Category: Uncategorized

The plan for today’s sit-in is to congregate at the Rose Art Museum at 1pm.  There will be tables with petitions and letter-writing opportunities, as well as paper and pencils for signs or other forms of artistic expression.  A microphone will be set up so that attendees may share their personal reactions and accounts of what the Rose means to them.  There will hopefully be a representative from the administration present to hear what everyone has to say.  I encourage everyone who is able to come out in support of the Rose.  Share your feelings and ideas, and make your voice heard!

If you missed yesterday’s forum with President Reinharz or just didn’t get a chance to ask your question, you’re in luck.  The Graduate Student Association has planned another question and answer session with senior administrators to be held later today.  The meeting is at 5:00pm in the Olin-Sang Auditorium, and every member of the Brandeis community is invited to attend.  Even if you were satisfied with Wednesday’s event, it’s still a good idea to attend and show that we are consistently committed to making sure our voices are heard.

Wow, I really picked the wrong time to leave the campus.  Protests, sit-ins, listservs, national controversy, student forums (fora?) — what fun you must all be having!

I’m definitely keeping an eye on everything though, and consider this my long-awaited (yeah, right) return to active posting.  Echoing InfoGirl’s post from Monday, I really want to encourage everyone to check out BrandeisPlans, not just as passive observers but as active participants in the discussion that will, if all goes well, not only lead the University to new heights but also ultimately save the world.

Continue reading “Publicize Your Ideas on BrandeisPlans”

First and foremost, I send my sincere thanks to Jason Gray for encouraging President Reinharz to hold the forum for undergraduate students. Jason has proven himself to be a very valuable resource by advocating for the needs of the students. Simply put, he continues to impress me. In addition, I must extend a warm thank you to President Reinharz, as well as Peter French and Marty Krauss, for agreeing to hold this forum. Continue reading “Reflections on Today’s Forum”

Here’s an incomplete list of news articles and pieces about the Rose closure. As you will swiftly notice, Brandeis does not come off too well in them. Continue reading “Links to News Articles about the Rose”

For those who didn’t get the memo, today President Jehuda Reinharz, Chief Financial Officer Peter French, and Provost Marty Krauss held an open forum with students in Sherman Function Hall. It wasn’t an ideal situation, the forum was only announced the evening before and it was held during a time when most students have classes. Furthermore, it was held in middle of an ugly storm (at least from the perspective of this California native). Yet despite the challenges in organizing the event, over two hundred students (according to the Student Union) turned out to ask the President some questions. I can say with confidence that this forum was the direct result of student activism, both on the part of the Student Union as well as the Brandeis Budget Cut Committee.

A full audio version of the forum is available on the website of the Brandeis Hoot.

Right away President Reinharz opened the meeting by announcing that this will not be the last forum, that more forums will be held for those unable to attend. He then passed the podium off to Peter French who presented a detailed slideshow (the same one presented to the Faculty and Board of Trustees in December) outlining Brandeis’s budget problems for the next five fiscal years.

The first problem he addressed was the problem of a structural deficit. That is to say,

the needs and aspirations [of the university] exceed assets and annual revenues.

As a result, for the last few decades Brandeis has been relying on large gifts to pay for its operations and it has been dipping into its endowment to pay its bills. This is only a serious problem if the University is pulling more than 5% out of its endowment annually – which for many years they were – because after this point, the endowment would cease to grow. President Reinharz built a reserve fund ( a sort of ‘savings account’ which could be dipped into and potentially fully exhausted in times of financial trouble) worth about $100 million during his tenure at Brandeis, and without it we’d be in even more trouble than we are right now. Despite this, French estimates the reserve fund will be depleted by FY 2010-2011, in order to pay for the deficits of the next two years.

In short, Brandeis has been in a fragile financial situation for quite some time, and the combination of the economy crash and the Madoff scandal put Brandeis into a state of financial crisis. (though Brandeis was not invested in Madoff’s funds directly, as was Tufts, many of our wealthy Jewish donors like Carl Shapiro were scammed out of hundreds of millions).

Continue reading “A Summary of Today’s Forum”

Students I have talked to seem to agree that today’s presentation by Pres. Jehuda Reinharz, COO Peter French, and Provost Marty Krauss was productive.  There was a massive student turnout (the room was packed), and a lot of important questions were answered.  I feel relieved that I’ve finally been given substantial information, but also some resentment that this presentation, which was prepared in December, could not have been shown to the student body earlier.  It seems crazy to hold back explanatory and even comforting information while the student body frets.

