All Campus Vigil

Dear Brandeis,

I hope you will all join me tomorrow at the all campus vigil the Student Union has planned. Meet at 11:00 am at the Usdan Peace Circle, and the entire group will walk hand-in-hand to Sherman. This is a great opportunity to share, reflect, and be in solidarity with the Brandeis community.

I would like to thank Daniel Acheampong and the rest of the Student Union for this opportunity.

Until tomorrow,

Esther

Kat Sommers

Dear Brandeis,

I am sure you, like myself, were deeply saddened to receive the news of Kat Sommers’ death tonight. I send my sincerest condolences to her friends and family.

As someone with a family history of suicide and self-injury, I believe suicide should be discussed. Depression is a serious condition, and I urge everyone to reach out towards one another when school and life becomes overwhelming.
If you would prefer a confidential conversation, call x6TALK between 10 pm and 2 am seven days a week to speak with a trained counselor for support, information, crisis relief or resources.

I know it is cliché, but simple things like a smile or texting a friend can help brighten someone’s day. I have always been proud of the support and kindness of the Brandeis community. I know we will continue to encourage and care through this difficult time.

Below is Rick Sawyer’s letter to Brandeis:

To the Brandeis community,

I am saddened to report that an undergraduate student, Katherine M. “Kat” Sommers ’14, of Queens, N.Y., apparently took her life on campus tonight. I spoke with her family tonight and expressed profound sympathy on behalf of the entire Brandeis community.

Staff from Community Living, the Psychological Counseling Center and the Chaplaincy are reaching out tonight to Kat’s friends and members of her residence community and will continue to do so tomorrow.

Fr. Walter Cuenin will be available to meet with students at 10 a.m. tomorrow at the Shapiro Campus Center art gallery on the third floor. In addition, the Counseling Center will hold a group session tomorrow at 8:45 p.m. at Mailman House. If you would like to talk about this tragic event, or if you are feeling stressed, please call my office at 781-736-3600. If there is an urgent need, please call Public Safety at 781-736-5000. We will make arrangements for a community memorial service to be held after break.

Please take care of yourselves, and each other.

Rick Sawyer
Dean of Student Life

Let’s show FML that students want change: kickoff organizing meeting

FML meeting in 20 minutes! Castle Commons! 8-10 pm! Open forum! Brainstorming! Food?

This meeting is for anyone interested in the planning process of the Fred Lawrence Campaign.

Here’s the situation: Fred Lawrence is new, and he’s going to make changes. He’s shown an interest in students and has shown that he respects us and our opinions. It’s time to meet that trust by acting as good citizens and pulling the student bod together to find common solutions to thing we are worried about.

The Plan: We get as much of the student community as we can in one room. Together, we create a list of action items we want Pres. Fred to take. Then, we talk to our friends and get tons of signatures to back these proposals.

This Meeting: people interested in executing this campaign meet up and figure out how we are going to pull this off and organize to get it done.

For more information check out the fb event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=193847217310816

Hawaii to pass Civil Unions!

The Hawaii house has just approved its civil unions bill by a vote of 31-19.

The next step is to get it approved by the Senate. The Illinois’ Senate approved legislation of a very similar bill recently. Furthermore, two civil union bills have been introduced this month in Rhode Island and Maryland. Gay marriage activism is running full swing in America right now. The chances of me celebrating this Valentine’s Day are more slim than the possibility of Senate vetoing this bill. Once the Senate approves the bill, it will go to Governor of Hawaii Neil Abercrombie, a supporter of civil unions.
Colors for Queers

The changes to this bill will include “jurisdiction in matters of annulment, divorce and separation in civil unions, as the court does over marriages,” said Joe.

This is a great way to start the year for Gay Rights Activism. I am very proud of Hawaii and hope to see changes in Maryland and Rhode Island soon-ish. My roommate, Skyler Kasko, who is from Maryland said, “O Rlly? SWEET!!” upon hearing about the civil union bill in Maryland.

Yay for Queers!

Peace, Love, & Smiles!
-Afzal

Victory: Brenda Will Remain in England and Get a Second Shot at Asylum

On January 29th I put up a post about Brenda Namigadde, a woman from Uganda who was living in England, and at risk of being deported back to her home country despite the persecution and death threats she would face there because of her sexual orientation. All Out, an LGBTQA global organization was fighting for her rights, and set up a petition to keep her from being deported.

Well now, thanks to global pressure and in part to everyone who signed the petition, Brenda has received help from the government and has a shot at survival.

Two weeks ago we reached out to you and shared the story of Brenda, a Ugandan lesbian fighting a deportation order in the UK, which would send her back to the homophobic violence she fled eight years before.(1) Now, thanks in large part to a massive international display of people power, Brenda has been released from the immigration removal center and is working with her legal team on a fresh asylum claim.(2) Together, we made a huge difference!

In less than a week, over 60,000 people from around the world signed a letter to the UK Home Secretary, we created an international news story, and scores marched in London. Next, hundreds of All Out members in the UK pressured their representatives in Parliament to sign on to a motion sponsored by Brenda’s MP, Andy Slaughter, asking the Immigration Minister to intervene in Brenda’s case. Over fifty MPs followed suit.(3)

After being literally pulled off the plane to Uganda only days ago after a last minute injunction that halted her deportation(4), a judge in the UK has just ruled that the evidence merits a new judicial review of Brenda’s asylum claim. She now has a new shot at freedom from persecution, a huge community of supporters, members of parliament, and legal advocates who are standing by her side. Brenda’s asylum case is finally getting the fair review it deserves.

We will continue to stand with Brenda, recognizing that her harrowing story is just one of many in a broader push for freedom, dignity and equality. We came together – straight, gay, lesbian, transgender and all that’s between and beyond – and it made a real difference. But we have a lot more work to do if we want to realize our vision of a world where everyone can live freely and be accepted for who they are.

Stay tuned for more updates, and thank you for supporting people of all genders and sexual orientations’ right to express themselves safely in the world.

Let’s show Fred Lawrence that students want change

Info from our latest campaign:

Here’s the situation: Fred Lawrence is new, and he’s going to make changes. The thing is, students don’t have much input on those changes. If he’s not going to ask for what we want, we’ll have to tell him. If enough of us unite behind a shared platform, he’s going to take notice.

The Plan: We get as much of the student community as we can in one room. Together, we create a list of action items we want Pres. Fred to take. Then, we talk to our friends and get tons of signatures to back these proposals.

What do you think of that?

Meeting. Castle Commons. Saturday. 4-6pm.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brandeis-Justice-League/166018390112807?v=app_2344061033&ref=ts#!/event.php?eid=193847217310816&index=1

Can you be there? This meeting is for everyone who wants to make the plan happen. We need about 20 committed students to pull this off.

Fred Lawrence is a great guy who clearly cares about students. I’m excited because I know he’ll take us seriously and show us the same respect we show him.

We hope to see you there!

SPace is the Future

Special elections are open!
Here you can vote for the Senators for East Quad, the Village, and the class of 2012.

While I encourage you to vote no matter who you’re voting for, I would like to present the case for Sarah Pace (aka “SPace”), who is running for the Village senator.

Sarah has demonstrated her ability to be a leader many times over, even though she is only a sophomore. She is extremely devoted to her a cappella group, Company B, and is responsible for all of their amazing, pun-tastic facebook events. She is an active member of theatre on campus, performing in many shows ranging from Hillel Theatre Group to seniors’ theses.

As anyone who has met her can testify, Sarah is outgoing and enthusiastic. She enjoys volunteering, bringing people together, and voicing her opinion on things when she feels something is not right.

Her goals according to her facebook campaign page are:

“As an energetic, involved, and organized Village resident I feel that there are many things I could bring to the position of Village Quad Senator. I am a sophomore who has resided in the Village for over a semester now, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who loves it more than I do.
The conglomerate of students that live in the Village- Sophomores, Mid-Years, and Transfers- are a special group and deserve a representative who will voice their needs at Senate meetings. I will be that person.”

