#Brandeis University

[eretzyisrael]

by Dion J. Pierre

Baime, who is a Brandeis alumnus, shared more of his thoughts with The Algemeiner on Tuesday.

“Brandeis University was founded at a time when Jews were unwelcome at the same Ivy League schools where they feel unsafe today, and I applaud my alma mater for refusing to recognize a group calling for the murder of Jews and annihilation of Israel,” he said. “[Florida] Governor DeSantis was the first to set such a policy, but Brandeis University is the first school, public or private, to actually revoke recognition of this hate group. Others should do the same. Who’s next?”

Brandeis University’s opposition to extreme anti-Israel activity on campus is not new. Last year, the university canceled an institutional partnership with the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) after it endorsed the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

Liebowitz, who has served as Brandeis’ president since 2016, on Monday described the BDS movement as “another blatant demonstration of antisemitism on campuses” for aiming “to dismantle the Jewish state and end the right to Jewish self-determination.”

Following Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, several SJP chapters and other pro-Palestinian student organizations declared solidarity with Hamas and circulated propaganda that rationalized its violence.

[night-blogging-in-2012]

Palestinian liberation rally at Brandeis University in Waltham MA ends in 7 arrests. Students and community members were holding signs, speaking, and chanting. They were not obstructing access to any buildings or disrupting any university activities.

[stopandimagineloveforever]

MUST WATCH Filmmaker Ken Burns at Brandeis University

@wilwheaton @neil-gaiman @reallyndacarter @vancityreynolds

[mygidon73]

Sometimes fists matter more than facts

“There are no accidents, only encounters in history,” wrote Elie Wiesel. The outbreak of antisemitism that has swept across US college campuses is not a spontaneous reaction to Hamas’s massacre of over 1200 men, women, and children – a day during which the Gaza-based terrorist group kidnapped over two hundred people. Hamas’s invasion of the Jewish state, as well as the organization’s fans at Ivy…

[thirst2]

The thought doesn’t accomplish anything so I’ve never mentioned it but, also, this is my blog for things internal to me and a nexus for internal thoughts and self-reflection and just everything that has no purpose and won’t go anywhere so

Back when I was attending Brandeis, – one of the days leading up to winder break – I’d been bumming around the classrooms at night and one had those walls with a chalkboard that has another chalkboard on top with both being able to slide (so you can slide one to the top and write on the other while it’s in the bottom slot, etc.).

I don’t remember why but both were slid up, I think, and I pulled the one on top down to reveal a message of “No matter how bad finals are, remember that Jesus Christ loves and saves you!” or some horrendous crap like that; it’s not like there was a large Christian segment of the campus population (at least, I don’t think) and I think there was only a Catholic group and a general Christian group (which I’m sure the most active members of which are a reflection of the world-wide Christian population); I know I’m biased but it smells of Evangelical bullshit.

I had the thought of writing, below it, something like, “You’re attending a school founded because of antisemitism in education 3 years after the Holocaust; have some FUCKING respect – another Christian.”

But would that generate more controversy? I’d be putting my own 2¢ in without any additional input from the affected group. I wanted to help but I didn’t want to make things worse.

And maybe I was overthinking everything; I don’t know.

I wound up either erasing the excrement or, due to not being able to reach, leaving the top chalkboard lowered so whoever got in early might see it rather than a unexpecting professor pulling it down during a class and providing the Gotcha to every member of the class that I’m sure the original author wanted.

But, every time I think of it, I’m just entirely pissed off that whomever wrote it is still out there, without any conception of blowback for their actions, probably no guilt and no shame.

[xtruss]

The Man Who Couldn’t Stop Going To College

Benjamin B. Bolger Has Spent His Whole Life Amassing Academic Degrees. What Can We Learn From Him?

— By Joseph Bernstein | June 3, 2024 | The New York Times

Bolger Has Spent The Last 30-Odd Years Attending Top Universities.

Benjamin B. Bolger has been to Harvard and Stanford and Yale. He has been to Columbia and Dartmouth and Oxford, and Cambridge, Brandeis and Brown. Over all, Bolger has 14 Advanced Degrees, plus an Associate’s and a Bachelor’s. Some of Bolger’s degrees took many years to complete, such as a Doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Others have required rather less commitment: low-residency M.F.A.s from Ashland University and the University of Tampa, for example.

