Author: Sahar

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””

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.

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.

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

Richard Goldstone, the guy who wrote the now-famous report that Hamas, other terrorists, and Israel all committed war crimes earlier this year, is the chair of the internatinal law advisory board for the Ethics Center. That’s pretty cool! Turns out that the Ethics Center is world-renowned for its work in the area of international justice and international law. It’s kind of a weird niche but they fill it.

That’s pretty cool – Brandeis has connections to so many interesting little public affairs nooks like that, why don’t we play that up more?

I’ve benefited from reading other publication’s articles on Pres. Reinharz resignation. Some of them are quite good.

The Justice, The Globe, and The Hoot all put up their articles at midnight.

The Globe now has Brandeis University’s official statement regarding Jehuda’s resignation here.

About an hour ago, the Associated Press picked up the story, and now it’s in the LA Times, as well as the Chronicle of Higher Education.

In case you missed it, here’s Jehuda’s official email to the campus regarding the move:
Continue reading “Resignation Roundup”

It’s hard to think of President Reinharz retiring. In my mind, to a large extent, he is Brandeis. Striving to succeed as an American school, but with a hint of Europe and the mysteries of Israel. Caught between strong egos and stronger words regarding Israel, and constantly adjusting to find the right amount of “Jewishness” for this campus. Jehuda codified the four pillars of Brandeis, among them a commitment to Social Justice. Under his watch, we’ve seen tangible signs of that commitment, such as the founding of the Ethics Center.

How can I speak to his faults and his greatness when his tenure is all that I’ve known? Brandeis is a great place, a lovely place, a wonderful place. I’ve learned so much, gained so much, loved so much here. How much of that is his doing? I have no idea. It’s quite easy to isolate the glaring flaws, the nagging problems, the frustrations that we’ve had with along the way, but much harder to isolate those deeper foundations that he’s laid down for us.

I’m rather upset that President Reinharz is leaving, and a bit scared. For what it’s worth, I think he’s a good guy. The longer I’ve lived on campus, the more I respect him. His job is hard! It’s not easy pleasing everyone. I’m not saying this because I’ve had pleasant interactions with him, far from it. Instead, his actions speak louder than words. Jehuda’s tenure has been a good one. Having been on campus only slightly longer than 2 years, I can’t get a grasp of his long stay at this place, and I don’t really know how much of Brandeis’ greatness came from him, but I suspect his contribution is substantial.

If I were Jehuda, I wouldn’t want news of my retirement broken in a tone less than somber or dignified. To the extent that we didn’t hold up to that standard, I sincerely apologize.

We’ll never really know the internal politics at Bernstein-Marcus, whether the lack of student involvement stemmed from Jehuda or in spite of him. The full story is beyond our grasp. Mr. Reinharz has always been gracious to students, and a friendly face at the head of large events. I remember him bantering with Ed Markey and announcing that water bottles would be banned from campus. I remember him giving a speech just today at the unveiling of the new Brandeis Stamp. I am glad that he’s sticking around, even for a little while.

The future of the University depends in part on our next selection of President. Justice Brandeis Semesters, expansion, faculty staffing levels, all of it. Our next big challenge as a community is to find that woman or man. Our challenge is to come together in an equitable and democratic way to choose a President that has the approval and support of the entire campus, from Provost to custodian. Our challenge is to make sure that the next President builds upon the pillars of the last.

I just came across this article on the founding of Brandeis University, from the perspective of the Jewish community. Interesting!

Some things I learned:

During the time that Brandeis was getting off the ground, Antisemitism in academia was declining, so

Brandeis’s founders thus argued that the university would enable America’s Jews to repay the country for the freedom and economic opportunity had provided them. According to Abram L. Sachar, the university’s first president and guiding light during its first quarter of a century, Brandeis was to be “a corporate gift of Jews to higher education.” Brandeis’s founders were bolstered by their confidence in the reconciliation of Jewishness and Americanness….

