Primary Election results

It’s coming down to:

Executive Board 

President: Jason Gray vs Justin Kang
Vice President:Mike Kerns vs Jordan Rothman
Treasurer: Max Wallach wins.
Secretary: Tia Chatterjee wins.

Finance Board:

Yuki Hasegawa vs  Emily E. Moignard vs Julian Olidort vs Jahfree Lemuel Bandele Duncan vs  Nicole Cordero vs   Sara I. Enan vs  Devora Rotter vs Sahar Massachi

On a personal note, thanks to everyone who voted for me. We’ll continue to press this campaign until the final round of elections: Tuesday April 1

Other results: 

JUNIOR REPRESENTATIVE TO THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Jonathan A. Kane

JUNIOR REPRESENTATIVE TO THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Sarah A. Bernes

JUNIOR REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
Michelle S. Barras

SENIOR REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
Julia S. Simon-Mishel

Watch The Corporation tomorrow

Event tomorrow (Saturday). Watch The Corporation. What is this film about?

The film charts the development of the corporation as a legal entity from its origins as an institution chartered by governments to carry out specific public functions, to the rise of the vast modern institutions entitled to some of the legal rights of a person. One central theme of the documentary is an attempt to assess the “personality” of the corporate “person” by using diagnostic criteria from the DSM-IV; Robert Hare, a University of British Columbia Psychology Professor and FBI consultant, compares the modern, profit-driven corporation to that of a clinically diagnosed psychopath. The film focuses mostly on the corporation in North America, especially in the United States.

facebook event here.

Where: The Airplane Lounge in East
When: Saturday, 6-10pm.

Rumor has it that there will be pizza.

If this is succesful, hopefully the idea of community movie screenings will catch on.

Workshop TONIGHT and a question

I get email:

Professional Activism Workshop:

This Friday the 28th at 7pm in the ICC the Muslim Students association
will be holding a professional activism workshop covering the topic:
“Pursuing social justice in the work environment”

Here’s a question: Student Union races have the first round of voting this weekend, March 30. What races are you most interested in? Who are you rooting for?

Personally, I’m very torn between Jason Gray and Justin Kang. And of course I’m excited about my own candidacy. Sahar Massachi for F-Board!

The Congressmen are coming!

SEA is sponsoring something they call EarthFest (like an Earth Week, only slightly longer).

Check this out:

Sunday, April 13th – Panel of Speakers, Congressman Markey, 4-6:30 P.M.
A panel preceded by Congressman Edward Markey, chair of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, will speak and then be followed after refreshments by a panel discussing the profitability of the green revolution. This panel will feature Mr. Steven Strong, President and Founder of Solar Design Associates, who will discuss his projects at the UN and the White House and Dr. Mark Rentschler, Director of Institutional Greening Programs for the NGO Green Seal.

Sunday, April 13th – Senator John Kerry, Noon-2 P.M.
Senator John Kerry will discuss his experiences with environmental and sustainability
legislation in the United States Senate.

Full EarthFest schedule under the fold…

(hat tip to ARCblog)

Continue reading “The Congressmen are coming!”

We Made Page One… Of the Blowfish

In one of the three copies I was handed today, I noticed that the Iraq War event made the cover of one of my three favorite campus newspapers, the Blowfish. In the spirit of crappy reporting, I don’t have the headline with me. However, it pointed out that, despite our best efforts, we did not stop the war in Iraq.

I do not mean to sound bitter, and I do think it was a funny and useful article the Blowfish wrote. Useful in that it forces us (or, forced me, anyway) to continue thinking about the meaning of protests and demonstrative activism. What, exactly, were we trying to accomplish last week?

I don’t think we intended to stop the war, and I don’t think the Blowfish seriously believes this. But we must take their joking point seriously: what, then, was the point of the signs, the chants, the speeches and the march?

I heard talk of consciousness, of reminding people there is still a war going on. I find it unlikely that we surprised many people with our opinion, per se, (College Students in Northeast Oppose War! could have been another Blowfish headline), but maybe we surprised people by the energy we were able to muster around the issue, half a decade (one quarter of my life!!) later. Again though, I think it’s quite clear that this alone would be grossly insufficient. If we’re going to provoke people and accuse them of sitting on “the apathy couch,” we must be quite considerate of not winding up on an analogous soapbox of self-righteous complacency.

