The Justice

Brandeis is involved in theAssociation of Independent Collegesand Universities of Massachusetts,an effort to get the Commonwealth ofMassachusetts to adopt the UniformPrudent Management ofInstitutional Funds Act to easeendowment restrictions, ExecutiveVice President and Chief OperatingOfficer Peter French wrote in a Feb.19 e-mail to the Justice.

“Brandeis supports enactment ofUPMIFA and Brandeis is involved inthe AICUM effort,” French wrote.

AICUM is coordinating with otherprivate Massachusetts colleges anduniversities to get UPMIFA enactedby the Massachusetts state legisla-ture. Joe Baerlein, a temporaryBrandeis spokesman for theUniversity’s public relations firmRasky Baerlein StrategicCommunications, Inc., told theJustice yesterday that AICUM is a“trade association for all the inde-pendent colleges, and they work inconcert on public policy and legisla-tive issues on behalf of all their mem-bers.”Under the current law, which is

A subcommittee of the Committeeon Academic Restructuring is pro-posing a new graduation require-ment in the form of semester-longexperiential learning programs bothon and off campus in order toincrease the undergraduate studentbody, while another subcommittee isproposing a Business major toattract more applicants.

In addition, a separate group offaculty is proposing a major inCommunications, Media and Societyin order to attract more applicants.

All proposals are intended toincrease revenue from tuition-pay-ing students, faculty members said.

Dean of Arts and Sciences AdamJaffe posted all three proposals on aspecial Brandeis Web site dedicatedto the curricular changes in advanceof an open forum that will be heldWednesday in order to gain feedbackon the proposals and to make furtherchanges. The Undergraduate

Curriculum Committee will considerthe proposals Thursday, several fac-ulty members said.

The subcommittee on a possiblesummer semester and experientiallearning is proposing a new gradua-tion requirement, the “BrandeisSemester,” to be completed by 800 to1,000 students a year either duringthe summer, fall or spring after a stu-dent’s first year. The new programwould apply to incoming studentsentering in the fall of 2010, accordingto the proposal.

Students could fulfill the BrandeisSemester requirement through pro-grams such as an EnvironmentalField Semester, expanded work in alab over the summer, a BrandeisSummer Arts Festival, SummerStudy Abroad opportunities, aninternship away from Brandeis dur-ing the fall or spring or intensivesummer language study, accordingto the committee’s proposal.

“I would really have appreciatedthe option of doing the summerresearch with courses specificallygeared toward people interested inscientific research,” Lydia Flier ’11, astudent representative on the com-mittee, said.

Increasing the student body, byhaving more students live off campus

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

the

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COPYRIGHT 2009

The insight of Frank

Waltham, Mass. Volume LXII, Number 20

SPORTS Fencing teams place high at NEC 13

FORUM PR firm is nothing new 11

ARTS PAGE 21

SHANNON VISITS

■ Representative Barney Frankspeaks about the financial crisis.

FEATURES 7

■ The men’s basketball team broke aUAA shooting record in routing CaseWestern Reserve University.

SPORTS 16

■ Alison Svizzero replaces former CIO Deborah Kuenstner.

NEWS 3

New CIO hired

“The University administration is authorizedto take the necessary stepsto transition the University’sRose Art Museum to a teaching center and exhibition gallery.”

Board of Trustees resolution, Jan. 26

“Brandeis University’s Board of Trustees today

voted unanimously to close the

Rose Art Museum...”

“Unfortunately, those statements did notaccurately reflect the Board’s decision. ... The Museum will remain open.”

University press release, Jan. 26

President Jehuda Reinharz’s e-mail, Feb. 5

Semantics over substanceShifting language confuses Rose decision

It has been nearly one month sincethe University administrationshocked the Brandeis communitywith an e-mailannouncing itsdecision to closethe Rose ArtMuseum and sellart from its collection. Since the Jan.26 e-mail announcing the passage ofthe Board of Trustees’ resolution, thedecision has been restated to the pointwhere it may seem as if the adminis-tration has backed off its initial inten-tions.

But while the language of the initialdecision may have changed, theUniversity’s intentions haveremained the same. The Rose will stilltransition from a public museum to ateaching space for the school, and the

University will still sell the art if nec-essary in order to help alleviate itsfinancial troubles. The confusion thathas permeated the Rose situation liesin the University’s words, not itsintended actions.

“The new statement from theUniversity president, JehudaReinharz, proposes certainly a muchmilder way of phrasing where we’reheaded, but I still think we’re headedin the same direction,” Prof. Eric Hill(THA), the chair of the Committee toReview the Closing of the Rose, toldthe Justice Feb. 13.

The initial Jan. 26 press release stat-ed that the Board of Trustees “votedunanimously to close the Rose ArtMuseum,” adding that “the Universitywill publicly sell the art collection.”Two weeks later, following extensivepublicity in national publications likethe Boston Globe and the New YorkTimes, Reinharz seemed to backtrack

from the original decision in a Feb. 5 e-mail to the Brandeis community. Thee-mail read: “The Museum will remainopen, but in accordance with theBoard’s vote, it will be more fully inte-grated into the University’s centraleducational mission,” and also statedthat “The [initial public statements]gave the misleading impression thatwe were selling the entire collectionimmediately, which is not true.”Reinharz blamed himself in part forthe misunderstanding, channelingPresident Barack Obama by writing,“I screwed up.”

But Reinharz’s second e-mail didnot violate the initial Board ofTrustees resolution. The original reso-lution stated, “The University admin-istration is authorized to take the nec-essary steps to transition theUniversity’s Rose Art Museum to a

See ANALYSIS, 5 ☛

NEWSANALYSIS

By HANNAH KIRSCH and MIKE PRADAJUSTICE EDITORS

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

RACHEL CORKE/the Justice

STUDENT RESPONSE: David Azer ‘11poses a question at an open forum.

RACHEL CORKE/the Justice

WEB OF WORDSACADEMICS

CARS seeksrevenue gains

By MIRANDA NEUBAUERJUSTICE SENIOR WRITER

■ The Committee onAcademic Restructuringsubmitted proposals aimedat aiding budget issues.

ENDOWMENT

Univ joins effort toadopt UPMIFA law

By MICHELLE LIBERMANJUSTICE STAFF WRITER

■ Brandeis will work withAICUM schools to lobby forreplacement of the currentMassachussets legislation.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY BRIAN BLUMENTHAL

See ENDOWMENT, 5 ☛

See COMMITTEE, 5 ☛REINHARZ REMARKS: The presi-dent spoke to student media.

MUSEUM PROTEST: Studentsstage a sit-in at the Rose.

2 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2009 ● THE JUSTICE

NEWSPOLICE LOG

Understanding Islamist militancyDr. Thomas Hegghammer, research fellow

for the Initiative on Religion in InternationalAffairs/International Security Program fromHarvard University, will focus on what isknown about radical Islam in Saudi Arabia.This presentation will offer new findings onthe causes and dynamics of jihad in Saudi Ara-bia. Today from 12:15 to 1:45 p.m. in Heller 163.

State of the Union AddressJoin Brandeis Democrats and Democracy

for America as they watch President BarackObama’s first State of the Union address.Today from 9 to 10 p.m. in the Polaris Lounge.

For more information, [email protected].

Back Pages BooksAuthor Michael Krondl will discuss his

book The Taste of Conquest: The Rise and Fallof Three Great Cities of Spice. Krondl is a

renowned writer, historian and chef. Theevent is free and open to the public. Wednes-day, Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m. at Back Pages Books inWaltham.

Resistance and empowermentThis one-day symposium examines the ex-

periences of mothers in academic life. It asks:Are women in heterosexual couples still re-sponsible for creating/maintaining home,family and community? If so, how does moth-erhood impact a woman’s ability to succeed inacademia? A registration fee of $80 is required.Visit www.yorku.ca/arm to register. Friday,Feb. 27 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Epstein Lec-ture Hall.

CPR training coursesBrandeis Health Occupation Students of

America is holding two CPR classes for thecommunity, broken into two sessions each.The cost of the certification is $40, which needs

to be paid in advance. Monday, March 2 andWednesday, March 4 from 7 to 10 p.m., andMonday, March 16 and Wednesday, March 18from 7 to 10 p.m. in Lown 203.

ResumaniaHave your résumé and cover letter re-

viewed by Hiatt in preparation for orientationleader applications, networking over winterbreak, applications to full-time jobs and in-ternships and more. Monday March 2 fromnoon to 3 p.m. in the Usdan Student Center.

Committee on disabilities speaker seriesThe committee on disabilities is having a

speaker and film series throughout March.The first speaker will be Prof. Valerie Leiter’01, associate professor of sociology at Sim-mons College. Leiter’s work focuses on chil-dren and youth with disabilities. Tuesday,March 3 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Pollack Au-ditorium.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Justice is the independent student newspaper ofBrandeis University. The Justice is published everyTuesday of the academic year with the exception ofexamination and vacation periods. Editor in chief of-fice hours are held every Thursday from 3:30 to 4:30p.m. in the Justice office.

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E-mail: [email protected]

AP BRIEFMedical Emergency

Feb. 13—A female student in Usen Cas-tle notified BEMCo that her roommatewas not feeling well but could not describethe illness. BEMCo responded and re-ported that the student had low bloodsugar. The student was transported viaambulance to the Newton-Wellesley Hos-pital.

Feb. 13—An employee in Kalmanslipped and fell. A head injury, as well asother injuries, was reported. TheWaltham Fire Department and an ambu-lance responded to the scene. The em-ployee was transported via ambulance tothe Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

Feb. 14—A party told University Policethat a female student had the chills andpossibly had a fever. University Police re-sponded to the scene. The on-call nurseadvised the student to go to the emergencyroom, but the student said that she did notwant to go. The student was advised tocall back if she felt worse and that Uni-versity Police would provide a cruisertransport.

TrafficFeb. 11—A minor motor vehicle acci-

dent was reported by a party at the MainGate. University Police compiled a report.

HarassmentFeb. 12—A party in Sachar Interna-

tional Center reported receiving a harass-ing phone call placed by an unknowncaller. University Police compiled a re-port.

MiscellaneousFeb. 19—A party in Ridgewood Quad re-

ported that someone threw her sheets onthe floor in her room. There were no signsof forced entry. The University locksmithwas asked to change the locks on the stu-dent’s dorm room. The student did notwant to fill out a complaint form; nothingwas reported missing. No further actionwas taken by University Police.

—Compiled by Jillian Wagner

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS� An article in Sports last issue did not state the givenname and position of McKoy. He is Eric McKoy and he isan assistant coach for the men’s basketball team. (Feb.10, p. 13).� An article in Features last issue mistakenly identifiedHal Lebovitz as a sportswriter for the Cleveland PlainDealer in the 1920s and 1930s. Lebovitz worked for thePlain Dealer starting in 1960 and was the paper’s sportseditor between 1964 and 1982. (Feb. 10, p. 8).

The Justice welcomes submissions for errors thatwarrant correction or clarification. [email protected].

SENATE LOG

The Senate passed a bylaw change re-quiring Senators to notify the chair ofthe Senate of extenuating circumstancesin order to miss a Senate meeting.

The bylaw change defines an extenu-ating circumstance as one that does notoccur regularly or semi-regularly.

The bylaw stipulates that an auto-matic censure resolution be added to theagenda should a Senator miss two ormore meetings unexcused.

The Senate tabled a Senate MoneyResolution to co-fund a March 30 cam-pus visit from Bill Ayers, a foundingmember of the Weather Undergroundand now a professor of education at theUniversity of Illinois in Chicago, as wellas an April 3 visit by Robert H. King, amember of the Black Panther Party whoadvocated desegregation in prisons andspent 32 years in prison after beingwrongly convicted of conspiracy to com-mit murder.

Some senators expressed concern thatmoney paid by all students would go to-ward a controversial event, expressedreservations about violent acts commit-ted by the Weather Underground, whichthe FBI designated as a terrorist organi-zation, and discussed how such an eventwould reflect on donor relations andmedia coverage of Brandeis.

The events’ supporters said that theyhad not received as much funding froma social justice grant as they had ex-pected and that they did not believeAyers would advocate for violent action.

They also emphasized that such anevent would be academically beneficialfor students learning about the 1960s inthe classroom.

Union Secretary Tia Chatterjee ’09 re-ported that sign-ups for North Quad andEast Quad senator special electionswould open up Monday, and that pollsfor these elections will open March 8.

The first round of regular Spring Elec-tions will begin April 6.

Student Union President Jason Gray’10 reported that in addition to the pre-viously announced plans for a new Busi-ness major and a third semester, a groupof faculty is also working on proposinga Business and Communications, Mediaand Society major.

He added that he would like studentsand the Union Senate to have more of avoice in academic decisions and sug-gested that the Senate pass resolutionsregarding the proposals that he wouldannounce at faculty meetings.

Gray announced that this semester’sState of the Union will be held March 17at 6:30 p.m.

The Senate passed a resolution in sup-port of the proposed Business and Com-munications, Media and Society majorto be presented to the UndergraduateCurriculum Committee this Thursday.

The Senate confirmed Ben Stein ’10 asnon-Senate chair of the Club SupportCommittee.

The Senate voted not to grant theWhiffle Ball Club permanent recogni-tion. Executive Senator Andrew Brooks’09 reported that the club did not re-spond to multiple requests to come be-fore the Senate.

The Senate tabled granting The Jurypermanent charter because Senatorssaid the club is still active even thoughit had not responded to some requests toappear in front of the Senate.

—Miranda Neubauer

Stimulating ideasAdam Eisenberg ’09, a representative of the Curriculum and AcademicRestructuring Steering Committee, discussed the implementation of anew Business major with students in Geller Auditorium Feb. 10.


Gov Patrick wants to increase gastax and reform transport system

Senators will be censuredfor missing meetings

BOSTON—On Friday, Gov. Deval Patrick proposeda 19-cent increase in the state gas tax, making it thehighest in the nation and streamlining the state’stransportation bureaucracy as the best way to helpfix Massachusetts’ debt-ridden transportation sys-tem.

The plan to reform a transportation system that isbillions of dollars in debt avoids a proposed toll in-crease on the Massachusetts Turnpike that causedpublic outcry when it was approved in November.Patrick said the tax increase would raise about $500million annually, though that wouldn’t be enough tocompletely eliminate tolls.

“We’ve tried to strike a balance between the mostimmediate needs where we can put our transporta-tion network on more secure fiscal and financialfoundation without asking something unreasonablefrom travelers,” Patrick said. “All of it is tough, andthere’s nothing here that isn’t a heavy lift.”

The 19- cent increase gives the state a gas tax of 42.5cents, which Patrick said would address $5 billion oflingering debt at the Massachusetts Bay Transporta-tion Authority and $2.2 billion in debt at the Turn-pike.

Patrick said while the proposed gas tax was enoughto stave off the toll increase of $7 at the Boston Har-bor tunnels and $2 at the Allston-Brighton and We-ston tollbooths, it would take another 15 cents toeliminate tolls on the Mass Pike altogether. In orderto fix all the state’s transportation problems, Patricksaid, it would take an additional 73 cents on the gastax.

The proposed 19- cent hike must be approved by theLegislature.

The Turnpike Board plans to vote on the toll in-crease next week to avoid a credit rating downgrade.The governor said if the Legislature is unable to passPatrick’s plan before then, he will ask Secretary ofTransportation James Aloisi to make the vote condi-tional. Once the Legislature passes the gas tax in-crease, the board will remove the toll increase.

The governor has said earlier he would not seek atax increase without getting legislative support foroverhauling the state’s transportation bureaucracythrough reforms, such as abolishing the MBTA.

Patrick’s reorganization plan would create one Ex-ecutive Office of Transportation with four divisions:Highway, Rail & Transit, Aviation & Port and Reg-istry of Motor Vehicles. It also creates an Office ofPerformance Management to ensure public account-ability.

The plan eliminates 300 positions and ends specialperks in the employee pension system at the MBTA,Patrick said.

He also said it would make the transportation sys-tem more environmentally responsible through stepssuch as increased investment in public transporta-tion outside Boston and adopting various standardsto build and buy in environmentally friendly ways.

House Speaker Robert DeLeo said the governor’splan was a good framework for needed reform andrevenue, but 19 cents may not be the “magic number”for a gas tax increase.

“At the end of the day, will you see changes fromthe House proposal? Sure you will,” DeLeo said. “I’mnot prepared to say we’ll go as high as the governor.”‘

Turnpike Authority Board member Mary Con-naughton, a Framingham resident who was the onlyboard member to vote against the toll increase, criti-cized Patrick’s decision to raise the gas tax withouteliminating tolls.

“It’s absurd to ask tollpayers to pay an increasedgas tax without substantial toll elimination. It’s sim-ply perpetuating the great unfairness and deepeninginequity,” Connaughton said. “The governor had aprime opportunity to fix this, and he failed.”

InterimCIOhired

THE JUSTICE ● TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2009 3

A new initiative created by the Of-fice of Admissions and the Office ofthe Dean of Arts and Sciences willput faculty members in contact withup to five of the top 500 applicantsfrom the Class of 2013 each in an ef-fort to recruit them to attend theschool, according to an e-mail Deanof Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffewrote to faculty explaining this ini-tiative.

The Office of Admissions begansending e-mails to these students lastFriday, providing them with a linkthat enables them to tell admissionsofficers if they would like personalcontact with a Brandeis facultymember, Jaffe, who is coordinatingthe faculty effort for the initiative,said in an interview with the Jus-tice.

“By the time the actual acceptanceletters go out, students are floodedwith information from multipleschools, so we thought it was sensi-ble to contact them before the ac-ceptance letters actually went out inan effort to interest them early on,”Jaffe said.

Jaffe said the University’s budgetsituation did not play a direct role inthe forming of the initiative.

“This initiative does not have any-thing to do with Brandeis’ budget

difficulties; it is a further step in re-cruiting admitted students,” Jaffesaid. “However, given the circum-stances, it will be a helpful opportu-nity to assuage any concernsapplicants may have about these is-sues,” he explained.

Dean of Admissions Gil Vil-lanueva wrote in an e-mail to theJustice that the office of admissionsidentified the top 500 applicants asthose students who “achieved thehighest ratings in the admissions ap-plication review program,” which hesaid was based on “quality of coursestaken and performance, personalcharacter and potential for contribu-tion to the Brandeis community.”

“Brandeis has such a self-selectingapplicant pool (so many demonstrateto be some of the top high school sen-iors in [the] nation and abroad) thatwe could have easily sent 2000 pre-liminary admission letters,” Vil-lanueva wrote in an e-mail to theJustice. “The selection process wasmost thoughtful and deliberate. Ulti-mately, applicants that rose abovethe rest were chosen,” he wrote.

According to Villanueva, the ini-tiative was designed to keep pacewith Brandeis’ competitors such asYale, Dartmouth, Amherst, Lehighand Duke Universities. “We areaware that some of the most selec-tive colleges and universities, in-cluding some Ivies, sendpreliminary admission letters,” Vil-lanueva wrote in an e-mail to theJustice. “We understand that top stu-dents want to be wanted. By extend-ing this preview, we are clearlyexpressing our interest in them,” hewrote.

Jaffe said that faculty members

would be paired up with studentsbased on the individual students’ ac-ademic interests, which they wouldindicate on the Web site. Jaffe ex-plained in his letter to the facultythat faculty would not be asked tospeak with more than five students.He wrote that the admissions officewould send those who wished to par-ticipate certain “talking points” thatstress Brandeis’ positive aspects topromote the University. He clarifiedin an interview with the Justice thatfaculty can choose the number oftimes they wish to contact the appli-cants and discuss these talkingpoints with the students. “Once theinitial contact is made with the ap-plicant, the

subsequent interaction is truly inthe hands of the faculty,” he said.However, he added that “the facultyreally need to take this initiative se-riously.”

Jaffe said he received 89 responsesfrom faculty interested in the initia-tive, such as Profs. Judith Eis-senberg (MUS), Gordie Fellman(SOC), Bong Lian (MATH) and JaneKondev (PHYS). Heather K. Young,Jaffe’s assistant, provided the list offaculty members to the Justice.

“The faculty has been tremen-dously enthusiastic about this pro-gram. Many respondedaffirmatively. We are grateful tothem,” Villanueva wrote.

Eissenberg wrote that she hopes“to get a list of students who have ex-pressed interest in my own areas ofinterest, which would include music,social justice, the arts, cultural pro-duction, interdisciplinary intersec-tions, global studies and education”and that she is “happy to have a con-versation either by e-mail or phone.”

Eissenberg wrote in an e-mail tothe Justice that her own experiencechoosing a college showed her thatfaculty outreach will help persuadestudents to enroll at Brandeis in thefall. “When I went to school, eonsago, it was part of the process for meto play for the violin teacher on thefaculty that I wanted to study with.In that try-out meeting, a sort of les-son for both of us, I could make a bet-ter decision about my choice,” shewrote. Ultimately, she wrote, that“one-on-one experience” helped herchoose The Yale School of Musicover the Juilliard School.

Both Jaffe and Villanueva hopethe initiative will persuade appli-cants to enroll in the fall, particu-larly in light of the fact that Brandeismay encounter difficulties in thatarea as a result of the budget diffi-culties and the fallout from the Jan.26 decision to close the Rose Art Mu-seum. “While the impact of negativepress is difficult to isolate and tomeasure, we hope that these stu-dents will take this initiative forwhat it is—a genuine expression ofour interest in them,” Villanuevawrote.

Faculty contact aims to recruit top 500 applicants

Researchers and equipment will betransported into the Carl J. ShapiroScience Center beginning this week,according to Vice President of Capi-tal Projects Dan Feldman; however,science classes will not be moved intothe science center until fall semester2009.

However, Feldman wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that “Phase two ofthe [Science Complex Renewal Proj-ect] has been indefinitely postponed.”

Feldman wrote that Phase one is“nearly complete. “Phase one of themaster plan for the Science Center in-cludes a major new building withteaching labs on the first two levels,three levels of research space, anatrium and a café,” according to theCapital Projects Web site.

“The Phase 2A building, which wasschematically designed together withPhase one to ensure complete coordi-nation, is expected to include teach-ing labs, a large lecture hall and threelevels of additional research labora-tories,” according to the Web site.

The downturn in the economy anddonations to the school has slowedthe University’s plan to make up theprojected $74 million in gifts for theScience Center, as the school has re-ceived less than it predicted infundraising and grants due to thetroubled economy, Executive VicePresident and Chief Operating Offi-cer Peter French said at a Feb. 5 pressconference for campus media.

According to the Capital ProjectsWeb site, two floors of the new centerwill be devoted to biology and chem-istry teaching labs and classrooms;the other three floors will containnew research facilities.

The center will be connected to theexisting Rosenstiel and Edison-Lecksscience buildings and will replace thetwo oldest science buildings, Fried-land and Kalman, which are slated tobe razed this summer, according tothe Web site.

“The new Carl J. Shapiro Science

Center is the largest and most techni-cally complex single project we havecompleted in the current ‘buildingboom’ that has been underway atBrandeis since the late 1990s,” Feld-man wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.

“The Shapiro Science Center is agreat step forward for science facili-ties at Brandeis—truly a 21st centurybuilding,” he wrote.

