JawsBlog

Controversy on Campus–Part 16

For anyone whose interested, the Justice has posted all the letters written in response to Passner’s October 21st column on its website.

The letters can be found here, and its a PDF (requires Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader) file of 3 pages worth of letters, which run the whole gamut of emotions, opinions and thoughts. (Passner is even criticized for poor analysis of the Cubs). And there were 23 letters (if anyone was guessing)…

I’ll blog more tomorrow…

Controversy on Campus–Part 15

Note, I haven’t seen a paper copy of the Justice today.

That aside, building on my last post on this topic, I’ve since read the BBSO statement in its entirety, and wow…I’m both shocked and appaled.

Here’s what bothered me the most:

The Brandeis administrators finally woke up. They now understand that it is not students’ responsibility, but rather the administrators’ responsibility to protect the minority community. They also know that if they fail to protect us, we will turn this university upside down. The greater Brandeis community woke up.

Whether they agree or disagree with our cause, they cannot deny that we have a voice - a very powerful and undeniable voice. But most importantly, we woke up. We realized that it’s not that actions speak louder than words, but actions are the only things that speak. We pushed ourselves to limits beyond what we ever thought possible and refused to stop until our demands were met. We are truly UNBREAKABLE.

Statements like this aren’t going to help at all, it’s only adding fuel to the fire. This is almost like the Ford Hall incident all over again.

Frankly, the administration does protect the (racial) minority community here on campus. I should know. There are special minority programs, events, oppertunities, email lists…they make an extra effort. Threatening the administration by saying that you’ll “turn the university upside down” is absurd and inciteful.

Messages and attitudes like this will only continue to fan the flames of the fire which has erupted on campus. It’s acts like this that polarize the campus and raise tentions–which benefit no one at all.

And you people should remember, you don’t speak for all of us minorities on campus…

Are Jews Shifting towards the right

In this week’s edition of the Cleveland Jewish News, I came across the following two stories.

GOP reaches out to Orthodox [Jews].

Not much of a suprise there, as the Orhodox have been closer to the GOP on social issues, and now with the increased support for Israel demonstrated by the GOP, they’re getting more support.

and even more interesting:

Bush raising Jewish funds from both parties

This will be interesting to watch, to say the least

Controversy on Campus–Part 14

The long awaited issue of the Justice is now online. I have yet to see a hard copy of the paper, so I’m going to have to work with what I’ve seen so far.

Let’s start at the top of things (note: all links don’t require a “login” to the paper)

First, here’s the Justice’s coverage of the whole ordeal. It also exposes that Passner has a history of not-so good comments in his columns (which I admit, I rarely read). He gets taken to task by students and professors alike.

And the Justice story on the protest that erupted [first reported here!]

Second the Justice’s official response: No room for bigotry in our newspaper

Third, here’s the BBSO’s letter/statement: BBSO submits ‘Unbreakable’

Fourth, (now former) Editor in Chief Steven Heyman’s resignation letter: ‘I hope we all learned something’

Fifth, Yana Litovsky’s, (now former features editor) letter of resignation (and it’s a sharp one): Integrity of the Justice perverted [it’s a must read!]

That’s all that is featured in the online version…I’m curious to see what’s in the dead tree (paper) version.

Just from skimming the pieces, and I emphasize skimming, Litovsky is right on the mark in her piece.
The Justice really got screwed over by the administration.

After reading the BBSO piece, I understand their anger and frustration. Passner’s article (and prior articles) contained a lot of idiocy. But I don’t like how the piece is written. It sounds like more of a revolutionary statement towards the end–which is what bothers me the most–it’s radicalism.

These parts of the piece begin to evoke the memories of the Ford Hall Occupation, which is well known amongst Brandeis students.