And, I should add, I do not think we are. The letters we send to influential swing senators, and the money we raise for VoteVets and the goodwill offerings for U.S. soldiers, are the actions that I hope speak louder than the (rhyming) words of chants. But from even before the event, many people realized the most important use of the demonstration was for momentum: a protest and a march are fun and note-worthy, but they are not enough, and we must live up to our own ideals.

War profiteers on our doorstep

Take a look at this:

WASHINGTON – The Navy is cutting funding for a long-range weapon designed by Waltham-based Raytheon that has repeatedly failed to perform in field tests despite $600 million worth of research over the past decade.

Raytheon is headquartered right in Waltham?

Raytheon, the fifth largest defense contractor in the world?

Hopefully we haven’t heard the last of this…

Reflections on Danny the Red

Last Wednesday, Daniel Cohn-Bendit – a.k.a. Danny the Red – came and spoke in the Rapaporte Treasure Hall. The topic of his lecture was “Forget ’68,” in reference to his activities as a leader in the student uprisings in Paris during the spring of 1968. Ever since the turmoil of the Sixties, Cohn-Bendit has been an important figure on the Left in both France and Germany, and he has done everything from resisting arrest to serving as a member of the Green Party in the European Parliament. For more information, click here.

I came to this talk wanting to learn not just about Cohn-Bendit’s experiences, but what, given those experiences, the Left can learn about political and social change today. I wanted to know why we should “forget 1968.” But, even more so, a central question that always lingers in my mind: what is it that separates activism today from the 1960’s, and is there any way to bring back some of the spirit that led literally an entire generation to challenge and reject so much of the society that had been handed to them? Why is our generation so reluctant to do so? Are we better, or worse off, today? Continue reading “Reflections on Danny the Red”

Iraq Vigil: Keep The Flame Alive

Alright, so we had a successful peace rally and vigil last week, as noted on this blog and in various publications. But we need to keep that enthusiasm and unity alive. Within the last few days, the number of confirmed American deaths in Iraq has reached the 4,000 mark. Vigils have been held all over the country to mark this, and currently the Protestant chaplain here, Alex Kern, is organizing an event.

The time is on Thursday, from 12:10 to 12:30, and the location is at the Peace Circle by the Library.

Everyone should try to be there, or at the very least spread the word. We need to follow through on our conscious commitment to ending this war, and building a movement of people who will see to it that we do not senselessly enter similar conflicts in the future. (Also, bring signs if you’ve got ’em).

The endowment: What would Justice Brandeis do?

Louis Brandeis said

There is no such thing to my mind as an innocent stockholder. He may be innocent in fact, but socially he cannot be held innocent. He accepts the benefits of the system. It is his business and his obligation to see that those who represent him carry out a policy which is consistent with public welfare.

Debby Kuenstner, Brandeis’ administrator in charge of investment management, said

We have to decide which issues are important to Brandeis. Do we cut off so much investment opportunity that the endowment cannot fulfill its primary goal? You can’t keep the endowment at equal value for this generation and the next, and say “don’t invest in tobacco companies, do invest in environmental companies,
only socially responsible cases.”

When she told me this, I was troubled. I understand the need to make money with our investments. Yet unfortunately Brandeis seems to have been consumed by that hunger at the expense of any consideration of those investments’ social, environmental, or political impact. Our University has strayed from its founder’s dedication to responsible public citizenship.

Independent Voices for Endowment Sustainability and Transparency (InVEST), is trying to bring his dedication back to the forefront. Since we coalesced about one month previous from members of several campus activist clubs, we have been making promising progress. We have drafted a petition calling for greater investment transparency and responsibilty, and have obtained 500 written student and faculty signatures in support. Two days ago, the Student Union, often fractured when it comes to political positions, unanimously voted its enthusiastic support for a working proposal for the formation of an advisory committee to the Board dealing with these issues. Community opinion is behind us, and the administration and board must start to listen.

This is an issue I first addressed here on Innermost Parts months ago, after I found out Brandeis failed all the endowment-related clauses of its 2007 College Sustainability Report Card. Since then, the 2008 Report Card has been released, and Brandeis has again failed those clauses. By 2009, I want to reform our policies so that we do not fail three years in a row; I want our policies to be brought to the forefront among private Universities instead of lagging behind. If you’d like to get involved in this growing campaign, we’d love any help we can get. Email me at loki@innermostparts.org, or check out InVEST’s website.

