I think that The Blowfish is sometimes funny, and it’s a cheerful sight to see them in orange jackets handing out copies on the Rabb steps. But they’re definitely not above criticism, even when they’re ‘trying to be funny’.

Case in point: this week’s column entitled “Happy Dating Violence Awareness Week!”, which offered ideas and tips for celebrating the fact that millions of women (and men) around the world are at risk of violence from their partners. Their ideas include watching a Kung-Fu movie with your date (“watch other, more attractive people beat their signficant others”) and trying S&M or bondage (“hitting, biting, punching, scratching, cutting, maiming and burning are sometimes seen as reprehensible behaviors in a dating relationship…unless, of course, the other person’s into it!”).

Let me draw a useful distinction here. This is Not Funny. Keyboard Cat for President of Brandeis: funny. The fact that, for instance, 20 in 1000 young women will suffer violence from an intimate partner strikes me as a pretty serious topic.

Don’t get me wrong – I don’t think this is ‘beyond the bounds of free speech’, whatever that means. What I think is really sick and disgusting about this is the unapologetic endorsement of rape culture – the systematic normalization of sexual violence against women, such that it’s almost expected (even cool) for men to participate in it while women who claim to have been assaulted and raped are ignored, demeaned, even threatened. I, for one, have the feeling that sexual violence is trivialized if the Blowfish’s suggestion for being aware of it is not “listening to Metallica on your iPod[,] which drowns out the muffled sobs of your partner.

I think it’s pretty commendable for Brandeis Six-TALK to organize a week of activities to raise awareness about this usually-ignored reality, and pretty fucking offensive for the Blowfish to tell us that it’s “time to pick yourself off the floor and celebrate Dating Violence Awareness Week!” If you feel the same way, you might want to let the (all-male) editors at the Blowfish know how you feel by sending them a note at blowfish[AT]brandeis.edu

As my girlfriend might tell you, the best part of Halloween is definitely wearing costumes and Trick or Treating.

You know what would kick so much ass? Trick or Treating to save gay marriage.

It works like this:
A. Go to DriveForEquality.org to hitch a ride (or drive yourself) to Maine.
B. Stand in wonder at the beautiful Maine foliage.
C. By day, work with the No on 1 campaign to organize people to vote against an amendment getting rid of same-sex marriage in Maine.
D. By night, rock out, pull on your bitchin costume, and Trick-or-Vote! It’s like a treating, but in addition to giving you candy, people vow to vote to save gay marriage.
E. High-Five! You just saved Gay Marriage.

Explanation of Trick-or-Voting:The thing about canvassing (going door-to-door and talking to people about politics) is that people don’t want to be bothered, really. Here’s the good part: what’s the one day in the year when people sit around at home waiting for people to knock on their doors? Halloween. Here’s where you come in: you knock, you yell “trick or vote!” and then ask them to vote NO on amendment 1 to save Gay Marriage. Plus: Candy!

For more ways to help Maine Equality go here.

The news that matters from this week’s the Justice:

-So remember how Richard Goldstone is the chair for an advisory board at the Ethics Center? Well those connections are going to bring him here to Brandeis on Novermber 5th to talk about his famous report about the Gaza war. Be there or be rectangular.

– More news on which departments / programs will move to the Mandel Center for Humanities, and which will not. There’s a committee to advise the provost on all this, but it consists only of professors – no grad students, no staff, and no undergrads.

It’s strange how a center for the Humanities is hosting lots of social sciences. I’m not complaining – I love the Social Sciences! However, I bet the story behind this is an interesting one.

– The Mandel Center for Humanities will have a Rooftop Garden!

–These people might perhaps tell Board of Trustees what students want in a new President, if they speak when spoken to and don’t cause too much of a fuss:

Andy Hogan, Heddy Ben-Atar, Jon Kane, “Yuki Hasegawa (GRAD), Rachel Markman ’10,
Nicholas Hornstein ’11, Rebecca Bachman ’13, Marla Merchut ’12 and Julian Olidort ’11.

Andrew Gluck ’11, Union Vice President Amanda Hecker ’10, Megan Breslin-Jewer ’11 and
Jamie Fleischman ’11 are the outreach coordinators.”

