…your new dorm building is named after coal.

The CEO of Alliance of Coal, Joseph Craft, donated money for a new men’s basketball dorm at the University of Kentucky, on the stipulation that it be named after coal. The Board of Trustees voted 16-3 to approve the new dorm; of the three “no” votes, one was a faculty representative, and another was the Student Government President.

I think it significant that the students who attempted to influence the Board of Trustees at the meeting where they made this decision were ignored and sidelined. Despite passing a statement to the Board announcing their reasons for opposing the name, the statement went unread and the vote was taken. After the vote the majority of the Board, including university President Lee T. Todd Jr., retreated to a back room rather than confront disappointed students. One statement from Todd caught my eye:

“They said a lot,” Todd said. “They were heard.”

Perhaps they were heard, but the fact that they had no part in the decision-making process seems much more significant. What does it matter if you’re heard if nothing you say will make the slightest difference?

At least at the University of Kentucky, there are some students and faculty with votes on the Board of Trustees. Despite our school’s veneer of ‘democracy’, there are no voting students, staff, or faculty on  the Brandeis Board of Trustees. Keep that in mind the next time they make a horrible decision.

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.

The Board of Trustees is meeting this week to discuss…well, no-one really knows what’s on their agenda, but I’m sure it’s nothing sinister. Remember the Board has no voting student, staff, or faculty members, effectively shutting the campus out of collective decision making.

If you’d like to pass on any suggestions on this or any topic, be sure to send a quick note to our student representatives on the Board. They may not have a vote, and can be shut out of the meeting at any time by a vote of the Board, but they can still…um…

Heddy Ben-Atar ’11 – heddy [AT] brandeis.edu
Jon A. Kane ’10 – jkane [AT] brandeis.edu
Scott Motyka (GRAD) – smotyka [AT] brandeis.edu

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.

One of the most common targets for right-wing demagogues is the stereotypical ‘radical leftist university’, a purely fictional construct used to gin up anti-intellectualism and support for slashing education budgets. (For a shocking expose of the corporatization of the university system, check out excerpts from Marc Bousquet’s new book.) According to ThinkProgress the latest innovation on this front is CampusReform, a social-networking site for collegiate conservatives who want to counter percieved liberal bias on campus and “smash left-wing scum”.  Besides offering a space for mutual commiseration and to report percieved discrimination, the site is also offering $100 every day in October as part of a “Report Leftist Abuse” contest.

So, naturally, I sauntered over to the page for Brandeis University and – what do you know! – the only thing on there so far is a complaint submitted by recent graduate Jordan Rothman. His complaint is below the fold.

Continue reading “Is Brandeis a Haven for ‘Leftist Abuse’?”

Recently, the Class of 2010 received a letter soliciting donations towards the Senior Class Gift. This in itself is nothing out of the ordinary; donating is a great way for students to give back to their school, to ensure that in a time of economic crisis others will have access to the same educational opportunities.

At the same time, I start to wonder where our priorities are when the Office of Development and Alumni Relations brazenly admits the following:

We encourage each member of the Class of 2010 to make a gift of at least $20.10 so that we can maximize our support of other students and beat the participation record of 68% set by the Class of 2008. Participation, regardless of gift amount, is important because every gift help’s Brandeis’s national rankings, thereby increasing the value of the degrees that we will shortly recieve. We hope to reach 80% participation this year.

This sort of self-interested philanthropy is nothing new, but it is a bit suprising to see it so openly attested to. Other schools play a similar game – in exchange for a donation, they will give you a coupon for a larger amount at the bookstore. Since college rankings (for whatever reason) include the alumni donation rate as a barometer for institutional excess, these schools try to make up in a rankings boost what they lose in cash flow.

So, on the one hand, this sort of solicitation makes great sense from an institutional perspective. At the same time, it’s more than a little depressing to see how Brandeis can enthusiastically capitulate to an unfair, absurd rankings system, one at which it is a disadvantage anyway. Would it be so bad for a school that prides itself on an activist, contrarian history to take a stand on something like this?

