Isabelle Zhang

Brandeis bans face masks in response to pro-Palestine protest on campus – The Daily Free Press

Following a pro-Palestine protest organized by the Brandeis Jewish Bund April 4, Brandeis University banned the use of face coverings on campus outside of medical or religious purposes.
The ban was announced by Brandeis Interim President Arthur Levine via a schoolwide email April 7.
Levine wrote Bund, an anti-Zionist group composed of Jewish students, violated the university’s trespassing policy by bringing in non-Brandeis students to participate in the protest. As a result, Levine wrote the uni...

Organizations Representing Professors Sue the Trump Administration for its Detention of Students Engaging in Pro-Palestininan Activities

Although the First Amendment is commonly associated with the freedom of speech, it is just as much about the right to listen: when someone’s ability to speak freely is suppressed, the public is robbed of their right to hear and receive information. A recent lawsuit filed against the Trump administration underscores this often-overlooked dimension of the First Amendment and brings it to the forefront of contemporary legal debate.On March 25, legal and academic associations representing university...

Restaurants on campus reflect on changes post-pandemic – The Daily Free Press

When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in March 2020, Noodle Street Manager Chris Chan started sewing face masks for his employees out of his own cut-up clothes.
Noodle Street, located on Boston University’s East Campus, had been serving customers for over two decades until the pandemic forced it to close for six months. It joined the 44% of Massachusetts small businesses in the area that closed amidst strict lockdown policies. 
“We [are] all kind of family, so we try to protect each other as much...

‘The right to hear’: Professors sue Trump administration for detention of students engaging in pro-Palestininan activities – The Daily Free Press

Legal and academic associations representing university professors sued the Trump administration March 25 for detaining students who have engaged in pro-Palestinian protests or sentiment.
The plaintiffs include the American Association of University Professors and its campus chapters at Harvard University, New York University and Rutgers University, alongside the Middle Eastern Studies Association, a non-profit association dedicated to scholarship in the Middle East.
Both groups are represented...

From Boston to Borderlands: Travel journalist Shandra Back’s time at Venezuela-Colombia border reporting on displacement – The Daily Free Press

At the Venezuelan border, Shandra Back centered her reporting around one question: are you coming, or are you going?
The answers she received varied, but she said she quickly realized what had to come next.
“I started to understand that the next question I needed to be asking was whether this was the first, second, third, fourth, fifth time that people were leaving or coming back,” Back said.
While some took summer vacations, Back traveled to report on the displacement crisis from the migrant ro...

Amidst rise in antisemitism across college campuses, student organizers pick up the slack – The Daily Free Press

Harvard’s settlement of an antisemitism lawsuit has sparked debate over campus free speech, prompting students to take action by launching Our CampUs United to combat antisemitism on college campuses.
Shabbos Kestenbaum, a recent Harvard graduate, sued his alma mater for failing to protect Jewish students from antisemitism.
The case was settled Jan. 21, partially on the condition that Harvard adopts the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism — which includes “cla...

BU, Bostonians celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day event themed around overcoming darkness – The Daily Free Press

The Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground, in partnership with the City of Boston, honored the legacy of Boston University alum Martin Luther King Jr. Saturday at the George Sherman Union Metcalf Hall. 
This year’s celebration was centered around King’s 1962 sermon titled “A Knock at Midnight,” and featured addresses from HTC Director Nick Bates and BU President Melissa Gilliam, and a keynote conversation between bestselling author Cole Arthur Riley and School of Theology Professor Shively Smi...

Delaware Judge Strikes Down Elon Musk’s $50 Million Pay Package Despite Shareholder Approval: Justified or Not?

On Monday, Delaware Judge Kathaleen McCormick upheld her decision to rescind Elon Musk’s Tesla compensation package, despite shareholders voting in June to restore it. Before the ruling, the CEO of Tesla was set to be paid $50 million in stock options. His pay package, approved by shareholders in 2018, requires the company to meet 12 revnue milestones the company in order for him to receive compensation. Additionally, Musk would only be paid in Tesla stock options — valued only at $2.6 million a...
Boston Political Review •

Rage and Remembrance for Anniversary of October 7 on Campuses

Oct.7 kicked off a week of nationwide student protests over the Israel-Palestine conflict, with rallies and vigils being held by supporters on both sides. The one-year anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel, which since mushroomed into a war claiming thousands of lives, respectively, serves as a grim reminder of the persisting violence in the Middle East and the failure of the United States to find a resolution. Although the U.S. is more than 6,000 miles removed from the conflict, it has become...

BU issues formal warning to Students for Justice in Palestine for CDS “study-ins” – The Daily Free Press

Following a series of “study-in” demonstrations at the Center for Computing and Data Sciences, Students for Justice in Palestine received a formal warning from the Student Activities Office.
Students have been gathering to “bring attention to the genocide that’s been going on since Oct. 7,” as well as “76 years of apartheid occupation,” according to Noora, a senior and a member of SJP who requested The Daily Free Press use only her first name to protect her from doxxing.
The study-ins, which beg...

StuGov Open Letter struck down several times by BU administration – The Daily Free Press

Following Boston University’s 6% decrease in Black student enrollment, Student Government President Akwasi Antwi attempted to use the StuGov email platform to condemn this drop, but his efforts were shut down by the BU administration.
The email, which would have been sent to all undergraduate students, was blocked by the BU Marketing and Communications team for “[editorializing] the news of the decline in the Black student population” and for containing his personal opinion, Antwi said. 
BU Spok...

Diversity in the American Bar Association: How Will SCOTUS’s Affirmative Action Ruling Affect Law School Accreditation?

On November 8, the American Bar Association (ABA) restored references to “race and ethnicity” to its revision of the Diversity and Inclusion standard — one of the accreditation requirements for law schools in the United States — after receiving backlash over the removal of the terms in a previous draft.  The ABA began revising its diversity standard in 2023 in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which stipulated that affirmative action policies...

Students tune into election night watch parties around campus – The Daily Free Press

Boston University students attended on-campus watch parties at both Warren Towers and the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground on Tuesday as election results trickled in from across the nation.
The HTC watch party was a collaboration between Student Government, BU Votes, BU College Democrats, the Community Service Center and the Dean of Students. The Warren Towers watch party was hosted by Warren’s Faculty in Residences. They began at 7:30 p.m. and 7:45 p.m., respectively, before major news n...
Boston Political Review •

Bad News for Shein and Temu Lovers: Biden Administration Hikes Up Tariffs on Chinese Products

On Friday, September 13, the Biden administration finalized the increase of several tariffs on imported Chinese goods. The decision, which was first announced in May of 2024, is a protective measure for domestic businesses struggling to compete with the lower prices of their Chinese counterparts, but it carries the potential for higher taxes and lower employment for American consumers. The tariffs apply to a myriad of products, including clothing, toys and medical equipment. The highest of them,...