Year: 2010

On Thursday October 7 the Brandeis Chapter of Students for a Just and Stable Future and Brandeis Students for Environmental Action (SEA) hosted a Sleep Out on the campus main lawn. The event drew around seventy people over the course of the night, with around twenty people actually sleeping out. Students were drawn to see a lineup of a cappella, improv comedy, and a whole group of speakers including representatives of Brandeis’s Pakistani Relief Fund, Real Food and Natural Living clubs. Also speaking was SJSF’s own Craig Altemose, who gave a really terrific speech about reasons for focusing on combating climate change. As well as awesome speakers, we had cupcakes with 350 written on them in frosting, a photo petition, and a phone-in to the director of Brandeis dining services requesting exclusively cage free eggs in the dining halls.

The event was a prelude to help recruit people for the statewide Sleep Out this weekend. We would love to have some more people go out to Worcester with us and network, play fun games, and generally do awesome stuff. Anyone interested can sign up at seabrandeis.org.

Some people have been in a row with the administration lately, concerning a proposed change to the system by which need-based financial aid is administered to Brandeis applicants. While I am generally wildly enthusiastic about questioning the decisions of administrators, this time, they are dead-on right.

This is not to say that the opposing students are necessarily wrong, but rather that they have been fighting the wrong battle – that is, the facts of the proposed changes and the terms of the argument have been lost in the heat of discussion.

So before we continue angrily decrying the proposed change, let me try to frame the situation as clearly as possible:

Continue reading “Updating financial aid: What’s happening, and why the Administration is right”

To me, Brandeis is all about people having multiple skills, passions, areas of interest, and being able to pursue all of them no matter how disparate they may seem.
Although this is impossible at times, since there is not enough time to do everything you’re interested in, or sometimes you decide it’s better to focus on certain things than to try everything, that’s what a liberal arts education is— dabbling to some extent.

That’s why I was extremely happy to see the following advertised in the latest BrandeisNow newsletter which I so generously read through and am updating the activist calendar with, so you don’t have to (unless you want to that is). Basically, it’s an annual exhibition of artwork by faculty and staff from the Brandeis community who make art (and the category is very broad), organized by the Office of the Arts.

I think you should encourage teachers and staffworkers you know to submit their work, and show them your support by attending the exhibit once it goes up, in the middle of November!

Are you an artist or fine craftsperson outside of your 9 to 5 occupation?

The Office of the Arts invites you to exhibit artwork in JustArts, the annual exhibition of faculty and staff work in the Dreitzer Gallery in Spingold Theater Center, November 16-23.

To submit work, fill out the online form here by November 5.

Work in all media is eligible: painting, sculpture, jewelry, fiber, photography, sound installation.

Last year’s exhibition showcased art by 35 talented artists who work in every corner of Brandeis, from the mail room to the chaplaincy to athletics, and academic departments including politics and theater. See the video here.

Questions? Contact Ingrid Schorr, Office of the Arts, at ingrids@brandeis.edu or 781-736-5008.

The military is now accepting openly gay applicants!
Did everyone hear that?

The military’s 17-year old Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy prohibiting openly gay people from joining themilitary was deemed unconstitutional by U.S. District Court Judge Virginia A. Phillips in September, when it came up in the case of Log Cabin Republicans v. United States. Phillips’ ruling ordered the government “immediately to suspend and discontinue any investigation, or discharge, separation, or other proceeding” started under DADT, according to conservative news source Baptist Press.

The Baptist Press reported that “Under the Pentagon’s latest directives, recruiters are not allowed to ask candidates whether they are homosexual as part of the application process, but if a candidate volunteers such information and otherwise qualifies under normal recruiting guidelines, the person’s application can be processed.”

Yesterday, Oct. 20, the Department of Justice responded to this ruling by submitting an emergency request to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals asking that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell remain until the appeals process for the case is over. The Log Cabin Republicans (the plaintiffs in the case) have said they intend to file written opposition to this request, but according to MetroWeekly, “No oral arguments are expected at the Ninth Circuit for consideration of either request.”

Stay updated while the debate continues.