Here is a paraphrased summary of what  we were told regarding the closing of the Rose.  More summary to come regarding details on endowment return and other areas of the presentation.

Brandeis lost 25% of its endowment between June 30 and December 31, falling from $712 million to $549 million in market value. Peter French’s projections predict the endowment’s value will reach an all-time low of $468 million in Fiscal Year 2009. After that, the endowment will begin to recover, but until it surpasses its original principal, no withdrawals can be made due to Massachussets law.  Proposed changes in academic structuring and student/faculty ratio will help to close gaps, but not by a lot.  Selling the Rose, as sad as it makes the Board of Trustees, is the only feasible large-scale cutback.

So, what exactly will happen?  There are 7180 works of art in the Rose collection, with an estimated worth at about $350 million before the crash.  It will take months or years to sell the paintings, as we must wait for the art market to recover, as well as examine the terms of donation or purchase for each and every work to see if its sale would be legal. A full sale of the Rose collection is thus nearly impossible and undesirable.  If, by some miracle, the economy recovers and philanthropy picks up, Pres. Reinharz said that there may be no sale at all. Continue reading “Report on today’s administrative presentation: The Rose”

According to today’s New York Times article (See Nathan’s post below), world-renowned contemporary painter and printmaker Jasper Johns has spoken out about the Rose’s closing.

Johns said on Tuesday, “I find it astonishing. I’ve never heard anything like it.”

Johns is only one of the revolutionary artists cherished at the Rose, including Robert Rauschenberg, Cindy Sherman, Andy Warhol, Joan Miro, and Roy Lichtenstein.

The flurry of attention Brandeis has recieved in the last few days has allowed major newspapers to report on the main issue, the lack of student input in the decision making process here at the University.

The Boston Globe today has an article today entitled “Crisis Raises Questions on Brandeis Campus.”

The article quotes Professor Andreas Teuber, who says, “There was a ripple throughout the entire faculty of feeling hoodwinked.”

The article also quotes Carrie Mills and Alex Melman, editor & writer for innermostparts.org and both leaders in the Brandeis Budget Cuts Coalition. Carrie says, “We were left in the dark. We certainly feel marginalized as a whole. It feels like there’s a brick wall between us and the administration, and nothing is getting through.”

Alex says, “To close the Rose is a terrible loss to the university, and to auction off its collection as a cost-saving measure is tragic.”

Now that major media is covering the issue, now is the time for students to make a stand and demand input on all major financial decisions. We are clearly making progress, but we must continue to fight for our voice.

From the beginning of Brandeis students’ activism in the face of the budget crisis, many of us involved have questioned the legitimacy of “making a fuss” during tough times. The administration will inevitably cut integral pieces of academics and campus life, and there are more important problems in which to invest our energy. Can we really have an effect?

In the words of Hillel Buechler’s unsubstantiated op-ed in the Justice, greater student inclusion in decision-making “isn’t feasible for now; the University has already established a pattern of disregard for our say in making changes, and that pattern has yet to be broken.” These feelings of hesitancy, undoubtedly spreading among campus activists, are contrary to the principles of the very University we are trying to preserve.

How about the Rose Art Museum. Even as we struggle with our own emotional cost-benefit analyses, it is still integral that we express passion for what we value on campus. A college education teaches us to explore our interests, and then to immerse ourselves in what we find fulfilling, preparing us to fight for our ideals after graduation. We are supposed to utilize the confidence we develop in the classroom for positive change. In that vein, I will be attending Thursday’s sit-in (1:00 at the museum!) not because I definitively oppose the closing, but because I want to make sure that the Board of Trustees and administration deeply understands the adverse affects of this decision not only on PR and financial asset holdings, but on student morale. The Board of Trustees is removed from campus values and attitudes, which can turn the student body into a means, rather than an end, to an educational institution. We must do whatever we can to break through financial analysis and make our complaints felt.

Even if we, the students, are viewed as a means to a financial end, we need to remember that we are the most important means. We too often forget that the university depends on our money, our success, and our support. It is irresponsible for us to neglect input. The administration has not only expressed a desire to hear from students but implemented avenues of dialogue (i.e. Jehuda’s 11:00 meeting today in Sherman); it would be a humiliating demonstration of apathy for us not to partake.

Our administration is just as desperate as we are, and a mutually beneficial solution depends on discourse involving both sides! Few administrators/faculty are viewing student organizing as antagonistic, in fact they are relying on it. At a time when we are selling the Rose, our second largest asset after the school’s land itself, no idea is too radical.

