Author: NathanJRobinson

Here’s an incomplete list of news articles and pieces about the Rose closure. As you will swiftly notice, Brandeis does not come off too well in them. Continue reading “Links to News Articles about the Rose”

The New York Times website updates frequently, and items get pushed off the main page about as quickly as they’re put on, but right now the lead story is about our beloved Rose museum. Here is a link. Click it.

It’s now fairly clear that if we go through with this, we will destroy our reputation in the art world forever. Nobody who seriously cares about art will have anything but sheer contempt for our University. Now, I’m still undecided on the issue, and perhaps sacrificing the respect of the art community is the price we have to pay. But if we think we can pull of such a brash move with no consequences from the outside world, we’re deluding ourselves. Continue reading “Rose Art on the main page of the NY Times Website”

So one of Brandeis’s coolest professors is about to become an early victim of the budget cuts.

I took a class with Professor Wayne Marshall last semester (Race, Representation, Reggae and Nation), and loved every minute of it. Professor Marshall is one of the absolute best instructors I’ve had, and it sadly looks like he’s going to get the axe.

Up until now, we’ve seen few concrete examples of the budget cuts in action, but the prospect of losing Prof. Marshall brings immediacy to the budget issue.

Now, we know that Brandeis is going to cut faculty in the years to come (perhaps by as much as 10%). Losses are inevitable. But we need to make it clear to the administration that certain vital professors need to be maintained at all costs. And Wayne Marshall is vital. He’s a key part of both the Music and African-American studies departments, and has greater world-music expertise than anyone else on staff. Without Marshall, the study of non-western music at Brandeis would all but disappear. So academically, he’s vital, and he has impressive output of scholarly works as well (he’s one of the editors of this upcoming book, which is the first authoritative work on reggaeton). Plus he’s a popular local DJ, and you can catch him at The Enormous Room in Cambridge every Monday night.

Brandeis alum Leor Galil puts it this way:

I know that if I were still a student at Brandeis and he were not to return simply because something had to be cut from the budget, I would be confused as to why I was still at the school. If Brandeis prides itself as an institution that challenges its students in a variety of fields, if Wayne were to leave the school it would be a marked departure from that declaration.

If you’d like to know more, talk to me, Leor, Sahar, or anyone who has ever taken one of his classes. Or just email the man himself. wmarshal@brandeis.edu.

So we want to make sure Prof. Marshall is rehired. He’s currently on a two-year contract which expires at the end of the semester, and is unlikely to be renewed. So we’re starting a school-wide campaign to convince the administration to keep him.

Leor is putting together, in his words, “a full-blown petition in three parts: a one page cover letter, a five-ten page argument for keeping Wayne onboard (with stats for his effect on the AAAS and Music Departments, documenting his contributions to the university, giving student feedback, etc), and the full blown list of signees.”

Please, please do whatever you can. If you know Wayne Marshall, write a testimonial or help put together our argument. If you don’t know him, then please sign the petition. We can’t save Wayne without a concerted student push. This is going to be really difficult, since the university does not want to re-hire faculty it can let go, so we need a massive effort. So email savewayne (at) gmail (dot) com with:

1. Your name

2. Your connection to Brandeis (student, parent, alum, with class year if applicable)

3. Some sort of contact info (so we can, if need be, verify that all the signatures are real)

4. Any comments you have about Prof. Marshall, or why you want the petition to succeed.

And tell your friends to as well. And tell your friends to tell their friends.

In a time of crisis, we as students have to work hard to preserve those parts of our Brandeis experience which we deem essential. The administration can cut professors, but surely not those that the students most enjoy and benefit from.

If you want more info about Wayne, you can find his blog at www.wayneandwax.com. There’s an old article about him in the Boston Globe that can give you some background info. His official Brandeis faculty page is here. Also keep on the lookout for a profile piece in The Justice coming fairly soon.

Again, email savewayne (at) gmail (dot) com and let’s get this petition going. But do more than sign the petition. Talk to Leor (leorgalil (at) gmail (dot) com) or me (nrobins (at) brandeis (dot) edu) to find other ways to get involve. Tell people. Do whatever you can, we need to make this work.

More posts to come on this subject…

The Hoot has a front page article on our demonstration yesterday in Olin-Sang.

Go and read it:

http://thehoot.net/articles/4722

By the way, I’m the one in the hat, in case you couldn’t tell.

I think the article is a pretty fair summary of what happened. And I’m very happy with the responses of the faculty to our concerns, even though not many stayed afterwards (they’re busy, so that’s understandable, though disappointing). Overall the faculty seem amenable to including students in the decisionmaking process, and it’s the actions of the administration that we need to be concerned about.

The protest was very, very valuable, though. I think we accomplished a great deal, though there will need to be much more of this kind of thing in the future (and a greater united student force).

I drive the Branvan. Some of you may know that, having suffered through a ride with me before. Others may have forgotten their Branvan experiences with me due to the state of inebriation they were experiencing at the time. Whatever your encounters with the Branvan have been, though, it is likely that you are upset with certain aspects of our service. I know this because someone came up to me the other day and said “Hey, don’t you drive the Branvan?” and when I responded in the affirmative, he informed me in an upset tone that he disliked me and everything I stood for.

Listen, though, friends: you have every right to complain. Branvans tend to be late and cramped. The vans themselves are on the verge of collapse. Sometimes we miss your stop. Sometimes we accidentally forget about you and leave you stranded in Waltham. I’ve heard the complaints, and as a regular rider of the van, I know that they are mostly justified.