***Update: As reported in NPR, “A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday temporarily granted the U.S. government’s request for a freeze on the judge’s order.” However, “it was unclear what effect the temporary freeze would have on the Pentagon, which has already informed recruiters to accept openly gay recruits and has suspended discharge proceedings for gay service members.” So, the military seems to be in a state of confusion as to which orders to follow.

Legally, they should not be accepting openly gay people at the moment, although they were mandated TO allow them to sign up for a brief period. During this period Lt. Daniel Choi, and undoubtedly other openly gay men and women, re-enlisted, presenting a question of what will happen while the case is waiting for appeal. (Lt. Daniel Choi came out publicly on the Rachel Maddow Show in March 2009, and was then honorably discharged under DADT. He has since been active in the fight against DADT, and served as the Grand Marshal of the 41st Annual New York LGBT Pride March this summer. He re-enlisted in the US Army on October 19th.)

Here are a few of the highlights of The Hoot and Justice from the past two weeks with a short summary of each article.

Check them out!

The Justice, 10/12

Students for a Just and Stable Future organizes sleep out to promote clean electricity
The Justice re-caps a sleep-out held last week by Students for a Just and Stable Future to promote clean electricity.

Brandeis and Harvard chair Middle Eastern talk series
Professor Shai Feldman, the director of the Crown Center for Middle East Studies, and a board member from the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University are working jointly on series of lectures regarding the Middle East entitled the “Crown-Belfer Middle East Seminar series.” This act of cooperation is in the interest of creating “a long-term forum and “permanent meeting place” where experts on the Middle East in the Boston area can join and provide information to each other.”

The Hoot 10/15

Brandeis in the running for top vegan-friendly school, PETA2 polling students
Brandeis has been put on a short list of the most vegan-friendly schools in the country!

The Justice 10/19

University endowment returns rise 13.8 percent
After significant fundraising efforts, the University endowment has increased significantly!

Sustainability fund receives eight proposals
The Brandeis Sustainability fund, in its first year of existence, has garnered eight applications for their sustainability grants which will fund a number of student generated initiatives over the course of this year. Very cool!

For all of these articles and more, check out at The Justice and The Hoot websites!

This is DELAYED breaking news, but we will be updating you all as we find out more. Let us know if you have any tips:

This e-mail was sent out on October 18th at 10:38 am by Mark Collins, Senior Vice President, Administration

A small fire broke out around 10 AM this morning in the Heller School Building.
Everyone was evacuated and the fire was quickly extinguished.

This went out at 12:45 pm the same day

I’m please to report that the Heller School buildings reopened at 12:30 p.m. following this morning’s fire. Classes will be held this afternoon as scheduled. Work is underway to repair areas of the buildings that were damaged, and some areas are still not accessible. These are marked by signs and yellow tape. Crews will be cleaning the building this evening, and we expect that most access will be restored tomorrow.
I want to commend everyone at Heller for calmly and quickly evacuating the buildings. The cause of the fire is undetermined, but is under investigation by the Waltham Fire Department.

Anyone see the fire first-hand? Know any further information?

****Newest update from BrandeisNow:

A small fire broke out in a shaft between the old and new wings of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at about 10 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 18.

An estimated 300 to 400 students, faculty and staff in the building at the time were evacuated within one minute, and there were no injuries. The fire was quickly extinguished by the Waltham Fire Department. The cause is undetermined and is under investigation by the fire department.

The Heller buildings reopened at 12:30 p.m. and afternoon classes are going ahead.

Some areas of the buildings were not immediately accessible. These areas were marked by signs and yellow tape. Java City was closed for the day, the elevator was out of service for the day and there was no direct access from Heller-Brown into the Schneider building. It was necessary to go outside to pass from one building to the other.

Workers will be repairing glass, carpeting and ceiling where the Schneider building meets the Heller-Brown building. Dean Lisa Lynch said the school hoped to restore passable access between the buildings by Tuesday, Oct. 19.

Power was working throughout the buildings; the dean asked that any outages be reported to Linda Purrini ext 6-3930 or purrini@brandeis.edu. If there is a problem after 5 p.m., call 6-5000.

Dean Lynch thanked everyone affected “for the quick and calm way you all exited the building this morning. The Waltham fire chief made a point of complementing us on how rapidly the building was cleared and how people moved well away from the building.”