Some produced microscopically specific research, like Bolger’s Harvard dissertation, “Deliberative Democratic Design: Participants’ Perception of Strategy Used for Deliberative Public Participation and the Types of Participant Satisfaction Generated From Deliberative Public Participation in the Design Process.” Others have been more of a grab bag, such as a 2004 master’s from Dartmouth, for which Bolger studied Iranian sociology and the poetry of Robert Frost.

He has degrees in international development, creative nonfiction and education. He has studied “conflict and coexistence” under Mari Fitzduff, the Irish policymaker who mediated during the Troubles, and American architecture under the eminent historian Gwendolyn Wright. He is currently working, remotely, toward a master’s in writing for performance from Cambridge.

Bolger is a broad man, with lank, whitish, chin-length hair and a dignified profile, like a figure from an antique coin. One of his favorite places is Walden Pond — he met his wife there, on one of his early-morning constitutionals — and as he expounds upon learning and nature, it is easy to imagine him back in Thoreau’s time, with all the other polymathic gentlemen, perhaps by lamplight, stroking their old-timey facial hair, considering propositions about a wide range of topics, advancing theories of the life well lived.

And there’s something almost anachronistically earnest, even romantic, about the reason he gives for spending the past 30-odd years pursuing college degrees. “I love learning,” he told me over lunch last year, without even a touch of irony. I had been pestering him for the better part of two days, from every angle I could imagine, to offer some deeper explanation for his life as a perpetual student. Every time I tried, and failed, I felt irredeemably 21st-century, like an extra in a historical production who has forgotten to remove his Apple Watch.

At 16, Bolger enrolled at the University of Michigan. Majoring in Sociology, he graduated with a 4.0. He was 19. Credit...Scott Sady/The Ann Arbor News

“I believe that people are like trees,” he said. “I hope I am a sequoia. I want to grow for as long as possible and reach toward the highest level of the sky.”

Against a backdrop of pervasive cynicism about the nature of higher education, it is tempting to dismiss a figure like Bolger as the wacky byproduct of an empty system. Then again, Bolger has run himself through that system, over and over and over again; it continues to take him in, and he continues to return to it for more. In fact, there is reportedly only one person in the United States with more college degrees than Bolger, and the vast majority of those came from universities within the state of Michigan (no disrespect to the Broncos, Eagles or Lakers). Because Bolger is just 48, and Michael Nicholson, of Kalamazoo, is 83, Bolger could surpass him, according to back-of-envelope math, as soon as 2054. In other words, Bolger is on a plausible track to becoming the country’s single most credentialed individual — at which point, perhaps, he could rest.

A proposition: No one more fully embodies the nature of elite American higher education today, in all its contradictions, than a man who has spent so much time being molded by it, following its incentives and internalizing its values. But what are those values, exactly? Of course, there are the oft-cited, traditional virtues of spending several years set apart from the rest of the world, reading and thinking. You know: the chance to expand your mind, challenge your preconceptions and cultivate a passion for learning. In this vision, eager minds are called to great institutions to reach their intellectual potential, and we know these institutions can perform this function simply because they are called Harvard and Yale.

That may be the way a prestigious education works for some, but probably not most. A 2023 survey of Harvard seniors found that 41 percent — 41 percent! — were entering careers in consulting or finance. The same percentage were graduating to a starting salary of at least $110,000, more than double the national median. Last year, the most popular majors at Stanford were economics and computer science. The ultimate value of college for many is the credential, guaranteeing a starting spot many rungs up the ladder of worldly success: Nothing you learn at an elite university is as important as the line on your C.V. that you’ve paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to type. And if you were feeling cynical, you could argue that the time you spend applying to college will affect the rest of your life more than anything in particular that happens while you’re there.

“It is only when we forget our learning that we begin to know,” Thoreau observed, famously, after his experiment in simple living. (Though, rich of Thoreau: he went to Harvard.) In a much different, much opposed way — one involving central heat — Bolger has spent the past three decades conducting his own half-mad American experiment in education. He has drunk deeper at the well of the university than almost anyone else. What does he know?

