Month: June 2010
Save the Brandeis Swimming and Diving Team
Okay, I have been meaning to do this for a while, and hope it is not too late now. I would like to start a serious campaign to keep the Brandeis swimming and diving team around. Last I heard from Brandeis S&DT members, the swim team was cut after the ’09-10 school year due to lack of funds, since the team has had to use Regis and Bentley Colleges’ pools to train. However, cutting the team would mean giving up a great tradition, and throwing members of the current swim team into the wind.
There is an online petition started by Shawn Kerns in 2009 which requests that the administration not suspend the swimming and diving team, since the team has proven it can achieve success even without its own swimming pool. It currently has 1137 signatures, and I encourage you to sign onto it. Managment of the petition has since lapsed, but the petition can still be used to prove to the Brandeis administration how much we care.
However, there is further action we can take. As the petition states, there are over 500 alumni who were a part of the team, but we can contact alumni who were not active members of the S&DT team as well. Just like any academic program that is in danger of being cut, the swimming and diving team represents something to many of our students and alumni, and many people care about this cause, even those who participated in other activities while at Brandeis.
If anyone has any questions about the cause or information about the current status of the team I would greatly appreciate it. Suggestions are also welcome, since this is still in the early stages, although the deadline to save the team is fast approaching, since athletics start early at Brandeis.
Suggested Reading:
- The Justice
- InnermostParts
- CollegeSwimming (Note: The petition on this site is no longer active)
Lastly, if anyone can put me in touch with some members of the swim team that would be GREATLY appreciated since I don’t know any by name. Thanks!
A Tribute to Sen. Robert Byrd
Democratic Senator and President Pro Tempore Robert Byrd, the longest-serving member of Congress in history, died this morning. He served 57 years, and holds many records, among them: holding the most Senate positions (Majority leader twice, minority leader, etc.), being elected for the most terms (9); casting the most votes in history (over 18,000).
As many news sources spread word of his death and memorialize him, two things seem to jump out: the first, his KKK involvement, which is what pushed him to get involved in politics in the first place, and the second, his ability to stay true to his state (West Virginia) and reflect the views of his consitutents.
As for the first, he became involved with the Ku Klux Klan when he was in his twenties, at which point their regional leaders encouraged him to run for the House. He stayed involved with the Klan for a short time, and then cut his ties. When asked later about his involvement, he said that it was “a sad mistake,” and his track record of voting for civil rights bills plus his vote for Supreme Court nominee Sotomayor convinced people that he had left his white supremacist roots behind, though to imagine someone in the Senate nowadays having that kind of background is very surprising. Is his past forgivable under the circumstances?
From “Robert Byrd’s Baffling Career: From Segregationist to Senate Sage” by Walter Shapiro
In his 2005 autobiography, Byrd referred to his two years as a Kleagle in the West Virginia Klan during World War II when he wrote, “It has emerged throughout my life to haunt and embarrass me and has taught me in a very graphic way what one major mistake can do to one’s life, career, and reputation.” But two years after Byrd left the KKK to work in a war-time Baltimore shipyard, he wrote to Mississippi’s Theodore Bilbo (one of the most virulent racists in the Senate) declaring, “Rather I should die a thousand times . . . than to see this beloved land of ours degraded by race mongrels.”
Two decades later, Byrd delivered a 14-hour address as the final gasp of the Southern Senate filibuster against the 1964 Civil Rights Act. But in addition to resorting to time-eating historical gambits like reading aloud the entire text of the Magna Carta, Byrd turned to the Bible to justify segregation. Dismissing the call of Jesus to love one’s neighbor, Byrd thundered, “But the scriptural admonition does not say that we may not choose our neighbor . . . It does not admonish that we shall not build a wall betwixt us and our neighbor.”
As to the second point, throughout his time in Congress he fought in the interests of coal miners and the companies that ran the mines, got the money to build major highways and other pieces of infrastructure to support WV’s economy, and all in all, seems to have stayed focused on his state rather than getting sidetracked by national or personal interests.
