Here is an e-mail from Adam Ossip regarding the newest incarnation of this movement and how you can get involved!

Hello, everyone! 

I would like to announce the formation of a new Brandeis club, the Brandeis Chapter of the Harry Potter Alliance.

The Harry Potter Alliance is a national organization formed by Andrew Slack, a Brandeis alum. It's a social justice group that seeks to improve the world inspired by the lessons of love and friendship learned from the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. Just last February, they raised $125,000 to help those hurt by the earthquake in Haiti.

We hope to soon add our efforts to the good done by this group. And we would love to have your help as well. If you would like to join our listserv, please email aos...@brandeis.edu.

Thank you.

Adam

It sounds like they are also planning on making it fun. And free.

I went to a Chipotle Cultivate Festival in Chicago not too long ago (October 1st), at which Chipotle used interactive media (specially designed video games), live music, and free food to educate people on what it does to treat its animals well, reduce damage to the environment, and promote socially just business practices. It was an innovative way to make people more conscious about their food consumption, and it worked!

This sounds like a similar sort of fun, social justice event, and its hosted on our very own campus! So check it out:

Schedule
Outside of USDAN!! 12-2pm – Food Day demonstration & FREE FOOD GIVE-AWAY (Butternut squash soup!!!)
SCC 2-4pm – The Real Food Challenge Workshop & Activities- GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN, LEARN ABOUT REAL FOOD, TALK ABOUT WHAT FOOD MEANS TO YOU. JOIN IN!
SCC 6-8pm – “Food Matters” movie screening – MORE FREE FOOD GIVEAWAY. Hot apple cider! Yummy apples! Baked goods!

Food Matters Official Trailer:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Food Day is a nation-wide movement that can be summarized by its 6 main principles:
1. Reduce diet-related disease by promoting safe, healthy foods
2. Support sustainable farms & limit subsidies to big agribusiness
3. Expand access to food and alleviate hunger
4. Protect the environment & animals by reforming factory farms
5. Promote health by curbing junk-food marketing to kids
6. Support fair conditions for food and farm workers
For more info go to www.foodday.org!

The Feminist Majority Foundation Campus Team is a branch of the FMF which organizes about 500 campus groups nationwide. Brandeis’ Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, started in 2001, is one of these chapters.

In the following excerpts from FMF’s e-mail, they list problems facing feminists and women across the country and suggest some campus campaigns to help. What are your reactions? Do any of these campaigns strike you as interesting, questionable, or promising?

Some representatives from the federal, state, and local levels have waged what feminists are calling a “War on Women”. From massive cuts to family planning services to cuts in Medicaid and Medicare to enacting restrictive laws to suppress the student vote, the war on women is ever present.

Nine states including Florida, Georgia, New Hampshire, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Texas, Washington State, and Wisconsin have made significant cuts to family planning. Even worse, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie eliminated ALL family planning funding in his state budget.

In addition, seventeen states have passed laws to restrict abortion and/or birth control services to women and thirteen states have passed some form of voter ID law to disenfranchise the student vote.

We currently have five campaigns that you and your FMLA or affiliate can take to your campus. The campaign toolkits are a guide to help organize your FMLA/affiliate around these issues.

You can use the Birth Control Access campaign to alert students to the need to stop the massive cuts to family planning; the Exposing Fake Clinics Campaign to stop Crisis Pregnancy Centers from falsely advertising their services and taking away many young women’s rights to choose; Adopt-a-Clinic campaign to support the clinic in your college community; the Get Out Her Vote (GOHV) 2012 campaign to register students on your campus to vote and get them to the polls on election day; and Global Reproductive Health campaign to support women worldwide in the fight for reproductive justice.

Finally, check out our BLOG and Facebook pages! If you are interested in writing for our blog, please email us at camp...@feminist.org. We have Facebook pages for each of our regions: Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Northeast, Southern, and Western. There is also a Women of Color Facebook page for women of color on HBCU and predominately white campuses. Please have your members “Ask to Join” their respective groups!

A handful of Brandeis students contributed questions, so if you like what you read, take part in this series by submitting questions for Brandeis Dems President, Jake Weiner ’13!

Oh I Just Can’t Wait To Be King!
IMP: So Jess, how do you feel about being Brandeis’ new Hillel President?
JG: I’m really excited about it! I definitely never expected to be in this position – I’ve always had my eye on Hillel Education Coordinator – but a couple of people wanted that one, so I guess this will do.

