Day: January 27, 2009

The New York Times website updates frequently, and items get pushed off the main page about as quickly as they’re put on, but right now the lead story is about our beloved Rose museum. Here is a link. Click it.

It’s now fairly clear that if we go through with this, we will destroy our reputation in the art world forever. Nobody who seriously cares about art will have anything but sheer contempt for our University. Now, I’m still undecided on the issue, and perhaps sacrificing the respect of the art community is the price we have to pay. But if we think we can pull of such a brash move with no consequences from the outside world, we’re deluding ourselves. Continue reading “Rose Art on the main page of the NY Times Website”

In response to the outcry over the recent decisions made by the administration and the Board of Trustees on issues such as the Rose Art Museum and study abroad, President Reinharz himself has consented to a completely open forum for all students to be held today, Wednesday, January 28th, at 11am in the Hassenfeld Conference Room in Upper Sherman.  This is everyone’s chance to ask Jehuda where the transparency has been and what other drastic cost-cutting measures might be in the works that we don’t know about.  I highly encourage everyone to attend and to be prepared with questions.  If for some reason you cannot attend, feel free to leave a question in the comments space or to post it on bbcc@lists.brandeis.edu, and someone will make sure it’s addressed.  Opportunities like this happen very rarely, so again, please come if you can and show the President that the voices calling for a role in this crisis are unified and growing.

The original press release from Student Union Director of Communications Jamie Ansorge is below the fold.

Continue reading “Forum with Jehuda Reinharz Today at 11am!!!”

As the Budget Cut Crisis continues, it is important to remember that life at the University still goes on, and there are other activists causes and events going on that should get our attention.

First up, DFA is hosting a Student Health Organizing Coalition (SHOC) Training on Wednesday evening (January 28) at 9 PM in Pearlman Lounge. SHOC is a Tufts based coalition that is working to reform Student Health insurance plans in the State of Massachusetts. This is a great opportunity to network with activists from other schools and learn how we can change the health care system in this state. For more information: see Facebook.

Next up, the Social Justice Committee of the Student Union is having its first meeting of the semester on Thursday at 10 PM in the Union office. The Committee can work on any number of social justice projects as it pleases. So come to the meeting armed with ideas and a sense of passion.

Finally, on January 31st, this Saturday night, the Student Union is hosting the Combating Hate Fundraising Dinner from 8 to 10 PM. The event is an all you can eat buffet, with entertainment provided by VoiceMale, Starving Artists, Mochila and the Step Team. Food provided by local restaurants. The price? $10. All of the money raised will be donated to the effort to help rebuild a black church in Springfield, MA burned down the night Barack Obama won the election.

Buy your ticket early in Usdan from 12-2 or 6-8 anytime this week!

Art Attack came up with a pretty snappy idea – give out form letters and stamped, addressed envelopes to students, so their parents can quickly and painlessly indicate their disapproval of the Rose Art’s closing. In the interests of saving some paper and postage, I decided to put the letter up here, so either you or a parent can print and mail/fax it yourself.

Continue reading “Rose Closure Blues: Let Your Parents Do the Talking!”

The scope and reach of the (so-far announced) budget cuts have riled student opinion, but perhaps none so much as the closure of the Rose Art Museum. This should strike us as perplexing; the need to cut a full tenth of faculty, or vastly simplify our academic structure, would seem to be far more worrying and unacceptable changes. If what we are witnessing is the wholesale reorganization of our campus, imposed on our community with little student or faculty consent, why has the Rose become a flashpoint?

There is no single answer, but there are many contributing factors. Clearly, the marginalization of the arts on campus has long been a problem, and this move is seen by many as an appalling blow. Alumni are up in arms because the closure indicates that the administration has a callous attitude towards donors, viewing them less as partners in an ongoing project and more as non-renewable resources.

But perhaps the reaction can best be understood in the light of ongoing administration opaqueness, a secretiveness almost designed to breed student paranoia and rumor-mongering. It is utterly inexcusable that this decision was announced so suddenly and with so little input – the fact that this even caught museum director by surprise shows a marked disrespect on the part of the administration, even a reckless mentality, one I thought we could have left behind with the Bush administration.

This is not to say that this might not be a good decision, one carefully considered by Jehuda and the trustees. There is every possibility that this quick cash infusion may allow Brandeis to stay afloat through the financial crisis, through the restructuring process and the resulting academic scrambling. I could even be tempted to say that this was an inspired move, a bold decision that will ensure that we have a university in the years to come.

However, I am no position to make such a judgment. The complete lack of openness on the part of the administration means that nobody – none of the students, and precious few faculty and donors – can truly judge the merits of the decision.

The administration deigns to treat us as children. We are given but a poor mirror in which to grasp these shocking, unforeseen changes, and the cloudy images we see do nothing to alleviate our confusion and anger.