InVest resolution before the student union

InVest , the coalition to promote a transparent and sustainable Brandeis Endowment,  is trying to introduce its resolution to the Student Union right now.

Update: 10:18
The InVest resolution passed unanimously. I must say I was very impressed with the professionalism, preparedness, and general good presentation by the InVest crew. Kudos!

Brandeis Students Against the War: More than just a protest

Brandeis Students Against the War (BSAW), the umbrella organization of Democracy for America, Students for a Democratic Society, Brandeis Democrats, and Amnesty International, the people who organized last wednesday’s protest event, has done something smart.

BSAW has leveraged its contacts with people who showed up to its event to create a sizeable facebook group. This shows sophistication: rather than start a new group and wait for people to join, they used their existing contacts to jumpstart their membership. We’ll keep on eye on their future activities.

Twirling Towards Freedom

The power to tax is the power to destroy.

The power of the purse is the power to create.

I am committed to creating and cultivating a stronger activist culture, a stronger progressive culture on campus. I want Brandeis University to conform to the ideals of the great Justice Louis Brandeis: values of activism, empowerment, true democracy, honest government. Brandeis valued the public good, the freedom of speech, and the rights and dignity of the individual. Justice Louis Brandeis was famous for his staunch opposition to concentrated power, his strong defense of individual liberty, and his dedication as a public advocate.

We are straying off that path.

The power of the purse is the power to create and to cultivate, to energize and engage.

Whenever I talk to leaders of activist groups on campus, the complaint is the same: “f-board fucked with us.” “f-board won’t fund our projects”. “f-boad really shortchanges activist groups”

Over at the Student Union, funding for “social justice” is 40% of the funding for E-board “outreach”, and less than 15% of the funding for the nebulous category of “services”.

We are straying away from our ideals.

At a time of low confidence in the Student Union, at a time following the Mike Goldman disgrace, at a time when the Student Union feels the need to spend seven times as much money on public relations than on social justice, we need more transparency in government, not less. The Student Body deserves to know what its elected officials are up to.

And yet, the Finance Board refuses to disclose its recusals. Essentially, the F-Board assures us: “Don’t worry, we’ll handle all conflict-of-interest cases ethically. Trust us. And also we refuse to let you check up on us as well”. I’m sorry, but after Mike Goldman, blind trust (which is never good enough) must clearly become a thing of the past. As they say in the industry, “Trust, but Verify”. Without the latter, we cannot have the former.

The power of the purse is the power to create. That great power cannot operate in the dark.

“Sunlight is the best disenfectant” –Justice Louis Brandeis

For all these reasons, it is time to announce that I, Sahar Massachi, am running to become a member of the Finance Board of the Student Union of Brandeis University for the 2008-2009 term. I run on the principles of openness, integrity, and transparency. I run to re-nurture the activist spirit on campus. I run because I am a patriotic Brandesian: I may not agree with current policy and trends, but I love the founding principles of this University and will fight deeply to defend them.

I have no great wish to work long hours throughout the year. The idea of cutting my vacation early due to F-Board responsibilities is not a pleasant one. I have no love of finances or long meetings. Yet I am no armchair general, asking others to run for office while I do not. I am not very good at getting elected for things; I believe in my cause, so I will try regardless. If you also believe in the cause of F-board transparency and a more perfect Union, won’t you please lend me a hand?

Confused by this whole Subprime mess? The intarblag can help.

It’s a big internet out there.

Yet, as we all know, the internet is not a dump truck. It is a series of tubes. And now, in true Monty Hal style, you can choose which tube to use and understand what Atrios calls “The Big Shitpile”

Tube A contains an imaginary conversation between an economist who understands the subprime mess and another who doesn’t. Pretty detailed but still understandable.

Tube B contains the recent New York Times explanation of the mess. Short, easy to understand, concise.

Tube C, the best tube of all, uses cartoons and profanity to make it all very clear.

Hope that helps.

Building Blunders of Brandeis, Part I

My personal interests in architecture and planning have led me to do some research on the history of Brandeis’ grounds and buildings, and I have found many interesting things through both the university archives and my own exploring. This will be the first in a series of posts about poor decisions and unfortunate changes that have been made to our campus.