In 1978, Bolger Was 2, riding in a Buick Riviera in Durand, Mich., when the car was hit by a drunken driver. He was basically fine, but his parents were seriously injured, and his mother, Loretta, spent months in the hospital, ending up with a metal plate in one of her legs. She had to leave her job as a schoolteacher. Bolger’s parents’ marriage disintegrated. His mother could be difficult, and his father, an engineer and patent lawyer who represented himself during the nasty divorce, was emotionally abusive. Bolger and his mother began splitting time between their comfortable home near Flint and his grandfather’s ramshackle farm in Grand Haven, which was so drafty they sometimes curled up by the wood-burning furnace.

Bolger’s mother spent much of her money in the ensuing custody battle, and her stress was worsened by her son’s severe dyslexia. In third grade, when Bolger still couldn’t read, his teachers said he wouldn’t graduate from high school. Recognizing that her boy was bright, just different, his mother resolved to home-school him — though “home” is perhaps not the right word: The two spent endless hours driving, to science museums, to the elite Cranbrook Academy of Art outside Detroit for drawing lessons, even to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington. At night she read to him: epic works of literature like “War and Peace” but also choose-your-own-adventure books and “Star Wars” novelizations.

The pair passed days in the library at Michigan State University, watched campus speakers in the evening and ate free at the receptions afterward. Sometimes, rather than drive the two hours back to Grand Haven, they would sleep in his mother’s pickup truck somewhere in East Lansing and do the same thing the next day.

Bolger and his mother, Loretta, at Yale Law School in 1996. Credit...Stuart Bauer/The Flint Journal

One thing Bolger has not seemed to learn over the years is to introspect. Why has he driven himself to this extent — to place himself over and over in the kinds of impractical programs young adults enter to wait out a bad economy or delay the onset of adulthood à la National Lampoon’s Van Wilder? Many of us love learning, too, but we don’t do what Bolger has done; we listen to history podcasts on our commutes or pick our way through long books in the minutes before sleep. Despite all his degrees, Bolger has never sought a tenure-track job — only a few of his degrees would even qualify him for such a position — and he has never really specialized.

Unless you consider putting together a killer college application a form of expertise, which both the market and Bolger do.

Over The Past 35 Years, acceptance rates to the United States’ most elite universities have shrunk to about 6 percent from nearly 30 percent. Students, frightened by those numbers, are applying to more colleges than ever and making these numbers more frightening in the process. At the same time, overtaxed counselors don’t have the time to help as much as applicants and parents want. The rise of so-called holistic admissions, which look beyond grades and test scores, has also contributed to a sense that there is a “secret sauce” to getting into exclusive colleges and turbocharged demand for people who can demystify it.

After he got his doctorate in 2007, Bolger became a full-time private college-admissions consultant. “No other consultant has Dr. Bolger’s record of success,” reads his website — a claim that is difficult to verify, yet one that many people seem to believe. Four years with Bolger runs at least $100,000. (In the world of elite college coaching, this isn’t exceptional: A five-year plan from the New York firm Ivy Coach costs as much as $1.5 million.) Over the past 15 years, he has developed a coaching style he compares with that of Bill Belichick, Mr. Miyagi and Yoda.

On a humid morning late last summer, Bolger saw clients in an upstairs room at the ‘Quin House, a modish Back Bay members’ club in an ornate Commonwealth Avenue limestone. He has a home office in Cambridge but prefers to work as much as he can out of the private clubs to which he belongs, including the staid Union Club, opposite Boston Common, and the Harvard Club, which feels loosey-goosey by comparison.

That day he was meeting with Anjali Anand, a sunny then-17-year-old who was in Boston for the summer to do research at Boston University; and Vivian Chen, also 17 at the time, also sunny, also in Boston to study on B.U.’s campus. Anjali and Vivian faced a brutal fact: For young strivers of the American upper middle class, credentials and a can-do attitude are no longer sufficient for entry into the top tiers of the U.S. News and World Report college rankings. These accomplishments must be arranged into stories so compelling that they stand out from the many other compelling stories of the teenagers clamoring for admission.

Columbia graduation, 2001. The reason Bolger gives for spending the past three decades pursuing college degrees: ‘‘I love learning.’’ Credit...From the Bolger family

And so Bolger devoted the meetings to teaching self-narrativization, particularly as it relates to the all-important essay component of the application. He encouraged the high-achieving Anjali to be vulnerable. “Someone who is 100 percent confident with no hesitations isn’t as compelling,” he said. “This is why there are more movies made about Batman than Superman.” With Vivian, he tried to connect her desire to become a dentist to a deeper narrative thread.