Sarah and I are in Criminal Law together. This past week our class acted out the trial from the “Bonfire of the Vanities,” a book we had recently read. Sarah was a member of the jury. Although someone else was appointed jury foreman, when Sarah noticed that fer fellow jurors were having trouble starting their deliberation, she jumped in, helping to structure the debate by taking a preliminary vote on each of the charges, and making sure to include an “abstain” option. These little details, which may seem irrelevant, ensured that the process was conducted in a fair and comfortable manner for all involved. Throughout the conversation she urged people to express their opinions and alleviated the tension. By the end, the former jury foreman volunteered to hand over the position to her, and she in turn, accepted.

This is just one small anecdote which illustrates Sarah’s capabilities and skill. For more, look at all of her endorsements. (She was also the only candidate to secure any endorsements).

These include:
* Kaos Kids
* Change Agency
* Innermost Parts
* Tympanium Euphorium
* Hillel Theatre Group
* Company B

So, if you want a good leader to represent you in the Student Union, vote Sarah Pace for Village senator. And if you don’t live in the Village, tell your friends who do to vote for her. And if you don’t have friends, then come write for Innermost Parts!

Waltham and Brandeis — The Super Friends of Proper Parking

Today, Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan sent out an all-campus e-mail from the Waltham Police Department sharing the city’s parking regulations. The full text of the e-mail is below the fold.

I don’t have a car on campus, but many of my friends do, and I drive with them into Waltham fairly frequently. Clearly, it’s a driver’s responsibility to learn the local regulations, but if you’re only at Brandeis for parts of a few years and you rarely go into the city, it can be hard to keep track of the legal minutiae. So credit should go to Mr. Callahan and the Department of Public Safety for doing their best to help students. This e-mail is a small act, but it’s one less thing people will have to worry about, and it could save a Brandeis student a hefty fine.

Also, thanks to Captain Donald M. Feeney and the Waltham Police Department for reaching out to the Brandeis community. It would be only too easy for the city to leave students to their own devices and simply collect ticket money from Waltham’s most transient residents. Instead, they took the initiative to inform us, and the whole community will hopefully run that much more smoothly because of it.

Waltham drivers, do your part by taking a glance at the restrictions and keeping them in mind as you drive around the city. No one wants a ticket, but more generally, it’s a sign of good citizenship towards a city that always welcomes Brandeis students with open arms.

Continue reading “Waltham and Brandeis — The Super Friends of Proper Parking”

Munchies from Moody

Hey,

I’m in the sophomore C3 (common cause community…sappy I know). Basically what that entails is choosing a place to volunteer for February break and spending the rest of the year fundraising so you can get there.

We chose the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, which, despite its name, helps a wide variety of people who have HIV or AIDS, and also does outreach work to educate people about the risks of unsafe sex and this growing epidemic. The group is located in New York, my hometown.

SO, since the trip is just two weeks away, we are having our biggest fundraiser YET tonight, Munchies from Moody. A lot of really generous restaurants on Moody and Main Streets donated food to us (who knew places DID that?) and we will be selling it all to you for $3 a plate. We have food from Tango Mango, Margarita’s, Little India, Tuscan Grill, Waltham Pizza, Cappy’s, Baan Thai, Erawan of Siam, and the Ninety Nine.

So, if you want to eat good food, get a sense of the restaurants in the Waltham area, or even just, oh I don’t know…donate to charity, come on out to the ICC tonight at 6 pm and bring at least $3….come on time or the food might run out before you get a chance.

Note: Vegetarian options available. You know who I’m talking about.

Associate Provost for the Assessment of Student Learning

Hello! Today I received a great e-mail sent out to the Brandeis community regarding the Associate Provost for the Assessment of Student Learning. Professor Dan Perlman has been appointed the position!
Check it out:

I am pleased to announce that Professor Dan L. Perlman will be appointed Associate Provost for the Assessment of Student Learning, effective March 1, 2011. Prof. Perlman is a faculty member in the Biology Department and in the Environmental Studies Program, and he has been a member of the Provost’s Committee for the Assessment of Student Learning since its inception in 2006.

As Associate Provost, Prof. Perlman will be responsible for university assessment efforts by working with academic and non-academic departments on developing assessment plans and coordinating the assessment of learning goals inside and outside the classroom. I am delighted that he will assume this role, on a half-time basis.

Brandeis Pluralism Alliance Grant Applications Due This Sunday!

Many people on campus do not know what the Brandeis Pluralism Alliance is. I probably wouldn’t either if I weren’t on the steering committee, which reviews the grant applications and helps the groups who are selected.

That being said, I am, and so I would like to advertise a unique opportunity to you. (I promise I won’t use the word “resource” throughout this post.)

“The Brandeis Pluralism Alliance (BPA) grants funding and assistance to student and faculty initiated projects that address issues of identity, pluralism and unity.” Basically, it exists to help Brandeis stay true to its social justice roots, and to provide the means for people on campus to realize their pluralistic dreams. What does pluralism mean, you ask?

Well I looked it up on Urbandictionary and it said it had not been defined yet. So I tried dictionary.com but got a lot of philosophical definitions, like “a theory that there is more than one basic substance or principle.” Finally I looked up cultural pluralism, and it redirected me to multiculturalism. That makes more sense, since we hear it preached every day by our professors and peers here on campus. Multiculturalism, unity, bringing people from different paths of life together; that’s what pluralism is all about. And the BPA seeks to foster that.

Last year we granted funds for the What If? Speak In, A Night for Pakistan, Worker Appreciation Cafe, Diwali, Wong Fu Productions Fall College Tour Event, Mela, Famni Ki Li Ansamn/Families Reading Together, and the Justice League’s very own Campus Camp Wellstone activist training. For a complete list with descriptions visit the BPA’s hompage.

SO, the important thing to note is that if YOU have an idea for a project for this spring which could promote pluralism on campus, you should apply. Even if it’s just an idea, there’s no harm in trying, and if selected, the Steering Committee appoints a liason to help you put on your event/program. However, the deadline is FEBRUARY 6, this coming Sunday. So, if you’re at all interested, go to the grant application site and play around with it, see what you can come up with and submit.

Good luck!

Bluegrass

Professors of Bluegrass + Big Chimney
Brandeis University
Saturday, Feb. 12, 8 pm
Student tickets only $5!

Academia meets bluegrass in this band fronted by the provost of Yale
University, Peter Salovey (bass and vocals). Sten Havumaki,
guitar/vocals; Matt Smith, professor of philosophy, fiddle; Katie
Scharf, Yale ’99 and Yale Law ’06, fiddle/vocals; Craig Harwood, dean
of Yale’s Davenport College, mandolin; Oscar Hills, professor of
psychiatry, banjo. Big Chimney, from Washington, D.C., plays
“reinvented rock, pop, and really old American tunes through a
bluegrass and old-time filter.”

Tickets: go.brandeis.edu/tickets

Food

Since joining the Justice League I’ve been thinking about what it is I’d like changed at Brandeis. This process has been good and bad. For one thing, I’ve realized there are a lot of things I’d like to see different at Brandeis, but more importantly I’ve realized that I have consistently broken in my Brandeis University experience. I love the scenery, the proximity to Boston, the attitude of professors to students and vice versa, and a lot of other things. But there’s one thing I always come back to as a let down at Brandeis: the food. I’ve never seen such low quality food cost so much. It actually makes me happy to eat off campus because everything costs 2-4 dollars less and its better quality food.

When I was a freshman I lived in Massell quad. My dining options were A) schlep up the hill to Usdan for every meal or, B) walk 50 feet to Sherman. You can probably guess where I ate at least 20 meals a week. Turns out, I was as lazy as every other student in Massell, so Sherman became somewhat of a hang out spot. My friends and I would sit in Sherman for hours just talking about, well, anything really, but the conversation would eventually turn to the quality of the food.

