The sudden evaporation of about $50b via a Ponzi Scheme is going to hurt the economy as a whole, but especially Jewish philanthropy. Many of those who entrusted money with Maddoff were well to do and philanthropic Jews.
One thing, as a Brandeis alum, that stood out at me while reading the NY Post’s coverage of the fall out in Palm Beach was:
…Sources say Jerome Fisher, the founder of the Nine West women’s shoe empire, was said to have lost $150 million, and Carl Shapiro, who founded the Kay Windsor garment company, reportedly lost $400 million…
This is the Carl Shapiro whose name adorns many of the University’s buildings….uh oh?
Mind Hack’s takes a look at the MIT and Brandeis alumnas turned terrorist doctoral thesis titled: Separating the components of imitation and a latter paper which she authored.
It’s a shame that Brandeis happened to cross paths with this sociopath.
The (suspected) Al-Queda member, Aafia Siddiqui. who happened to by coincidence, have studied neuroscience at Brandeis has at long last been captured over in Afghanistan.
Fortunately, she’s been caught and hopefully the Judicial system will throw the book at her and lock her away for her crimes (not the least of which is attempted murder of a Federal agent).
Looks like the (small yet annoying )fringe contingent of the alma matter has their cause du jour for the fall.
Yesterday’s wedding was really nice. The ceremony itself was held out on LI at the Old Westbury Gardens (very pretty) and the weather was gorgeous! Of course the bride and the groom looked marvelous.
After the two were formally married, it was off to a country club for the reception. It was both fun in the sense of being a celebration but also as being sort of a mini college reunion. Some of my peers even regressed to their old collegiate ways. (No, only in a good way).
In short, it was a lot of fun and a great time was had by all!
The alma matter is now starting to get heat from all over the country over the way it handled a complaint that a professor said a racially insensitive comment.
My take is that, even though the professor is almost totally and completely misguided politically (he’s from the Sociology department–need I say more?), the way the administration appears to have handled things is inappropriate. Furthermore, what ever happened to “truth unto its innermost parts”?
In what is a most unlikely scenario, a Republican Senator was able to have a letter published in The Justice.
Not only that, it was a letter from Tom Coburn (R-OK), in which he argues against increased gun control
How this managed to make it into the paper, seems to be somewhat of a fluke. Are pigs flying in Sherman? (Well, on the non-Kosher side at least?)
The hyper-liberals at Brandeis are whining again, this time over university President Reinharz’s (correct–imho) decision to arm the campus police.
First there’s the new campus group against having armed police who petitioned President Reinharz.
Even the Justice editorial board seems to be carping about the decision
Oh, just another day in the Brandeis bubble where the gun boogy-man seems to prevail. Must be a Massachusets thing.
The lamest argument has to be this one from the editorial:
But we admit that there are potentially harmful consequences of having guns on campus, such as the promotion of a culture of fear and anxiety, as well as the possibility of weapon abuse by some officers.
Apparently the newest cause celebre on some college campuses is to protest electro-convulsive therapy (ECT)
ECT, while still not perfect, has progressed since it’s inception as a therapy for severe psychiatric conditions. There was actually a cover story in the Village Voice about just this subject last week.
At long last, the Brandeis Police will be armed
(that is once they complete the obligatory MA red tape)
The latest poor taste publication to occur at Brandeis is the publication of a poor taste (and non-funny) cartoon in the humor magazine “Gravity”
Steve Silver has a good post up on this topic
The parody was in poor taste and wasn’t even really that funny; rather it was simply stupid.
The candlelight vigil can’t be too far off. After all, the Student Union already passed a long worded resolution about it.
Alas, finals are around the corner too, and may dominate the student body’s focus.
The magazine should’ve stuck with it’s professor quotations section–that’s what it was worth reading for!
[I'd add more but my keyboard isn't working right--sigh]
From the Brandeis Justice:
After shootings, University police, again, say they should be armed
No questions asked…the campus police should be armed.
Second point: these would be armed police in Massachusetts. Look at how difficult it is to get a firearm in Massachusetts in the first place, especially in the Boston area. In being eligible to be armed, they’d virtually be run through the ringer.
For those needing a refresher on Massachusetts and it’s gun laws–just read No Looking Backwards (and just keep scrolling as they say)
From Mark Kilmer’s “The Sunday Morning Talk Shows - The Review”
On Fox New Sunday:
George Washington University president Steve Trachtenberg boasted that at GWU, not only are the faculty and students disarmed, but so are the campus security officers.
Is this something to really be proud of?
(For that matter–my alma matter is still the same way…which isn’t right either)
A visualization of the tax code as a network graph
The visuals are cool enough, however, it’s depressing that the Tax Code is so complex.
(Bonus point: It was made by a Brandeis alum)
Also from the Justice:
members of the RSA [Radical Student Alliance]-which now calls itself Students for a Democratic Society-”
The return of SDS?
Does this mark the inaguartion of the “new-new left”
From the Justice:
Organizers call off Mideast visit
The planned trip to the Palestinian territories this summer has been cancelled because of the failure to raise the necessary funds and campus support, one of the group’s organizers said.
Let’s see, since Brandeis’ student body is approximately 50%+ Jewish.
The “Palestinian Territories” are basically run by Hamas and/or Fatah. (No friends of the Jews)
So if you’re Jewish, your odds of making it there and back safely are how low?
No wonder the trip couldn’t be pulled off…
Interesting development via The Hoot:
“This week, the Radical Student Alliance (RSA) pulled out of the event concerned that they would be associated with “Holocaust denial” and their anti-war campaign would be put in jeopardy. Soon after RSA pulled out, the Arab Culture Club (ACC) pulled out as well, afraid that they would be going at it alone and that they would look like a fringe group that even RSA would ignore. The decision of the two groups has forced the lecture to be canceled yet again.“
Developing….
Via The Hoot:
Crown Center fellow under fire for paper
Dr. Khalil Shikaki, a senior fellow at Brandeis’s Crown Center for Middle Eastern studies, has recently generated controversy over his support for the release of Marwan Barghouti, a former Fatah leader who was convicted in Israel in 2004 of five counts of murder, as well as one count of attempted murder. Shikaki has been the head of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research since 2000, and is considered a world expert on the field of Palestinian public opinion….
More background on this story:
CampusWatch (Click individual articles)