Ethics
Central
News from The International
Center for Ethics, Justice
and Public Life
at Brandeis University
winter/spring 2014
Vol. 17, No.1
FROM THE DIRECTOR – DANIEL TERRIS
Expression and
Engagement
A
s a scholar trained in United
States history and culture, I was
distressed to learn late last year
that the American Studies Association
(of which I was formerly a member,
many years ago), voted in favor of an
academic boycott of Israeli universities. I
was pleased that the Brandeis American
Studies Program spoke out against
the ASA’s action. Yet I was ambivalent
about the Brandeis program’s decision
to withdraw from its institutional
affiliation with the ASA. Responding to
an objectionable boycott with another
form of withdrawal makes me uneasy.
This issue unfolded at the same
time as a more local controversy: the
suspension by the Brandeis University
administration of its 10 year old
partnership with Al-Quds University,
a Palestinian institution. Brandeis also
suspended the president of Al-Quds,
Professor Sari Nusseibeh, from the
International Advisory Board of the
International Center for Ethics, Justice
and Public Life.
The presenting cause of both
suspensions is what the Brandeis
n continued on p. 4
INSIDE
At Brandeis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pages 1, 2, 5, 7
Peacebuilding and the Arts . . . . . . . . page 3
International Justice & Society . . . . . page 4
Upcoming Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 8
15 Years of Sorensen Fellowships
“I
n hindsight, I’m able to see my
Fellowship experience (amazing
at the time) as truly pivotal in
crystallizing my career goals,” says SarahBess Dworin ’01, one of the students who
have traveled the globe with support from
the Ethics Center as Sorensen Fellows.
“Working with Protestant and Catholic
youth in Northern Ireland [in summer
2000], I discovered the great challenge
and joy that comes from working with
at-risk teens.”
On the occasion of the Ethics Center’s
15th anniversary, we are celebrating 15 years
of Sorensen Fellows. Six undergraduate
Sorensen Fellows each year are supported
by the Center in ethics-related summer
internships in the U.S. or abroad,
bookended by courses for preparation and
reflection.
“When the Center started in 1998, the
first thing we did was to create a program
with undergraduates – later named the
Sorensen Fellowship – partly to show our
commitment to young people, and partly
because it’s an investment in the future,”
says Center Director Dan Terris.
In the years since, Sorensen Fellows
have worked on six continents on
issues they are committed to, laying the
groundwork for careers and lives attentive
to social justice and fostering richer, more
ethical public life. Their post-Fellowship
paths vary widely.
Since graduating from Brandeis,
Dworin has applied her experiences in
Northern Ireland as she continues to serve
at-risk teens, first as a youth worker in
Chicago, then as a public school teacher
in Bronx, New York, and now as Director
of Curriculum and Instruction at Umoja
Student Development Corporation, which
partners with the Chicago Public Schools on
a range of social/emotional and restorative
justice initiatives.
In 1999 Sorensen Fellow Wendi
Adelson ’01 traveled to Argentina to work
with The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo-Linea
Fundadora. Today she is a professor at
Florida State University College of Law,
where she directs a student-led legal clinic
that provides free legal services to homeless,
disabled and undocumented patients in
Tallahassee.
2001 Sorensen Fellow Yaser Robles ’03
traveled to Cape Town, South Africa for his
Fellowship, working with Ikamva Labantu,
n continued on p. 6
Sorensen Fellow Daniel Koosed ’08 (third from
left) in Arusha, Tanzania in 2007.
 IN T H E NEWS
The International Center for
Ethics, Justice and Public Life
Mission: To develop effective responses to
conflict and injustice by offering innovative
approaches to coexistence, strengthening
the work of international courts, and
encouraging ethical practice in civic and
professional life.