There’s a bunch of problems with dining today: Aramark gouges us, meal plans are transparent rip-offs, and it refuses to recognize worker’s efforts to unionize. Thus, it’s interesting to read about a previous food fight back in the day:

Although future Brandeis commencements were not held on Saturday, the obscurity of Brandeis’s Jewish identity remained. It became a bone of contention during the 1987-88 school year when the school’s administration suggested that the cuisine in the two main student dining rooms be “inter­nationalized” by serving pork and shellfish. This proposal stemmed from the university’s effort to raise itself into the ranks of the nation’s most prestigious institutions. This, it believed, required attracting a more diverse student body, which, in turn, depended on diluting Brandeis’s image as a Jewish institution.

That whole controversy (and the issues surrounding it) toppled Jehuda’s predecessor.

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history/Modern_History/1914-1948/American_Jewry_Between_the_Wars/Intellectual_Life/Brandeis_University.shtml

Just found a blog dedicated to news regarding Louis Brandeis, or “current awareness tool dedicated to publicizing appearances of Louis D. Brandeis of John Marshall Harlan on the web and in the media.” It’s run by the Brandeis Law Library at the University of Louisville. Take a look.

ComputerWorld does a piece on Brandeis’ WiFi setup: Did you know that in 2011 they’ll get rid of ethernet in dorms, and we’ll move to an all-WiFi campus? I work at the Unet Helpdesk currently, and speaking from experience and talking to other LTS staffmembers, the impression is that this year’s freshman class uses their ethernet significantly less often than previous ones.

Our own Nathan J. Robinson has an op-ed in The Hoot. Read it here, then come back and comment on it.

At one point during the past weekend, some nefarious individual (or individuals) grabbed a bit of neon chalk and a stencil, and plastered the domain “Wiggio.com” all over Usdan and the Rabb steps. As a result, when we Brandeisians traipsed to class on Monday morning, our eyes were treated to a selection of bright green advertisements on the walls and floors.

I’m not sure how many passersby paid attention to this assortment of Wiggios, but I was particularly perturbed by it. Two thoughts came to mind: What is this Wiggio.com? And who the hell do they think they are?

The first one of these is probably the exact reaction hoped for by the mysterious chalker. The second, perhaps less so. Anyway, after a bit of cursory Googling, I discovered that Wiggio is apparently yet another social networking site, whose particular specialty is “the formation of groups.”

Continue reading “Wigging out on Wanton Wiggio”

It’s not an eye for an eye but a favor for a neighbor:
– Those dumb ads have likely been set up by a nefarious Brandeis alum.

– Students don’t seem to be too excited about JBS’s

– The Union elections have been postponed due to software troubles. I’m cool with that – The old system was a huge waste of money and quite error-prone. Will the new system be open-source?

– Jaffe-sponsored committees continue to have only token student representation.

– University continues to embarrass itself by being a dick regarding the Rose.

– English major claims that huge new sign on Shapiro Campus Center is grammatically incorrect. Amusingly (intentionally?) so is the title of her op-ed. I used to write op-eds for the Hoots and they never let me choose the titles for my articles so keep that in mind. I actually like that sign – I don’t see why people are so opposed to it, though this might be a reason why.

– Mark Collins is tight-lipped about how he’s going to deal with overcrowding on campus.

– The battle to control the Rose.

The next batch of office hours will be exactly one week from today.

In case you missed his email:

** Friday, September 4th – 2:00 to 3:30 p.m.
** Thursday, September 24th – 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
** Friday, October 9th – 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
** Monday, October 26th – 3:00 to 4:30 p.m.
** Friday, November 20th – 2:00 to 3:30 p.m.
** Tuesday, December 1st – 2:00 to 3:30 p.m.

This schedule is posted and updated on the “My Brandeis Campus Calendar” http://my.brandeis.edu/btime/day-view. Please call x63001 on the scheduled date to confirm that no unforeseen changes have been made. The President’s Office is located in Irving 113 (Bernstein Marcus / Gryzmish Administration Bldgs.).

Speaking of Twitter, I’d like to mention that Innermost Parts has our own new Twitter feed. You can check it out here: http://twitter.com/innermostparts

Astute readers will notice that we’ve got a little box to the right that shows our most recent twitter posts, for coolness and to save you time.

What’s our twitter feed for? I’m not sure yet. I want to use it to share links I might not blog about, but still are worth sharing, but who knows else it’ll be used for? We’ll keep playing with it and seeing what works. Right now I’m quasi-“live tweeting” an event with Prof. Charles Ogletree.