Breaking news! The cage-free egg survey responses are in!
Here are the results:

In a stunning vote of 89.1% to 10.9%, the student body overwhelmingly wants cage-free eggs to be solely used in preparing our food. This is the most unanimous result of a union survey that I can remember.

In fact, a sweeping 63.5% to 36.5% vote is willing to pay incrementally more for food if it is prepared in an ethical manner. Economics professors correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that the higher cost of eggs would (according to standard models) be split between Aramark and the students.

High five everyone! We really got out the vote and showed that Brandeisians want to live in an ethical environment. More on this later.

So here I sit with Elly, the YMCA song playing over the loudspeakers, and I feel weird.  Today I had a lot of stuff going on, and then I got to this set up and I started playing music.  It was a good time, I just felt sad for the many people who are trying to study in the building as stereotypical Bar Mitzvah music was playing.  I felt very emotional.  You see there is a lot of vulnerability and tenderness in playing music very loudly.  When you do it, you need to have confidence because it will piss a lot of people off.  So how do you DJ music of the early 2000s next to a library?  Well, you have integrity, you play music and think about the positivity, joy and utility coming from it.

There were many songs played; I was going to write what they were, but I had to go to a QPOCC meeting. But it was real, and there were people and they danced.  You all should come to the next Hillel Party for a guaranteed good time.  Also QPOCC is the Queer People of Color Coalition and it is  club of beauty, love, compassion and empowerment (just like Hillel).  Contact me for more info (soglesby@brandeis.edu)

Haters gonna hate, so be yourself.  Whether it is playing music loudly or making incoherent Innermost Parts posts.

Love, Scott

Hope you can all come to this exciting event next week! Email jewishvoiceforpeace@brandeis.edu with any questions.

Hedy Epstein, Holocaust Survivor and Human Rights Activist, Speaks Out Against the Occupation of Palestine

Thursday, Oct 21, 6 pm, Lurias (Upper Sherman)

Hosted by

Jewish Voice for Peace

Students for Justice in Palestine

The Peace, Conflict, and Coexistence Studies Program

Hedy Epstein survived the Holocaust when her parents sent her from Nazi Germany to Britain on the Kindertransport. Since then, she has devoted her life to human rights causes from reproductive rights to immigration reform. She has made five visits to the West Bank, Palestine, and came close to boarding the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. She is an outspoken critic of Israel’s military occupation of Palestine, and has become a well-known, controversial figure in the Israel-Palestine peace movement.

At Brandeis, Hedy will share stories from a life fighting injustice, advocating for an end to the occupation of Palestine.

All are welcome!

Another post from the summer I never got around to publishing. Part I is here. Part II is here.

One more thing about the Union – I think some criticism of the Union is misplaced for a different reason. I find people, even/especially people on the left, hating the Union so much that they advocate tearing it down, dissolving it, or weakening it. During the Budget Fight of 08-09, we frequently advocated for the administration to deal directly with students and bypass the Student Union.

I now think that was mostly a mistake. The Union has many flaws. Many, many flaws. At the end, it’s made up of people – and you need good people doing good works for the Union to be a success. Warts and all, however, the Union is our chosen way of projecting power as students. Dismantling or bypassing the Union gives students less power, not more. The Union is the way that generations of students before us have pressed their demands, gotten the stature to speak up for students to the administration and Board of Trustees, and gotten shit done. It’s kind of like the government. If you disagree with the government, you deal with that through taking it over or lobbying. You don’t try to dismantle it.

During my time on the Constitutional Review Committee, I heard a lot of negativity about the Union – for good reason. What I couldn’t stand, however, was the following line of argument: “Barely 30% of students bother to vote, even for Presidential elections. That’s a signal that the Union doesn’t matter that much – and it should bow to the will of the people, give up power, and not advocate for students”

I disagree with that analysis. People aren’t seeing an effective Union that stands up for them or matters in their daily lives – that’s why there’s low turnout. The last Presidential election had over 50% turnout – people care when they believe in the Union and its possibilities. The Union needs to deal with its low turnout problem by being relevant and bold, an inspiring figure for students – not by crouching defensively and not doing much of anything.

I wrote this during the summer. Never got around to posting it. Here’s part I.

Are critiques of the Student Union logically incoherent?

I’ve been reading this great article by George Packer, which really explores the dysfunction of the United States Senate. Read it!