Did you know that Brandeis used to have an amphitheater? We did–it was called the Ullman Amphitheater and hosted commencement ceremonies from 1952 until 1992 (except for 1971–they were at the Chapels that year) when they were moved to Gosman Sports and Convocation Center.

Brandeis: Host at Last by Abram L. Sachar speaks of this former landmark, “Constructed on three acres of ground with seating for two thousand, but with space on the grassy slopes for seven or eight thousand more, it was equipped with a huge se and an orchestra put for forty musicians. Beneath the sing area were facilities for dressing, storage, and utility, as well as a number of classrooms.” It was designed by architects Harrison and Abramovitz, the same men who designed the beloved Three Chapels.

In a very unfortunate event, the Ullman Amphitheater suffered heavy damage due to fire, disabling its electrical equipment so that it was made virtually useless. The university did not repair the amphitheater but instead tore it down. It was located near Bernstein-Marcus and the location of the new Carl J. Shapiro Science Center. Here are some photos to give you a better idea of its location:

Ullman Amphitheater

Science Complex and Ullman Amphitheater

I know that Brandeis wasn’t doing as well financially in the ’90s, but I wish that the university had chosen to repair the amphitheater rather than demolish it. In just about 15 years it has faded away into memory. It could have continued to be an integral part of our campus today.

I hope you enjoyed learning this little tidbit of Brandeis campus history. There’s much more where that came from–you can be sure I’ll be back soon with another Blunder of Brandeis.

Reactions to the pro-peace event

Yesterday went great. But, as Lavar Burton says, you don’t have to take my word for it.

Lev S. Hirschhorn, one of the main organizers of the event:

That was a fantastic protest, I was really impressed by everyone’s dedication. Our very rough counts estimate that at our largest we had about 120 people present.

Father Cuenin and Alex Kern will be holding another vigil tomorrow (as they do every thursday), from 12:10 PM to 12:30 PM in the peace circle. Lets all show up and keep the energy alive!

The Daily News Tribune

“Five years” was scrawled across her face.Liza Behrendt displayed her war opposition with face paint as she led her fellow students on a march across the Brandeis University campus yesterday.

“Brandeis has a history of social activism. We felt that if we didn’t hold something on campus we’d be neglecting that legacy,” she said. “We really want people to think about the human impact of this war.”

And, my favorite, on the front page of the highly-excellent TPMCafe:

My office is at Brandeis University. Today as, I walked down the curving path that carries everyone through campus, I noticed that, lining the path, at very short intervals, were small American flags. A sign explained that there was one for every 10 American soldiers who had died in Iraq.

It’s a long path. There were hundreds of flags.

By the time I made it across campus, tears were running down my face. It’s not the Vietnam Memorial, but I found it profoundly moving nevertheless. I send my admiration to the students who organized it.

And we had to walk through it simply to cross the campus. There is no way to avoid that path: you were surrounded by a numbing repetition of death, death, death. I found that turning the American flag into that meaning was simultaneously affecting and respectful.

That last blurb was written by E.J. Graff, “Senior Researcher at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism … Resident Scholar at the Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center, ” and, most intriguingly,” a senior correspondent for The American Prospect and a contributor to TPMCafe.com.” A contributor to TPMCafe and TAP on campus? Brandeis just got so much cooler.

Never forget – we students occupy a space of cultural symbolism. Our actions reverberate farther than just across campus. The world is watching.

Reflections on the Protest Today, and on Idealism in General

I’m not here to report on the protest today. The pictures, word-of-mouth, and, no doubt, other posts will offer you a clue as to what went on. It was a remarkably well-organized event and encouragingly well-attended. Still, some of my confusions about the anti-war movement were made clearer.

An open-floor discussion is perhaps not a fair way to evaluate an event, as there was no central message meant to be relayed. However, some central themes came through and the enthusiastic results of the crowd suggest to me none of them were anathema.

In order, then.

The Protestant Chaplain made some curious, if telling remarks. He said it is the responsibility of those who “broke it”, Iraq, “not to fix it,…but to end it.” He also said he would end the peace vigil he co-runs “when U.S. led hostilities end”. So which is it – a peace vigil, or a U.S. led hostilities vigil? Is his duty to save the lives of American soldiers who volunteered to serve their country, or to save the lives of innocent Iraqis? Was there a solidarity vigil when Saddam was butchering civilians unopposed? Perhaps I misunderstood the chaplain’s intentions or remarks on this point. I am not going to win many people over by beginning with criticizing a well-respected and well-meaning religious figure, but I thought these comments provided a good introductory framework.

