Brandeis University's Community Newspaper — Waltham, Mass.
Hello. My name is Danny and Im a television addict. You might dismiss my claim, thinking how can watching TV become an addiction? or Real addicts are gamblers or alcoholics, like my grandparents. Well, Im here to set the record straight: I watch an obscene amount of television, and there is nothing I can do to stop myself.
You probably noticed the cardboard gravestones adorning the main path this week. At first I figured this was a Halloween ruse (although a bad one), but then I looked more closely and saw the DARFUR sticker on each, and everything made sense. STAND.
Although its true that many people, especially females, claim that they need to drink in order to remove clothing for a dance whose cost decreases in tandem with the amount of fabric worn to it, I consider the implication of that statement false. Even if people needed to intoxicate themselves in order to loosen their inhibitions and take it off, they were probably a lot more careful about how much they drank that night than any other. When nudity is involved, the exposed parties have higher levels of awareness and make it a point to protect themselves. When a guy comes up to a girl at a naked dance, for example, the girl is more likely to reject, since she knows the potential abuses that may happen in this scenario. Guys know this and, for fear of being brushed aside, attempt to be as civil as possible when approaching, and dancing with, a girl in this situation. Ironically, the naked dance is actually the safest place for a female to be. Whether or not you agree with that logic, I would like to continue on to another subject, and that is one of alcohol. One of the reasons the Less You Wear dance has been placed in moratorium is according to university officials due to the level of alcohol-related problems arising as a result of that evenings pre-gaming. The university makes this argument by pointing out how many BEMCo calls had to be made and how many people had to be escorted out of the dance.
Discriminated against in all realms of life from the academic arena to governmental facilities. Inundated with the same senseless jokes and comments that show no creativity or originality. Constantly made aware of a physical difference when attempting as much as possible to lead a normal life. Pain, prejudice, bias and so many other consequences are hurled at me for my vertically excelled stature!
I know what youre thinking. You probably believe that being tall is a gift and provides many advantages in life. One might even state that they wished they were tall and given this advantage they would be able to compete in the NBA. Well, youve just fallen into just one of the annoying effects that above-average height poses! Those nagging questions, the bland remarks, the rehearsed responses, it is all part of this wretched difference that is supposed to be a blessing!
The fact that you would compare your issues of having a minority political mindset at Brandeis to hate that has been historically visited upon homosexuals is both a flawed and very telling example of the exact hypocrisy and immaturity of the Brandeis Conservatives with whom you identify. In equating your assumed feelings of discrimination with the violence and injustice that has been visited upon the larger GLBT community, you are proving both yourself and your political comrades to be ill-informed and naive to the real meaning of what it means to be an oppressed minority. Simply put, has anyone ever threatened violence to you here at Brandeis because you voted for Bush?
Regarding your opinion piece Memoirs of a conservative at Brandeis University in the Oct. 27th issue: I am a tree-hugging, civil-liberties-loving, welfare-supporting, church-and-state-separating liberal… and I agree with you. Brandeis can be a hostile environment for conservatives, especially in class. Ive actually spoken with a few of my professors to ask them to tone down their liberal editorializing, even when I agreed with what they were saying, because I felt that a university class was an inappropriate place to preach personal political views. With that said, please do not ever again compare your situation with that of people who suffer real, often violent and physical persecution, especially to proudly proclaim your affiliation with a political party that persists in treating gay people as subhuman and bigotry as a value. I dont care how tough you think you have it here;
none of these friends you feel so abused by is going to beat you up now that they know the truth about your political views. Comparing your experience with that of the people your political allies demonize and oppress was in extremely poor taste. It is this very hypocrisy and insensitivity that makes it so difficult for liberals like me to find any common ground with conservatives like you. Please refrain from making that comparison in the future.
Bandwagon politics dominates intellectualism and debate at Brandeis and leads to the popularity of some pretty terrible political candidates. Despite Brandeis' facade of activism and progressive labels, the Brandeis Democrats dominate the political debate on campus, and rubber-stamping a political party is as dangerous, passive, and anti-democratic. Here are a list of two alternative candidates worth voting for.
After reading Brandeis Universitys self-study for reaccreditation by the New England Association for Schools and Colleges (NEASC), one gets a sense that the university is generally making steady progress in becoming a more competitive institution, both academically and financially. The number of applications has increased, while the acceptance rate has decreased. Many of the issues Brandeis was criticized for during its 1996 self study, including lower-than-average faculty pay and an inadequate IT infrastructure, have been either fully or partially addressed.
Political analyst and author David Mark 95 returned to campus last Wednesday to discuss his new book on the history, value, and general nature of negative campaigning. In speaking about his book, Going Dirty: The Art of Negative Campaigning, Mark sought to call into question the all but universal sentiment that there is no virtue in negative campaigning.
