlooks less mainstream opportunities that are often impossible to quantify and may look one way when entered into an Excel spreadsheet but be the opposite in reality. It’s easy to fall into this mindset and fail to notice the once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that come with being between 18 and 22 years old in college. “I think my parents think about my academic success more than I do,” says Megan Strum ’12, who defines her family’s economic status as middle class. She says she feels the current financial pressure and believes that if she ever failed a course, her parents “would be furious. It takes a lot to get me here, and if I’m not getting their money’s worth, which is succeeding in academics, then they’d ask why are they sacrificing so much—why are they working so hard for so many hours to send me here?” Even if my father weren’t able to slip in a kinda-jokingbut-not-really “Am I getting my money’s worth out of your time there?” each time we speak on the phone, the pressure to provide my parents with quantifiable results of a successful college education would still be very real. Even the best spinmaster would have trouble explaining how my failing grade of E in Hebrew is indicative of me capitalizing on my expensive moments here. Sometimes, however, what may look terrible on paper—a C- in chemistry, not getting a part in a play, losing a Student Union election, etc.—can be an even better learning experience than a thousand Economics lectures. Often, there is more to learn from messing up than from succeeding, and what better time to learn the lessons of failure than now, when the stakes are lower than they’ll probably ever be in the workforce. Possibly the greatest opportunity that college provides is one that a statistical, bottom-line analysis would misread— the chance to fall on your face. College is our last stop before the real world and possibly the last place where we can fall on our faces with little or no repercussions. College should be the place to learn our limits—a place to test-drive our bodies and minds. Take six challenging courses and see if you can come out alive. Try out for a team or a show and see if you make it. In many ways, failing and being rejected can be even more valuable in the long term than success or acceptance. See how much is too much when it comes to drinking (though I wouldn’t recommend doing that too often) and discover the beauty of knowing when to stop. The one thing this real world that waits for us at the end of our four years here can guarantee is the occasional rejection and failure. Having experienced those sensations in college will help us to realize the importance of sucking it up and moving on. A good fall teaches us how to pick ourselves up again and move on. Though nobody wants to fall, there is something to be said for learning how to fall gracefully, get back up and keep walking. If we think about each moment spent here in terms of bang for our buck, it is easy to try to avoid challenges where we very well may not succeed and miss out on this rare opportunity for life training. If only I could explain that to my parents …
OP-BOX Quote of the Week “There has never been a day in America without slavery. From the time Columbus landed right up to the present moment, there has been slavery every single day, ... sometimes to a greater extent, sometimes to a lesser extent, but never [has the country been] without slavery.” —Kevin Bales, president of Free the Slaves, at the Social Justice Leadership Series Inaugural Event Sept. 2. (See Features, page 9)
Brandeis Talks Back How prepared do you think the University is for H1N1?
LENNY SOMERVELL ’12 “Having not studied their strategies for dealing with it, I wouldn’t be able to answer that question.”
ADAM ROSS ’10 “I’m excited to see what happens.”
AURITE WERMAN ’12 “I don’t have any reason to be worried about it. We got those e-mails, and they seem to be pretty clear.”
DAVID RONN ’11 “Moderately, but not very well.”
THE JUSTICE
READER COMMENTARY Disappointing decision on library In response to your article “Library hours of operation reduced” (News, Sept. 1): I would be the first to say that the reduced weekend hours stink. I distinctly remember a time my first year when my roommate asked for the room, and all I wanted to do was curl up somewhere with a book. It was 9 p.m. on a Friday, and there was nowhere to go. The library was closed. There wasn’t a quiet space to be found in the Shapiro Campus Center. There were people in the Usdan Student Center. And it was raining, so I couldn’t even sit outside with a flashlight. I remember thinking, what kind of academic institution is this when a girl can’t find a quiet place to read on a Friday night? Aren’t universities supposed to encourage this kind of thing? Last year, I often spent my entire Sunday working in the library from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. As a library employee, I spent a couple of hours of that behind the desk—two or four, depending on the week—and the rest I spent doing my homework. It was quiet, and the chairs behind the computer cluster in the library commons are insanely comfortable. I know I got more homework done there than I would have elsewhere, and it was even pleasant—when I liked my reading, of course. I have to wonder where they came up with the statistics that led to this decision. While I never worked Friday nights, I was a frequent opener at the library, and there were always far fewer people in the library at 8:30 a.m. during the week than even an hour later. Do you remember seeing people walking around with clipboards, glancing at all the people studying in the library? That was us, the library desk workers. Every hour, we counted heads to see how many people were using the library because our bosses knew that these cuts were going to happen. The hours between 8:30 and 10 were quiet, enough so that one person could work the desk and easily do other things at the same time. Why weren’t those hours cut? Simply having the library open at 9 would save 4.5 hours a week, the equivalent of those cut weekend morning hours. Is it more important for people to be able to come in and print papers before their 9 a.m. classes than it is for people to be able to study on Sunday mornings? Or is it because that’s when the staff arrives? I may be abroad this year, but I still care about the Brandeis library. I sincerely hope that when I come back in a year, there is some solution to this problem of library hours. I will miss my Sunday mornings. —Dev Singer ’11
Recognize donor’s name and intent In response to your article “More Jewish donors to Brandeis should give donations anonymously” (Reader Commentary, Sept. 1): As a son of one of the many unheralded volunteers and donors during the founding of Brandeis and a Great Dome donor to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, I observed that for a donor it is more than just the name—it is the purpose and politic. The founders sought to create a protected university home in Boston for non-Orthodox dedicated Jewish students and faculty. Many, like Justice Louis Brandeis himself, were liberal Zionists—and saw the university as a bulwark against an ever-resurgent Nazism, pogroms and isolation Jews have always faced through history. More often then not, when a donor lends his or her good name to a university, the association enhances the university and promotes further donations. It is a protocol to be celebrated and only an administration left too long in power, and corrupted by personal greed or aggrandizement, would do otherwise. —Dennis J. Solomon Cambridge, Mass.
Palestinians thank Brandeisians In response to your article “A glimpse of life behind the wall” (Features, Sept. 1): To Garret, Jared and Brandeis students, I would like to thank you for the effort in sharing your experince in the Palestinian land. It was very interesting for you and I to be in this partnership. To know about each other is something good, but to live in the condition of the other is more than good. I wouldn’t know what you feel in your daily life unless I tried it myself, and that’s what you did through this article. I am looking to experience your life and getting to know you better, and I ask you to come back to Palestine where you always welcome with new friends and new faces. Let me say that I believe in the power of the youth. —Hasan Odeh
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The Justice welcomes letters to the editor responding to published material. Please submit letters through our Web site at www.thejusticeonline.com. Anonymous submissions cannot be accepted. Letters should not exceed 300 words, and may be edited for space, style, grammar, spelling, libel and clarity, and must relate to material published in the Justice. Letters from off-campus sources should include location. The Justice does not print letters to the editor and op-ed submissions that have been submitted to other publications. Op-ed submissions of general interest to the University community—that do not respond explicitly to articles printed in the Justice—are also welcome and should be limited to 800 words. All submissions are due Friday at 5 p.m.
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
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Twitter won’t benefit our campus By DIEGO MEDRANO JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
In recent years, it seems that universities have tried to find creative and practical manners by which to reach out to the student populous using the technology at hand. At Brandeis alone, students receive text messages, e-mails, newsletters, flyers and phone calls containing information ranging from upcoming events to how to avoid the H1N1 virus. However, some universities are now jumping on the Twitter bandwagon as a means to communicate with students. In theory, Twitter would provide a one-stop shop for up-to-date campus information that is normally spread by use of a variety of media. However, there are a few key issues that prevent Twitter from achieving this goal for Brandeis. The 140-character limit is the most prevalent issue with the whole idea. Thinking back on the most important or interesting pieces of information that one has read, how many of them were contained within 140 characters? Most likely, next to none. Then, to fit posts into the 140-character bubble, users began abbreviating and using symbols anywhere possible. Would students really want their university’s posts to read like that of a 12-year-old girl’s instant messages? If one sees a university’s Twitter page riddled with abbreviations, incomplete sentences and symbols for words, how prestigious can the university appear to be? Can one really be adequately told how to stay healthy in 140 characters? Or all that they need to know on why they should join a particular club? The answer is generally “no.” Frankly, if all that needs to be said can be said within 140 characters, then the information is generally not important. Using Twitter can potentially achieve an important goal for Brandeis. GlobalQuad.com, a new Web site that compiles all the Twitter feeds of a university and its groups into one single feed, says that their goal is to create an online community that accurately represents the culture of a university. This would allow Brandeis to create an online representation of what the school has to offer.
STACY HANDLER/the Justice
This Internet-based society would inform the student population of all the opportunities that are available at school while also letting others, including prospective students and alumni, view a depiction of everyday culture at Brandeis. If the University is posting about the various events going on around campus and others are contributing as well, then to an outsider looking in, the University will seem vibrant and bustling with culture. Yet Twitter could be detrimental to the Brandeis community, as well. If Brandeis fails to post all the coming events and groups, then inevitably some groups that aren’t publicized online will feel snubbed by their own school. Instead of Brandeis focusing all of its attention on trying to compile everything happening on campus, each group should be in charge of their own advertising. Brandeis could leave it up to each group to post on the University’s feed to give more information about their group, but if a certain group does not post any
information online, then the online image of Brandeis may appear to be lacking in certain areas. Even in the most ideal Twitter situation in which all groups, all information, and all events are represented, to those looking in on the University by way of Twitter, if everything happening at a school can be summed up in various 140 character posts, then the school will not seem at all impressive culturally. Sometimes, simplicity is the best choice. The idea of Brandeis using Twitter as a tool to reach students, however creative and however modern, will never be a practical alternative to what is already in place. An email, an advertisement, a pamphlet or any of the typical ways in which people spread information are more practical and efficient, even if less inventive. There very well may be other alternatives not yet available that will make informing the Brandeis community of certain information easier. Nevertheless, Twitter is not Brandeis University’s solution.