So, in a clichéd attempt at a rallying cry, let’s put aside our pessimism and save our own school!

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

President Gray plans to invite more administrators next week, “perhaps Peter French”, but details aren’t clear who the Student Senate’s next guest will be. French is Brandeis’ Executive Vice President. For more recent news, check your e-mail and Loki’s post: Rose Art Museum to be shut down and auctioned off.

Students crammed into this week’s Senate meeting as Rick Sawyer, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Student Life, and Maggie Balch, Associate Dean of Student Life, answered questions. Sawyer and Balch were invited by Student Union President Jason Gray to address student unrest concerning the 5 million dollar deficit in this year’s budget. Though Sawyer and Balch responded to questions about recent controversial decisions including the status of merit scholarship portability and allocation of Village living space, students seemed mostly concerned with continued budget cuts that will inevitably fall under the Department of Student Life’s jurisdiction.

Details behind the cut. Continue reading “Senate Report: Department of Student Life Deans Explain Budget Deficit Decisions to Students”

UPDATE: the text of this post seems to have mysteriously disappeared about 10 minutes ago. Here it is again. Since then, President Reinharz sent out a graceful email explaining the situation. It as I was told earlier – the Rose is to be closed, and its collection auctioned off. Reinharz says,

I am satisfied that our commitment is unwavering; that someday we will look back and say that when the quality of education and student services was at stake, we made hard choices so that Brandeis could emerge even stronger.

My thoughts on this are still conflicted. On the one hand, I love the Rose. It made Brandeis unique – which other liberal arts schools have such a prestigious museum on their grounds? On the other, this auction could raise tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars; I don’t know the full value of the collection. Was this a good decision? As I stated earlier, only if there are terms allowing us to “buy back” items at a later date, in sunnier times – such a stipulation could be written into the sale. For some of the more priceless items in our collection, this definitely seems like a logical step. Otherwise… I really don’t know. What other options were on the table? I wonder if we’ll ever find out. By this point, I doubt it.

I’m sure the recent falling-through of the new Arts building donor (about 3 months ago) had something to do with this. In the associated press release, we were told that:

Today’s decision will set in motion a long-term plan to sell the art collection and convert the professional art facility to a teaching, studio, and gallery space for undergraduate and graduate students and faculty.

So this serves two purposes – to raise capital for the University, and serve as the new teaching space for the Fine Arts department. You gotta give it to them – sort of smart. In a tragic kinda way.

Original post below.

Continue reading “BREAKING: Rose Art museum to be shut down and auctioned off!”

An important Budget Cut Committee Meeting will be happening tonight at 9:30 in the Castle Commons. Make sure you come!!! Bring your friends! We’ll be talking about a wide variety of budget cut issues, and if you’re at all concerned about these things, this is a vital meeting.

We’ll be receiving a report from the Junior Representative to the Brandeis Board of Trustees, who will tell us about the outcome of today’s Board meeting. We’ll also be presenting a special opportunity, and learning about the activities of our various subgroups.

Again, if budget cuts concern you, be sure to show!

Sahar sent this out to the BCC listserv, but it’s so cool that it deserves a post here too: BrandeisPlans, a wiki for members of the Brandeis community to submit, edit, and debate proposals for Brandeis’s future. What better way to make our voices heard?

For off-campus access:

login – faculty
password : change!

An explaination on the login information: The wiki was originally created as a faculty outlet, but it has expanded to the whole of Brandeis.

So one of Brandeis’s coolest professors is about to become an early victim of the budget cuts.

I took a class with Professor Wayne Marshall last semester (Race, Representation, Reggae and Nation), and loved every minute of it. Professor Marshall is one of the absolute best instructors I’ve had, and it sadly looks like he’s going to get the axe.

Up until now, we’ve seen few concrete examples of the budget cuts in action, but the prospect of losing Prof. Marshall brings immediacy to the budget issue.

Now, we know that Brandeis is going to cut faculty in the years to come (perhaps by as much as 10%). Losses are inevitable. But we need to make it clear to the administration that certain vital professors need to be maintained at all costs. And Wayne Marshall is vital. He’s a key part of both the Music and African-American studies departments, and has greater world-music expertise than anyone else on staff. Without Marshall, the study of non-western music at Brandeis would all but disappear. So academically, he’s vital, and he has impressive output of scholarly works as well (he’s one of the editors of this upcoming book, which is the first authoritative work on reggaeton). Plus he’s a popular local DJ, and you can catch him at The Enormous Room in Cambridge every Monday night.