“I think the construction of theShapiro Science Center is a landmarkevent in the history of Brandeis,”Prof. Greg Petsko (CHEM) wrote inan e-mail to the Justice. “It exempli-fies the long-term commitment of theUniversity to the sciences.”

Melissa Kosinski-Collins, an assis-tant professor of biology, echoed Pet-sko’s view.

“We now have cutting-edge, state-of-the-art laboratory classrooms forboth the Chemistry and Biology de-partments, which will foster morelaboratories integrally tied to compu-tational strategies and will encouragecollaboration and scientific success

for our students,” she wrote in an e-mail to the Justice

“These laboratories will provideour undergraduate students with thetools and skills they will need to besuccessful for the future graduatestudies, medical pursuits, and/or ca-reers in the biomedical researchfield,” Kosinski-Collins wrote.

When asked in what specific waysthe Shapiro Science Center is an im-provement over current science facil-ities at Brandeis, Prof. SuzanneParadis (BIOL) wrote in an e-mail tothe Justice, “I know that a very pow-erful magnet used for [Nuclear Mag-netic Resonance] will be housed inthe new building for teaching and re-search purposes.

“This is the type of state-of-the-artequipment that simply could not behoused in the current science facili-ties,” she added

Feldman wrote, “The Carl J.

Shapiro Science Center was designedto meet a [Leadership in Energy andEnvironmental Design-silver] equiv-alent, and we believe that it is actu-ally within a couple of points ofmeeting a LEED-gold equivalent stan-dard.”

LEED is an independent organiza-tion that sets nationally acknowl-edged standards for the construction

of green buildings.According to Feldman, some of the

notable elements of the science centerthat play a role in sustainability in-clude natural ventilation of nonlabspaces with operational windows, theuse of recycled and recyclable mate-rials, low-flush urinals and dual-flushtoilets in the bathrooms, and elec-tronic sensors on bathroom faucets.

Equipment to move into Center

Former Director of Non-Mar-ketable Investments AlisonSvizzero was appointed InterimChief Investment Officer Feb. 2following last semester’s an-nouncement that former ChiefInvestment Officer DeborahKuenstner would be leaving theUniversity, Executive Vice Pres-ident and Chief Operating OfficerPeter French wrote in an e-mailto the Justice.

French wrote that Kuenstnerleft Brandeis Jan. 29 to assumethe same position of Chief Invest-ment Officer at her alma mater,Wellesley College.

“The decision to appoint[Svizzero] to this position wasmade one month before [Kuenst-ner’s] departure,” wrote French.He elaborated that the decisionwas made in consultation withUniversity President JehudaReinharz and the Board ofTrustees.

“As interim CIO, I providemanagement and oversight forthe endowment’s investmentportfolio,” Svizzero wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. “I will workclosely with the endowment’s in-vestment committee in setting in-vestment strategy, establishingthe fund’s asset allocation andoverseeing the fund’s externalmanagers,” she wrote.

Given the current economicsituation, Svizzero wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that she doesnot anticipate incorporating newresponsibilities into her newrole.

According to French, on Jan.15, “a memorandum was sent tomembers of the Investment Com-mittee and to the heads of thoseBrandeis offices that work mostclosely with the Office of Man-agement.” He explained in his e-mail that the news was madeavailable on the Office Web sitelater at the end of January be-cause “appointments that tend tobe of interest to a relatively smallsegment of the community arenot typically broadcast” to theentire community.

French wrote in an e-mail tothe Justice last November thatKuenstner came to Brandeis in2007 after the “Investment Com-mittee and Administration de-cided that the size andsophistication of the [Univer-sity’s investment] portfoliocalled for a dedicated in-house in-vestment team.”

Kuenstner told the Justice inNovember that she would con-tinue her duties as CIO until Feb-ruary and that she would suggestpotential candidates to fill the va-cant post.

During her term as chief in-vestment officer, Kuenstner wasin communication with the Com-mittee on Ethics Endowment andResponsibility, which makes rec-ommendations to the UniversityBoard of Trustees about the Uni-versity’s investment choices.

Svizzero wrote in an e-mail tothe Justice that she and Frenchwould “interact with CEER.”

In an e-mail to the Justice, Sen-ator for the Class of 2011 AlexMelman wrote that CEER has notyet met with Svizzero. “The stu-dents on the CEER will be meet-ing this Sunday, and my plan isto meet shortly after with[French] and/or [Svizzero],” hewrote.

“I look forward to workingwith Svizzero in her new role,”Student Union President JasonGray ’10 wrote in an e-mail to theJustice this week.

By NASHRAH RAHMANJUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

■ Alison Svizzero will temporarily replace Deborah Kuenstner aschief investment officer.

CONSTRUCTION

ADMISSIONS

■ Faculty will volunteer tocall or e-mail up to five of thetop 500 students selectedfor admission to Brandeis.

By ALANA ABRAMSONJUSTICE STAFF WRITER

FACULTY

■ Phase 2 of the new Carl J.Shapiro Science Center hasbeen postponed indefinitely.Classes will not be movedinto the new facilities untilthe fall semester of 2009.

By HARRY SHIPPSJUSTICE STAFF WRITER

GREENING THE LAB: The new Carl J. Shapiro Science Center has several energy-efficient features for increased sustainability, such as new fume hoods (above).

RACHEL CORKE/Justice File Photo

We understand thattop students want tobe wanted.

“GIL VILLANUEVA

It exemplifies the long-term commitment ofthe University to thesciences.

“PROF. GREG PETSKO (CHEM)


The University reversed its Jan. 16decision to make merit-based scholar-ships nontransferable for studentsstudying abroad, according to a Feb. 10e-mail sent to first-year and sophomorestudents, as well as to students on thestudy abroad listserv, by AssistantDean of Academic Services and Direc-tor of Study Abroad J. Scott Van DerMeid and Dean of Student FinancialServices Peter Giumette.

According to the e-mail, “After care-ful review and deliberation, the deci-sion has been made to make merit aidportable for study abroad for sopho-mores and first year students.”

“It’s my understanding that wewould not restrict incoming studentseither,” Giumette said in a Feb. 10 in-terview with the Justice. “That wasn’tpart of the [Feb. 10] decision simply be-cause we aren’t speaking to that popu-lation.”

The merit aid scholarship policychange was initially made in order toaddress the study abroad program’s$800,000 budget gap from “what wehave spent this year for study abroad inoperating the program versus what wehave for next year,” Van Der Meid ex-plained in an interview with the Jus-tice.

Giumette told the Justice in a Jan. 22interview that Student Union PresidentJason Gray ’10 made senior adminis-trators aware of the fact that meritscholar letters for the Justice BrandeisScholarship, Dean’s Award and Presi-dential Scholarship clearly stated thatthese three scholarships could be ap-plied toward study abroad programs.

“Senior administration felt that thatthe letters represented a promise wewould honor,” Giumette told the Jus-tice Feb. 10.

“It’s fair to say that the administra-tion agreed that it was not somethingthey wanted to do to recruit someoneon campus under one premise and thenremove their ability to study abroad,”Gray said.

“I'm really glad the decision wasoverturned,” Gray added. “I think it’s anecessary reversal. I think it’s a strongaction.”

“I am overjoyed [about the rever-sal],” said Laura Hand ’11, a recipientof a Presidential Scholarship. “I reallyappreciated that they said that they rec-ognized that they made a promise inour merit scholarship letters and thatthey are fulfilling their agreement inthe contract,” she said.

“I think they definitely should haveannounced it much earlier,” said AlexMelman ’11, a member of the AdvisoryCommittee to Study Abroad, who,along with Gray, was concerned aboutthe approaching Feb. 15 preliminaryapplication deadline. “The first time Iheard that it was going to be reversedwas several weeks ago. … I don’t knowwhy they had to take so long,” he added.

ACSA, composed of staff, faculty and

students, is currently discussing otheroptions to fill the $800,000 budget gap inthe study abroad program now thatmerit scholarships can be applied to-ward study abroad. ACSA was createdat the end of January to “decide how toclose the budget gap should merit aidagain become portable,” according tothe minutes from the committee’s Feb.2 meeting.

The possible alternative policychanges that the committee is dis-cussing include: “Raise [grade-point av-erage] requirements [beyond the recentincrease to 3.0 outlined in the Jan. 16 e-mail] for students wishing to studyabroad; limit the number and type ofprograms; limit [the] number of stu-dents who participate by making theapplication process more selective,” ac-cording to the ACSA myBrandeis Website.

“None of these choices is the kindthat we want to make, but potentiallypainful choices will be necessary to en-sure the program remains withinbudget,” Dean of Academic ServicesKim Godsoe wrote in a Jan. 30 e-mail tostudents announcing the creation of thecommittee.

However, these changes will not af-fect students studying abroad in the fallor for the full year of 2009. “It’s too lateto be changing the selection criteria forthem,” Van Der Meid said.

Hanna Rosenthal-Fuller ’09, a mem-ber of ACSA, said the committee metfor a third time Feb. 11 and discussed“ways to increase [application] selec-tivity to make up the $800,000 that needsto be eliminated from the study abroadbudget.” She explained that the min-

utes from this meeting have not yetbeen posted on the committee’s Website because they are still being re-viewed and declined to comment onany specific ideas that were discussedbefore the minutes were approved byall committee members.

Rosenthal-Fuller said that no defini-tive decisions have been reached yet.Melman said that he expects a decisionto be made by the end of February.

“What I see happening is a more rig-orous selection process for studyabroad so that not everyone who ap-plies to study abroad through Brandeiswill be accepted,” Melman said Feb. 10.Melman then said that he expects thatsomewhere between 20 and 40 percentof students who apply will be rejectedfrom the Brandeis study abroad pro-gram.

According to the minutes fromACSA’s Feb. 2 meeting, Godsoe saidthat only two or three students are gen-erally rejected from the study abroadprogram per year.

Melman said he expects the newstudy abroad selection process will besimilar to the college applicationprocess in that a selection committeewill review each applicant’s “academicrecord, their readiness to study abroad,how important it is to their major, theirbackground and [their] preparation forthe program. I don’t think there can beone litmus test for who studies abroadand who doesn’t,” he said.

—Editor’s note: An earlier version ofthis story was posted on the Justice Website Feb. 11

The Department of Residence Lifewill no longer provide residents ofZiv Quad and Rosenthal Quad withtoilet paper starting next year; threeweeks ago, ResLife also instituted atrial cutback of paper towels in sev-eral communal bathrooms in an ef-fort to increase sustainability and tosave money in the face of the finan-cial constraints facing the Univer-sity, according to interim Co-Director

of ResLife Jeremy Leiferman.The University faces operating

budget gaps ranging from $4 millionin fiscal 2009 to $23 million in fiscal2012.

Leiferman said he is not aware ofany plans to make more changes inthe vein of the cutbacks in toiletpaper and paper towels, although hewould not rule out the possibility thatother changes may also take place.

Leiferman said that the Universitydoes not currently supply toiletpaper for apartment areas includingthe Charles River Apartments,Ridgewood Quad and the FosterMods. According to the 2009-2010Room Selection Guide, students whochoose to live in Ziv Quad or Rosen-thal next year will be responsible fortheir own toilet paper. Leiferman

said that the current policy of pro-viding toilet paper to Ziv and Rosen-thal Quad residents presentsdistribution challenges and that “stu-

dents often don’t use the toilet paperthat we give them, and it sits andends up piling up in the corners ofsuites.” Feldman also said that the de-cision to no longer provide toiletpaper in Ziv and Rosenthal was made

before the economic crisis hit be-cause students were not using theservice. Brandeis will, however, con-tinue to provide toilet paper for com-munal bathrooms and bathroomsshared by more than one room in theother residence halls in the upcomingyears.

“[Facilities Services is] not lookingto eliminate paper towel usage but[is] trying to reduce paper towelusage, and that’s good for multiplereasons, both financially and envi-ronmentally,” he said.

Some students said they believedthe motivation behind the cutback inavailability of paper towels is purelyfinancial. Siddhartha Narayanan ’12said, “They’re penny-pinching for noreason.”

Leiferman alluded to the idea that

the decision may have been influ-enced in part by recent cutbacks to fa-cilities departmental staff and aneffort to more effectively use the re-maining staff.

Nathan Glassman ’12 said, “I reallydon’t care; it doesn’t seem like thatbig of an issue.”

Several students said they felt asthough they were in the dark aboutthese decisions. Glassman said, “Oneday I walked into the bathroom, triedto dry my hands and I couldn’t; I wasa little surprised.”

“I feel like they should have somesort of vote or student input,” KyleMangan ’12 said.

Leiferman said that he was unableto comment on who was involved inthe decisions regarding the cutbacks.

ResLife reduces paper product use to benefit environment and finances

A cell phone amplifier, a devicedesigned to improve cell phoneservice, is scheduled to be in-stalled in the Usdan Student Cen-ter by the end of this week,according to Student Union Di-rector of Community AdvocacyAndrew Hogan ’11.

Hogan explained that when“you go into Lower Usdan, nomatter what [cell phone] serviceprovider you have, you don’t getany service.” He said that this ini-tiative was completed in order tofulfill a promise that he madeduring his campaign.

The amplifier was initially sup-posed to be installed during Feb-ruary Break. however, it arrivedlate, Hogan said.

In an e-mail to the Justice, VicePresident of Campus OperationsMark Collins wrote, “Brandeispersonnel [will install the device]unless additional outside re-sources are needed.”

Collins wrote in an e-mail tothe Justice that the reason theamplifier was being installed inUsdan is that Usdan “has been adifficult area for poor receptionand dropped calls.” He wrote thatUsdan is the only building inwhich the device will be installed.

The total cost for the improvedcell phone reception is $3,000. Inan e-mail to the Justice, Hoganwrote, “[The Office of] Facilities[Services] is paying for the entirething, about $3,000, $2,500 in laborand $500 for the part itself.”

Hogan explained that thismodel was selected because “itworked for the most squarefootage.” The amplifier will im-prove the cell phone reception foran area of 5,000 square feet, hesaid.

“I think that improving the cellphone service in Lower Usdan isa necessity,” Rachel Mitrani ’09said. “It will be great to be able tosit in Lower Usdan and have acell phone conversation,” shesaid.

“My cell phone reception isvery weak in Lower Usdan,” Jes-salyn Michaels ’09 said.

Lara Helene Weddige ’12 said,“I think it’s a great developmentand it goes to show how muchother students can do to help eachother.”

As a result of the installation ofthe amplifier, Hogan said, “All[cell phone service] providerswill have better reception [inLower Usdan].”

Cell phone receptionto improvein Usdan

Merit aid can be used for study abroad

Business as usualProf. Sarah Lamb (ANTH), a representative from the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering Committee,discussed the creation of a Business major with students and faculty at a Town Hall on Academic Restructuring, whichwas held Feb. 12 in Hassenfeld Conference Center. The Business major is intended to attract more students to Brandeis.

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

STUDENT LIFESTUDENT LIFE

■ A cell phone amplifierwill be installed in UsdanStudent Center this weekto improve the service ofall cell phone carriers.

■ The Advisory Committeeto Study Abroad is currentlydiscussing other ways to fillthe $800,000 budget gap.

■ A trial cutback of papertowels was instituted, andtoilet paper won’t be given to all quads next year.

By REINA GUERREROJUSTICE STAFF WRITER

By JILLIAN WAGNERJUSTICE EDITOR


RESTRUCTURING ACADEMICS

RESIDENCE LIFE

They’re penny- pinching for no reason.“

SIDDHARTHA NARAYANAN ’12


University’s Rose Art Museum to ateaching center and exhibitiongallery. These steps shall include, tothe extent appropriate, review by theOffice of the Attorney General of theCommonwealth of Massachusettsand court approval, followed by anorderly sale or other disposition ofworks from the University’s collec-tion.” The resolution does not men-tion the word “close,” and asReinharz said in the first studentopen forum held Jan. 28 and organ-ized by Student Union PresidentJason Gray ’10, it merely gave theUniversity proper authority to sellart. It did not mandate that theUniversity sell any pieces.

When the decision first broke,Provost Marty Krauss told theJustice that “Ultimately, [closing theRose] was a decision by the Board,not the administration.” LikeReinharz’s initial statements,Krauss’ words were somewhat mis-leading. The miscommunicationoccurred in representing the Board’swords in a sufficiently concrete wayto the public. As Reinharz wrote inhis Feb. 5 e-mail, “[my initial state-ments] did not accurately reflect theBoard’s decision.”

Reinharz first mentioned this com-munication failure three days afterthe original resolution, after the storybegan to receive attention fromnational publications. Reinharz saidat a Jan. 29 faculty meeting that “noone had anticipated that we couldhave” what he later called “an ava-lanche of bad publicity,” to audiblediscontent among the faculty. Prof.Marc Brettler (NEJS) echoed theopinion of many faculty memberswhen he said, “Many of us are wor-ried what kind of mechanisms will beput in place [so a further] public rela-tions disaster does not occur.” Whilethe University regretted a part of itsdecision, its regret was in its miscom-munication with the public and notin the content of the decision itself.

And so as students protested themuseum’s closure and soughtanswers to their questions at openforums, the faculty voted to establishthe Committee to Review the Closingof the Rose, concerned about futureUniversity decisions that could leadto similar public outcry. At a secondstudent forum a week after the Jan. 29faculty meeting, Reinharz seeminglyaffirmed the CRCR’s importancewhen he told the audience, “How [theRose] will function is up to the facul-ty.”

But even with the committee’s for-mation, Hill said the University’s

intentions with the Rose remained asthey always have. “I don’t necessarilysee any changes of course from whatthe administration originallyannounced,” he said. This interpreta-tion echoed Chairman of the RoseBoard of Overseers Jonathan Lee’sFeb. 9 comments. “They still intend tosell the art, and they still intend tokill the museum,” Lee said.

The confusion therefore emergesout of the University’s language indescribing its original intentions.Brettler’s comments at the Jan. 29 fac-ulty meeting underscore the public’sconfusion over University semantics.Brettler criticized the administrationfor saying, “In one official documenteverything will be sold, in one inter-view [only some things will be sold],

and then today maybe nothing will besold.” The language of the originalBoard of Trustees resolution, howev-er, did not mandate any of those pos-sibilities.

The only backpedaling that hasoccurred has been in the interpreta-tion of the original unspecific lan-guage of the Board of Trustees resolu-tion, not in the University’s inten-tions. The intent all along appears tohave been to end the Rose’s tenure asa public museum, sell art to fill fund-ing gaps if the University must do soand instead use the Rose as a studioand teaching space. But the languageused has obfuscated the University’sactual intentions. “I think this iswhat you call spin doctoring,” Leetold the Justice.

Prof. Jonathan Sarna (NEJS) spoketo students about the historical per-spective of the Bernard L. Madoffscandal and its effects on the Jewishcommunity during a Feb. 11 event.

The event, called “Why were wesusceptible to the Madoff scandal?”was held over dinner in ShermanDining Hall and was sponsored byBrandeis University ConservativeOrganization.

Madoff, a former chairman of theNASDAQ composite, was accused ofrunning a $50 billion Ponzi scheme, afraud operation in which investorsare paid out of the money input byother investors rather than out ofprofits. Although many Brandeisdonors such as Carl and Ruth Shapiroinvested with Madoff and lost muchof their wealth, the University did notinvest any money with Madoff.

Sarna said that the stock marketcrash of 2008 caused most people totighten their budgets and be morecareful with their spending habits.“The stock market collapse not onlyled to a decline in every Jewish orga-nization’s endowment but also to abig loss in donations, and that ofcourse meant that a lot of people thathad invested money with people likeMadoff suddenly needed thatmoney,” Sarna explained. “Theminute you need money, a Ponzi

scheme collapses,” he said. Sarna explained that affinity fraud,

a system that relies on the trust in agroup of people, was Madoff’s maintool in his Ponzi scheme. “That’s oneof the reasons one chooses to belongto a Jewish community: They’re allrelated to one another; they all trustone another. … But all good thingshave an evil twin. The evil twin oftrust is betrayal,” he said.

Sarna closed his lecture by speak-ing about impact with “regard to [the]loss of wealth in the Jewish commu-nity due to the stock market crashand the Madoff scandal. ... The truthis that the Jewish community can nolonger afford all the things that it’sdoing.”

Sarna said that the future of Jewishdonation is unknown but that he iscurious to see if it returns to an oldersystem of receiving smaller gifts fromlarge groups of people rather thanlarger donations from fewer “megadonors,” which has been the norm formany years, he said.

Lisa Aremband ’11 explained hermotives for coming to the event: “Ididn’t really understand a lot of theMadoff scandal, so it was good to get aprofessor’s view. It was definitelyhelpful, and I feel like I understand alot better how it happened and theeffects that made it happen.”

Gideon Klionsky ’11 said that“hearing the insight of one of thegreatest Jewish educational minds inthe field today is important.” “It’s justreally interesting to hear the fore-sight of Sarna and also the hindsightsince he’s been around in the field fora long time, ... . and to hear his inter-pretation is really eye-opening,”Klionsky said.

instead of having a Brandeis Semesterwould be difficult because of a short-age of affordable housing in Waltham,Prof. Tim Hickey (COSI), chair of thesubcommittee, said. Additionally,some Waltham neighborhoods mightbe less used to college students. Thegoal is to maintain the number of on-campus beds at 2,850 while the under-graduate student body increases from3,200 to 3,700 over five years, accord-ing to the proposal.

According to the committee’s pro-posal, the committee members esti-mate that between $500,000 and$700,000 may be needed for increasedstaffing in the Hiatt Career Center andthe Study Abroad Office. “If we weregoing to do this, it would definitelyrequire an investment,” Hickey said.

The committee’s proposal alsostates that students would take theequivalent of three courses as part oftheir Brandeis Semester, either oncampus or through online courses,which is equal to 12 course creditsinstead of a full semester of 16 credits.Therefore, according to the proposal,students would only have to pay 75percent of full tuition during eitherthe fall or spring semester.

Hickey explained that requiringjust a summer semester would be dif-ficult because some students cannotapply their federal and state financialaid to a third consecutive semester. Toaddress this problem for students whochoose a summer program, the pro-posal suggests that midyear studentscould complete their BrandeisSemester during their first summeror that juniors could spend their lastsummer as a Brandeis Semester withthe intention of graduating early. Theproposal also suggests that the

University consider opportunities forstudents to take a semester off andpossibly complete a not-for-credit paidinternship after a summer BrandeisSemester.

At the Feb.12 Academic OpenForum, Prof. Sasha Nelson (BIOL), amember of the subcommittee,explained how adopting a mandatorysummer session with a quarter sys-tem such as Dartmouth College’swould be difficult because it “wouldtake a large amount of facultyresources out of the fall and spring“ inorder to offer enough courses in thesummer.

The members of the Business majorsubcommittee note that their proposalhas the potential to attract more stu-dents to Brandeis. According to theproposal, 17 percent of college appli-cants nationwide express interest in aBusiness major, while only five per-cent of admitted Brandeis students do,signifying untapped interest in busi-ness.