In a sgeringly surreal moment, David Emer quoted with approval comments made by Dick Cheney from 1994. A version of these comments, or what I believe David was referring to, can be seen below: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YENbElb5-xY&feature=related[/youtube]The former Secretary of Defense and future Vice President did indeed make some eerily prescient about the sgering difficulties an invasion and occupation of Iraq would entail. He concludes by saying the main question was “if we went on to Baghdad, how many additional dead Americans is Saddam worth? Our judgment is not very many, and I think we got it right.” Now perhaps Saddam himself was not worth many dead Americans, but this is a bit callous when one considers the hundreds of thousands of lives Saddam was free to take by our decision to leave him in power.

Continue reading “Reflections on the Protest Today, and on Idealism in General”

Locally Grown Food Banquet coming soon

I get email:

Locally Grown Food Banquet
When: April 1st, 2008 @ 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Where: Sherman Function Hall
The night will consist of:
-An opening panel discussion with different community leaders and
Brandies professors.
– Following there will be a meal consisting of local, organic, and
fair trade foods. All prepared by Brandeis Students!”

After emailing Stephanie Sofe, I was informed that this event will be free. Excellent.

A great event on a somber day

A few hours ago, all of Innermost Parts’ contributors attended a march and vigil on campus to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the Iraq war. We marched from Shapiro to Usdan and back in a loud trail of over 120 people – a very large number for a club-organized Brandeis political event. We gathered in a circle to listen to speakers, sing songs, and reflect on how the war has impacted us, America, the Iraqi people, and the world.

I was incredibly impressed by the large turnout and the passion that so many people had, five years in. I know that my attention has drifted somewhat away from the war over the last few years, and I feel this event brought it back to the front of my mind.

A final thought someone brought to my attention today, and which I’d like to leave you with – this is the first of its wars for which the United States has paid absolutely nothing (at least in terms of dollars) up front. In every other war, there has been an increase in taxes or some other financial mechanism implemented to pay for the war. But in this one, every penny has been borrowed from foreign governments and investors. So while ours may physically be a near-unilateral occupation, governments are financially responsible for this war the whole world round.

By President Bush’s own count, we have spent half a trillion dollars on this war, itself a sgering amount. Our generation and the next will be the ones paying. But by the conservative estimate of Harvard economist Linda Bilmes and Columbia economist Joseph E. Stiglitz in their new book, the total cost, accounting for the lost income of disabled soldiers’ families, the cost of supporting wounded veterans, etc., the cost is somewhere around $3 trillion dollars to America. Internationally, there is another $3 trillion cost.

These numbers are so large I cannot even wrap my mind around them. I would call them tragically ridiculous, but words seem silly compared to the unfathomable good such money could have done elsewhere.

VoteVets

Hey, this is Sahar. Welcome our newest contributor, Rivka Maizlish.

Hey all. Rivka in the house! I worked at the DFA table today at the protest/rally/vigil thinger, and I’m glad to announce that we have raised 81 dollars to send to VoteVets.org, a non-partisan, progressive political action committee that elects veterans who have pledged to end the war.

Hoorah. That’s all. Catch y’all later.

War stories

More eloquent, better informed writers than I have written about the failures and lessons of the war. I do not presume that I can outdo them on insightful analysis. I do, however, have something that no one else has. For five years, I alone have borne the story of my own experience with the Iraq war. For the nearly the entirety of my teenage life, the Iraq war has loomed, omnipresent but simultaneously far-off, in my civic and political consciousness. It has had, I suppose, a similarly large effect on all of us who came of age in these modern times. Perhaps my story is a typical example of my generation. Perhaps my story is as unique as every one of us.

Today, on the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, I’d like to share some of that story with you, as honestly as I can. Perhaps you might like to share, as well.
Continue reading “War stories”

Pro-Peace rally today

Assuming it rains, people will be reading the names of the dead starting 2:15 in Shapiro Center, or possibly earlier in Usdan.

Big event will be 5:15 in Shapiro Campus Center. People will be handing out mini-fliers at Rabb, etc before that.