One of the terms I heard used around this time was “Sherman shits.” The idea was that the amount of time you spent eating Sherman food was directly proportional to the amount of time you would spend on the toilet that day. I don’t know who coined the term, nor did I take it too seriously at first. Then my boss at the Stein (also the manager of Sherman building) heard me say it in passing and gave me a stern talking to. Not sure whether he was trying to hide something or if he was just fed up with people insulting the quality of his food. I’ll let that speak for itself.

Anyway, a few days later, my friends and I were eating in Sherman once again. Ben, a friend I now live with, announced he would be eating a Sherman burger. We all warned him of the danger, but he would have none of it. How do I say this . . . Ben has a terrible constitution. He has asthma, uses an inhaler, trips often, is mildly lactose intolerant, and is just generally known for having a weak immune system. It was the perfect storm. As we all watched Ben eat he just smiled and said he would be fine, and that he had burgers at Usdan all the time. Ok we said, Ok. A few minutes later Ben left, still smiling, to go the bathroom, said he’d be right back. 45 minutes later a much paler looking Ben sat down at our table and kept to himself. All we could get out of him was, “I don’t wanna talk about it you guys.”

TRISK this week!

Triskelion (LGBTQA Alliance Group) is alive and back this semester with many exciting plans for Brandeisians. Last week, on Thursday, Trisk hosted Fruits for Fruits (and allies!) that allowed all in our community to reunite and give out countless warm totally trisk-type hugs. It was exciting to see so many midyears show up and get to know our LGBTQA community.

This week we are having Claire Naughton, a Bay State Stonewall Democrat come speak to us about Gay Rights Activism and how to be effective leaders with voices. Bay State Stonewall Democrats (BSSD) advocates within the Democratic Party on behalf of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered (GLBT) community. They promote the ideals and programs of the Democratic Party to the GLBT communities throughout Massachusetts. The meeting will be held in the ICC Lounge at 8 pm tomorrow (February 3rd). I hope to see many of you there!

Sex and Sexuality Symposium (SASS) is also having a meeting tomorrow about “Wearing Gender”. They will be talking about how our clothes define gender and make us behave differently. The meeting will be held at 3 pm in the ICC back lounge.

The QRC is also open now and I encourage you all to take advantage of this opportunity. The QRC is an amazing resource for our students and the counselors are all uniquely sweet and welcoming. QRC office is in the Trisk Lounge. Their hours are Monday, Thursday, Friday, 1-5 and Tuessday and Wednesday 1-8. Please, find them if you need to talk with someone about any issues you are having.

Harvard Kennedy School is hosting LGBTQ Human Rights in Palestine: A forum and discussion on Tuesday, February 8th at 6:30 pm. Abeer Monsour, a feminist, Palestinian, queer activist who is dedicated to promoting the inclusion of Palestinian queer women in Palestinian society, and Haneen Maikey, a 32-year-old Palestinian queer activist, lives and works in Jerusalem will be there to speak about Queer issues in Palestine. The forum will be in the Starr Auditorium on the 4th floor, in Belfing Building.

Lastly, MIT is hosting a LGBT[Q] Intercollegiate Dance Party Friday, February 11th 10 pm – 2 am. It will take place in MIT Student Center (Lobdell 2nd floor, room W20-208). It is open and free to all LGBT[Q] college students and allies. Let’s party with queer folks in Cambridge for Valentines! ?

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=126843997373231

If you have any questions about any of these events please email Lenny Schnier at lschnier@brandeis.edu

Have a very colorful weekend but be safe!

Love,

Afzal 😀

BREAKING NEWS!

…It’s still a Snow Day

In fact, the Massachusetts Dept of Public Safety reports that

In order to protect public safety and facilitate clean-up from the February 1-2, 2011 winter storms, Governor Deval Patrick has directed that non-emergency employees who work in the Executive Branch of state government do not have to report to their workplaces on Wednesday, February 2, 2011.

Here are some tips on what to do in February storms, in terms of driving, roof collapse, loss of power and more.

Bonus: Does anyone know what the Reach-Throw-Go method refers to?

Poetry Workshop

On February 10th at 10am, Prof. Julio Cammarota from the University of Arizona will be holding a workshop on poetry, activism and social justice. As there is limited space, only the first 25 respondents will be able ato attend the workshop. Please respond to Shannon Hunt, Program Administrator of Brandeis Women’s and Gender Studies Program: shunt@brandeis.edu

Check out the flyer here.

Petition for Egypt

Change.org has just released a petition to aid the Egyptian Activists fighting for the “January 25 Movement”.

Targeting: Ambassador Sameh Shoukry, President Hosni Mubarak, General Habib Ibrahim El Adly, and Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq

Started by: The January 25 Movement

On January 25, we the people of Egypt took to the streets to demand our rights!

We are not unified by one party, class or religion: we are not Muslim and we are not Christian, we are not rich and we are not poor – we are the multifaceted people of Egypt – Muslims and Christians and Egyptians of all classes.

We demand our civil, political and human rights.

We demand the immediate resignation of the president and parliament.

We demand a new constitution.

We demand free and fair elections.

We demand the complete and total release of all political prisoners and detainees.

We demand the return of open access to all communication networks.

We demand that the police stop shooting at us, stop their brutality and stop their attacks on journalists.

We are the January 25 movement, and we are not going to stop until our demands are met!

We call on Egyptians and our international supporters to sign this petition of support, which will be sent to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, officials in the interior and foreign ministries, and Egyptian embassies all over the world.

Add your name!

abUSed: The Postville Raid

abUSed: The Postville Raid
February 14, 2011
Sachar International Center
7:00 pm

The film tells the story of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s massive raid on the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant in the sleepy town of Postville, Iowa in 2008. The raid made national and international headlines for the following reasons:

* At the time, it was the largest immigration raid in U.S. history. Nearly 400 immigrant workers, mostly Guatemalans, were rounded up by ICE and charged with identity theft; the majority were jailed and deported.

* The charges against the workers were so excessive, and the miscarriages of justice so great, that the court-appointed translator at their trial broke his professional silence to denounce the proceedings. Many of the workers were native Maya speakers, and could not understand the aggravated charges to which they were pressured to plead guilty. The Supreme Court subsequently ruled that federal prosecutors inappropriately aggravated identity theft laws to prosecute undocumented workers. Lawmakers and labour leaders criticized the Bush administration for going after workers rather than prosecuting employers who knowingly recruit and profit from the use of undocumented workers.

* The raid forever changed not only the tiny community of Postville, but also the rural Guatemalan communities from which many of the workers hailed. With Postville only having some 2,200 total inhabitants, the raid removed more than 20% of the town’s population. The film takes us from rural Iowa to rural Guatemala, with stops in Washington DC courtrooms along the way.

* The raid stimulated much debate among members of the Jewish community about whether or not the requirements for kosher certification should include a provision on the ethical treatment of workers in the production process. For more info, see the New York Times article.

If you’re a Brandeisian interested in social justice, immigrants’ rights, the ethics of kosher production, and labour rights, PLEASE JOIN US FOR THIS SPECIAL SCREENING AND TALK WITH DIRECTOR LUIS ARGUETA! What better way to spend Valentine’s Day than getting together with like-minded folks to watch an awesome movie and discuss the very issues that are dearest to our hearts?

All Out Campaign- Help Brenda

All Out, an organization created to help LGBTQ members of communities across the globe, has recently taken on the plight of Brenda Namigadde, a Ugandan woman who escaped to England eight years ago for fear of her life, because of her sexual orientation. At the moment, Brenda is facing deportation back to Uganda, even in the wake of the brutal killing of David Kato, one of Uganda’s most prominent gay activists, on the 26th.

