Too tall for comfort

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!

Letter to the Editor: Conservative Response #2

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?

Letter to the Editor: Conservative Response #1

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.

Voting off the wagon

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.

Editorial: Well-endowed but at what cost?

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.

‘Deis author presents book on campaigning

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.

SEA promoting more local foods in dining halls

Last week, Students for Environmental Action (SEA) held a series of events entitled Think Globally, Eat Locally, which were aimed at raising awareness of the myriad benefits of eating locally grown produce. The group hopes that increased awareness will lead to more local produce being available in the Brandeis dining halls.

ZBT collects names to raise funds

The local chapter of Zeta Beta Tau (ZBT), Brandeis unrecognized off-campus fraternity, raised over $2,000 for the Childrens Hospital Boston at Waltham last week in their first-annual Get on the Ball campaign.

Hold Thy Peace applies to join UTC

Hold Thy Peace (HTP), Brandeis Shakespeare and Shakespeare-related theatre troupe, applied this week to join the Undergraduate Theatre Collective (UTC). The decision over whether or not to accept the group will be decided during the UTCs commission meeting November 8th.

LOVE AND MARRIAGE… and college?

In a world where sexual exploration seems rampant, where college is widely seen as a time to date many people and search for random play or whatever I can get, its certainly not often that marriage even crosses ones mind in a college setting. Yet, while some prefer messing around, hooking up, or being friends with benefits, other students are settling down for good.