IMP: Were you already officially inaugurated? If so, what was that like?
JG: Yes. I was inaugurated on May 6th after Shabbat dinner in Sherman Function Hall. The ceremony began with speeches by Executive Director Larry Sternberg, Associate Director Cindy Spungin, three wonderful senior speakers, and outgoing President Andrea Wexler ’11. Then Andrea conducted a ceremony in which each of last year’s Board members inaugurated his or her counterpart, and finally I gave a speech. It was a fun yet poignant evening!

Where’s Hillel Going?
IMP: What are some of your plans for Hillel for the upcoming year?
JG: I actually have a lot of specific plans, as do the nine other Hillel Board members. However, some of my overarching goals include fostering greater Hillel unity (and making it a stronger community); incorporating the voices of non-Board members into our plans; forming close relationships with each member group; making the Hillel Board and Staff more accessible; and celebrating our pluralism through greater intra-Hillel collaboration and dialogue.

IMP: Are there certain social events and areas of social justice/activism you are hoping to focus on?
JG: Dillon Ang is the new Tzedek/Social Action Coordinator, and while I hope that he and his minyan counterparts will address many areas of social justice, a huge focus for us has always been and will continue to be hunger and homelessness awareness. I’m hoping that this year we will reunite with the different activist organizations we’ve worked with in the past for various projects, and I’m also interested in starting an annual “Tzedek Shabbaton.” In terms of social events, besides beloved traditions like the Latke-Hamantaschen Debate and the Purim Party, I hear Social Events Coordinator Danny Reisner is planning two dances (another Bar Mitzvah party and a more formal one).

Hillel’s Presence on Campus
IMP: What role do you see Hillel playing on the Brandeis campus?
JG: Overall, Hillel is a loud and proud, but always inclusive, force on campus – we even have a Board member (Ariel Milan Polisar) whose entire job is campus relations! As the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life and an umbrella organization for at least twenty sub-groups, Hillel’s job is to provide for all of your needs and interests as a Jew (or someone just interested in Judaism).

I also hope that we can accomplish amazing things this year with all of the groups with whom we’ve collaborated in the recent past (Trisk/QRC, the Justice League, SEA, BIG, MSA, JVP, and several academic departments) and more. Hillel is also behind some of the biggest social action efforts and greatest parties of the year and all students are more than welcome to be a part of that.

IMP: What do you think the role of the Hillel minyanim are? (And could you please explain what this term means)
JG: A minyan is really a prayer group. Technically, Hillel has seven – Orthodox, Traditional Egalitarian, BaRuCH/Reform, BRO/Reconstructionist, Sephardi, Ruach, and Shira Chadasha. The Orthodox minyan is affiliated with BOO and the Egal minyan is affiliated with BUCO. BOO, BUCO, BaRuCH, and BRO all exist as vibrant Hillel member groups outside of their minyanim.

BOO, BUCO, BaRuCH, and BRO each represent a unique school of ideology, and they each need an outlet through which to explore that in ways other than just prayer. Though the nature of these quasi-independent clubs is conducive to clique formation and not quite recognizing that they are part of Hillel, I don’t intend to ask them to abandon their social events or anything like that. I really think that we can work on solving inter-minyan awkwardness by collaboration and by working toward embracing and understanding our differences. This year’s Board is dedicated to fighting assumptions and tension with “active engagement” (Education Coordinator Eliana Light has a great Facebook note about it).

IMP: Will we be seeing efforts for the construction of a (physical) Hillel building; a communal place for all denominations of Jews to interact on a day-to-day basis?
JG: Honestly, I don’t intend to raise the issue this year unless I hear an especially convincing argument. The Hillel building or Hillel center is a vital tool at many colleges, but the realities of our organization render it impractical. In terms of a space where all Jews can interact on a day-to-day basis, this is precisely the purpose of the Hillel Lounge, which is almost never empty and is home to people from all walks of Hillel life.

Over the course of one day, you might have great conversations with a BZA person, a BOO person, a Shalem person, and more. I will also tell you that I have plans to make the Lounge more open and welcoming to everyone, regardless of one’s member group affiliation (if any!).

Hillel- Inclusive Enough?
IMP: Sometimes the less observant Jewish students on campus stay away from Hillel because they feel they are in an environment where they are judged for not being religious enough. How do you intend as Hillel president to make less observant Jewish students feel comfortable attending Hillel events?
JG: I’ve definitely heard accusations of Hillel catering to the more religious crowd, and if people are uncomfortable then this is a problem. I don’t make assumptions; in fact, my current project for Shabbat and Festival Meals Coordinator Leslie Golden and Eliana Light is to revamp the “Shabbat Dinner 101” table literature that explains the meaning of various rituals you might see observed (by many but not all!) at Hillel’s Shabbat dinner.