Anyways, at first I thought there was a real parallel between the issues he raised and the current Student Union Senate. The more I think about it, though, the Union itself has many of the challenges of the US Senate – and some key differences.

A big problem in the narrative of the Senate is found in how it fails to pass legislation that deals with our challenges. Packer writes about anonymous holds, the requirement of unanimous consent, a 3-day-a-week schedule, and other factors as key determinants in the hobbling of the Senate. Yet, the Union doesn’t have these problems. Our stringent clean-elections law completely bans money in politics. The union executive has none of these external factors slowing it down (the Union Senate similarly doesn’t have filibusters, holds, or requirements for unanimous consent, and it famously is capable of meeting until late in the evening).

More subtle problems, however, are found in both. In the modern Senate, Packer finds, individual Senators have their own power bases and electoral machinery and are less likely to need the party – or the Senate itself. On the other hand, they’re so busy that they frequently follow the advice of aides or leadership regarding votes – and often don’t know why they’re voting for a particular bill or what it does. Senators are off being individuals (raising money, talking to interest groups, plotting, etc), instead of making ties among one another, especially across party lines. The rules for the Senate are so convoluted that mining the rulebook gives you a lot of power.

The Union, in comparison, is also full of individual actors that aren’t beholden to a party. The Union itself is filled with many different positions and people. They sometimes try to turn into a more cohesive unit – but the public always has an outcry about the clubbiness and elitism of the Union.

The Union is caught in a catch-22: Bonding invites charges of elitism, but a lack of bonding leads to argument and drama that could be avoided.

Packer tells the tale of how C-SPAN cameras cut through the closed atmosphere of the old Senate, getting rid of cozy deals but also encouraging Senators to read off prepared speeches on the Senate floor instead of speaking frankly. The cameras also lessened the need for Senators to hang around the Senate floor, because they could just waltz in whenever the cameras told them a vote was about to be taken.

I’m a big supporter of Union transparency. Still am. I fought for a mandatory open meeting for the E-Board once a week while I was on the Constitutional Review Committee – and I stand by that. Still, it’s good to take a step back sometimes and recognize that total transparency is both illusory (the hidden stuff just gets shifted during private time in to someone’s dorm instead of official meetings) and not necessarily a good thing. (Lawrence Lessig wrote an important essay back in 2009 that had a large influence on my thinking on the matter as well.)

So can we criticize the Union both for being too insider-y and for the drama and acrimony that results from their insider-y bonding? I think so, but we need to be more careful about it. Just as transparency doesn’t always have a good or bad outcome, neither do unaccountable secret senate meetings and a shadowy E-Board. It takes good people making good decisions to bring about good outcomes, not just helpful structures.

About fifty people crowded into the peace circle outside Usdan Monday evening to light candles in honor of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Suicide Prevention Day and the five known LGBT teen suicides reported in the past month.

“People think that Brandeis’ queer community ends at Triskelion, but as you can see today, there are so many people here,” said Tommy Arnott ‘11, who took part in the vigil. “There are people who never come to Trisk, there are graduate students, and there are so many allies here today to help show that solidarity in the face of this tragedy across the nation.”

Triskelion, Brandeis’s alliance for queer and allied students, organized the vigil with Alison Better, the Intercultural Center’s Program Coordinator for Sexual and Gender Diversity.

“We added it at the very last minute,” said Mary Dunn ‘12, Triskelion’s general coordinator, “because of an address that the Department of Education made to address the issue of bullying within schools, which was made last Friday.”

Before a moment of silence, Dunn read the names of September’s five LGBT suicide victims aloud:

Continue reading “Coming Out Week: Candlelight Vigil Honors LGBT Suicide Victims”

I sit on my couch surrounded by Blogaganza and start to skim through photos on-line. I’m searching for inspiration. I need a Kick-ASS Halloween Costume this year since I’m celebrating in DC after the Colbert and Stewart Rally. In a flash of pure genius I decide to dress up as Sarah Palin and name my costume “the seven deadly sins.”

I worry that Sarah Palin is an outdated political reference. What is the shelf life for an evil national politician that exploits her sex appeal? I do a Google image search for “sexy republican” to test my concern and maybe find an up-to-date alternative… Wait a minute… Is Sarah Jessica Parker really a Republican?!? I pictured Ann Coulter, or someone equally “fair and balanced.” But who knows? Maybe Republicans find Sarah Jessica Parker alluring.

