Thank you to our seniors
The end of the semester has come and we couldn’t send you off without saying how grateful we are for each and every one of you. Sometimes we get a little caught up in making the paper and we forget to say how thankful we are for the people who came before us and taught […]
3IC says goodbye
We have seen a lot of interesting things and changes at Brandeis during our last four years. From people threatening to sue us, to someone trying to shut us down, to a bomb threat our junior year. There was also the case of cyanide in Mods, the mice in Ziv, the fire in Village. Every […]
There’s a lot going on right now
It’s the last full week of classes at Brandeis, so fittingly, it’s the busiest week of the entire year. It feels like every organization on campus is choosing to insert themselves into students’ lives at the exact same time. Upperclassmen have their housing selection this week. Many housing options were taken by rising sophomores, […]
Brandeis needs to be better at communication
With COVID-19, we are all under a tumultuous period during Brandeis history where communication and transparency is as important as ever. However, we have noticed that in recent times, Brandeis administration has not been communicating with the community as effectively as it could be. There were communication issues as early as orientation. This year’s orientation […]
COVID-19 positivity spikes on campus
The university saw an increase in positivity rates on campus last week, with 135 students testing positive on the week of March 20, according to the Brandeis COVID-19 dashboard. Even though the numbers have decreased in comparison to last week, the numbers are still strikingly higher than what the university is used to seeing, with […]
Wellness Days need to be planned in advance
Who is actually getting to take advantage of the Wellness Day? On March 17, Dean Dorothy Hodgson sent an email out to the Brandeis community that read, “I have joined Provost Carol Fierke and the other academic deans to encourage our faculty to consider a ‘Wellness Day’ on Friday, March 25th, and either cancel […]
Brandeis does housing right
It is everyone’s favorite time of the year: housing selection season. The time where everyone is wondering whether they will end up living a blissful life in Ridgewood or stuck in the swamps of East. We also know that we here at The Hoot are quite critical of the university, so we wanted to acknowledge […]
Our role in the Brandeis community
We, as the Brandeis community newspaper, take immense pride in being the community’s source of information and elevating the voices of community members. We love connecting with groups on campus and telling people’s stories. But we also recognize that a lot of members of the community don’t know who we are or why or how […]
Easing of COVID-19 policies is premature
On Thursday, March 3 all Brandeis students received an email update explaining upcoming relaxations of the COVID-19 policies on campus. This relaxation of policies comes with excitement, of course, it feels as though the world may be going back to some sort of normal for the first time in nearly two years. But, this change […]
Univ. maintains R1 status
The university was under some pressure when the preliminary report of the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education was released, due to projection that the university would be bumped from R1 research institution to R2. R1 denotes the highest ranking of the Carnegie Classification System and is reserved for institutions that have “Doctoral/Very High […]
A reflection on the return to in-person classes
Welcome back to in-person classes! We know everyone is eager to get back to learning in person, after nearly two years of hybrid/online classes, and we are just as eager too. However, we are also cautious about diving right back into in-person learning. We are all extremely happy to be back to in-person classes. We […]
Brandeis’ COVID-19 policies need work
Brandeis has had three successful and safe semesters amid the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, Brandeis’ policies have been designed to keep students safe. With new updates to policies for the spring semester, we are worried that this run will come to an end. Omicron is already impacting Brandeis at levels unheard of. This week […]
Hopes for the semester
Well, here we go again. This semester marks our fifth semester that is considerably impacted by COVID-19. Since then, there have been so innumerable changes to our community, and we have all shown tremendous adaptability to these changes. Due to our extraordinarily high vaccination rates, booster mandates and a rigorous COVID-19 testing site, it appears […]
A reflection on the semester
We have had quite a semester, both in good and bad ways. First, on the good. As the editorial board of The Hoot, we are very happy to be writing this in our cozy room. We are grateful that we are able to do the things we love in person. It warms our hearts to […]
You should put your mental health first
We’re at that terrible time of the year when the sky is dark by 5 p.m. every single night. The days are short, the classes are long and the joy of the holidays seems so far out of reach, but still close enough for you to see. Though everything may seem hopeless, we have some […]
The Student Union needs transparency, now.
James Feng ’22, the former Student Union secretary, was impeached from his position on Oct. 27 due to neglect of his responsibilities, according to a previous Hoot article. Feng believed that the other members of the Student Union chose to hold him accountable for his mistakes that he made due to internal political bias. A […]
Branvan concerns
When we first came to campus, one of the convenient modes of transportation that were presented to us at orientation was the BranVan. While they are definitely beneficial and convenient to students having to run around campus under certain circumstances (especially during the winter months), we think that there are many aspects of the shuttles […]
A-Board concerns
For all clubs to receive funding on Brandeis’ campus they must all adhere to one stipulation: they must be all-inclusive. But as practice from this semester shows, no matter how inclusive a club may be, no one is getting funding! The Allocations Board has been all over the place this semester and clubs, no matter […]
Selfcare during midterm season
In case you were unaware, we are currently in the middle of midterm season, which means everyone, from students to professors are extremely stressed. We would like to remind you all to take care of yourselves. During stressful times, it is very easy to forget about taking care of yourself, however it is very important […]
Why is Brandeis falling apart
Earlier this semester, we discussed how uneventfully it began: it seemed abnormally quiet for Brandeis. Evidently, we spoke too soon. From the plague that was the black mold in Village to the roof issues in Usdan to the lead in the water fountains, the structural issues at Brandeis know no end. Although all of […]