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

Join the listserv!

brandeisgarden@lists.brandeis.edu

And check out the Facebook page for the Groundbreaking Event:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=153128455909&ref=mf

Over the summer, the governing Board of the University of California tried to implement a number of changes aimed at harming the campus environment, including: a 32% tuition hike, layoffs of faculty and staff, and “furloughs” (i.e. salary cuts) for those who stay. In response, the students have organized to take back their university! More information is available at http://occupyca.wordpress.com.

We at Brandeis University stand in solidarity with the students, faculty, and staff of the University of California as they take sorely-needed action against a corrupt, anti-democratic regime. The actions of the UC governing board indicate that their concern is to auction off the public education system for private profit. Resistance is thus necessary, proper, and morally imperative. We must protect one of the few successful public higher education programs in the United States.

While Brandeis is not in the same dire straits as UCSC, there are some parallels which should concern us all. Under the cover of the economic crisis, our university administration and Board of Trustees (which includes no voting student, staff, or faculty members) has increased tuition, threatened several departments, and expanded enrollment to the point of overcrowding. While steadfastly claiming to champion the liberal arts, they have sought to shutter our prized art museum. They have added a pathetic Business major, with hopes of attracting a conservative clientele to be complacent students and wealthy alumni. An unwritten administrative policy of “delay and obscure” ensures that critical announcements and news trickles down to us through rumor and press release, confusing an already disempowered campus.

Considering our weak and divided state, the actions of the University of California community give us the assurance that action is still possible. We cheer you on as you end the occupation of the university by corporate interests and posturing politicians and bring about the occupation of the university by the people. Unified action to overthrow oppressive power structures must no longer be the exception, but our everyday struggle.

Out of the classrooms, into the streets!

Mad love and solidarity,

Brandeis Students for a Democratic Society

From its founding in 1948 until August 31, 1998, all Brandeis dining was in-house.

Beginning July 1, 1991, Brandeis began outsourcing to Aramark.

In a letter to Brandeis from Jehuda Reinharz, dated May, 1998:
“I am pleased to report that Executive Vice President Peter French created an open process of review involving students, faculty and staff, which resulted in the selection of Aramark to operate dining services beginning July 1, 1998.”

Phil and I just attended the “Great Green Ideas for Brandeis and Beyond” event in the new Shapiro Science Center. The big news: Brandeis has given the go-ahead for a large solar array to go up on Gosman roof. I find this a bit ironic, considering that last year, a proposal to build a smaller solar array with Student Union rollover money was nixed in favor of a new weight room for Gosman. (now we get both, in the same place!) Anyways, the array, consisting of 1383 individual panels covering the Southwest and Southeast sides of the building, will provide 277 kW of energy each year (between 1/6 and 1/4 of a utility-scale wind turbine.) This is expected to prevent 122 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, and provide approximately 10% of the electricity needs of Gosman. Construction should begin in November.

We’re not there yet, but this is a significant step towards the 15% reduction in emissions over the next five years targeted by the University’s new climate plan. We’ll need to do a lot more to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, but when combined with Pres. Reinharz’ suggestion at the event to seed the campus with Vespas, solar panels could go a long way.

How will we pay for all this silicon, you ask? Simply put, we won’t, because we won’t actually be buying the solar array. Rather, we’ve signed a 20-year contract with EOS ventures. They’ll provide the upfront cost of the array, and have contracted with the Boston firm Alteris Renewables to build the array and prepare the roof. In return, we’ll be buying the electricity produced every year at a predetermined rate which rises slowly each year. Initially, this solar energy will start off as more expensive than conventional fossil fuel energy purchased through the ordinary power utility. But if fossil fuel costs rise at projected rates (one assumes the projections used are those of EOS), the solar energy will quickly become cheaper. I was told by an EOS representative that after 20 years, we will hopefully have saved $820,000 in energy costs.