Suggested majors do not fit at Brandeis By JARED STOEN JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
According to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education titled “5 College Majors on the Rise,” there are “five emerging areas of study”: sustainability, computational science, health informatics, service science and public health. The question is: Should Brandeis offer these majors to students? Are these majors even practical in the “real” world? The Chronicle defines sustainability as a field of study that “offer[s] ways to apply knowledge to promote an environment where applications will reduce detriments to nonrenewable resources in nature.” This area of study is naked; that is, without combination with another area of study, such as engineering, it will serve little purpose unless you aspire to be someone who goes around to schools to tell children what is and is not acceptable to put into those blue recycling bins. However, if someone earning that degree in sustainability does happen to pair it up with something else, he or she can potentially do amazing things with it, like revolutionizing the way we think about energy or agriculture. Since Brandeis does not offer engineering as a major, if sustainability were offered here, students majoring in it would be extremely limited in what they could pursue. Computational science could potentially be a really useful major, especially in an ever-changing world in which our resources increase in value by the day. According to the article, computational science “uses mathematical modeling and computer simu-
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Fine Print
lation to solve complex problems in business, technical, and academic research.” We are now able to superimpose information onto computers, and have computers solve things for us and create potential situations that, otherwise, we would not be able to solve by ourselves. Computer science, which Brandeis already offers, creates the computer information that computational scientists can use by overlaying information and craeting hypothetical situations. Computational science will differ from school to school, but as long as students are given a strong enough background in computer science, Brandeis should offer this major, or potentially as a minor. Health informatics, which “work[s] to computerize and analyze America’s health records,” according to the article, is not necessarily a comprehensive area of study. It is more of a concept to put health information in a database that’s readily accessible by doctors across the country, and perhaps the world, but I don’t think of it as something that someone can spend four years learning. I applaud the idea of having a single database with health information, but having a major specializing in creating a database with all of our medical records centralized is useless. We will always need people for tech support, but that is a separate area. In actuality, health informatics will be a short-lived major, and because it is noted as an “emerging” major, what are the people going to do 50 years from now with that major? This could amount to be a specialty in computer science, where people can spend some time working on this database, but I would think it unwise and a waste of
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EDITORIAL ASSISTANT NEWS: Harry Shipps
resources for anyone to spend four years studying this. Service science, which “strives to study the service economy and prepare workers who can improve productivity and increase innovation in the field,” could also amount to a specialty, perhaps, but not an actual major. Studying the service economy is good, and probably excellent for people with aspirations of being small business owners, but there is the whole aspect of, essentially, improving morale within a company. I cannot imagine how people could plan to write senior theses on it, let alone spend four years learning everything about service science. I think this could be a very practical and popular minor or concentration within a major, but not necessarily a stand-alone major. Public health, which the College Board defines as an area of study that “prepare[s] for careers evaluating and managing programs that address widespread health threats,” is not the most practical undergraduate major. Perhaps it would be if there were a large enough demographic extremely interested in epidemiology, but having a major in public health is like having a major in medicine or dentistry: You cannot do a whole lot with just that undergraduate major because, although it is a large field, there is not much you can do without a graduate degree. Although The Chronicle predicts that the aforementioned majors are going to be in high demand over the next few years, even though some of them are practical and agreeable, not all of them would be practical without using the knowledge in tandem with another area of study.
STAFF Senior Writers: Miranda Neubauer, Melissa Siegel Senior Illustrator: A. Eli Tukachinsky News/Features Staff: Alana Abramson, Destiny Aquino, Sam Datlof, Irina Finkel, Reina Guerrero, Ruth Orbach Forum: Richard Alterbaum, Hillel Buechler, David Litvak, Zachary Matusheski, Ethan Mermelstein, Eileen Smolyar Arts: Wei-Huan Chen, Sean Fabery, Rachel Klein, Emily Leifer, Wei Sum Li, Daniel Orkin, Alex Pagan, Ben Serby, Shelley Shore Photography: Rebecca Ney Sports: Sean Petterson Copy: Ariel Adams, Danielle Berger, Jacob Chatinover, Emily Kraus, Lauren Paris, Joyce Wang Layout: Karen Hu, Kathryn Marable
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
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THE JUSTICE
FORUM MEANINGFUL VERSUS TRIVIAL
STACY HANDLER/the Justice
Cherish Brandeis’ excellent environment By SAHAR MASSACHI JUSTICE C0NTRIBUTING WRITER
This semester, I’m taking some courses at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering. I ended up going to my first Olin classes a few days ago. It was quite a trip, mainly because it forced me to better understand and enjoy Brandeis. Here I was, strolling the Olin campus for the first time, and it felt great. My first class was exciting, held in a nice airy room with sunlight and an easygoing professor. Later, in a different course, we would design Lego devices and explain the engineering process in witty flowcharts. As a Computer Science major, I felt good—I had rejoined my people. Olin’s main auditorium was mostly full later that night as students came to see the big convocation speaker, who had written a requiredreading book about integrating empathy with design. One brave soul put this empathy guru on the spot: “In your book, you mentioned manipulating the fears
and insecurities of students in marketing Target’s laundry bags. Isn’t that unethical?” Then, to my amazement, student after student tripped over themselves to rationalize why Target wasn’t preying on people’s emotions or at least to argue that the company’s doing so was a good thing. One boy clumsily tried satire: “Well, Coca-Cola gives people diabetes. That means they’re an evil company.” I just wanted to scream. “Don’t you understand? Do you know what Coke does? They build compounds in India with huge drills to bore into the earth and drain the aquifers for miles around. Wells stop working. All these rural people from miles around are so thirsty that they have to buy Dasani bottled water, which, by the way, is owned by Coke.” Laundry bags are a small issue. The line between manipulating insecurities and legitimizing them is thin or insubstantial. Still, the tone of the place, the choice of speakers, the insipid corporatism of the students—
it was all just maddening. Five minutes before this discussion, a girl had asked, “What if you just have to lay off workers? How can you tell them that firing them is for the good of the company?” This wasn’t a challenge: She was sincerely looking for advice on middle management. By now I was furious. In America, “the good of the company” seems to mean paying executives millions of dollars to charter private jets to Sardinia in order to have Romanthemed orgies. There’s no good way to tell someone that losing their livelihood means less to you than the well-being of an abstract organization. Why was she wondering about all this, anyway? Was this really the sort of person I wanted to interact with on a regular basis? This year so far, Brandeis’ big speaker has been Kevin Bales. He frees actual modern-day slaves. In his speech he talked about domestic workers locked up in the cellars of Connecticut mansions and a whole village in India that for generations
had belonged to one landowning family. He cried in front of us as he talked about being forced to return some Thai sex workers to “hell” because their pimps were holding his friend hostage. That’s the sort of speaker Brandeis students pack the room for. The sort of speaker Olin invites wants to teach you how to more effectively push plastic crap from China. Perhaps I had been taking Brandeis for granted. I got into my car and sped away into the night, back to Brandeis with a newfound appreciation. The people here are fantastic. The professors here will spend an hour chatting with you about your future. There are interesting nooks and crannies, barely known departments and administrative units doing great things. Don’t get me wrong: I think Olin is great. I still plan on taking classes there, possibly living there, definitely enjoying it there. The people there are incredibly smart, and they try hard to give back to their communi-
ty. But I now really appreciate Brandeis University. You know, for a long time I’ve been focused on what Brandeis could be, or should be, or promised to be. I’ve worried about improving Brandeis, changing Brandeis, holding it accountable to its ideals and fulfilling the Brandeis vision. It’s time to enjoy and appreciate what Brandeis is. In the past few weeks, I’ve explored the Castle, gone to a ridiculously fancy dinner party, had maybe dozens of interesting chats with my professors, plotted activist strategies with friends, danced at the Chabad House and broken bread with graduate students and first-years alike, not to mention what I have done in my classes. Brandeis is a good place. The people here are so nice that they’ll devote their lives to helping people they’ve never met thousands of miles away, and that’s great. Still, that shouldn’t preclude focusing on the present. It’s time to take a step back, reject urges to be grimly preprofessional, and simply soak in the wonderful essence of life.
More orientation needed for international students By DEBORAH SALMON JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
We’ve all heard it a thousand times every single year: “I’m going to college!” As students embark upon their life-changing journey to university, it might at first seem like an unbelievable, unfamiliar and distant experience. Now, imagine if instead of simply stating, “I’m going to college,” you’d say, “I’m going to college—in India.” How does that feel? Bizarre, strange and 100 percent unfamiliar? Well, that is exactly what being an international student and coming to Brandeis felt like for us “foreigners.” Given our status as “aliens,” it’s obvious that we international students needed more assistance than
any other given student when we first arrive at Brandeis. Nonetheless, what I experienced was the complete opposite. Some parts of orientation were well planned and engaging, but as an international student, my experience was disorganized and simply did not give me the appropriate amount of time to orient myself to life in a new country. Don’t get me wrong: The orientation leaders were extremely helpful from the very start, but it was clear that the activities weren’t well thought-out. For instance, the little schedule booklets that were handed out to us as we drove into Brandeis designated time for unpacking from 2 to 4 pm. However, during this time, we also needed to pick up our room
keys, pick up our campus phones, get our student ID cards (for which there was a huge line), confirm our meal plans, pick up our keys at the mail room, set up our bank accounts—oh, and I almost forgot, unpack. Given that we international students had to travel miles and miles away from our homes to Brandeis, we probably brought a lot more clothes and goods than someone from, let’s say, New York. (Unless of course your Yiddishe mamme was helping you pack; in that case, even if you live in Waltham, you probably brought more personal belongings than someone from China). As you, the international student, are unpacking what seems to be an endless ocean of luggage, you realize that you’ll need a
fan because it’s scorching hot in your dorm. Problem number one: You need to go out to the local Target—a 40-minute trip—to buy a few more things, which you didn’t foresee needing, but you only have 20 minutes left until your AIDE group meeting. Taking your personal necessities into consideration first, you probably skip lunch, dinner or another icebreaker event. And even if you do make it back to the 4 p.m. AIDE group meeting, you probably won’t go to the 6 p.m. Roosevelt Reception in the Levin Ballroom because of everything else you need to take care of. In this manner, people show up at uneven intervals, making it impossible for a formal activity to be made concrete.
However, it doesn’t end there. Most international students, coming from faraway nations like Kenya, don’t have with them that crucial communication apparatus that I like to call a cell phone. Since cell phone companies aren’t brought onto campus to facilitate this inconvenience, you must make your own time to go check out the famous four: Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint. Trust me when I tell you this is a long task. The options are endless, and may take up a whole afternoon, if not longer. All in all, if there had been a clear schedule that would have given students the time to settle down and get acquainted with their new home, there would have been less disorientation at orientation.