Staff
Daniel Terris, Director
Cynthia Cohen, Director, Program in
Peacebuilding and the Arts
Marci McPhee, Associate Director
Barbara Strauss ’02, Senior Department Coordinator
Leigh Swigart, Director, Programs in International Justice and Society
David J. Weinstein, Communications Specialist
and Newsletter Editor
International Advisory Board
Richard J. Goldstone H ’04, Chair
Diego Arria
Jules Bernstein ’57
Thomas Buergenthal H ’11
Hans Corell
Kishore Mahbubani
Jamie F. Metzl
Zia Mody
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah
Michael Ratner ’66
John Shattuck
Gillian Sorensen
Shiranee Tilakawardane
Norbert Weissberg
Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein
Staff Highlights
Cynthia Cohen was part of a panel on
“Resilience, the Arts and Social Transformation”
at the University of British Columbia
in September. n Cynthia Cohen was in
residency at the Blue Mountain Center in
October with collaborator Jane Wilburn
Sapp developing “A Way Out of No Way,”
their joint project documenting Sapp’s
work. n In November Cynthia Cohen was
a keynote panelist and led a workshop
at the “Synergy: Women, Creativity &
Peacebuilding” conference at Mount Mary
University in Milwaukee, which featured the
“Acting Together” project. n Marci McPhee
was part of a “Social Justice at Brandeis”
panel at the Brandeis Fall Preview Day for
accepted students. n In December Leigh
Swigart attended the fourth annual Women
& Justice Conference, “State Responsibility
for Eliminating Violence Against Women:
The Due Diligence Principle and the Role of
Judges.” Hosted at the U.N. by Cornell Law
School’s Avon Global Center for Women
and Justice, it included past participants
of Ethics Center programs. n Dan Terris
taught a new course this fall: “Money,
Markets and Morals in American Culture”
(AMST 190a). n Dan Terris delivered
a plenary talk on “The Reinvention of
Knowledge” at the Association of American
Colleges & Universities’ annual conference
in October. n At the 60th anniversary
celebration of the magazine Dissent
in October, Dan Terris and Prof. Steve
Whitfield presented editor Michael Walzer
’57 with a page of student newspaper The
Justice from 1953, announcing Dissent’s first
issue.
New Independent Study/Internship Opportunity Offered in
Spring 2014: Cultural Work and Social Transformation
Cynthia Cohen is working with Jane Wilburn Sapp, a
distinguished African American musician, educator
activist and cultural worker on a major project called “A Way Out of No Way,” documenting Sapp’s 40 years
of experience working in communities struggling for
social justice. Students are invited to join the project
as interviewers, transcribers, archivists, researchers,
writers and event producers. They are welcome to work
as volunteers, or more intensively for credit as interns
(in PAX92a4) or researchers in a group independent
study (PAX97a1). More info: brandeis.edu/ethics/peacebuildingarts/jsapp
Founding Chair
Theodore C. Sorensen (1928-2010)
Bringing International Law to Campus
The International Center for
Ethics, Justice and Public Life
Brandeis University
MS 086, P.O. Box 549110
Waltham, MA 02454-9110 USA
+1-781-736-8577
+1-781-736-8561 Fax
ethics@brandeis.edu
brandeis.edu/ethics
facebook.com/EthicsBrandeis
twitter.com/EthicsBrandeis
youtube.com/EthicsBrandeis
2
The Center’s Programs in International Justice and Society hosted a series of
discussions for undergraduates this fall. Christoffer Wong of the Faculty of Law
of Lund University in Sweden explored the question of how judges are elected
to international courts and tribunals and whether a new approach is warranted.
Linda E. Carter, Co-Director of the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of
Law’s Global Center for Business and Development, discussed the challeneges
that current events in Kenya and Syria pose to the International Criminal Court.
Leigh Swigart, Director of the Center’s Programs in International Justice and
Human Rights, hosted a screening of “Sexual Violence and the Triumph of
Justice,” and discussed how the crime of sexual violence can be addressed
through international law.
