Brandeis University's Community Newspaper — Waltham, Mass.
To the Editor:
Kevin Montgomerys recent column about open standards was right on the money. Open standards are the bedrock of technical innovation. I remember a time when having an AOL account meant you could only email other people who were using AOL. Of course now we send email to anyone anywhere, confident that they will receive it and be able to read it using any email program they choose.
I transferred to Brandeis for a variety of reasons, but it was primarily for tolerance. My former college, Bentley, was a stereotypical school full of guys running around calling people fags in that irritating frat-voice and it did not take long for people to victimize me. Despite the fact I am not gay, people would vandalize my door with words like queer, cock-sucker, and fag written with a Sharpee and hallmates would make comments to me as I walked to class. Even after reporting incidents to various campus officials, nothing changed. Finally, one Saturday evening, 12 to 13 people thought it would be funny to urinate in a 13-gallon trash can, fill the rest up with shower water, and pour it on me. While the story does not conclude there, at this point it was obvious that this was not an environment that I wanted to be a part of.
I pronounce you man and wife.
You, as the man, are still a full-fledged individual with the aspirations, rights, successes and failures that come from individuality. The woman, however, now only exists in terms of you. She is your property, her aspirations are whatever your aspirations are, her rights are what you say they are, and so on.
But we dont say I pronounce you man and wife anymore. It has been replaced, in most cases, by the phrase I pronounce you husband and wife. Its a small changesomething that I hadnt even noticed until I looked into itbut I want to know if it is a meaningful one.
This issue marks the beginning of Heather Zajdels reign at the helm of The Hoot. She is this papers second editor-in-chief. Heather has been news editor of The Hoot since March and is committed to the goal of making the campus media accessible to all students.
We are feminists. What does that mean to you? Are we man-haters? Are we bra-burners? Are we dykes? The author bell hooks defines feminism as the fight to end sexist oppression. We define feminism as choice. The choice to do, say, think and act freely. Feminism is about breaking boundaries and setting new standards for everyone, regardless of gender, race, class, sexual orientation or national origin.
The scariest aspect of returning home on breaks from college is the risk of bumping into people from high school that I just have no interest in seeing. This Thanksgiving break, I ran into way too many people. I think I counted nine. And as comfortable and as happy as I am with myself and my life, running into people from high school turns me into a self-conscious wreck. Suddenly, Im worried about what Im wearing and if my hair looks alright.
Maggie Balch, Director of Residence Life, has been selected as Brandeis new Assistant Dean of Student Life. The announcement was made Thursday in an email to the community authored by Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer.
Over the summer students saw the Student Activity Fee (SAF) of $157.50 broken up into two different line-items on their tuition bills one for Student Events totaling $35 and one for everything else of $122.50 funded by the SAF. This change created concerns from current and past Union Officers that the administration was trying to control how students spend the SAF. Some students also wondered if the SAF was meant to be independently controlled by the student body without any administrative oversight.
In a multi-part series The Hoot will detail the ancient history of the SAF, more recent history, current reform efforts and finally student autonomy over the SAF.
A majority of students voted last week in favor of a Student Union referendum that presses for a campus-wide conversion to Fair Trade Coffee.
Professor Eve Marder (BIOL) has been awarded the Ralph W. Gerard Prize in Neuroscience for outstanding work in the field of neuroscience.