Students will need to take classes inboth the areas of BusinessAdministration and Business andSociety. “[At other schools] the stu-dent ends up leaving after four yearshaving had half their degree in busi-ness. In our case, the student leavesBrandeis and still has two-thirds oftheir degree outside of business,”Prof. Ben Gomes-Casseres (IBS), chairof the subcommittee, said.

According to the proposal, the com-mittee was not asked to estimate theprogram’s costs or revenues. Gomes-Casseres said that more sectionswould likely be necessary for corecourses but that the program wouldmainly build on existing offerings.According to an online student surveyconducted by students, 52.3 percent ofBrandeis Business minors expressed

interest in the idea of a Businessmajor. Adam Eisenberg ’09, studentrepresentative to the Subcommittee,noted that “one of the things that a lotof employers look for is students whohave business skills.”

In another effort to attract more stu-dents, the preliminary draft proposalregarding a Communications, Mediaand Society major submitted to theAcademic Restructuring SteeringCommittee by five faculty membersfrom American Studies, Journalism,Anthropology and Sociology notesthat “courses of study that considerhow, why and to what end we commu-nicate with one another have becomeincreasingly popular.” According totheir proposal, journalism is the thirdmost popular minor after Businessand Legal Studies and a number ofstudents are completing IndependentInterdisciplinary Majors in the area.“Our thought is, let’s formally recog-nize what is already happening atBrandeis,” Prof. Maura Jane Farrelly(AMST), director of the Journalismprogram, said.

The major would build on a largenumber of already-existing courses atBrandeis, according to the proposal.“What we are probably going to pro-pose is that the existing InternetStudies minor program and the exist-ing Journalism minor program besubsumed into this major,” Farrellysaid. In order to incorporate a LiberalArts aspect to the program, the pro-posal suggests that students berequired or encouraged to double-major or minor in another LiberalArts discipline. The faculty memberssuggested that students could concen-trate in three different tracks inJournalism: Technology, Commun-ication and Society as well as Politics,Commerce and Culture.

based on the Uniform Managementof Institutional Funds Act, Brandeisis confined to using the money in itsreserve fund, which French projectswill be eradicated in two years. Thelaw limits the use of an institution’sendowment to only when the value ofthe investment is greater than whenthe funds were donated. Due to therecent downturn in the economy, thevalue of the investments that makeup Brandeis’ endowment is lowerthan when they were donated.

French wrote in a Feb. 2 e-mail tothe Justice, “Most of the donor-desig-nated endowment that is budgetedfor operating support is unavailablefor spending because the funds arebelow the original donated value.”Only approximately $85 million isavailable to spend in quasi-endow-ment funds and scheduled to be with-drawn in fiscal 2009 and 2010.

In a Feb. 11 article in the WallStreet Journal, Baerlein was quotedas saying that no one at Brandeis hadreviewed the legislation for UPMIFA.However, Baerlein told the Justiceyesterday that as of now, Brandeis’involvement with the UPMIFA legis-lation is that “AICUM has gotteninvolved on behalf of its members.”

Some students at Brandeis havetried to put together a student initia-tive to try to change theMassachusetts law, but StudentUnion Director of CommunicationsJamie Ansorge ’09, one of those stu-dents, wrote in an e-mail to theJustice that “It is unclear to us andthe administration over whethersuch a decision (to dip into theendowment) would be ‘prudent.’”

If the law were changed, Frenchwrote in a Feb. 6 e-mail to the Justicethat “such a decision to use endow-ment principal would be made by theBrandeis Trustees within the contextof criteria established by[Massachusetts] law. At this point,this is speculative since the[Massachusetts] legislature has notpassed such authorization.”

In recent weeks, the Student Unionhad been organizing to coordinate alobbying campaign to have theMassachusetts State Legislatureadopt UPMIFA, according to a Feb. 19e-mail from Ansorge. By changingUPMIFA, Brandeis would be allowed

to tap into its endowment and helpdecrease the operating budget gap,Ansorge wrote. “The Union hadassembled a group of students withsuccessful lobbying experience at thestate and national level who wereinterested in a campaign to adoptUPMIFA, in case we decided to goahead with the project,” Ansorgewrote.

But Ansorge said the project hasstalled since the student group hadbeen waiting for confirmation fromthe administration that the adoptingof UPMIFA would be helpful inimproving the current budget issue.

“We feel that a Student Unioneffort might be a waste of resourcessince the University may not tap theendowment even with the adoptionof UPMIFA,” Ansorge wrote in a Feb.19 e-mail to the Justice.

French wrote in an e-mail to theJustice, “I welcome this student ini-tiative, and I believe it will be veryhelpful.”

“It is confusing that the school cre-ated so many committees to respondto the budget cuts without creating acommittee [to lobby the state] thatcould potentially increase theamount of money available to theUniversity,” Adam Eisenberg ’09, amember of the effort, said.

In response to whether changingthe Massachusetts Law could make adifference to the school, Frenchwrote, “In the short term, the answeris yes,” in a Feb. 19 e-mail to theJustice. “In the long term, use ofendowment principal for currentneeds would reduce the amount ofendowment resources available tosupport the operating budget infuture years,” French added.

Students have asked for moretransparency from the administra-tion in regard to its restricted invest-ments, but French explained in aFeb. 2 e-mail to the Justice that “allendowment capital is invested incommingled funds, for whichBrandeis has signed confidentialityagreements. In order to adhere tothese agreements, we are prohibitedfrom disclosing information on theendowment’s individual invest-ments.”

—Nashrah Rahman contributedreporting.

By DESTINY AQUINOJUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

■ Prof. Jonathan Sarna(NEJS) spoke about theeffects of Madoff’s schemeon the Jewish community.

CAMPUS EVENT COMMITTEE: CARS offers proposals

ENDOWMENT: Brandeis to workwith schools to reform Mass law

ANALYSIS: Statements muddled Rose issue

ROSE DISCUSSION: At a town hall meeting Feb. 10, students, faculty andcommunity members gathered to voice lingering concerns about the Rose issue.


CONTINUED FROM 1

CONTINUED FROM 1

CONTINUED FROM 1

Prof puts Madoff fraud in perspective

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just VERBATIM | Nikita Khrushchev

ON THIS DAY... FUN FACTeatures f The 24th Amendment to theU.S. Constitution was ratifiedin 1963. It prohibited poll taxesin federal elections.

Our eyes are always thesame size from birth,but our nose and earsnever stop growing.

Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build abridge even where there is no river.


It takes a moment to get used toRepresentative Barney Frank’sgravelly voice and headlongspeaking style. He is not imposingand lacks a booming voice, but therelevance and straightforward-ness of his comments come acrosseasily.

On Wednesday, Feb. 11 Frankcame to Brandeis to deliver thefirst annual Masters of Public Pol-icy Distinguished Public Policylecture sponsored by the HellerSchool for Social Policy and Man-agement’s Master of Public Policyin Social Policy program, called“Fixing What’s Wrong: Regula-tion, Legislation, and the New Ad-ministration.”

Since 1981, Frank has repre-sented the fourth district of Mas-sachusetts in the United StatesCongress. Before his election toCongress, Frank was a Massachu-setts state representative and anassistant to the mayor of Boston.Frank has also spent time whileserving in local and state govern-ment teaching at the John F.Kennedy School of Government atHarvard University, Boston Uni-versity and the University of Mas-sachusetts at Boston.

As chairman of the House Com-mittee on Financial Servicessince 2007, Frank has gainedmuch insight into the current fis-cal situation.

Standing behind a podium inRapaporte Treasure Hall beforean audience that included under-graduate and graduate students,University President JehudaReinharz and several news cam-eras, Frank talked about the deep-ening financial crisis facing theUnited States and the world.

His words were at times hu-morous: “I am puzzled by the ar-gument that we should call [theeconomic recovery plan] recoveryand not stimulus because in myexperience, most people wouldrather be stimulated than re-cover,” he mused.

Even as he made the audiencechuckle, Frank raised pointsabout the economy. Speakingabout the idea that improving thenation’s gross domestic productwill improve everyone’s circum-stances, even without govern-ment intervention in matters ofdistribution, Frank said, “Yes, therising tide lifts all boats, but ifyou’re standing on tiptoe in thewater because you can’t afford aboat then the rising tide goes upyour nose.”

At other times, however, his ob-servations reflected the pes-simism surrounding the currenteconomic crisis. “We now havethis dilemma and it is [because]the crisis in our economy ... hassped up. So the public has gonefrom being unhappy to being

very, very angry,” Frank said.Throughout his career, Frank

has developed a reputation as afierce advocate for civil rights andthe rights of minorities. His deci-sion to reveal his homosexual-ity—he was the first congressmanto do so in 1987—has made him asymbol of resolution to culturalminorities across America.

Frank remained practical aboutthe future of the American econ-omy. “As long as the average citi-zen is going to be told that if sheloses her job she loses her healthcare,” he said, “don’t expect totalk her out of opposition to losingher job by telling her that it’s inthe overall interest of world eco-nomic development.”

But Frank acknowledged thenegative consequences of Ameri-cans’ frustration with the state ofthe economy.

“Change, often in a complex so-ciety … cannot happen quicklyenough,” Frank said. “If the angeroutpaces the pace of change, …you can get destructive revolu-tion,” he added.

Frank also gave his take on theUniversity’s decision to close theRose Art Museum. Frank saidthat he agreed with the decisionand that in light of the Univer-sity’s economic hard times, peo-ple must be willing to “give thingsup.”

Along with describing the chal-lenges of the current economic sit-uation, Frank offered his visionfor how the nation could begin toresolve the current economicstruggle.

Frank talked about the neces-sity of government action in re-solving the economic crisis andthe need for transparency and ac-countability in the business com-munity.

“There needs to be fundamentaleconomic change in the directionof fairness and sensible regula-tion, not simply because thatmodel is an intellectual and moralone [but because] it is a self-inter-ested one for the business com-munity,” Frank said.

Despite Frank’s encouragingwords, some students in the audi-ence expressed concern about thefuture of the American economy.

“I am still a little afraid,” saidFaith Behum, a first-year mas-ter’s student at Heller. “I know hesays that … the stimulus isn’tgoing to take away from other pro-grams like health care, but I havea feeling that [health care] isgoing to be an issue in the nextcouple of months of the Obama ad-ministration.”

Stephen Robinson ’11 said, “I’mobviously nervous for the futureof the country, but it’s reassuringto know that there’s someone insuch a prominent position in gov-ernment with the capacity to pri-oritize … and the ability torecognize those specific thingsthat are ailing our economy.”

Representative Barney Frank talksabout how to solvethe financial crisis


A dose of practicality

SPEAKINGFRANKLY:

The audiencelooked on asRep. Barney

Frank delivered the

first annualMasters of

Public PolicyDistinguished

Public Policylecture at

Brandeis onWednesday,

Feb. 11.“There needs

to befundamental

economicchange in the

direction offairness and

sensibleregulation,”

he said.



As Sarah Palmer ’10 walks downthe cold, dark corridor, musty airfills her nostrils. She opens her eyesto the cheerless, hollow commonroom of an Israeli bomb shelter.

The space is dreary and almostcompletely covered with reinforcedcement and plaster, yet it was theonly civilian defense against thehailstorm of rockets that raineddown on Israel in summer 2006. Al-though the shelter offered a refugefrom the war zone outside, it wastruly a prison to the unlucky resi-dents who were once forced to in-habit it. On arrival, Palmer isimmediately seized by the miseryand despondence she imagines theIsraeli civilians felt as they laidholed up in this dreary undergroundroom.

Over winter break, Palmer and 19other female Brandeis students trav-eled to Israel for two weeks. Theyhoped to improve the quality of lifefor the Israeli citizens of Nahariya,Palmer wrote in an e-mail to the Jus-tice, a city in northern Israel thatHezbollah had continuously bom-barded with rockets in the SecondLebanon War in 2006.

The program was organized bythe Brandeis Hillel and The JointDistribution Committee, a charita-ble organization aimed at providingrelief for Jewish communitiesworldwide.

Program participants undertookmany charitable projects around theNahariya community, Palmer said.Projects included painting cartoonsof trees and animals on the bombshelter walls to cheer up the inhabi-tants; painting houses for peoplewho didn’t have the resources to doso; planting a garden outside thecity’s community center; and work-ing with the elderly, new immi-grants, children and women whowere victims of abuse.

“While painting in the bomb shel-ters, I would try to imagine resi-dents of Nahariya, Israelis, whom Ifeel are my family, stuck in thebomb shelters during the swelteringsummer for thirty days at a time,”Palmer wrote.

The students met with a represen-tative of the mayor of Nahariya whodescribed the city’s demographics

and the devastating effect thatHezbollah’s rocket fire had on thecity and citizens.

Palmer wrote that many studentsalso talked with Israelis who hadsurvived the last Lebanon War andheard firsthand accounts of the rainof rocket fire.

“The mayor’s representative re-ally put a face on the rocket attacksthat occurred in 2006 and the peoplethat were affected,” said HillaryBender ’11, who also participated inthe trip.

In addition to the community proj-ects, one group of students painted amural for Gilad Shalit, Palmerwrote. Shalit was one of three Israelisoldiers who were kidnapped duringpeacetime, prompting the SecondLebanon War in 2006.

Today, two-and-a-half years afterthe war’s conclusion, Shalit is theonly one of the three soldiers whoremains alive, although he lives incaptivity.

Palmer explained that the muralis comprised of illustrations fromWhen the Shark and the Fish FirstMet, a children’s book written byShalit when he was only 11 years oldabout friendship between two op-posing groups of different back-grounds.

The Hillel trip coincided with thecurrent military clash between Is-rael and Hamas. In this latest con-flict, cities in southern Israelsustained a barrage of constantrocket fire, and citizens were forcedto flee to bomb shelters like theirnorthern brethren did just two yearsago.

“It was very emotional being in Is-rael at the time we were,” Palmerwrote. “It was strange for me to bal-ance the Israeli mentality of life con-tinuing as usual, with our madricha[guide], Nurit, returning to Be’erSheva [a southern city] and jokingabout whether she would still bealive to keep in touch with us andthe feeling of loss when we heard thecasualty counts and recitingTehilim (Psalms) when the infantrywent into Gaza.”

Other students were similarly af-fected by the conflict and voiced sol-idarity with the citizens of Israel’ssouthern cities, as well as with Is-rael’s decision to defend its nearlyone million civilians besieged byHamas rocket fire.

“I do feel for the people in Gaza,and innocent lives are being lost,”Bender said, “but the truth of thematter is that Israel’s cities havebeen living under siege, and that isno way for anyone to live.”

Due to the security situation in Is-rael, the Hillel group was unable totravel near the Lebanon border, asthey had planned. The day the stu-dents returned to America, Na-hariya was hit by Katyusha rocketsfired by a Hamas faction inLebanon.

“Whether it’s good or bad, Israelishave learned to live with this type ofsituation and move on with theirlives because they don’t have anyother choice,” Ronit Broekman ’11wrote in an e-mail to to the Justice.“So that’s what we did too,” sheadded.

“Being [in Israel] during the con-flict with Gaza has been such an eye-opener for me,” Bender said. “Frommy interactions with Israelis, I wasable to graze the surface of the com-plex issue that is this conflict. I feelvery conflicted because I agree withwhat Israel did, but the truth of thematter is there has been a lot of losson both sides, and there seems to beno solution for this conflict in thenear or distant future.”

Nadav Tamir is consul general of Is-rael to New England. An expert in Is-raeli-U.S. relations, Tamir joined theMinistry of Foreign Affairs in 1993. Hehas since held a variety of positionswithin the Israeli government, includ-ing policy assistant to the foreign min-ister and political officer at theEmbassy of Israel in Washington, D.C.In 2001, Tamir was appointed to his cur-rent position as advisor to the directorgeneral the Ministry of Foreign Affairsin Jerusalem. JustFeatures spoke withTamir over the telephone about the re-cent struggle between Israel andHamas.

JustFeatures: What is your perspec-tive on the recent clash between Israeland Hamas?

Nadav Tamir: It is too early to evalu-ate, and it depends on what will happenfrom here on. If we can secure ourgoals—that is, a durable and sustain-able cease-fire—then I think it can be agood starting point for the efforts Pres-ident Obama is now trying to promotetoward negotiations for a two-state so-lution. This has to mean ensuring thatHamas won’t fire rockets on the south-ern cities of Israel but also that there

will be a mechanism to stop the smug-gling of weapons from Iran throughEgypt to Gaza. Also, we need to be ableto open passages to Gaza withoutHamas manipulating them. If we fail,this is a message that the extremistIran and its proxies—Hamas andHezbollah—are winning, which is adevastating message for all.

JF: Are you happy with the outcome?NT: I do not think anyone can be

happy when so many lives have beenlost. We are deeply saddened by the lossof civilian life on both sides. Hopefully,there is now a greater sense of urgencyfrom the international community tomake sure that weapons are no longersmuggled into Gaza, which will help usachieve a more favorable outcome.

JF: Do you think the tactics em-ployed by each side were appropriate?

NT: No. Hamas’ tactics of trying toachieve their goals by killing civiliansare counterproductive. The Palestini-ans will never achieve their deservedright to self-determination by acts ofterrorism. We knew responding wouldbe very ugly because Hamas was hold-ing the Palestinian civilians hostage

and using them as human shields. Un-fortunately, Israel was put into an un-bearable situation in which it had tochoose between two equally horrifyingoptions. Any government would agreethat to protect its citizens from harmhas to be its first priority. We had tochoose between not responding, whichwould make life in Israel unbearablefor its citizens, or responding. Wehoped that by responding, we would beable to stop the rockets from being firedinto Israel and create a sustainablecease-fire to improve the lives of boththe Israelis and the Palestinian civil-ians in Gaza.

JF: How do you think the recentevents bode for the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

NT: We need to look at the big pic-ture of the Middle East. It is not an Is-raeli-Palestinian conflict; it is a conflictbetween moderates who want peaceand those who would go to any lengthsto prevent peace from happening. Atwo-state solution is the only solution.There are those who want to deal withus in a civil way, and there are otherswho want to promote bloodshed andchaos orchestrated by Iran through

Hezbollah and Hamas. Iran’s radicalideology is dangerous for everyone—Israel as well as the moderates in theMiddle East. If the extremists come outthe winners of these recent events, itwill be destructive to the efforts of allthose seeking peace. Along with all themoderates in the Middle East, we arecommitted to pushing the peace nego-tiations forward and stopping the ex-tremists and their destructive agenda.

JF: How does the fighting impact Is-raelis, the Arab community and theAmerican Jewish community?

NT: It is a tragedy for all of us. MostPalestinians and definitely most Is-raelis and the Jewish community hereprefer peace over any conflict. Unfor-tunately, in our neighborhood, thereare those who think that peace doesn’thelp promote their interest. I just hopethat the results will be a better situa-tion in the south of Israel and Gaza.Sometimes in the Middle East, the situ-ation has to get worse before it becomesbetter.

JF: Do you believe that Israel’s mas-sive military reaction will be the newpolicy for future dealings with Hamas

or, for that matter, any enemy of Israel?NT: We will have to evaluate the sit-

uation and each case needs to be stud-ied individually. I don’t think we canhave a silver bullet for all situations.However, it is important for us to sig-nal to Hamas that going back to the sta-tus quo is not an option. For eightyears, Hamas fired thousands of rock-ets at Israeli civilians, and Israel re-frained from using military action.Unfortunately, it took this tragedy toachieve a sense of urgency in the inter-national community regarding Israel’ssituation in the face of rocket fire. Wehope that the international communitywill now play a role in making surethat Hamas stops the rocket fire into Is-rael and weapon smuggling, so that Is-rael is not forced to react militarily inthe future. We really hope that these re-cent events were not a step back but astep forward toward what will ulti-mately stabilize the region, a two-statesolution with Israelis and Palestinianscoexisting in peace and security.

—Michael Newborn

Edited and condensed by Shana D.Lebowitz

Possibilities of peaceBrandeis Hillel goes toNahariya, a city innorthern Israel

Rethinking current conflicts in the Middle EastConsul General of Israel Nadav Tamir and the path to peace

By MICHAEL NEWBORNJUSTICE STAFF WRITER

PAINTING FOR A CAUSE: Sarah Palmer ’10 paints the wall of a bomb shelter in Israel. Palmer went to Israel with Brandeis Hillel.PHOTO COURTESY OF ADINA PARETZKY

ARTISTIC ABILITY: Jessica Kent ’09 displays what she painted in a bombshelter.PHOTO COURTEST OF ADINA PARETZKY


Fighting cancer, finding hope

To Katy Agule ’09, a recipient of the 2008American Cancer Society’s Excellence in Ad-vocacy Award, raising awareness about thethreats of cancer is much more valuable thanany sum of money raised. When asked howmuch money she has raised for the AmericanCancer Society thus far, Agule said she didn’teven know.

Since 2007, Agule has been raising moneyfor cancer awareness through variousfundraisers, most significantly Relay forLife.

“The more people that quit smoking be-cause we’re outside handing them quitkits orgiving them the information about the dan-gers of smoking, that’s for me the most im-portant part,” Agule said.

This past November, Agule, along with 11other volunteers, received the New EnglandDivision 2008 Excellence in Advocacy Awardfor their active dedication to the AmericanCancer Society and its missions, which ac-cording to the organization’s press releaseare to increase cancer awareness “throughstate legislative initiatives and campaigns.”Her understanding of the importance of ac-tivism and advocacy earned her the award.

When asked if she knew she would receivethe award, Agule said, “I had no idea. I wasvery surprised.”

Agule initially planned on attending vet-erinary school after Brandeis, but she is nowconsidering law school instead. Her careerplans took a turn after her first AmericanCancer Society divisional summit in Novem-ber 2007. Agule, who has dark hair, a confi-dent stare and a professionaldemeanor,attended this summit in prepara-tion for the first annual Relay for Life atBrandeis. The Student Athlete AdvisoryCommittee, of which she is co-president, or-ganized the relay.

Although Agule initially went to the sum-mit because of her involvement with the

SACC, she said she was “very touched” bythe summit and subsequently became heav-ily involved in Relay for Life.

This year marks the American Cancer So-ciety Relay for Life’s 25th anniversary, 25Years of Hope. Relay for Life is an all-nightfundraiser in which sponsors donate for eachlap completed by teams of runners and walk-ers with the first lap performed by cancersurvivors. Relay for Life is dedicated to thosebattling cancer, those who beat cancer andthose who were lost to cancer.

After her first Relay for Life ended, Agule’sinterest in cancer advocacy grew stronger.She helped create the Brandeis club CollegesAgainst Cancer, whose mission is to “developearly detection programs and raise aware-ness on campus all year long,” she said.

CAC planned an event for the Fight BackExpress, a bus that traveled across the entirecountry to raise money for the AmericanCancer Society and their partner organiza-tion, the ACS Cancer Action Network. Agulealso accepted the position of training chairfor the American Cancer Society’s NationalLeadership Team last year. She has sinceworked with a handful of ACS volunteersaround the country.

This past summer, Agule interned at theAmerican Cancer Society’s Cancer ActionNetwork in Washington D.C., where shelearned about the power of lobbying and ad-vocacy. “It’s amazing how much effect oneperson or one group of people can havewithin the setting of Congress,” Agule said.“If enough people say something, represen-tatives will say, ‘Yeah, I’ll support that.’”