The International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life n Brandeis University
Photo: David J. Weinstein
 p e ac e bu i ld i n g a n d t h e a r t s
Seeking Lives of Purpose: Images, Songs & Stories
That Challenge and Inspire
Meeting Mandela
West, active in the anti-apartheid
movement for years, was assigned to be
official photographer of Nelson Mandela’s
1990 visit to Boston, soon after his release
from Robben Island.
Nelson Mandela
breaks into his
famous dance at
the conclusion of
his remarks to over
300,000 people at
the Hatch Memorial
Shell in Boston on
June 23, 1990.
Photo: © Don West I blackwire.us
“I
ntegrity is the cornerstone of my
work.” So says one of Boston’s
preeminent photojournalists, Don
West, whose series of life-sized portraits with
accompanying oral histories will be featured
at Brandeis in February, during the ’DEIS
Impact “festival of social justice.” (See box at
lower right.)
Don West uses his camera to provide
a visual witness to people’s history. His
collection “Portraits of Purpose” features a
pantheon of local and international AfricanAmerican leaders and their allies.
His subjects have devoted their
lives and their careers in service of the
democratic ideals of freedom and equality
for all peoples, deeply influenced by their
experiences in the civil rights, black power,
women’s and anti-apartheid movements.
They include emerging and veteran
leaders, unsung heroes and internationally
renowned figures in the fields of politics,
business, education, philanthropy, and law
as well as arts and culture.
His quietly compelling images and the
oral history excerpts invite viewers into the
hearts and souls of these people. We see
them with their families, or engaged in the
struggle to improve conditions for their
communities.
“I try to give a position of power and
stature and belief and value to every one of
the people I photograph,” says West.
“Portraits of Purpose: Focusing on Social
Justice Leaders in Boston and the World”
exhibit curator Daniela Dimitrova ’16 intends
to create a space at Brandeis “in which the
visitors have a conversation with the works,
each other, and the narratives presented to
them.”
“When I finally had the opportunity
to shake Mandela’s hand,” says West, “I
was at a loss for words, barely getting out
a sentence of appreciation for his life and
work. But I sensed that words were not
needed. When he smiled and reached out
to shake my hand, it felt like his large and
strong hands swallowed mine in his.”
“Leadership for social justice is
to be admired and respected, but not
romanticized,” West reflects. “In our desire
to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s life – an
iconic figure who triumphed over South
Africa’s brutal apartheid regime – people
will try to homogenize his views into
something everyone can support. Let us
always remember that despite his nearly
universal popularity, Mandela was a truth
seeker, and was first and foremost a political
activist and agitator who did not shy away
from controversy.”
West’s portrait of Nelson Mandela will be
part of the exhibition at Brandeis – especially
meaningful as Mandela’s grandsons, Kweku
Mandela-Amuah and Ndaba Mandela, are
the ’DEIS Impact keynote speakers.
Seeking Lives of Purpose: Events at Brandeis February 1-10
The exhibition of West’s work at the Slosberg Music Center Lobby at Brandeis
is part of “Seeking Lives of Purpose,” a series of events hosted by the Ethics
Center’s Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts, the Graduate Student
Association and students in Cindy Cohen’s course “Arts of Building Peace”
(PAX250), with support from several other campus organizations:
Students will bring the portraits to life through storytelling performances
that will pop up around campus. “We especially want to bring these stories
to communities on campus that rarely get involved with arts,” says Jen
Largaespada ’16, coordinator of this aspect of this event.
Activist, musician, educator and cultural worker Jane Wilburn Sapp will lead
a songwriting workshop in which participants will draw themes and inspiration
from the exhibit, and from their experiences and aspirations for social justice
leadership.
Sapp will also offer a performance and presentation, “Ain’t You Got a Right
to the Tree of Life: Spirituality and the Quest for Justice in the African-American
Musical Tradition.”
A reception with both artists will be held in the Slosberg Music Center on
February 5 from noon to 2 p.m. West will share his photographs of Mandela’s
1990 visit to Boston, and Sapp and West will discuss the contributions of music
and photography to documenting community history and aspirations.