THE JUSTICE
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
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SPORTS CROSS COUNTRY
Team effort results in dominant run ■ Both cross country teams
owned the top times in the opening meet against Bentley College last Friday. By IAN CUTLER and DAVID FISCH JUSTICE STAFF WRITERS
Five men’s runners and 11 women’s runners on the Brandeis cross country teams crossed the finish line before any of their respective opponents at last Saturday’s season-opening meet against Division II foe Bentley College at Weston High School. Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams cruised to victories over the Falcons. The No. 13 men’s team won by a 1548 decision, while the women’s team took the meet 15-50. With both teams taking the top five slots in each race, the Judges quickly defeated Bentley by securing the minimum 15 points for the meet.
“It was a good day,” Coach John Evans said of the opening meet. “We just wanted the team to run together and run a good solid race. It was accomplished on both sides. We picked up the pace as we went along, and it wasn’t really a tough race.” Sam Donovan ’11 led the men’s team and finished first among a pack of five runners in the 6,000-meter race with a time of 19 minutes, 54 seconds. Teammates Paul Norton ’11, Dan Anastos ’11, Devon Holgate ’11 and Chris Brown ’12 rounded out the top five, each finishing the course with the same time of 19:54. Bentley senior captain Steve Bergantino was the first Falcon to complete the course, closing it out at 19:56, good enough for a sixthplace finish. Brown reemphasized the team’s goal to run together as a unit. “We took it as a tempo run,” Brown said. “[We] went easy to get back in groups and finished strong as a team.” The Judges dominated the rest of the field by also taking the seventh
through ninth seeds as part of owning 11 of the top 15 slots. Ryan Cheng ’11 and Ben Bray ’11 took seventh and eighth place, respectively, with a time of 19:59, while Alex Hulse ’12 came in just one second later to take ninth place overall. Holgate’s top finish in this race marks a big step in his return to the cross country team this season. Holgate missed both his rookie and sophomore years because of a quad injury and a bout of pneumonia that sidelined him during each of the last two cross country seasons, according to Evans. Holgate ran during the indoor track season last year but made his cross country debut last Saturday. Evans said that Holgate has progressed since his injuries and has become one of the team’s best runners. “[Holgate] had a good offseason, and he’s really stepped it up and will be one of our top guys,” Evans said. “We have a good team, and [Holgate] is
going to be a big part of that. … Once he’s gotten healthy, we’ve seen what he could do. I think he could be allAmerican in cross country.” On the women’s side, 11 Brandeis runners crossed the finish line as a group before any of the Bentley runners reached the end of the race. Grayce Selig ’11 led the pack of nine Judges who finished with a meet-best time of 15:45 and found herself at the top of the field at the event for the second year in a row. Two runners, Jess Girard ’10 and Julia Alpaio ’10, had the second-best time among the field at 15:49 and finished in 10th and 11th place, respectively. Selif was joined at the top by Marie Lemay ’11, Kate Warwick ’12, Erin Bisceglia ’12, Alyssa Pisarik ’12, Hannah Lindholm ’11, Emily Owen ’11 and captains Ally Connoly ’10 and Beth Pisarik ’10. Bentley junior Lauren Lesniak was the first Falcon to finish the course, taking 12th place with a time of 16:05. Lemay spoke about her reaction to
the team’s success. “It felt good,” she said. “It shows that we have a really deep team and that we’re all pretty close to each other.” Evans also added that last Saturday’s meet would serve as good preparation for the tougher meets that lie ahead as the season progresses, as he expects both teams to reach the NCAA Championships this season after the men did so last year for the first time in 10 years. “It’s a good stepping stone to see where we all are right now. It’s just a good start,” he said. “We have a big invitational in a couple of weeks. These are all prep races for [University Athletic Association Championships], and [Division III New England Regional Championships] and I think the girls will surprise a few people and qualify for nationals [with the men’s team]”. Both teams will next compete at the UMass-Dartmouth Invitational Sept. 19 at 10 a.m.
OPENING NIGHT
MSOCCER: Squad draws and loses at Classic CONTINUED FROM 16 Midfielder Luke Teece ’12 was the Judges’ primary offensive weapon against Southern Maine. With 4 minutes, 30 seconds left in the game, Teece struck a ball that hit the left post. Teece later had another chance to put the ball in the net, but May was able to stop his shot and preserve the shutout. Last Saturday, the Judges tied Rutgers-Newark 1-1 in the team’s season opener. In his collegiate debut, forward Lee Russo ’13 had a corner kick 3:40 into the game that deflected off an opposing player’s head into the net, giving the Brandeis an early 1-0 lead. The Judges were ahead until the 67th minute, when junior Estiven Benitez got one past Lynch to even up the score. Lynch played well in the team’s opener, saving three Scarlet Raider shots and three corner kicks that came his way. The Judges’ best chance to take the lead came from Teece in the 75th minute, when junior goalie Matt Zielyk made a sprawling save on Teece’s shot to preserve the tie. Neither team scored in the two overtime periods, but the Judges came close, recording four shots on goal against the Scarlet Raiders’ one. Though the teams tied, the Judges suffered a small loss in the second overtime. Midfielder Corey Bradley ’10 drew a red card after committing a foul on a Scarlet Raider player, forcing him to sit out the team’s next game against Southern Maine. Although his team didn’t earn a victory at the Classic, Coven was very impressed with the debuts of his rookies, including Russo and midfielders Eric Root ’13 and Matt Hauser ’13. “I think our [rookies] are very good,” Coven said. “They have stepped up and performed very well for us.” The Judges will next play at Clark University Saturday at 2:30 p.m. Brandeis fell at home to Clark 2-1 in a heated game between the two teams last season.
JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice
SEASON STARTER: Forwards Kelly Doolittle ’12, center, and Liz Watson ’12, right, battle defenders for the ball in the Judges’ season-opening 2-1 victory last Tuesday night.
WSOCCER: Deis wins two at home CONTINUED FROM 16
Baluta scored her first collegiate goal to tie the game at one. The Judges had 12 shots in the first half but only scored the once. Coach Denise Dallamora said the team realized that Nazareth junior goalie Hillary Simon stood at 5 feet, 11 inches, so the Judges started to aim their shots low. “The goalkeeper was very tall, and we were shooting high [in the first half]”, Dallamora said. “She was not going to save anything low and in the corners.”
The strategy paid off as the Judges scored twice in the second half for the 3-1 win. The first goal came in the 47th minute when Ali Theodore took a header from Pacheco and buried it into the net. The third and final Judges’ goal came off the head of midfielder Sofia Vallone ’11. Vallone took the cross from Pacheco, who picked up her second assist of the game. Vallone’s goal marked her second in two games after coming back from a fractured fibula she suffered in the third game of last season.
“We really missed her last year,” Dallamora said of Vallone. “She played [at] 95 percent, so like 5 percent more to go. … She’s still got a little bit of rehab to do.” Goalie Hillary Rosenzweig ’10, who started all but two games in net last year, played the entire first half and recorded one save, but Dallamora put in Jaclyn Weinstein ’12 at goal for the second half. Dallamora said this decision had nothing to do with Rosenzweig’s health or how she played. “It wasn’t anything that [Rosenzweig]
did. She played a good first half, and [Weinstein] played a good second half,” Dallamora said. “We might [do it again]. [It’s] game to game, I don’t want to make any decisions.” Last Tuesday night the Judges opened their season with a 2-1 victory against MIT. Vallone scored off an assist from Mimi Theodore, and midfielder Alanna Torre ’12 later added the second goal. MIT scored in the 89th minute, but the Judges held on to win. Brandeis will next play at Babson College Wednesday at 4 p.m. and at Springfield College Saturday at noon.
VOLLEYBALL: Kim earns 100th win as Judges take four CONTINUED FROM 16 “They didn’t really have to earn the last game, the fifth game, because we were dead, giving up errors, not working together.” Blasco led all scorers with 19 kills in the Springfield match, while her sister, setter Abby Blasco ’11, led the team with 40 assists. Rookie libero Anna Homitsky ’13 had a team-high 13 digs in the match.
“[Homitsky] played well,” Kim said. “She’s a good athlete and picks up on things very quickly. Her goal as a libero is to pass and dig, and she did a good job.” In the team’s first match of the tournament against Roger Williams, Brandeis easily won the first set 2518 before losing the second set 25-14. The Judges were able to turn it around, however, winning the next two games 25-13 and 26-24 to take the
victory. In their next two matches, the Judges beat Lasell 25-11, 25-10, 25-10 and Westfield State 25-10, 25-23, 25-14 to move on to face Springfield in the finals. In last Tuesday night’s seasonopener, the Judges defeated Babson College 25-18, 25-22, 25-14 to earn Kim her 100th career victory. Outside hitter/middle blocker Bridget McAllister ’10 had a team-
high 10 kills and Abby Blasco again led the way with 30 assists. “It was just another match for us, and it was an important match for us because it was the first one of the season; so as far as I’m considered, it is a milestone, but for us it’s just another match,” Kim said. The Judges play tonight at Wellesley College at 7 p.m. before hosting the Brandeis Invitational, which starts Friday afternoon.
THE JUSTICE ● TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
AP BRIEFS
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Pro Bowl Patriot lineman Richard Seymour traded to Oakland
Sofia Vallone ’11 ■ The women’s soccer
midfielder returned last week from a season-long injury and tallied two goals in the team’s first two games of the season. Women’s soccer player Sofia Vallone ’11 suffered a devastating injury last year, breaking her fibula and spraining her ankle, thus ending her season after just three games. This year, as a starting midfielder for the Judges, she is looking to make up for lost time. In the team’s first two games of the season, Vallone has already scored two goals to lead the Judges to an early 2-0 start. Despite her early success, Vallone realizes the difficulties of returning from a serious injury. “It’s really hard,” Vallone said. “You’re continuously trying to get back as soon as possible, but your body just can’t handle everything yet, so even coming back this preseason, and throughout this season, I still have to get my ankle taped, and I’m continuously keeping track of what’s going on with my body.” Vallone said the injury has helped her work hard to improve her game. “I think that having gotten injured and gone through rehab only makes you realize how much more you want to play,” Vallone said. “That’s your motivation. That’s what keeps you going.” Vallone’s performances were pivotal in both last Tuesday’s 2-1 victory over the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and last Sunday’s 3-1 victory over Nazareth College. After the team’s first two games, Vallone commented that coming together as a team will be the team’s
Judging numbers
11
women’s cross country runners who finished the 6,000meter course against Bentley College last Friday before any runners from Bentley completed the race. The Judges won the head-to-head meet by a count of 15-50.
