Peace Corps finally a reality for ’Deis alumna
Emily Gelb ’11 hopes to make her university proud. After four years at Brandeis, she shipped out Jan. 19 with the Peace Corps to Ecuador, where she intends to use her degree in biology and her experience overseas to “assist another community in developing sustainable solutions to the challenges that they face,” she wrote in […]
In memoriam: Robert Shapiro, 81
Brandeis alumnus Robert Shapiro, a longtime university donor and honored trustee, died earlier this month after having struggled with cancer for more than a year. He was 81. “To me, Robert was Brandeis,” Senior Vice President of Institutional Advancement Nancy Winship said. “He was dedicated to two families—the Shapiro family and the Brandeis family.” The […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Ollie’s holds first ‘coffeehouse’
The first Ollie’s coffeehouse was sparsely attended at first, but this might have been a trick of perspective due to the room being larger than the back of a van and, while Chum’s might be nostalgically collegiate, Ollie’s coffeehouse has a number of unforeseen benefits: There are no suspicious liquids on the floor—though that may […]
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 […]
Henna by Sienna
The Brandeis Sephardic Initiative hosted a henna night Thursday, to educate students about the centuries-old practice of henna applications in the Sephardi Jewish tradition. The Brandeis Sephardic Initiative is in its second semester on campus. A cultural club under the Hillel umbrella, they are dedicated to Sephardic culture, and are open to anybody, whether they’re […]
You Know We’re Right: Reasons for advance roommate agreements
Dear Leah and Morgan, I have never had any problems with roommates in the past. After the housing lottery left my friends and me with less-than-ideal numbers, we decided to move off campus together. Everything was great at the beginning of the semester, but as the year has progressed I have been having problems with […]
Emory professor awarded Gittler prize
Emory University Professor Emerita Frances Smith Foster was formally awarded this year’s Joseph B. and Toby Gittler Prize Tuesday, in Rapaporte Treasure Hall. As a co-recipient of the prize with Stanford University historian Clayborne Carson, Foster is an authority on African American family life and slavery narratives, and has published more than a dozen books […]
View From the (Very) Top: Sticking around just one more year
When I first told my parents that I was considering staying at Brandeis for a fifth year to get my master’s degree in Global Studies, they were very skeptical. They thought I was signing up for another year of crazy parties and drunken shenanigans with my friends. To be honest, a part of me hoped […]
Teaching from experience: Polonsky’s studies reflect his upbringing in South Africa
Professor Antony Polonsky does not just lecture from a book. Rather, he draws on his travels and the people he has met to create a unique learning environment. Polonsky teaches three specific areas of study at Brandeis: the Holocaust, the history of Jews in Eastern Europe and the history of secular Jews. On their own, […]
ELL and BLC plan lunch to honor university staff
The English Language Learners Initiative (ELL) and the Brandeis Labor Coalition (BLC) are hosting an appreciation cafe for its workers and tutors on Dec. 2 in the Shapiro Campus Center atrium from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. The cafe is an effort to raise awareness about the importance of workers in our dining halls and workers […]
College Notebook: Tufts bans ‘a naked run’
Kevin Maguire, the director of Public and Environmental Safety at Tufts University, published a letter to all Tufts University students in The Tufts Daily on Wednesday regarding the recent banning of the Naked Quad Run. This Tufts tradition, a once-university-sanctioned activity, which was intended to relieve stress around finals period, was banned by former President […]
Brandeis scholar co-authors book that questions gender stereotypes
Pink is for girls. Blue is for boys. Math and science are for boys. English and history are for girls. Where do we get the idea that gender is systematized? Where is the research that says boys are more apt to become the next rocket scientists and girls, because of their “empathizing” brains, will become […]
Opportunities for Israel in a changing Middle East
Professor Shai Feldman (POL) discussed the effect of the Arab Spring revolutions on Israel and the relationship between Israel and Egypt in light of the latter’s upcoming elections on Wednesday. Alumni, parents, students and friends of the Brandeis community logged into a live chat to hear Feldman’s lecture and ask questions. Feldman allayed fears that […]
Hornstein program founder Bernie Reisman dead at 85
Professor Emeritus Bernie Reisman died Nov. 21 after years of struggling with Alzheimer’s disease. Reisman has left a lasting legacy at Brandeis through his numerous achievements as director of the Benjamin S. Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program and through the personal impact he bore on countless members involved in it. According to a transcript of […]