This entire discussion reminds me of the pathetic comic used on the Brandeis Libertarian-Conservative Union’s website. Haven’t seen it? Click here: This is the kind of blatant anti-feminist message I thought was outdated and unacceptable on any part of our campus (cyber or not). Does this image really represent the best of our community? As Erica Albright said in The Social Network, “The internet isn’t written in pencil, its written in INK!” (or code…) I for one am unsettled by this kind of visual discrimination masked as humor. Please, Brandeis Libertarian-Conservative Union, please get rid of this offensive visual.

Please respond with your Halloween costume ideas.

Anyone not in the Union but want a say in the Union?

The Student Union is excited to announce the addition of an Office of Communications to our structure in order to forward our mission of staying connected and being an active resource to students.

We want to create transparency, innovate new mediums of communication, and inform students on all the different ways they can get involved at Brandeis. That’s why we’ve revamped our Student Union website to include blogs, as well as a better presentation for events, announcements, directory and academic information. You can also ‘Like’ the Brandeis Student Union page on Facebook and/or follow ‘BDeisUnion’ on Twitter for frequent updates. When you’re grabbing dinner at Usdan, you’ll also be able to check out our Student Union Bulletin Board, which we also plan to use as a space for clubs to advertise events and announcements. Last, but definitely not least, you can look out for a monthly Student Union Newsletter, which we are in the process of creating in time for the holidays.

This is a huge undertaking for communications alone, and we can’t do it without your help!

The Office of Communications will consist of the Student Union Co-Directors of Communication, (2) writers, a newsletter editor, and a website administrator. Writers will be responsible for writing weekly blogs, updating our social networking outlets, and writing stories for the Union newsletter. The newsletter editor will be responsible for assisting in the creation of the Student Union newsletter and managing all the content that goes into it. If you like journalism, these positions may be for you! We need dedicated writers who are willing to devote time to pen stories highlighting all the exciting things that are going on on campus. We also need a tech-savvy website administrator to maintain the Union website and innovate new ways to make it bigger, better, and more useful. Applicants should be creative, familiar with Drupal (preferably), and be able to troubleshoot, as well as add new features to the website.

We hope you will consider this fantastic new opportunity to be a part of the Student Union. To apply, please fill out the application here:

Applications are due by Friday, October 15th and you will be contacted to schedule an interview time for Sunday, October 17th. If this date is inconvenient, please e-mail Andrea Ortega, and we can arrange a separate interview time. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Andrea Ortega at aortega@brandeis.edu.

Thurday 9pm SLEEP OUT on the Great Lawn!

HELP UP MAKE CHANGE SO THE CLIMATE DOESN’T HAVE TO

We will be sleeping out on the Great Lawn this Thursday, October 7th, in protest of the dirty electricity that powers our homes and dorms. Students for a Just and Stable Future (SJSF), through Sleep Outs, Stand-ins, and Community efforts, supports legislation in the Massachusetts Statehouse to make MA a leader in clean electricity.

We know that worldwide change is needed, to turn the climate crisis around and bring our atmospheric CO2 to a sustainable level, but we also know that it takes strong leadership to make change happen. So challenge our state to be that leadership! Join us this Thursday night!

All are welcome. Stop by for an hour, or stay the night.

Food will be served & games will be played throughout the night.

Music from: Up the Octave!

Comedy from: To Be Announced!

Guest speaker: Craig Altemose–SJSF exec. staff person!

Plus hear from representative of on-campus groups:

Natural Living

Real Food

Pakistani Relief Fund

AND IF YOU DO PLAN TO SLEEP OUT

Please fill out the form at <https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dGpvRTNYbFh1czFRS09VVk8zNXViM0E6MQ#gid=0>

Bring warm clothes & a sleeping bag if you have one. Sleeping bags will be provided for those who need them.

I wrote this a long time ago. Still think it’s worth talking about
The heads of the G20 nations are meeting in Toronto right now. For the last two days, there’s been a spectacle of protest and reaction on the streets of Toronto.