2
members of the Blasco family, volleyball players Paige ’11 and Abby ’11, who were named to the All-Tournament team at the Springfield Invitational last weekend. The Judges went 3-1 in the seasonopening tournament, good enough for second place.
20
shots on goal by the men’s soccer team in its game against the University of Southern Maine last Sunday. Despite outshooting the Huskies 20-15, the Judges lost the game 2-0.
5
men’s cross country runners— Sam Donovan ’11, Devon Holgate ’11, Paul Norton ’11, Dan Anastos ’11 and Chris Brown ’12—who ran as a pack and finished first in a meet against Bentley College last Friday. The Judges won the head-to-head meet 15-48.
8
combined points in two games for women’s soccer midfielder Sofia Vallone ’11 and forward Tiffany Pacheco ’11. The two players have combined for three goals and two assists.
JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice
GOAL SCORER: Midfielder Sofia Vallone ’11, left, dribbles up field during last Sunday’s win. biggest challenge looking forward. “We have different sophomores who have done an amazing job in our starting lineup now and it’s all about find-
ing each other’s strengths and weaknesses and working together to get a win.” —Jonathan Steinberg
UAA STANDINGS Men’s Soccer
Women’s Soccer
Not including Monday’s games
Not including Monday’s games
UAA Conference WL T Rochester 0 0 0 Carnegie 0 0 0 Washington 0 0 0 Chicago 0 0 0 Emory 0 0 0 New York 0 0 0 JUDGES 0 0 0 Case 0 0 0
UAA Conference WL JUDGES 0 0 Chicago 0 0 Rochester 0 0 New York 0 0 Carnegie 0 0 Case 0 0 Emory 0 0 Washington 0 0
W 2 2 1 1 1 1 0 0
L 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 2
Overall T Pct. 0 1.000 0 .667 2 .667 0 .500 0 .500 0 .500 1 .250 1 .167
W 2 2 2 2 1 1 0 1
L 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 2
T 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 0
Overall Pct. 1.000 1.000 .833 .667 .500 .500 .333 .333
TEAM LEADERS MSoccer (shots)
WSoccer (points)
Midfielder Luke Teece ’12 has a team-high seven shots in two games this season.
Midfielder Sofia Vallone ’11 and forward Tiffany Pacheco ’11 lead the team with four points each.
Player Luke Teece Joe Eisenbeis Sam Ocel Kyle Gross Noah Bass
Player Tiffany Pacheco Sofia Vallone Ali Theodore Alanna Torre Mimi Theodore
Shots 7 4 3 3 3
Points 4 4 2 2 2
Volleyball (kills)
Volleyball (digs)
Outside hitter Bridget McAllister ’10 led the Judges with 10 kills as of Sept. 2.
Libero Anna Homitsky ’13 has 14 digs to lead the squad as of Sept. 2.
Player Bridget McAllister Nicole Smith Paige Blasco Becca Fischer Piera Carfagno
Player Anna Homitsky Abby Blasco Paige Blasco Bridget McAllister Piera Carfagno
Kills 10 8 8 6 6
Digs 14 13 9 9 7
UPCOMING GAME OF THE WEEK Women’s Tennis vs. Bowdoin College
4
Last season, the women’s tennis team finished the year with a record of 11-9, settling for a sixth-place finish at the University Athletic Association Championships last April. This year, the team hopes its opening match against Bowdoin College at home Saturday at 11 a.m. will be the start of a more successful season.
ALAMEDA, Calif.—The Oakland Raiders took a big step toward improving their struggling run defense by acquiring five-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman Richard Seymour from the New England Patriots on Sunday. The move does not come without its risks, as the Raiders gave up a first-round pick in 2011, which could be in the top 10 based on Oakland’s recent history, to acquire a lineman who turns 30 next month and is in the final year of a contract paying him $3.7 million this season. Raiders owner Al Davis wanted immediate help for a defense that has struggled to stop the run in recent seasons. Since going to the Super Bowl following the 2002 season, Oakland has had the worst run defense in the NFL, allowing 141.7 yards per game on the ground and 122 touchdowns rushing. The Raiders have allowed a 100-yard rusher in more than half of their games the past three years. “It shows the commitment of this organization,” defensive end Greg Ellis said. “You can’t guarantee we’re going to have a great, great season this year. But the commitment is definitely there so players don’t have to question that when you’re making those kinds of moves to make something happen and hopefully win right now.” Seymour has been a stalwart in New England since being drafted sixth overall in 2001. He played on three Super Bowl-winning teams with the Patriots, recording 39 career sacks and being selected to the Pro Bowl for five straight seasons beginning in 2002. “From nearly the day he arrived in 2001, Richard Seymour established himself as one of our premier players for nearly a decade,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Sunday. “His presence has been felt as a force on the field, a respected man off it and a multiyear champion.” The move is only the latest as the Patriots continue to get younger on defense. This offseason, linebacker Mike Vrabel was traded to Kansas City, safety Rodney Harrison retired and more recently Tedy Bruschi officially called it a career after 13 seasons. Seymour was the last member of the 2001 Super Bowl championship defense still with New England. Earlier this summer, Oakland sent two-time Pro Bowl defensive end Derrick Burgess to New England for a pair of mid-round draft picks. The Patriots also acquired receiver Randy Moss from Oakland in 2007 for a fourthround pick, and the teams have swapped draft picks in recent years. “Any transaction we make is with the goal of what is best for our team and, as difficult as it is to part ways with a player of [Seymor’s] stature, many factors were taken into account when we considered this trade,” Belichick said. “As an organization, we feel the trade with Oakland brings sufficient value and is in the long-term interest of the club,” he added. “We are extremely grateful for the huge impact Richard’s elite level of performance had on our success and we wish him the very best during the rest of his career.” Seymour goes from a team that has gone 77-19 the past six seasons to one that is an NFL-worst 24-72 over that span. The Raiders became the first team to lose at least 11 games in six straight seasons when Seymour and the Patriots beat them 49-26 last December. The addition of rookies Myron Pryor and Ron Brace to a defensive line that also includes veterans Vince Wilfork, Ty Warren, Jarvis Green and Mike Wright made Seymour expendable.
United States and Mexico close in on World Cup-qualifying bids
The Judges will begin the fall season at home Saturday at 11 a.m.
days until the start of the golf team’s season. The Judges open the year with the Bowdoin Invitational starting Sept. 12
15
The team is led by No. 1 singles player Rachel Rosman ’11, who last season had a team-best singles record of 21-5, including a 16-4 mark at the No. 1 singles position. Mackenzie Gallegos ’11 and captains Ariana Sanai ’10 and Emily Weisberger ’10 should also contribute. The three combined for 37 singles wins last season.
SANDY, Utah—The United States moved into prime position to qualify for its sixth straight World Cup, coming from behind to beat El Salvador 2-1 on Saturday with first-half goals by Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore. Mexico also boosted its once-flagging qualifications hopes, winning 3-0 away at Costa Rica via goals from Giovanni Dos Santos, Guillermo Franco and Andres Guardado. In the other Confederation of North and Central American and Caribbean Football-qualifying match, Honduras swamped Trinidad and Tobago 4-1 with two goals from Carlos Pavon and one each from Amado Guevara and David Suazo. Honduras and the United States have 13 points each to lead qualifying; Mexico and Costa Rica have 12. When qualifying ends next month, the top three teams advance automatically to the 32-team tournament in South Africa. No. 4 faces a playoff with the No. 5 from South America for another berth. “We’ve got three more tough games, but if we continue to get points we’re going to be all right,” said Dempsey, who atoned for an early miss with a diving header to level the scores in the 41st minute. Qualifying continues on Wednesday. The United States is away at Trinidad, Mexico hosts Honduras, and Costa Rica visits El Salvador. Christian Castillo gave El Salvador a surprising lead in the 32nd minute after a giveaway by Jonathan Bornstein. It was cause for American concern, as they hadn’t come from behind to win a World Cup qualifier since 1985. However, Dempsey equalized in the 41st minute and Altidore made it 2-1 in first-half stoppage time. Landon Donovan set up both goals, the first with a free kick and the second with a long cross. Tim Howard made a point-blank stop on a William Reyes shot in the 87th to preserve the lead, as the United States improved to four straight wins at home in the final round of qualifying. The Americans, ranked No. 11 in the world by FIFA, were without defenders Oguchi Onyewu, suspended, and the injured Jay DeMerit. In addition, forward Charlie Davies limped off in the 71st minute with what appeared to be a left calf injury. In its game, Mexico took the lead as the half was ending when Cuauhtemoc Blanco switched play and found Dos Santos, who advanced on goal before unleashing an unstoppable low drive past goalkeeper Keylor Navas into the far corner. Mexico sealed the match in the second half. “It’s a great result,” Efrain Juarez said.
just
Sports
Page 16
EASY VICTORY The men’s and women’s cross country teams beat Bentley College in their opening meet, p. 13.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Waltham, Mass.
HOME VICTORIES
VOLLEYBALL
Team starts off hot ■ The volleyball team won its
first four matches before losing in the finals of the Springfield Invite Sept. 5. By MELISSA SIEGEL JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER
JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice
BALL CONTROL: Forward Melissa Gorenkoff ’10 works the sideline against a Nazareth College defender during the Judges’ second victory of the season last Sunday.