Details of these events: go.brandeis.edu/DEISimpact
The International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life n Brandeis University
3
 F R O M T H E D IRE C T O R
Expression and Engagement
 continued from page 1
leadership considered an inappropriate
response by the Al-Quds leadership
to a demonstration on its campus that
appeared to glorify violence and hatred.
The issues are complicated, and I will
not go into depth about them here.
As a longtime leader of the AlQuds University/Brandeis University
Partnership, I co-authored with two
Brandeis colleagues a report on the
incident. In addition, a unanimous
resolution of the other members of
the Center’s advisory board called for
Professor Nusseibeh to be reinstated.
Both documents are available on the
Center’s website.
Perhaps by the time this newsletter
is published, there will already
be progress towards restoring the
relationship with Al-Quds University.
President Lawrence made it clear that
his action was a suspension, rather than
a termination, and he pledged publicly
to keep channels of communication
open with the Al-Quds leadership.
The ASA boycott and the suspension
of the Brandeis partnership with AlQuds have both occurred in a climate
in which one-dimensional views – often
expressed in the public space of social
media – are crowding out more nuanced
considerations. In this climate, it is all the
more incumbent on academic institutions
to insist on the deepest exploration of facts
and the most serious reflection on the
nature of institutional values.
Within Israeli universities, on the
Al-Quds University campus and at
Brandeis itself, there are a wide variety
of views on the situation in the Middle
East, and on the relationship between
freedom of expression and institutional
values in an academic context.
Dealing with differences across
boundaries of geography, identity and
ideology requires patience and courage.
Engagement, rather than dissociation, is
the better way to advance commitments
to peace, mutual respect and freedom.
4
 INTERN A TI O N A L J U STI C E a n d s oc i e t y
Adjudicating Sexual Violence Under
International and Domestic Law:
The Case of the Democratic Republic
of the Congo
T
he Center convened a unique group
of judges in the Netherlands this fall
to discuss how sexual violence can be
effectively addressed through the courts.
Judges from civilian and military
jurisdictions in the Democratic Republic
of the Congo (DRC) were joined by
international judges from the African
Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights,
the International Criminal Court, the
International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia, the Special Court for
Sierra Leone, and the Special Tribunal for
Lebanon.
Interest was high, despite substantial
logistical challenges to bringing this group
together. As a result, several participants
joined the colloquium via videolink.
The judicial colloquium was a
collaborative effort of the Ethics Center,
the U.S.-based NGO Physicians for Human
Rights, and the Institute for Historical
Justice and Reconciliation, an NGO based
in The Hague.
A highlight was an appearance by
Dr. Denis Mukwege, a renowned Congolese
gynecologist and founder of a hospital that
has treated hundreds of rape victims in
the eastern DRC. He spoke to participants
about the partnership that must exist
between judicial and medical communities
in the DRC if rape and other forms of
sexual violence are to be both punished and
healed. This benefits individual victims and
Congolese society, said Dr. Mukwege.
At its close, the Congolese and
international judges spoke of the importance
of this gathering in strengthening their
commitment to end impunity for crimes
of sexual violence, to reach out to fellow
judges who share their vision, and to
partner with civil society groups when
possible.
This colloquium was made possible
by the support of the Sigrid Rausing
Trust, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
the Netherlands, and the Rice Family
Foundation.
More info and slideshow:
brandeis.edu/ethics/news/2013/
2013.October.28_Nov.1.html
Participants, organizers and donors of the colloquium, with two Congolese judges linked in by
teleconference from Kinshasa.