Let the grand experiment begin!

Innermost Parts founded and co-hosts the Brandeis Academic Calendar with the Activist Resource Center. You’ll see it on your right; isn’t it pretty?

Here’s the problem: there are cool, kickass events that we want to promote, but I’m afraid that they often are lost in the clutter of activist club meetings, which are also listen on events.

What would be more useful to you? An activist calendar that listed every meeting of the Brandeis Labor Coalition, Democracy for America, etc, (as well as one-off events) or one that only listed new events?

The unofficial theme of today’s The Justice seems to be “Brandeis is rapidly moving away from the Liberal Arts.” The Liberal Arts Posse is being ruthlessly gutted, Justice Brandeis Semesters will give you academic credit for filing papers at summer internships, and they argue that experiential learning is a joke.

The lead editorial today was pretty forceful, especially considering the source. I don’t agree with all of it, but I think they distilled the student zeitgeist here pretty well:

However, when empty campaign slogans such as “Liberal Arts for the 21st Century” (coming at a time when the Liberal Arts Posse scholarship program has been suspended) start popping up on our campus, we have cause to worry.

A young university like Brandeis doesn’t have years of tradition to fall back on when promoting itself to prospective students. However, promoting a supposedly innovative liberal arts program when Brandeis’ academic focus has been on professional concentrations like the new Business major seems to be in bad faith.

I’d really like to hear what senior administration have to say to that. I’m not as upset as The Justice seems to be – slogans do mean something, and I’d rather have slogans that emphasize Social Justice and education than a smug “Smart from the Start”.

Look, this is all driven by the times. We all know that. No one thinks that Marty Krauss has been holed up in the bottom of Usdan, cackling and plotting the downfall of Posse. Still. There are many choices that the University could make to save money. Paring down TYP, phasing out Posse – these should be hard choices. Very hard choices. We students must make it clear how dearly we cherish and how closely we identify Brandeis with those programs.

In the spirit of yesterday’s “Best of the Hoot”, here’s a quick look at today’s The Justice:

– Chapels are going to be renovated, financed by an anonymous gift.
– When I heard that there was going to be a review of staffing levels at the University I was excited because I know many faculty are upset at unbalanced funding levels between departments. Turns out that this review is only for administrative departments. They should expand the Office of Student Life, those guys are great.
– The Justice is upset that Brandeis is bringing in Business Majors and getting rid of Posse scholars while marketing itself on liberal arts. I agree. Getting rid of Posse scholars is a big deal. Those guys are consistently among the nicest, coolest, and most fun on campus.

– BranPo can apparently bust you for drugs during “fire drills”. No warrants here, folks.
– More swine flu scares.
– Brandeis has a climate action plan now. Professor Goldin likes it.
– I am worried about Justice Brandeis Semesters. This could turn out really badly.

Wow. All in all, lots of news here. They’re cutting Posse, and searching rooms without warrants. We’re renovating the Chapels and creating a Climate Action Plan. Plus more.

The Brandeis Politics department has had a mysterious failed link on their webpage for years. It’s a history of Brandeis by Professor David Hackett Fischer, called “The Brandeis Idea: Variations on a Theme”.

Carrie Simmons from the Office of Communications helped us out and dug out a copy. Take a look at this Innermost Parts exclusive.

Download it here:BrandeisIdeaVariationsOnATheme

I’m reading it now – did anyone find something particularly insightful or interesting it? Wanna share?
Continue reading “Unearthed Arcana”

The Brandeis Computer Science Department is trying out a lot of new things and going through a lot of positive change lately. One innovation: a Masters program in IT and Entrepreneurship. A capstone class for the Masters brings in great speakers and invites the whole Brandeis community to come listen in.

The first speaker comes tomorrow, and they really want all sorts of Brandeis students to show up. Here it is:

Disruptive Innovation for Social Change

Tom Sadtler, Vice President Marketing, CA Services
When: Tuesday Sept 15, 5:00-6:30
Where: Volen 105, Brandeis University

Abstract
Disruptive innovations, such as the telephone, the personal computer and Wal-Mart have resulted in large scale changes to industry, our working lives and societies around the world. This talk explores the use of disruptive innovations as a means to catalyze desired social change. We will explore several examples of disruptive innovations that are being used to drive social change in different sectors including: healthcare, education and microfinance. We will look briefly at the impact they are having on addressing the underlying social problem. We will explore the model of how to develop a disruptive innovation to drive social change and explore some new innovations and discuss whether they fit the model and if not how they could be changed to be more effective.