Political advocacy “is one of the most im-portant tools [in cancer prevention] becausethrough legislation, you can affect countlessnumbers of citizens.”

Agule’s work with the ACS Cancer ActionNetwork motivated her to pursue a career inhealth policy. She recently changed her herminor in Health: Science, Society and Policyto a major and has declared a Psychologymajor as well.

Interning in Washington D.C., Agule real-ized that she “really enjoyed health/policy”and hopes to work for a nonprofit similar tothe ACS Cancer Action Network after col-lege. “Volunteer work has helped my profes-sional path immensely,” she said.

“Katy is very driven,” said Nadine Chan-naoui ’10, a co-founder of Colleges AgainstCancer. “Once she got hooked [on raisingcancer awareness], she was just 110 percenthelpful to achieve the American Cancer So-ciety’s mission.”

After returning to Brandeis in the fall,Agule began to think of different events to in-crease cancer awareness on campus.

This semester, Agule and Colleges AgainstCancer have participated in several events,including a bake sale in which they raisedover $300. CAC also visited the Hope Lodge inJamaica Plains, where cancer patients andtheir caregivers can stay for free if they livea certain distance from a hospital. Agule de-scribes the Hope Lodge as “a great resourcefor cancer patients who need to go some-where in order to get the lifesaving treatmentthey need.”

As for the future, Agule has planned “Paintthe Campus Purple Week” with other mem-bers of Colleges Against Cancer. The week,designed to raise interest in fighting canceron campus, will take place between February23 and 27.

Agule has also planned a quarter drive toraise funds for CAC’s biggest event of theyear, Relay for Life. Agule predicts that stu-dents, faculty, and staff could donate over$15,000; the quarters donated could wraparound the track eight times, Agule says. .

Although Agule has never experiencedpersonal tragedy at the hand of cancer, sherealizes how quickly that could change.

“Cancer doesn’t discriminate. It will affectyou in some way or another, no matter yourgender, race or social status,” she said. “Iwant to try to protect my future and my lovedones’ futures, and advocacy is the best wayto do that.”

Katy Agule ’09

received anaward from

the American

Cancer Society for

her work toincrease

cancerawareness

THINK PINK:CollegesAgainst Cancer PresidentsKaty Agule’09, left, andNadine Channaoui’10, next toher, pose at afundraiser.PHOTO COURTESY OF NADINE CHANNAOUI

By CASEY NILSSONJUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER


Assistant Dean of AcademicServices and Director of Study AbroadJ. Scott Van Der Meid and Dean ofStudent Financial Services PeterGiumette sent an e-mail Feb. 10 to allfirst-year and sophomore studentsreversing the University’s Jan. 16announcement that prohibited porta-bility of merit scholarships to studyabroad programs. This e-mail camefive days before the Feb. 15 deadlinefor submitting the Preliminary StudyAbroad Application, which is manda-tory for all students considering study-ing abroad during the 2009 to 2010 aca-demic year. It took administrators toolong to reverse their original decision,and it is disappointing that they didn’textend the preliminary applicationdeadline in light of their majorannouncement Feb. 10.

Within days of the Jan. 16 announce-ment, Student Union President JasonGray ’10 informed senior administra-tors that letters sent to recipients ofthe Justice Brandeis Scholarship,Dean’s Award and PresidentialScholarship stated that these meritscholarships could be applied to studyabroad programs, according to a Jan.22 Justice interview with Mr.Giumette.

It is unacceptable that administra-tors did not know that these letterscontained this text until Mr. Graymade them aware of that information.Even though the administration even-tually realized its decision to haltmerit aid portability was a breach oftrust with merit scholars, it chose notto reverse the decision officially forseveral weeks.

Unlike in previous years, when stu-

dents had until early fall to decidewhether to study abroad in the spring,current sophomores had only onemonth to do so as a result of Brandeis’earlier deadline. This brief period oftime is not sufficient for many stu-dents to make such an importantchoice, but the University especiallyhurt merit scholars even as it reversedits decision. These students were givenless than five days to determinewhether studying abroad would be fea-sible for them due to the University’sdelay in making the reversal.

In order to give merit scholars moretime to decide whether to studyabroad, the University should havechanged its decision shortly afterbeing contacted by Mr. Gray. Theadministration evidently was notawaiting a viable alternative to bar-ring merit aid portability, as theAdvisory Committee to Study Abroadhad not yet found one at the time of theFeb. 10 reversal.

So why the wait?Mr. Gray told the Justice at the time

of the administration’s Feb. 10announcement, “The decision neededto be made sooner. Timing is of theessence. There’s a lot that needs to goin, and everything needs to happenvery quickly. The deadline is soon.People need to have as much time asthey can to get the information thatthey need and make their decision.”The University should have extendedthe Feb. 15 deadline to accommodatethose who were forced to make thisdecision under such stressful time con-straints.

Feb. 15 deadline too early

JILLIAN WAGNER, News Editor

SHANA D. LEBOWITZ, Features Editor REBECCA BLADY, Acting Forum Editor

HANNAH KIRSCH, Deputy Editor

JOEL HERZFELD, DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK and DANIEL D. SNYDER, Associate Editors

JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES and MAX BREITSTEIN MATZA Photography Editors

KATHRYN MARABLE, Layout Editor BRIAN FROMM, Acting Copy Editor

COURTNEY BREEN and SARA ROBINSON, Advertising Editors

IAN CUTLER, Sports Editor JUSTINE ROOT, Arts Editor

Justicethe Brandeis University

E s t a b l i s h e d 1 9 4 9

Quote of the Week

Brandeis Talks BackWhat academic changes wouldyou make to save the Universitymoney?

OP-BOX

“Open admissions up tomore students and broadenthe majors.”

JUSTIN P. LOUIS ’10

“People with merit scholar-ships should have to do asocial action project.”

AMELIA LAVRANCHUK ’12

“I’m so tired of talkingabout it.”

EMILY SMIZER ’11

MIKE PRADA, Editor-in-Chief

ANDREA FINEMAN, Managing Editor

ELI TUKACHINSKY/the Justice

“I’d increase funding to theChinese program and theBusiness program.”

SPENCER ACKERMAN ’09

—Prof. Jonathan Sarna (NEJS)explains at an event hosted byBrandeis UniversityConservative Organization rea-sons investors were suscepti-ble to Madoff. (See News story,page 5)

Study abroad reversal too slow

“But all good things have anevil twin. The evil twin of trustis betrayal.”


This past Sunday the Student Union Senate voted in favorof the Attendance Improvement Act of 2009. This actchanges the Student Union bylaws to establish a cap onunexcused senatorial absences from Senate sessions andcreate a mandatory censure procedure for senators that vio-late the cap. The Senate was wrong to pass this act. Ratherthan institute this principally autocratic policy, the Senateshould promote democratic principles by updating and eas-ing the current process for a recall election.

You could argue that due to Article IV, Section 1 of theStudent Union Bylaws, prior to the passage of this act, sena-tors had been required to attend meetings, and by not doingso they were—without even considering principle—liablefor censure or impeachment. Executive Senator and ActingVice President Andrew Brooks ’09, who introduced the actto the Senate, pointed out in an interview with the Justicethat “if your representative is not there, then you’re notbeing represented.” That’s true.

However, the Senate cannot determine whether its mem-bers are adequately representing their constituencies.Invoking that segment of the bylaws to justify a senatorialcensure—or perhaps impeachment—is needlessly undemoc-ratic. With specific regard to attendance, a senator’s fore-most accountability must be to his or her constituency. Weelect our senators. If we feel that our senators are inade-quate in their service to us, we—not the Senate—must bethe ones to rebuke them. We, the electorate, should removeinadequate senators from the Senate.

And we theoretically have the mechanism to do so: recallelections. Article X, Section 1 of the Student UnionConstitution states, “An elected official’s constituency shallhave the right to recall that official.” However, the currentrecall process is tedious and outdated. The way it stands,there must first be a petition signed in person by at least 15percent of an elected official’s constituency. Using ouronline UNet accounts to sign such a petition, as is done in anelection, would make this outdated process significantlyeasier, efficient and participatory. The next step of the cur-rent recall process, which requires the secretary to validatethe petition, would be completed automatically if the peti-tion were completed online through our UNet accounts.Finally, the actual vote for recall, which requires two-thirdsof the constituency, is a high yet fair percentage to meet fora recall.

But of course without the proper mechanisms to bothnotify constituents of poor senatorial attendance and theneasily stage a recall election, there is no impetus for therecall process to even begin. Rather than rashly institutinga high-handed attendance policy, the Senate must find waysto keep us informed of our senators’ repeated absences andcreate a more accessible democratic channel for respondingto such outright disregard for the duty of representing us inthe Senate. There should be a system in place so that as soonas a senator reaches a certain number of absences, con-stituents are automatically notified of it via e-mail and anonline petition is created and accessible through our UNetaccounts after a set number of days. Such a system wouldhave a certain level of arbitrariness with regard to the num-ber of absences. But at the point in which that number ofabsences is reached, the senator would have the opportuni-ty to explain to his or her constituents why he or she missedso many Senate sessions. And if after the explanation morethan 15 percent of the constituency still finds a problem withthe senator and “votes” in the online petition, then therewill be a recall election. I admit that no matter the revisionsmade to the current process this will take longer than if theSenate simply decided such a thing for us. But that’s the costof a more involved democracy. I think it’s an acceptabletrade-off.

There’s an open secret regarding the act that the Senatejust passed. It’s very helpful to those that are currently inthe Senate and attending the required meetings, more sothan to the constituents of absent senators. According toBrooks, “[The current situation] is unfair to the other sena-tors who do step up because it puts more of the workload onthem.” This may be true. But we must not value the allevia-tion of some senators’ burdens above the right of students tohave an elected senator who reflects the wishes of the major-ity. We have the means for creating a better democracy atour University. I encourage the Senate to be more demo-cratic and creative than this proposed act paints it to be. It’stime for some student—not Senate—empowerment.

NYU protest a poor exampleThose looking for evidence of the

growing unrest among college-agedstudents need search no further thanNew York University. This pastFriday, police ended a nearly two-dayoccupation of the school’s KimmelCenter by a student organizationcalled Take Back NYU. Though theprotest may seem reminiscent of ourown fabled Ford Hall occupation—whose 40th anniversary we recentlycommemorated—and our own struggleagainst an often-opaque administra-tion, the reality is that the NYU protesthas little in common with our ownrevered rebellion and stands as anexample of poor organization, nonco-operation and unrealistic expecta-tions.

On the surface, it seems that ourpeers’ concerns do not differ greatlyfrom our own. Transparency tookprecedent at NYU as well, with the pro-testors demanding access to theUniversity’s operating budget, invest-ments and endowment.

However, a quick glance furtherdown the list reveals many more ill-considered requests. Lacking any seri-ous comprehension of the school’sbudgetary situation, NYU protestersdemanded a freeze on tuition increaseand the full recognition of all need-based scholarships while simultane-ously mandating that all the school’sexcess supplies and materials be sent“to rebuild the University of Gaza.” Inall, the list included 13 separatedemands, none of which was met by

NYU administrators. This scattershot protest serves as a

warning to both students and adminis-trators about the need to speak thesame language. Administrators needto remain transparent in order to givestudents the information they need toreach well-reasoned conclusions. Atthe same time, students need to remaincivil and focused in their efforts aswell.

Brandeis students should be proudof the progress made in getting theadministration to cooperate with stu-dents through peaceful protest andactive participation. The many openforums alone, well attended by bothstudents and administrators, illustratethe positive relationship that can beachieved when the appropriate lines ofcommunication are followed. Out ofNYU’s undergraduate population ofnearly 20,000, only a few dozen partici-pated in either the Kimmel Centeroccupation or the subsequent protestagainst the school’s disciplinaryactions, which included the suspen-sion of 18 students who participated inthe occupation.

It may be tempting to join our peersin these more extreme forms ofprotest, but the evidence for progresspoints to the more cooperativeapproach that we’ve adopted at ourown University. Students need to keeptheir channels with administratorsopen, not barricade them shut.

Cooperation makes progress

HillelBUECHLERAND SO ON

Senate act not democratic

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Administrators must be more openTo the Editor:

In response to your article “Brandeis hiresPR firm to handle Rose media attention” (Feb.10 issue): I’m curious, as it seems thatPresident Reinharz is backpedaling on theRose decision in a way that indicates that theuproar is due more to a communication fail-ure than the actual decision. If the Board ofTrustees is changing its decision, that shouldbe said. If the decision stands but the attemptsare only to better communicate it, that shouldbe said.

But having it both ways—attempting tocarry out the decision to close the Rose whilesimultaneously claiming that the whole thingis a miscommunication—is the absolute worstof both worlds and, as much as I hate to say it,most business as usual. Stakeholders demandtransparency, and transparency demandsclear action. If the intention was never to com-pletely close and dismantle the Rose, then thisis a massive failure of communication, andthe person at the University responsible forthe communication should be fired due toincompetence. But if the intention was alwaysto close the Rose, as was communicated sobluntly in the original press release and letterfrom Reinharz, then the University shouldown up and use its new PR firm to betterexplain the impetus for doing so, the behind-the-scenes decision-making process and howthey believe an orderly and considered clo-sure will benefit the University.

—Daniel Silverman

Rose Art headline was misleadingTo the Editor:

In response to your article “Position onRose clarified” (Feb. 10 issue): As was madevery clear at the crowded town meeting at theRose Tuesday evening, President Reinharz’sstatement (composed, perhaps, by the PR firmhe has hired to quiet national and interna-tional shock and complaint about his actionin closing the Rose) about “keeping the Roseopen” is not so much a clarification as anobfuscation unless you read it carefully.

The Rose will no longer be an art muse-um—its director and staff have been notifiedthat June 30 is their last day of work. The Rosefamily—represented last night by a grand-nephew of the museum’s founding donors—isunlikely to permit the name to stay on thebuilding. (Lois Foster is currently workingwith lawyers to see if her husband’s bequestto Brandeis can be blocked: it is also unlikelythat she will let her name stay on the LoisFoster Wing.) So, a building will remain open,with all the costs of heating and lightingit—the only costs the University now incurs,as the Rose is a self-supporting institution.

It’s nice to think we’ll keep that prettybuilding rather than tearing it down andbuilding another in its place, as has becomeour habit. But what the president clarified inhis message to us was that he does, indeed,intend to close the Rose Art Museum and sellwhat he can. If the value of Sotheby’sInternational Realty is down 85 percent, thenthe current poster on the door of the Roseadvertisig a “Rock-bottom Sale!” is accurate.What pieces the Attorney General’s office willlet Brandeis sell, if their sale does not involveus in lawsuits from original donors (some ofwhom are gearing up, one of whom was herelast night to express “rage and disgust”), willgo for 85 percent less than they would havesold for last year.

What needs clarification is the kind andamount of benefit we will gain from thismove, which has alienated alumni and donorsacross the world. If there is none, or very lit-tle, it is not too late to save the Rose.

—Mary Baine Campbell

Jason Gray is indeed a great leaderTo the Editor:

In response to your editorial “Gray goesabove and beyond” (Feb. 10 issue): I currentlyserve Jason on the Union’s Executive Board,and I have to echo this editorial in every way.I’m so glad to see the Justice recognize the hardwork and good job Jason has done so far. Hereally does work so hard every day to make ourcollege experience the best it can be. Theamount of time and effort he commits to the stu-dent body is truly staggering. He has providedgreat leadership this year, and I’m honored towork with him and for the student body.

—Jamie Ansorge ’09The writer is the director of communications

for the Student Union.

Our historyshows value ofusing PR firm

Last week, I came across some informationthat deserves to be included in the conversationabout Brandeis in the media: The recent hiringof Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications,Inc. isn’t the first time the University has lookedto outside sources for help reclaiming its image.

Brandeis chose to use a professional publicrelations firm, Dukas Public Relations in a deli-cate situation that was far less urgent. TheUniversity is not to blame for seeking externalassistance in handling the press when much is atstake in this troubled economic era.

Last issue, I discussed the importance of“grabbing the attention of impressionable highschool seniors” in light of the confusion and frus-tration that reached the press following the con-troversial closure of the Rose Art Museum. Withits recent announcement of a plan to increaseclass size, this seemed like a practical task forthe PR firm. The administration admitted that itdid not foresee the degree to which its decisionwould upset so many people. Certainly, theamount of media attention this news receivedwas unprecedented; the small, innocent Rose,sitting too often unvisited right in our own back-yard, made it all the way to The New YorkTimes’ editorial page.

The student-organized Rose sit-in Jan. 29 con-vinced me that Brandeis must find a smart wayto handle the press. The museum was packedwith not only devoted students and faculty butalso a number of journalists. Appropriately, theUniversity employed a PR firm to deal with theoverwhelming media attention. This importanttask is a primary function of the firm. JoeBaerlein, president of Rasky Baerlein, explainedin the Feb. 10 issue of the Justice that over thelast week the firm has mostly helped theUniversity respond to national and internation-al media requests about the Rose.

Vice President for Communications LornaMiles said, “I’ve been working with [the firm] interms of just the media questions with regard tothe [Rose].”

Bear in mind that this isn’t the first time Mileshad to justify the University’s employment ofpublic relation. In May 2006, the Universityhired the New York-based Dukas firm. And justas the hiring of Rasky Baerlein followed thescandalous closing of the Rose, the hiring ofDukas followed numerous instances in whichBrandeis failed to appear impartial amid Arab-Israeli dialogue, another controversy thatreached the Boston Globe. According to the May23, 2006 article in the Justice, President RichardDukas had claimed that his firm planned to workon “publicity ‘placements’ for the University inmajor newspapers, specifically on publicizing itsJewish and Middle Eastern programs.”

However, there is a distinction between thesetwo cases: Whereas Baerlein said that his firm’sBrandeis contract is characteristic of a “crisisassignment,” Dukas said that his firm’s focuswas pure publicity.

Miles further claimed in an interview with theJustice at the time of Dukas’ hiring that the pur-pose of the firm was not, in fact, “damage con-trol,” as seems to be the purpose of RaskyBaerlein.

Given today’s unsteady economic ground, cre-ating positive PR is an effective and appropriatesolution. Defending the inevitable major changeagainst current and prospective students andother members of the academic world will neverbe simple. If the University has previouslydeemed the professional PR firm an effectivemeans to highlight the best aspects of Brandeis,then investing in the professional PR firm dur-ing today’s economic crisis, at the very least,should certainly help assuage the negativity thatwill likely accompany the necessary changes theUniversity must make. Brandeis has to establishthe best possible connections with the press sothat arbitrary rumors and misunderstandingsdon’t alter people’s perceptions of Brandeis. Ifthe Rose debacle can be classified as a “crisisassignment,” the use of PR is a sensible solution.

One proposal to help assuage the currentfinancial crisis is the establishment of aBusiness major.

This proposal has been recently discussedat length among students and faculty, and ithas also found support from UniversityPresident Jehuda Reinharz. The availabilityof a Business major on campus would suppos-edly attract more career-minded students toBrandeis. While this suggestion has been metwith much skepticism, I encourage the idea ofinstituting the major; however, I would adviseBrandeis to incorporate its other depart-ments, the International Business School andthe career center into this program.

Business is a very far-reaching disciplinethat integrates many different subjects, par-ticularly those in the social sciences. In creat-ing a new major devoted to the subject, schooladministrators should take potential for inter-disciplinary studies into account. Thoughthey are important, courses that solely centeron marketing, accounting and finance shouldnot be the only ones offered to satisfy themajor’s requirements.

Rather, the University ought to designclasses that are interdepartmental and covertopics as diverse as the psychology of invest-ing, the sociology of management and laborrelations, business law, the relationshipbetween companies and government and cor-porate microeconomics.

There are numerous benefits to this initia-tive. It is consistent with Brandeis’ core liber-al arts curriculum in the sense that it engagesthe subjects that are under that banner in ameaningful and comprehensive fashion. Theresources and faculty of multiple departmentswould be put to optimal and productive use,and students will learn how to apply theirknowledge from a diverse range of topics.

Administrators should also associate the

new program with the faculty and resourcesthat IBS has to offer. Specifically, they oughtto make this graduate-level institution moreaccessible to interested undergraduates, facil-itate talks between faculty from both the busi-ness school and the College of Arts andSciences to create the best possible outcomefor the major and use the physical infrastruc-ture that the graduate school provides.

This next proposal would save Brandeismoney, since existing IBS classes, such asmicroeconomics, accounting and financialanalysis, can be adapted to provide many ofthe odds and ends that are necessary for aBusiness major. In addition, it would createmore unity and interaction between the grad-uate and undergraduate students, theirrespective faculty members and availableresources.

Administrators should take note of anotherinvaluable asset: the Hiatt Career Center. Itwould be wise not only to make internships arequirement for the major but also to ensurethat Hiatt will aid students in acquiring satis-factory jobs by preparing their credentials.

Also, a productive internship in, say, anindustrious company, bank or organizationwill acquaint students with a professionalatmosphere and will generally help them getacclimated to the worlds of business andfinance.

I have in mind a model for the Businessmajor based upon Brandeis’ popularInternational and Global Studies program,which combines topics like politics, econom-ics, environmental science and anthropologywith a mandatory internship in an interna-tional organization. The IGS program pro-vides students with a rich learning experienceand familiarizes them with the inner work-ings of globalization. By taking a similarapproach, this Business major can also pro-duce these positive results.

I’m always excited about new additions toBrandeis’ academic world even though theschool is under tough budgetary constraints.And in regard to the Business major, I mightbe especially thrilled if the school follows upon some of the items I’ve discussed.

University should encourage aninterdisciplinary Business major


RichardALTERBAUMTHE SCOOP

I was satisfied—maybe evenimpressed—by two major recent examplesof administrative backpedaling. The firstwas University President JehudaReinharz’s apology for mishandling theprocess and announcement of the decisionto sell the Rose Art Museum collection, andthe second was the revocation of the pro-posal to withhold the merit scholarshipmoney previously promised to studentswho chose to study abroad.

But considering these incidents withinthe context of the student body’s impres-sive vocal dissent and the school’s poten-tially dire financial situation, however, theflip-flopping has made me a little nervous.In these two particular cases, retractionand amelioration were the only realoptions. But in the larger scope of things,the administration must be wary of creat-ing a habitual situation in which it is influ-enced by public discontent to refrain fromthe bold action needed to ensure Brandeis’future as a premier research universityand an overall respectable institution.

Passionate Brandeis students haveproven that they are adept at effectivelymobilizing to voice their concerns as agroup when they find flaws in administra-tive decisions. Protests, sit-ins, letters,mock funeral processions and so on havecaptured the attention of the administra-tion and often the media. Take a look atlast week’s failure of a chaotic protest bystudents at New York University in orderto fully appreciate the rare eloquence ofBrandeis students’ collective voice and theeven rarer responsiveness of the adminis-tration here.