Yesterday, as the G8 joined the rest of the G20, the (I think) Canadian Federation of Labor and other respectable civil-society groups staged a large peaceful  march/protest of around 30,000. During the afternoon, about 300 black-clad figures broke out from the group and started smashing storefronts, etc. The march devolved into bands of thousands of protestors/onlookers roaming around Toronto or being surrounded by police, with the Black Block among some groups, merrily going about their property destruction and then changing clothes and melting into the crowd.

Different narratives/storylines I’m hearing about the whole thing:

• “This peaceful protest was hijacked by a reckless few. Now the peaceful many can’t get their message out”
• “Way to create a backlash against the left and against the change you seek, morons.”
• “Many of the black block were probably police provacatours. Police forces around the world have admitted that they do this at g20-like protests”
• “The police are pushing the story about a few vandals to cover for their illegal and brutal arrests and beatings of the peaceful majority”

I just don’t understand. The vandals/black block or whatever. What are the series of plausible steps they believe can result from their actions? What is their plan?

I’d like to announce the creation of something new, and hopefully awesome.

It’s the allactivsts email list.

Here’s the scoop:

Over the past few years, there have been a few attempts at making an email list for all activists on campus. In my time, there has been arc, arcliasions, changeagency, brandeischangeagency, bbcc, just to name a few. This new list consolidates them all into one email list for all activists on campus.

Why do we need an all-activists-on-campus email list?

A few weeks ago, F-Board gave “activist” clubs much less money than it gave other clubs. If we had such a list back then, we might have used it to vent and quickly realize that we were all being screwed. As it was, we realized it gradually, too gradually to coordinate an effective response.

What would we do with an all-activists-on-campus email list?

There are lots of ways this can be useful:

• People and clubs can advertise their events
• Find others to join or offer support to your campaigns
• Ask for cosponsors
• Ask for strategic advice in your campaigns
• We can pass around links to grants, internships, or fellowships that are awesome. (I will be doing this)
• We can use this to invite each other to parties
• We can use this list to link to very important articles in campus papers or other places
• I know Change Agency, at least, has money to give and will be using this list to do so.
• More ways that we haven’t thought of yet.

How will this be useful for me?

The above reasons. As well as the fact that anyone can email this list. You will have the opportunity and responsibility to email hundreds of dedicated Brandeis changemakers, whenever you want. You will have the responsibility not to abuse that power, and the responsibility to read and respond, as appropriate, to other people.

We now have a new tool. As we use this list, we will figure out how we can most effectively wield it. The important thing is that we experiment and be patient.

Will this list get spammy?

It better not. IF that starts happening, I promise to take steps to stop it. If this email list gets too high-volume, we might break into 2 email lists – a low-volume announcement one, and a high-volume discussion one.

Furthermore, if you log into lists.brandeis.edu, edit your membership mode to “digest”. This means that you will be guaranteed at most 1 email per day, summarizing the day’s activity.

I love this idea! Building the movement on campus is awesome. How can I help?

Well, right now we just have an email list. That was the easy part. Its success will be determined by two factors: the people on the list and the conversations we have. Therefore, there are two broad ways you can help make this a success:

1. Add more people to the list: The more activists (god I hate that word) on this list, the better. Email your club list and ask them to join this one. Add your friends, etc. There are very few first-years here, and they are the future. Evangelize.

2. Add quality discussion to the list: Think about the sort of things we should be talking about. Then talk about them. Make this list a dynamic, helpful resource by asking and answering questions, posting opportunities, giving kudos to great work done by other clubs, etc. Please make this a community worth being part of.

I hope this will be a success. With your help, it could be.

So go here right now and sign up for the all-activists-on-campus email list.

Thanks!
This is a slightly edited version of an email I wrote in collaboration with Matt Gabrenya

Once again, the Brandeis Democrats have proven that there ain’t no party like the Democratic party.

This past week, the Dems, Democracy for America, and TRISK led a day-long phone bank to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell outside of Usdan. Over 200 students stopped to call their Senators and Senator Scott Brown to urge them to turn over the discriminatory policy that has kept gay Americans out of the military simply for being who they are. Despite that our phone calls did not prompt the end to injustice we had hoped for, it was a brilliant reminder of the political energy of our campus. When given the opportunity, Brandeis students will and do act.