The International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life n Brandeis University
 A T B R A N D EIS
Dr. Patricia Hill Collins ’69, PhD ’84, an eminent scholar who has dedicated her career to
understanding the intersections of race, gender and class, delivered a lecture on October 29, 2013,
in conjunction with being awarded the fifth annual Joseph B. and Toby Gittler Prize. The
Gittler Prize recognizes outstanding and lasting scholarly contributions to racial, ethnic and/or
religious relations. The prize and lecture are hosted by the Ethics Center on behalf of the Office
of the President. Dr. Collins is the author of seven books, including the seminal Black Feminist
Thought, and is currently a Distinguished University Professor of Sociology at the University
of Maryland, College Park. She served as the 100th president of the American Sociological
Association and was the first African-American woman to hold that office. “It is difficult to
overstate Professor Collins’ contribution to our understanding of the intersection of race, gender
and justice in this country,” notes Brandeis University President Frederick M. Lawrence. “It is
especially meaningful to award the Gittler Prize to a Brandeis alumna, who traces her intellectual
roots back to this institution and one of its pioneering faculty members.”
Photo: David J. Weinstein
With My Mind Set on Freedom: Black
Feminism, Intersectionality and Social Justice
Patricia Hill Collins '69, PhD '84 delivering the
fifth annual Gittler Prize lecture.
The following is excerpted from her lecture, and begins with her definition of intersectionality.
Full video of the lecture and an interview with Dr. Collins: brandeis.edu/gittlerprize/videos
I
ntersectionality is an emerging field
of critical inquiry and practice that
examines how social inequalities are
organized, endure and change.
Scholars and practitioners claim that
race, class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, age,
ability, religion and/or nation constitute
interconnected systems of power that
produce complex social inequalities. They
use intersectional frameworks to understand
how individual and group identities, social
institutions, cultural beliefs and political
practices are situated within and shaped by
intersecting power relations, albeit differently
from one social location to the next.
Well, that still sounds pretty benign. I
would call your attention to, for those of you
who are not familiar with this, something
like the body politics of the early feminist
movement in Boston, that started with the
whole notion of women’s bodies and said,
“I have realized that what’s
missing from the definition is
social justice, the very reason
that I argued that we needed
intersectional analysis in the
first place.”
“Who gets to decide what happens to my
body?” And out of that comes the Boston
Women’s Health Book Collective, and the
book Our Bodies, Ourselves, and then out
of that comes a growing recognition that
women don’t all have the same bodies – some
of the bodies are older, some of them are
younger, some of them are black, some of
them are differently described, and they
have different issues and different needs
– and then lo and behold that women do
not control their bodies just by themselves,
that social institutions are there. It’s not a
question of getting a good identity: “I have a
good body image, therefore I’m free.” It wasn’t
that. ...
It was something bigger, that reached
out to see the constellation of social
institutions and how they intersected to
produce this particular thing called “body
politics,” which then has policy implications
around questions of reproductive rights.
So it was an organic kind of discussion that
looked at identities not as just discrete things
that people owned or that were internal, but
things that were situated in social space.
Now intersectionality became the term that
described that type of interactive looking at
power and how it had certain outcomes.
I like my definition. ... But my definition
troubles me because it is so academic. It’s a
first pass at a definition that will not alienate
anybody in the field. We are all so nice and
polite to one another when we’re trying to
have these conversations. I have realized
that what’s missing from the definition is
social justice, the very reason that I argued
that we needed intersectional analysis in
the first place. ... We’ve got these big social
problems, one of which being violence, that
we have to think about, and do something
about differently.
At my last editorial meeting with my
co-author, Sirma Bilge, she reminded me,
she said “There’s a lot at stake here. If we
propose a definition that does not have social
justice at its core, how honest a definition is
that?” So I don’t know where to go with this.
Putting social justice central to any scholarly
project is risky in these times of academic
discipline. We run the risk of being
“disappeared,” of watching the very thing
you love being taken away and changed into
something that is unrecognizable. …
So intersectionality as a knowledge
project that is committed to social justice
finds itself pinioned between the rock of
taking on intellectual and political agendas
that ironically limit its emancipatory
potential, and the hard place of seeing the
tremendous human need for an analytical
framework that can engage social injustices.