A good deal of credit for this venture goes to Janna Cohen-Rosenthal, the sustainability coordinator of the University. Though some were initially skeptical of allowing a private firm to own equipment on the Gosman roof, the projected energy savings and environmental good were enough to win over the skeptics. Long-term creative payment schemes like this are the future of renewable energy, and Brandeis is leading the way.

Adds Phil:

The placement of the panels on Gosman was a smart choice, not only for its solar orientation but for visibility.  Unlike most buildings on campus, Gosman has a pitched roof, so people on and passing through campus will be well aware of the panels.  They will be visible from both South St (inbound to Waltham) and the Commuter Rail.  Our committment to sustainability won’t go unnoticed.

…when right-wing Americans do it, of course.

The Washington Post was trying to do the right thing when it published this article about the reticence of many medical students to take up abortion in their OB-GYN practices. This has been a problem for a while, of course; as the article notes, though abortions are utilized by up to a third of American women at some point in their life, almost 90% of U.S. counties have no abortion provider. Obviously, the right to obtain an abortion is hindered (if not negated) by the inability to access a doctor to perform the procedure. What makes this a particularly pressing issue is that most of the physicians who currently perform abortions are near retirement, yet few medical schools include abortion services in their curriculum.

Highlighting these scary facts should animate those of us concerned with reproductive health. However, I’m more than a little peeved at the Post’s perception of the causes underlying these problems, which they’ve summed up with the headline: “Abortion Stigma Affects Doctors’ Training And Choices”.

Stigma? Are you serious?

Continue reading “Privilege Watch: When is Domestic Terrorism Not Domestic Terrorism?”

My name is Liat Zabludovsky and I’m a first-year student here at Brandeis. I am familiar with Innermost Parts due mostly to Sahar and partly to my own personal interest with the University, so I am extremely excited to begin contributing to this blog.

I plan to cover dining-related news, and would like to be as inclusive as possible, so if you have any information regarding dining/food at Brandeis, please don’t hesitate to send me an e-mail (LZab@brandeis.edu). I am familiar with the controversies that stirred around here in recent years involving dining, and I think it’s definitely about time we all started paying attention.

Look out for a time line of Brandeis dining over the last 61 years, which I will be posting in the near future!

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.

For better or for worse, Jehuda Reinharz’s actions as University President have helped shape my experience at Brandeis.  After hearing about his imminent resignation, I’d like to take this opportunity to reflect upon some events of his term.

My oldest memory is of a controversy surrounding a display of Palestinian art on campus.  It was before I arrived as a student on campus, but it was still fresh on the minds of many in the community when I arrived in the fall of 2006.  The exhibit was called ‘Voices of Palestine’ and featured drawings and paintings by Palestinian teenagers living in a refugee camp near Bethlehem.  After four days on display, his administration removed the pieces of artwork.  Coming to Brandeis as a non-Jew, this was slightly worrying.  I wanted to live and study in an environment where people could express their views, even if they were disliked by strong supporters of Israel.

In the fall of 2007, my second semester at Brandeis, Reinharz sought to prevent President Carter from visiting campus and giving a lecture to the community.  The issue was over Carter’s book, entitled “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid”.  Reinharz was worried about the potential reactions of the wealthy Jewish donors that sponsor our university.  It was the second big battle I witnessed concerning one Brandeis pillar versus the other, with Jewish sponsorship on one side and social justice on the other.  Some motivated students pushed hard to get Carter to come, offering to put on the event themselves.  Reinharz tried to force Carter to change the event from a lecture to a debate with lawyer Alan Dershowitz, a staunch defender of Israel’s political and military policy.  The issue created some bad press for the university, mostly through the Boston Globe, who brought it to the nation’s attention.  In the end Carter was allowed to come, with an optional Dershowitz event afterward.  As I remember, Reinharz did not attend the former president’s lecture.