Brandeis alum Leor Galil puts it this way:

I know that if I were still a student at Brandeis and he were not to return simply because something had to be cut from the budget, I would be confused as to why I was still at the school. If Brandeis prides itself as an institution that challenges its students in a variety of fields, if Wayne were to leave the school it would be a marked departure from that declaration.

If you’d like to know more, talk to me, Leor, Sahar, or anyone who has ever taken one of his classes. Or just email the man himself. wmarshal@brandeis.edu.

So we want to make sure Prof. Marshall is rehired. He’s currently on a two-year contract which expires at the end of the semester, and is unlikely to be renewed. So we’re starting a school-wide campaign to convince the administration to keep him.

Leor is putting together, in his words, “a full-blown petition in three parts: a one page cover letter, a five-ten page argument for keeping Wayne onboard (with stats for his effect on the AAAS and Music Departments, documenting his contributions to the university, giving student feedback, etc), and the full blown list of signees.”

Please, please do whatever you can. If you know Wayne Marshall, write a testimonial or help put together our argument. If you don’t know him, then please sign the petition. We can’t save Wayne without a concerted student push. This is going to be really difficult, since the university does not want to re-hire faculty it can let go, so we need a massive effort. So email savewayne (at) gmail (dot) com with:

1. Your name

2. Your connection to Brandeis (student, parent, alum, with class year if applicable)

3. Some sort of contact info (so we can, if need be, verify that all the signatures are real)

4. Any comments you have about Prof. Marshall, or why you want the petition to succeed.

And tell your friends to as well. And tell your friends to tell their friends.

In a time of crisis, we as students have to work hard to preserve those parts of our Brandeis experience which we deem essential. The administration can cut professors, but surely not those that the students most enjoy and benefit from.

If you want more info about Wayne, you can find his blog at www.wayneandwax.com. There’s an old article about him in the Boston Globe that can give you some background info. His official Brandeis faculty page is here. Also keep on the lookout for a profile piece in The Justice coming fairly soon.

Again, email savewayne (at) gmail (dot) com and let’s get this petition going. But do more than sign the petition. Talk to Leor (leorgalil (at) gmail (dot) com) or me (nrobins (at) brandeis (dot) edu) to find other ways to get involve. Tell people. Do whatever you can, we need to make this work.

More posts to come on this subject…

Now made available to the public:

To the Faculty and Academic Administrators,

As the Student Government President, I have been given a unique vantage point on the realities of the University’s financial situation.  The budget gap that Brandeis faces is large, and its current and continuing impact on the Student Body and the future of our institution is very real.

I am not writing to advocate for a specific position on any of the proposed changes.  I am instead writing about the deliberative process that is being created to develop these changes.  It is of utmost importance that students are substantively involved as we determine what is structurally necessary to reduce costs and attract more students to Brandeis.

Real, constructive student input in generating ideas, obtaining feedback, and making decisions will lead to better choices for all those who hold a stake in Brandeis’ future.  We know how these changes will impact our academic lives, our social lives, and our college experience.  We know how it would impact Brandeis’ ability to recruit future students. We also know what makes the Brandeis student unique – and what we all need to do to protect what makes this place special.

The students who gathered outside the faculty meeting today spoke what many others believe: Community-involvement in the decision-making process is not only beneficial, it is just.

I would like to propose that students be included in all academic committees that are established to evaluate different proposals, create solutions, and deliberate various ideas.  The appropriate mechanisms already exist to quickly provide qualified student representatives for these different committees. I further hope that we can determine the best way to provide accessible, comprehensive information about all of this to the Student Body at large.

I respect and appreciate the unique expertise of the faculty in dealing with the problems ahead, and I understand the immense impact that any changes may have on your lives and careers.  Also, I know how engaged the faculty has been in ensuring that the best interests of the University and its students are kept in mind during this difficult time.  On behalf of the Student Body, I deeply thank you.

I, and the students of Brandeis, look forward to working with you to make the best of this situation. I hope to discuss soon the best ways to substantively integrate students into the coming process.

Thank you for everything you do.

Yours in Service,

Jason Gray ‘10
Student Union President

To those who are interested in the latest news on the budget cut student meetings and issues, please feel free to add yourself to the listserv.

bbcc@lists.brandeis.edu

The Hoot has a front page article on our demonstration yesterday in Olin-Sang.