It is a travesty that there will be no student representation at all in the actual real
search committee.

– Nine JBS’s have been approved. “Web Services, Mobile Apps, and Cloud Computing,” “Environmental Health and Justice”, and “”Beacon Hill Summer,” “Collaborative Theater and the Theatrical Essay,” “Conflict Resolution and Ethics in the Real World,” “Ethnographic Fieldwork,” “Health and Society Field Semester,” proposed by Prof. Peter Conrad (SOC); “Pathologies of Criminal Law: Restoring Justice,” and “Understanding the American Jewish Community”.

These sound pretty cool. If only we could take these JBSs in addition to the normal 8 semesters.

They plan on making the JBS as onerous, tiring, time-consumptive, and just plain hard to
apply for as studying abroad. Bummer!

– If I understand this correctly, Stephanie Grimes think that recognized clubs “are no[t]
allowed to reserve space, receive funding or market themselves.” Either she is wrong, has been misquoted, or all recognized clubs are breaking the rules.

– Leigh Nusbaum, senator for the Village, is trying to set up an honor code, with all the administrative edifices that go with it. Personally, I think an honor code would be cool, but she didn’t ask me. Did she ask anyone?

Number of people who actually live at Brandeis choosing the next President: 0.

Number working-class people who toil here every day who get to choose: 0.

President Jehuda Reinharz today sent out a letter to the Brandeis community, detailing the committee that would choose his successor.

The goods:

Trustee Meyer Koplow ’72, managing partner at Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz in New York, will chair the search committee. Other Trustee members of the committee will be Allen Alter ’71, Senior Producer at CBS News; Jack Connors, civic leader and former Chairman of Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos, Inc.; D. Ronald Daniel, Director of McKinsey & Company; Stephen B. Kay, former Chair of the Brandeis Board of Trustees and Senior Director at Goldman, Sachs & Company; Myra Kraft ’64, philanthropist; and Barbara Mandel, philanthropist. Also serving on the committee will be Michael Sandel ’75, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government at Harvard University; and Thomas Friedman ’75, Foreign Affairs Columnist for The New York Times.

Brandeis faculty members on the search committee are Gregory Petsko, Gyula and Katica Tauber Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacodynamics and of the Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center; Leonard Saxe, Professor of Jewish Community Research and Social Policy; Gina Turrigiano, Professor of Biology and of the Volen National Center for Complex Systems./blockquote>

The fact that Michael Sandel will be on the committee makes me feel a lot better. If only they could also get Michael Walzer, too.

So. I was told that the fact that there are no students on the search committee was due to the lack of faculty. Now I hear that there are 3. While it’s great that faculty are allowed into the “big kids club”, this just makes the lack of staff, grad students, and undergrads more grating.

Full letter:
Continue reading “The Committee to Replace Jehuda Reinharz”

What if Baan Thai* refused to serve black students?

A bunch of seniors from Washington University went to a traditional class trip to a nightclub in Chicago, and the black students were refused entry for clearly racist reasons.

Prejudice – it could happen to you.
Continue reading “The end of “the end of Racism””

…your new dorm building is named after coal.

The CEO of Alliance of Coal, Joseph Craft, donated money for a new men’s basketball dorm at the University of Kentucky, on the stipulation that it be named after coal. The Board of Trustees voted 16-3 to approve the new dorm; of the three “no” votes, one was a faculty representative, and another was the Student Government President.

I think it significant that the students who attempted to influence the Board of Trustees at the meeting where they made this decision were ignored and sidelined. Despite passing a statement to the Board announcing their reasons for opposing the name, the statement went unread and the vote was taken. After the vote the majority of the Board, including university President Lee T. Todd Jr., retreated to a back room rather than confront disappointed students. One statement from Todd caught my eye:

“They said a lot,” Todd said. “They were heard.”

Perhaps they were heard, but the fact that they had no part in the decision-making process seems much more significant. What does it matter if you’re heard if nothing you say will make the slightest difference?