“Why the mouth and teeth?” Bolger asked.

Bolger said his business has enabled him to mix with “the 1 percent crowd.” In addition to his condo on Cambridge’s tony Memorial Drive, Bolger owns a house in Virginia and his family farm in Michigan. He has an Amex invite-only Centurion card. In 2016, he donated more than $50,000 to support Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, for which he received a special Jeff Koons print; more recently, he has donated more than $2,500 to the presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He loves to attend celebrity talks: Bruce Springsteen, George Clooney, Joe Montana — anyone who, in his mind, defines a category.

Bolger carries about 25 clients at a time, but his most important pupil is his 9-year-old daughter, Benjamina, whom he home-schools and considers his best friend. Bolger models his daughter’s education after his own: hands-on, interactive, wide-ranging, lots of time in the car. (Bolger’s son, Blitze, is also being home-schooled, but he’s only 4, so there’s less to do.) His wife, Anil, who helps him recruit clients, is happy to let him oversee the liberal-arts component of their children’s education while she handles math and Chinese. Bolger is trying to be less intense than his mother, to emphasize the development of his daughter’s emotional intelligence. But one of his main pedagogical devices is still the field trip.

Left: Credit...David Hilliard for The New York Times. Right: Bolger’s children, Blitze, 4, and Benjamina, 9, are home-schooled. One of his main teaching devices is the field trip. Credit...David Hilliard for The New York Times

On another bright morning last summer, Bolger took Benjamina to Concord’s North Bridge, for a holistic lesson but also a lesson in holism. He was joined there by his friend Dan Sullivan, a fellow polymath, who has also collected a staggering number of credentials. (The 42 entries under the “Experience” section of his LinkedIn page include Ambassador at the Parliament of the World’s Religions and Colonel at the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels.) Bolger had planned a discussion around bridges and diplomacy. But he believes the world is “nonlinear,” and his habits of speech reflect this. There were digressions into history, comparative government, union organizing, car safety, Robert McNamara, the strength of triangles, the cryogenic preservation of corpses.

A composed, precocious and sweet girl, Benjamina followed her tutors across the bridge and to the bronze statue of a Minute Man, inscribed with Emerson’s “Concord Hymn.” There the three of them stood in contemplation, looking a little like a child star and her security detail.

“Was that shot actually heard around the world?” Bolger asked.

“I don’t think so,” Benjamina replied.

“Yes,” Bolger said. “So this is an example of a metaphor.”

​​After stopping in Concord for a bite, Bolger and Benjamina drove the two miles to Walden Pond. The pair sat on a wooden plank above the beach on the pond’s east side. Except for the sounds of teenagers flirting and retirees shifting in folding chairs, it was quiet. Bolger explained Thoreau, the woods, the essential facts.

“I don’t know if you find this inspirational or not,” Bolger said. “I have the ability to pretend no one is here.”

Benjamina made a skeptical noise.

“I guess I could do it for a week,” Bolger said. “A year just seems too long.”

Bolger with Loretta at the Brandeis University graduation in 2007. Credit...From the Bolger family

Thoreau’s experiment made him one of the most important men in American history. Bolger’s experiment has, well, not done that. Instead, it has done something even weirder. To spend any time around Bolger is to feel that you have been enrolled in a bespoke, man-shaped university, one capable of astonishing interdisciplinary leaps, and it basically all hangs together — the way that any mix of freshman electives at a top university might complement one another, might rhyme, produce its own sort of harmony. It is unclear what, exactly, is at the center. But there are gravitational forces at work nonetheless.

Also, Bolger’s experiment has made him a wildly compelling father to a daughter who, it must be said, is exceptional. She is fluent in two languages, she is nice, she is funny, and last summer she performed Fritz Kreisler’s thorny violin piece “Sicilienne and Rigaudon” at Carnegie Hall with grace, élan and even wit. At the very least, Benjamina has on her hands the material for one of the all-time great college-admissions essays.