As Patricia Murphy writes in “Sen. Robert Byrd, Longest-Serving Member of Congress, Is Dead at 92,”
The Almanac of American Politics once wrote that Byrd came “closer to the kind of senator the Founding Fathers had in mind than any other.”
Lastly, a major achievement I read about in the above article, when he first entered the House he had neither a college nor a law degree. However, after taking night classes for 10 years at American University, he earned a law degree, presented to him by President Kennedy. And in 1994, Marshall University, located in West Virginia, awarded him an honorary college degree, when he was 77 years old. So, he truly was the quintessential “self-made man” which Americans are always calling for.
What do you think, will you remember Byrd fondly?
Elena Kagan and Louis Brandeis
Read all about it: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/27/AR2010062703527.html
Democratic senators are planning to put the right of citizens to challenge corporate power at the center of their critique of activist conservative judging, offering a case that has not been fully aired since the days of the great Progressive Era Justice Louis Brandeis.
It was Brandeis who warned against the “concentration of economic power” and observed that “so-called private corporations are sometimes able to dominate the state.”
Brandeis move to new e-mail service now official
Over the past few days, we’ve all been getting e-mails from Lindsay Barton regarding the move to Gmail. Beginning yesterday at 5:30 pm, students’ e-mails “migrated” from our former e-mail service Bmail to the new Gmail. See Barton’s e-mails after the jump.
Continue reading “Brandeis move to new e-mail service now official”
Archie Comics embraces diversity
Yesterday I was browsing through articles online when I stumbled upon a piece of news announcing that Archie Comics will introduce its first gay character this September! Archie will also have his first interracial kiss, with Valerie from Josie and the Pussycats!
Archie Comics, which has been around since 1941, features a group of typical, all-American, “average” teenagers growing up somewhere in the midwest. Archie featured an all-caucasian cast until the 1970’s, when Chuck Clayton, and African American, was introduced. He is now a regular member of the group. His girlfriend Nancy Woods is also African-American, and the two have never been depicted dating outside of their race.
Frankie Valdez, who is Puerto Rican, and his girlfriend Maria Rodriguez, who is Hispanic, only dated each other, in the same vein of that of Chuck and Nancy. Ginger Lopez, a Spanish-American teen, was introduced in the early 2000’s, and Tomoko Yoshida, a Japanese exchange student came in the 2000’s. Raj Patel, who is of Indian descent and the newest minority character, entered the scene in 2007. Now, they will greet Kevin, the first openly-gay character to join the crew, in the upcoming September issue of Veronica, #202.
There exist some minor characters of diverse backgrounds as well, most notably Anita Chavita, who was brought in for a short period ib the 1990s, and who was African-American and paraplegic. According to an article on Wapedia,
“Rather than handling her disabilities naturally, Anita kept bringing them to the surface with comments like “my legs may not work, but at least my brain does”. Ultimately she was jettisoned due to lack of reader interest. However, she is worthy of note because she was a love interest for both Jughead Jones and Dilton Doiley, making her the first instance, in an Archie comic, of interracial romance.”
I’m glad for these additions, although it is always difficult for a series to introduce a minority without making the character into the “token black guy” or the equivalent. However, just think about the fact that kids all across the world read Archie, and hopefully they will embrace people of all different sexual orientations and ethnicities due to these additions!
Target apologizes for offensive material
Target came under fire recently, for a fashion decision.
Amongst memorabilia sold in honor of the 2010 World Cup, Target displayed a shirt with the Spanish flag—but used the wrong flag. The flag printed on the shirts was Spain’s former flag, from the times of Francisco Franco’s rule, and was the official flag from 1945 until 1977.
Franco, the Spanish military dictator, is remembered for the repressive regime he headed, leaving behind a legacy of violence and political oppression with his death in 1973.
The Spanish flag from that period is closely associated with the pain the nation suffered at his hands, and so many Target shoppers were outraged to see a T-shirt bearing this flag up for purchase recently. In response to complaints, Target apologized and pulled the shirts from all stores, offering a full refund for any already purchased.
