Staying healthy during cold and flu season
Cooler weather and changing leaves are finally here, and autumn on campus is as beautiful as ever. The one downside: cold and flu season is just ramping up. The common cold has already been sweeping across campus, but we still have a chance to protect our community from the flu. One of the things that […]
Remember to take care of your students
Recently, there has been a wave of events occurring throughout campus that threaten the safety of the student body in the long-term. These issues include mold in the dorm rooms that can lead to medical complications over long periods of time and mislabeled food in the dining hall that could potentially lead to allergic reactions, […]
COVID-19 policies are inconsistent
Brandeis has established a wide range of policies regarding safety from COVID-19, from everyone getting tested multiple times per week to wearing masks indoors. However, these efforts are rendered a lot less effective due to inconsistencies in the enforcement of the policies. We appreciate the effectiveness of vaccines and the work they do to help […]
Brandeis is overcrowded
As excited as we are to return to in-person learning, we are concerned about the pressure that the volume of students is having on campus operations. After a year of short lines and empty spaces, the campus is suddenly stuffed to the brim with people milling around. This year brought in a record number […]
Why doesn’t Workday work?
On April 20, the Brandeis administration switched from Sage to Workday in regards to academic records and personal information—smack in the middle of a coronavirus semester. Our editors, along with other students, have experienced stress as a result of the transfer, with issues ranging from incorrect information to an non-intuitive user interface. A large frustration […]
Hopes for the new school year
This is the third semester that we are starting with an editorial focused on COVID-19. It is now weird to think about a time where we are not wearing masks or worried about sharing food with a stranger. And we are tired of it all. Unfortunately, this is not an editorial celebrating the ending of […]
Looking back and forwards on Liebowitz’s presidency
After succeeding interim president Lisa M. Lynch as the ninth president of the university in 2016, the Board of Trustees has approved President Ron Liebowitz for another five year contract. The period of negotiation was tumultuous, with the Board of Trustees originally offering Liebowitz a single year extension, which he rejected, according to a previous […]
Treat our planet with more respect
April 22 is Earth Day, an underrated holiday. (Next to Arbor Day on Friday April 30. Go trees!). Maybe this says something about how we prioritize nature in our society. We arbitrarily picked a day to celebrate the Earth, but the next day we all go about our daily routines without giving a second thought […]
Breaking the Brandeis bubble
Near the beginning of the academic year, both the students and the administration put great effort into requiring people on campus to stay on campus, while discouraging those outside of the Brandeis community from coming onto campus. The administration has been quite consistent about this, even putting forth guidelines encouraging individuals to stay within Massachusetts […]
University’s response to racial violence is not good enough
The U.S. has undoubtedly been made more aware of racial issues within the past year. From the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests over the summer to the more recent spa shooting in Atlanta, where several individuals of Asian descent were killed, it’s clear that we are in the middle of a racial crisis. On the […]
The Zoom experience
It’s crazy to think that a little over a year ago, we all had no idea what Zoom was or how big of a role it would eventually play in our lives. Now, we are all intimately familiar with Zoom and understand how it works, including breakout rooms, polling and even Zoom etiquette. However, despite […]
One year and one pandemic later
We have officially marked the one year anniversary of the university’s announcement that Brandeis was transitioning to remote learning and closing the campus, which was revealed on March 11, 2020. Within a few short weeks, the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way of life for virtually every individual in the world. When we published our first-ever […]
Students shouldn’t have to worry about dining amidst pandemic
Just as Brandeis was in the midst of choosing a new dining provider for the upcoming academic year, the pandemic struck and, like everything else, dining got put on the backburner. We have come to expect a reasonable amount of dysfunction in our daily lives as a result of COVID-19, but we are more than […]
University enforcement polemic
The rules that Brandeis has put in place in response to COVID-19 are very effective, in theory. These rules are superficially very stringent and there are frequent modifications to these rules to stay up-to-date on new information. Some of these rules include wearing a mask while on campus, limiting the capacity of public spaces and […]
Do your due diligence
This semester, the numbers of unique COVID-19 cases per day at both Brandeis and in the United States are higher than they were last semester. Counterintuitively, we are also experiencing a high level of COVID-19 fatigue, leading many individuals to not care as much about spreading the virus. Picture this: a friend that you haven’t […]
Looking forward
Thankfully, the long trudge through 2020 is almost over, and the promise of a new year, however symbolic, cannot help but inspire hope and fear for the coming winter of our discontent. Brandeis has faced some drastic changes—transitioning to a mostly online learning environment, implementing new software and attempting to hold a campus community together […]
Stay connected this break
Over the last few weeks, the number of cases of the novel coronavirus in the United States has spiked significantly. As students leave campus for the semester, we, the editorial board of The Brandeis Hoot, urge students to continue to monitor their health, both physically and mentally. As scientists continue to learn more about the […]
Now the real work begins
In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last two weeks (and honestly who could blame you), there was a presidential election. Leading up to the election, it was nearly impossible to drive down the street, browse through social media or even walk on campus without constant reminders to vote. We even wrote […]
Safe and scary this Halloween
Under any other circumstances, Halloween 2020 would be legendary. Not only is this an election year (which naturally increases the intensity of all things horrific), but Oct. 31 falls on a Saturday this year. Can you imagine the parties? Plus, there is a full moon on Halloween night, which would only add to the frightening […]
The difficulties of a virtual reality
Since March, nearly every student across the country has been forced to contend with “Zoom University.” Although the concept of online schooling is far from new, 2020 marks the first time in history that the computer screen has completely eclipsed the classroom as the primary medium for higher education. Given the instability of epidemic control […]