Wanna go?

We’re trying out a new feature here at Innermost Parts where we link to interesting articles in the latest Hoot or Justice soon after they come out. It’s not supposed to be a comprehensive guide, just whatever catches our fancy.

Interesting Hoot Articles, Sep 11th Edition:
– Aramark raises prices. One of Jason Gray’s goals last year was to achieve “point/dollar parity”. It’s a shame he couldn’t get that to happen, what with all the craziness last year. Still, the dream will never die.
– The Hoot liked the TMI conference.
– Rumor has it that a student already left the University due to swine flu.
– Lots to unpack in this short article on Andy Hogan’s relationship with the student body. I especially enjoyed the phrase “Hogan announced … that the press would have to instead speak to him through his Ruben.”
– The Hoot discovers Twitter, and I tell you to go play outside.

What do you think? Like this idea? Think it should be renamed?

It’s time. In a couple days, Brandeis will be hosting a big academic conference with lots of bigwigs etc, talking about the digital divide, internet access, and how the net relates to Social Justice in general.

Here’s what’s going down:

Schedule of Events

Thursday, September 10

Session I: Is the Internet a Human Right?
Time: 2:00-3:30 pm

Session II: Free to be Excellent? The Costs of Being Informed in a Digital Age
Time: 3:45-5:15 pm

Session III: Technology is Neither Good nor Bad, Only Thinking Makes It So
Time: 6:30-8:00 pm

Friday, September 11

Session IV: Does Digital Deepen the Divide?
Time: 9:00-11:00 am

Session V: The Student Verdict

Time: 11:00 am-12:30 pm

This will be really cool. We’re trying to get a team together to report on the conference, either officially for teh conference itself or for Innermost Parts. Email us if you’re interested.

Turns out that Louis Brandeis will get his very own stamp.
As a Louis Brandeis supporter, I am pleased with this decision.

However, here’s some more exciting news: Melvin J. Urofsky is coming to Brandeis!

Allow me to explain. Ever since I wrote a final paper on Louis Brandeis, I’ve realized how much of a great man he was. Forget Judging – this guy was an activist par excellence.

Melvin J. Urofsky is one of the best -if not the best- Brandeis biographers. He’s going to show up at the Faculty club on September 29th to promote his new book. Be there; you’ll thank me later.

Recent Brandeis grad Pat Garofalo went straight from editing the Hoot to working for the Center for American Progress. I hear you ask, “yeah, so what?”

That job is so cool that Pat can interview the Senate Majority whip without breaking a sweat. Look:[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIGFXeNigz0&eurl[/youtube]

Update: I’ve been thinking. To one-up the Hoot, I suggest that an editor from The Justice go chess-boxing with Harry Reid. They must, in order to regain their honor. 🙂 Hannah Kirsch, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

I’m hearing rumors that Brandeis had a success in fundraising this year, and that something like 12M dollars will be put into place to plugging our endowment-created deficit. Does anyone have any specifics on this? Will Faculty get their 401(k)’s back now?

P.S. – Kudos to Ariel Wittenberg at the Hoot for updating during the summer, if only just a bit. Big news still happens over the summer months, and our publications should recognize that fact by at least trying to inform when it happens. edit:The Justice would like to point out that they broke the story before their summer publication. Good, but the point I was trying to address here was “updating news sites over the summer,” not “who got to break the story first”.

update: We’ve got a copy of the message. First, the numbers: We raised 78.3 million dollars total this year, which is 12.1 million less than the $90.4 million we raised last year. Still, this is spun as a success because of the rough economy, and Jehuda points out that 78.3 million is still the 4th largest gift in Brandeis’ history. I’ve sent him an email asking if this accounts for inflation. We’ve also raised 11.6 million dollars to help with the current budget, but only $600,000 of that exceeds projections, so don’t expect any big news there.

It’s a bit frustrating that Jehuda didn’t see fit to inform students of all this. I realize that maybe he didn’t want to spam our inboxes, but come on. How were we supposed to find out about this? I love Brandeis and want it to succeed, and I’m not the only one. We are eager to hear more of this sort of news. It’s not even on his website.