President Reinharz’s decision that impacted me most was to allow the campus police to carry guns.  He composed a committee in the summer of 2007 to advise him on the issue following the Virginia Tech tragedy.  The two students serving on the committee were hand picked by the administration with no input from the greater student body.  I still stand by the opinion that our campus is better off without the deadly weapons that are firearms.  Someday we’re going to have an issue with one of the guns wielded or fired improperly.  I helped organize a group called SODA, Students Opposing the Decision to Arm, which collected over 800 student signatures for our cause.  We delivered the signatures to President Reinharz and spoke with him for around 30 minutes with at least 20 students.  He didn’t really care about student opinion, he was moving ahead with his decision regardless, and he wasn’t going to open up debate on the issue on campus.

Most recently, Reinharz has become mired in controversy over the closure of the Rose Art Museum and the sale of its works of art.  I’ve only visited the museum a couple of times while at Brandeis, but I’ve always believed that it adds something special to our community.  His decision was never clear.  He equivocated over the closure and the sale under the pressure, only bringing the university more bad press.  I praised my friends’ posting of a large sign on the front of the Rose reading “ATM”.  While I was abroad, my peers went to work debating with the administration over budget cuts.  The financial crisis hit our university hard.  Reinharz should be praised for raising record amounts of money, but criticized for overspending.  I love all of the new buildings, upgrades, and programs, but our expansion just wasn’t sustainable.

President Reinharz made me proud when he signed the University Presidents’ Climate Commitment to tackle global warming, and when he advocated for the elimination of water bottles from the dining halls.  Reinharz is a business man.  Late in his tenure he realized that Brandeis was going to have to “go green” in order to attract today’s students.  For him, sustainability is part of the marketing strategy.  That’s fine, I care less about the motivations than the actions.  Next week’s big sustainability announcement may not come from him, but I can say with reasonable certainty that it will have to do with some of his behind-the-scenes efforts.

Earlier tonight I broke the news of Reinharz’s resignation to one of my friends.  He replied jokingly, ” Do you think there will be looting?”  I laughed, but his comment made recall the name of the building where President Reinharz’s office resides–The Irving Presidential Enclave.  How indicative of the way he ran the university’s administration, so close to the hub of students’ activity, but so distant in its decision-making.

UPDATE:

As expected, Pres. Reinharz has announced his resignation. He plans to stay on until the next president is selected by the Board of Trustees, or June 30, 2011, meaning he will continue as president for up to three more semesters. Though there were some decisions on which he seriously fucked up (the Rose Art Museum comes to mind) he also did a great job raising Brandeis’ endowment and prestige. Unfortunately, the Rose seems to have done him in… though he told the Hoot that “the situation with the Rose… had no impact on this decision,” and claims to have “reached the conclusion that now is the right time for me to focus on the next chapter of my career,”  I suspect pressure from angry alumni, faculty, and students certainly had a good deal to do with that conclusion.

I, for one, thought he was a pretty good, if often tricky, President, though I have had no chance for comparison. This one caught me by surprise – I thought Reinharz had mostly weathered the Rose / budget crisis storm and was back on top. To his credit, he didn’t leave when things started getting nasty, but waited until they cooled down. Anyways, check out Phil and Sahar’s posts for some more nuanced reflection.

The full text of Reinharz’ email is below the break.

Continue reading “BREAKING: Pres. Reinharz to resign”

Andy Hogan has sent out his first email to the “Involved Students” listserve, it includes a link to a mybrandeis survey asking for student opinions on dining.

http://my.brandeis.edu/survsimp/one?survey_id=4831

The last question is a space for us to say what we would like to see. Thomas from the Brandeis Labor Coalition suggests:

where it asks “what’s important to you” say: the job security of dining hall workers! Show ’em Brandeis students care about the people who cook and serve our food.

What else do we want? Another dining location? More locally grown food? More vegan options???

Fill it out!