Left: Credit...David Hilliard for The New York Times Right: Bolger models Benjamina’s education after his own: hands-on, interactive, wide-ranging and lots of time in the car.Credit...David Hilliard for The New York Times

The day after their colonial field trip, father and daughter had lunch at the Harvard Club. Surrounded by dark wood and wine refrigerators, they ordered off the Veritas menu: Bolger had a B.L.T., and Benjamina had a hamburger with fries. The meat arrived on a bun with an “H” grill mark, for Harvard.

“Do you think the burger looks better because it has an ‘H’ on it?” Bolger asked.

Benjamina didn’t hesitate. “Yes!”

— Read by Robert Petkoff. Narration produced by Anna Diamond and Krish Seenivasan Engineered by Devin Murphy. — Source for Illustration at the top: Photographs from the Bolger family; Arnold Gold/The New Haven Register, via Associated Press. — David Hilliard is an artist and educator from Boston. He creates narrative multipaneled photographs, often based on his life or the lives of people around him. — Joseph Bernstein is a Times reporter who writes feature stories for the Styles section.

[siukindia21]

Brandeis University: Fostering Excellence in Education and Innovation

Brandeis University stands as a beacon of academic excellence and innovation in the heart of Waltham, Massachusetts. Founded in 1948 and named after Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, this private research university has carved a distinguished reputation for its rigorous academic programs, vibrant campus life, and commitment to social justice and diversity.

A Legacy of Academic Excellence

At the core of Brandeis University's mission is a dedication to providing students with a transformative educational experience. The university offers a wide range of undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs across disciplines such as liberal arts, social sciences, sciences, business, economics, computer science, and psychology, among others. With a faculty comprising renowned scholars and researchers, Brandeis ensures that students receive a rigorous and intellectually stimulating education that prepares them for success in their chosen fields.

Distinctive Open Curriculum

One of Brandeis University's hallmarks is its distinctive Open Curriculum. Unlike traditional academic structures, the Open Curriculum empowers students to design their own academic path, allowing for interdisciplinary exploration and personalized learning. This flexibility encourages students to pursue their passions, delve deep into subjects of interest, and develop critical thinking skills that are essential for navigating today's complex world.

Diverse and Inclusive Community

Brandeis University prides itself on fostering a diverse and inclusive community. The campus is home to students from various backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives, creating a dynamic and enriching learning environment. The university's commitment to diversity extends beyond the student body and is reflected in its faculty, staff, and programs aimed at promoting equity and inclusion.

Research and Innovation

As a leading research institution, Brandeis University is at the forefront of groundbreaking discoveries and innovations. Faculty members engage in cutting-edge research across disciplines, contributing to advancements in areas such as science, technology, healthcare, social sciences, and humanities. Students have the opportunity to participate in research projects, collaborate with faculty mentors, and contribute to the advancement of knowledge and understanding in their respective fields.

Campus Life and Extracurricular Activities

Beyond academics, Brandeis University offers a vibrant campus life with numerous extracurricular activities, cultural events, and student organizations. From performing arts groups to community service initiatives, students have ample opportunities to explore their interests, develop leadership skills, and engage with peers who share their passions.

Global Perspective and Impact

Brandeis University's impact extends far beyond its campus borders. With a commitment to social justice and global engagement, the university encourages students to think critically about pressing global issues and to become active participants in creating positive change. Through study abroad programs, international partnerships, and experiential learning opportunities, Brandeis equips students with the skills and perspectives needed to address complex challenges on a global scale.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Brandeis University stands as a beacon of academic excellence, innovation, and inclusivity. With its distinctive Open Curriculum, commitment to research and social justice, and vibrant campus community, Brandeis continues to inspire and empower the next generation of leaders, thinkers, and changemakers. As a hub of intellectual curiosity and creativity, Brandeis University remains at the forefront of shaping a brighter future for generations to come.

