Project Reports

Senators and Executive Officers submit project reports every week and report on their work at the weekly Senate meeting. Older project reports are online here.

Jonah B. Cohen - November 15, 2009

CELL PHONE RECEPTION
We set up a meeting with Mark Collins to go over the petition, as well as the formal letter and proper petition procedure.

SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE
A meeting was held which dealt with funding for the future event. We have strong hopes to gather adequate funds for the event. I spoke with a professional about the appropriate steps that should be taken in bringing prominent members of society to campus.

I have also talked to my constituency about several things that would increase the quality of living here on campus, and will address these issues with other members of the senate.

Jonah B. Cohen - November 8, 2009

CELL PHONE RECEPTION
Nipun and I drafted the petition and formal letter to cell phone companies this week. We emailed Mark Collins to gather support for the petition. The petition will be open to undergraduates, graduates, faculty, staff, and all other members of the Brandeis community who are experiencing the affliction of bad service. All that needs to be done now, as far as the petition, is to make copies of the document and present it to the community to sign.

SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE
We discussed the proposed possibility of bringing Captain Paul Watson of the show Whale Wars in the spring, to speak about his experience of protecting whales from merchants and poachers. I shot an email to Stephanie Grimes of Student Activities to converse about the bureaucracy involved in bringing a speaker to campus.

CLUBS IN SERVICE
The Clubs in Service website is not available for clubs to use. I will be getting in contact with clubs about service opportunities.

Jonah B. Cohen - November 1, 2009

This week, I recruited help in conducted the petition for better cell phone service, which will be out soon.

I spoke with Jenna Brofsky about my participation in the Clubs and Service initiative, in which I will help integrate organizations on campus with community service.

Jonah B. Cohen - October 25, 2009

This past week, Nipun and I discussed steps to take prior to sending out the formal letter. In order to strengthen our demand for better cell phone service, we hope to start a mass petition of Brandeis students (faculty as well) in the cause for better service. A poll of how many students use each carrier may also be a tactic that we will use.

I also met with Jenna Brofsky, Director of Community Advocacy on the Executive Board, and we discussed individual senate projects.

Jonah B. Cohen - October 18, 2009

Project Reports 1 & 2
Two weeks ago, I commenced my project to better cell phone reception on campus. Reception can be horrendous here at Brandeis, and steps need to be taken to resolve this situation. I have collected data from numerous students regarding their experience with cell phone carriers in different places around campus.

According to the data, the main cell phone carriers students use are AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon. AT&T is considered to have the best service on campus, with few problems regarding the service.

T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon have caused students much distress, as they provide weak service in various parts of the campus.

Since the data has been collected, I have begun work on a formal letter which will be sent to these companies, addressing the concerns the student body has with their service at Brandeis. In addition, I have collected contact information from these companies, as I will be contacting company representative to discuss ways to remedy this problem.