Some of my friends and I also try to set an example by doing things like studying in the Beit Midrash (House of Study) even though we are clearly liberal Jews. At the same time, I can say pretty confidently that very few Hillel members judge anyone – so you should come to events or dinner sometime and get to know someone completely different!

IMP: Are there any openly LGBT members of Hillel? If not, why do you think this might be? Do you have any ideas for how to create a more open and affirming Hillel community?
JG: THANK YOU for this question! Yes, there are absolutely openly LGBTQ members of Hillel – they are involved in just about every facet of Hillel. The real question is whether or not Hillel has an LGBTQ community.

Shalem is our official LGBTQ group, and unfortunately it has been less than thriving in recent times. This summer I’ve started the process of revitalizing Shalem – anyone who wants more information can email me and I’ll add you to the mailing list. And if Hillel or any of its affiliated member groups come off as closed-minded, I want to hear about it so that we can fix it and make this a welcoming environment for everybody.

Closing Thoughts
JG: Finally, I would like to thank Elly and Innermost Parts for this opportunity to share my thoughts with the Brandeis community, and I invite anyone to email (jsg...@brandeis.edu) or Facebook message me if you have any more questions or ideas for Hillel! Also, I tried to pay tribute to all of my Board members in this interview, but I couldn’t get them all in there, so: Ariana Berlin (Religious Life), Rachel Mayo (Finance), Michelle Sinnreich (Israel), and Sarah Sue Landau (Communications) – you guys are awesome too!

Note: Some lines were taken out from the above interview in the interest of clarity and brevity.

Jake Weiner ’13! Did you know he is the incoming president of the Brandeis Democrats, affectionately called the Brandeis Dems? How’d you guess?

In the spirit of opening dialogue as to what various clubs’ roles are on campus and to preview what these groups have planned for 2011-2012, I’m going to be asking student leaders to participate in online interviews, to be posted here.

If you would like to be interviewed or have a suggestion of someone you think is worth interviewing, let us know and we will try to make your dreams come true!

What would YOU like to know from the president of the Brandeis Democrats? It can be anything from when Jake first figured out he was a Democrat to how he hopes to further bipartisanship on campus.

You have until Wednesday night at midnight to suggest questions or topics to cover! Submissions will be chosen based on relevance and the number of people that suggest similar themes.

Your name will not be attached to the question unless you specify, and you can e-mail questions to c...@innermostparts.org if privacy is an issue.

The text of my interview with Brandeis Hillel President Jessica Goldberg ’13 will be posted at 12 pm today!

The big reveal: Justice League Fix It Campaign: Official Ballot.

You will all be receiving ballots in your student mailboxes today right about now, and there will be loudly obnoxious boxes conveniently located nearby for you to deposit them in. There’s an online picture of the ballot above, and we will be working on sending out a poll which you can fill out online as well. This is my interpretation of the three issues the ballot asks you to vote on:

1. Point-dollar parity. In short, it varies for each meal plan, but Aramark charges Brandeis students on average $1.40 per point you buy on your meal plan. That means that besides the inflated prices of food here, you are literally paying more than you would were you to pay with cash, when using a meal plan. And we are REQUIRED to buy meal plans for most on-campus housing. So, what we are asking for here is for a more fair and equal exchange between a dollar and a point.

2. Transparency in our dining services providers. Each year Aramark’s contract with the school is renewed automatically, meaning that Aramark has little incentive to change the quality or variety of food they offer us, or change their meal plans. Rather than advocating for the removal of Aramark, what we would like is for Brandeis to consider other food providers’ offers so that Aramark has a reason to try to be the best it can, and we can choose which company would be the best fit for our school. The first step to negotiating better terms is to at least consider the competition.

3. Many of our university committees have little to no student representation. The past few have had Student Union representatives, but sometimes these students do not have voting power within the committees, and they are always vastly outnumbered by administrators, faculty and trustees. We would like more student representation, by requiring that each committee has at least two student representatives, each of whom have voting power within the committee. In addition, rather than having the administrators choose which students should serve on committees, why not have students decide who we want to represent us (as we do in most other manners)?

So, what do you think? The plan is to collect as many ballots as we can over the next 1-2 weeks, tally the results and then hand deliver them to President Lawrence. So, if you want your voice heard, fill out a ballot and turn it in! Even better, if you want to get involved, sign up here for the Justice League’s official listserv and tell us why you care.

More updates will follow. For more information check out the facebook page.

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
clai...@brandeis.edu