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Brandeis University's Community Newspaper — Waltham, Mass.

Archive for 2007

Impeach abstain for Off-Campus Senator

As the position of Racial Minority senator has been scrutinized and could possibly be removed for its violation of Title VI, other positions that are completely valid have gone unrepresented. Most specifically, I am referencing this years senator for off-campus students, who goes by the name abstain. While students on campus have been pestering the administration about noise, arming the cops with guns, and other issues that occur on the Brandeis campus, our brothers and sisters who live in the real world in Waltham currently have no representation.


Decades after Davis, racism still a problem

While abroad I have devoted the time that I usually spent in the US watching TV towards reading in the semi-comfortable setting of my home here in Dakar. While escapism is partly behind this renewed interest of mine, the sparse library at my school has provided a few gems, and the paperback version of Angela Davis autobiography provided me with the weekend entertainment that badly dubbed Brazilian soap operas could sadly never completely supplant.


The unbearable whiteness of being

Hey blackie, whats up?

This greeting (Che, negro;

como andas?) was as common a phrase as I heard during my semester in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The fact that Im as white as Conan OBrien or that there are almost no black people in Argentina didnt change things one bit. Negro was simply a term of greeting or endearment, as harmless as dude or man. For women, obviously, the feminine version negra was used, with the diminutive negrita if one wanted to be affectionate.


Letter to the editor: Response to Nov. 9th letter

Dear Editor,

Wow, Mr. Hogan did an absolutely tremendous job of missing the point of my article (Letter to the Editor, Nov. 9). Im not even mad, thats amazing. Lets just break this down piece by piece and try to make sense of his response.


Letter to the editor: Response to human apparatchiks

Dear Editor,

I was distressed to read that the administration is assigning human apparatchiks to monitor Brandeis classrooms to assure linguistic conformity and political orthodoxy. Surely, the administration knows that the technology of authoritarian surveillance has advanced far beyond the primitive methods employed by the likes of J. Edgar Hoover and Erich Honecker.


Letters to the editor: Response to Hindley

Dear Editor,

When I first read about the accusations made against Prof. Hindley, I was quite surprised. I took one of his Latin American Politics classes, and as someone who can understand the need for racial sensitivity, I was shocked at the allegations. Yes, Prof. Hindley is not an average professor. He does not just brush over the material as many other professors at Brandeis do as he lulls the class to sleep. He says interesting and provocative things that keep the class alert and involved. I will not say that he has been my favorite professor in my four years here, but he definitely added to my Brandeis education in a positive manner. But in its infinite wisdom, the Brandeis Administration has tried to make him conform to the cookie cutter image of a professor who cannot teach past the books that he reads. If this is what we want our professors to be like, then why exactly are we paying over $45,000 a year to attend one of the top universities in the country.


Editorial: Student Union should practice what it preaches

For the past six weeks, the Student Union has proudly publicized the Brandeis Citizenship Campaign, which values diversity, community, and respect above all else. Yet last weekend showed a different side of the Union, when it voted by a wide margin to table indefinitely the resolution regarding an email sent by TYP Senator Kamarin Lee that addressed comments by Asher Tanenbaum 08, chair of the Unions Ways and Means Committee.

Tanenbaum stated, based solely on the wording of the clubs written constitutions, that the committee found potential dualities of purpose between the Brandeis Black Student Organization and the newly-chartered African Culture club. In response, Lee emailed several minority members of the Senate, as well as members of the Executive Board, saying that Tanenbaums opinion sounds like something that would come from a White, Jewish Middle-Class Conservative.


Hiatt to offer stipends for student internships

The Hiatt Career Center recently announced the offering of paid stipends for students through its new World Work Interns (WOW) program. According to representatives from the Center, up to 50 sophomores and juniors will be eligible to receive $3,500 fellowships to pursue an unpaid summer internship in any field.

Joseph DuPont, the recently appointed Hiatt Center Director, announced a new fellowship program for students that wish to do internships but feel discouraged by the financial strains that unpaid internships can place on students. The program is in place in order to give students a basis for their careers while exploring fields they wish to pursue.


Faculty Senate motion cites admin. procedure violation in Hindley case

At its Nov. 8 meeting, the Faculty Senate unanimously adopted a motion expressing concern with the way the administration has responded to complaints about Prof. Donald Hindley (POL).

Earlier this month, Hindley was charged with violating the Universitys Non-Discrimination and Harrassment Policy for alleged inappropriate, racial and discriminatory conduct.


Clubs react to F-board reform

Performance-oriented clubs reacted this week following an announcement from Treasurer Choon Woo Ha 08 on Sunday that clubs Finance Board funded clubs will no longer be able to charge Brandeis undergrads for admission, services, or items for their events next semester.

The reform, which will go into effect January 2008, comes in an effort to minimize financial burden to undergraduates. The Student Activities Fee, which all undergraduates currently pay, collectively amounts to about $1 million.