Brandeis University's Community Newspaper — Waltham, Mass.
In his first annual State of Diversity address Monday Night, Associate Dean of Student Life Jamele Adams discussed the results of an undergraduate student survey concerning issues of diversity and tolerance as well as initiatives to promote campus unity and cultural awareness.
According to the procedures outlined by the Union Judiciary of the Brandeis University Student Union, “The court expects all participating parties to be professional and courteous at all times.” The same should be said for the very court making the rules. The recent actions of Chief Justice James Ansorge '09 do not seem to meet this standard.
Renovations to the sprinkler systems in the Charles River Apartments will begin this summer in an effort to keep up with fire codesm, according to Vice-President of Campus Operations Mark Collins.
Oct. 22 and 23, filmmakers Werner Herzog and Errol Morris will appear at Brandeis. Herzog will screen his newest film, Encounters at the End of the World, about Anarcticas inhabitants, Oct. 22. The two filmmakers will discuss the documentaries and filmmaking in general the following day. Errol Morris visited campus last semester to screen his film SOP: Standard Operating Procedure. Morris received an Oscar in 2004 for his film The Fog of War.
Last Sunday, Brandeis students enrolled in the Anthropology of Gender class spent 4 hours cleaning up at the Prospect Hill Terrace apartments in Waltham as part of an effort by the Community Engaged Learning Program at Brandeis University. Partners in the event included the not-for-profit organization the Waltham Alliance to Create Housing (WATCH), Waltham Public Housing, Community Service Department, and the Brandeis Pluralism Alliance. Participants in the effort painted a mural and several fences, planted flowers, and cleaned up the area around an apartment complex. The event also included a barbecue and was attended by the Mayor of Waltham, Jeannette A. McCarthy.
Tal Zaken's piece, “More Guns Do Not Equal More Safety,” really was an interesting position on what is essentially the question of how we as a society should confront evil…
The Student Union is elected by the student body with the understanding that it is going to work on pertinent student issues and advocate on behalf of its constituency. It is not elected to play petty political games or spend its time backhandedly attacking its members.
The recent MTV Video Music Awards show was notable, but not for the catastrophic performance by Britney Spears, nor for the fact that it was held in the Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Instead, the VMAs were interesting due to the unusual and unnerving format in which they were presented.
Most of what we hear about the left in Latin America takes one of two forms: either American leaders denouncing Hugo Chavez, Venezuelas socialist president whose Bolivarian Revolution has been the centerpiece of Latin Americas recent leftist renaissance, or a general denunciation of Fidel Castros seemingly incomprehensible will to live. This can distract from the fact that all over Latin America, from Chiapas to Bolivia, people are struggling to build new, more equitable societies in which they can recover their independence, the control of their resources, and, most of all, their dignity. One of these revolutions is happening in Ecuador and has recently achieved two important victories, neither of which are well known to readers in the US.
It is said that people gild the past, and, to an extent, this is true. The eight hour drive to Johns Hopkins is an amazing adventure now, but as I was experiencing it, it was a claustrophobic, annoying affair that sucked the time right out of my life. My summer at the day camp seems like a funny escapade as I look back on the event, but as I was working there, I would have liked to have been at any other place. Our generation doesnt just gild the past, but tends to remember things that happened very recently with a sentiment of fondness and satisfaction. Shows on television recount that this week was the best week ever, as the program has comedians happily discuss the happenings of the past week. People will think with fondness of songs that were popular only two summers ago and believe that those were the good old days when It Was Hot or My Humps reigned supreme. Perhaps the biggest medium of this instant nostalgia is Facebook, where people post videos and pictures as if preserving them for posterity. Whether it is because we cant handle the present or look to the past as a time of satisfaction, our generation is obsessed with the notion of instant nostalgia.