[perfettamentechic]

Pauline Trigère - Trigère

Pauline Trigère - Trigère #PaulineTrigère #Trigère #maisontrigère #creatoredistile #perfettamentechic

Pauline Trigère, è stata una couturière franco-americana fondatrice del brand Trigère. Gli stili pluripremiata Pauline Trigère raggiunsero l’apice della popolarità negli Stati Uniti negli anni ’50 e ’60. Riconosciuta all’inizio della sua carriera come innovatrice del taglio e della costruzione, Trigère ha portato alle donne di tutte le età di tutto il mondo novità come la tuta, il cappotto senza…

[dlyarchitecture]

[spacelazarwolf]

in honor of that anon who said jews have done nothing for the world, here’s a non exhaustive list of things we’ve done for the world:

arts, fashion, and lifestyle:

jeans - levi strauss

modern bras - ida rosenthal

sewing machines - isaac merritt singer

modern film industry - carl laemmle (universal pictures), adolph zukor (paramount pictures), william fox (fox film forporation), louis b. mayer (mgm - metro-goldwyn-mayer), harry, sam, albert, and jack warners (warner bros.), steven spielberg, mel brooks, marx brothers

operetta - jacques offenbach

comic books - stan lee

graphic novels - will eisner

teddy bears - morris and rose michtom

influential musicians - irving berlin, stephen sondheim, benny goodman, george gershwin, paul simon, itzhak perlman, leonard bernstein, bob dylan, leonard cohen

artists - mark rothko

actors - elizabeth taylor, jerry lewis, barbara streisand

comedians - lenny bruce, joan rivers, jerry seinfeld

authors - judy blume, tony kushner, allen ginsberg, walter mosley

culture:

esperanto - ludwik lazar zamenhof

feminism - betty friedan, gloria steinem, ruth bader ginsberg

queer and trans rights - larry kramer, harvey milk, leslie feinberg, abby stein, kate bornstein, frank kameny, judith butler

international women's day - clara zetkin

principles of journalizm, statue of liberty, and pulitzer prize - joseph pulitzer

"the new colossus" - emma lazarus

universal declaration of human rights - rene samuel cassin

holocaust remembrance and human rights activism - elie wiesel

workers rights - louis brandeis, rose schneiderman

public health care, women's rights, and children's rights - lillian wald

racial equity - rabbi abraham joshua heschel, julius rosenwald, andrew goodman, michael schwerner

political theory - hannah arendt

disability rights - judith heumann

black lives matter slogan and movement - alicia garza

#metoo movement - jodi kantor

institute of sexology - magnus hirschfeld

technology:

word processing computers - evelyn berezin

facebook - mark zuckerberg

console video game system - ralph henry baer

cell phones - amos edward joel jr., martin cooper

3d - leonard lipton

telephone - philipp reis

fax machines - arthur korn

microphone - emile berliner

gramophone - emile berliner

television - boris rosing

barcodes - norman joseph woodland and bernard silver

secret communication system, which is the foundation of the technology used for wifi - hedy lamarr

three laws of robotics - isaac asimov

cybernetics - norbert wiener

helicopters - emile berliner

BASIC (programming language) - john george kemeny

google - sergey mikhaylovich brin and larry page

VCR - jerome lemelson

fax machine - jerome lemelson

telegraph - samuel finley breese morse

morse code - samuel finley breese morse

bulletproof glass - edouard benedictus

electric motor and electroplating - boris semyonovich jacobi

nuclear powered submarine - hyman george rickover

the internet - paul baran

icq instant messenger - arik vardi, yair goldfinger,, sefi vigiser, amnon amir

color photography - leopold godowsky and leopold mannes

world's first computer - herman goldstine

modern computer architecture - john von neumann

bittorrent - bram cohen

voip internet telephony - alon cohen

data archiving - phil katz, eugene roshal, abraham lempel, jacob ziv

nemeth code - abraham nemeth

holography - dennis gabor

laser - theodor maiman

instant photo sharing online - philippe kahn

first automobile - siegfried samuel marcus

electrical maglev road - boris petrovich weinberg

drip irrigation - simcha blass

ballpoint pen and automatic gearbox - laszlo biro

photo booth - anatol marco josepho

medicine:

pacemakers and defibrillators - louise robinovitch

defibrillators - bernard lown

anti-plague and anti-cholera vaccines - vladimir aronovich khavkin

polio vaccine - jonas salk

test for diagnosis of syphilis - august paul von wasserman

test for typhoid fever - ferdinand widal

penicillin - ernst boris chain

pregnancy test - barnhard zondek

antiretroviral drug to treat aids and fight rejection in organ transplants - gertrude elion