Go and read it:

http://thehoot.net/articles/4722

By the way, I’m the one in the hat, in case you couldn’t tell.

I think the article is a pretty fair summary of what happened. And I’m very happy with the responses of the faculty to our concerns, even though not many stayed afterwards (they’re busy, so that’s understandable, though disappointing). Overall the faculty seem amenable to including students in the decisionmaking process, and it’s the actions of the administration that we need to be concerned about.

The protest was very, very valuable, though. I think we accomplished a great deal, though there will need to be much more of this kind of thing in the future (and a greater united student force).

There seems to be a lot of confusion going around about the status of Alumnai and Friends scholarships. What is it? Can it be used for study abroad?

According to the study abroad office, Alumnai and Friends Scholarship are not merit aid. Or in other words, those who have this scholarship will not lose it if they choose to go abroad.

This document was given to Innermost Parts by President Reinhartz shortly following the faculty meeting and the student demonstration outside. They were given to the faculty to show Brandeis’ commitment to preserve the elements that make this a great institution.

I have my own thoughts about these which I will post tomorrow. What do you guys think?

Why are we here?

Liza here, interviewing some random participants in the protest. Their exact words are below…

Nathan Robinson: “I am here because I am incredibly concerned about the possible implications of the budget cuts. With valuble faculty and resources potentially eliminated from our university, I want ot make sure that students have a say in the decision-making process, and that whatever we end up cutting, we stay true to our ideals as a university founded on social justice.

Guy Rossman: I really believe in the principles of democracy and participation, and that those that are affected by decisions should have a role in forming them.

Chia Jorento: Students should be aware of where their money is going, and we should be a part of the most important decisions that Brandeis makes.

Susan Paykin: I really care what hapens to the curriculum and overall University experience. I want to show my physical support, and that there are alot of studens who want to be more of a part of the dicussion.

Noah Braiterman: I want to show support to the faculty, and also to hear exactly what’s going on. As a student, I am a part of Brandeis’s future, but the finances behind it are as important as my presence here at all.

Supreetha Gubbala: As a senator, I feel I should support this. I even got out of class for this, and told my teacher, “sorry, this is more important than UWS.”

Rachel Sier: As a paying member of this institution, it is my right that I should be consulted with these decisions. However, I am not against the principle of having a faculty meeting about the budget issues. What I am against is the manner in which students who are actively invested in their education were treated. As a Brandeis community it is important that the entire community is consulted.

Cheryl Liebowitz: I decided to come see what was going on. Transparency is really important, and there should definitely be student say in something that is going to affect our future and the value of our education.

There is currently a group of students assembled outside of a closed faculty meeting in Olin-Sang, in which budget cuts are being discussed. A few students were stopped by the campus police for trying to enter the meeting. We are now protesting for greater transparency and student input. If you want the opportunity to speak out about the academic funding of YOUR school, come to Olin-Sang in Rabb now!

At a secret faculty meeting, Alex, Sahar, and Danny went with an anonymous student photographer to the upstairs door, which was locked. They went downstairs to try to access the front door, and were bounced out by a bouncer. She [Alwina Bennett] asked Alex if he had to call anyone, and Alex said “ok!”

Shortly thereafter, police showed up. Alwina Bennet came back out and said that the students were trying to access a secret faculty meeting. Bennet claimed Alex hurt her hand as she tried to open the door. Apparently the interaction was entirely nonviolent. The police said that the students could potentially be charged with assault and battery, though it seemed this was an empty claim.

Ed Callahan explained that everyone should be allowed to have private meetings. Then they spoke with the police, who made a report.

Jason Gray arrived to talk with them.

Now, a group of students are assembled at the top of the Rabb steps, waiting for the faculty to exit.

Sahar Masachi, Alex Melman, and Danny Cairns have attempted to enter the faculty budget meeting in Olin Sang, and police have been called in by Alwina Bennet to forcibly remove them. STudent Union President Jason Gray has arrived to fuse the situation.

UPDATE: Alex, Danny, and Jason have exited Olin-Sang.

No word from Sahar.

So according to an arcane section of the Student Union Constitution, (Article IX, section 8, clause 6),

There shall be no mid-term election for the positions of President or Vice-President except as provided for in Article III.

The relevant section (7) of Article III states,

If all positions of Union Executive Office mentioned in this Constitution shall become vacant, new Executive Elections shall be held.

So unless the President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer all get snuffed in one fell swoop, there is no new VP if the current one resigns mid-term.