Earlier today we were lamenting the lack of results to go with the pledge of student involvement. Well, it appears we have made some headway.

Some quick updates:

There will be a student forum on the budget cuts tomorrow at 11 am, where both CFO Peter French and Pres. Jehuda Reinharz will present and answer questions. Info to come on location, etc.

Students will be appointed to the sub-committees investigating what to do about everything, though the verdict is still out on whether a student will be on the uber-steering committee. It even appears that they will be present in equal numbers with faculty and administrators, a great success and step in the right direction.

Updates and analysis to come.

Last Thursday, I waited patiently outside a secret, closed-door faculty meeting, holding a sign that said “Students Need to Be Part of the Discussion” and surrounded by like-minded folks holding similar signs.

When the faculty streamed out, they seemed very pleased with themselves. I got thumbs up and calls of “you got everything you asked for”.

Well, cool.

Today the Board of Trustees met in an emergency session. After the meeting I got a call from Jacob Bockelmann, the Senior Representative to the Board of Trustees. I was told that students, graduate and undergraduate, were promised seats on every committee dealing with the crisis. I was told that the Board of Trustees had a meeting that closely paralleled the BBCC meeting a few days earlier, with Board members excited about using this opportunity to strengthen Brandeis and to increase, not merely preserve, our commitment to Social Justice.

Students on the Steering Committee! Board members talking about Social Justice. That all sounds great.
But let’s match words and deeds.

There’s a strong rhetoric of transparency here. But at the end of the day the decisions that are reached – selling off the finest Modern Art collection in New England, reneging on financial aid promises (for study abroad) without so much as an apology – don’t conform to the rhetoric.

The data:

Decision	Decision #	Number of Students Consulted
Merit Aid Portability	1	0
Selling off the Rose Art Collection	2	0-2*

*If the Junior and Senior Student Reps to the Board were consulted, they still weren’t given a vote or any sort of formal way of gaging student sentiment on the subject.

I’m tired of being told how in theory we have a lot of transparency at Brandeis and how students have a say here. Hell, faculty don’t even have a say about selling off the Rose Art Museum. Are we being put on to all these committees for tokenism or are we actually respected?

With these arbitrary/autocratic acts are coupled with rhetoric of inclusiveness, it’s hard not to imagine that the powers that be are simply taunting us.

In our quest to promote productive campus dialogue, Innermost Parts is inviting all faculty to send us their plans and proposals for
a. dealing with the budget crisis
b. innovative ideas that make Brandeis SEXY

Here’s the first:

Statement from Prof. Leonard Saxe (Heller/Hornstein)

Colleagues,

To those who have argued that we should not rush to make academic changes, recall President-elect Obama’s post-election comment that it was necessary to move with “deliberate haste”– with equal emphasis on “deliberate” and “haste.” These are not ordinary times. In only nine weeks this Fall, the stock market lost 40% of its value. The implications for Brandeis are profound: Our endowment is down by nearly 25% and many of our current and prospective students can no longer afford tuition. As faculty, there’s not much we can do to alter macro-economic forces, but we do have the capacity to improve our educational programs and make them more attractive, as well as effective. If the current situation forces us to agree on the outlines of a strategy in a mere six weeks, so be it. The alternative is worse. Continue reading “Prof. Saxe’s statement”

The following is a press release sent out by the Student Union e-board. Continue reading “Andy Hogan appointed Director of Community Advocacy”

To the Brandeis community,

I and many others are deeply upset and concerned over the recent news regarding the closing of the Rose Art Museum.  Personally, I regard the Rose as a very integral part of my Brandeis education–I doubt I would have chosen to attend Brandeis had the Rose not been a part of the package.  Recently, a group of students, myself included, demonstrated outside of a closed faculty meeting in an effort to gain transparency and inclusion of students in the discussions/ decision-making processes surrounding the budget crisis.  We were led to believe that our efforts were not in vain–many faculty members spoke out in support, and a motion was passed to encourage student imput.  I and other concerned students are deeply dissapointed and dismayed by yet another blatant lack of consideration for the thoughts and opinions of the broader Brandeis community, especially where such an important issue is concerned.  I am not alone in my outrage over the lack of communication and consultation concerning the Board of Trustees’ decision, and in order to convey that, a group of my fellow students and I would like to organize a sit-in in and/or around the Rose at 1pm this coming Thursday, the 29th.  Our hope is that both students and faculty will turn out in support of the Rose, and that the administration will be forced to take notice and openly communicate with the concerned members of the community.  I feel that something must be done to react against what is an imposing and inconsiderate decision on the part of the Board and the administration.  I hope sincerely that you will be in support of our idea, and encourage anyone who is able to attend.  If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to contact me at rulm@brendeis.edu, or Maarit Ostrow at maostrow@brandeis.edu.

Respectfully,
Rebeccah Ulm