April 13, 2005

Cryin' All The Time in Waltham

I haven’t been covering a lot of news from my alma mater (Brandeis) because I know most of you don’t care, but a couple recent stories I thought were funny, and might hold your interest. Both come via more-recent-graduate-than-me Josh.

First, we’ve got the same stupidity as every year, in which students bitch endlessly about the chosen celebrity commencement speaker, as though it actually matters who speaks, and as though the senior class is “entitled” to someone more famous/liberal/”cool” than whoever is actually chosen. Here’s a history (second item), that I wrote two years ago, of this stupid phenomenon; my personal favorite was when the chosen speaker was the first human to orbit the Earth (John Glenn), and the main complaint was that both he and the student speaker were “white males named John.”

This year the pick is Margaret H. Marshall, the chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court (the “activist judge” who, rightly in my view, helped make the Bay State the first in the union to legalize same-sex marriage), and among those getting honorary degrees are Tom Brokaw. Are students upset that their speaker presided over the decade's most controversial legal decision? Actually, no- they're mad that she's not enough of a hip celebrity. When the lineup was announced, this senior just about shit his pants- because he would’ve preferred Will Ferrell or Ali G.

In a letter to president Jehuda Reinharz, this guy partakes in two beloved Brandeis traditions- wall-to-wall bitching, and Harvard envy- in complaining that he and other seniors won’t be entertained enough by this accomplished jurist, and would prefer Ferrell, Bono, or Sacha Baron Cohen- after all, Harvard (or Penn) has hosted all three of them for Class Day (which, as the writer seems unaware, is separate from actual commencement). And there aren't enough parties, and WE PAY $30,000 a year, yadda yadda yadda. And since Justice Marshall apparently wouldn’t make a good-enough after-dinner comedian, our senior has threatened to never donate to the university ever again.

Oh, boo hoo. There are people in this world who legitimately have something to complain about, whether it’s not having jobs, homelessness, whatever. No reason to get your panties in a twist about who the damn commencement speaker is.

Then Reinharz, in a typically clueless moment, tried to ask his assistant to “find out if this guy is in scholarship,” and then hit reply by mistake. Oops.

Last point on this: last year I predicted that people would be pissed off at the selection as speaker of then-World Bank president James Wolfensohn, in part because “they think he’s Paul Wolfowitz.” Well what do you know- it’s a year later, the World Bank president IS Paul Wolfowitz.

In the above-linked overview, I referred to much of the criticism as “mostly driven by hypersensitive fools with easy access to the Justice letters page.” Well, not anymore: the student newspaper, of which I was once Arts Editor, has instituted a new policy which bans letters to the editor that reference any previous article from the paper’s pages. This policy, which puts them at odds with, oh, every other newspaper on Earth, has both completely neutered what was always the paper’s most lively section, and led it further into the abyss of what I used to call the ethos of “first, hurt no one’s feelings.” In fact, several of the editors have quit to start a rival paper.

UPDATE: There's a now a Brandeis gun club, blogger Kim du Toit tells us. Never thought I'd live to see a gun being fired by a Brandeis girl named Yael. (Via LilB).

UPDATE II: The Hoot is all over this, with an in-depth interview with Reinharz, and a general news story that, hilariously, includes the student who wrote the letter shirtless and in a Hulk Hogan pose.

Posted by Stephen Silver at April 13, 2005 11:51 PM
Comments

This thing with the student unhappy with the commencement speaker is ridiculous. Granted, Reinharz shot himself in the foot by sending the student an e-mail intended for John Hose. It's all over the Hoot today and way overblown (although their editorial sends the right message). It's idiotic for someone to whine and complain ceaselessly just because Ali G isn't their commencement speaker.

N.B.: As deputy editor of the Justice, I must correct your understanding of our letters policy, which was grossly misrepresented in a recent editorial in the Hoot. We only print letters that refer to articles that appeared in our pages. What we have discontinued are ranting and raving op-eds about articles that should be confined to the generous length of 400 words (our limit for letters). Op-ed submissions can approach issues covered by previous articles but must add new insight to the issue, not emotional outbursts.

Posted by: Ben at April 15, 2005 05:34 PM

This thing with the student unhappy with the commencement speaker is ridiculous. Granted, Reinharz shot himself in the foot by sending the student an e-mail intended for John Hose. It's all over the Hoot today and way overblown (although their editorial sends the right message). It's idiotic for someone to whine and complain ceaselessly just because Ali G isn't their commencement speaker.

N.B.: As deputy editor of the Justice, I must correct your understanding of our letters policy, which was grossly misrepresented in a recent editorial in the Hoot. We only print letters that refer to articles that appeared in our pages. What we have discontinued are ranting and raving op-eds about articles that should be confined to the generous length of 400 words (our limit for letters). Op-ed submissions can approach issues covered by previous articles but must add new insight to the issue, not emotional outbursts.

Posted by: Ben at April 15, 2005 05:35 PM

He is half right. Their policy reads exactly: "The Justice welcomes letters to the editor responding to published materials. Please e-mail letters to justforum@courier.brandeis.edu or contact us through our web site at www.thejusticeonline.com. Only letters not exceeding 400 words will be accepted. Op-ed submissions of general interest to the university community--that do not refer explicitly to material printed in the Justice-should be between 600 and 800 words."

Our line that said "they allow letters to be printed on a topic in general but not to address specifics brought up in an article." should have said op-eds and not letters.

Posted by: Igor at April 15, 2005 08:42 PM
Posted by: at June 17, 2005 04:04 AM

EAV Pro Audio stock a wide range of Wireless Microphone Systems, Active and Passive PA Systems, PA Power Amplifiers for any PA System, PA Mixers for Live Mixing and Studio recording, Digital Mixing Desks and Consoles and along with a massive range of home and professional recording equipment.

Posted by: Active and Passive PA Systems at July 6, 2011 02:49 AM
Post a comment









Remember personal info?