Why did Target print shirts with the old flag in the first place? Was it simply an oversight?
I must say, I don’t think Target did anything wrong by selling the shirts, and if people take offense to a national flag emblazoned on an item of clothing then they should not buy it, but the store has every right to sell it. Although my sense of freedom of speech is a bit disturbed by this, since Target voluntarily apologized and immediately stopped selling the shirts, I guess there’s no issue. Do you think Target had a moral obligation to do so?
Great News!
Dear everyone pining after dramatic unifying campus protests: It’s happening, just not here. The students in the University system of Puerto Rico endured police sieges, food and water shortages, and fights for months in a struggle against huge budget shortfalls. And they just won!
From StudentActivism.net:
The university’s board of trustees approved a settlement agreement a little before 10 pm last night.
The agreement reportedly extends tuition waivers, cancels a major new fee, and abandons a list of university privatization initiatives.
Not sure what they’ve won yet – but some sort of easing of fee and tuition hikes (and the planned privatization of the University System) will likely be part of it.
The students probably had good organization, but they also had a compelling cause they were willing to put their academics and bodies on the line for. For those who want similar mass movements on this and other campuses, for those who want a new Ford Hall occupation – is your cause strong enough? Are you organized?
Organizing For America: Petition for Environmental Reform
Anyone else enjoy receiving personalized e-mails from OFA telling them how they can personally help the president?
President Obama delivered his first address from the Oval Office tonight, telling citizens about the status of the BP Oil spill and the terrible impact it is having on the Gulf Coast.Following his speech, I received an e-mail from Organizing For America (OFA) requesting my support.So, having signed on to the president’s petition for environmental reform, I would like to pass this along. (This being the e-mail OFA requests I forward to 5 friends):
Hi,
The oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is a tragedy — one we can only hope never happens again.But the solution is about more than just addressing this crisis.
As President Obama said, “An America run solely on fossil fuels should not be the vision we have for our children and our grandchildren.”
I added my name today to show I stand with President Obama for a clean-energy future.
Will you join me?
http://my.barackobama.com/CleanEnergy-auto
Thank you.
I support this cause, and lowering out fossil fuel dependency is surely a good thing. I can’t think of any objections to this Clean Energy petition, except perhaps that your name and state of residence can be made public once you submit them, can you?
On a sidenote, I admit that scripted e-mails make it very convenient for people to pass the message along, but do they really have as much impact as personalized ones asking for support?
Brandeis Considers More Options for Rose Art
In a recent e-mail to the Student Body, Daniel Acheampong, Student Union President ’10-’11, explains Brandeis’ openness to consider new options in the ongoing legal struggle over the sales of pieces from the Rose Art Museum. While Brandeis considers these other avenues, including loaning out works of art, it will suspend its efforts to sell the art.
I just want to update you on recent news with the Rose Art Museum. In the midst of this critical economic period for our university, Brandeis will explore a range of alternatives to the sale of art from the Rose Art Museum in an effort to generate value from a portion of the collection while still maintaining ownership of the artwork. Many museums around the world have engaged in a similar type of collection-sharing that Brandeis is considering.
The initiative is in its initial stages as there are no details of a timetable, parties who might be interested, the art that might be included, or the potential revenue any agreement might generate. I will keep you updated on any information that I receive. I also encourage you to remain engaged and follow the subject matter. I hope the student body can be involved in whatever decision the university makes concerning this matter.
Here are multiple articles that you can read to get further information:
The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2010/05/28/brandeis_may_loan_out_rose_art_for_a_fee/?page=1The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/arts/design/28arts-001.html?src=twr&scp=1&sq=brANDEIS&st=cseBrandeisNOW
http://www.brandeis.edu/now/2010/may/artalternatives.html
I appreciate Brandeis’ perceived acceptance of the legal debacle it has found itself wrapped up in, and thus its willingness to consider other options and hold off on selling more of its collection. It’s long past time for this controversy to be settled, and by saying it is taking this option off the table, at least temporarily, Brandeis is going a long ways towards assuaging people’s fears as to the future of arts at the university.