Judges open with two straight wins ■ The women’s soccer team
beat Nazareth College and MIT at home last week to start the season 2-0. By MELISSA SIEGEL JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER
With only 4 minutes, 42 seconds gone by in the women’s soccer team’s
game against Nazareth College last Sunday, Judges midfielder Mimi Theodore ’12 assisted on a goal that gave the team an early 1-0 lead. Early in the second half, her twin sister, midfielder Ali Theodore ’12, put the Judges ahead for good. Ali Theodore scored her first goal of the season and fourth of her career just under a minute and a half into the second half to give the Judges a 21 lead in a game Brandeis would go on
to win 3-1. The win put the Judges at 2-0 after the team opened its season with a 2-1 victory over the Massachusetts Institute of Technology last Tuesday. “Obviously I was very happy with that goal because it put us ahead and kind of got the energy going for the beginning of the second half,” Mimi Theodore said of her sister’s goal. “I was just glad for her because I knew how hard she was working, so it was
nice to see her get the game-winning goal.” Brandeis took the early lead on a goal by forward Tiffany Pacheco ’11, who tied for the team lead with eight goals last season. Mimi Theodore passed her the ball from near the endline for the assist. The Golden Flyers struck back later in the half. In the 39th minute, Nazareth rookie midfielder Sarah
See WSOCCER, 13 ☛
MEN’S SOCCER
Squad struggles offensively in opening games ■ The men’s soccer team
scored once in two games at the Adidas Kick-Off Classic last weekend and open the season at 0-1-1. By JOSH ASEN JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
In its second game at the Adidas Kick-Off Classic at Wheaton College last Sunday, the men’s soccer team was unable to handle junior Nick Johnson and the rest of the
University of Southern Maine Huskies, losing 2-0 to conclude the tournament that also featured the Scarlet Raiders of Rutgers-Newark University and the Lyons of Wheaton College. The Judges’ loss came after the team battled Rutgers-Newark to a 1-1 draw last Saturday, putting the team’s record at 0-1-1 to start the season. The game against Southern Maine was scoreless until the second half, when Johnson put one past Brandeis goalie Matt Lynch ’11 in the 59th minute from the top of the box after maneuvering past a pair of defend-
ers. Coach Michael Coven, who has entered his 37th season as the men’s soccer coach, called the shot “a perfectly hit ball.” Lynch went on to say that Johnson “tucked it away nicely into the left corner.” Two minutes later, Johnson’s second goal floated into the back of the net from about 30 yards away, giving the Huskies all they would need to defeat the Judges and wrap up their first win of the season. “It was kind of a tough ball that got over and found its way into the [goal],” Lynch said. Coven was unhappy with the way the goals were scored.
“Both goals were blatant mistakes on our part that never should have been made,” he said. The Judges desperately attempted to add more offense after Johnson’s two goals by putting in an extra attacker with the two forwards already on the field. Despite outshooting the Huskies 20-15 in the game, the Judges failed to net a goal against Southern Maine senior goalie Steven May. “We had plenty of opportunities to score, and we just made mistakes,” Coven said. “We lost composure in front of the goal we were attacking.”
See MSOCCER, 13 ☛
After losing the first game of its match against Springfield College in the finals of the Springfield College Invitational last Saturday, the women’s volleyball team won its next two games and appeared to be on the verge of completing the comeback, leading 12-8 in the fourth game. But the Pride went on a 5-0 run to take a 13-12 lead and eventually win the set 25-23 to tie the match at two. Springfield went on to win the deciding fifth set 15-10 and take home the title. Springfield defeated Brandeis 2522, 20-25, 17-25, 25-23, 15-10 in the championship game after Brandeis defeated Roger Williams University in the opening round, Lasell College in the second round and Westfield State College in the third round to advance to the final. The Judges also won their opening game of the season at Babson College to give Coach Michelle Kim her 100th career victory in only her sixth season as head coach. According to outside hitter Paige Blasco ’11, Springfield arranged the scheduling for the tournament and chose to play two games last Friday, the first day of the tournament and two games last Saturday. The Judges, however, ended up playing three of their four games on Saturday without a long break in between. “All of us were exhausted [by the third game on Saturday] because we played two games in a row right before. … We weren’t working together as well as normal, and it was just hard to get back after the loss in the fourth game into the fifth game,” Blasco said. In the first three games of the final match against Springfield, there were no lead changes or ties other than the first points of each game. In the first game the Pride took a 17-11 lead, but the Judges were able to pull within 23-22 before two straight Brandeis errors secured the win for Springfield. Brandeis came back strong in the next two games, however, without trailing in either one. In the third set they were aided by Springfield’s 11 errors and hitting percentage of .121. The fourth set was the most competitive, with 14 lead changes and six ties. Brandeis had a match-high 16 kills in the set but was hurt by eight errors compared to just four for the Pride. Errors hurt Brandeis in the decisive fifth set as well, as the Pride held a 13-10 lead and scored the final two points on Brandeis errors. While the Judges had just three errors in the fifth and final set, Springfield did not have any. “I think we gave up too many points in the Springfield match with all our errors, which really made it pretty easy for Springfield not to have to do as much,” Blasco said.
See VOLLEYBALL, 13 ☛
just
September 8, 2009
ARTS
Blondes invade Brandeis! p. 20
Photos: Asher Krell and Robyn Spector/the Justice. Design: Julian Agin-Liebes and Max Breitstein Matza/ the Justice.
18
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
●
THE JUSTICE
POP CULTURE
INSIDE ON CAMPUS ■ 19Student
18-21
Coffeehouse
The Music department assembled a lineup of students from diverse musical backgrounds to perform at a casual event in the Slosberg Recital Hall this Sunday. ■ 2024
Hour Musical
Hillel Theater Group and Tympanium Euphorium collaborated with scores of sleepdeprived Brandeis students to cast, rehearse and perform Legally Blonde: the Jewsical in only 24 hours. .■ Pains of Being Pure concert
21
The popular indie band performed a rousing show at Chum’s, supported by Cymbals Eat Guitars and the Depreciation Guild. JustArts writers later spoke to Pains frontman Kip Berman about Billy Corgan, Courtney Love
OFF CAMPUS
19, 23-24
and Berman’s musical influences. ■ 19Review:
‘Ellipse’
The latest innovative album from Imogen Heap incorporates a number of intriguing recordings, but lackluster lyrics and hooks damage the record’s appeal, according to one pop music fan. ■ 23Review:
‘Extract’
Director Mike Judge’s follow-up film to his sleeper hit Office Space echoed its predecessor’s professional malaise, squandering its
CALENDAR
INTERVIEW by Shelly Shore
At long last, singer Michael Jackson was laid to rest on Thursday, Sept. 3. Jackson’s family and close friends arrived at Forest Lawn Cemetery at about 8:10 p.m. As Michael’s three children; his sisters, Janet and LaToya; his brothers, Jermaine and Tito; and his parents, Katherine and Joe took their seats, solo piano renditions of Michael’s songs began to play. Jackson’s body was driven into Forest Lawn shortly before 8:30 p.m. and arrived at the burial site minutes later. As soon as the hearse arrived, the cemetery-based camera feeds shut off, ending the public’s up-close, audio-assisted viewing of the proceedings. In addition to Michael’s family, a number of celebrities attended the burial, including Macaulay Culkin; Stevie Wonder; Michael’s exwife, Lisa Marie Presley; Corey Feldman; Elizabeth Taylor; Gladys Knight; and Reverend Al Sharpton. Without audio, it was impossible to hear the details of the service, but Sharpton Tweeted briefly during the ceremony: “I just spoke at the conclusion of tributes,” he wrote “Gladys Knight sang her heart out. Now we prepare to lay him to rest.” The moving Thursday evening service was overshadowed, in a way, by an interview given by Dr. Jack Kevorkian on Wednesday regarding Dr. Conrad Murray, the physician targeted in the manslaughter investigation into Michael’s death. Even though Jackson's death has been ruled a homicide, Kevorkian, 81, told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto Wednesday that Murray did not commit murder by providing Jackson with lethal amounts of the anesthetic propofol. “I don’t think he was malicious,” Kevorkian said. “Murder is defined by forethought. … Did the doctor have forethought? I doubt it. … The patient got what he wanted. He is the one who said yes or no to a drug.”
Chang talks composition ■ The recipient of the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition discussed her creative process. Prof. Yu-Hui Chang (MUS), associate professor of composition, described to the Justice via e-mail how she goes about creating a musical work, as well as her newly finished piece for cello and piano. The piece, which was commisioned by cellist Rhonda Rider and titled “Through Time ... With Su Shr,” is about six minutes long. At present, Chang is on leave from Brandeis and is devoting her time to writing a piece co-commisioned by the Triple Helix Piano Trio.
JEFF WIDENER/The Associated Press
R.I.P.: A star-studded assemblage of family and friends buried the King of Pop on Thursday. Despite the renewed controversy over the singer’s death, Michael’s funeral remained a quiet, moving affair. CNN reported that Knight sang the Lord’s Prayer, Presley was extremely emotional when the casket was brought in from the hearse and that Taylor’s wheelchair had to be lifted up a series of steps after the various tributes when attendees entered the mausoleum. The ceremony lasted about an hour and 15 minutes. “Michael Jackson has been laid to rest,” Sharpton tweeted around 9:45 p.m.
What’s happening in Arts on and off campus
Brandeis Theatre Company auditions Director Prof. Eric Hill (THA) and the Brandeis Theatre Company are looking to cast the characters of Perry and Rodger for a production of Everything in the Garden, a play by Edward Albee that is based upon the work of Giles Cooper. Those looking to audition may sign up for an audition time on the Spingold Theater callboard located outside of the green room on the second floor. Audition material will be provided at the audition. The play, which details the lives of suburbanites Jenny and Richard as they strive for financial security, will run in October. In the past, the BTC—which describes itself as “the production and performing ensemble comprised of the students, guest artists, faculty and staff of the theater arts department at Brandeis University”—has brought such plays as Siddhartha, Saturday Night and Hecuba to Brandeis students. Tuesday from 5 to 6 p.m. in Spingold Rehearsal Room 206.
Hirsch-Pinkas Piano Duo Recital Evan Hirsch and his wife, Sally Pinkas, will perform a program composed of selections by Ravel, Schumann and Schubert. According to the pair’s Web site, “Pinkas and Hirsch made their European debut in 1995 at the Officina Musicale dell’Altopiano in Abruzzo, Italy, where they have been performing regularly ever since. … The [HirschPinkas Piano] Duo celebrated its 10th anniversary season with performances throughout New England, Israel and Italy, and followed with an extensive concert and teaching tour in Bulgaria. In 2004 they embarked upon their first China visit, playing and teaching at the Xian Conservatory (Xian) and the China Conservatory (Beijing). For the past four years they have participated in the Masters de Pontlevoy Summer Festival in the Loire Valley, France. Other recent engagements include a residency at the Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia in Rome, Italy, and a second extensive tour in Bulgaria.” Pinkas holds a Ph.D. in Composition and Theory from Brandeis, and Hirsch is currently a piano instructor for the school’s Music department. Friday from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in the Slosberg Recital Hall.
WHAT’S ON?
ADINA PARETZKY/Justice File Photo
ADAGIO ARTISTS: The Adagio Dance Company is the ensemble behind the annual fall Dancefest.