Here’s the text of Jehuda’s message, dated July 13. I advise you to take it with a grain of salt; he has a vested interested in making these numbers look good. Still, hooray?:

I am pleased to report that Brandeis University has raised $11.6 million for current use budget relief. This exceeds our target of $11.0 million by $600,000.

In this difficult year, the development staff, with the help of members of the Board of Trustees and others, exceeded expectations and secured $78.3 million in cash gifts to the University. Last year $90.4 million was raised. The result for Fiscal 2009 is an incredible amount, given the economic uncertainties this year, and represents the 4th largest total cash gifts ever to Brandeis.

New cash and pledges in recent weeks have brought the Campaign for Brandeis to a total of $875 million. This is 71.7% of the $1.2 billion goal. The highest priority for the Campaign continues to be securing scholarships and fellowships, although this is challenging in this environment.

These fundraising efforts have been successful due to the hard work of many people, especially Nancy Winship and her staff. During her 15 years with Brandeis, Nancy has assembled a group of dedicated people, who orchestrated more than 200 events; created and sent internet appeals; coordinated a seven-figure scholarship challenge grant; designed viral marketing and email blasts; planned direct mail letters and phonathons; and visited hundreds of people throughout the U.S. on behalf of Brandeis.

My congratulations to the development staff, to the entire campus community, to the Board of Trustees, and to all those donors who stepped forward in this difficult economic environment to make particularly generous gifts.

146 years ago, the United States experienced the bloodiest riot in its history.

African Americans became scapegoats and the target of the rioters’ anger. Many immigrants and poor viewed freed slaves as competition for scarce jobs and African Americans as the reason why the civil war was being fought. African Americans who fell into the mob’s hands were often beaten, tortured, and/or killed, including one man that was attacked by a crowd of 400 with clubs and paving stones, then hung from a tree and set alight.[13] The Colored Orphan Asylum on Fifth Avenue, which provided shelter for hundreds of children, was attacked by a mob. The police were able to secure the orphanage for enough time to allow orphans to escape.[8]

The worst riot in American history was also its bloodiest race riot, where white working class whites in New York City tortured, beat, and killed any African-American they could lay their hands on.

Worth remembering.

So, in case you didn’t know, there’s going to be a conference on social media and its connection to Social Justice at Brandeis pretty soon. Super cool, right? This combines my passions for computers with my drive for Social Justice. I’m totally excited.

Here’s the agenda: TMI. Social Justice in a Facebook Age v2

Anyways, one way to get involved in the conference (beyond, you know, showing up and listening) is by joining the “Student Challenge”.

It’s still in the planning stages right now, but here’s how the latest draft describes it:

Assignment: Two groups of up to 15 undergraduate students each will gather material at the conference, do research outside the conference, and compile reports on the questions: Are New Media Transformative? How for Better, How for Worse? using both traditional and non-traditional reporting tools and methods.

More info here: student_challenge_draft_4

Check it out.

So a while ago I pointed out that Mariel Gruzsko, a friend of mine, was writing a blog about her experiences doing Anthropological work in Guatemala. Well, it’s taken off splendidly, and I seriously recommend you take a look. She updates often, thoroughly, and thoughtfully.

One thing I really like about Brandeis is that our mascot is named after Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. I’ve often claimed that we need to expand that tradition: before I graduate my goal is to get something named after Earl Warren, and hopefully work “Thurgood’s” in somewhere. It must happen!

Anyways, the good folk at Brandeis are shopping around this video: “Day in the Life of Ollie the Brandeis Student“.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn0aQ-oq6NU[/youtube]

According to them:

The purpose of the video is to get people to our website (to raise money for scholarship), and for them to tell their friends (who can later tell more friends) to view the website (aka viral marketing). So take a look, give me your feedback, and– if you are amused by what you see– please forward it to along.

True dat. Raising money for scholarships is important – and it’s gratifying to see Brandeis embracing the small dollar donor model – the biggest contribution was $500 and the lowest was $20. And a foundation will match 50% of any donation. So it’s a pretty sweet deal, check out the website for more info.