Our crusade toward equality in the military will continue, but our primary focus in the coming weeks is working to secure the House of Representatives for the Democrats this upcoming midterm elections. In order to move the country toward equal opportunity, adequate health care for all Americans, and a comprehensive immigration reform that doesn’t punish immigrants for their unfortunate circumstances, it is essential that the Democrats continue to put up a fight. We’ll be doing virtual phone banks every Wednesday night, and getting out and knocking on doors for candidates who represent progressive interests.

When we aren’t talking to voters, we’ll be having a great time with our various social activities including a trip to the movies to see the new documentary about the US public education system ‘Waiting for Superman‘, a networking dinner with the College Democrats of Massachusetts (over 50 College Democrats chapters from around the state), a new member party at Chum’s, and heading down to DC for the Stewart/Colbert Rally.

We are looking for new perspectives and fresh faces to join us in our pursuit of democratic values. Why not join us at our weekly meeting, Wednesdays at 8pm in Golding 101?

I know that I’m not supposed to post about events occurring outside of Brandeis but the remarks made by Boyd K. Packer frustrate and anger me to no end. They can’t be ignored. This is the sort of act that leads people to commit suicide. A religious figure is telling all LGBT people that they are simply evil and unnatural. This is a subject that although these words weren’t spoken on our campus, they were spoken to the students and to the faculty, to anyone who is struggling with their sexual identity and is afraid. We can’t risk that our youth, that our friends, our family and our neighbors hear these words and then believe them. It is imperative that people demonstrate their disagreement. For now I have an open letter that The Human Rights Campaign is sending out to the Mormon Church explaining their disagreement. Please sign the letter and spread the word that you and many others don’t just think Boyd K. Packer’s words are unjust and incorrect but also that you are outraged by them. There is a video clip of his speech on this link; I’m sure that if you want to find the whole speech before signing the letter, it will be accessible through youtube.
https://secure3.convio.net/hrc/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=945&autologin=true&utm_source=Convio&utm_medium=email&utm_term=link2&utm_campaign=After-suicides-mormon-leader-rants-against-gays&JServSessionIdr004=22h7bpa534.app303a

I received the following e-mail from Triskelion, our school’s LGBTQA student group, and wanted to call to attention the recent spike in “teen suicides by gay-identified youth.” While the reasons these LGBTQ youth felt the need to take their lives is a whole bigger question, the Brandeis community will be holding a peace vigil tomorrow at 5:30 at the Peace Circle outside Usdan in order to remember these people.

For all of you who have been following the news, this has been a sad time in LGBTQ history. In the last 3 weeks, there have been 5 teen suicides by gay-identified youth. Because of this, the Trevor Project is promoting a national moment of silence today at 8:00 p.m. If you would like to participate, all you need to do is to take a moment out of your day at 8 o’clock and reflect on the lives that have been lost. If you would like more information, I will place links below to some news articles and the Trevor Project.

The Trevor Project: http://www.thetrevorproject.org/ or http://www.facebook.com/TheTrevorProject

Asher Brown, 13: http://www.queerty.com/shock-gay-texas-13-year-old-asher-brown-shoots-himself-in-the-head-after-horrific-school-torment-20100928/

Seth Walsh, 13: http://www.queerty.com/bullied-to-death-seth-walsh-13-dies-after-10-days-on-life-support-after-suicide-attempt-20100928/

Billy Lucas, 15: http://www.queerty.com/billy-lucas-15-hangs-himself-after-classmates-called-him-a-fag-one-too-many-times-20100914/

Tyler Clementi, 18: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/10/01/2010-10-01_tyler_clementis_parents_open_up_on_rutgers_freshmans_suicide_after_gay_encounter.html

Raymond Chase, 19: http://thenewsoftoday.com/raymond-chase-19-year-old-gay-male-is-5th-suicide-in-last-3-weeks/3095/
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In order to respond to these tragedies, Trisk leaders and Brandeis’ Program Coordinator for Sexual and Gender Diversity Alison Better have organized an LGBTQ Suicide Candlelight Vigil this Monday to mourn the loss of everyone who has committed suicide “for reasons related to their non-normative identity.” The Vigil is planned for tomorrow at 5:30pm, at the Peace Circle outside of Usdan.

If you are interested, please attend and invite people to the facebook event