Tonight Brandeis hosted a lecture and Q&A session with Jeffrey Hollender, the founder and Chief Inspired Protagonist of Seventh Generation, which a leader in sustainable business.  Perhaps you’ve seen their dish soap, cleaners, paper towels, or other products at the store.  I didn’t originally intend to write about the event, but it was so great that I felt I needed to share it with all of our readers.  Here are the major points he made on the changes we need for a sustainable economy, in bullet form for easy reading:

• Changes in ownership structure – issue stock to employees, even if they don’t want it.
• Corporate bylaws – change responsibility to shareholders to responsibility to all stakeholders, including labor and the environment.
• Corporate charters – in order to receive permission to operate as a business, you must meet certain standards (e.g. issue a corporate responsibility report).
• Full cost accounting – include all externalities in the prices of goods so that the better goods cost less.
• Doing good – currently, our idea of doing good is doing less bad (e.g. 100% recycled, non-chlorine bleached paper towels).  Tonight’s event is an example of doing good.  In becoming the first company to use sustainably harvested palm oil, they’re doing good.
• Quality over quantity – we just plain consume too much stuff, need to consume less.
• Education – teach the systemic thinking, the connections between things, from the very youngest ages.
• Capital availability – small businesses are starved of money, even though they create the most jobs.  Also see the point on sustainable growth.
• Working less – people don’t have enough time to participate in their democracies.  You’re not necessarily more productive working 60 hours a work, so employees that work less should still be able to compete.
• Family businesses – they more often do the right thing.  Johnson & Johnson were the first to give employees paid vacation.
• Long-term thinking – businesses have a very hard time thinking long-term.  Immediately when things go bad, they lay people off, even though it’s expensive.
• Day trading – these types of investors offer nothing to companies.  We need extremely high capital gains taxes to discourage these types of behavior.  Long-term investing should have no capital gains tax.
• Mortgage deductions – these tax incentives benefit the people who need it least, like people who own two homes.
• Charitable giving – the poorer you are, the more you give away as a percentage of your income.
• Salary limitations – place limits on how many times more the highest-paid employee can make in relation to the lowest-paid employee.  If you pay someone over $500,000 a year, you shouldn’t be able to deduct it as a business expense.
• Seventh Generation – the name comes from the Iroquois principle that in every deliberation, we need to consider its impact on the next seven generations.
• Failure – Seventh Generation employees work too much, are too stressed out, but a month ago he finished a book about working less and hope to make changes.  They chose palm oil instinctively over petroleum, but really it turned out to be worse.
• Habit – humans generally replicate the same patterns over and over.  At Seventh Generation, they make an effort to be more conscious about their actions.
• Sustainable growth – complicated, because capital often isn’t available for those who want sustainable growth.  One bank in the Netherlands believes 20% is destructive and their companies who grow more slowly have done better in the financial crisis.  He’s still somewhat obsessed with growth because he gets more influence and shows more proof his model works.
• Political advocacy – you can’t necessarily publicly endorse a political candidate as the company that provides someone’s toilet paper.  You need to lay the proper groundwork for communicating with your customers before you do that.
• Charity – thinking about the circulation of money is important.  Oftentimes when money is given away, it’s gone forever.  Social entrepreneurship benefits immensely from the support behind it today, with micro-lending, awareness, etc.
• Starting Seventh Generation – when they started small their products were twice as expensive and half as good.  It was a bad fomula.
• Target – the store has helped Seventh Generation become their best-selling dish liquid because they priced Seventh Generation’s product at parity with Palmolive, Dawn, etc.

Thanks to the Brandeis Sustainability Initiative and Net Impact for helping bring Jeffrey to campus!

On a side note, a big announcement is coming for campus sustainability.  Janna Cohen-Rosenthal, our campus sustainability coordinator, was grinning as she told me about next Wednesday’s event (Shapiro Science Center, 5:30pm).  She looked like she could hardly contain the secret, so it must be big!

Great news!  Campus Safety Chief Ed Callahan responded thoughtfully to my email just two hours after I sent it last night.  If you’re not familiar with the issue, see my previous post.  I’ve obtained permission from him to post his reply.