discovery of hepatitis c virus - harvey alter

chemotherapy - paul ehrlich

discovery of prions - stanley prusiner

psychoanalysis - sigmund freud

rubber condoms - julius fromm

birth control pill - gregory goodwin pincus

asorbic acid (vitamin c) - tadeusz reichstein

blood groups and rh blood factor - karl landsteiner

acyclovir (treatment for infections caused by herpes virus) - gertrude elion

vitamins - caismir funk

technique for measuring blood insulin levils - rosalyn sussman yalow

antigen for hepatitus - baruch samuel blumberg

a bone fusion technique - gavriil abramovich ilizarov

homeopathy - christian friedrich samuel hahnemann

aspirin - arthur ernst eichengrun

science:

theory of relativity - albert einstein

theory of the electromagnetic field - james maxwell

quantum mechanics - max born, gustav ludwig hertz

quantum theory of gravity - matvei bronstein

microbiology - ferdinand julius cohn

neuropsychology - alexander romanovich luria

counters for x-rays and gamma rays - robert hofstadter

genetic engineering - paul berg

discovery of the antiproton - emilio gino segre

discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation - arno allan penzias

discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe - adam riess and saul merlmutter

discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity - roger penrose

discovery of a supermassive compact object at the center of the milky way - andrea ghez

modern cosmology and the big bang theory - alexander alexandrovich friedmann

stainless steel - hans goldschmidt

gas powered vehicles

interferometer - albert abraham michelson

discovery of the source of energy production in stars - hans albrecht bethe

proved poincare conjecture - grigori yakovlevich perelman

biochemistry - otto fritz meyerhof

electron-positron collider - bruno touschek

[night-blogging-in-2012]

Here’s more video from the Palestinian liberation rally arrests at Brandeis (accidentally lost my video of the cops moving in)

[bioethicists]

i'm sure it will hit the news soon but today brandeis university had several students arrested at a peaceful protest based solely on the insistence that shouting "from the river to the sea, palestine will be free" + mentioning the word intifada is hate speech. our president is prioritizing short-term funding from wealthy israelis + wealthy supporters of israel by condoning a genocide + suppressing free speech on campus, even as IDF soldiers give talks to our student body. our chapter of sjp was suspended due to unsubstantiated accusations that it "supports hamas" after a palestinian student who has lost her entire family in this atrocity tried to organize a vigil for the lost. there is a huge contingent of the student body, including the entire anthropology grad department, who supports a liberated palestine + we have been threatened, condescended to, + censored in order to give off the impression that the university "stands with israel".

tikkun olam means palestinian liberation. never again means never again.

[a-very-tired-jew]

I have an interview for a position outside of academia in a few hours and I’m both excited and saddened.

I love teaching. I love being a professor and lecturing on topics that I’m truly passionate about. My years in various performing arts has given me a skill set that translates very well to teaching students of all ages.

If you were to look at my student evaluations at the end of the semester you’d see that they repeatedly state I made students become passionate about subjects they’d never thought about because I was able to teach them in an entertaining way. Because at the end of the day, that’s what matters.

Did my students learn what I wanted them to learn? So what if I said “look at these fuckin bugs” or that “Anopholes mosquitoes feed face down, ass up”, my students learn the material and are engaged. They’re coming up to me the next semester to let me know that they’re now double majoring, minoring, or switched majors because of my classes. It’s a fantastic feeling and I love watching people fall in love with entomology like I did years ago.

But after the events of the Fall and Spring semesters at my university and academia as a whole… well, I no longer feel welcome. I no longer feel safe. I no longer feel like it’s worth trying to exist in this space.

I never made my politics or views on the I/P conflict known to my students, only a few of my colleagues have any clue and that’s due to me correcting misinformation. It is university policy to not put any of our politics into our lectures or advising. And let’s be honest, I’m lecturing on insects and other arthropods, the only politics that sort of become relevant are ones about conservation and climate change. Even then, I maintain as much neutrality as I can while sticking to empirically supported evidence.

I made this blog because my inability to actually speak out and vent about these things in my everyday life was just getting to be too much. I needed, and still do, an avenue to just talk about all of this shit and put my thoughts down.

However, the fact that myself, other Jewish faculty, and Jewish students have been harassed, assaulted, and our offices, dorms, and centers vandalized for simply being Jewish with no response from the university besides “we’re sorry that happened” is too little. I can’t, in good faith, stay in a profession where people target a minority for simply existing and leadership does nothing.