Dancefest choreographer auditions
Experimental Dental School
Choreographers are needed for the annual fall dance show. Adagio, the ensemble responsible for the event, describes Dancefest as “a celebration of all the faces of dance.” Dancefest features the talent of a variety of Brandeis dance troupes in addition to performances by groups from other Boston area schools. Sunday from 11 a.m. to 12:05 p.m. in the Rosenthal Dance Studio.
Punk, Rock n’ Roll Club presents Experiemental Dental School, a duo from Portland, Oregon composed of Shoko Horikawa (drums, vocals) and Jesse Hall (guitar, vocals). The group’s sound, according to Andrew R. Tonry of the Portland Mercury, is “simply phenomenal,” and during their live shows Horikawa and Hall are described by AllMusic.com as capable of sending their fans into hysterics. Sunday from 9 to 11:30 p.m. in Cholmondeley’s.
Music Department Student Coffeehouse A number of Brandeis students will be performing musical pieces showcasing their diverse artistic tastes during this student coffeehouse. For instance, Jared Field ’11 and Jae Han ’10 will play the first two movements of the Hindemith Sonata for clarinet and piano, and Aimée Birnbaum ’10 will perform folk songs on guitar. The event will also feature the talents of VoiceMale and other on-campus groups (see article p. 19). Sunday from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Slosberg Recital Hall.
OFF-CAMPUS EVENT ‘The Window’ The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston will screen The Window by Carlos Sorin, a film created in 2008 that details the attempts of its main character (80-year-old Antonio) to reconnect with his estranged son. Friday from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
JustArts: Can you tell me a little about that new piece? I understand it was a commission, but artistically, where did the impetus come from? Yu-Hui Chang: When I receive a commission from a performer with whom I collaborated before, I usually try to tailor the new piece around the strength of this particular performer. This process can be quite satisfying, because I can clearly envision how this performer will react to a specific passage or interpret the piece in general. So there is more a personal connection between the musician and I through the piece. Rhonda Rider, a former Lydian String Quartet cellist, is a cellist of great energy and virtuosic skills, and I am excited about writing a cello and piano piece for her. I have long admired the power and elegance that coexist in her performance. I wish to showcase such [qualities] in this piece. JA: How do you bring together your studies of Eastern and Western music when you create your compositions? YC: I do not regularly incorporate Eastern elements into my composition (which is mostly based on the Western tradition), unless I am inspired by a specific topic for a particular project. However, I am very aware of the influence of my cultural heritage in my music, which is embedded in a deeper level as a reflection of my aesthetic and taste. JA: When you compose, do you usually start with a title and concept, or do you fit the concept to your musical ideas? YC: I usually start with an extramusical concept and then find the best musical ideas to present it. The title often comes last. JA: How did you first get started in music? In composition? YC: At the age of six, I entered an intensive music training program and studied music theory and performance for the next 12 years before entering college. This program is sponsored by the Taiwanese government, with a purpose of providing professionally vigorous training for musically talented kids. On top of the normal grade 112 curriculum, kids in this program have to learn two instruments and be reviewed by a jury every semester for their progress. They also regularly take music theory, sight-singing and ear training, chorus, orchestra, music appreciation and history, and some Chinese music courses. As far as I can remember, I composed my first piece when I was eight (a piano piece describing a sand storm in an Arabian desert.) I eventually took on composition as my main focus when I was fourteen. JA: What are some of your favorite composers and musicians to listen to? YC: At this point, I don't really favor any particular composers, as I learn very different things from a variety of music. I not only listen to music that I like, but often to pieces that are stylistically remote from my own, as I find it extremely stimulating. JA: Do you have any particular ensembles or individuals that you've enjoyed working with? YC: I have had great fortune to work with many excellent ensembles and musicians in the U.S. and other parts of the world. But I have most personal connection with members of the Empyrean Ensemble, an ensemble in residence at UC Davis which I directed for six years prior to my arrival at Brandeis in 2006. I also have a long history collaborating with the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble in San Francisco. All of these musicians are not only wonderful to work with, they seem to be able to read my mind and to present my music exactly as I intend it to be. I am very grateful for all the care and support they have shown to my music.
—Hannah Kirsch
Top 10s for the week ending Sept. 8
Box Office
Billboard
WBRS
Staff Playlist
1. The Final Destination 2. All About Steve 3. Inglourious Basterds 4. Gamer 5. District 9 6. Halloween II 7. Julie & Julia 8. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra 9. The Time Traveler’s Wife 10. Extract
1. Colbie Caillat – Breakthrough 2. Skillet – Awake 3. Miley Cyrus – Time of Our Lives (EP) 4. Kings of Leon – Only By The Night 5. Imogen Heap – Ellipse 6. Reba – Keep On Loving You 7. George Strait – Twang 8. The Black Eyed Peas – The E.N.D. 9. Taylor Swift – Fearless 10. Various Artists – NOW That’s What I Call Country
1. Passion Pit – “Make Light” 2. Mark Hummel – “Easy” 3. Danny Schmidt – “The Night’s Beginning to Shine” 4. Racky Thomas – “Someone to Keep Me Satisfied” 5. Casiotone for – “Optimist Vs. The Silent Alarm” 6. Florence and the Machine – “Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)” 7. Playing for Change – “Stand By Me” 8. Bat for Lashes – “Daniel” 9. Robert Cray – “Chicken in The Kitchen” 10. Eddie Taylor – “Dust My Broom”
1. Fitness Forever – “Vacanze a Settembre” 2. The Tallest Man on Earth – “The Gardener” 3. Benjy Davis Project – “Sweet Southern Moon” 4. 4 Non Blondes – “What’s Up” 5. Shakira – “She Wolf” 6. Sliimy – “Wake Up” 7. Irie Révoltés – “Soleil” 8. Wyclef Jean – “Gone Till November” 9. The Rolling Stones – “Beast of Burden” —Sarah Bayer
Album information provided by Billboard Magazine. Box office information provided by Yahoo! Movies.
THE JUSTICE
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
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MUSIC
Imogen regresses on ‘Ellipse’ ■ The former Frou Frou artist’s latest album lacks the enjoyable nuances of her earlier albums and relies too heavily on audio techniques like vocal layering. By BRAD STERN JUSTICE EDITOR
In 2005, Imogen Heap released the widely acclaimed album Speak For Yourself, which dared to combine the catchiest of melodies with intricate, self-produced electronica, challenging the very boundaries of pop music production. For Imogen’s next undertaking, she decided to return to the very beginning—her childhood home, in fact. Building a studio in her family’s cottage outside of London, Imogen began collecting sounds from the home: odd clicks in the floorboards, squeaky chair grunts and anything else that might sound nice as a looped beat. Stitching them together between piano melodies and flourishes of electronica, she began work on what would eventually grow into Ellipse, released on Aug. 25 of this year. Heap’s third studio album is also arguably the first of its kind to embrace the ever-expanding nebula of social media, evidence of which can be both seen and heard in the making of Ellipse, from the piano melody of “The Fire,” snagged from a live webcam broadcast in Hawaii for fans of the artist, to the background chatter of “Half Life,” which was recorded at London’s “Twestival,” a charity event for Twitter users. The influence of social media even bled into the album’s artwork, which features the winning photos from a Flickr-run fan contest projected onto Imogen’s body as she poses around her home. Considering all of this—the album’s organic growth and deeprooted nostalgia factor, as well as its persistent emphasis on fan interaction—it is all the more difficult to come to terms with what I’ve ultimately realized: Ellipse isn’t really that good. Believe me, I’ve tried to like it. But the more I listened—really, truly listened—to this album, the more I began to accept that Ellipse just wasn’t capturing my attention. The hooks are less radio-friendly, the music is more complicated and interwoven, and the lyrics are far more sophisticated this time around—which all sound like the ingredients to a mature follow-up, right? Well, it doesn’t work here. Ellipse lacks the coy pop sensibility of “Goodnight and Go,” the intricate melodies of “Loose Ends” and “Headlock,” and the carnal growl of her early angst-ridden releases, including “Sweet Religion” and “Come Here Boy.” As a result, Ellipse is an
exercise in art-pop that simply promises too much. At least a handful of tracks prove nearly impossible to stomach. I’ve tried to find the patience to work through the goofy effervescence of “Earth,” failing each time the gleeful vocal layering comes pulsating into the airwaves. The same applies to “A-Ha!,” which has no idea what it wants to be; in the end, it is only an ominous, sweeping taunt that comes off as a cross between a drinking song and a not-quite-there reject from the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack. Even the bark of “Bad Body Double,” Imogen’s personal Single White Female backhand that promises all sorts of excellence in print (“We look the same except she’s got some greys and / A little extra weight on the sides / And dimply thighs / I hear that stuff’s a bitch to get rid of”) just barely comes off as a mere whimper in song form. The sound effects, such as the vocal layering that felt inspired and fresh on Speak For Yourself, now overload Ellipse with a certain degree of lameness, at times even providing the creeping suspicion that this album would be far better suited as the backing sound for a children’s TV show. In fact, the album’s mastering in general simply sounds mediocre in comparison. No matter what adjustments I’ve made to the volume, treble or bass, Ellipse still sounds like it’s being played just out of reach of the speakers. This isn’t to say that the album is all bad. After all, this is still an Imogen Heap production, which guarantees a certain amount of inherent magic. For me, the most strippeddown album tracks, such as “Wait It Out,” “Tidal” and even the all-tooshort instrumental, “The Fire,” happen to be favorites, “Canvas” is perhaps Heap’s most important show of growth: Maneuvering through the song with her most clever lyricism and a host of brooding, soaring piano and string melodies, the singer shines a light on the subjects of heartache and longing in a believable, brooding manner. The album’s more romantic melodies display a similar break in style, including “2-1,” “Between Sheets” and “Half Life,” which are nothing short of bliss—the latter of which proving to be on par, if not better, than her infamous ballad “Hide and Seek.” Be it the fault of spending too much time micromanaging and nitpicking the same songs in her home studio over a three-year period, or allowing too much input into the process from fans this time around, or simply as a result of “the hype,” Ellipse is not quite everything I’d hoped it to be. It’s listenable, and at times quite enjoyable at its beginning and end, but as far as developing, growing and evolving as an artist, Ellipse more often comes off sounding like a sidestep than a stride forward.
PHOTO COURTESY OF RCA PRESS ASSETS
MULTIMEDIA MUSICIAN: Imogen Heap’s latest album, ‘Ellipse,’ incorporates sounds and effects from various musical events.