On the surface, recent reactive state-ments and actions by administrative bod-

ies may seem like student victories. Thefeeling of emerging triumphant and seeingthe effects of “sticking it to The Man” isunmatched. It is important that publicexpressions of disapproval aren’t executedsolely in order to have this feeling.Students need to recognize the power oftheir collective voice and take the direfinancial situation facing Brandeis intoaccount before deciding that they areardently opposed to changes taking placewithin the school.

That said, it is the (lately unfulfilled)obligation of the administration to perfectthe language of and properly anticipate theeffects of their decisions. Most universitiesacross the country have been hit hard bythe financial crisis. Even Harvard, theworld’s wealthiest university, has beenforced to face tough decisions. The schoolis now slowing and reassessing the con-struction of its highly anticipated sciencebuilding in Allston. The Boston Globequoted a letter written by Harvard presi-dent Drew Faust to the school’s communi-ty: “Such a significant decrease [in endow-ment] presents us with difficult tradeoffs.… Tinkering around the edges will not beenough. … What is more, our consciousavoidance of ‘one size fits all’ solutionsmeans that not everyone is going to behappy with every outcome.”

These words speak greatly to Brandeis’predicament. There is no question thatBrandeis’ survival through this economiccrisis depends on immediate, drasticaction. Such radical change will inevitablyleave a large portion of people who have astake in the school unhappy. The adminis-tration must be prepared for that and havethe courage to not only make tough—albeitthoroughly thought-out and researched—decisions, but it must also have the goal touphold them.

Stand tough, Deis leadersBy ETHAN MERMELSTEIN

JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

RebeccaBLADYMAELSTRÖM

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organizations receive a

40 percent discount.

Shine the spotlight on your next event!

Place an advertisement in the Justice.

Contact [email protected] for rates and information..

Attention Sports Fanatics:

the Justice wants you togive the Brandeis

community a play-by-play of campus

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[email protected] for moreinformation.

resulting in Case Western takingan 11-10 lead with 11:59 left in thefirst half.

Brandeis then took control of thegame, going on a 19-3 run to take a29-14 lead with 5:12 left in the half.Rookie guard Morgan Kendrew ’12,who has seen more playing timesince starting guard LaurenRashford ’10 went down with a tornACL in her knee during practiceFeb. 3, scored eight of the Judges’points during this run.

“[Kendrew] has really been pick-ing up and making plays for us, ashas [guard] Diana [Cincotta] ’11,”Orlando said. “We’re a little bitshorthanded in that at the guardposition we do have some injuries,but people have really been step-ping up and making big plays andunderstanding what we need todo.”

The Judges led by 18 at the halfand by as much as 33 in the secondhalf before cruising to the 20-pointwin.

Chapin led all scorers with 17points and also had team highswith 10 rebounds and six assists,earning UAA women’s basketballplayer of the week honors.

Kendrew and Orlando alsoreached double figures forBrandeis, scoring 15 and 11 points,respectively.

Brandeis was also strong defen-sively, holding the Spartans to 38.9percent shooting, including 27.8percent from three-point range.

“They did a lot of switching ondefense, which I think caught usoff-guard at first,” Case Westerncoach Jennifer Remier said.“When we would set screens theywould just exchange us rather thanfighting through our screens.”

Last Friday, Brandeis avenged aJan. 25 loss at Emory Universitywith a 10-point victory over theEagles at home.

Chapin led the team again with15 points, eight rebounds, fiveassists and five steals. Kendrewwas second on the team with 12points, followed by Cincotta with10.

“One of our goals was to makesure that we took away their tran-sitions and kept their offensiveboards,” Simon said. “The transi-tion defense we did really well. Ialso thought we did a really goodjob taking away their dribble pene-tration into the paint. So I thoughtdefensively that was the key, and Ithought we were pretty disciplinedoffensively running our stuff.”

The Judges will conclude theirregular-season schedule nextSaturday at No. 20 New YorkUniversity at 2 p.m.

THE JUSTICE ● TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24 , 2009 13

In preparation for the upcomingIntercollegiate Fencing AssociationChampionships and the NCAARegional Championships, Coach BillShipman left some of his best men’sand women’s fencers on the benchfor the New EnglandChampionships at Mount HolyokeCollege last Sunday.

The women’s team fenced withoutcaptain, foil and saber Jess Davis-Heim ’09, foils Jessica Newhall ’09and Alexandra Dalrymple ’11 andépées Caitlin Kozel ’09 and EmmaLarkin ’09. Captain and foil WillFriedman ’09, sabers Adam Austin’11 and Jon Rollock ’11 and épée WillBedor ’10 did not fence for the men’ssquad.

Despite those absences, thewomen’s team finished in fourthplace out of 14 teams, and the men’steam finished in sixth place out of 13teams.

“Overall, the women had a prettyincredible performance, more sothan the men,” Shipman said.

But captain and saber Jenny Press’09 did not share Shipman’s opti-mism.

“We didn’t do terribly, but Iexpected a lot more from us becauseI truly believe that we were betterthan every single team at the meet,”she said. “I think everyone was stilltired and out of sync coming out ofour February vacation. We didn’tfall out of shape, but we definitelyweren’t as sharp mentally.”

Foil Julia Mouk ’10 and épéeEmily Mandel ’11 led the shorthand-ed women’s squad. Mouk finished10-4 in the team competition,advancing to the final round, andplaced fourth individually. Mandelfinished 8-3 on the day and eighthindividually.

On the men’s side, foil DanLanzara ’09 and saber Alex Brand ’10were forced to fence out of position.

“[Lanzara] fenced in the first posi-tion and faced some of the bestfencers at the meet, which wasunusual for him and probably put alittle bit of additional pressure onhim and made him a little uncom-fortable,” Shipman said.

Foil Andrew Mandel ’11 seized theopportunity to compete, droppingonly two bouts in the team competi-tion and finishing 12th in the indi-vidual competition.

“[Mandel] was on fire today. Itwas almost like he was the Matrixtoday,” said épée Damien Lehfeldt’09.

Lehfeldt finished seventh in theindividual competition as theJudges’ leading épée at the meet.

Despite both teams’ finish at theNew England Championships, theyare looking forward to hosting themore challenging IFAChampionships next week.

“The competition at the IFAChampionships will be so muchharder,” Press said. “Some of thesefencers have been recruited fromEurope and even fenced on nationalteams. Harvard [University] has[senior] foil Emily Cross, who fencedon the Olympic team in Beijing.”

Both the women’s and men’steams will next compete in the IFAChampionships at home Saturday.

“It would be a huge upset if wewon the IFA Championshipsbecause [Harvard], [ColumbiaUniversity] and [the University ofPennsylvania] have very strongteams, but after those two teams, Ithink we can compete with any-body,” Shipman said. “We can cer-tainly win individual bouts againstany team throughout the meet. Weexpect to place among the top half ofthe competition next week, as highas fourth place.”

WBBALL: Judges win big in last two home games

Squadsfinish intop tiers

Teams sweep Florida finale 9-0

FINAL STRETCH: Forward Amber Strodthoff ’11 lays up a shot against visiting Emory University in a 10-point win last Friday.DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

CONTINUED FROM 16

TENNIS

With just one senior on both themen’s and women’s tennis teams,both squads will likely see better daysdown the road. Thus far this seasonafter 9-0 victories by both squads yes-terday, the present does not look sobad either.

In the final match of a five-matchtrip in Orlando, Fla., both teamsswept Capital University of Ohio tosolidify a trip that saw the women’steam go 4-1 to improve to 6-2 on theseason, and the men’s team go 3-2 tomove to 5-2 on the season.

In the finale, the women’s teamwas paced by classmates RachelRosman ’11 and Mackenzie Gallegos’11 at No. 1 doubles.

The duo swept its doubles oppo-nents 8-0, and then went on to do thesame to their singles foes at No. 1 andNo. 4 singles, respectively, winningin straight sets 6-0, 6-0.

For the men, classmates StevenNieman ’11 and Simon Miller ’11 ledthe way.

Miller won at No. 3 singles 6-0, 6-1and paired with captain ScottSchulman ’09 at No. 1 doubles tosweep Capital’s top team 8-0.

Nieman teammed up with MayurKassety ’11 at No. 2 doubles to win 8-5and dominated at No. 1 singles, win-ning 6-0, 6-1.

Last Sunday, the women’s teamknocked off Oneonta State Universityby an 8-1 count. After jumping out toa quick 3-0 lead by sweeping doubles,the squad did not look back, surren-dering a total of just six games in itsfive singles victories. On the men’sside, the Judges defeated HanoverCollege of Indiana, also by a score of8-1.

Rosman and Gallegos again led theway for the Judges, accomplishingthe same feat as yesterday, as neitherdropped a single game in three totalmatches.

The pair won its No. 1 doublesmatch 8-0 and followed that up with apair of 6-0 sweeps in the No. 1 and No.4 singles slots, respectively.

Captain Gabrielle Helfgott ’09 andNina Levine ’12 teamed up at No. 2doubles to win 9-8, 7-4 in the tiebreak-er, and the pair of Emily Weisberger’10 and Ariana Sanai ’10 won 8-1 inthe No. 3 slot.

Prior to the match, Coach BenLamanna decided to change the dou-bles lineup, bumping Gallegos up to

No. 1, Levine up to No. 2 and Helfgottdown to No. 2.

“We do it to just to have differentpersonalities out there, and to havedifferent leaders step up and differentpartnerships,” he said. “It’s good tokeep developing with putting thegirls in difficult situations so theycan get stronger and better.”

The other Judges victories camefrom Helfgott, who dominated herNo. 2 singles match 6-0, 6-1; Sanai,who won her No. 3 singles match 6-1,6-1; and Weisberger, who knocked offher opponent 6-1, 6-2 at No. 5 singles.

Nieman and Schulman led the wayfor the men’s team against Hanover,combining to lose just three games intheir two singles matches. At No. 1singles, Nieman won his match 6-0, 6-1 while No. 2 Schulman emerged vic-torious in his 6-1, 6-1. No. 3 Kassety,No. 4 Craig Elman ’12 and No. 5 JoshBookman ’12 all won their singlesmatches, as well.

Schulman said the level of competi-tion would get better when the squadreturns home and that he likes theoverall direction in which the team ismoving.

“When we get into the bulk of ourschedule and start playing all of the[New England Small College AthleticConference] teams and then the[University Athletic Association]teams, [the competition] is going to be

a lot harder, but we’re definitelybuilding confidence at this point inthe season,” he said.

Last Wednesday they knocked offWebber International University 8-1but followed that with a loss to PalmBeach Atlantic University 7-2 thenext day. The team bounced back lastSaturday however, topping AlmaCollege 8-1. All of the matches tookplace in Orlando.

Going up against the same firstthree opponents as the women’steam, the men’s team dropped itsmatch to Webber International 6-3,fell to Palm Beach Atlantic 5-4 andbeat Alma 9-0, for its first sweep of theseason.

Gallegos, Weisberger, andSchulman were the only three Judgesto win all five of their singles match-es on the trip. Rosman was 4-1 in sin-gles, but all four of her victories were6-0, 6-0 sweeps.

Overall, Lamanna was pleasedwith how the trip went for bothsquads.

“It’s been a successful trip in a lotof ways: team bonding, getting expe-rience and playing some tennis.Those are the reasons we came downhere,” he said.

Both teams will next competeMarch 14, when they will head toVermont to take on MiddleburyCollege at noon.

■ The men’s and women’stennis teams won themajority of their matches inlast week’s trip to Florida.

By ADAM ROSENJUSTICE STAFF WRITER

FENCING

■ The women’s team wasfourth of 14 teams, and themen’s team was sixth of 13teams at the New EnglandChampionships Feb. 22.

By ANDREW NGJUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

“I was feeling good, and guyswere looking for me. I tried to beactive and did a good job of mov-ing, and they were settingscreens,” Olson said. “I wanted torespond; I didn’t do too well[against Emory].”

Leading 89-66 with just undereight minutes to play, Brandeiswent on a 15-0 run over the nextfour minutes to put the Spartansaway. A three-pointer from DeLucaduring the 15-0 run put the Judgesover the century mark in scoringfor the first time since 2004.

With 2 minutes, 54 seconds left inthe game, head coach BrianMeehan removed DeLuca andOlson from the game, allowing thetwo to receive a standing ovationfrom both the crowd and theBrandeis bench in both of theirfinal regular-season home games.

“It didn’t really hit me until Icame out with [Olson] at the end ofthe game. I was like, … I’m notgoing to play here again,” DeLucasaid.

Small led the way with a career-

high 24 points, while Olson andDeLuca chipped in with 23 and 22points, respectively. The trio ofSmall, Olson and DeLuca made 23of 27 shots.

The 108 points are the mostscored by Brandeis in a singlegame since the 1994 to 1995 season.The 16 three-pointers made are justone shy of tying the University ofChicago’s UAA team record formost three-pointers hit in onegame.

Olson was honored before thegame as part of Senior Day festivi-ties. DeLuca, a graduate student,partook in the ceremonies last sea-son.

Against Emory, Brandeis fellbehind 25-20 with just under fourminutes to play in the first half.However, a 10-3 run to close thehalf gave Brandeis a lead it wouldnever relinquish.

Clinging to a 38-37 advantage fiveminutes into the second half, theJudges were able to push the leadto as many as 14, before holding onfor the 11-point victory.

While Emory outshot Brandeis42 percent to 34.7 percent, the

Judges hit 28 of 33 foul shots, whileEmory hit eight of only nineattempts.

“I’m just trying to … take theball to the hoop. That’s what we’retrying to do when the shots aren’tfalling,” DeLuca said after hittingjust three of 15 shots, but convert-ing all five of his free-throwattempts. “We can play differentstyles. If the shots are not falling,we know what to do.”

Small led the way again with 18points and has averaged 16.3 pointsper game since being inserted backinto the starting lineup againstCarnegie Mellon Feb. 13,

McKoy said that Small’s “quick-ness” has aided the Judges againstbigger, more post-oriented UAAteams.

“To a certain point it has helpedin the UAA with guys trying tomatch up with us. We’re just a lit-tle too quick for them to guard uson the perimeter,” McKoy said.

The Judges will next travel toconference rival New YorkUniversity this Saturday at 4 p.m.for the team’s final regular seasongame.


The setting sun in the desert land-scape last Saturday night markedthe end of the baseball team’s inau-gural trip to Peoria, Ariz., a tripthat began with two wins and endedin a three-game losing streak.

The final two of those lossesoccurred last Saturday as theJudges fell to Hastings College(Nebraska) 8-3 in the afternoon and6-2 against Washington and LeeUniversity (Virginia) in the night-cap. The Judges also lost toWashington and Lee 7-4 last Fridayafter beginning the trip with an 11-8win over Whitworth College(Washington) and a 19-15 victoryover Hastings last Thursday, put-ting the team’s record at 2-3 to startthe season.

The trip was a first for the Judges,who normally do not begin theirseason until March. It was financedexclusively by fundraising moneyand donations accumulated by par-ents and team supporters. Theyraised over $25,000 in under a year,according to Associate Director ofAthletics Lynne Dempsey.

The Judges’ bats fell silent lastSaturday afternoon, scoring onlythree runs against Hastings afterpreviously scoring 19 runs in theirlast meeting.

“We were taking way too manystrikes, especially fastballs, early inthe count; [we were not] not beingaggressive enough and it showed,”infielder Nick Gallagher ’09 said.

Pitcher James Collins ’09, whohad recorded a save in the victoryagainst Whitworth just two daysearlier, took the loss for Brandeis tofall to 0-1 on the season.

The frustrations continued forthe Judges in the rematch againstWashington and Lee, who had beat-en Brandeis 7-4 the day before.Captain and outfielder Mike Alfego’09 and infielder Tony Deshler ’11paced the Judges with two hitsapiece, but the offense only man-aged to push across two runs in thedefeat.

Pitcher Justin Duncombe ’11started the game and, despite sur-rendering five walks, only allowedone run through five-and-two-thirdsinnings. The Judges led 2-1 enteringthe sixth inning, but Duncombe waslifted in favor of fellow left-handedreliever Alex Tynan ’12 afterWashington and Lee tied the score.

Tynan lasted only two-thirds of aninning and gave up two runs, bothearned, which proved to be the dif-

ference in the game. Pat Nicholson’11, a winner earlier in the weekagainst Hastings, tried to stop thebleeding but also allowed two moreearned runs as the Judges fell 6-2.

The Judges’ offensive struggleswere a far cry from their perform-ance on their first day of action lastThursday, when they posted 30 runsin two wins over Whitworth andHastings. They beat Whitworth 11-8,rallying from a 8-7 deficit whenshortstop Sean O’Hare ’12 singledhome Gallagher and Alfego for thetying and go-ahead runs and thentopped Hastings 19-15.

The top half of the lineup carriedthe offensive load in the first gamewith seven hits in 16 combined at-bats. First baseman Drake Livada’10 led the team with a two-hit,three-RBI performance, whileAlfego and Gallagher combined toscore six of the team’s eleven runsdespite both going hitless. Reliefpitcher Nick Pollack ’10 notched hisfirst career victory, pitching ascoreless eighth inning, whileCollins earned the save.

The second game saw an offensiveexplosion highlighted by Deshler’soffensive performance, which fea-tured four RBIs including a three-run home run, the team’s first of theseason.

During the trip, the Judgesshared facilities and frequentlyrubbed elbows with members ofMajor League Baseball’s San DiegoPadres and Seattle Mariners, whoalso play their Spring TrainingCactus League games at the facili-ties in Peoria.

“It was a great opportunity for usto play against some different teamsfrom across the country and seehow we match up at this point in theseason,” Alfego said. “As far as offthe field, to travel to Arizona andshoot the breeze with major lea-guers during spring training was aonce-in-a-lifetime experience”.

The trip included many highlightmoments for the team’s rookies.Catcher Kenny Destremps ’12,infielder Jon Chu ’12 and O’Hare,who also started as the men’s soccerteam’s goalie the second half of thefall season, all contributed offen-sively, going a combined 15-32, a .469batting average, with 12 RBIs in thefirst three games.

Alfego said he was mostimpressed with O’Hare’s play.

“He was a breath of fresh air,” hesaid. “Frankly, none of us had real-ly seen him play during the fall so tohave him jump into the startingshortstop role and hit the ball wellwas an encouraging sign.”

The baseball team next playsMarch 10 against WashingtonUniversity in St. Louis in the firstgame of the annual UniversityAthletic Association round-robinheld in Sanford, Fla.

In distance running, Marie Lemay’11 finished fifth in the one-mile runwith a time of 5 minutes, 13.24 sec-onds, garnering All-New Englandhonors as well.

Reytblat said the team is pacingitself until the University AthleticAssociation Championships thatbegin March 7 at New YorkUniversity.

“We could have done better,” hesaid. “But we are just trying to save

[all our athletes] until the UAAs.”On the men’s side, Devon Holgate

’11 paced the Judges, finishing sev-enth in the 1,000-meter run in 2:33.23

Brandeis had just one other top-10finish on the day. Myles Tyrer-Vasseil’12 took 10th place in the 55-meter dashpreliminary race in 8.24 seconds, butfell short of qualifying for the finals.

The men’s and women’s indoortrack teams will compete in the OpenNew England Championships inBoston Saturday.

■ The baseball team wontwo of its five games on anew early-season trip toPeoria, Ariz. last weekend.

MBBALL: Record-breaking victoryhelps strengthen NCAA résumé

TRACK: Jumpers lead theway in squad’s strong finish

MAKING THEIR CASE

By ELI HARRINGTONJUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

BASEBALL

SHOOTING IN TRAFFIC: Forward Seve DeLuca (GRAD) scores between two Emory University defenders last Friday night.DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

CONTINUED FROM 16

Team’s hotstart coolsin Arizona

CONTINUED FROM 16

Woods scheduled to return andface Australian at Match Play

INDIANAPOLIS—Texas Tech University’s MichaelCrabtree wanted to solidify his status as the top receiverin the NFL draft at this weekend’s scouting combine.Instead, he left more questions than answers.

Last Saturday, NFL doctors diagnosed Crabtree with astress fracture in his left foot. He reportedly will needsurgery to insert a screw and might face a recovery of 10or more weeks.

“It’s not a career-ending injury or anything like that,”Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith said. “He’s a good foot-ball player, and he’s got plenty of time to get well.”

NFL officials would not immediately confirm details ofthe injury or the surgery, though coaches were toldabout it during last Saturday’s first drills. Crabtree wasnot scheduled to work out until last Sunday.

NFL Network first reported the injury and laterreported that Crabtree would not have the surgery untilafter his pro day at Texas Tech next month, so he can runthe 40-yard dash for scouts and coaches.

Only NFL Network reporters are permitted inside theseating area of Lucas Oil Stadium, where workouts areheld. Crabtree was not available for interviews lastSaturday.

All of the roughly 330 players at the combine spendtheir first day getting measured and going through med-ical checks. Those with additional questions are oftensent to a nearby hospital for further examination.

That’s apparently when Crabtree’s injury was discov-ered, culminating a bad week.

Despite being listed at 6 feet 3 inches tall on TexasTech’s roster last season, Crabtree measured just slight-ly taller than 6 feet 1 inch last Friday. The differencecould change the opinions of some scouts, who thoughtCrabtree fit the mold of Larry Fitzgerald as a tall receiv-er.

Scouts may have to go through the entire evaluationprocess without seeing Crabtree work out in person. Thedraft starts April 25, and Crabtree was expected to bepicked in the top 10.

If he opted to have the surgery before running forscouts, teams would not have any workout numbers forCrabtree to measure against other prospects. The lack ofinformation or the injury might not hurt his standing.

“It’s just part of the process. You can’t worry about it,that is just the way it is,” Kansas City Chiefs generalmanager Scott Pioli said. “This is unfortunate for him.The combine is great, but you watch tape and watch play-ers perform on tape. That’s really the top evaluation.”

Crabtree certainly has a résumé that warrants the No.1 spot.

He won the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s topreceiver each of the two years he played for the RedRaiders and became the first repeat winner since it wasestablished in 1994. He is also a two-time All-American.

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

UPCOMING GAME OF THE WEEK

field goal percentagefor the men’s basket-ball team in lastSunday’s 108-78 win

over Case Western Reserve University.The Judges set a University AthleticAssociation record for the highestshooting percentage in a conferencegame.

73.1

Women’s Basketball at New York University The No. 25 Judges close the regular season at No. 22 NYU Saturday at 2 p.m.

The women’s basketball team will tryto make its case for an at-large bid in theNCAA Tournament by extending itsfour-game winning streak this Saturdayat No. 22 New York University at 2 p.m.

The Judges are 17-6, including 7-6 inUniversity Athletic Association play,after winning their last four conferencegames. The streak follows a slump in

which the team dropped four of its pre-vious five UAA games. NYU is 20-4 over-all and 9-4 in conference play.

The two teams played once this sea-son at Brandeis Jan. 17. NYU senior for-ward Jessica McEntee led both squadsin scoring and rebounding, recording adouble-double with 19 points and 12rebounds in the Violets’ 61-49 victory.