The International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life n Brandeis University
5
 Fellows—continued from page 1
supporting democracy in post-apartheid
South Africa by providing educational
and economic resources to community
members and townships. Robles – the
second in his family to complete college
– recently earned his doctorate at the
University at Albany, and teaches in the
Department of Africana and Latino Studies
at SUNY Oneonta. His research focuses on
resistance to injustice in Latin American
and Latino communities.
“The Sorensen Fellowship is really
the foundation for what I’m doing now,”
he says. “And it makes my job easier to be
able to share those experiences with my
students.”
Also, Robles notes, “the Fellowship
helped my Brandeis experience
tremendously. I got more involved with
clubs on campus, everything related to
social awareness. It encouraged me to
continue to go abroad and do volunteer
work. I did two study abroad programs,
one in Cuba and one in Brazil, to continue
that idea of learning about new cultures,
growing as a person and academically,
always with the idea of understanding and
fighting for social justice.”
Parallel Paths
The 2013 Sorensen
Fellows write about
their international
summer internship
experiences in
“Parallel Paths:
Journeys, Explorations
and Reflections,” available online
as a PDF. They recount challenging
experiences and moments of
transformation, while questioning
the limits of their experiences and
impact. Their narratives display
enthusiasm and warmth, together
with genuine curiosity and humility.
View or download it here:
Go to brandeis.edu/ethics, click
“publications” in the sidebar, and
scroll to “Sorensen Fellowship
Publications.”
6
Honoring a Lifetime of Service
The Ethics Center’s Sorensen Fellowship
program was renamed in in 2009 to honor
Theodore C. Sorensen (1928-2010) for his
lifelong commitment to public service and for
his 10 years as founding chair of the Center’s
International Advisory Board. Ted Sorensen was
policy advisor, legal counsel, and speechwriter
to President John F. Kennedy. He practiced
international law for four decades, and was
a widely published author on the presidency
and foreign affairs. The Sorensen Fellowship seeks to engage Brandeis
undergraduates with constructive social change on the international stage, an
appropriate tribute to Theodore C. Sorensen. In 2013 Ted Sorensen’s wife Gillian
Sorensen, senior advisor at the United Nations Foundation, joined the Center’s
Board, bringing her expertise from years of public service, and continuing her
husband’s legacy.
Will Chalmus ’07 calls his 2006
Sorensen Fellowship internship with
Playback Theatre in the U.S. and Australia
a “career-changer.” After graduation he
became a member of the board of directors
for the worldwide Center for Playback
Theatre, and returns to Brandeis University
this spring to teach a course on Playback in
the Department of Theater Arts.
Sorensen Fellow Daniel Koosed ’08
spent the summer of 2007 in Arusha,
Tanzania as an Academic Intern at the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
(ICTR). (See photo on page 1.) He went
on to write his senior anthropology thesis
about the ICTR.
During law school Koosed returned to
Arusha as a legal intern, and assisted a trial
chamber in drafting a genocide judgment
that was upheld on appeal in The Hague.
He later published a law review article
about the ICTR in The University of Miami
International & Comparative Law Review.
He graduated from the University of
Miami School of Law in 2012, and joined
the firm Rodney & Bernstein, P.A. in Miami
as an associate immigration attorney.
In 2010 Madeleine Stix ’12 interned
with the Spirit of Youth Association for
Environmental Service in Cairo, pre-Arab
Spring, working with Egypt’s Coptic
Christian community. She has been
The International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life n Brandeis University
working since August 2012 at CNN in
Atlanta. “It is both difficult and amazing
taking part in the coverage of Egypt,”
reflects Stix, “especially having completed
my Fellowship six months before the
revolution. I hope to return one day to work
with the Zabaleen community again.”
