Brandeis University's Community Newspaper — Waltham, Mass.
Of the many films that Ive managed to view this summer, quite a few have been very good. They have ranged from pure popcorn brilliance (Transformers, Superbad) to intriguing (The Lives of Others) to among the best Ive ever seen (This is England). A large number have been terrible (The Simpsons Movie, Hairspray). However, no film seemed to strike my imagination quite like Danny Boyles Sunshine.
Associate Dean of Student Life Jamele Adams sat down with Diverse City to talk about his busy summer, Langston Hughes and the history behind his poetry.
Diverse City: So I hear you had a very busy summer competing in two poetry competitions.
As another semester begins, another impressive slate of ambitious undergraduate theatrical offerings gets ready to take to the stage.
As a Brandeis Ethics Center Student Fellow, I spent this past summer in Isecheno, a village in Western Kenya, located in and around the Kakemega Rainforest.
There are simply a few things that one can only learn through first hand experience at Brandeis University. Brandeis is full of twists and surprises, so without further ado, here are a few tips for first year students from The Hoot editorial board to keep in mind as you enter your first year at our university.
Your muscles tense the second your line starts to reel itself out. Your rod bends sharply, threatening to break if action is not taken immediately. A giant shimmer in the water several feet under confirms that you have a monster on the other end of your line. How you react within the ensuing moments determines whether your future involves a giant finned sea creature flopping around in your boat or a broken tool. Do you have a net in the boat? What are you going to do once you have this beast in your grips? Lunch? Catch and release?
Im a big fan of new things. Theyre typically in better shape than old things and often a good deal shinier. Unfortunately, when it comes to renovations and new capital projects at Brandeis, I feel like more of a victim than a beneficiary.
In a recent article on MTV.com, journalist Gil Kaufman analyzed a trend that has occurred around college campuses: efforts on the part of the administration to crack down on the number of illegal downloads that would lead to lawsuits against students for copyright infringement. Brandeis students are not immune to these lawsuits, and new actions are being taken by the administration to remedy these problems.
There are approximately 200 chartered clubs at Brandeis University, each with its own claims of why it deserves funding from the Finance Board. The 2006-2007 academic year was the first full year with the Student Activities Fee (SAF) reform in place, a policy change which enabled smaller clubs to get a shot at funds historically reserved for the big boys, Brandeis secured organizations. Feedback from club leaders has for the most part been positive, with the transition process aided by Treasurer Choon Woo Ha, former President Alison Schwartzbaum, and former Director of Executive Affairs Adam Gartner. Improvement aside, however, the Student Union must reexamine how it dispenses SAF money if the student body is to get the most out of its money.
As Brandeis students, we are entitled to a number of wonderful support services. The university gives us fantastic phones that resemble those used on the television series twenty-four, and the campus computer labs arent half bad. But probably the greatest resource that we are given is the ability to obtain an email address through the university. Our email addresses are not only the means by which to obtain a facebook account, but also have other uses as well. Professors can easily communicate to classes, clubs can notify members of important dates, and the administration itself can send messages to the entire campus. All this sounds like a great asset to our community, but I believe that certain organizations within Brandeis are abusing their power and flooding our inboxes. This has the effect of limiting our interest in important news, is downright annoying, and has a number of other negative consequences as well.