The big speech

Here at Innermost Parts, we try to stay away from commenting on purely national politics. For this, however, I’m willing to make an exception.

Obama just gave an amazing “JFK-esque” speech on race and politics in America.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrp-v2tHaDo&feature=user[/youtube]

Honest. Authentic. Longer than half and hour.

Still, this is a really amazing speech. Marc Ambinder says:

This wasn’t a speech by committee… Obama wrote the speech himself, working on it for two days and nights…. and showed it to only a few of his top advisers.

First time I’ve actually learned something, really learned something from a political speech.

I am a progressive patriot

A friend of mine asked what “progressive” meant today. Was she a progressive? I couldn’t answer her right away: I asked her if she believes in government transparency and more democracy. I asked her if she opposed the Iraq war, and what she thought of Howard Dean. She answered in the affirmative to each question, (and loves Howard Dean) so I told her that indeed, she was a progressive. Yet I feel issue positions can only serve as a heuristic, not definition, of the progressive mindset. So if I couldn’t answer my friend in a glib sentence or two, perhaps this short statement I had lying around will do the trick. :

What is progressivism?

Progressivism is often confused and interchanged with liberalism. That is a mistake. Liberalism is an orientation regarding policy. Progressivism is a related orientation regarding politics. To be a progressive is to believe that our political system is breaking or broken, and to agitate for transparency, campaign finance reform, and enforcement of civil rights.

Yet progressivism is much more than a laundry list of initiatives provided by institutions like the Brennan Center for Justice, worthy as those goals are. A progressive is not a blind patriot; she believes fervently in the value of American ideals due to their inherent worth in promoting the dignity, liberty, and welfare of everyone, rather than in the infallibility of American action due to the geography of her birth. A progressive believes that liberty means much more than lack of a king; in freedom from want as well as freedom of speech; in freedom from fear as well as freedom of religion.

Simply put, progressive politics are common-sense politics. Many progressives my age are bemused at the sorry state of politics today. Blatant corruption and abuse of power weren’t mentioned in the America that was promised by our high school textbooks. A progressive works to re-orient the United States towards its promise and self-image as the embodiment of the Enlightenment.

A progressive is warrior battling against the Assault on Reason.
Continue reading “I am a progressive patriot”

Bikes at Brandeis: An interim report

The very cool Mike Kerns has replied to my question re:bikes on campus:

Hey Sahar,

So this idea was proposed a couple of months ago, but due to logistics, maintenance, and safety/liability concerns we decided to hold off on that plan for the time being (while I looked into another option). The idea that jives with your suggestion had been to purchase extremely cheap bikes and get them fixed up…but the safety, liability, maintenance, etc. were questioned. The option of charging an additional amount to fund the program was also not well-received. As soon as I get some final numbers back from the bike company we’ve been working with of late, I’ll let you know in case you want to come meet with a handful of us to discuss everything and decide how to move forward.

-Mike

Kudos to Mike to get back to me so quickly.

I’m definitely going to try to meet with the “bike committee”; commenter Ari reports that

Don’t look to Paris for your model — they are a huge city and the cost is pretty high. Hampshire college has the system you’re talking about and they’re relatively closer to our size.

It’s the “yellow bike” system or was when I visited it some four years ago. Basically there are spots in key areas around the school and in the surrounding neighborhood with 4-5 bikes, more for really high traffic areas. Pick it up one place, leave it in another, so long as it’s locked and attached to the appropriate bike rack.

One thing we would need to do is add a bike repair center — someplace that you can drop off a broken bike for problems like flats, gear issues, etc. It’s a pretty simple system, should be able to do it.

Excellent news. I hope the committee takes a good look at the Hampshire model.

I encourage everyone else who cares about the issue to contact Mike and meet with “the bike committee” as well

Why rent when you can borrow?

I hear the Student Union is considering a bike rental program.

Well,  Paul Balik has a better idea. Why can’t we have a system of bike borrowing? Swipe your ID card at a designated bike rack to borrow a bike. Return that bike within X amount of hours (24? 48?) or pay a fine. It’s totally doable – I’m told that Paris and Copenhagen both have such a system. We can pay for the bikes by raising parking fees by five dollars.

Make driving marginally more expensive to fund a self-sustaining, zero-emissions form of transport. It’s a no-brainer.