2012 Sorensen Fellow Andrea Verdeja ’14
was awarded the 2013 undergraduate Elise
Boulding Award from the Peace, War and
Social Conflict section of the American
Sociological Society, for her paper “The
Merging of Times: Palestinian Refugee
Identity Within the West Bank” – written as
a part of her Sorensen Fellowship. The Elise
Boulding Award is presented annually to one
undergraduate student and one graduate
student in recognition of an outstanding
paper. Verdeja’s paper can be found in the
2012 Sorensen anthology, “Tracing Roots:
Uncovering Realities Beneath the Surface.”
(See sidebar for the link to the Sorensen
Fellowship publications.)
The journeys of these Fellows are among
the many featured on the Center’s website
and Facebook page that continue to inspire
Brandeis students.
In summer 2013 the six students of the
th
16 cohort joined this legacy, contributing
their efforts at and reflections on internships
in Bulgaria, Kenya, Senegal, Uganda and the
United States.
 A T B R A N D EIS
A “Social Justice Street Team”
This fall the team was Erica Granor ’15,
Amelia Katan ’15 and Talia Lepson ’16.
Shota Adamia ’15 will join them in the
spring while Granor is studying abroad.
Every ECLC member has stories of
a student excited to learn of a Centersupported course or initiative, or a club
leader discovering a relevant resource and
the possibility of cosponsorship funding
for an upcoming event. (See cosponsorship
details at the bottom of this page.)
This spring look for blog posts, a new
video and more from the ECLC.
Learn more or request an ECLC
presentation or consultation relevant
to your club, course or interests:
brandeis.edu/ethics/atbrandeis/ECLC
Photo: David J. Weinstein
A
residence hall common room. A latenight club meeting. A set of online
course materials. YouTube.
In these places and more the Ethics
Center’s “Social Justice Street Team” has
been connecting the Brandeis community
with Center resources.
Officially called the Ethics Center
Leadership Council (ECLC), this team of
three undergraduates works together and
independently to build engagement with
and awareness of the Center’s resources.
They reach out to students, faculty and
staff at Brandeis and other schools and
organizations, and promote and enhance
interactive conversations about topics
concerning social justice.
Adamia, Katan, Lepson and Granor (l-r)
 h i g hl i g h t s of r e c e n t e v e n t s
September
The ’DEIS Impact Launch Party kicked off
planning for the 2014 “festival of social
justice” (see page 8).
October
Eight Brandeis students shared their
overseas experiences and exchanged advice
at the Symposium for International Justice
Internships, cosponsored by the Office of
Study Abroad.
At “Year Abroad, Queer Abroad” a panel
of Brandeis students spoke about their
study abroad and internship experiences
in the context of their LGBTQ identities.
Cosponsored by Triskelion and the Office of
Study Abroad.
The Gittler Prize was awarded to eminent
scholar Patricia Hill Collins ’69, PhD ’84
(see page 5).
Civilian and military judges from the
Democratic Republic of the Congo and
international judges gathered in the
Netherlands for a Center colloquium about
addressing sexual violence (see page 4).
November
Mentors for Urban Debate and the Brandeis
Academic Debate And Speech Society hosted
the Greater Boston Policy Debate League
Tournament at Brandeis, featuring area high
school students.
Hillel and the Interfaith Chaplaincy hosted
“An evening with Rabbi Ronald Kronish ’68
and Kadi Iyad Zahalka: The role of religious
dialogue in pursuit of peace.”
Three peacebuilding leaders from around
the world visited Brandeis as part of an
emerging peacebuilding and the arts network:
award-winning Thai theatre artist Narumol
Thammapruksa Kopp, Kitche Magak of Kenya
and Nilanjana Premaratna of Sri Lanka.
Indian documentary filmmaker Paromita
Vohra screened and discussed her film
Partners in Crime. Sponsored by the
Department of Anthropology.
The Schuster Institute for Investigative
Journalism brought journalist Parmy Olson
to campus to discuss “Investigating the
Hacktivists of Anonymous.”
“I’m Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table” –
Cultural worker Jane Wilburn Sapp visited
Cynthia Cohen’s course to discuss resilience,
cultural work and development in the
African-American community. (See pages 2
and 3 for more about Sapp.)
