Organizations to freshmen: cut energy usage, get free prizes

Students for Environmental Action (SEA), the Campus Climate Challenge (CCC), the Energy Savings Program (ESP) and the Brandeis Environmental Sustainability Team (BEST) are sponsoring an event throughout the month of March to increase energy savings awareness. Do It in the Dark is a competition run in first-year residence halls with the mission to decrease energy usage and have each residence hall compete against the others in the process. The prize will be awarded at the end of March to one residence hall in each first-year quad, and will consists of a Lizzys ice cream party, Amazon gift certificates and other prizes as well.

Letter to the editor: Brandeis not so much a ‘hoot’ lately

Dear Editor:
Brandeis lately seems to be not so much of a “hoot”. First the invitation to Jimmy Carter, who throws around the word “Aparthied” without even knowing the true definition of it, and now, inviting that disaster of a Jew, Norman Finkelstein. I am wondering what the purpose of inviting such hateful, loathing misinformed “scholars” to your institution is? I know Purim is coming, but this is not a bit funny. The constant shoving of anti-Jewish, anti-Zionist, anti-Israel programs on a campus that was supposed to support the fundamentals of a Jewish homeland seem to have gotten lost in the mix. I am disgusted by your lack of good taste, and mostly by the perpetuation of promoting the lies and propaganda on a campus that at one time instilled a love for Jewish life, history, and culture. What a turn you have taken. I grieve the loss of yet another place where Jewish kids did not have to apologize for being born Jews.

Letter to the editor: Spritzler’s letter misrepresents history

To the editor:
John Spritzlers[1] vitriolic anti-Israel letter (Professor Shulamit Reinharz Full of Contradictions) itself is a huge distortion of history. The very fact that we must debunk denials of Israels earned right to exist is sad proof that anti-Semitism in this form is still alive and well. Denial of this right is anti-Semitism because it denies the Jewish people a right that all other nations have. Israel is the only legitimate country that is subject to denial of its right to existthat the Jewish state is singled out for an accusation that would be considered ridiculous if applied to any other state demonstrates that this is pure anti-Semitism.

Letter to the editor: Iran could be potential Nazi Germany

To the editor,
I strongly disagree with Stefan Borst-Censullos (Dershowitz Response Astonishing) impressions of Professor Dershowitzs use of the Hitler metaphor with regard to current events in the Middle East. I agree that in debates, Dershowitz can sometimes get carried away and become overly emotional. Regarding the student whom he asked whether she would have opposed Hitlers 1934 election victory, I think his point was very justified, though he did not need to allude to Hitler. In any election, a person has the right to be upset when the candidate they supported does not win not just in 1934. But Dershowitzs point was completely correct.

Journalists have certain responsibilities

Journalists have long been the champions of the First Amendment and all that it has to offer. This is to be expected, because freedom of speech is in place to protect those whose opinions are strange and deviant from the norm. In fact, the right for people to say things in public (and in print) that respond to the problems that they see in the world is what has allowed the US to last longer then many of restrictive and destructive regimes of recent history.

Online dating: is it prostitution?

I recently came across a website called SeekingArrangement.com, a dating website for people looking for mutually beneficial arrangements. The site connects Sugar Daddies with Sugar Babies. Basically, it promotes arrangements where young women date older men in exchange for expensive gifts. Unlike other dating websites, profiles of Sugar Daddies (and Sugar Mommies) list the persons annual income and net worth;

for example, ActionDaddy is worth $750,000 to $1,000,000. The profiles of Sugar Babies list how much each expect from their Sugar Daddies (or Mommies). Foxy Kat expects between $3,001 and $5000 a month from her Sugar Daddy. She asks, Im looking to make YOUR world a better place Do YOU want to do the same for Me? She makes it sound so simple, doesnt she?

Letter to the editor: Dershowitz clearly distorted the facts

To the editor,
Shortly after University of California Press announced publication of my book Beyond Chutzpah, documenting Professor Dershowitzs shocking record of plagiarism, falsification and forgery, he began alleging that my late mother was, or I believed she was, a Nazi collaborator during World War II.