And thus ends my hypothetical candidacy for Student Union Vice-President =). This means that Senate meetings will now be chaired by Andrew Brooks, and other VP responsibilities will shift around to the remaining E-boarders.

Lets do some quick summary:

The University is short tens of millions of dollars over the next few years. As such, they will be cutting lots of shit. Majorly. Some such shit has already begun to be cut – renovations have been stopped, financial aid has been cut, pools haven’t been rebuilt, professors aren’t being rehired, and I’ll bet that there will be less pretty flowers plopped in the ground for Accepted Students Week. 

But soon, we are really, really going to be seeing some really, really big changes, for real. The entire academic structure of the University may well be turned on its head – see Sahar’s last post. But we need to make sure that the changes which are made – however shattering they may be – are the best possible ways to save money while preserving the University’s dedication to social justice and its academic excellence. 

Everyone agrees, or should agree, on this basic premise, whether it be the students, administration, or faculty. Since we all have the same goals, it makes clear sense that there should be close collaboration and openness about the changes being discussed among all parties. Continue reading “Why not trust us?”

Read this and come back. “Long-term academic changes proposed”

The administration and the Faculty Senate Council have suggested a major overhaul of the undergraduate academic curriculum to account for a sustained $10 million gap in the University’s budget beyond fiscal year 2010, according to a Jan. 14 faculty e-mail sent by Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe and Faculty Senate Chair Prof. William Flesch (ENG).

The proposal calls for replacing the current 43 majors and 47 minors offered to undergraduates with a much smaller number of interdisciplinary meta-majors, increasing the size of the undergraduate student body by 12 percent, requiring a summer semester to be completed before junior year and decreasing the number of Arts and Sciences faculty by 10 percent. The curriculum changes will begin with the students entering in the fall of 2010.

How come the students at large learned about this from The Justice instead of firsthand? And least we’re being informed of proposed changes, unlike in the boneheaded decision to shaft students on Study Abroad without so much as an apology. Again – why did the student body at large learn about all this through a leaked email?

Seriously? What else is going on that they aren’t telling us? Are they planning on abolishing all majors next? Oh, wait.

The new curriculum would need to be described in general by this spring so that the Admissions staff could begin marketing it to current high school juniors, Jaffe said.

The administration, in the light of a short-term fiscal crisis, is trying to make by long-term administrative and academic changes. This will probably not end well. Deliberation, due deligence, rational thought – all is being sacrificed on the altar of printing brochures by April. There is simply not enough time to conceptualize and study any such radical change, much less decide to implement a raft of them.

There was a 20% drop in applications last year. For the class of 2014 (the ones that are high school juniors now, and to which all proposals are targeted), Brandeis wants to increase enrollment. So –
– Decreasing Size of Applicant Pool
– Increasing Enrollment
– Cutting faculty
This is not a good sign for the academic pillar at Brandeis.

There’s a saying, “You never want to let a good crisis go to waste.” Let’s make sure that we’re not using this crisis to push through ill-thought out, hasty plans, simply because some administrator says we should. A draft PATRIOT Act was sitting in an FBI file cabinet for years and years before the crisis of 9/11 gave the government the opportunity of enough fear and confusion to pass it. Let’s make sure a similar thing – approving confusing plans without time to study due to fear and confusion- doesn’t happen here.

So its pretty clear that disallowing merit scholarships for study abroad is all-around a pretty bad, unfair idea. Hopefully, the Student Union will have this resolved in the coming few days. As for the issue of Vilage-only housing for study abroad-ers (both Fall and Spring), here’s some low-down on what is developing to be the low-down: Continue reading “Study Abroad / Housing Changes – some clarification”

The passage of Question 2 does not seem to have settled the question of marijuana’s legal status in Massachusetts. While it is currently decriminalized across the state, several municipalities are looking to roll back this development. Some are considering vastly increased fines for smoking in public places, and others seek to impose jail sentences. This clearly goes against the will of 63% of the voters in the state, and ought to be stopped. I will expand upon the case against recriminalization, as well as provide more info about these counter-democratic efforts, in a post tomorrow.

However, right now I wish to inform everyone who wants to preserve this hard-fought victory about a pair of protests tomorrow, January 20th. At the Quincy Town Hall and the Methuen City Hall, rallies are being held to tell their respective representatives to keep marijuana decriminalized in Massachusetts. The Worcester city council has already voted 7-4 against recriminalization. We need to let the drug warriors know to stay out of our state!

Information about the rallies below the fold.

Continue reading “Rally Against Recriminalization!”