MUSIC
Musicians to share interests at Slosberg Coffeehouse ■ Aimée Birnbaum ’10,
Jared Field ’10 and Jae Han ’10 discussed the projects and musical genres to be included in this event. By SARAH BAYER JUSTICE EDITOR
This Sunday, Sept. 13, at 7 p.m., Slosberg Music Center will play host to its first-ever Student Coffeehouse. While coffeehouse events are usually more strongly associated with Cholmondeley’s, the choice of Slosberg as a venue will allow a full showcase of the eclectic interests of campus musicians, including classical, folk and a cappella music. As one of the night’s performers, Aimée Birnbaum ’10 writes in an email, “I love classical music (from
Bach to Bernstein) and perform it in more formal settings, I play folk music in my spare time, I enjoy doing musical theater if a good opportunity comes up, and I even did a cappella for a few years.” The Student Coffeehouse offers an informal setting for musicians such as Birnbaum to share talents that would otherwise be subordinated to more academic pursuits. Another musician who will be playing that night, Jared Field ’11, indulges his diverse musical passions by participating in a wide array of Brandeis musical ensembles, including the Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra, Top Score, Chamber Choir and the Irving Fine Society, among others. “Some have called me insane,” Field admits, “but it’s hard to choose between these groups, and I somehow manage to get everything done anyway.” Field’s latest club endeavor is presiding over a “Ninja Band” that will
play surprise concerts around campus this year. The spontaneity of the club’s focus reflects a general shift in campus musical events towards more casual formats, which can also be seen in the Student Coffeehouse and the Music department’s new Friday Music Breaks series. Field, a Music major focusing on composition will be sharing his first passion on Sunday: the clarinet. Field started playing clarinet in fourth grade and has fallen in love with the instrument. “I really can’t imagine myself without it anymore,” he says. “I think it has one of the most beautiful tones of any instrument, … and it has a really varied and colorful range.” Field will join pianist Jae Han ’10 in performing two movements of “Sonata for Clarinet and Piano” by 20th-century composer Paul Hindemith. “In this piece [Hindemith] uses a lot of chords built on fourths,
and lots of echoing between the clarinet and piano,” Field explains, “which is pretty challenging to fit together.” However, the collaborative process inspires him to persevere. “I love collaborating with other Brandeis students in concerts like these,” he says. “Brandeis has a lot of really amazing musicians, and it’s always fun to work with them.” Other performances on Sunday include a set by the a cappella group VoiceMale and a solo performance by Han of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Sonata K. 457 in C minor. Birnbaum, a Music major with a focus on classical vocal performance, will be playing folk songs on her guitar, a change of pace for the singer. “I … felt that it would be fun to do some songs with my guitar, as opposed to singing classical music with an accompanist, because it’s an aspect of my music I haven’t shared yet with most of the folks over at Slosberg,”
she writes. Birnbaum links her diversity of interests to her choice to matriculate at Brandeis. “Brandeis let me simultaneously study everything I love, an experience I never would have gotten at a conservatory,” she says. Field chose the University for similar reasons. “Even though music is my main passion, I don’t want to leave my other interests un-nurtured,” he says. Both are pursuing second majors— Birnbaum in Classical Studies and Field in Philosophy. As for the future, well, neither is quite sure yet. Field says he’s looking into a number of different careers, from conducting to composing music. According to Birnbaum, “Music will always be an important part of my life, but in the long run, it might not take center stage, so to speak.”
—Andrea Fineman contributed reporting
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
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THE JUSTICE
24-HOUR MUSICAL
Actors skip sleep to learn lines By SARAH BAYER JUSTICE EDITOR
In a dynamic kickoff to the 2009 to 2010 Brandeis theater season, Hillel Theater Group and Tympanium Euphorium staged Legally Blonde: The Jewsical in Shapiro Theater Sunday night. As part of a four-year campus tradition, the play was cast, rehearsed and performed in only 24 hours. Over 80 students offered up their talents for a near-sleepless night and day without even knowing the title of the play—based on Broadway’s Legally Blonde: The Musical— ahead of time. Caitlin Partridge ’13 was one of many first-years who kicked off their collegiate theater careers this weekend, appearing as a member of protagonist Elle Woods’ “Delta Jew” sorority. Partridge was involved in theater in high school and plans to continue acting at Brandeis, starring as Juliet in Hold Thy Peace’s Romeo and Juliet later this semester. Partridge had previously seen the musical on TV and camped out in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium to rehearse in a schedule that she described as “crazy and busy all the time.” She praised the choice of musical, saying, “There’s a lot of parts so everyone gets to do their own thing.” She added, “It’s been a lot of fun, and I’m amazed at what we’ve managed to put together in such a short time.”
ROBYN SPECTOR/the Justice
‘BLONDE’ AMBITION: Elle Woods (Johanna Wickenmeyer ’12, center) struggles with the challenges of Harvard Law School while maintaining a fashionable ensemble.
Going ‘Blonde’ for a day
MAX BREITSTEIN MATZA/the Justice
ASHER KRELL/the Justice
ROBYN SPECTOR /the Justice
‘LEGAL’ TEAM: Counterclockwise from above: Elle Woods and her “Delta Jew” sorority sisters select the perfect outfit for a marriage proposal; accused murderer Brooke Wyndham (Ellyn Getz ’13, center) leads the dance corps in a musical workout routine; members of the Harvard Law School admissions committee (from left to right: Michael Rock ’13, Matthew Cohen ’11 and Jared Field ’11) discuss potential candidates; and Matthew Shear ’11 (left) prepares to perform as Elle Woods’ mentor, Professor Callahan.
ASHER KRELL/the Justice
THE JUSTICE
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
BERMAN BARES HEART TO BRANDEIS
Pains, Guild and Guitars play at Chum’s ■ The three indie bands
performed to an electrified crowd last Friday. By RASHEL BURGMAN and CHARLOTTE EAGLE JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Cholmondeley’s was filled Friday night with eclectic youth eagerly awaiting the evening’s lineup of some of New York’s finest indie music: Cymbals Eat Guitars, the Depreciation Guild and the night’s headliner, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, brought to you by Brandeis’ own Punk, Rock n’ Roll Club. The show began with Cymbals Eat Guitars from Manahawkin, N.J., composed of high school friends Joseph D’Agostino and Matthew Miller. Cymbals Eat Guitars has risen over the past few months, gaining notoriety from indie music blog Pitchfork.com. Their set sounded like an amalgam of ’90s alternative rock, beginning rough, and sending some concertgoers out the door, but moving to a smoother set toward the end once the lead singer’s knitted cap came off. Coincidence? I think not. The Depreciation Guild, in comparison, were more akin to The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Clad in mostly black and grey tones embodying the Williamsburg hipster image, the Depreciation Guild produced a constant stream of slow yet upbeat and melodic indie rock masterpieces, climaxing with the dreamy single appropriately titled “Dream About Me.” The crowning moment of the night was The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.
The adorable lineup of lead singer Kip Berman, a 29-year-old self-professed Jewish guy from the suburbs, Peggy Wang-East, the keyboardist and token female tambourine player, Kurt Feldman, drummer and lead singer of the Depreciation Guild and Alex Naidus, the bassist, round out this quirky Brooklyn-based quartet. They started their powerful set with “This Love Is F*cking Right,” a song that immediately got the crowd dancing and bopping along to the undeniably addictive indie-pop tune. Moving seamlessly from one song to another, leaving little time for energy to wither, The Pains of Beng Pure at Heart blasted elegantly into “Young Adult Friction.” The song is about not wanting a sexual encounter in the library to come to an end, making the lyrics, “Don’t check me out,” ironic and undoubtedly dorky. They moved through the rest of their set, hitting high points with the catchy single, “Tenure Itch,” giving a sarcastic shout-out before the song to Asher Roth’s hit “I Love College.” Other songs included the anthemic “Stay Alive,” from the band’s self-titled first album, which roused the crowd to shout the chorus right back to Berman’s face, and “Higher Than the Stars” off their newest EP and “Come Saturday,” a sweet love song about ignoring parties for a trade-off of a summer spent indoors. The show ended with their eponymous song “The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart,” yet another anthem to which the crowd chanted the defining sentiment of both the band and the night: “We will never die / No, we will never die.”
JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice
KIP CROONS: Kip Berman (right) and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart performed several of their popular songs on Friday.
JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice
EARNEST WANG-EAST: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart keyboardist and tambourine player Peggy Wang-East also performed at Friday’s concert in Chum’s.
JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice
BROOKLYN BOYS: Kurt Feldman (left), who also plays drums for the Depreciation Guild, and Alex Naidus complete The Pains.
An Interview with Kip Berman After the concert, we sat down with Kip Berman for some insight into his world: JustArts: What did you grow up listening to? Kip Berman: Stuff I really love is Scottish indie-pop stuff. I loved a lot of bands from Glasgow: Belle & Sebastian and other bands from Glasgow like Orange Juice, Teenage Fan Club and the Pastels. For some reason the city Glasgow had all these bands that were kind of noisy and kind of good guitar pop. It’s like for whatever reason it’s hard to explain why it’s good but it kind of is, like good melodies and noisy. I grew up in America so I listened to a lot of
American classic indie rock, like Pavement and Yo La Tengo, and I would just buy anything if it was on Matador Records. … I’d be psyched if there were more bands that sounded like the ’90s because that’s when I grew up. JA: Do you think you guys sound like a lot of the bands you grew up listening to? KB: Yeah, I think it’s inevitable that you sort of want to start a band that sounds like the bands you liked when growing up. It’s like that first heroic worship of music. Whether you want to or not it’s just kind of stuck in you. You always think that, like, the Smashing Pumpkins sound
cool when they’re on the radio, like, “Oh, I’m sorry, Billy Corgan went crazy.” JA: I met him at his book signing for his born-again Christian book. KB: He’s got a born-again Christian book? JA: Oh you didn’t know that? Yeah, he wrote a book of poetry praising God. KB: Oh see, I knew he did a book of poetry. [Courtney Love] was always getting accused of letting Billy Corgan write her albums. I’d let Billy Corgan write my albums. I’d be like, “Billy, you can do this.” JA: He had a really bad band. Zane?