Friend of Blog Mariel Gruszko is anthropologically exploring Guatemala. Check out her journal here.

Hi, I’ve gotten a press badge to a huge Republican fundraiser. I will liveblog the speeches as long as my batteries hold out. My compatriot Evan is also blogging at The New Argument..

7:52 “Ladies and Gentlemen, kindly take your seats, the program is about to begin, kindly take your seats, thank you.” They are 22 minutes late so far.

Observations so far: I think there wre more black people in the intro band than the entire rest of the convention (minus security officers).
We’re at the Press Box. Various Republican dignitaries stride by to show the press that they’re here. Eric Cantor seems to like this technique quite a bit.

I just heard that there are 2000 fundraisers and 150 members of the house here.

8:00 No sign of food for the press. So hungry. AAAAND Palin, Newt, etc, just walk on stage, get panned by the cameras, and walk off. Is this some sort of sign of their r’approchement?

Some random guy just walked by. He said something about “Are you the Press? Watch what they’re eating!” Any ideas what that means?

8:02 Rep Paul Ryan: We have a special guest today. Actor John Voight is going to MC. (Now, I’m not really into pop culture, but who the hell is Paul Voigt? This is their stellar MC?)

…and Paul Ryan shushed the crowd. Um ok.

8:11 John Voight is up. Speechifying. Talking about how Republicans should copy Obama’s success. Blames Obama’s success on Hollywood. Many vague references to technology. Obama campaigned as a

“My greatest concern is for the safety of Israel”. “In my point of view, the Palestinians only want to destroy Israel” . “Are we supposed to sit around and wait for the newest Holocaust?”

Speaking a Jew and Israeli, this blatant abuse of my country of birth for political aims is rather offensive.

“Everything Obama has attempted has turned disastrous”.[ ed- Tell that to Liddy Ledbetter. ] Voigt quotes Pravda: “The United States is sliding towards Communism”. Apparently only Republicans can free us from “this False Prophet, Obama”, who has “oppressed” the United States.

8:17 Orrin Hatch is on deck. Voigt still on stage. Voigt: Orrin Hatch “is very impressive physically. I saw him and thought what a handsome fellow… I feel a special closeness to Orrin Hatch … he’s the man for me”.

8:20 Apparently Hatch’s role was to introduce the tenor who sang the Star-Spangled Banner

8:25 The montage for the Star-Spangled Banner: Soldiers, Guns, Airplanes, Flags, Bombs, many more flags, and the Vietnam memorial. Further confirming the link between nationalism and militarism.

8:26 And now they’re sing a psalm by Saint Francis of Assisi. I wonder how Eric Cantor (the only Republican Jew in Congress) feels about that.

8:29 Mitch McConnell is up. Makes another crack at Hollywood. And another. What is this, the 1950’s? Newt Gingrich is “a great idea man” who has “suggestions”. Also, Obama is radical, in case you forgot. And terrorists would hate staying in a Cuban cell rather than aVirginian one. I guess the land of Castro has become suffused with his Sauron-style evil, chilling the bones of any detainees there.

8:34 Apparently calling John Boehner orange is safely bipartisan

8:35 Apparently Obama and Pelosi have a vendetta against people who follow the law.Damn those lawmakers who hate the law and stuff.Why did they forget to fearmonger about Harry Reid?

8:40 Overheard in the press box: “John Voight did his best to call Obama a terrorist, but he’s an actor. [Sarah Palin] stole the show.” (By walking across the stage once.)

9:10 John Cornyn, head of the NRSC, is up. So far tonight, I’ve hard of Newt being called “an idea guy”, “the man with ideas”, and “an idea factory”. Big lead up to this supposedly clever man.

9:14 There are more minorities in Senate fundraising videos than exist among the funders in this room. Also, apparently Obama has a ruthless regime that tramples freedom and also resembles Jimy Carter’s. Now, Jimmy Carter is many things, but fearsome isn’t one of them.

9:15 Orrin Hatch just spent 20 seconds on his speech. I guess his heart just isn’t in it, poor guy. Now Pete Sessions.

