Well it’s late now, and I was busier than I expected to be today, so I’ll only get to share one of the two good pieces of news coming out of Brandeis with you all. Brandeis has chosen three famous alums for this years alumni achievement awards.
First, there’s Osman Faruk Logoglu, Class of ‘63, the ambassador of Turkey to the United States.
Second there’s Marta Kauffman, Brandeis Class of ‘78, executive producer and co-creator of the Emmy Award-winning series “Friends” (more below)
and finally, there’s Roderick MacKinnon of Rockefeller University, Class of ‘78, an esteemed neurobiologist (lab website)
Regarding Ms./Mrs. Kauffman’s award, there’s a “legend” at Brandeis that the campus’ student run coffee shop, Cholmondeley’s (better known as Chums), was the insipiration for “Central Perk” the coffee shop on the show.
Now here’s the fun/interesting part. Chums is located in the basement of Usen Castle, which currently serves as a dorm. I’ll save the Castle story for another time. (For those interested, here’s a brief summary).
Anyway, when Brandeis bought the land for its campus from Middlesex University (story). the castle served as a lab building, and the space where Chumly’s now sits is said to have been the “animal morgue” for dissections. Wierd yet neat, huh?