At least at the University of Kentucky, there are some students and faculty with votes on the Board of Trustees. Despite our school’s veneer of ‘democracy’, there are no voting students, staff, or faculty on  the Brandeis Board of Trustees. Keep that in mind the next time they make a horrible decision.

I’m excited. Labor Notes, a great source of news regarding the US labor movement, is online. Students interested in unions and organized labor would be well-served by checking it out.

Can we agree that it’s kind of ridiculous that Brandeis is hosting a huge event where Judge Goldstone, respected International Jurist and member of the Brandeis community, is going to “debate” Dore Gold, former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations?

This setup implicitly creates a dichotomy where Mr. Gold is said to represent the “Pro-Israel view”, and Mr. Goldstone represents an “Anti-Israel view”.

As an Israeli citizen and patriot, I don’t necessarily think Mr. Gold represents my views. I’m sure the “Pro-Palestine” community (and Judge Goldstone) will be quick to point out that he doesn’t represent their views, either.

True or not, this whole deal perpetuates the impression that Brandeis is scared to host a voice that deviates from “the party line” without a countervailing force. Ugh.

A few years ago, Jimmy Carter was invited to Brandeis to discuss his new book that criticized Israel. Jehuda and his administration not only tried to sabotage his coming, not only forced him to “debate” Alan Dershowitz (in the interests of “balance”), but Jehuda pointedly refused to welcome a distinguished former President.

A little more than a week ago, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy Dan Meridor was welcomed with open arms. Jehuda described the “presentation as a “high level scholarly discussion” concerning the Middle East, and said Brandeis in particular is a place that “welcomes and promotes that kind of discussion.””

Riiiight.

The Board of Trustees is meeting this week to discuss…well, no-one really knows what’s on their agenda, but I’m sure it’s nothing sinister. Remember the Board has no voting student, staff, or faculty members, effectively shutting the campus out of collective decision making.

If you’d like to pass on any suggestions on this or any topic, be sure to send a quick note to our student representatives on the Board. They may not have a vote, and can be shut out of the meeting at any time by a vote of the Board, but they can still…um…

Heddy Ben-Atar ’11 – heddy [AT] brandeis.edu
Jon A. Kane ’10 – jkane [AT] brandeis.edu
Scott Motyka (GRAD) – smotyka [AT] brandeis.edu

You’ll notice that there’s a new calendar on the site. That’s because ARC has decided on creating an open and free community Activist Calendar, just like we were doing, but with a few minor tweaks that we like. For simplicities sake, we’ve junked the old Innermost Parts calendar and are now using the same backend as the ARC calendar, which you can also access here

Adding to the calendar is really easy. You just log in to the community google calendar account, add your events, and log out. Or, see the instructions here.

I am excited. Finally, a more open, easier to use Activist Calendar. I hope people will use it / post to it.

One of the most common targets for right-wing demagogues is the stereotypical ‘radical leftist university’, a purely fictional construct used to gin up anti-intellectualism and support for slashing education budgets. (For a shocking expose of the corporatization of the university system, check out excerpts from Marc Bousquet’s new book.) According to ThinkProgress the latest innovation on this front is CampusReform, a social-networking site for collegiate conservatives who want to counter percieved liberal bias on campus and “smash left-wing scum”.  Besides offering a space for mutual commiseration and to report percieved discrimination, the site is also offering $100 every day in October as part of a “Report Leftist Abuse” contest.

So, naturally, I sauntered over to the page for Brandeis University and – what do you know! – the only thing on there so far is a complaint submitted by recent graduate Jordan Rothman. His complaint is below the fold.

Continue reading “Is Brandeis a Haven for ‘Leftist Abuse’?”

Recently, the Class of 2010 received a letter soliciting donations towards the Senior Class Gift. This in itself is nothing out of the ordinary; donating is a great way for students to give back to their school, to ensure that in a time of economic crisis others will have access to the same educational opportunities.

At the same time, I start to wonder where our priorities are when the Office of Development and Alumni Relations brazenly admits the following:

We encourage each member of the Class of 2010 to make a gift of at least $20.10 so that we can maximize our support of other students and beat the participation record of 68% set by the Class of 2008. Participation, regardless of gift amount, is important because every gift help’s Brandeis’s national rankings, thereby increasing the value of the degrees that we will shortly recieve. We hope to reach 80% participation this year.