All out provides information of the abuses to which members of the LGBTQ are subjected to on a daily basis, even protected under the law. “In 76 countries around the world being LGBT is a criminal offense. In 10, it is legal grounds for execution or life imprisonment. Even in countries where LGBT people have secured basic rights, many LGBT people are denied the opportunity to live full and equal lives and endure daily homophobia.”

All Out has started an online petition which they say has been signed by 50,000 people from over 160 countries, requesting Brenda be granted asylum so she can remain in England. Perhaps as a result of the political efforts to keep Brenda safe, a UK High Court judge granted a temporary injunction in Brenda’s case yesterday, meaning the decision of whether to grant her asylum or to deport her will be postponed.

Please halt the impending deportation of Brenda Namigadde (Case Ref # 1166867), a Ugandan lesbian scheduled for removal. Brenda fled Uganda eight years ago because of persecution for her sexuality, but if forced to return Brenda fears that she’ll be, “tortured, or killed … they’ve put people like me to death there.” The fact that a virulently anti-gay, high ranking member of the Ugandan government has taken note of her case means that Brenda faces clear and present danger if she is returned to Uganda.

Last July you told the press, “We have already promised to stop the removal of asylum seekers who have had to leave particular countries because their sexual orientation or gender identification puts them at proven risk of imprisonment, torture or execution.” Please use all of the powers at your disposal to act now to halt Brenda’s deportation.

I urge you all to read and sign this petition, since it is truly a cause that spans the political spectrum. No matter where a person lives s/h/ze should not be punished for his/her/zer sexual practices if they are not hurting anyone. If we become aware of countries which practice this kind of discrimination it is our duty to protect those who have risked persecution by admitting their identities and have asked us for help.

Note: Thanks to Brandeis’ TRISK for sending out information about this human rights abuse and providing the links upon which the majority of this post is based.

Activist Movie of the Month is…Erin Brockovich!

So last month’s activist movie was the King’s Speech.
This month’s is an oldie but a goodie…Erin Brockovich.
It’s been playing on TV a lot lately, so I had the chance to rewatch it.

Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts) is a woman who has three children but not much else going for her. She finds work at her lawyer’s law firm and grows intrigued when she stumbles across a file about a real case involving the Pacific Gas& Electric Company. She does some investigative work and, lo and behold, the company has been polluting the ground around its factory with toxic chemicals for years, and has even lied to the residents’ faces about the danger these chemicals present.

Erin exposes their lies, reveals to the community that the pollution is the cause of many of their health problems, and convinces them to sue PG&E. Ultimately, PG&E settles, those who have suffered are compensated, and everyone goes home happy, more or less.

Brockovich is a great movie which straddles many different genres: drama, legal thriller, biography and even romance. It is funny, clever, and inspirational. It’s the classic little-guy versus the big-bad-corporation flick. But most importantly, it’s based on a true story.

In 1996, PG&E settled for $333 million, which remains the largest settlement ever awarded in a direct-action lawsuit in the history of the United States to this day. And Erin is now the president of her own consulting firm, Brockovich Research and Consulting. You can look her up here.

Much like A Civil Action and other stories of lawyers helping innocent victims of negligent, or worse, chemical companies, Erin Brockovich shows that lawyers CAN do good and that pollution is bad. Real bad. Two good lessons to keep in mind!

New ‘Quiet Cars’ Aboard Fitchburg and Franklin Commuter Rails

Hate when people next to you are talking on their phones or conversing loudly with their fellow passengers? If so, and you live in Massachusetts, you’re in luck.

The MBTA, Massachusett’s public transport system, started a new pilot program in which there will be a designated ‘Quiet Car’ on the Franklin and Fitchburg commuter rail lines during peak times. This program, launched in response to results of a recent survey of customers, began on January 3rd and will run until April 3rd, just 90 days. Afterwards, the MBTA will decide whether to continue the initiative or not on a regular basis.

On the MBTA’s homepage information about the Quiet Car is provided, such as the fact that the Quiet Car will be the car located closest to the locomotive. Tips as to what is appropriate and what is not on the designated Quiet Cars are offered as well. “[On the Quiet Car] Customers are asked to: refrain from cell phone use; keep pagers, cell phones, laptop and PDA sounds off; and speak quietly. Conductors will, of course, lift the quiet car restriction in times of disruption or severe overcrowding.”

I feel like this is a good experiment for the MBTA to try, and I’m happy they’re responding to their clients’ concerns. Although I don’t think I would prefer to sit in a Quiet Car, everyone has had the experience of someone close to them talking obnoxiously loud, and so this is a nice alternative for those who are especially sensitive about volume. In addition, it can make those long, awkward train rides with semi-acquaintances less so, since now you have a REASON not to talk.

Don’t worry though, if you need to talk while on the Quiet Car you can; whispering is aloud as long as it’s brief.

State of the Union

So, I didn’t watch the State of the Union. Lame, I know. My mom told me it was good but nothing amazing, if that helps excuse me. Hopefully someone who did watch it will post reactions, but for now, I wanted to post an e-mail I received from my good friend Barack.

This e-mail is a rousing summary of what I can only believe was his SOTU address, and it is actually pretty moving. He talks about all the progress we’ve made in the past year, about his decisive and tangible plans for the future (80% clean electricity by 2035, creating new jobs by renovating roadways and technology). Most of all, he emphasizes the part we all have to play in helping out nation grow and ‘rise up’; that these goals are not attainable unless we all work together. It is quite an obvious plea to the Republicans and Democrats in Congress to work together. And I like that he sounds like he’s asking rather than telling.

So whether or not you support Obama or think he’s on the right track, doing what’s best for the nation, read the letter below and tell me, dawgone it, doesn’t this letter make you feel hopeful on the inside?

Tonight I addressed the American people on the future we face together.

Though at times it may seem uncertain, it is a future that is ours to decide, ours to define, and ours to win.

I know we will.

Because, after the worst recession in decades, we see an economy growing again.

Because, after two years of job losses, we’ve added private-sector jobs for 12 straight months — more than 1 million in all.

Because, time after time, when our resolve has been tested, we, as a nation, have always prevailed.

Overcoming the challenges we face today requires a new vision for tomorrow. We will move forward together, or not at all — for the challenges we face are bigger than party, and bigger than politics.

Yet the story of America is this: We do big things.

Just as the progress of the past two years would not have been possible without your hard work, we will not realize the agenda I described tonight without you.

So as we continue this great mission together, and we set out the plans for how far we can go, I need to know that you are ready to work side by side with me once more.

Will you stand with me as we strive to win the future?

The last two years have been marked by unprecedented reforms and historic progress.

But there is much more work to do.

Moving forward, America’s economic growth at home is inextricably connected to our competitiveness in the global community. The more products American companies can export, the more jobs we can create at home.

This vision for the future starts with innovation, tapping into the creativity and imagination of our people to create the jobs and industries of the future. Instead of subsidizing yesterday’s energy, let’s invest in tomorrow’s. It’s why I challenged Congress to join me in setting a new goal: By 2035, 80 percent of America’s electricity will come from clean energy sources.

It means leading the world in educating our kids, giving each of our children the best opportunity to succeed and preparing them for the jobs of tomorrow.

We must build a 21st century infrastructure for our country, putting millions of Americans to work rebuilding roads and bridges and expanding high-speed Internet and high-speed rail.

We must reform government, making it leaner, smarter, and more transparent.

And we must take responsibility for our shared debt, reining in our long-term deficit so we can afford the investments we need to move our country forward.

That is the vision I laid out tonight. That is how we win the future.

It is going to take a lot of work — but I have no doubt we are up to the task.

Half a century ago, when the Soviets beat us into space with the launch of a satellite called Sputnik, we had no idea how we’d beat them to the moon. The science wasn’t there yet. NASA didn’t even exist.

But after investing in better research and education, we didn’t just surpass the Soviets. We unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs.

This is our generation’s Sputnik moment.

Please stand together with me:

http://my.barackobama.com/WintheFuture

It is because of each of you, who define the will of a people, that the state of our union is strong in the face of tough challenges. You are the reason our future is still bright in the face of deep uncertainty.