Furthermore, I think the following demand is absurd:

We are requesting that a mandatory University requirement be implemented that will force every Brandeis student to take a class about race relations and cultural sensitivity

That’s absurd! In our daily lives we learn and experience race relations and cultural sensitivity. We constantly have cultural events occuring on campus, and people are aware. A class like this would probably be some sort of Political corretness lecture–which is unecessary and uncalled for.

We are required as part of our University Requirement to take a course designated as “Non-western studies” which I personally think is a good idea, and provides insights into another culture.

More later as the story evolves…

Other things going on in the US and elsewhere…

The US Economy Grows at Fastest Pace Since 1984! 7.2% in the 3rd Quarter!

Now lets see…who was in office in 1984…hmmm…could it be this man? Here’s more on the economic growth.

Now I’m no economist, but when I told this to my friend who’se an economics major, his response was “holy shit…you’re kidding me”…so I guess this is a very good thing. I wish there was either a publication or news show that would put these economic things into simple-person terminology (so people like me can fully appreciate ‘em).

In other political news, the Globe decided to run a story on former Mass Gov and 1988 Dem Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, as he’s apparently about to turn 70. I barely remember the man (I was in first grade when he lost to Bush Sr.–and I remember that we always laughed when we heard his name…because it was so hard to pronounce).

Staying within the Globe–there’a piece of news to me. I thought that the “neo-cons” only had a foreign policy agenda; but according to this letter, they have one on education too.

And in the NY Times, its a battle of the Pundits–as Maureen Down vs Thomas Friedman (Brandeis ‘75). VodkaPundit gives the match to Friedman in the 2nd round via KO.

The AngryClam is livid over Justice O’Connor’s latest remarks.

Finally, Allah, of Allah’s in the house has moved (must be part of the BlogSpot Jihad)

I think I’m gonna head out and grab a bite to eat now…

Controversy on Campus–Part 13

For anyone who is interested, Passner’s article is again available on the Justice’s website.
As the Justice notes:

The Justice Editorial Board is acutely aware of the bigoted and inflammatory nature of this sports column, which ran in our Oct. 21 issue. The column should never have been printed and there is no room for these reprehensible sentiments in our pages. But due to the substantial controversy that this issue has incited in our community, the Board feels it necessary to keep it available for inspection by members of the University community.

Here’s the link to the article: Dusty Baker Exposed [login not required]

Controvery on Campus–Part 12

Well, the story continues to grow. The Boston Globe has picked it up, and made it into a full article. On page W1 (Globe West Section–Page 1), bottom left-hand corner: Brandeis newspaper delays publication

The Globe article actually brings into play Baker’s controversial comments earlier in the season (which Passner never refered to); and it ran Passner’s full quote.
Now this article gives even more information about the struggles the Justice faces: saying that the Senior Editor (the student who just finished his term as Editor in Chief a few weeks ago), the Features Editor and an Asssociate editor all resigned. The Globe article corroborates the reports of the Campus Press Notes, who has also reported on this story, and noted that two of the papers best layout people have since resigned (an aside, finding people who want to do layout is also difficult). [his info is from an unnamed Justice newsroom source].

Shifting back to the Globe article, the University spokesman, Dennis Nealon. is quoted as saying:

The staff at the Justice “decided to take their time and look at this, to give students enough time to have input, and not rush an issue out while things are evolving”

Now, from what I understand/saw happening, and based on what’s being reported at Campus Press Notes–the Justice decided monday night to go forward with publication. The Justice did extend the letter deadline 48-hrs from until 5PM Friday to 5PM on Sunday. This sounds like a classic glossing over by the administration–as were Nealon’s statement entirely true, I doubt there would’ve been the large protest Monday night/tuesday AM that occured outside of the Justice’s office.

Second, Nealon is also reported to have said:

The Justice is an independent newspaper published weekly by the students at Brandeis, and is not under the authority of the school administration

Now, that is true (at least in theory). As I’ve previously mentioned, the Justice is automatically guarenteed a certain percentage of Student activity fees so that it can be published. That way, it need not go through the “Funding/Allocations” Board (I forget what it’s being called now) in order to get money. That way, it’s independent of both the Student Senate and the University Administration.