KB: Oh Zwan. JA: It was like elevator music. KB: It was bad. But you know he wrote “Cherub Rock” and “Today.” He had like all of these guitar solos that went [imitates guitar sounds]; it was so cool-sounding. JA: “Today” is one of the greatest songs. KB: Probably the greatest song of the ’90s. And also, one part when he had hair, and the girl dressed like a boy, the boy who looked like the girl, and James looked like a blasian. JA: Like a blonde troll? KB: He looked like a girl, she looked like a guy, drummer was on heroin, and they wore shiny pants.
JA: I love ’90s videos KB: I can pretend to be Billy Corgan, and you can be like “what was it like to have sex with Courtney Love?” JA: So what’s it really like to have sex with Courtney Love? What was she like in bed? KB: She’s kinda crazy, but in a good way. And you know she takes a lot of slack in the media, but she has always been true to herself, and she’s an accomplished songwriter. She’s had to deal with a lot of things that other people haven’t dealt with.
—Rashel Burgman and Charlotte Eagle
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PHOTO COURTESY OF GEORGE GRANTHAM BAIN COLLECTION
THE JUSTICE
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
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FILM
‘Extract’ lacks essence of originality ■ Director Mike Judge’s new film is incredibly repetitive and places its characters in tired situations. By JUSTINE ROOT JUSTICE EDITOR
As a general rule, I avoid any film with trailers featuring men getting hit in the crotch, mostly because I enjoy movies that are original and don’t rely on tired physical comedy. However, I found myself partaking of director Mike Judge’s new film Extract this weekend, despite an awareness that the film’s plot springs forth from some dude’s damaged loins, not unlike the way in which Aphrodite was born from the severed junk of Ouranos. However, in mythological terms, Extract is more of a Hephaestus than an Aphrodite; seeing this film—which follows extract factory owner Joel (Jason Bateman) as he deals with issues at work and in his personal life—is akin to watching a formerly mighty Olympian limp along with delusions of grandeur; the fact of that matter is that Judge is no longer the talented titan he once was, but he seems to think every line he writes is gold, as all of said lines are repeated by his characters 10 to 15 times. Indeed, Extract feels like one 30minute film that is looped three times; the characters are moderately original, but they have the same discussions over and over and essentially say the same things (almost word for word in some particularly severe cases) every time we see them. To make lackluster matters even more uninteresting, what the characters have to say isn’t particularly novel even the first time they utter their assorted ideologies and complaints. For instance, the dilemma on which Joel discourses the most is the subject of his wife Suzie’s (Kristen Wiig) sexual frigidity. And Joel’s friend Dean (Ben Affleck) spends the majority of his limited screen
PHOTO COURTESY OF MIRAMAX PUBLICITY
CROTCHETY COWORKERS: J.K. Simmons (left) and Jason Bateman star as cynical factory workers looking to sell their company in Mike Judge’s new film, ‘Extract.’ time pushing Joel to try a variety of different drugs. Thus, the film essentially unfolds as follows: Joel: “My wife wears sweatpants and won’t have sex with me! Also, one of my new employees is hot, but I don’t know whether I should tap that.” Dean: “The solution to everything is drug use!” Suzie: “I’m so [insert excuse not to have sex here, e.g., ‘tired,’ ‘busy,’ etc].” Later: Joel: “An employee of mine was in-
jured at my factory and I am now facing a huge lawsuit, but my primary concern is still banging that hot chick.” Now, repeat this same discussion several times in various locations. Congratulations, you just captured the essence of Extract! No, I will not pay you seven dollars for that performance, you hack. Further, Judge’s Extract recycles character archetypes used to much better ends in his 1999 work Office Space: The latter film’s everyman with the lessthan-faithful significant other, his cynical coworker, the hot prospective
girlfriend and an assortment of other familiar faces all appear in Judge’s latest work. The film does have its bright spots, however; when Wiig’s character is actually given original dialogue, Suzie is hilarious. This is particularly true when she’s interacting with Brad (Dustin Milligan), a landscaper-cum-gigolo who actually makes the film’s repetitive nature work. For example, one of Extract’s running gags is the need for certain characters to repeat simple ideas to the moronic Brad, and Suzie’s exasperation
and Brad’s earnest nature make for several humorous scenes featuring this bit. And, Bateman and Affleck—despite their characters’ tendencies to spout tedious chatter—still manage to be endearing. In essence, Extract is certainly true to advertisers’ claims that the film is “100 percent pure Mike Judge.” However, the product is so stale it seems as though it has been sitting on the shelf for quite some time, and it is ultimately only salvaged by a few fresh faces. Consume at your own risk.
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
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THE JUSTICE
ARIES (March 21 to April 19) An offer to help with a stalled project should reassure you that you have a workable plan in spite of the problems in getting it up and running. The week’s end brings more positive news. TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) A past problem about a workplace situation re-emerges early in the week. Talking things out helps ease tensions by midweek, but some hurt feelings could linger a few more days. GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Optimistic aspects dominate your efforts. However, expect to confront some criticism, some of which might be valid, so keep an open mind. But overall, it’s your views that will count. CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Social interaction with new people, especially on the job, could be a bit strained in the early part of the week. But the awkwardness passes as you get to know each other better. LEO (July 23 to August 22) Expect news about a follow-up to a workplace change that could make a difference in your career path. Meanwhile, new friends widen the circle for all you Social Lions who love to party. VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) Enjoy your well-earned plaudits for a job well done. But be aware that some people might not share your colleagues’ admiration, and you might have to work harder to win them over. LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) It’s a good week to recheck your probably already overlong “to do” list and decide what to keep and what to discard. Lose the clutter and focus your energy on what's really important. SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) This is a good time to take a new perspective on what you’ve been offered. Expanding your view could ACROSS 1. Give the axe to 5. Prompt 8. Surrounded by 12. Jamaican citrus 13. Venomous viper 14. Arp’s style 15. Handle roughly 16. Long March leader 17. Exile 18. Threatening term 20. Siestas 22. Yogi Bear’s home park 26. Winter warmer 29. Type squares 30. Bagel topper 31. Partner in crime 32. More, to Manuel 33. Father (Fr.) 34. Ms. Farrow 35. Insult (Sl.) 36. Metric measure 37. Comedian Paula 40. Morse morsels 41. Bandleader Cugat 45. Eastern bigwig 47. Bill 49. Part of A.D. 50. Lummox 51. Swelled head 52. “— Rhythm” 53. Go angling 54. Dog’s dog 55. Whip DOWN 1. Wrestling style 2. Culture medium 3. Hint 4. Party pooper 5. Ship of the desert 6. N.A. nation
help to uncover any plusses or minuses that weren’t apparent at first. SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) Applying the usual methods to this week’s unique challenges might not work too well. Instead, use your creativity to find a way to resolve any impasse that develops. CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) So what if fate throws some obstacles in your path this week? Just keep in mind that the sure-footed and resolute Goat can get past any barrier by focusing on the goals up ahead. AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) This week calls for better communication with people in both your private life and the workplace. Start by asking questions, and then pay close attention to the answers. PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Potentially beneficial workplace changes could be closer than you realize. Make sure you know what’s going on so that you’re not left high and dry when the good things happen. BORN THIS WEEK: You’re not timid about pushing to have your aims realized once you’ve set your mind to accomplishing your goals.
BRANDEIS
Through the Lens
Solution to last issue’s crossword.
MAX BREITSTEIN MATZA/the Justice
Joyful Noise Students showed their appreciation for The Pains of Being Pure at Heart at the band’s performance in Chum’s Friday night.
The musicians’ energy infected the crowd, allowing students to unwind after their first full week of classes.
Sudoku
7. People things are named for 8. Take as one’s own 9. They’re roomy and gloomy 10. Picks out of a lineup 11. Gram. case 19. Wet expanse 21. Foolish sort 23. Minimum 24. Standard 25. Former partners 26. Overly theatrical 27. Hodgepodge 28. Robert Graves subject
32. Faux pas 33. Triumph 35. Banned bug spray 36. CSI evidence 38. Bridge player 39. U-shaped yoke holder 42. Young Frankenstein role 43. Grandson of Eve 44. Portnoy’s Complaint author 45. Sprite 46. Miss Piggy’s pronoun 48. Palindromic title
Enter digits from 1 to 9 into each blank space so that every row, column and 3x3 square contains one of each digit.
Sudoku Copyright 2007 King Features Synd., Inc.
King Crossword Copyright 2007 King Features Synd., Inc.
■ It was Canadian educator Laurence J. Peter who made the following sage observation: “An intelligence test sometimes shows a man how smart he would have been not to have taken it.” ■ You might (or then again, you might not) be surprised to learn that in this country, the most popular meal for both lunch and dinner is a sandwich. And the beverage to go along with that meal is more than likely going to be a soda. ■ If you’re like the average home-owning American, you can paint the entire exterior of your house with 30 gallons of paint. If you’re the president, though, it takes quite a bit more: The White House requires 570 gallons to cover it. ■ You’ve probably been to a restaurant with a dessert called Death by Chocolate, but the real-life event is less appetizing. A worker in New Jersey recently fell into a vat of boiling chocolate and perished before co-workers were able to pull him out.
■ It seems that Japan has a vending machine for just about anything you can think of—even fresh eggs. Here’s how it works: The machine has about 10 doors, behind each of which is a mesh bag full of eggs. You drop in coins totaling about two dollars to unlock one of the doors. Simply open the door, pull out your eggs and go on your merry way! ■ It was the inestimable Miss Piggy who made the following sage observation: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye.” ■ The town of Waco, Texas, has an entire museum dedicated to the popular soda Dr. Pepper. Even more surprising is the fact that it gets more than a hundred visitors a day, on average. Thought for the Day: “There are two types of people—those who come into a room and say, ‘Well, here I am!’ and those who come in and say, ‘Ah, there you are.’” —Frederick L. Collins
Showtimes at the Embassy Week of 9-4 through 9-10 Extract Fri-Mon (1:20, 4:10, 7, 9:25) T (2:20, 5:10, 8) It Might Get Loud Fri-Mon (1:30, 4:20, 7:10, 9:40) T(2:30, 5, 8:10) (500) Days Of Summer Fri-Mon (1:40, 4:30, 7:20, 9:45) T (2:40, 5:10, 8:20) Taking Woodstock Fri-Mon (1:10, 4, 6:50, 9:35) T (2:10, 5, 7:50) Julie & Julia Fri-Mon (1, 3:50, 6:40, 9:30) T (2, 4:50, 7:40) Inglorious Basterds Fri-Mon (1:50, 5:10, 8:30 T (2:50, 7:30)
Located at 18 Pine Street in Waltham