And you are the reason I believe that future is ours to win.

Thank you,

Barack

New Chief of Staff is a Brandeis Grad

I get email:

Dear members of the Brandeis community,

I am pleased to announce that David A. Bunis, ’83 will be joining the university on Feb. 1, 2011 as Chief of Staff. I first met David about 20 years ago when we worked together on the Civil Rights Committee of the Anti-Defamation League and I was impressed with his judgment, integrity and dedication. Since then, we have had occasion to work together on a number of projects and my esteem has grown.

A 1987 graduate of the Boston University School of Law, David has been a partner at Dwyer & Collora, LLP, in Boston for two decades, serving as counsel to a variety of clients including high tech companies, financial institutions and non-profits. In his law practice, David represented individuals and institutions in trials before state and federal courts, mediation and arbitration panels and government agencies.

For many years, he represented Tufts University and became intimately familiar with the myriad issues affecting colleges and universities. That experience, his time as a Brandeis undergraduate, and some of the decades-long relationships he has maintained with alumni, faculty and staff will serve him well as he immerses himself in the university.

During my discussions with David about returning to his alma mater to manage and coordinate the activities of my office, it was clear that the spirit of Brandeis inspired his professional life and work. In fact, his page on his law firm’s website contains a quote from an opinion Justice Brandeis wrote in 1927 advocating free speech and underscoring the importance of courage and leadership in a thriving democracy. In addition to his work for the ADL, where he served as chair of the Civil Rights Committee and a member of both the New England Regional Executive Board and as an ADL National Commissioner, David currently serves on a pro bono basis as a judge for administrative appeals for the Massachusetts Office of Minority and Women’s Business Affairs. David has also worked as an attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services, New England’s largest legal services organization, where he represented low-income families facing eviction.

On a personal note, David is married to Jacqueline Hallo, ’82. The couple, who met when they were undergraduates, celebrated the bar and bat mitzvahs of their three children at Brandeis. The family lives in Newton, where David is vice president and a member of the board of directors of Temple Emanuel of Newton.

In an email after accepting the position, he wrote: “I am thrilled to be returning to Brandeis. Although years have passed and much has changed at Brandeis since my graduation, my pulse still quickens as I turn off South Street onto campus. The university has always been a very special place for me, and our large circle of friends is full of Brandeis alums. I am excited about working with trustees, faculty, students, alumni and staff who are the heart and soul of this great institution.”

I know you will join me in welcoming back to campus a life-long member of the Brandeis community and I know he will make a significant contribution in his new role at the university. His email address is dbunis@brandeis.edu.

Fred Lawrence

President

The New York Times profiles obnoxious Brandeis grad Martin Peretz

The New York Times has an in-depth feature on Brandeis alumnus Martin Peretz, the former editor-in-chief of The New Republic magazine. It can be found here. The article is entitled “Martin Peretz is Not Sorry About Anything,” which is basically polite code for “Martin Peretz is a Tremendous Asshole,” which he most assuredly is. But it’s a good article, with plenty of Peretzian racism, sexism, and overall pompousness scattered throughout. And Brandeis does, perhaps embarrassingly, receive a brief mention.

An idea: We need a Groupon for volunteering

Check this out.

What if there were a Groupon for volunteering? Jim Gilliam, one of the most insightful and interesting people I’ve met in the progressive world, has this great idea.

As the organizer, you find a local charity and work with them to develop a “deal,” which is a project that could be completed in a weekend if they just had enough volunteers to help out. Like renovating a community center, or making a newly disabled person’s house handicap accessible. Be really creative, the more interesting and compelling the story and project, the better the “deal.”

An email goes out on Tuesday laying out the deal, and if enough people sign up, the project is on for Saturday (or Sunday). The email could include a link for folks to donate to cover food or other incidental costs associated with the event in case they can’t actually come themselves.

A second email goes out on Thursday with more specific details on logistics, tells everyone about all the people coming (we’re on!), and encourages more people to signup (don’t miss out!), tell their friends, and/or donate to defray expenses. You can even be a little fun with it and gently poke at people that helping someone else might be a great thing to do before they cash in their latest 50% off spa treatment deal from Groupon.

The project happens on Saturday. People are taking pictures, tweeting about it, meeting new people, having fun, and doing something awesome and amazing too. All the people seeing that activity will want to get in on the action next week. You send out an email on Monday with pictures and highlights from Saturday. Then when the next deal hits on Tuesday, people will be less afraid to go. So three emails a week. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday.

Once you get some traction, people will start bringing their ideas for deals directly to you. They wouldn’t even necessarily have to be based around local charities, it might end up just being a family who needs help.

Cool, right? Could something like this happen at Brandeis?

Maybe Waltham group could organize something like this. I know I would totally go to “GroupOn’d” events, but I’m too intimidated to join Waltham Group directly. Or maybe a more activist groups could work with nonprofits in Waltham.

The idea is there, the Brandeis community is so tightly-linked through facebook that implementation would be a snap. We just need someone to organize something like this. Any takers? (I could help you set this up, but I’m too busy (and too old) to do this myself)

A “Diplomatic Earthquake” is happening RIGHT NOW

Al-Jazeera has been leaked internal memos, meeting minutes, and other documents from negotiations between the PA and Israel over the last 10 years. The Guardian has also been given early access to the files.

Here are the links:
http://english.aljazeera.net/palestinepapers/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/palestine-papers

Now, I don’t trust Al-Jazeera’s analysis and biases to match my own. I do trust the Guardian to hold my values, more or less. They’re releasing the documents as a big data dump, though, so you can look through the primary documents and make your own conclusions.

People’s immediate takeaway is that these documents show a PLO that makes more and more concessions, and an Israel that never responds to these “generous” offers.

I don’t know if that’s true – I’m looking through the primary documents right now. Assuming that’s true, however, what does this mean for us? I bet the conventional wisdom is despair – “OMG the government won’t take any deal peace is dooomed!”.

I dunno, though. I actually feel like this is a positive thing. Turns out that the PA isn’t as stubborn at negotiation as might be expected, that they’re a responsible partner for peace. Maybe it’s because I just read an article called “Think Israel’s a lost cause? Ten reasons to think again”, but I could see this as a shock to the Israeli public causing them to put pressure on the gov’t to pursue a peace deal on the revealed terms.

I’m hopeful. Iran’s bomb was neutralized by Stuxnet. The Labor party can resume being a progressive party, and Tzipi Livni made a great impression on me when she came to Brandeis. Things could turn out ok.

What does it mean to be Brandeis University

This will be my last semester as an undergrad at Brandeis University.

This semester, I’m taking a course on Louis Brandeis with Professor Gaskins. (10-11am, MWTh. It’s not too late to sign up!). What a fitting way to go out with a bang.

We’re named after this amazing guy, Louis Dembitz Brandeis. We really don’t even know much about him.

Who was this man, Louis Brandeis? What did he stand for? How did he operate? What should a University named after this man look like?

As I take this course, I’ll try to write about things I learn that might serve as the beginnings of answers to these questions.

Here goes:

So Louis Brandeis was really fucking cool. He joined Harvard Law School at age 18, totally skipping an undergraduate education. He graduated a year early, such that the Harvard Board of Trustees had to vote to waive their law that you had to be at least 21 years old to graduate. He has the highest grades at the Harvard Law Review, ever.

Brandeis was no campus activist. He spent his time in school pursuing academic excellence, and his free time on tutoring others to pay his way through. If you want to model your time in school after Brandeis you’d have to skip college, but also you’d focus on grades on not pursue campus activism.

In a sense, Harvard is Brandeis University. He loved that place. He helped create the Law Review, the alumni association, and spent a ton of time and money building up the Law School. We have to grapple with that.

School in Brandeis’ experience also meant salons with professors, formal intellectual debates, and intense networking.