However, according to both Campus Press Notes and the Globe report, former Editor in Chief Steven Heyman said:

“The administration has made it clear they will not have me as editor-in-chief,” Heyman said in a telephone interview Monday night. “I will be stepping down after this issue.”

This is in addition to the comment by now former Sports Editor Rob Siegel who said:

said he decided to resign from the paper’s editorial board after meeting with [University President] Reinharz on Friday.

[Note: Campus Press Notes also reports that Heyman was also called in for that same meeting and was urged to do the same].

Now, I thought that the Justice was independent of the administration? So why did the administration place so much pressure on these two editors to resign? I can understand going after the section edtior, cause it seems like he dropped the ball, but the editor-in-chief? I understand why the administrators decided to get involved (they went into CYA mode) but what about the paper’s autonomy?
That’s what bothers me the most I think.
[Note: I’m also in somewhat of a disgruntled mood with the higher-ups of the administration over an unrelated issue right now; so that may explain some of my anger]

Former Arts Section Editor, Steve Silver has some comments on this over at his blog.

Let me reiterate myself, yet again. What Passner wrote was unacceptable–and I’m not asking for african-americans not to be offended. Passner wrote a racist remark in a very public periodical and (I think) should’ve known better.

I’m a minority myself (I’m a hispanic) and I’m Jewish. I’ve experienced anti-semitism before–and I know how nasty these things are.

At the same time, I think that a lot of the Justice’s staff (among others) is/are getting smeared incorrectly by the “racism brush” (as Steve termed it)–and that’s not right either. Peoplle need to be careful with that.

And to elaborate on something Steve wrote:

What I do have a problem with is with the rise of a certain form of doctrinaire, political correctness-based identity politics (practically invented by Brandeis’ own Herbert Marcuse, and today mostly advanced by white professors and some white students) that, coupled with ever-present ’60s nostalgia, has galvanized the Brandeis left before, during, and since my time there. Indeed, if the student body has it hard-wired into their heads from the start that every institution under the sun is intrinsically racist, is it any wonder that the raving of a singular nut like Passner gets mistaken for a widespread racist conspiracy?

I very much agree with Steve’s assertion here. I don’t know anything about Marcuse, but that aside…The Brandeis left, who are very vocal and have significant faculty backing are as Steve describes them. I’m a republican (gasp) which makes me a target to both the students and faculty on the Left here. (I’ve discussed this previously in my blog–but don’t need to revisit it now). If they also realized that I was also a hispanic, I’d be even more of a target! With their complaints that everything is racsit, that globalization is evil, claims of American imperialism, and the like, it isn’t too suprising that they’re now alleging that Passner’s idiotic piece is part of a widespread conspiracy. I think that’s the sick part of it–this is an isolated incident.

Update: A reader has also informed me that Channel 56 (WB) here in Boston ran a segment on its newscast Wed. night about this story. [I do not know if there is an online video clip]

Controversy on Campus–Part 11

No major “news” per say to report, but just some observations.

This issue has driven a big wedge into the student body. It has apparently cost people friendships–and its caused a lot of unecessary animocity.

The article itself [more specifically the quote] was inexcusible. There’s no disagreement about that. The resignation of the author and the overseeing editor were also inline. However, everything that has happened since then has gone a biit overboard.

This whole issue has led to friendships being ruined, unnecessary tensions between people and groups (among other things). This post from another current Brandeis student expresses the feelings of many.

I personally don’t know if the Editor in Chief should’ve been forced to step down. I don’t know if its his job to read over all the articles, or if that responsibility of the copy editors and/or the section editors. If its the latter, he should’ve been able to retain his position. I don’t think the administration should’ve intervened on the side of the protesters to force him to step down. That’s a real shame. But that’s just my opinion.