“Memory, Culture, and Political Organizing
in Mexico,” a talk with artist and activist
Edith López Ovalle, was sponsored by the
Mexico Solidarity Network.
DECEMBER
Students in the Immigrant Support Services
Practicum (EL94a) taught by Marci McPhee
shared their learnings from work with
organizations in Waltham supporting
immigrants.
The 2013 Sorensen Fellows presented
reflections on experiences in Bulgaria,
Kenya, Senegal, Uganda and the U.S. in
“Parallel Paths: Journeys, Explorations and
Reflections” (see page 6).
Interested in Ethics Center Cosponsorship? See: brandeis.edu/ethics/events/cosponsorship
The International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life n Brandeis University
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 U P C O M ING E V ENT s
 n e w c e n t e r r e s ou r c e s
’DEIS Impact!
A “Festival of Social Justice”
Inaugural Richman Distinguished
Fellowship in Public Life Lecture
February 1 - 10, 2014
Brandeis University Campus
The Ethics Center and the Student Union
present the third annual weeklong ’DEIS
Impact, featuring talks, performances,
exhibits, discussions, and more.
March 25, 2014, 5:00 p.m.
Rapaporte Treasure Hall, Goldfarb Library,
Brandeis University
Angela Glover Blackwell,
the founder and chief
executive officer of
PolicyLink, will visit
Brandeis March 24-25 to
meet with students and
faculty to discuss the field of social justice
and provide insight on effective social justice
advocacy. Blackwell is a leading national
voice in the movement to use public policy to
improve access and opportunity for all lowincome people and communities of color,
particularly in the areas of health, housing,
transportation, education, and infrastructure.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
Keynote, February 5: “Africa Rising: The
Mandela Legacy & the Next Generation of
African Leadership” – Ndaba Mandela and
Kweku Mandela-Amuah will speak about
their work honoring their grandfather Nelson
Mandela’s legacy. Hosted in collaboration
with the Ruth First Lecture Series sponsored
by African and Afro-American Studies. Free
and open to the public.
Full schedule & keynote ticket info:
go.brandeis.edu/DEISimpact
Nominations for the 2015 Richman
Fellowship are due March 1. Details:
brandeis.edu/ethics/events
In the regular online “Ethical Inquiry”
series, we call attention to a wide range
of issues with implications that may be
personal, political, or even global. We
highlight a broad array of opinion from
journalism, academia, and advocacy
organizations. Our intent is to illuminate
and explore the complexity of some of the
most vexing ethical questions of our time.
Recent topics include:
n The Ethics of Corporate Social
Responsibility
n What are the Ethics of Hate Crimes
Legislation?
n The Ethics of Legalizing Medical
Marijuana
n Helping or Hurting? The Ethics of
Voluntourism
You can write one too…if you are a
Brandeis University student (undergrad
or grad) or alum. Contact David Weinstein
at djw@brandeis.edu.
To be notified of new “Ethical Inquiries”
follow us on Facebook or Twitter:
facebook.com/EthicsBrandeis
twitter.com/EthicsBrandeis
Read new blog posts from the Center’s “Social Justice Street Team” at blogs.brandeis.edu/eclc
See us on YouTube:
youtube.com/EthicsBrandeis
Follow us on Twitter:
twitter.com/EthicsBrandeis
Find us on Facebook:
facebook.com/EthicsBrandeis
Visit the Center online:
brandeis.edu/ethics
Abraham Feinberg.
the generosity of the late
was established through
Ethics, Justice and Public Life
The International Center for
Brandeis University
INTERNATIONAL CENTER for
ETHICS, JUSTICE and PUBLIC LIFE
Boston, MA
Permit No. 15731
PAID
Non-Profit
Organization
U.S. Postage
The International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life n Brandeis University
Brandeis University
MS 086 P.O. Box 549110
Waltham, MA 02454-9110 USA
(781) 736-8577
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