I’m hoping this interview is my way out for the time being and I get to stay local. I might come back to academia, but only to universities/colleges like Brandeis where I know I’ll be safe. I’d rather not have to clean “die kike” off my door again if possible.

[yodaprod]

Mike Kaplan's Live Webcam (actually one image every 30s) from his dorm at Brandeis University (1999)

Source: The Boston Globe

[odinsblog]

“First, H.R. 6090 could result in colleges and universities suppressing a wide variety of speech critical of Israel or in support of Palestinian rights in an effort to avoid investigations by the Department and the potential loss of funding, even where such speech is protected and does not qualify as harassment. Even without H.R. 6090, advocacy groups have already filed or threatened to file numerous Title VI complaints and lawsuits, alleging that colleges have violated Title VI merely by condoning Palestinian rights groups, events, and advocacy. For example, in September 2023, the pro-Israel group Santa Fe Middle East Watch claimed that the University of New Mexico's anthropology department would violate the New Mexico Governor's executive order using this same definition of antisemitism if they hosted Mohammed El-Kurd, a Palestinian poet and writer currently serving as the Nation's Palestine correspondent.

Moreover, in February 2020, the David Horowitz Freedom Center sent a letter to Pomona and Pitzer college officials alleging “the colleges’ liability under Title VI” for, among other things, co-sponsoring a Students for Justice in Palestine event featuring a screening of the film ‘Gaza Fights for Freedom,’ and funding a panel on “Perspectives on Colleges and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.”

Additionally, there have been multiple instances of university censorship of pro-Palestinian expression after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. These include the University of Pennsylvania denying a screening of a documentary which raises concerns some young Jews have about Israel's treatment of Palestinians, and Brandeis University banning the student group Students for Justice in Palestine.* Equating criticism of Israel with antisemitism by law, under a threat of investigation, will only create more fear in schools, prompting administrators to silence this speech regardless of whether it is protected.

Second, even where administrators do not take formal action, students and their organizations, faculty, and university staff may be deterred from speaking and organizing on these issues. Activists would be understandably hesitant to engage in political expression criticizing Israel or advocating for Palestinian rights if they have reason to believe the federal government will actively investigate such expression in connection with harassment complaints and investigations.

Finally, the bill would likely inspire an increasing number of complaints focused on constitutionally protected criticism of Israel. These complaints will not only cause schools to limit speech out of fear, but will also force both the Department and covered universities to devote time and resources to addressing complaints about constitutionally protected speech, instead of meritorious harassment complaints.”

(source) (source)

[cartermagazine]

Today In History

Angela Davis, political activist, philosopher, academic, and author was born in Birmingham, AL, on this date January 26, 1944.

Davis knew about racial prejudice from a young age; her neighborhood in Birmingham was nicknamed “Dynamite Hill” for the number of homes targeted by the Ku Klux Klan. She also knew several of the young African American girls killed in the Birmingham church bombing of 1963.

Angela earned a scholarship to study French Literature at Brandeis University in Massachusetts. After graduation, she studied in Germany and completed a PhD in philosophy.

In 1969, Angela became a professor of philosophy at the University of California at Los Angeles. Governor of California Ronald Reagan learned about Angela’s political connections and pressured the university to fire her. Angela fought back, and took her case to court. The Supreme Court of California ruled Angela could not be banned for party affiliation. However, several months later, the university found another reason to fire her. They claimed that her comments in recent speeches were too politically incendiary.

Around the same time that Angela lost her job, she became involved in the Soledad Brothers Defense Committee. On August 7, 1970, an armed gunman and brother of one of the Soledad Brothers entered a courtroom in California and took several people hostage. An investigation revealed that the gunman used a weapon Angela bought at a pawn shop several days earlier. Distrustful of the government, Angela went into hiding. During that time, the FBI added her to the “10 Most Wanted” list. In October, she was arrested in a hotel room in New York City. She was held in jail for 18 months.

On June 4, 1972, an all-white jury found Angela not guilty on all charges. Angela said it was the happiest day of her life.

“As a black woman, my politics and political affiliation are bound up with and flow from participation in my people’s struggle for liberation, and with the fight of oppressed people all over the world against American imperialism.”

CARTER Magazine