Even though we knock it a lot, the Justice is for better or worse a decent school paper. To their credit, we don’t have very much news here to report on at Brandeis, but for the most part they do a good job. Last fall a student tried to launch a private “rival” paper, “The Indi“, which for lack of a better adjective, was a joke. It (thankfully) folded after only a few issues.

It’ll be interesting to see what Friday’s issue [of the Justice] looks like. How many pages will this story take up? And how many letters will be sent in?

Controversy on Campus–Notes

I should start by welcoming all those people arriving here from Steve Silver’s Blog and Campus Press Notes (among other locations).

For anyone whose curious, I am currently a senior at Brandeis. I’m a hispanic student, and I’m Jewish too. (if that matters to anyone–and yes, there are hispanic Jews).

If you’d like to see my, posts on the now infamous article and the subsequent events, please scroll down and start from “Controversy on Campus–Part I”.

I’ve gotta go get some homework done now; I’ve gotta an outline due tomorrow for a 50-minute Hebrew lecture I’m giving on monday. Blogging will resume later

Politics are Crazy

Politics can be very strange and wacky:

A Democrat supporting President Bush for re-election

Sharpton Accuses Dean Of Having An Anti-Black Agenda…

Dean says he’s a “metrosexual”… (can someone clue me in on what a Metrosexual is?). Then he said he was “a square”.

This all leaves me very confused…

Controversy on Campus–Part 10(!)

Wow! This story keeps growing and growing. Aside from the debate taking place on one email list about how big of a problem racism is, blah, blah…nothing important.

So, apparently the BBSO is [finally] in the process of composing their response to the article.

However, there’s even more news! From Steve Silver ‘00, it appears that Romenesko has picked up this story [I don’t know much about Romenesko–my appologies].

The story continues, as according to a new article in the Waltham News Tribune, five editors and writers have resigned from the paper’s staff (I assume this includes the author, the sports editor and the editor-in-chief). The article also provides new information [which hasn’t yet been heard on campus] about how the quote made it in there:

[former] Editor-in-chief S.H. said the quote had been circled in red ink by a copy editor, but due to what S.H. surmised was “lack of experience,” the editor did not bring it to anyone else’s attention.

“The story was submitted late last Monday night,” said Heyman. “Basically, the sports editor did not read his copy.”

I don’t know if this means that the article was submitted past-deadline?

And apparently University administrators have gotten involved in this issue too.

According to Campus Press Notes blog, (welcome to all visitors from there) a call to the Justice office yields a message that says “The administration won’t let us print unless the editor-in-chief resigns.”

I think Steve is right when he says: “Proving once again that some of the most gutless, spineless, morally bankrupt people in America are senior university administrators.”

Speaking of administrators—would any of them care to explain why our tuition has continued to go up, despite the fact that they’ve drastically cut course offerings? Where’s the money going??? [that’s another issue though]

Controversy on Campus–Part IX

Okay, just got another email, which sounds like a “recap” of a lot of things–from the perspective of the “Intercultural Center” (ICC):
[names have been removed and irrelevant text has been removed]

Forgive me for this long email, but I wanted to make sure that everyone in the ICC community was informed of what has happened over the past couple of days. Since my email on Saturday, so much has occurred and I want to be sure that everyone knows the facts.

On Saturday, Black student leaders organized concerned students in the atrium of the Shapiro Campus Center and attended a Justice Alumni Event. There, the alumna present explained what it was like to work for a professional news agency. At the end of her presentation, she took questions and answers from the audience. Several people from within the ICC community expressed their distress over the Justice “incident,” and asked the alumna for feedback on specific questions related to a couple of [the author’s] offensive sports articles. From my understanding, answers she provided students with STRONGLY supported BBSO’s demand for the resignation of the Editor-in-Chief of the Justice and for the Justice to take appropriate, responsible action.

On Sunday, Black student leaders kept in close contact with the Justice Editorial Board. On Sunday evening, the ICC Student Programming Board, Leaders, and allies met to share thoughts & concerns about the attempt to resolve this situation, and to begin developing a statement from the ICC community to senior level administrators.

