Reflections on a year in the trenches

Volume eight of The Brandeis Hoot doesn’t look like the other volumes. The paper itself is brighter, the dot gain finer, the text tighter and the masthead considerably longer. But one thing hasn’t changed: The Hoot’s mission as always is to strive to be a source of “deep, insightful, meaningful news coverage and commentary about […]

DOJ, DOE offer new road map for attaining diversity

The Obama administration released new guidelines this week detailing its interpretation of the law, under a series Supreme Court cases, on affirmative action and race-based admissions decisions in college admissions. The open memo by the federal Departments of Justice and Education replaces the version by the George W. Bush administration that denounced the use of […]

Waltham man killed by hit and run

A Waltham resident is dead and another has been charged with vehicular homicide after a hit-and-run car crash near the intersection of Church and School streets before Thanksgiving. Waltham resident Blanca Contreras, 29, struck 39-year-old Scott “Scotty” Coxall with her Nissan Pathfinder SUV, around 6 p.m. on Nov. 23. Contreras failed to stop at the […]

Bates College names Harvard VP new president

Bates College named Ava Clayton Spencer, Harvard University’s vice president for policy, as its new president. Spencer will begin work as Bates’ eighth president on July 1. A Winchester, Mass., native, Spencer has worked closely with the presidents and deans of Harvard, and was previously a lecturer at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. Spencer also […]

With Union prodding, C-Store hours expanded

Senator of the Class of 2014 Ricky Rosen successfully negotiated with Dining Services to test a pilot expansion of the C-Store hours, extending Saturday night from midnight to 2 a.m., and the university announced that the opening was successful and would now become part of the convenience store’s permanent hours next semester. For the last […]

Brandeis volunteers in service program at Waltham school

Volunteers from the Brandeis and Waltham community came together Monday evening at the Stanley Elementary School to host Stanley Family Night, an event featuring nearly 30 activity booths for children as part of the university’s involvement within the Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge. Proposed by President Barack Obama, the campus Interfaith Challenge encourages individuals […]

Musical 'Urinetown' makes a splash

The wonderful thing about “Urinetown: The Musical” is that it knows not to take itself too seriously. Tympanium Euphorium’s production, directed by Johanna Wickemeyer ’12 with assistant director Lizzy Benway ’14, truly took that to heart; the actor’s comedic deliveries of even the most serious-sounding of lines make the sometimes dark musical ultimately amusing and […]

Boris' Kitchen celebrates comedy with annual sketch show

Boris’ Kitchen is fairly well-known around campus. You can spot a member of the group coming from a mile away. From their members’ iconic black shirts with signature font worn around campus, to the simple design sets in their shows, Boris’ Kitchen is unlike anything else at Brandeis. With this in mind, it’s hard to […]

'Proof' explores insanity and mathematics

“Too often evidence is confused with proof.” This is what director Jessie Field ’13 wrote in her director’s note about Free Play’s “Proof,” put on last weekend. It is an apt line to keep in mind when thinking about the show. The play begins with Catherine (Jamie Perutz ’13), a pretty but tired-looking 26-year-old woman […]

Break away from the boring: exceptional X-Mas movies

’Twas the month before Christmas, when all through the land, more Christmas movies were airing than even I could withstand. In the month before Christmas, every channel on television pulls out their Christmas movies and plays them again and again until you become quite sick of them. There are a lot of Christmas movies out […]

'Community': Why is no one watching TV's best comedy?

Last month, the Internet—or at least pop culture blogs—collectively gasped as a result of the latest news from NBC: The struggling network was placing the sitcom “Community,” now in its third season, on indefinite hiatus after its Christmas episode. Fans immediately feared the worst. Things looked—and still look—dire, with increasingly frequent whispers that the show […]

James Baldwin's prose still awe-inspiring

As a prospective English major, it was upon first signing up for classes that I learned I was required to take Intro to Lit. This fact first frustrated me—I had just taken AP English and I did not have any desire to retake an intro class. Yet, since it’s required for the major, I took […]

Voices of Soul brings boogie to semester show

I walked into the Ridgewood A commons on a chilly December night to see a group of performers dressed in tank tops, shorts, dresses and flip flops. Voices of Soul was holding its annual concert, which it dubbed its “December Beach Party.” The group’s 13 members wore an assortment of beach attire and had arranged […]

Crushed hard by 49 Stones

I’m more than pleased to be able to present this band, as they’re one of a new breed that will soon take over the alternative scene. Their sound is done so well that I can’t wait to hear what else comes blasting from their speakers on their next record. But I’m getting ahead of myself. […]

Judges go 2-1 over week as coach wins 300th game

The visiting Brandeis Judges dominated the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts with a 83-68 thrashing. The Judges scored the first five points of the contest and never trailed for the rest of the game. Brandeis had four players in double figures for the game. Guard Ben Bartoldus ’14 led the Judges with 22 points while […]

Three women’s soccer players named to All-UAA honors

Three members of the Brandeis University women’s soccer team have earned All-University Athletic Association honors for the 2011 season. Tri-captain midfielder Alanna Torre ’12 and tri-captain midfielder Ali Maresca ’12 were both named to the second-team All-UAA while back Kelly Peterson ’14 received an honorable mention. Torre was selected to the All-UAA second-team for the […]

Judges ride two-game winning streak to get above .500

The Brandeis women’s basketball team crushed visiting Eastern Nazarene College (ENC) 64-38 on Dec. 5, winning their second game in a row and improving their season to 5-4. The ENC Lions fall to 4-4. This game did not affect Brandeis’ conference standings. The Judges spent the first quarter neck and neck with the Lions; with […]

Bell wins UAA athlete of the week honor

The University Athletic Association selected Brandeis University sprinter Brittany Bell ’13 for the Women’s Track and Field Runner of the Week. This is the first time that Bell has won UAA Athlete of the Week honors. Bell is being honored for her performance at the 2011 Jay Carisella Invitational, hosted by Northeastern University on Dec. […]

Men and women fencing struggle

Both the men’s and women’s fencing squads struggled at the Brandeis Invitational tournament this past Sunday going 0-4 and 0-5 respectively. The men lost 11-16 to Brown, 10-17 to North Carolina, 7-20 to St. John’s and 10-17 to Yale while the women lost 7-20 to Brown, 8-19 to North Carolina, 1-26 to St. John’s, 11-16 […]

Students dance all night for Miracle Network

Brandeis students boogied through the night at Adagio’s second annual dance marathon on Saturday to raise funds for Children’s Hospital Boston. Toward the end of the semester, while most students are furiously studying for finals, a small group of Brandeis students led by Adagio’s Dance Ensemble broke away from their work to organize a successful […]