I also commend Acheampong on his e-mail, which asks the student body to stay involved in this ongiong issue, and expresses his wish that students “can be involved in whatever decision the university makes concerning this matter.” Although only time will tell if the University will live up to its promise of listening to students’ input, it is encouraging to hear the Student Union President advocating for activism on this important issue, which will affect all of us.
Pets on College Campuses
When new freshmen leave home to attend college for the first time, they tend to pack up anything and everything meaningful in their home. I know this from personal experience; when I came to Brandeis, I loaded my car with instruments, movies, clothing, books, posters, anything and everything that I thought I would need at any given time. In reality, however, I was actually packing anything which I thought would help ease the impending homesickness in an attempt to mold my new dorm room into a carbon copy of my house. Most, if not all, feel some feelings of separation when they are away from home, and a recent New York Times article discusses some of these emotions in the context of a new solution: It profiles Stephens College, in Columbia, Missouri, which is joining the ranks of colleges around the country who permit pets in their dorm rooms.
As the owner of three dogs, my first instinct is to say something like: This is the best thing ever!!!! At least a dozen colleges around the country, including locally at MIT (although they only allow cats), are changing their residential living policies to have explicit rules allowing pets. Some schools even take this to an extreme, including Eckerd College in South Florida which allows snakes as long as they are “less than six feet long and nonvenomous.” As extreme as this might seem to some, it still outlines the fact that having pets of any species in a dorm room is one more way to help a student adjust to their time away from home.
At the same time, however, there are obvious drawbacks. From a psychological perspective, having a pet around gives a new student an excuse to stay in their room and be antisocial, and as child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz notes, it could serve as a “Band-Aid” to cover up more serious emotional issues in students who are coping with more than nerves and the adjustment to a new location.
Then there are a long list of issues concerning cleanliness in the dorm, and personal responsibility on the part of the owner. It is difficult enough for a student to take between 4 and 5.5 classes per semester while maintaining a grade point average, holding down a job, and making time for a social life and involvement in a few clubs and extracurricular activities. The presence of another life for which to care in addition to your own may prove too challenging for some, causing a decrease in the aforementioned activities, or possibly worse, negligence of any kind toward a pet.
In the end, I would love to see Brandeis reexamine its community living policy and consider adopting pet rules in the hopes of allowing students to feel a closer connection to home. Personally, I think that there is an additional benefit to the community; animals can often inspire positive moods in most situations simply by being around, and seeing a larger pet presence on the walk to classes every day would hopefully maintain high spirits all over campus. Yet even though I support it, I’m realistic enough to know that were such a policy enacted, I would have to opt out due to a lack of time to properly care for a pet.
Something Legendary
Netroots Nation is the big convention for lefty online activists every year. It happens to be in Las Vegas this year, and it will be legendary. I need to be there. I need your help to get a scholarship to help pay for it.
The people who get the top three votes get to go.
Yesterday, I was in the top 3. Today I’m 5 votes behind, tied for 4th
The competition is neck-and-neck. Could you please take one minute and vote for me to go?
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/netroots_nation_scholarships/759-sahar-massachi
Why I need to go:
NN is awesome. I meet heroes of mine; learn from them by day, party with them by night. It’s the biggest event of the year for me. You’ve heard my stories of epic hanging out with the Brandeis Mafia, DFA people, Zack Exley – they all happened here. My plan this year: 1. go meet people, learn skills, and bring them back to Brandeis. 2. I’m graduating in a year. It’d be nice to, you know, have a career and this is the place to meet people who can help me find my dream job.
How you can help:
It’s very simple. Click the link (http://www.democracyforamerica.com/netroots_nation_scholarships/759-sahar-massachi) and vote for me. If I am in the top 3 vote-getters, I go. If not, the more votes I get the better my chances.
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/netroots_nation_scholarships/759-sahar-massachi
So, please? It means a super-lot to me and it only takes a few clicks to vote.
~Sahar