TEAM LEADERSMBball (points per game) MBball (rebounds per game)

WBball (points per game) WBball (rebounds per game)

Player PPGSteve DeLuca 15.3Kevin Olson 12.4Kenny Small 11.2Andre Roberson 10.8 Terrell Hollins 9.3

Player PPGJessica Chapin 14.2Lauren Orlando 9.7Lauren Rashford 8.1Cassidy Dadaos 6.4Dianna Cincotta 6.3

Forward Steve DeLuca (GRAD) leadsthe Judges with an average of 15.3points per game.

Forward Steve DeLuca (GRAD) leadsthe Judges with an average of 6.8rebounds per game.

Guard Jessica Chapin ’10 leads theJudges with an average of 6.3rebounds per game.

Guard Jessica Chapin ’10 leads theteam with an average of 14.2 pointsper game.

men’s basketball players with 20or more points in last Sunday’s30-point victory over Case

Western. Guard Kenny Small ’10 ledthe Judges with a career-high 24points.

combined points scored bythe four seniors on thewomen’s basketball team inthe Judges’ 76-56 win over

Case Western last Sunday on seniornight.

23

all-New England performancesfor the women’s indoor trackteam at the Division III NewEngland Championships last

weekend. Collectively, the Judges fin-ished seventh out of 24 teams.

8

Player RPGSteve DeLuca 6.8Terrell Hollins 6.0Christian Yemga 3.2Kevin Olson 3.0Rich Magee 3.0

UAA STANDINGS

W L W L Pct.

Washington 12 1 20 4 .833Rochester 10 3 21 3 .875New York 9 4 20 4 .833Chicago 8 5 17 7 .708JUDGES 7 6 17 6 .739Emory 3 10 12 12 .500Case 3 10 10 14 .417Carnegie 0 13 5 19 .208

W L W L Pct.

Washington 12 1 22 2 .917JUDGES 9 4 16 8 .667Carnegie 8 5 18 6 .750Rochester 7 6 16 8 .667Chicago 6 7 6 18 .250New York 4 9 15 9 .625Case 4 9 7 17 .292Emory 2 11 7 17 .292

Not including Monday’s gamesNot including Monday’s games

Top receiver in draft class missesworkouts with fractured left foot

AP BRIEFS

points and 10 rebounds, bothgame-highs, for guard JessicaChapin ’10 in the women’sbasketball team’s 20-point winover Case Western last

Sunday. Chapin recorded her third dou-ble-double of the season in the victory.

17Player RPGJessica Chapin 6.3Cassidy Dadaos 5.2Lauren Orlando 4.5Lauren Rashford 4.2Amanda Wells 3.9

On a day when the Brandeis women’sbasketball team honored its graduatingseniors, it was a rookie, guard MorganKendrew ’12, who made a real impression.

Kendrew had a career-high 15 pointsalong with four assists and three reboundsin the Judges’ 76-56 win over Case WesternReserve University last Sunday.

Kendrew’s breakout performance camethanks to a hot shooting hand in the firsthalf, in which she hit four of seven shots,including three of four from three-pointrange. She scored 12 of her 15 points in thefirst half including eight points during theJudges’ 19-3 run that broke open the game.

“[In] the beginning of the year I didn’treally shoot that well, but I just startedshooting better and better,” Kendrew said.“It just happened. Some days are good,some days are bad.”

Kendrew’s improved shooting has comeat a good time for the Judges. Since start-ing point guard Lauren Rashford ’10 wentdown with a knee injury during practiceFeb. 3, Kendrew has been forced to play aneven bigger role in the team’s offense.

“I’ve tried to be more aggressive, triedto go to the basket more and looking morefor offense instead of just passing all thetime,” Kendrew said. “[I] try not to playlike a freshman.”

For the season, Kendrew is third on theteam with 19 three-pointers and averages6.0 points per game, first among allBrandeis rookies. She has started sixgames this season, all since Rashford wasinjured.

Kendrew hopes that the extra playing

time will help her development as an indi-vidual player, and aid the team’s progressin the years to come and for the shortremainder of this season.

“I’m hoping to keep getting better every

year, and I hope that our team keeps get-ting better.”

—Melissa Siegel

RBIs for Judges second basemanTony Deshler ’11 in the baseballteam’s first two games of the sea-son, both wins. The Judges

played five games last weekend inPeoria, Ariz. and are 2-3 to start theyear.

6

LOS ANGELES—All 64 players who qualified for theAccenture Match Play Championship met the entrydeadline last Friday, meaning Tiger Woods likely willface Brendan Jones of Australia when Woods returnsto competition for the first time in eight months.

The brackets will not be finalized until Sunday.If anyone withdraws before then—Justin Rose is the

only question mark because his wife is expecting theirfirst child—the brackets would be redone and Woodswould face the first alternate, Richard Green ofAustralia.

Either way, it’s not the greatest omen for the world’sNo. 1 player.

Three of his six losses in the Accenture Match PlayChampionship have been against Aussies, two of thoseto Nick O’Hern in the second round in 2005 and 2007.The other was a first-round loss to Peter O’Malley in2002.

“I don’t doubt his game will be ready,” StuartAppleby said this week. “Unless he plays an Aussie.”

He laughed when told that Woods was expected toface Jones, who played one year on the U.S. PGA Tourand finished 144th on the money list. Jones has playedfor most of his career in Japan, where he has won eighttimes.

Woods is 5-3 against Australians at the Match Play,beating Stephen Leaney twice, Adam Scott, RobertAllenby and Aaron Baddeley.

As the No. 1 player, Woods will have the top seed.The other top seeds are Sergio Garcia, Padraig

Harrington and Vijay Singh, who has missed the cut inhis last two events since returning from minor kneesurgery in January.

Garcia would face Charl Schwartzel, whileHarrington would play Pat Perez and Singh would takeon Soren Kjeldsen. If Woods were to win his openingmatch, his next opponent could be the winner betweenTim Clark and Retief Goosen.

A Woods-Goosen match might be interesting basedon the South African’s comments last year. A few daysafter Woods won the U.S. Open, where he winced andlimped throughout the weekend in what turned out tobe a dramatic playoff victory, Goosen questioned theseriousness of the injury.

“Nobody really knows if he was just showing off or hewas really injured,” Goosen said the day before Woodsannounced he was having season-ending knee surgery.“I believe if he was really injured, he would not haveplayed.”

Goosen later said he was only joking.What has Britain atwitter is the possibility of Woods’

match against 19-year-old Rory McIlroy of NorthernIreland in the third round if they both win their match-es and if the brackets are not changed.

Among the more intriguing first-round matches isPhil Mickelson against Angel Cabrera. The bigArgentine won the U.S. Open in 2007, when Mickelsonmissed the cut on the 10-shot rule when Cabrerabirdied his final hole of the second round.

If a player withdraws after Sunday, the alternatewould take his spot in the bracket.

numbersJudging Women’s BasketballMen’s Basketball

UAA Conference Overall UAA Conference Overall

■ The women’s basketball rookieguard had a career-high 15 points ina win over visiting Case WesternReserve University last Sunday.

MorganKendrew ’12

3


GETTING IN POSITION: Rookie guard Morgan Kendrew ’12 fights off a defender and dribblesinside during the Judges’ 65-44 victory against visiting Carnegie Mellon University Jan. 11.

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/Justice File Photo

After the men’s basketball teamconverted a season-low 34.7 per-cent of its shots in a 65-54 win overEmory University last Friday athome, the Judges responded with ahistoric shooting performance in a108-78 win against Case WesternReserve University last Sunday.

Brandeis converted 38 of 52 fieldgoal attempts against CaseWestern, including going 16 of 22from three-point range. The 73.1field goal percentage broke theUniversity Athletic Associationconference record of 68.2, previous-ly held by Washington Universityin St. Louis in a game against theUniversity of Rochester in 1991.

“We pushed the ball [againstCase Western]. We extended thedefense; we got each other open,”guard Kenny Small ’10 said. “Wetried to get out there and run, …and everything worked the way wewanted it to.”

Brandeis stands at 16-8 on theseason and 9-4 in the conference,good for second place in the UAA.The team also topped No. 21Carnegie Mellon University 66-63and the University of Rochester,80-63 on the road on Feb. 13 andFeb. 15, respectively.

Riding a four-game win streak,Brandeis kept its postseason hopesalive, having cracked the top 10 inthe latest NCAA New Englandregional rankings.

Against Case Western, Brandeisbuilt an early 25-10 lead as the teamstarted off the game a perfect nine-for-nine shooting, including threethree-pointers apiece from guardKevin Olson ’09 and forward SteveDeLuca (GRAD).

The Judges missed just five shotsin the first half, building a 62-43halftime lead. The 62 points nearlyequaled the team’s 65-point two-half output against Emory.

“Did we miss [against CaseWestern]?” joked assistant coachEric McKoy. “[We] came out onfire; [we] shot the ball very well.”

After hitting just four of 11 bas-kets against Emory, Olson made allsix of his field goal attempts in thefirst half against Case Western.

With 1 minute, 2 secondsremaining in the women’s bas-ketball team’s final regular sea-son home game against CaseWestern Reserve Universitylast Sunday, head coach CarolSimon called a time-out despitethe fact that her team was lead-ing by 22 points. Simon made asubstitution, putting in guardLauren Goyete ’09 to inboundthe ball. It was Goyette’s firstgame action all year, havingmissed the Judges’ previous 23games this season.

“It was kind of bittersweet,”Goyette said. “I haven’t had achance to play all seasonbecause of injury. But it wasnice of [coach] Carol [Simon] toput me in and all my team-mates to support me.”

Goyette’s teammates helpedmake sure that she and thethree other seniors on theteam—starting forwardsLauren Orlando ’09 andCassidy Dadaos ’09 and reserveforward Amanda Wells ’09—went out on a high note onSenior Day at Red AuerbachArena.

The Judges defeated CaseWestern 76-56 to move to 17-6and 7-6 in the UniversityAthletic Association, puttingthe team back into thed3hoops.com top-25 poll at No.25. Brandeis has now won fourin a row, including a 52-50 winFeb. 15 at then-No. 2 Universityof Rochester and last Friday’s67-57 win over EmoryUniversity.

The team’s recent four-gamewinning streak has greatlyhelped the Judges’ chances ofgetting an at-large bid in theNCAA Tournament in March.Despite their six losses, theJudges are currently rankedthird in the Northeast Regionthanks to their difficultstrength of schedule.According to d3hoops.com,they have the highest oppo-nents’ winning percentage inDivision III through lastFriday’s games.

“Right now if the seasonwere to end today, I would sayyes, we probably should be inthe tournament, but I’m not onthe committee, and I don’tmake those decisions,” Simonsaid.

The Judges’ game againstCase Western got off to a slowstart, with both teams commit-ting early turnovers. Brandeisstruck first on a steal andbreakaway layup by guardJessica Chapin ’10 just undertwo minutes into the contest.The teams then traded shots,

Throughout the indoor track andfield season, the jumping squad hadbeen the strength of the women’steam, with both Anat Ben Nun ’09and Ali Sax ’09 qualifying for theNCAA Championships earlier thisseason. The New England DivisionIII Track and Field Championshipsat Bowdoin College last Saturday

were no different. Ben Nun and Sax finished second

and third, respectively, in the triplejump event, helping the women’steam to a seventh-place finish out of24 teams with 37.5 points. TheMassachusetts Institute ofTechnology won the meet with 134points.

The men’s team competed at theNew England Division IIIChampionships at MIT and finished23rd out of 24 with two points.Williams College won the eventwith 145 points.

“[Sax], [Ben Nun] and LuciaCapano ’11 did a fantastic job,”coach Mark Reytblat said. “Theyscored most of the points in the longand triple jump.”

Ben Nun posted her best jump of

the season, leaping 11.71 meters, 1.5inches beyond her previous best,earning eight points for her team.Sax continued her improvement inthe triple jump, leaping 11.59meters, a personal record by over afoot which leapfrogged her from20th to seventh nationally.

“We have been training hardtechnically, and I not only wantedto improve, but I knew I had to inorder to guarantee nationals,” Saxsaid. “That pushed me to focus.”

Sax’s success in the triple jumptranslated to her other events. Inthe long jump event, she finishedsecond with a leap of 5.32 meters, 1centimeter behind first place juniorNikki Hay of Springfield College,last season’s United States Trackand Field and Cross Country

Coaches Association East RegionWomen’s Field Athlete of the Year.Capano finished just behind Sax ina tie for fourth with Bowdoin rook-ie Laura Peterson with a leap of 5.21meters. Sax’s performances alonenetted 14 points for Brandeis, amark that surpassed the totalpoints accumulated by nine entireteams at the Championships.

“[Our long jumpers] were phe-nomenal,” he said. “They haveimproved so much [by breakingtheir personal records].”

Suzanne Bernier ’10 finished fifthwith a jump of 1.58 meters, good forfour more points for the Judges.Bernier earned All-New Englandregional honors for her jumping.

Scorching shooting lifts team■ The men’s basketballteam extended its winningstreak to four after a record-breaking win over CaseWestern Reserve Universityat home last Sunday.

■ The women’s basketball team beatCase Western ReserveUniversity and EmoryUniversity last weekend.

■ The women’s indoor trackteam had eight all-NewEngland finishes at the N.E.Division III Championshipslast Saturday.

By MELISSA SIEGELJUSTICE SENIOR WRITER

By JEFFREY PICKETTEJUSTICE SENIOR WRITER

By SEAN PETTERSONJUSTICE STAFF WRITER

WOMEN’S BASKETBALLMEN’S BASKETBALL

Both squads race; women take seventh

BIG AIR: Guard Kenny Small ’10 dunks on a fast break against Emory University last Friday in the Judges’ 65-54 home victory.Small led the team in scoring in both contests last weekend, averaging 21 points per game. His season average is 11.2 ppg.

DAVID SHEPPARD-BRICK/the Justice

INDOOR TRACK

See WBBALL, 13 ☛See TRACK, 14 ☛

See MBBALL, 14 ☛

Judgescapturefourthstraight

Sportsjust BASEBALL BLISS

Waltham, Mass. Tuesday, February 24, 2009PagePage 16

The baseball team opened its season last weekendwith a special five game trip to Peoria, Ariz., p. 14

February 24, 2009

justA

RT

S

Photos: Julian Agin-Liebes/ the Justice. Design: Julian Agin-Liebes and Max Breitstein Matza/ the Justice.

“IntendedConsequences”

byJonathanTorgovnik

p. 20

POP CULTURE

Album information provided by Billboard Magazine. Box office information provided by Yahoo! Movies. Radio charts provided by CMJ.

by Shelly Shore

WHAT’S ON? Top 10s for the week ending February 24

1. Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail2. Taken3. Coraline4. He’s Just Not That Into You5. Slumdog Millionaire6. Friday the 13th7. Confessions of a Shopaholic8. Paul Blart: Mall Cop9. Fired Up!10. The International

1. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion2. Andrew Bird – Noble Beast3. Matt and Kim – Grand4. Los Campesinos! – We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed5. Antony and the Johnson – The Crying Light6. A.C. Newman – Get Guilty7. Glasvegas – Glasvegas8. Loney, Dear – Dear John9. David Byrne and Brian Eno – Everything That Happens Will Happen Today10. Killers – Day And Age

1. Taylor Swift – Fearless2. Robert Plant/Allison Krauss – Raising Sand3. India.Arie – Testimony: Vol. 2, Love & Politics4. The Fray – The Fray5. Lily Allen – It’s Not Me, It’s You6. Bruce Springsteen – Working On A Dream7. Bobby Valentino – The Rebirth8. Coldplay – Viva La Vida9. Various Artists – Grammy Nominees 200910. Adele – 19

Box Office BillboardCollege Radio

What’s happening in Arts on and off campus

‘Brighton Beach Memoirs’The Brandeis Players will perform BrightonBeach Memoirs, a play that takes place inBrooklyn during the Great Depression. Theproduction follows “15 year old Eugene,[who] lives in Brighton Beach with his fami-ly. He is witty, perceptive, obsessed with sexand forever fantasizing his baseball-dia-mond triumphs as star pitcher for the NewYork Yankees. As our guide through his‘memoirs,’ Eugene takes us through a seriesof trenchant observations and insights thatshow his family meeting life’s challengeswith pride, spirit and a marvelous sense ofhumor. But as World War II looms ever clos-er, Eugene sees his own innocence slippingaway as the first important era of his lifeends—and a new one begins.” The BP’s pro-duction of Brighton Beach Memoirs will bedirected by Brian Melcher ’10 and will starDan Katz ’12, Lauren Elias ’10, AnneChiorazzi ’11, Briana Bensenouci ’12, JesseFixsen ’12, Sam Roos ’09 and CharlieKivolowitz ’11. Tickets will be sold for $3 atthe doors of Lower Usdan, Monday throughThursday, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.,Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. inthe Shapiro Campus Center Theater.

‘Persepolis’Persepolis is the coming-of-age story of ayoung girl named Marjane who is living inIran during the Islamic Revolution. And it isthrough the eyes of this precocious and out-spoken nine-year-old girl that viewers see apeople’s hopes dashed as fundamentaliststake power, forcing the veil on women andimprisoning thousands. Clever and fearless,Marjane outsmarts the “social guardians”and discovers punk, ABBA and Iron Maiden.Yet when her uncle is senselessly executedand as bombs fall around Tehran in theIran/Iraq war, the daily fear that permeateslife in Iran becomes palpable. Persepolis is apart of an ongoing festival of award winningFrench and Francophone films.Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m. in Shiffman 219.

The Heyday on WBRS CoffeehouseWBRS Coffeehouse, the only free weekly liveacoustic music series in the Boston area,can be heard live on WBRS 100.1 FM, as wellas on live Web stream at www.wbrs.org, andis free and open to the public of all ages. For

this semester’s performances lineup andschedule, go to www.wbrs.org and clickWBRS Concert Listings, or email ([email protected]). This week, pop/rock bandThe Heyday—which has been described as“the next-generation Fray” and “the epito-me of radio-friendly power pop” by DaveHerrera of The Denver Westword—will beplaying live on WBRS. Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in theShapiro Campus Center MultipurposeRoom.

K-Nite ’09This cultural event will include performanc-es of Tae Kwon Do, traditional Koreandrumming, fan dancing, modern dance andmuch more. During intermission, bubble teawill be sold, and following the conclusion ofthe event Korean food will be served.Tickets will be sold during lunch in upperUsdan Wednesday through Friday for $4 andat the door for $6.Saturday from 6 to 9 p.m. in the LevinBallroom.

Fortepiano & Friends: Female and MaleComposers in the MixThis event comprises a bold rendering ofclassical and early romantic chamber andvocal works that weaves the works ofextraordinary female composers amongthose of their male contemporaries and thatfeatures period winds and Brandeis’ newlyacquired Viennese fortepiano. The programincludes spirited music by HeleneMontgeroult, Louis Spohr, FannyMendelssohn Hensel, Mozart andMaddalena Sirmen. “Fortepiano & Friends”marks the launch of The Women and MusicProject: An Assemblage of Performing,Composing and Musicological Scholars fromthe Women’s Studies Research Center.Performers will include Pamela Dellal(mezzo-soprano), Diane Heffner (period clar-inets), Na’ama Lion (period flute) andVivian Montgomery (fortepiano).Admission is free of charge.Sunday from 3 to 5 p.m. in the SlosbergRecital Hall.

CALENDAR

INSIDE

■ Poetry with Jamele Adams 19Students were instructed in the art of slampoetry by the dean of student life.

■ Made of Metal 19Swedish and Finnish bands allied with aCalifornian cohort on a quest to crushBoston-area eardrums.

■ “Intended Consequences” 20A traveling exhibit about rape in Rwandacame to the Women’s Studies ResearchCenter.

■ Michael Shannon 21The Oscar-nominated actor spoke to studentsabout his role in Revolutionary Road.

■ ‘Underworld’ 21A gory movie about vampires and werewolvesfeatured numerous impalements.■ ‘Lark and Termite’ 22The novel by Jayne Anne Phillips made a daz-zling read despite an unpretentious exterior.

■ ‘Tranced’ and ‘Blackbird’ 23Troupes in Lowell and Boston competentlyexplored the complexities of social relation-ships in two new plays.

■ ‘It’s Not Me, It’s You’ 23Lily Allen revealed a sweeter, more matureside by combining charming melodies withclever lyrics on her latest album.

ON CAMPUS 18-21

PHOTO COURTESY OF ECU.EDU

CULTURE CLASH: ‘Persepolis’ tells the story of a young girl in 1970s Iran who listens to punkmusic and dresses in Western-style clothes as a form of rebellion against the Muslim theocracy.


WBRS1. Mike Quick – “Rain”2. Lily Allen – “The Fear”3. Andrew Bird – “Natural Disaster”4. TV on The Radio – “Golden Age”5. Beck – “Walls”6. Mogwai – “local authority”7. The Kills – “U.R.A. Fever”8. Blitzen Trapper – “Furr”9. M.Ward – “Jailbird”10. Booka Shade – “Dusty Boots”

Windows intoa dream world

Every spring since 1952, the Office of theArts at Brandeis has held the LeonardBernstein Festival of the Creative Arts.Founded by Leonard Bernstein himself, thefestival features performances by studentsand other members of the Brandeis communi-ty and is open to the public. This year, 21grants were given to a variety of communitymembers, including graduate student Mu-Hsuan Lin, who received $350 for her multi-media performance.

JustArts: In the list of grant winners pub-lished by the Office of the Arts, your projectwas described as “multimedia performancebased on original story, with chamber music,dance and video.” Can you describe it more?

Mu-Hsuan Lin: “A room of French windowsand limestone sculptures” is a project derivedfrom a larger project I am to accomplish in thenear future. As mainly a composer, I do otheracts of creativity in my spare time, and mycreative mind has often been invigorated withthe visions of beautiful experiences that areneither purely acoustic nor only visual. Theidea of doing a project like this is a result frommy long-time dissatisfaction of the limits ofthe art forms I have practiced individual-ly—not that I deny the distinct communica-tion of each art form, it is just that sometimesI experience “an experience” as in many artforms simultaneously.

In this, [my first attempt] at an inter-disci-plinary artwork, I function as both composerand the writer and collaborate with a dancerto realize my ideas for the video and thedance.

JA: What is the original story about?ML: I started writing a long story in the last

winter which was inspired by and embarkedwith an image that haunted me for manyyears—a unisexed little girl the protagonistencountered in a bookstore restroom inTaipei City. The long story, a poetic magicrealism piece (if you want to put a label), isstructured by a linearity of displacements oftime and space, inserted with several win-dows open to scenes on a stage or in a dream.With the encountering of the child as thestart, the protagonist went through a series ofevents which she thought was chronological(like a stage project she directed, whichspanned a year), but it never is clear whathappens first; with the child popping in andout of the story between dreams and realities,readers will eventually get confused with thenarrative. The part of “A room of French win-dows and limestone sculptures” is from adream the protagonist had which involves thesplit of an individual’s single narrative.

