Brandeis University's Community Newspaper — Waltham, Mass.
Basketball has taken Florian Rexhepi 08 on a long, winding road, from the confines of Macedonia, Kosovo, and Greece, to the halls of Philips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, and finally to the Gosman Gym at Brandeis, where he now plays guard for the Judges Mens Basketball team.
Generally, people are used to hearing about ordinary (yet still exceptional) sports such as baseball and basketball, but sometimes it is interesting to take a different path, to learn about the uncommon. Among such unusual clubs offered at Brandeis, there is the Skydiving and Future Endeavors Club, a group committed, according to its constitution, to facilitating the skydiving experience for all Brandeis students and whose main goal is to provide knowledge and guidance for all prospective, novice, and advanced skydivers, as well as to provide multiple opportunities for students to skydive during both semesters, weather permitting.
The Volleyball team traveled the Big Apple this past weekend to compete against UAA rival schools New York University, Emory and the University of Rochester. This was the first time that the Judges had competed against a UAA team all season and they had mixed results. On the first day of competition, the team lost all three games against the Emory Eagles, who are currently ranked 4th in the country.
The construction of the upcoming Shapiro Science Center behind the the current science complex is a mixed blessing, say many of the people working in the old buildings it is meant to replace. Although all agree that the new building will benefit Brandeis in the long run, construction has made life is a little more complicated than normal for Brandeis' scientific community.
Are you a slave to your cell phone? Do you think the latest iPod will save the world? Are you starting to belong to your belongings? (And no, this is not some advertisement.) Well, dont feel alone, because this seems to be the case for many Americans these days. Maybe we should consider creating rehab or techies anonymous for all those people out there who just cant seem to put down the Blackberry for more than say, one minute. Theres just something fascinating about a world where the more plugged in we are, the more isolated we feel. Email, text messages, Facebook;
how many ways can we reach people these days without really talking to them? It seems like the methods we use to communicate abound, but real conversation is sadly lacking.
Ive been told that the big controversy these days is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran. Famous for denying the Holocaust, vowing to wipe Israel off the map, and speaking at Columbia University (interesting combination), Ahmadinejad has succeeded in single-handedly turning the Western world against Iran. Many call him a cruel dictator, and some say he may become the next Hitler.
I wish to respond to much of the criticism that has been launched at one of my dear friends, Secretary Michael Goldman. People keep saying that he acted wholly unprofessionally by leaking election tallies and giving people an unfair advantage. This is a complete and egregious muddling of events. Mike may have said that a candidate was doing well and may have given vote tallies, but this means nothing. Just because he told someone that they were 12 votes behind doesnt mean they will magically get 12 votes. In fact, the person lost. Simply stating that a candidate is doing well doesnt favor them in any way during their campaign. In fact, cockiness may be detrimental. Horrible smear tactics have been launched at Goldman, and we must remember the pettiness of the events.
When I picked up this past weeks issue of The Hoot, I was surprised by the overwhelmingly one-sided criticism against increased Brandeis security. Walking through campus, you are bound to see tables and petitions and loud Brandeis canvassers, and all of them will tell you the administration is making a mistake: the Brandeis police should not be armed. Maybe its because Im from Virginia, or maybe its because I lost a childhood friend in the shooting at Virginia Tech last year, but I see something horribly strange about this reaction.
The decision by the Fire and Safety Arms Advisory Committee, approved by President Jehuda Reinharz, to recommend Brandeis police officers to carry guns has provoked a group of students who disagree with the decision to start a petition hoping to urge the Brandeis community re-evaluate the decision.
After over a year of negotiations, the Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation has given the Heller School for Social Policy and Management a $5 million grant to found the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy.