In a sense, Brandeis University reflects his ideals pretty well: we can agree that our greatest asset is our top-notch academics. The professors here are impressive, friendly, and helpful. At University, like we said, Brandeis focused and excelled at academics above all else.

One more thing: Brandeis “considered it immoral for lawyers to function as guys for hire, particularly, when their employers were corporations attempting to affect the political process.” That’s something for all of us, from students to Trustees, to remember.

Future of Comp-Sci Technology Poses Threat to Society As We Know It

There are currently robots being made by professors from MIT and the like, which will resemble humans and will be programmed to respond to humans in normal, societally-appropriate ways. Some people are excited. Others are scared.

It’s all discussed in an article from The Chronicle. The author interviewed Professor Sherry Turkle, who is involved with cutting-edge computer science technology, but who devoted much of the the last decade to writing books about the possible threats they pose to humans forming and maintaining relationships, and warnings of what may come from our overdependence on technology.

David Levy on the other hand, another expert in the field and author of Love and Sex with Robots argues the merits of having robot-humanoid companions, such as providing socially inept people with relationships they may never have otherwise. He proposes that by the year 2050 many people will be hiring skilled, trained robots to babysit their kids, and some might even choose to marry robots.

I’m baffled by the progress scientists have made in this field, since I had no idea that humanoid robots were in the works, let alone might be commonplace 40 years from now. This article (courtesy of Eunju Namkung) provides both the pros and the cons that come with this technology, though it leans towards Turkle’s point of view, emphasizing the dangers over the benefits. I find myself agreeing with Turkle that in a world in which people rely on technology for emotional support or companionship, society will slowly break down. Already human connections are being severed due to the availability and accessibility of electronic devices (although they present numerous socializing opportunities too of course), and so with the opportunity to interact with a pre-programmed machine which will answer the way you want it to and to which you owe nothing, this degenerative state can only worsen.

I’m not a Luddite, but I don’t think electronics should replace the potential for human interaction, which it would do were scientists to program machines to resemble and simulate humans.

Oh, and here’s a Whitest Kids U Know video which demonstrates the dangers robots present.

I feel sick to my stomach

Read this. Hendrik Hertzberg has an article out about the reaction to the Gifford’s shooting which is elegant and composed and thoughtful. But look at this opening paragraph:

On October 5, 1995, as the Knesset was meeting to ratify the second Oslo agreement, thirty thousand Greater Israel zealots, Likud Party supporters, militant West Bank settlers, and right-wing nationalists rallied in Jerusalem’s Zion Square. For months, certain ultra-Orthodox rabbis and scholars had been suggesting that, because Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was willing to consider territorial concessions in negotiations with the Palestinians, it would be permissible, even obligatory, to kill him. In Zion Square, protesters carried pictures of Rabin, doctored to show him in Nazi uniform or with crosshairs over his face. The crowd chanted “Rabin boged!”—“Rabin is a traitor!”—and, again and again, “Death to Rabin!” From a balcony, prominent opposition politicians, including Benjamin Netanyahu, looked on benevolently and uttered no rebukes. A month later, at another, larger rally, this one for peace, Rabin was assassinated.

There are certain historical events that make me so freaking angry and upset every time someone mentions them. One is the murder of Fred Hampton. Another is this the murder of Yitzhak Rabin.

I hope you’re enjoying the first day of school, everyone.

Gun sales up in wake of Giffords Shooting

Sales of handguns have risen in the wake of the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords and nineteen other innocent bystanders.

In a brief entitled “Pistol Sales Surge After Shooting,” Bloomberg News reported that the increase in sales is a result of the incident, and that gun dealers attribute it to people’s fear that Congress might tighten gun restrictions.

An Arizona gun shop owner is quoted as saying in the brief, “When something like this happens people get worried that the government is going to ban stuff.” I’ve heard the argument that people need to own guns in order to stop crimes like this from happening, and I understand it although I don’t put much stock in it. Having more guns in circulation only makes the world more dangerous. An overly simplistic proof of this is that deaths by shooting have increased exponentially in relation to the number of firearms in circulation. We don’t allow handguns on college campuses, or any weapons for that matter, because we believe that the fewer guns around, the better.

However, the point is that people are specifically buying more handguns! What makes someone go out and buy something they think the government will soon make illegal? If our elected officials think that handguns are among the most dangerous and unnecessary weapons (unless you’re using them for nefarious purposes, in which case they’re very effective) then why not try to convince them otherwise, or at least look into their reasoning? When there’s a devastating fire, do people buy more matches?

Looking for a job in politics or organizing?

Let me know. I’ve got leads for you.
Just email me at sahar at innermostparts

Are you a non-senior that wants an amazing summer fellowship? Talk to me ASAP. Deadlines are coming soon for the sort of places that pay you to do awesome organizing, think-tanking, strategizing, etc.

Our Sympathies

Hi Brandeis,

I am sure you have all heard of the tragedy that occurred in Arizona. I would like to send my condolences to the families and victims of the shooting, especially to the Zimmerman family. Please join me in sending thoughts and best wishes.

Here is a copy of the e-mail President Lawrence sent today:

To the Brandeis Community:

We are all deeply saddened by the horrific events over the weekend in
Tucson, Arizona. Any act of violence is abhorrent, but the shooting of an
elected public servant strikes at the core of our democratic society. The
tragedy of the attack hit this community in a very personal way.
International Business School student Ben Zimmerman is the brother of Gabe
Zimmerman, an aide to Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords who was among the six
people who died Saturday. I know everyone at Brandeis joins me in extending
our heartfelt sympathy to Ben and his family during this very dark time. We
also offer our prayers to the families of all the others who lost their
lives, and to those victims who were wounded and their families.
Sincerely,
Fred Lawrence

Please pay attention to Tunisia

Read more here.

On December 17th, a 26 year-old unemployed university graduate named Mohamed Bouazizi drenched himself in petrol and set himself on fire in the central Tunisian city of Sidi Bouzid in protest of economic conditions. Bouazizi, who succumbed to his injuries early this morning, had been the sole breadwinner for his family when his unlicensed produce stand was confiscated by local police.

The protests that have already claimed the lives of at least three are remarkable on several fronts: relatively unprecedented, they have drawn support from many sectors of society – trade unions, students, lawyers syndicates. They have gone largely unremarked-upon in the Western media. They have effectively and creatively relied on technology and new media to sustain and share their message, despite remarkable levels of censorship. They have been assisted by external online activists, notably the collective known as Anonymous. Allies of the regime have reportedly engaged equally enthusiastically, utilising phishing, censoring, and hacking against activists.

Wow

The Gabby Giffords Shooting and a Climbdown with Dignity

We grieve. Everyone. Thank god we still live in a country where there’s no argument over that.

This man is an american hero. I’m glad that American heroes are citizen-medics.

My thought is this:
As soon as we heard that Congresswoman Giffords was shot, many on the left immediately thought of right-wing violence. Memories of the attack on Tom Periello, the plane attack on the IRS, the Tiller murder, the attack on the holocaust museum lept straight to mind. Quickly, people swapped stories and pictures. Giffords’ Republican/Tea Party opponent shot AK-47’s with supporters to “remove Giffords from office”. There’s the now-infamous Sarah Palin target map.

People saw this coming. They remembered “don’t retreat, reload”. They remembered all that talk of 2nd amendment solutions. They remembered this.

This murder snapped people’s attention on a problem they’ve been worried about for years – rising rhetoric of violence and incitement to violence on the right. To quote Matthew Yglesias: “I think as of now we don’t know anything about the motives, if any, of the shooter but I hope people take something horrible like this as a reminder that we’ve seen a lot of overheated political rhetoric over the past couple of years.”