To realize the music part, the score calls fortwo singers, keyboards, strings, trombone,recorders, percussion and tape, or a simpli-fied version of this instrumentation: singers,one keyboard, one string, two wind instru-ments and small percussion. The challengingpart will be the use of the text—since I’m notwriting “incidental music,” how do I thenapply the story unabridged while carrying themusic into its fullest potential musical linear-ity? Though still in the sketching stage, I cur-rently have a solution which was done beforein my other music compositions: transformthe music in time through different narra-tives—from an operatic duet to the ambientmusic with narration, from a song to a musicdrama, from text painting to the recitative,etc. The video, interacting with the dancer,will feature a gallery-like dreamland in whichthe dancer performs a dance with sculpturesor, again, a simplified version of it. Dependson what I can get; the doubling and variationof the video and the dancer will, hopefully,demonstrate the split narrative the wholeexperience requires.

JA: Who is participating in the dance?ML: So far I am still trying to find a

dancer/performance artist.

—Andrea Fineman

Q & A

■ Mu-Hsuan Lin (GRAD) explainshow she will incorporate video anddance into a surreal performancefor the Festival of the Arts.

OFF CAMPUS 21-24

It all began early on the morning of Feb. 9,the day after the 2009 Grammy Awards; celebri-ty gossip blog Oh No They Didn’t received con-firmation that R&B singer Chris Brown wasbeing investigated by the LAPD in an allegedassault on a female. Instantly, rumors startedswarming that the victim was his superstargirlfriend Rihanna.

Information leaked very slowly, but later inthe day TMZ confirmed that the victim of thealleged attack was indeed Rihanna, and thecelebrity gossip world went certifiably insane.What had gone wrong?

The news that Brown had been abused by achild was greeted with mixed reactions.Experts agree that adults who come from abu-sive families are more likely to abuse their ownfamilies later in life. On the subject of the wayhis father abused his mother, Brown was quot-ed as saying, “I remember one night he madeher nose bleed. I was crying and thinking, ‘I’mjust gonna go crazy on him one day.’ ... I hatehim to this day.”

And where was Rihanna in all of this? Shespent most of the week with her friends andfamily, taking what was probably a much-need-ed break from the spotlight.

But the question in all of this is: when doesthe invasion of privacy become detrimental? Aphoto of Rihanna after the attack that wasleaked by the LAPD on TMZ may have grantedChris Brown his walking papers: “Brown, evenif guilty, may walk free because of the unau-thorized release of this photo,” said an LAPDsource, as the majority of the public would sidewith Rihanna after seeing this picture, and it’sunfair for a jury to be asked to make an objec-tive decision on something they’ve alreadymade up their minds on.

Domestic abuse is nothing to joke about in

any instance. Survivors around the world havevoiced their opinions, saying that Brownshould be everything from imprisoned to cas-trated. And everyone is waiting, with baitedbreath, for Rihanna’s take.

But she’s staying silent, and maybe that’swhat she needs. So paparazzi, please: While Ilove a good story as much as you do, give thegirl a break, or Rihanna supporters every-where will be forced to come after you and hityou with a massive umbrella.

Ella, ella.

EVAN AGOSTINI/the Associated Press

SOS: The “Umbrella” singer’s silence ought tobe respected by media outlets and fans alike.

Slam poetry, the act of taking apoem and infusing it with theatricalelements, is more than a casualhobby—it’s an art form. And onWednesday, Feb. 11, Brandeis stu-dents had the opportunity to learnabout it from master celebrated poetand our own dean of student lifeJamele Adams.

It was a night of relaxing fun inthe Shapiro TV Lounge, completewith hot apple cider and cookies.Students who arrived early had timeto socialize and get good spots on thecouches before Adams arrived, andwhen he did, it was in a flurry of coldwinter air and cheer.

While the event had been adver-tised as “Slam Poetry with JameleAdams,” very few details of thenight’s activities had been given outbeforehand and most people in theroom had little idea of what wasgoing to happen. I, for one, was ex-pecting a slam poetry performance,or maybe an impromptu poetry slamby members of the Brandeis SlamTeam. Instead, Adams handed outpieces of notebook paper and in-structed everyone to pick anotherperson in the room and write ahaiku about that person in threeminutes. Noticing that Massell QuadCommunity Development Coordina-tor Brian Koslowski was in theroom, he commented, “If you everwanted to write about your CDC,here’s your chance.”

After about three minutes of fran-tic scribbling and numerous pausesto count syllables on our fingers, wehad all completed passable haikus.Mine, I’m proud to say, did not endwith either “refrigerator” or “hip-popotamus” (both five-syllable “cop-out” words). The room favorite waswritten for the wonderful BrianKoslowski himself:

“Why are you happy?/Things inthe world are real bad./I want yourhairstyle.”

“Poetry,” Dean Adams said wheneveryone had finished giggling overhaikus, “is expression. It’s the abil-ity to have a voice and be heard.”

His words hit home, especiallygiven the time in which they werespoken. In addition to Februarybeing Black History Month, a com-memoration of the struggles minori-ties fought through in order to gettheir voices heard and a celebrationof that achievement, Brandeis stu-

dents are working more than ever toget their voices heard in the wake ofmajor University decisions beingmade without their input. Poetry hasbeen used to voice protest for gener-ations, from political unrest toteenage rebellion, and as Adams putit, the best way to use it is to bring itto life.

To demonstrate the difference be-tween a poetry reading and a poetryslam, he invited Brandeis SlamTeam member Sara Kass Levy ’12 upto recite one of her original poems.“Just say it,” he told her, and she ac-tually stared blankly at him for a

moment before fixing her gaze on thewall and started off in a jumble ofwords and phrases, blurring to-gether almost incomprehensibly. Hestopped her after a few moments andasked the assembled students whatthey thought.

When no one responded posi-tively, Adams asked Levy to recite itas a slam poem. And suddenly,everything changed. She stoodstraighter; her voice got stronger;and she brought the poem to life, fill-ing the entire room with emotionand power. When she finished, theroom was completely silent for a

long moment before everyone burstinto applause.

“Slam poetry is about bringing itfrom the page to the stage,” Adamssaid. “Slam is the most imperfectcompetition ever, imperfect and sub-jective because no two people willever hear a poem the same way. Butthat’s what makes it beautiful.”

As a final exercise, he asked us towrite a poem about a superhero ofour own creation. It needed to havea ride, a journey, a climax and avoice. When we finished writing, heinvited us to read our poems to thegroup, but he wanted us to “slam”

them— and if he felt it wasn’t beingread with enough emotion, he’d haveus do it again. Some of the poemswere funny—“Napkin Man,” “YesMan”—while some were deeper—“The Muse,” “The Maverick”—butthey all accomplished their purpose:showing us the thrill of writingsomething and bringing it to life.

Adams finished the evening with aparting piece of wisdom. “Words,”he said, “are the most powerfulthings in the world. They can startwars, they can break hearts, theycan save lives. Words are the mostpowerful things in the world.”

MUSIC

Adams teaches art of slam poetry■ The dean of student lifeinstructed students by way ofhaiku-writing excercises,poetry reading and slamdemonstrations.

By SHELLY SHOREJUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER


WORDSMITH WORKSHOP: At the Shapiro Campus Center, Jamele Adams encouraged attendees to express themselves through dynamic performances of their personal writing.EMILY KRAUS/the Justice

ON CAMPUS

Like the Black Death, Made of Metal returnsonce again to sow esoteric references andbouts of painful death among you all! Thisweek’s edition may be an account of a nearlytwo-week-old concert, but blame the Univer-sity’s erratic vacation schedule if you must.Pretend that you have just dug up a dusty oldtome (tomes are very metal), an account of anancient battle unearthed from the age of like,two weeks ago.

Now before I can calmly and accurately re-count the Feb. 12 massacre at the Palladium’supstairs club venue, I have a message for thelanky kid with the long hair, gray shirt (notvery metal at all), braces and squeaky voice:you smell terrible. I’ve had to stand next tomany offensive odors in my metal journey andyou were by far the worst. You smelled like atrashcan full of used baby diapers dipped in adeep frier. You smelled so bad you made me

want to give up my killer spot in the front row.To semi-quote my favorite publication: if youdon’t hate your own smell, you hate no smell.You were also very annoying. You annoyedme. You annoyed the people around you andyou annoyed the bands. Please don’t come toany more shows. Some people are trying toenjoy their lives. On to the music.

Swallow the Sun, Finland’s most depressingband ever and my main reason for attendingthe concert, was up first. In preparation forSTS’s first North American tour, every tree inNew England went bare, and the temperaturedropped to nearly zero as frozen matter fellfrom the sky (this could also be the effect ofthe phenomenon humans call “winter,” but Idon’t believe in coincidences).

The sextet’s brand of lurching doom-deathseemed a little out of place on a bill boastingmostly whirlwind thrash bands, but theyproved more invigorating in the live arenathan I had expected. Despite expressions rang-ing from stoic to downright grim, Swallow theSun played like champs for the 20 or so peoplewho had streamed into the club early. Open-ing up with the appropriately titled “Descend-ing Winters,” STS touched on each of theiralbums, even whipping out, much to my de-

light, two tracks from their first demo, “Out ofThis Gloomy Light” and the crushing “Swal-low.” The sound man even managed to keepthat fickle ol’ “suck” knob on the sound boarddialed down to zero, allowing the more deli-cate atmospheric touches to shine throughwith melodies that could squeeze tears from astone. If you haven’t checked these dudes outyet, do yourself a favor.

Next up was California’s Warbringer, aband whose faux-retro thrash wares I’verailed on at least once before in the pages ofthis mysterious tome. But while I still could-n’t care less for this regurgitated, one-dimen-sional garbage, I’m willing to divorce myaesthetic tastes from my desire to have fun inthe live arena. I can’t tell you the names of anysongs because they are generally identicalthree- to four-minute blasts of Bay area-de-rived classic thrash metal, but I can tell youthat it makes for a heck of a live show.

The final act for the night was Sweden’shyper-technical/progressive/death-thrashveterans Darkane. Though I only own one oftheir albums, Layers of Lies, I thought I knewenough of their other “hits” to maintain a gen-erally solid grasp of the set. My degree ofpreparation turned out to be completely irrel-

evant, though, because somehow the soundman lost control of that devilish “suck” knob.That thing must have been set to the power of10 because I’m pretty sure that the guitars andlead mic weren’t even on when the playingstarted.

After a song or two, this situation was some-what rectified with a nondescript buzzingheard from the amps. At one point, mastershredder Klas Ideberg yelled a slew of profan-ities at the soundman, prompting him to turnsaid nondescript buzz way up. This made for akiller live mix consisting of really loud drumsand a massive buzzing noise. Fortunately,through some divine miracle the sound was al-most perfect for my favorite Darkanethrashterpiece, “Secondary Effects.”

Truth be told, there was one more band,Sweden’s Soilwork, but they left me so brokenand betrayed in my early metal years (4 greatalbums followed by a pretty blatant stab atcommercial acceptance) that I couldn’t bringmyself to watch them live, even to see themplay the epic “Millionflame.” I left the Palla-dium partially deaf, heavy bruised and achingand greedily clutching Darkane guitaristChristofer Malmström’s pick. A night of truebrutality.

Daniel D.SNYDERMADE OF METAL

“Suck” knob does little to deter brutality, mayhem

“Today I have a big challenge:I am a mother but feel unwillingto be a mother. Whenever I lookat this child, the memories ofrape return. … I don’t love herlike a mother ought to love achild.” This quote was takenfrom the testimony of Philom-ena, a Tutsi woman who wasraped by Hutu militiamen dur-ing the Rwandan genocide andwho conceived a child as a re-sult. The Rwandan genocide isone of the most brutal acts of vi-olence to occur in this centuryand left over 800,000 dead. Butwhat happened to those who sur-vived? This is the question ad-dressed by the exhibit currentlyon display in the KniznickGallery.

On Monday, Feb. 23 theWomen’s Studies Research Cen-ter hosted the opening receptionfor this show, titled “IntendedConsequences: Rwandan Chil-dren Born of Rape.” The exhibi-tion is comprised of interviewsand photographs taken byJonathan Torgovnik, an Israelicurrently living in New York.Torgovnik is a photojournalistwho makes his living reportingfor magazines and who first be-came aware of the issue of Rwan-dan children born of rape whilein Africa on assignment. He thenset about collecting testimoniesover the course of three yearsand multiple trips to Rwanda.

The Rwandan genocide beganApril 7, 1994 and lasted 100 days.During this time, about 800,000Rwandans were slaughtered.The conflict was between theHutus and the Tutsis, two ethnicgroups in Rwanda, and involvedthe use of rape as a weapon ofwar by Hutu militiamen.Around 20,000 children wereborn as a result of these rapes.Many of the women contractedHIV as well, adding to their suf-

fering.The show is a traveling exhibit

and will go on a 10-college tour,with Brandeis as its first stop.Margot Moinester ’09 and NoamSchuster ’11 are the students re-sponsible for bringing this ex-hibit to campus. Moinester hasvisited Rwanda twice, first on agrant from the Ethics Center andsecond on a separate grant.Schuster will be visiting Rwandafor the first time this summer,also as a part of a program by theEthics Center.

The exhibit chronicles thelives of 25 Tutsi women and theirchildren, who were conceivedwhen the women were raped.Some women even have two chil-dren as a result of repeated rape.In their testimonies the womenexpress emotions ranging fromnumbness to anger to hope.Some, like Philomena, have trou-ble loving their children. Otherssay that their children are theonly hope in their lives. All ofthe women live in abjectpoverty. Their stories, told in astraightforward manner, arehorrifying, their photographschilling.

This is the first time that mostof these women are telling theirstories. Torgovnik explainedthat many of the women wantedtheir trials told to the world butwere too afraid to talk about it athome. In most of Africa, there isa major social stigma against awoman who has been raped andthere is an even worse stigma fora child conceived as a result ofrape. There is also a seriousstigma against those infectedwith HIV/AIDS. Unfortunatelyfor these women, most have beenafflicted by all three, and havebeen shunned by their remain-ing family members for havingchildren that are half of the“enemy.” Many of these womenhave not told their children thecircumstances of their birth,choosing to keep their children

in the dark as to their true fa-thers’ identities.

All of the women’s storieshave multiple layers, each full ofthe horrors that have been in-flicted on them during the geno-cide. However, Torgovnik’s goalwas not to simply relay horrorstory after horror story: “I’m nottelling these stories to shock peo-ple. It is important to make peo-ple really understand the level ofbrutality enacted on thesewomen. They are still dealingwith the consequences of thetrauma.”

Torgovnik hopes that his artwill be an instrument to bring-ing about social change and willhelp these women get the helpthat they need. “This is the storyof one person to understand a bigproblem. It is the only way to un-derstand,” Torgovnik says. Healso urged students to become in-volved with local programs tohelp prevent violence againstwomen. Torgonik recognizesthat while the violence that hashappened in Rwanda was an ex-treme, violence against womenis an international problem thataffects all communities.

For students who are lookingto become more involved withthe improvement of thesewomen’s lives, Torgovnik hasco-founded a non-profit organi-zation called FoundationRwanda. The money raised willgo towards providing an educa-tion for the children and psycho-logical care for the mothers.More information is availableonline at www.foundationrwanda.org.

Yvette, one of the survivors,said, “Tell the world that if wedie, we are leaving behind thesechildren, these children whowere born when the world waslooking away and never came toour rescue.” With the help ofpeople like Torgovnik, though,these children will have accessto a more promising future.

Jonathan Torgovnick’s exhibitshows the faces of rape victims

SOMBER SNAPSHOTS: Visitors to the Women’s Research Studies Center view photos of Rwandan women with their children born of rape. The “Intended Consequences” exhibit will be on display until April 9.JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/the Justice

By RACHEL KLEINJUSTICE STAFF WRITER

CRUELLEGACY: Awoman andher daughtersit for a pic-ture. The girlis one of anestimated20,000 chil-dren born asa result ofrape duringthe Rwan-dan geno-cide of1994.


FAMILY ALBUM: This photo is one of a series taken by Jonathan Torgovnik as away of raising awareness about the lasting effects of the Rwandan atrocities.


ntended consequencesntended consequencesI I 20 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2009 ● THE JUSTICE

The first thing that strikes you when you hearOscar nominee Michael Shannon speak is the wayhe takes things in stride. “[The nomination] ispretty neat. In some ways, it’s a lot of pressure. Be-fore that you were able to surprise people. Now it’slike, ‘He better be good!’”

Shannon, a Best Supporting Actor nominee forhis role in Revolutionary Road, appeared at theWasserman Cinematheque on Feb. 12 for a ques-tion-and-answer session moderated by Brandeisalumnus Scott Feinberg, a blogger for the Los An-geles Times. It marked the fifth installment of theTimes’ East Coast Contender Q-and-A Series. Pre-vious participants include fellow Oscar nomineesRichard Jenkins and Melissa Leo.

Shannon portrays John Givings, a “derangedWill Rogers” type on loan from the local mental in-stitution. In order to acclimate him to the realworld after countless electroshock treatments, hismother (Kathy Bates) introduces him to the film’sprotagonists, Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) andApril (Kate Winslet) Wheeler. The film focuses ontheir marriage, which crumbles as a result of the“hopeless emptiness” of suburbia. Shannon’sscreen time is minimal; he appears in only twoscenes totaling eight minutes, making his per-formance the shortest to be nominated at thisyear’s Oscars.

The nomination surprised Shannon, who wasattending the Sundance Film Festival on themorning the nominees were announced. “I waspretty certain I wasn’t going to get nominated, soI made the mistake of going to a midnight screen-

ing the night before. It’s 6:30 a.m. My phone begandoing things I didn’t know it could do. I thought itwas going to be like a Transformer and turn into alittle man and start attacking me. I spent about thenext 12 hours on the phone.”

Shannon spoke highly of his fellow nominees, acompany of actors that includes Josh Brolin,Robert Downey Jr., Philip Seymour Hoffman andHeath Ledger (who was eventually awarded theOscar for Best Supporting Actor on Feb. 22). “I’mparticularly fond of [Downey] in Tropic Thunder.I thought that was one of the funniest things I’veever seen.”

Prior to Revolutionary Road, Shannon was pri-marily known as a stage actor, with his role in the2004 production of Bug winning him numerous ac-colades. He also made numerous supporting ap-pearances in films like Pearl Harbor, 8 Mile andBefore the Devil Knows You’re Dead. He went onwin praise for the 2007 film adaptation of Bug.

Shannon voiced his enthusiasm for the 1961Richard Yates novel from which RevolutionaryRoad was adapted. He received the book from hisgirlfriend at the time.

“It was the first gift she ever gave me. Greatbook, but I thought; ‘Are you trying to tell mesomething?’” he joked.

Upon discovering that a film adaptation wasbeing made, Shannon had his agent schedule ameeting in what he termed a “pretty classic audi-tion scenario.” He read a scene opposite casting di-rector Debbie Zahn, who stood in for Kathy Bates.

“There’s a point in that scene where I tell her toshut up. She said she never felt so demoralizedreading with an actor on an audition, that I really

hurt her feelings, which I guess is a compliment,”he recalled.

After nabbing the role, he focused on the bookfor preparation. “All the work you really need todo is to just read the book. It really is one of thefinest books I’ve ever read. The way that Yates de-scribes the character. … He’s just so completelyfleshed out.”

Shannon enthusiastically delved into the me-chanics of his character, pointing out his role asthe story’s “truthteller.” He noted the way inwhich John’s remarks often caused the audienceto laugh, emphasizing that John is a “sad, pathetichuman being [just like] a lot of comedians are sad,pathetic human beings by their own admission.”

“The main reason that John behaves the way hebehaves and says the things he says is that he’s nottrying to maintain any sort of life for himself. Johncan’t take care of himself. He can sit all day andpoint out everyone’s insufficiencies, but at the endof the day, … John [is the one who] goes and sits ina cell somewhere and stares out the window. Ithink John’s a person easily admired from a dis-tance, but if he were here right now, I don’t thinkanyone would want to talk to him.”

Any insecurity he had about the role disap-peared upon putting on his wardrobe. “When I putthat suit on and they slicked my hair down, Ilooked in the mirror and I said, ‘Oh, yeah, there heis.’ It was kind of from the outside in.”

Shannon spent five days on set filming his twoscenes, both of which were opposite Winslet, Di-Caprio and Bates. He singled out DiCaprio andWinslet, calling them “approachable, groundedpeople.” When Shannon somehow managed to

drool on DiCaprio’s crotch in a comic outtake, Di-Caprio played it cool. “You would never know hewas a movie star,” Shannon said.

Shannon also praised the intelligence and intu-ition of director Sam Mendes, best known for hiswork on American Beauty. He was surprised bythe amount of notes Mendes took during taping,remarking that he “never worked before with a[film] director who did that.” Mendes also “wouldnever do another take without saying somethingmeaningful” about what the scene was meant toconvey. Most of all, Shannon was struck by theway “everyone on the set was united by their pas-sion for the book.”

Though he worries about not living up to themoniker of “Academy Award-nominated actorMichael Shannon,” he has several projects in thepipeline that should solidify his place in the filmindustry. This year alone he will appear in filmslike The Missing Person, 13 and The Greatest, co-starring with the likes of Mickey Rourke, SusanSarandon and Pierce Brosnan. Currently, Shan-non is filming Werner Herzog’s My Son, My Son,What Have Ye Done? On top of all that, he is ten-tatively attached to star in the new HBO seriesBoardwalk Empire, the pilot of which will be di-rected by the legendary Martin Scorsese. Even ifhis numerous future endeavors somehow manageto disappoint, Shannon points out that he alreadyhas a healthy acting résumé both on and off screento fall back on.

“There are people who come up to me and say,‘I saw you in a play!’ There are also those peoplewho go ‘Yo! You were in 8 Mile! You were in thetrunk in Bad Boys II!’”

By SEAN FABERYJUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER


‘Revolutionary’ star stops by BrandeisSHANNON SOUNDS OUT: Michael Shannon, right, whose appearance in the film ‘Revolutionary Road’ earned him a Best Supporting Actor nomination, was interviewed by Brandeis alumnus Scott Feinberg on Feb. 12.


MICHAEL SHANNON AT BRANDEIS

It’s no secret that the Oscars, our na-tion’s most prestigious, pretentious andexpensive awards, are floundering. View-ership hits a new low every year, as havethe costs of advertising slots during thethree hour-plus ceremony; they’ve cycledthrough multiple potential hosts (arrivingat not-so-superstar Hugh Jackman), andworst of all, they’ve become predictable.All of the top films have had an awardlocked down since they debuted as farback as June. These days, you can spot anOscar winner a mile away. The ingredi-

ents are pretty simple: Take two parts sen-sitive subject matter (Nazis, gay rights,global warming), one part big-name actor(DiCaprio, Winslett, Penn), sprinklehousehold-name director, bake at 350 de-grees, and serve it up to a society whosemembers’ tastes are well known. I say wespice up the Oscars with some snazzy newcategories, ones that might actually stir upsome controversy among the voters.

So, without further ado I submit for“Most Entertaining Viewing Experience”:Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.

By traditional standards of good taste,character development, convincing per-formance, emotional attachment and plot,it was a terrible movie. Simply awful. Iimagine the creative process for this filmwent something like this:

Writer Alan: Well, the script is due to-morrow. What’ve we got?

Writer Bernard: Nothing really. Wehave like half a page of notes, and I can’t

read your handwriting. It’s more than wehad for the other two Underworldmovies,but I think we should turn in at least apage this time. I need my Christmas bonusto pay child support.