Philip,
Thank you for your comments relative to pedestrian safety and vehicles on campus. We do try to balance all of the needs of pedestrians and vehicle operators who traverse our campus roads on a daily basis.
I must say that from a Public Safety perspective on a good day it is a daunting task. One which is compounded by illegally parked student vehicles which accrue hundreds of dollars in parking citations per year.

I would also like to see a car free campus at some point. A campus which is served by a multi level garage structure which would alleviate a good percentage of cars from the Main campus. Perhaps you would like to discuss this point and the long term North Academic Quad matter with Daniel Feldman, Vice President of Capital Projects.

Please understand that vehicular traffic at the Rabb intersection is also a concern which often creates traffic problems all the way down the length of the East Quad Road. We do balance both needs and attempt to expedite vehicle movement which sometimes impacts the response of Emergency vehicles to our campus. In addition a good percentage of the vehicles in question are operated by Faculty who are arriving to teach class, students both undergrads and grad who drive onto campus as well as Bran vans and buses which are deployed to transport students to class.

As a long term employee and Director of the Department of Public Safety I share your safety related concerns.

Best Regards,
Edward M. Callahan
Director of Public Safety

It’s great to hear that Ed Callahan supports a car-free campus.  I intend to further pursue this issue with Daniel Feldman, as he suggests.

To be continued…

Perhaps you’ve noticed that the Brandeis Campus Police have been directing traffic at the crosswalks between the Rabb Steps and Usdan, and that they’re letting vehicle traffic move through while students walking must wait.  Well, my friend Matt told me he was writing an email to Ed Callahan, chief of police, so I wrote one too.  Here it is:

Dear Chief Callahan,

I am writing you in response to an observation I made recently where an officer was giving priority to automobiles over pedestrians at Rabb Steps.  I believe strongly that the presence of automobiles negatively effects the quality of life on campus, and a policy of prioritizing vehicle traffic before pedestrians contributes to this problem.  Making driving on campus more convenient encourages more students to use their automobiles rather than walk and bike, which are much healthier options.  I have also observed police vehicles idling in the area at Rabb Steps, which with passing and idling vehicle traffic emit harmful emissions in an area with a high volume of pedestrian traffic.  I would like to remind you that unnecessary idling over five minutes is prohibited by Massachusetts law and by MassDEP regulations.

The current Brandeis Master Plan, established in 2001, calls for reduced vehicular traffic.  The document defining the plan’s scope lists “Reduction of vehicular encroachment into pedestrian areas” and “Separation of pedestrian and vehicular circulation” as major goals and objectives.  The plan itself envisions closing the area between Usdan and the North (Mandel) Academic Quad to vehicular thru traffic.  While the University has improved conditions for pedestrians on South Campus with a new link in the Brandeis Walk, policies toward traffic at Rabb Steps work against the goals of a healthier, more beautiful, and more sustainable campus.  I urge you to put people first, supporting safe and efficient traffic flow at Rabb Steps by prioritizing pedestrian traffic when an officer is present in the short-term and advocating for pedestrianization of the Brandeis Loop at Rabb steps in the mid- to long-term.

I appreciate your attention in this matter.

Most Sincerely,

Philip LaCombe

I can understand why the police have set up camp there.  Traffic can get backed up pretty far during the 10 minutes between classes.  There’s even a lot of idling caused because of it.  Really, neither the status quo nor the traffic direction works.  Both are harmful for the environment.  The thing is, we shouldn’t be encouraging more driving.  It’s bad enough that we have so many cars on campus, and that some people drive to class even with the inconvenience at that crossing.  What’s the alternative?  Pedestrianization.  Cut the loop road so that the furthest you can get is to the parking lot behind North Quad.  Here’s a drawing from the campus master plan of what it might look like:

Nice, huh?  Imagine the possibilities…  that portion of the loop road could become a plaza for all sorts of activities.  Hanging out, tabling, eating, people-watching…  it would be a great public space, free of pollution and cars.  Emergency vehicles would still be able to get through, but it would be a place for people, not cars.

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.).