Suppressing Speech: An Appeal to Reason and Self-Interest

Yesterday, I had an encounter with a belligerent drunk person in my hall. He was pissed off by what he saw as the misleading and dishonest message of the flyers that several people – myself included – had put up in the area. His response was to tear down the flyers, and rip them to shreds.

This is not the first time that this has been an issue for me personally. Last semester, Rivka and I passed an anti-guns petition around in our history lecture. Some [insert word here] who obviously disagreed with the petition decided that he felt offended enough that he actually crumpled up the sheet of paper and tore it. I should mention that the petition had names on it – the names of people who I and several others worked hard to reach, and whose names were lost probably forever because of one person’s knee-jerk hostility.

I don’t pretend that I agree with the message of all flyers. I want to deface the Republicans’ posters as much as anyone else, but I don’t. What I fail to grasp is the concept that anyone who simply disagrees with a flyer, or a petition, or an event, would actually expend the effort and saboe it. What does this accomplish? The only utility it serves, as far as I can see, is a greater sense of control and empowerment, in the negative sense (over other people). I aim to demonstrate that such narrow-mindedness actually has the opposite effect.

A fundamental principle that allows freedom of expression to thrive is the exercise of self-restraint. This is basic reasoning: If I act on my urge to interfere with someone else’s message, then I give license to that person to silence me (unless, of course, I believe that I am somehow above that person and can do what I want while they cannot). By ripping up my flyers, this person opened the door to his own muzzling. The logical extension of this situation is that the mutual attacks on expression will metastasize into a broader trampling on open expression within the community at large. Thus, the community should take notice; what seems small truly has great consequences.

I fear where these small incidents can lead. I urge you all to be vigilant and to stand up to what is effectively barbarism, and defend everyone’s right to free speech.

Better know your congressman

I get email:

Weekend Events in Melrose, Weston Continue Markey’s Push to Save Planet

Rep. Ed Markey (D-Malden) has spent his career studying global warming and energy dependence, the most pressing issues of our time. This past year, as Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, he has been able to focus on the scientific and economic evidence and impacts of our planetary crisis, and talked to the pre-eminent experts in the world on these issues. This weekend, Markey will sound the planetary alarm bell here in his home state of
Massachusetts.

At events in Melrose and Weston this Sunday, March 16, Rep. Markey will give an update of what’s happening at his Select Committee and in Congress on these issues, and more importantly, discuss how the citizens of Massachusetts can reduce their carbon footprint and help reduce the impact of global warming.

Events information:

Town Meetings on Global Warming and Energy Independence
With Congressman Ed Markey

Melrose Event:
Sunday, March 16th
12:30 – 2:30 PM
Melrose Memorial Hall
590
Main Street
Melrose, MA

Weston event:
Sunday, March 16th
4:30 – 6:30 PM
Eleanor Welsh Casey Theatre
Fine Arts Center
Regis College
235 Wellesley Street
Weston, MA

The Weston event is 9 minutes away (by car). The Melrose event is about 35. I will not be able to go there, but any reader can go, please email your impressions of the event to Czar<at) innermostparts d0t org and we’ll be happy to publish them

“nga tso la, rawang goh; nga tso la, rawang go”

we want freedom, we want freedom

News you should know about – A few days ago, in the 49th anniversary of a failed Tibetan uprising, many Tibetans, led by Buddhist Monks, started rebelling against Chinese rule.

Eyewitness account:

Then the gate of the debating compound opened and this stream of maroon humanity poured out, several hundred monks. It was impossible to count but I think there were at least 300.

We thought it was part of the tradition but when you looked at the expression on their faces, it was a very serious business. They were pumping their hands in the air as they ran out of the temple.

The minute that happened we saw the police – two or three who were inside the compound – suddenly speaking into their radios.

They started going after the monks, and plain-clothes police – I don’t know this for sure but that’s what I think they were – started to emerged from nowhere.

There were four or five in uniform but another 10 or 15 in regular clothing. They were grabbing monks, kicking and beating them.

If we had gone to Sera monastery an hour earlier or an hour later, no-one would have known what these monks had done

One monk was kicked in the stomach right in front of us and then beaten on the ground.

The monks were not attacking the soldiers, there was no melee. They were heading out in a stream, it was a very clear path, and the police were attacking them at the sides. It was gratuitous violence.