All that is lead-up to say this:

You gotta give people a way to climbdown with dignity. Yes, it’s frustrating that the media/the establishment is doing the false equivalence tango, pretending that “both sides” are to blame for an environment of calls to violence. You know that’s not true, I know that’s not true. But are you trying to be proven right, are you trying to score points against the right, or are you trying to get them to change their behavior? Basic human psychology shows us this: we need a collective agreement not to point fingers, so that the offenders don’t lash out and double down. It’s unsatisfying, but that’s how people work.

The wave of attention on Sarah Palin’s map causes her spokesman to stupidly double-down. Now she may be running on pure id, (and will never retreat, only reload, remember?) but that doesn’t mean that the basic human instinct to be defensive isn’t there in others. You make change by leaving people a dignified exit in the direction you want them to take. Otherwise they’ll just act cornered.

What we did last semester

So you may know that some of us, in addition to blogging on Innermost Parts, are also staff on the Justice League, which is a new online organizing group on campus. We just sent out an end-of-the-year email laying out all that we accomplished in fall 2010 to all our members. Here’s a slightly modified version of what we wrote:

————–
Dear friends,

Happy New Year. Now that we’re in Winter Break – I hope you are enjoying it! – we’d like to thank you for working with us at the Justice League over the last semester. Thanks to you and hundreds of other Brandeis community members, we achieved a lot. Together, we:

  • Elected Adam Hughes Junior Representative to the Board of Trustees.
  • We rallied together to support Adam Hughes in his campaign, and he won. Adam is smart, humble, and he is a member of the activist community. During his two-year tenure, students will have a devoted and strategic advocate. This was big.

  • Trained 70 students to be leaders and community organizers.
  • At the tail end of September, we hosted a “Campus Camp Wellstone” with three trainers from Wellstone Action, a national center for training and leadership development. The hours of training covered topics like campaign planning, crafting a message, leadership development, how to work with the media, recruiting volunteers, and more.

  • Brought cage-free eggs to campus.
  • We partnered with the Real Food Challenge to turn out 877 people to vote on cage-free eggs at Brandeis. 877 voters is huge – more people voted in that poll than the vast majority of student union elections. The results were lopsidedly in our favor as well – 89.1% voted for cage-free eggs. This campaign gave us a great model for how we could work effectively with other groups in the future. The Real Food Challenge did a wonderful job taking the lead on this and we look forward to working with them again on future campaigns.

  • Hosted alumni to teach and inspire us
  • Corey Hope Leaffer, a strategist with SEIU Boston and all around rad individual, joined us to run a workshop on creating effective leadership and building strong organizations. Later, we brought Andrew Slack to a Hillel dinner of 400 people to talk about Brandeis, Social Justice, Harry Potter and changing the world. He spoke and then engaged with community members for over two hours; it was truly incredible. With your help, we will be able to replicate these awesome experiences and expand this promising program in the future.

  • Brought the progressive community on campus closer together.
  • We held 3 summits for the leaders of progressive clubs. Together, we discussed common problems, came up with collaborative solutions, shared best practices, and made connections. We also worked with our partners at InnermostParts.org to give progressive clubs access and a platform on the site. Now they can get their ideas heard by administration and faculty, reach out to potential members, and coordinate with other activists.

  • Invested in progressive groups on campus.
  • We value solidarity and we value the larger social justice movement. That’s why we gave over $500 out in grants to six progressive groups on campus. We helped fund STAND’s successful fundraising barbecue, Positive Foundation’s hunger banquet, SEA’s postcard campaign, the Labor Coalition’s meet the janitor lunch, the Dem’s Food Not Bombs speaker, and Real Food’s amazing end-of-year banquet and strategy meeting.

  • Influenced Peretz Apology.
  • This semester opened with a bang. Marty Peretz, a famous and powerful Brandeis Alum, sparked an uproar when he wrote inflammatory, hurtful and shocking things in The New Republic. Almost 500 of us immediately signed an open letter rebuking him – Brandeis was founded specifically to defend the marginalized or minority, after all. New Voices magazine wrote a feature about us, and we were covered in the Boston Globe, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, and other media. Two days after the launch of our campaign, Peretz backed down and apologized. Friends of Peretz told us that they had no doubt that he knew about us and that we had a large role in his decision to apologize.

  • Celebrated Brandeis.
  • The Westboro Baptist “Church” scheduled a demonstration attacking Brandeis. We united as a community to plan our response together. Our hastily-assembled group of volunteers raised $4301.72, gathered commitments of 1417 members of the Brandeis community to celebrate everything that Brandeis stands for, threw a festival on the great lawn, held events throughout the day, earned media attention, got the entire school on-board, and grew together as leaders and citizens. I am so proud to have been part of this with you all. In planning and executing all this, we showed that all Brandeis students are leaders and can be leaders – when a challenge came our way, students from all different parts of the community stepped up to take it on. Much of our work at Brandeis involves prodding this institution forward, pressuring those in power to live up to our values. I’m proud to have been able to work with you on something different – a cheery event that reminds everyone why Brandeis is worth it in the first place.

Wow. When the two of us began writing this letter, we did not fully realize how much we had accomplished in one short semester; but looking at this list – wow. We hope you’re impressed with yourself.

Brandeis was founded upon a revolutionary idea: that this University could also be part of a movement for justice. The Brandeis Justice League’s mission is to fight injustice, to right that which is wrong, and to make sure that vision comes to pass.

Over the last semester, we’ve worked with this goal in mind, focusing our efforts in two primary directions – boldly taking a stand for Brandeis values, and building the strength of progressives on campus. Morgan and I couldn’t have done a lot of this without your help and participation. Thank you. I hope you approve.

If you like what you see and want to join us as a team member, please let us know in the comments or via email. I hope you do.

It’s been our pleasure to report back to you. I hope you find joy in seeing how the campaigns you’ve worked on with us have ended successfully.

Please, let us know what you think of all this.

Enjoy the rest of the break.
-Sahar Massachi and Morgan Gross, Justice League

61st Speaker of the House to take office today

John Boehner, the 61-year old representative from Ohio, will be sworn in today at 12 pm as the 61st Speaker of the House, when the 112th Congress convenes today. He was unanimously elected for the position by the House Republicans on Novermber 17th, which happened to be his 61st birthday. (Watch the Opening Session of the 112th Congress live now, on facebook!)

Boehner has a long history in Congress. He has served as a representative for ten terms and as the Republican House Leader (aka Minority Leader) for two. He served as the Majority House Leader from January 2006-2007. He chaired the House Committee on Education and Workforce from 2001 until 2006.

He grew up in Ohio with his eleven brothers and sisters and his campaign page paints him as a family man. In Congress, most of his work has been targeted at reforming Congressional rules in order to cut down on excess spending, such as earmark expenditures.

Wikipedia provides fun facts about the history of the Speaker of the House title. If Boehner is officially elected by the House today, as is expected, he would: “be the first Speaker from Ohio since fellow Republicans Nicholas Longworth (1925 to 1931) and J. Warren Keifer (1881 to 1883); be the first Speaker who has served both as majority and minority floor leader for his party since Texas Democrat Sam Rayburn.”

For more information, visit his official government page at http://johnboehner.house.gov/

Watch the Opening Session of the 112th Congress live now, on facebook!

Lawrence’s Letter

Happy New Year Brandeis!

I hope you have all had a wonderful and joyous start to your new year!

President Lawrence gave a warm greeting to the Brandeis community and a call to alumni to revisit the campus.

He also will be keeping a blog here starting next semester. I wanted to share his first post:

The Work We Will Do Together

Today marks the beginning of a new year, a new decade and a new era for Brandeis. For my family and me, it is the beginning of a new life. We embrace it to the fullest with commitment, dedication, gratitude and joy.

Since being named president five months ago, I have been privileged to spend time with many in the Brandeis community — students, faculty, staff, alumni and valued friends of this great university. Walking the campus and meeting diverse constituencies, I am inspired by your energy, creativity and faith in this institution.