This sort of self-interested philanthropy is nothing new, but it is a bit suprising to see it so openly attested to. Other schools play a similar game – in exchange for a donation, they will give you a coupon for a larger amount at the bookstore. Since college rankings (for whatever reason) include the alumni donation rate as a barometer for institutional excess, these schools try to make up in a rankings boost what they lose in cash flow.

So, on the one hand, this sort of solicitation makes great sense from an institutional perspective. At the same time, it’s more than a little depressing to see how Brandeis can enthusiastically capitulate to an unfair, absurd rankings system, one at which it is a disadvantage anyway. Would it be so bad for a school that prides itself on an activist, contrarian history to take a stand on something like this?

You’ve heard of Colbert’s better know a District – well it’s time for Better Know a Brandeis Club.

Today’s club is the Brandeis Labor Coaliton – The Fightin’ Labor Coalition! In their own words:

The purpose of the Brandeis Labor Coalition (BLC) is to ensure fair labor practices at Brandeis and to promote fair labor practices around the world.  We have/had active campaigns concerning the availability of fair trade products on campus, promoting sweatshop free merchandise, CORI reform, and of course the job security and well being of campus dining service and facilities workers.

One of BLC’s major concerns about Brandeis is that the custodial and dining staff who makes such a difference in our lives go virtually unnoticed by many students on campus. They work much harder than many people realize – for instance, there are only two custodians to clean all of East quad – and many people will graduate never even knowing the names of the people who keep their living area clean and enjoyable. With this in mind, the Brandeis Labor Coalition will be organizing a Worker Café for all custodians and facilities workers at the end of October. At the Worker Café BLC will provide refreshments (coffee and pastries) and we’ll work to create a dialogue between students and campus workers. It will also be a great opportunity to practice Spanish language skills. Stay tuned for more details!

Also, to accomplish the same end, BLC is currently working on a Worker Bio project to help the students who live in dorms to be more aware of the workers around them. Look out for those in Freshman dorms in the coming months!

The Brandeis Labor Coalition meets Tuesday nights at 8pm in Pearlman Room 202 (Walk in the door closer to Brown, turn right, and voila!)

For any questions, comments or anything else – contact:

Clair Weatherby
clairmw@brandeis.edu

Join the listserv!

brandeisgarden@lists.brandeis.edu

And check out the Facebook page for the Groundbreaking Event:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=153128455909&ref=mf

Over the summer, the governing Board of the University of California tried to implement a number of changes aimed at harming the campus environment, including: a 32% tuition hike, layoffs of faculty and staff, and “furloughs” (i.e. salary cuts) for those who stay. In response, the students have organized to take back their university! More information is available at http://occupyca.wordpress.com.

We at Brandeis University stand in solidarity with the students, faculty, and staff of the University of California as they take sorely-needed action against a corrupt, anti-democratic regime. The actions of the UC governing board indicate that their concern is to auction off the public education system for private profit. Resistance is thus necessary, proper, and morally imperative. We must protect one of the few successful public higher education programs in the United States.

While Brandeis is not in the same dire straits as UCSC, there are some parallels which should concern us all. Under the cover of the economic crisis, our university administration and Board of Trustees (which includes no voting student, staff, or faculty members) has increased tuition, threatened several departments, and expanded enrollment to the point of overcrowding. While steadfastly claiming to champion the liberal arts, they have sought to shutter our prized art museum. They have added a pathetic Business major, with hopes of attracting a conservative clientele to be complacent students and wealthy alumni. An unwritten administrative policy of “delay and obscure” ensures that critical announcements and news trickles down to us through rumor and press release, confusing an already disempowered campus.

Considering our weak and divided state, the actions of the University of California community give us the assurance that action is still possible. We cheer you on as you end the occupation of the university by corporate interests and posturing politicians and bring about the occupation of the university by the people. Unified action to overthrow oppressive power structures must no longer be the exception, but our everyday struggle.

Out of the classrooms, into the streets!

Mad love and solidarity,

Brandeis Students for a Democratic Society