In a town hall on Feb. 25, Interim President Arthur Levine outlined his plans to put Brandeis on a different trajectory, towards an internal structure that suits the needs of the market, while also trying to remain afloat and reputable. Over the past few years, the financial troubles of this university have become increasingly problematic, starting with widespread budget cuts to research, reducing faculty and cancelling or amending high-cost construction projects. Levine layed out grand plans for the university’s restructuring, but remained vague with plans still in their ideation phase. Currently, his main concern seems to be listening to the students, faculty and staff in order to pave a way forward that everyone can participate in.
Reiterating his stance on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) detailed in his staff town hall on Feb. 12, Levine also outlined the impacts of the Trump Administration on the community, highlighting three main areas of concern: immigration, DEI and overhead rates. The Trump administration has only been in office for just over five weeks, but has been relentless in its policy initiatives, and Brandeis recently filed a federal lawsuit to counter the slashed overhead rates. In terms of immigration, Levine assured the community of the university’s commitment to its student body and highlighted various resources students can consult, and promised to “support you in every way that we can.”
The half empty Rapaporte Treasure Hall was mostly quiet when President Levine opened for questions after around 25 minutes, after which a student identifying themself as “Smiley … with the Brandeis Jewish Bund” came to the microphone, outlining a list of 11 demands to Levine. Those demands can be found in last week’s Hoot coverage of the Bund’s Shabbat event, vigil, and study-in.
President Levine first encouraged the Bund to meet with him personally rather than presenting demands through a petition, emphasizing the importance of open dialogue. He also noted that he had met with several of the parties that the Bund had mentioned in their demands, adding his own personal experience with university campus-centric political issues: “I’m going to tell you something that you probably won’t like. But it’s critical to me. I think universities need to be neutral on public policy issues. The only reason to do that is so that we can discuss them openly on campus. So that we don’t have to hide our opinions from each other.”
He also referenced the volatility of higher education institutions, particularly in the current political climate, explaining the university’s cautious approach to advocacy: “We’ve decided we could stick our heads up and complain about the cut in research dollars. What do you think would happen if we became the most vocal voice in the country?” He further elaborated, saying, “I’d rather keep doing the things that we think are important than get into a verbal argument and put the university at jeopardy. In terms of students who are immigrants, I do not want an ICE raid because we spoke up on those issues.”
Levine noted that he wants Brandeis to be an “environment in which people can talk about issues and not have to worry about being ostracized.”
Another student, Ellie Young ’28 asked Levine about Brandeis’ admission and enrollment rate, wanting clarification on the president’s earlier comments about wanting to bring Brandeis’ admissions numbers back. Levine elaborated, noting that Brandeis’ enrollment is down by 10%, and that he wants to bring back that 10% to create a “richer environment” and “more diverse student body.”
Another student asked Levine how his plan to restructure the university’s academics would affect current students’ remaining time at Brandeis. Levine shared his hopes that students would see more internship opportunities, more optional courses being created for “the new gen ed program” and microcredentials (which he defines as small certificates that students would be able to share with potential employers and graduate schools).
Concerns were also raised about changes being made to language programs, and Levine noted that he thinks that we’re going to see “language mixing with other subject matters. Imagine what you could do with mixed language with social policy. Imagine if you could mix it with business Imagine if you could mix it with I think we’re going to see more applications of language I don’t think we’ll see a diminishment of language.”
Levine continued taking questions from students on a range of topics, including housing capacity, the Brandeis Commitment, research and creative arts funding, and student on-campus jobs. In response to concerns about housing, he reassured students, stating, “We have enough dormitory rooms to meet the needs of a more increased student body.”
