today in "the boston globe" there were two editorial articles and both of them - on universities. one was the famous khatami visit to harvard and later M.I.T., and the other - on harvard's decision to end early admissions which will enable less rich students to be accepted in greater numbers. then there were some more articles... on the refusal by boston college to invite khatami to an islamic art exhibition and on the whole khatami issue in general... how do universities allow themselves to have the fierce femminist movements and critics of the government and at the same time invite to speak someone in whose country women are more persecuted than in the states and which has less democratic politics than the bush administration? some say, it's the manifestation of the freedom of speech, that universities are an example of the open discussion. the others, however, think that this was a purely political act - to welcome a less radical figure than ahmadinejad and demonstrate that this is the course of iran that washington expects to be the right one. in any case, i wanted to point out not the debate on khatami's visit, but the fact that universities matter here. they make the editorials. they make the news. i have never seen a front page article on vilnius university... that it did something, that it didn't do something. yes, sometimes there are news about some shameful things... or even about the need to reform the university system. but never the university plays a significant role in the country's affairs. it has no voice whatsoever. while here every day they matter. the universities and their pluralism.



but universities here do have problems as well. the main one, which is so far from what we are troubled about at home, where the complains on the quality of studies are the most important, is the money. it is too expensive to study here. 40 thousand dollars per year or more... brandeis is more expensive. it is small, it has brilliant professors and visiting lecturers and politicians, it is one of the most conscious on political matters, although it is jewish, having some major palestinians (or at least the one that simon told me about but i forgot... someone who is the brother of someone who is the leader of some most radical islamist movements) and others... the question of the izraeli-lebanon conflict was discussed in a conference here, by the way, but this issue needs more space and time than i can afford now... brandeis also has all the fancy facilities i already mentioned, that is, free buses around town and even to boston downtown, free printing and copying, computer and study center working all night, the four-floor library open till midnight, dozens of clubs - political, sports, cultural etc., you can also find somewhere to eat for free almost every day... and on fridays all graduate students have an event called T.G.I.F. which stands for "thanks god it's friday", where we get free snacks and free wine and beer... and then there are parties at night just in front of the main library or the shapiro - the multifuncional student space. the campus is alive day and night. and at night the green soccer field is usually full. actually, in the main rankings of universities in the united states - the U.S. news and world report - brandeis is the 31. and it is number four in massachusetts after harvard, M.I.T. and Tufts. these are very good indications. although in lithuania and probably europe nobody knows of brandeis as it is really small compared to the others, in the states everybody knows it. and knows it's good. and very expensive. and has a wonderful program of anthropology:) i'll have to get a brandeis pullover next month... i'm becoming patriotic:) but it's worth... i know that there are so many greater ones and maybe i should find one for my phd, but brandeis is like home.