Brandeis University's Community Newspaper — Waltham, Mass.
Imagine a nice Jewish boy finishing his second year at Brandeis University. Since starting here, hes become connected as never before with his people and his roots;
now he studies Yiddish and attends Shabbes dinners on Fridays because he wants to. So this same student sings in the Gospel choir at Protestant services, praying in Jesus name with the rest. Friends, its time for a story which I must tell in my own way. Gather round
There was nothing odd about the great white limo parked in front of the paparazzi-lined red carpet, except for the fact that the carpet led up to the Shapiro Campus Center. Its not the Kodak Theater home to the Oscars but it got to live the dream for one night. And with stars like Jesse L. Martin, from Law & Order and Rent, and S. Epatha Merkerson, most famous as the longest running cast member still on Law & Order, the dream wasnt half bad.
For one week a year, Brandeis attempts to be the ideal place for the incoming college student. Spring Open House brings a flurry of activity known as Bronstein Week in order to try and convince many students to attend our university. New grass (although ironically massive amounts of snow made this a moot point), cleaner dorms and loud music are all trademarks of Bronstein week, while the calendar is chalk full of events. The thing I dont understand about this years Bronstein Week is the strange selection of the theme Bronstein State University.
It is often said that a title can make or break a piece of writing, but who knew it would define one's readership in a campus newspaper. The Brandeis community often expresses disgust towards the American media: the media that propagates sensationalist stories, encourages political bickering, created sound-bite politics, and rarely debates actual policy. However, this criticism has not seemed to hold true in practice.
As over 1000 accepted students and their families arrived on the Brandeis campus this Wednesday, they were greeted with the usual Brandeis welcomings blue and white balloons, banners, smiling faces. What seemed puzzling, at least to me, was that many of these banners, advertising Student Events upcoming Bronstein Weekend, contained Greek letters. Student Events, apparently masquerading as Sigma Epsilon, have proudly displayed these two Greek letters on nearly a dozen banners throughout our campus.
For the past four years, I have had the privilege of teaching (and founding) the Wun Hop Kuen Do (Combination Fist Art) martial arts club at Brandeis. During this time, I have mostly had the honor of being an instructor, but for the past two years, I have also had the privilege of being a student for one week a year. During this time, my Sifu (instructor), Grandmaster Al Dacascos, has flown in from Hawaii to lead a tournament and seminar that my club holds annually at Brandeis, as well as brush me up on my techniques (read: make me very, very sore). As I described it to my lab boss when I had to take off work, basically, Mr. Miyagi is living with me.
To the Editor,
This is in regard to the poem printed in the March 28, 2006 issue, “I Hate Thugs.” as I read this title I sensed that the topic would be racially offensive and include a lot of stereotypes against the African American community but I was hoping I was wrong. As sure as rain, the poem is in support of racism, racial superiority and negative stereotypes against the African American community. I'm well aware of the fact that The Hoot newspaper is satirical but it is now pushing its limits to the sensitive issue of racism by singling out a particular race and attacking its common lifestyle and characteristics.
The Hoot is your community newspaper.
To fulfill this role on campus, we take, in particular, two responsibilities very seriously: providing pertinent, unbiased news that is of interest to our readers, and maintaining the rest of our pages as an open venue for public forum and discussion.
Despite a Student Union referendum passed in December which stated that the Brandeis student body is in favor of the exclusive sale of Fair Trade coffee on campus, dining services continues to sell non-Fair Trade coffee at Java City and on the kosher side of Sherman dining hall.
The Union Judiciary (UJ) has denied the WBRS' request to hold election results of the ongoing Student Activities Fee (SAF) constitutional amendment vote, according to Chief Justice Samuel Everett Dewey '06.