There’s a lot of confusion right now, since Tibet is very hard for foreign journalists to correspond from and get into. You can get more info from the blog of students for a free tibet. I think the general feeling of what’s going on is this: the Chinese military has occupied and cracked down on the main city, Lhasa. Protesting has spread elsewhere. This is a big deal and a large blow to China’s carefully cultivated image of national unity in preparation for the 08 Olympic games. There are comparisons to Tiananmen Square, the American boycott to the Olympics due to Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan, and that “The wave of violent protests in Tibet could not have come at a worse time for the Chinese government

James Fallows, a journalist for the Atlantic Monthly, is in China right now. He reports that the Chinese authorities have censored all internet, tv, or newspaper news of the events in Tibet. The great majority of the people of China don’t know what is really going on right now: the Chinese media is treating it as “small groups of hooligans have attacked soldiers in Lhasa but that things are under control.” (read here here and here)

Do we have a chapter of Students for a free Tibet here on campus?

Students Scrounging on the Streets

March seems to be “kick Brandeis students off campus” month.

Hopefully, you already know about the case of my dorm-mate Mamoon Darwish. His room-mate has started a “Where is the Justice at Brandeis????” group on facebook. It already has 208 members. It asserts:

Mamoon has suffered from lack of due process and an unfair trial as administered by the Brandeis Judicial System. We are writing to draw your attention to his situation.

Rights violated (in chronological order):
1. Prevention from receiving medical consultation before making his police statement
2. Failure to receive proper legal council from the Student Development and Conduct SDC according to the Brandeis Rights and Responsibility booklet
3. Failure to receive written charges of accusation from the Student Development and Conduct
4. Mistrial:
a. Photographic evidence withheld
b. Witness statements withheld
5. Use of unnecessary force by Brandeis police officers.

I don’t know enough to tell whether all that is true or not. Maybe Mamoon has been given a fair hearing by the Brandeis Judicial System pursuant to University Policy. At this moment, I can’t judge. What I do know is that Mamoon, an international student, is barred from campus. This has a number of ramifications, including:

1. Health: Deprived of access to food. Since Mamoon was banned from campus he has been unable to access his campus meal plan. This meal plan represents the only provision of food within his Brandeis scholarship, which is Mamoon’s sole current source income.
2. Housing: Banned from campus since 16th of February to present. As an international student with limited funds and no family in the United States, the revocation of housing has left Mamoon homeless

4. Education: Suspended from all academic activities. Suspension at this time is critical, because the admission of TYP student as Brandeis freshmen for the 2008-09 is currently under consideration and hinges upon successful completion of all courses. Thus Mamoon’s suspension is equivalent to expulsion.

(emphasis mine)

So, if these reports are true, and I see no reason to believe otherwise, right now Mamoon has no income, few funds, and has been denied his only secured access to Food and Shelter, and, as a TYP student, has effectively been expelled, starting next semester. That isn’t right.

As a Brandeis student, I am very concerned. I expect my teachers to respect me and help guide my human development. How can I trust that they are acting in my interests when the University, the institution that represents them, treats a fellow student so badly? This shows a profound lack of humanity and decency on behalf of the people acting in loco parentis. I understand that they consider Mamoon too threatening to be on campus. Yet, could they not arrange housing for him? Surely they could feed the poor boy.

I just can’t believe that a place that is supposed to nurture me and be my parent-surrogate can act in such a harsh, reactionary, manner. What a desperate situation: a near-broke international student facing legal action in an unfamiliar country.

My point here is simple. Even assuming that the University is in the right to kick Mamoon off campus, even assuming that he is guilty and so forth, I feel that the University, seeing as it serves as a parent-surrogate; seeing as how it is in the unique position of being our metaphorical “teacher”; seeing as how it has a mission to help guide and nurture our development, should act in a more supportive manner.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m sure that the “powers that be” have a thought-out, clear reason they are acting as they are. I’m sure there are more arguments to be made on both sides. I know that there are many well-meaning, caring individuals on staff here. However, speaking as a student, I’m getting the message that the University cares very little about me. I’m of the impression that Brandeis would waste no time leaving me to the wolves if it thought doing so would be good for its reputation. I do not feel supported. I do not feel comforted and safe. Frankly, I find this a signal that I am seen more as a source of tuition/future bragging rights than as a vulnerable human being.

That’s a terrible shame.