Writer Alan: What about that script wewrote at the meth party? You rememberthe one. It was a mix of Interview with aVampire, Teen Wolf, Braveheart, TheRockand Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.

Writer Bernard: Brilliant! It practicallywrites itself! Cut and paste some dialoguefrom some other movies. Don’t rip any-thing too good. We can’t have anyonepicking up on our evil scheme. I’m going togo do drugs in the bathroom.

Now, fortunately for the degenerates atScreen Gems, the traditional elements of a“good” movie aren’t always what viewersare looking for, and therein lies thestrength of Underworld. It’s not that it’s sobad it’s funny; it’s more like the writers,knowing full well they had no chance of

winning any critical acclaim, decided tothrow everything into the pot and hopethe end result would be outrageousenough to entertain and entice oddballmoviegoers. The result? The only film of2009 (and perhaps ever) to feature a hordeof charging werewolves attempting toovertake a castle held by an elite caste ofvampire rulers. And as a fan of were-wolves, swordplay and acts of impale-ment, I was willing to see Underworld atthe behest of two friends with similartastes. Much to my surprise, I actually en-joyed myself.

If nothing else, Underworld delivers inthe impalement category with flying col-ors. Everyone gets stabbed. Everyone.You can’t go 10 minutes in this moviewithout one of the characters gettingstuck with a sharp object, be it a sword,spear, arrow, dagger, ballista or spinningwhirly blade. Lead werewolf MichaelSheen alone should get an Oscar for “Most

Stab Wounds Received in a Feature Film.”One of the scenes even features a kind ofimpalement obstacle course as a group ofcanine rebels attempt to flee from theirvampiric captors under heavy spear-fire.

There’s plenty here for fans of dismem-berment as well, with plenty of limbs,even torsos, severed and spurting. Prettycool.

Unfortunately, all the guts and gore arespaced between some seriously unbear-able bouts of dialogue, but truthfully, I wastoo busy laughing it up with my sidekicksto really notice or care. The strength of Un-derworld isn’t so much the movie itselfbut the experience it provides the audi-ence.

The rest of the world might not take no-tice, but if you want a good laugh withyour friends and you’ve never seen awerewolf tackle a vampire on a castle walland bite his head off in midair, go see thismovie.

FILM

Over-the-top ‘Underworld’ hellishly entertaining

By DANIEL D. SNYDERJUSTICE EDITOR

■ Despite its horrible plot,and terrible dialogue, thefilm is outrageous enough toamuse most moviegoers.

Jayne Anne Phillips’s new novelLark & Termite does not stand outon the “new fiction” table at the localBarnes & Noble. Its cover isn’t glossyor glamorous; it’s brown, black andblue and looks like it’s made out of agrocery bag. But, as the saying goes,Lark & Termite is much more thanits modest cover suggests.

Much like William Faulkner’s TheSound and the Fury, Lark & Termitespans only four days in July of 1959,yet we see each day’s events from adifferent person’s perspective andtime. Seventeen-year-old Lark ofWinfield, Virginia goes to secretar-ial school at night and takes care ofher disabled brother Termite duringthe day. Though Termite, chair-bound, cannot speak or walk, hehears and senses things other peoplecan’t. He hears the ragged orangealley cat as it creeps on its belly be-hind the neighborhood houses orrests under Nick Tucci and the Boys’porch. Lark and Nonie, the siblings’aunt and caretaker, can’t hear, andTermite “says and says and says.”

During the day, Nonie works atCharlie’s, a local restaurant run byits namesake that is constantlyhaunted by the presence of hismother Gladdy, who disapproves ofCharlie’s treatment of Nonie, Larkand Termite. Charlie and Nonie loveeach other, but won’t marry becausethings are going well as they are.Nick Tucci, too, stops by Sundays tomow the lawn, following Lark’smovements protectively, becomingone of the other men that make uptheir extended neighborhood family.

And then of course, there’s Lola,Lark and Termite’s mother, whosang nights at Billy Onslow’s club inLouisville and who gave them overto Nonie’s care. Though she is ab-sent, Lola’s name rolls off people’stongues in Winfield as if she were areincarnation of Nabokov’s infa-

mous Lolita. Yet all Lark and Ter-mite have left of her are six card-board boxes marked “Florida” thatlie unopened in their basement. Cor-poral Robert Leavitt, Termite’s fa-ther and Lola’s young husband,drifts in and out of consciousness inKorea, wounded by friendly fire andtrapped in a tunnel with a self-sacri-ficing girl and her blind youngerbrother.

Then comes the flood in Winfieldthat threatens to destroy everythingand changes Lark and Termite’slives forever, as it turns up bits andpieces of their past as furniture anddebris float through the town.

This may just sound like some-thing you could read on any bookjacket; I, myself, was skeptical as towhether it would turn out to be somesentimental, clichéd, soap opera-likedrama, a book I felt I had alreadyread a million times before.

As I read further and further intotheir lives, however, all my fearsfaded away as I became enchantedwith Phillips’ prose. Every sight,smell and sound were described withsuch great detail and care that Igradually felt my world and theirsmerging irrevocably. I even foundmyself on a plane ride down toFlorida just as Lark and Termiterode in a boxcar to Florida them-selves.

And that was how, as the flight at-tendants told me I had to turn off mycomputer, I knew I had read a greatbook. I showed all the signs of what Icall a “reader’s high”: a drunkenconfusion I feel whenever I have fin-ished a good book, one that trans-ports me to another world entirely,so that when it ends I’m not quitesure where I am. I feel like I’ve justwoken up from a vivid dream.

Perhaps I’m only praising Lark &Termite so much because I’m stillriding that high, drunk on Phillips’words. But, whatever the case, I doknow it would be a shame for anyoneto pass this book by for the moreglamorous books on the “new fic-tion” tables. At the very least, don’tjudge this book by its cover. Someclichés are not nearly as terrible asyou think, or even clichés at all, andLark & Termite is definitely one ofthose.

‘Lark’ is a worthwhile literary romp■ Jayne Anne Phillip’s latestoffering describes the trials ofa disabled young man namedTermite and his sister Lark.

By KRISTEN SMITHJUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

UNDERCOVER GEM: ‘Lark and Termite’’s modest cover conceals an enchanting saga about strangely named Southern siblings.PHOTO COURTESY OF RANDOM HOUSE


OFF CAMPUSBOOK REVIEW

This past week I saw two plays, bothwith powerful scripts and strong,small casts. They were both done pro-fessionally and gave audiences seriousissues to ponder. While the theater canbe a place to escape the harsh realitiesof the world, Lowell and Boston arehome to a kind of art that did just theopposite. I was taken deeper into myown realities and led through a path ofthe common existence shared by allhumans everywhere.

The first show I saw was BobClyman’s Tranced by the MerrimackRepertory Theater, a production abouta hypnotherapist asked to help ayoung African student having diffi-culties in preparing for exams. Thegirl’s difficulties are likely due to therepression of a traumatic event. A re-porter is called in to listen to the pa-tient’s taped sessions, because theyare relevant to a politically controver-sial project being planned by theAfrican government that has been ap-proved by the U.S. The reporter agreesto take on the story and is caught be-tween the psychologist’s office andthat of a U.S. bureaucrat connected tothe pending endeavor in Africa.

What stems out of this plot is a se-ries of conversations that presents uswith a very real yet often overlookedinsight into humanity: We are all try-ing to entrance those we are with. Inthe context of Tranced, the doctor triesto put his patient under a spell inorder to ease the transition from re-pression to memory while the officialattempts to distract the reporter in thehopes that she might stop digging forthe truth. And even when we think wehave someone else under our control,that could just mean we ourselves areunder a trance and our apparent con-trol is but an illusion.

Tranced is a well-written play. Ithink some of the scenes dragged on abit too long and that one was entirelyunnecessary, but other than that theproduction was solid and unique. It’salways a relief to see something unex-pected and different.

However, many of the lines werefumbled, and there were cases of over-acting, especially with the all-too-common over-movement of the hands.But the lines are probably straight-ened out by now (I saw Tranced open-ing night), and hand movement-itishappens. I can forgive these things be-cause they barely bothered me; it wastoo good a show for me to be concernedwith a few imperfections here andthere.

Straight plays (plays withoutsinging and dancing) are difficult toperform. For one, the actors mustreach and maintain levels of energy

that take hard work to pull off whenthere are no instruments to back themup. Add to that the burden of learningdozens of pages’ worth of lines. And ifit’s not a comedy, gauging each audi-ence’s reaction is complicated; in amusical, those on stage can hear thevolume and enthusiasm of various ap-plauses, while for a comedy, laughteris the response. Tranced was not de-void of jokes or witty remarks. On thecontrary, there were plenty of funnymoments that evoked laughter, justnot enough to make it a comedy per se.

Performing eight times a week re-quires professionalism. The four ac-tors I witnessed last Sunday wereprofessionals—if someone messed upa line, the mistake was quickly fixed,and the actor moved on. The energynever declined, and the emotions werefor the most part genuine. These char-acteristics were all the more impres-sive considering that when acting is ajob, it takes considerable talent tomake it seem as though acting is not ajob.

The four actors weren’t the onlyones who made the night a success.There was never (and I rarely saynever) a technical glitch, a problemcommon in plays by sub-professionalsand sometimes, unfortunately, by pro-fessionals as well. The frequent boomsand background clips of tribal musicwere well-chosen complements to thetheme. The set was simple and rele-vant to the story. With no superfluity,the desks and few pieces of artworkdid not distract my eyes from the ac-tion. This is exactly the way a set forthis specific show needs to be.

And the director, Kyle Fabel, obvi-ously knew what he was doing. Thestage direction for each scene reflectedthe tension or lack thereof between thefour good-intentioned characters, asynchronization of walking and sit-

ting with nervousness and relief, en-gagement and departure with comfortand fear. The focus is absolutely a tes-tament to how gifted David Adkins,Zainab Jah, Kimber Riddle and MarkZeisler are, but it is also further evi-dence of Fabel’s competence.

A week later I went to see theSpeakeasy Stage Company’s produc-tion of Blackbird, a Boston-area pre-miere co-produced with the BostonCenter for the Arts. This was anotherprofessionally done show. It was writ-ten by David Harrower and includedperformances by only two leads.Blackbird concerns a specific, univer-sal and deep issue; about 20 minutesinto the show the plot explodes with ashocking twist, though I’m not at lib-erty to give away what it is. I can tellyou, however, that it’s about relation-ships and the power shifts that con-stantly take place between twodesperate, lonely people.

Blackbird left me asking questions

and realizing how close to home the-ater can bring us. It’s a show thatkicks the audience in the rear andforces it to pay attention (producingArtistic Director, Paul Daigneault,calls the play “riveting” and “intense.”I agree). It’s a show that anyone can re-late to, even though its subject is onethat is (hopefully) absent most peo-ple’s lives.

The past, Blackbird explains, is al-ways with us. Can we really ever getover it? Can we really ever let go of for-mer romances, experiences and disap-pointments? Will we eternally feelguilty for the things we screwed up?Love, according to Blackbird, is notonly complicated because of its tim-ing, because of something as dull yetupsettingly significant as logistics, butbecause we have yet to figure out whatlove really is in the first place. Doesobsession count? How about passion?And why does hate accompany love sooften?

Essentially, Blackbird is all abouthow our feelings and attitudes changeso quickly (and randomly) when weare with our partners. We hurt eachother, and we destroy ourselves, aswell. Is that our way of making sacri-fices, nobly, in order to transcend sim-ple comforts for a more meaningfulconnection? Harrower suggests other-wise: that life’s interactions are suchbecause we’re just not strong enoughand not perfect enough to have idealrelationships. This play, for certain, isnot about any kind of ordinary rela-tionship. Then again, is there anysuch thing as an “ordinary” relation-ship, anyway? Most couples, we are re-minded, are enmeshed in battles thatinvolve aspects that are anything butthe norm. And yet most couples, con-ventional or not, have in commonmany of these battles: who’s in charge,how to value honesty, ordering priori-ties, and so on.

The idea that straight plays are in-credibly difficult is especially true fora show with only two actors; Mari-anna Bassham (Brandeis MFA ’02)and Bates Wilder delivered Har-rower’s words back and forth for 90minutes, with no intermission, noscene change. From the second theywent on stage they were blunt, in yourface and full of adrenaline. This is nosmall feat—beginning with suchpower takes a lot of preparation andfocus, but the script is challenging andcalls for it. Bassham and Wilder werechallenged and they succeeded.

Every once in a while I was unsureof where the energy and script weregoing, but just when I thought it mightall be going downhill, a new fact wouldhit me in the head and the actorswould rise up to even greater heights,making me care even more. The bestway to describe the dynamic on stageis that it was a roller coaster of emo-tions and information. At first I wasannoyed, but it grew on me mostly be-cause it was real, raw and representedhow unstable everything can becomein a delicate situation. Director DavidR. Gammons understood this conceptand took advantage of it, albeit maybetoo much from time to time; The stagedirection could have been scaled downa tad.

One aspect of Blackbird that I hopegets credit from other reviewers, too,is the costume design by Gail AstridBuckley. Buckley had to dress eachcharacter in one set of clothing for theentire show. There were no scenechanges and as a result, no need forcostume changes. Buckley got it right.The attires subtly completed the pic-ture of who each character really was.I noticed this at the beginning, andnear the end it’s actually explicitlymentioned by the characters, thougheach in a different way, a different con-text and subtext.

I highly suggest you see this show,but I should warn that it contains par-tial nudity and a plot that puts on thetable a disturbing topic not suitablefor those under 16. That aside, not onlyis this great performance taking placeright in Boston, but one of the per-formers was trained here at Brandeis.


After nearly four years, Lily Allenhas finally begun to make headlinesfor all the right reasons again. Feb.10 saw the release of the original My-Space starlet’s sophomore attempt,It’s Not Me, It’s You, which featuresthe thoughts and fears of a 22-year-old poised at the precipice of adult-hood. As a wise woman once saidyears ago: not a girl, not yet awoman.

Accordingly, the new record isrife with turmoil stemming from allavenues of discontent, political, per-sonal and all the glorious goods in

between. This time around, how-ever, the bratty persona from yearspast has been replaced by a morededicated musician, a personalityoften embodied by Allen herself inrecent interviews.

With “Everyone’s At It“ and “TheFear,” the album’s lead-off tracks,Allen sets the bar high from the be-ginning. Together, the two broodingelectro-pop social critiques bounceoff each other in a deliciously darkmanner and create an atmospherethat is carried forth for the remain-der of the album.

“Back To The Start” is a particu-lar highlight of the album. Hoveringatop a brittle, breaking chorus,Allen teeters across a slippery stringof apologies: “Believe me when I saythat I cannot apologize enough ...And if it’s not too late/Can youplease find it deep within yourheart/To try and go back/Go back tothe start?” As soon as the echoingchoral bridges between the choruses

chime in, it’s already over. The trackis a certified stormer.

“Who’d Have Known” is an espe-cially tender, if not surprising mo-ment as we find Allen at the brink ofsomething beautiful: “Even thoughit’s moving forward, there’s just theright amount of awkward/Todayyou accidentally called me baby,”she coos with a wisp of girlish ex-citement.

“Chinese” appropriately follows,as Allen opens up once more: “To-morrow we’ll take the dog for thewalk in the afternoon, and maybewe’ll talk. I’ll be exhausted, so I’llprobably sleep. Then we’ll get Chi-nese and watch TV.” Frank, yetcharming nonetheless.

“Him” will likely garner the great-est flack from the buttoned-ups as itplays like a modern rendition of theclassic Joan Osborne track, “One OfUs.” Reimagining God in morehuman terms, Allen twirls aroundthrough a dizzying, down-tempo

electronica set: “I don’t imagine he’sever been suicidal/His favorite bandis Creedance Clearwater Revival.”

Much to my surprise, It’s Not Meis not only a stronger set than Al-right, Still, but a more fluid one aswell. The melodies and music meldinto one another quite effortlesslythroughout this album, creating amore satisfying, cohesive follow-upto her debut. And in place of the feel-good, reggae and ska stylings of herformer effort is a kind of Westerntwang, tied along by a string of elec-tronica strands throughout. How-ever, unlike that of, say, Lady Gaga’srecord, the recurring electronicasamples found throughout thealbum feel like welcome re-intro-ductions rather than cheaply recy-cled beats.

From time to time, Lily Allen stillsweeps her feet into the depths ofsilly, an aspect that can be foundeverywhere from the sweetlynaughty chastising of a poorly per-

forming lover in “Not Fair” to thewhirling, carousel kiss-off known as“Never Gonna Happen.” More often,though, we find the self-created star-let soaring into new reaches of gor-geous, layered vocals with the aid ofwell-crafted, minimalist lyricism.The craft, no doubt influenced by themasters before her known as the PetShop Boys, proves ultimatelycharming in the end.

My only point of contention isthat, barring the massive “Back ToThe Start,” the album’s most memo-rable tracks remain the ones leakedby the artist herself earlier last year.Not that the other tracks are poor byany means, but there’s still no top-ping the sensational construction oftracks such as “I Could Say” or “TheFear.”

Then again, times were shakierthen with the collapse of EMI, andI'm willing to bet even Allen was un-sure if the record would ever see thelight of day. Thankfully, it has.

MUSIC

Allen settles down, opens up with ‘It’s Not Me’

By BRAD STERNJUSTICE STAFF WRITER

■ The British pop star’smost recent album reveals amore mature mindset andsurpasses her debut.

By DANIEL BARONJUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Local plays are a polished pairTHEATER

■ Two expertly producedBoston-area plays, one featuring a Brandeisalumna, take an intimatelook at human relationships.

BUSINESS CASUAL: In Tranced, a journalist (Kimber Riddle) consults a governmentofficial (David Adkins) about the political situation in a fictional African country.

PHOTO COURTESY OF DAN BERUBE

THE DOCTOR IS IN: A troubled student (Zainab Jah) and her therapist (Mark Zeisler) work through her problems in ‘Tranced.’PHOTO COURTESY OF DAN BERUBE


Through the Lens


BRANDEIS

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Try to say as lit-tle as possible about the work you’re doingthrough the end of the month. Then you canmake your announcement and accept your well-deserved plaudits.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) You face a moredifficult challenge than you expected. But withthat strong Taurean determination, you shouldbe able to deal with it successfully by week’send.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Before you act onyour “feelings” about that upcoming decision, itmight be wise to do a little fact checking first.You could be very much surprised by what youdon’t find.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) A recent work-place success can open some doors that werepreviously closed to you. On a personal level,expect to receive some important news from alongtime friend and colleague.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) Put your woundedpride aside and do what you must to heal thatmisunderstanding before it takes a potentiallyirreversible turn and leaves you regretting theloss of a good friend.

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) One wayto kick a less-than-active social life into highgear or rebuild an outdated Rolodex file is tothrow one of your well-organized get-togethersfor friends and associates.

LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Gettingout of an obligation you didn’t really want totake on can be tricky. An honest explanation ofthe circumstances can help. Next time, paymore attention to your usually keen instincts.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Useyour Scorpion logic to push for a no-nonsenseapproach to a perplexing situation. This could

help keep present and potential problems fromcreating more confusion.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December21) A friend’s problem might take more timethan you want to give. But staying with it onceagain proves the depth of your Sagittarianfriendship and loyalty.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19)The Sea Goat can benefit from an extra dose ofself-confidence to unsettle your detractors, giv-ing you the advantage of putting on a strongpresentation of your position.

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) Youmight want to ask a friend or relative for adviceon an ongoing personal matter. But be carefulnot to give away information you might laterwish you had kept secret.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Use theweekend for a creativity break to help restoreyour spiritual energy. Once that’s done, you'llbe back and more than ready to tackle whateverchallenge you need to face.

BORN THIS WEEK: You get great joy out ofcreating beautiful things and sharing them withothers who appreciate them.

ACROSS1. Pocket bread5. Gentle soul9. Force12. Tel —13. Winglike14. Performance15. Sheik portrayer17. Grazing area18. Main course19. Indigent21. “Why should I care?”22. One of Santa's team24. Donated27. Wrestling surface28. Mounties’ org.31. Mideast potentate32. Hearty brew33. Savings-plan acronym34. Unescorted36. Wrigley product37. History38. Singer Minogue40. “That's a laugh!”41. Fashion43. Glum47. Melody48. Ratified51. Oahu souvenir52. Satan’s field53. Conked out54. Prior to55. Welsh veggie56. Catch sight of

DOWN1. Macadamize2. Terrible guy?3. Pinball no-no4. Loath (to)5. Tardy6. Will Smith biopic

7. Isle of —8. Cheery place?9. Orange variety10. On the rocks11. Obedience-school lesson16. Ultra-modernist20. Alway22. Price23. Particular24. Petrol25. Way back when26. Maiden of Odin27. Creche trio29. “— Doubtfire”30. Vanna’s colleague

35. Olive —37. Procession39. Not bumpy40. Coal carrier41. Garage event42. Layer43. “Got —?”44. Elevator name45. Leak slowly46. Vortex49. St.50. Whopper

King Crossword Copyright 2007 King Features Synd., Inc.

The Ice of BrandeisAround campus, winter continuesto linger in the form of chillingwinds and deep freezes that occurovernight. Here, delicate icicles

hanging from an installment in theBrandeis landscape are a fragilereminder of the staying power ofthe current season.

Enter digits from 1to 9 into each blankspace so that everyrow, column and3x3 square containsone of each digit.

Sudoku Copyright 2007King Features Synd., Inc.

Sudoku

■ According to the Crayola Company, youcan eat 3,500 of its crayons a day and still notreach the level of toxicity found in an ordi-nary glass of drinking water. The companydidn’t mention how—or why—anyone wouldconsume that many crayons in a lifetime, letalone a single day.

■ It was 19th-century British authorElizabeth Charles who made the followingobservation: “To know how to say what oth-ers only know how to think is what makesmen poets or sages; and to dare to say whatothers only dare to think makes men mar-tyrs or reformers—or both.”

■ Good news for junk food lovers: Beginningin 1996, the United States Department ofAgriculture started putting frozen Frenchfries in the “fresh vegetables” category.

■ Back in 1935, the owner of the ChicagoCubs baseball team predicted that nightgames were “just a fad.” He wasn't much of aprognosticator, it seems.

■ Some people claim that rubbing the nose ofany statue of Abraham Lincoln is good luck.It’s not really known why, though; somespeculate that it’s because Lincoln’s chil-dren used to pull on his nose for luck.However, only one of his four children sur-vived to adulthood, so it’s questionablewhether his nose was ever lucky for anyone.

■ The ubiquitous summertime flip-flop san-dals are known in Australia as “pluggers,”are called “slops” in South Africa and “slip-pers” in Hawaii, and New Zealanders callthem “jandals.”

■ It’s been reported that on the morning ofFriday, Nov. 22, 1963, an American psychicnamed Jean Dixon predicted, “Somethingdreadful is going to happen to the presidenttoday.” At 12:30 p.m. that day in Dallas,President Kennedy was assassinated.

Thought for the Day: “The prime purpose ofeloquence is to keep other people from talk-ing.”—Louis Vermeil

Solution to last issues’s crossword.

Documents

The Justice