But we try, we really do. Remember that Branvan drivers are hardworking, decent Americans with families to feed. Some of them look just like you or me (mostly me). We like you. And it’s our sworn mission to safely transport you wherever your heart may desire, be it Hannaford or Walgreens or the sketchy adult novelty store on Moody St.

We do make mistakes. The last time I drove the Branvan into Waltham, I accidentally dropped some poor girl at Moody and High instead of Main and Moody. She seemed very upset. I had misheard her request. To whoever you are, Anonymous Irritated Passenger-Girl, I am sorry. I let you, and my fellow members of that noble breed known as Branvan drivers, down. Will you forgive me?

Here’s some happy news, though. Every day we’re trying pretty hard to make our service bearable! In fact, we even bought a brand new van at the beginning of this year. It’s called Van 60. It’s gorgeous. And new. And it smells like a new Branvan should. And it’s not bumpy or filthy or falling-apart. You’ll love it.

We are trying our best to get you to your class or your frat party or whatever with the minimum amount of massive inconvenience. Sometimes we fail. But even when we fail, know that we love you. And we hope someday that you can love us too.

I have a piece published in The Hoot this week, although you wouldn’t know it by looking at The Hoot. This is because instead of “By Nathan Robinson,” Brandeis University’s Community Newspaper decided that it would rather print “By Maxwell Price” in the byline. No, I don’t know why they did this.

The story (it’s short, don’t worry) goes like this: On Wednesday, Sept. 17^th at approximately 2:07 p.m. I received an email from one Maxwell Price. The email said this:

Hey Nathan,

My name is Max Price and I am the new editor of the culture/arts section of the Hoot. I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your insightful piece about the Hoffman autobiography and also to let you know that it will be published this week. See the attachment with a few small changes I made.

Also, if you’re interested in helping to carry on Hoffman’s tradition, come to Pom 502 at 11pm tonight for a meeting of P.O.Y.A. (Pissed off Youth of America), an organization I recently founded. For more info you can contact me or just show up tonight. Thanks!

-Max

Well, I didn’t go to his club. Not that I’m not a pissed off youth, which I am, though whether I am “of America” is debatable. But 11pm is past my bedtime, and besides, I try to avoid ever venturing into East Quad. I hear it has house centipedes, and those things are horrifying.

I think, though, that I may have made Max Price hate me. I did not mean to do this. From his email, he sounds like a very nice man. It’s bubbly and warm. Maybe he and I can still be friends someday. I hope so. If he gives me a hug and a high-five next time I see him, we’ll pretend nothing happened. And he and I can start a revolution together, or maybe go out for a sandwich.

Anyway, my point is this. Go and read the article. It can be found here.

Continue reading “I am Slightly Annoyed with The Hoot (But You Should Read It Anyway!)”

You may recall that last year there was considerable talk about a bicycle program for Brandeis students. We would all pay a small fee, and would then get access to bikes, so that we could ride all over town and annoy the Waltham traffic. So what happened? As far as I can tell, there isn’t any bike program. If there was, I’d be riding one right now, instead of sitting on my fat lazy ass in front of the computer.

Maybe this thing was never proposed. Maybe I’m imagining it. But I’m fairly sure it was promised, and yet seems to have somehow sunk to the bottom of the sea. I think it might have been the baby of Michael Kerns, actually, which may be why it never came to fruition. Seems like nothing ever gets done around here without Kerns.

Whatever the explanation, there is no reason why this great program shouldn’t go forward. Hell, this thing has been talked about for years. An editorial in The Hoot back in 2005 proposed turning us all into bike-riding communists:
Continue reading “Bicycles, perhaps?”

Nathan is a new writer for us. Please welcome him to the blog. -Sahar

      Last year, each morning I went up to the Information Booth in the Shapiro Campus Center and obtained a crisp copy of the day’s New York Times. These were free, as part of some sort of program-thingy that Brandeis runs to give newspapers to the masses. They also gave out The Boston Globe and The Financial Times. Nobody wanted those, though, because the Globe is a watery version of the NY Times, and the Financial Times is printed on paper the color of salmon, and salmon is no color for a newspaper. Fish and news should be kept in separate spheres.

      Anyway, this year, the papers are gone. Disappeared! No longer is there a fresh stack of papers lurking in the info-booth. We used to have a sort of secret little club for those who knew how to properly sidle up to the booth, give a knowing look, and flash their ID. That has vanished without notice. The little info-people in the red shirts have all offered me contradictory and unsatisfactory explanations for this mystery.

       “Where have the papers gone?” I ask them. Many do not know. Others offer lies and conjecture.

      “They will be here when the time is right,” one tells me. “They have gone,” another says. Others tell me the Times will return within the week, though some say it could take a matter of months. None have a reason for the phenomenon.

      Meanwhile, I am news-less. My morning coffee-and-paper routine has been halfway destroyed. I am forced to get my news from those damned wretched untrustworthy “blog” things, or from empty-headed cable-news people. I have to substitute Wolf Blitzer for Bob Herbert (and despite having the coolest name on the entire planet, Wolf Blitzer is supremely useless as a source of information).

      So my question for Brandeis is this: WTF? Where did the papers go? Why can’t I grab a Times in the morning? How are we supposed to keep ourselves informed on The Issues Of The Day? By reading The Hoot? Surely not! Perhaps Innermost Parts can equip us with our basic knowledge, but surely the New York Times is a good way to supplement the wisdom of Sahar and the gang.