9:18 The mere mention of Bob McDonnel, GOP candidate for Virginia, gets more applause than anyone not named “Palin”. Also apparently Nancy Pelosi is vying with Obama for most feared enemy of the GOP. Pete Sessions is afraid of girl! ;-P

9:20 “The American People realize that we can’t tax, borrow, spend and regulate their way to prosperity”. Look, I like cheap shots as much as anyone, but seriously. Keynesianism isn’t, like, some wild theory. It was in the first economics class I ever took.

9:23 So there’s a montage of Republicans talking about how much they hate the stimulous bill on TV. There was a point where there was a voice over Nancy Pelosi, so that it sounded like she was saying “the biggest spending increse in history”. Neat trick, I guess.

9:25 Paul Ryan. “This is not about Republicans defeating Democrats. THis is not what it’s about. This is a start of an effort to take our country back.” Hm… He should start a conference. He could call it something like “Take Back America” or something. And now for the Europe bashing. And again, Newt is “a man of ideas”. The people here are really clutching onto this guy like he’s their last hope. Now a montage of how awesome Gingrich was in 1994. Newt is the future!

9:30 Newt! “John Voight has given you your battle-cry for the next year and a half”. “Do not tell me it can’t be done is about the best way of thinking of 2012 and 2010 as you can imagine.”

9:37 Newt went on about historical GOP victories, like electing Reagan in California, etc. Now he’s talking about the referendums in California as a harbinger of GOP success. “We must be inclusive and not exclusive”. “I am happy that Dick Cheney is a Republican, but I’m also happy that Colin Powell is a Republican.”

9:41 “I am not a citizen of the world.” Let’s bring on that nationalism! Newt is unhappy that Obama makes speeches that aren’t about the U.S. Apparently the GOP doesn’t like diplomats. Also Newt demands that we reshape our court system so that “one nation under god” go back in the pledge of allegiance. “We are the only country [that declares its rights come from god]”.

9:44 Newt talks about “Christian principles” of the “temple of liberty”. So he wants to be inclusive, except to Jews, Muslims, Atheists, Buddists, etc?

9:51 Newt really doesn’t like foreigners. Still bashing Europe. Doesn’t like the idea that judges in the US might look to judges who happen to live elsewhere for wisdon.

9:52 Newt keeps pimping this movie he’s in. Well, I guess that’s one way to prove your capitalist bone fides.

9:53 Newt pronounces al qaeda in a foreign accent. OMG HES A TERRIST

9:59 Oh yeah. A while back, Newt mocked civil libertarians. Get that? The GOP idea man doesn’t want you, libertarians.

10:00 Newt’s big idea: Let’s actually teach our children American History. omgbrilliant why didn’t I think of that before?

10:01 Newt: We need to compete with India and China through economics. At least he didn’t say through having bigger nukes. That’s a step forward.

10:04 Newt accuses Jimmy Carter for the Arab Oil Embargo. Apparently he wanted Carter to cave to anti-Semitic / anti-Israel Arab demands . But I thought Republicans loved Israel? *I’m sooo confused!*

10:10 Newt applauds illegal license plate switching. Apparently Obama has a vendetta against both law-abiding citizens and criminals! Further confusion

10:11 Newt mistrusts foreigners and hates their laws, except for when they cut his taxes.

10:12 I’ve heard more references to Jimmy Carter/Ronald Reagan than current events. The future is Newt!

10:14 Newt compares himself to Calvin Coolidge

10:16 Newt wants to burn oil shale, coal, drill for oil, and burn natural gas. If he wants to pollute the atmosphere this much, why did Al Gore put him in that T.V. ad?

10:20 Newt wants to make the EPA more entrepreneurial and innovative. How? Maybe he’ll tell us if we give Republicans more money!

10:21 In the same minute, Newt attacks University professors, then laments that not enough people are going to college. Wait what?

10:23 Education is a civil right. Commends Al Sharpton. Newt is saying good things about education. … and then he blames unions and wants to sell off the education system.

10:24 Newt says that prisoners should be recognized for having dignity and rights. Good!

10:25 “This admnistration would destroy the healthcare system. … I am fundamentally opposed to comparative effectiveness review” . So apparently our system isn’t broken already, and apparently efficiency is bad.

10:26 Sorry, looks like “a washington bureaucrat” is more fearsome than Nancy Pelosi + Barack Obama put together.

10:27 …and it’s over. Time to interview some people. Goodnight all.