During this meeting, after leaving to meet with Justice Staff, BBSO leaders returned and announced joyfully that an agreement had been met. That the Editor-in-Chief was going to resign, but still have the opportunity to work on the Justice under no specific title for one year (meaning that the individual would have the opportunity after this year to regain the position). In addition, BBSO leaders announced that the Justice would be printed for Friday (instead of Tuesday) allowing BBSO leaders to develop a statement to
be printed on the front page. No sooner than 15-20 minutes later, however, did BBSO leaders leave and return again with a very different announcement. This time it was that the Justice Editorial Board decided that they could not deliver what was agreed earlier (in this paragraph).

As you can imagine, emotions began running very high, and people certainly questioned how an agreement could have been made and then broken. Students left the meeting at the ICC to express their concerns at the Student Union Senate Meeting. From what I was told, a number of points of view were expressed regarding the Justice “incident,” from a variety of people. Needless to say, this meeting lasted nearly the entire night. And in the end, resulted in the Senate passing a resolution condemning the racist remarks published in the Justice on October 21. Still, come Monday morning, TWO of the remaining demands of Black student leaders had not been met (1. The resignation of the Editor-in-Chief, 2. A Friday edition of the Justice to allow BBSO leaders time to prepare a front page statement to the community at large).

By late Monday afternoon, Black student leaders met with administrators, and were assured that their remaining demands would be met by later that evening. However, as the night continued, it became evident through conversations between Black student leaders and Justice staff that in fact only ONE of the two demands remaining would be honored. As is understandable, Black student leaders felt betrayed for a SECOND time, but now by more than simply their fellow students. The Justice staff decided that they would going ahead and print on Monday night.

What happened next is what few were aware of and unexpected to many. After midnight, Black students leaders and other concerned community members began a PEACEFUL protest outside of the Justice office. The purpose? These concerned students wanted to send a clear message to the school that they had reached their limit. They wanted the issue to be addressed in a way that was appropriate and respectful, to cease printing of the Justice that night, and for earlier assurances to be upheld.

By 3:30 a.m., several administrators received word of the protest, and rushed to campus to help remedy the situation. [senior administrator] met with Justice Staff members to help facilitate a solution to this (at different times over the next two hours), while students protesting waited patiently for a response. By approximately 5:30 a.m., Justice staff members finally agreed to the remaining demands. Afterwards, [same senior administrator] addressed the concerned student protesters in the multi-purpose room, and restated her committment to diversity related issues. She also reminded us that there is a healing process that must begin soon.

With regard to this, we must keep in mind that there are many different opinions about all that has happened over the past week. While I understand there are different thoughts on how the issue could have been resolved, I hope we all remember that a racist remark was made in our school’s newspaper, which needed to be addressed immediately. And that those who in some way allowed the racist remark to be printed needed to take responsibility for their actions (or lack thereof).

As I moved around campus today, I heard many different things about what transpired late last night/early this morning. Opinions range from what a wonderful job concerned students did within their rights, to people claiming that last night was a “witchhunt”. Certainly, I realize that most on this campus are unaware of what specific things led up to last night’s protest. I hope that people will reserve judgment until they know all of the facts.

As you all can begin to imagine, there are many things we must think about as a community while we move forward. Though many in the ICC should feel proud (and I AM PROUD) of the fact that members of our family UNITED to address a racist incident, we must keep in mind that there are larger issues that several of you have expressed concern about. We must also remember how important it is for us to build and further develop relationships with other groups on campus, including (at some point) the Justice. This may be uncomfortable at times, but I anticipate in the end will be worthwhile and beneficial.

Remember, this is from an ICC point of view–and I don’t think people in the Justice feel the same way. One of the things I heard a lot today was “why the delay in the paper? Why couldn’t they have come up with something by monday [since last tuesday?]”?