I am also humbled when I reflect on those who preceded me in this office. Abram Sachar was a visionary and it is an honor to follow him and the six other presidents who achieved so much in the last 62 years to bring us to this place in time. I especially want to thank Jehuda Reinharz for his contributions to Brandeis, and for the assistance he gave me during the transition.

In the days, months and years ahead, I will look to all of you I have met and the many I look forward to meeting for what you personally can bring to our school. I have learned that the essence of Brandeis is the people who embody the spirit of this unique institution in so many ways.

There is much to be done and I am more excited than ever to begin my formal duties. Searches will soon be under way for a new provost, senior vice president for students and enrollment, and dean of arts and sciences. I will immerse myself in the finances of the university, strengthen my relationship with the many generous supporters of Brandeis, deepen my understanding of the academy and all of its rich offerings, and forge connections with undergraduate and graduate students across the university. I also want to promote communication across this community; this blog is one of my early contributions to that effort. I plan to post regularly.

As I said in July, this is an awe-inspiring institution of learning and social commitment, an open and nonsectarian university with a unique position in the world. As we move forward to expand and strengthen our community — the humanities, the arts, the sciences and athletics — may the ideals of our founders find fulfillment through the work we will do together.

Happy New Year from me and my family to you and your family.

President Fred Lawrence

Freedom for the price of a kidney

Gladys and Jamie Scott, two sisters who have been serving life sentences in jail for 16 years now after their 1994 conviction on charges of armed robbery, are being released on “an indefinite suspension of sentence,” which is “tantamount to early parole,” announced Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour on Dec. 29. However, the special condition placed on their release is calling attention from all sides of the political spectrum: Gladys will have to donate a kidney to Jamie, her older sister.

Jamie requires dialysis treatment, an expense which costs the state of Mississippi almost $200,000 a year, and is in need of a kidney transplant. AOL news reported that Chokwe Mumuba, the sisters’ attorney, admitted that the condition “does sound a little barbaric,” but that Gladys was the one to initiate the voluntary offer, when she included it in her appeal for early parole. Neither has complained about the conditions of their parole, although others have criticized the agreement.

Governor Barbour released a statement about his decision, reproduced here from a WCBI article.

“To date, the sisters have served 16 years of their sentences and are eligible for parole in 2014. Jamie Scott requires regular dialysis, and her sister has offered to donate one of her kidneys to her. The Mississippi Department of Corrections believes the sisters no longer pose a threat to society. Their incarceration is no longer necessary for public safety or rehabilitation, and Jamie Scott’s medical condition creates a substantial cost to the State of Mississippi.

The Mississippi Parole Board reviewed the sisters’ request for a pardon and recommended that I neither pardon them, nor commute their sentence. At my request, the Parole Board subsequently reviewed whether the sisters should be granted an indefinite suspension of sentence, which is tantamount to parole, and have concurred with my decision to suspend their sentences indefinitely.

Gladys Scott’s release is conditioned on her donating one of her kidneys to her sister, a procedure which should be scheduled with urgency.”

Arthur Caplan, the director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, said in an interview with MSNBC that it was the first time he had ever encountered this type of situation. “When you volunteer to give a kidney, you’re usually free and clear to change your mind right up to the last minute,” he said, expressing doubts as to the ethics of the deal.

Chief of organ transplants at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey and the chair of the ethics committee at the United Network for Organ Sharing, Dr. Michael Shapiro, told MSNBC that he does not think the organ transplant should be a condition of release either. “The simple answer to that is you can’t pay someone for a kidney,” Shapiro said. “If the governor is trading someone 20 years for a kidney, that might potentially violate the valuable consideration clause,” which prohibits people from trading organs for other items, namely freedom, in this case.

The whole other side of this issue is that the women’s trial and the severity of their sentences has been contested for a long time by the ACLU and other civil rights groups, who have posited that the women’s African-American heritage contributed to their conviction in the state of Mississippi. The total money they were believed to have stolen was $11, which seems wildly out of proportion with the double life sentences they each received.

However, I think the question of their alleged guilt, or of whether they deserve the sentences they got, is irrelevant to the question of whether the terms of their release are ethical and/or constitutional. So, tackling the latter question, no, I have serious qualms about a system whereby people can be rewarded by the government for giving up body parts. Parole is supposed to be granted on whether the defendants have reformed and/or present a threat to society. Sometimes medical problems are taken into account, such as in the case of a defendant who is expected to pass away soon and would like to spend his last months with his family, but never before in the case of a healthy patient, as is being done for Gladys. Gladys could surely donate the kidney voluntarily but still remain in prison, so there is no connection between her appeal and her sister’s health. Her decision and that of the state should be decided on completely different bases, and should not be dependent on one another. In addition, practical questions have surfaced such as what will happen if the doctors do not think their kidneys will be a match (beyond matching blood type which they have already done), or if Jamie chooses not to accept the kidney. The governor has brushed these questions off, saying they will be decided as they come up.

Another important question is whether the state should take into account the cost of upkeep its prisoners require when deciding parole. It seems a very flawed system if unhealthy criminals would be released because they are costing the state too much money to take care of them. No one has said that this was the basis for the governor’s decision, but he did reveal the monthly cost of Jamie’s treatment in relation to their release. I would prefer if the state were to treat criminals as need-blind (I wish Brandeis would too), since the government shouldn’t free them simply because of economic constraints.

“I Was Raped. Should I tell the Admissions Committee?”

So I subscribe to an advise for college applicants listserv back from the days when I WAS actually applying to college. It’s called Outlaw Students. I don’t know that it’s ever helped me, but it certainly presents interesting and often controversial issues, not just your average run-of-the-mill college advisor stuff.

This site’s biggest achievement is its use of sensationalism. I mean, they get ME to read their e-mails and even check their site on occasion. How do they do it, you ask? Well, they send out e-mails with subject lines like “I Was Raped. Should I Tell the Admissions Committee?”

After clicking on the link, I was brought to Judge Josh’s column, where he gives a thorough and in-depth advice column-style analysis of the person’s situation, and then answers his or her question. In this case, the story is about a college student who was raped. She reported it to the proper authorities et al, but saw a massive drop in her grades due to this traumatic event. Now she’s applying to grad schools and want to know whether or not she should mention the extenuating circumstances which impacted her grades.

Judge Josh’s take on it was that she should use it to her advantage; saying she was raped but still continued her schooling and managed to finish the semester just proves how strong she is and what a hardworker! He encourages her to reveal it to the admissions officers as long as she feels comfortable doing so. For him it comes down to a question of whether she feels brave enough to share her story with the admissions counselors, in which case he thinks she definitely should. “Don’t worry about the committees — they’ll be fine with it.” Underneath his analysis readers left their thoughts, many in support of his advice.

I don’t agree. I would definitely tell her to do what feels best, and maybe she needs to get this secret off her chest by writing about it in this public way, but from a professional standpoint, I don’t really see how revealing something so personal could be a good thing. Perhaps I feel that way because there’s still something in our culture which makes us want to blame the victim, or tells us that we should feel embarrassed if we’ve been assaulted. But we shouldn’t, and she shouldn’t.

That still doesn’t make it smart to tell someone who you want to impress, that you’ve suffered a terrible personal trauma and dealt with it; personal statements to schools are MEANT to be fluff. The schools want to see that you’re creative, thoughtful, intelligent, insightful, hard-working…all of that, plus a good writer. However, hearing about your worst trauma is not going to make them want to accept you, it’s going to make them feel bad for you.

Even if the question were phrased “I was raped and I coped with it. Should I tell the admissions committee?”, I still wouldn’t recommend that she write her essay on it, but perhaps I would be less resistant to the idea. If the girl wanted to make it about the way she was able to persevere in SPITE of this tragedy, that’s much more understandable than her revealing this episode to the school and then asking them to bear that in mind as they look at her application and her GPA, which it seems is her current plan of action.

Call me a conservative, but I just don’t think colleges really want to or need to know that much about a person’s inner struggles…writing about coping with prejudice? That’s one thing. With rape? That’s another.