President Fred Lawrence once again promised faculty communication in the upcoming strategic planning process at the November faculty meeting last Thursday, with Provost Steve Goldstein announcing that the launch of the university-wide review would begin Monday.

“We keep coming to this topic, but it’s critically important,” Lawrence said, “and I’ve answered a lot of questions about this: It is not an exercise of what to do with our current resources, but what we should be aiming for. It is aspiration but not pie-in-the-sky aspiration.”

He went on to say that the process should be thought of as “a blend of academic, financial and development parts of the university.”

The final part of the president’s report was that Brandeis was on target for the ongoing five-year fiscal plan, set to finish in 2014.

The senior vice president for students and enrollment usually delivers the annual report on the incoming class, and admissions and financial aid statistics in November, as several faculty pointed out. But the new SVP Andrew Flagel is still in the process of relocating from Washington, D.C., and will give the report on meeting both financial return targets and keeping the university’s “need-blind commitment.” Instead Flagel will give a presentation to the faculty on the subject that he gave to the board of trustees last month.

The meeting also included Goldstein’s announcement of the creation of a “task force” to deal with concerns about harassment, community safety, whistle-blowing and other sensitive topics. The university website will also be updated with a new site designation especially for the service.