Brandeis’s identity crisis
If you read one story today, make it this one from our Katherine Mangan. It takes stock in the aftermath of a pro-Palestinian protest at Brandeis University in November that resulted in seven people being arrested and charged.
Brandeis finds key parts of its mission in conflict. Is the university — founded three years after the end of the Holocaust at a time when many colleges did not welcome Jewish professors or students — first a safe haven for Jews, a home for social-justice efforts, or a bastion of free speech worthy of the U.S. Supreme Court justice whose name it bears?
Brandeis was the first private university to revoke recognition of its Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, and it has cracked down on protesters for using controversial phrases like, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Such moves are designed to stamp out antisemitism as the administration promotes safety for its Jewish students.
Muslim students say recent events have made them question whether the campus is a safe space for them. Brandeis’s student body is not a monolith. About a third are students of color, and one in five are international.
- “The diversity that our founders envisioned is happening. We’re grappling with those growing pains,” LeManuel (Lee) Bitsóí, vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion, told Katherine. “We came to Brandeis by choice. Now that we’re here, how do we engage in civil discourse?”
Read the full story here.
Campuses continue to face hateful incidents
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators say they were sprayed with chemicals at Columbia: Columbia University is investigating reports that demonstrators at a Friday protest were hit with a foul-smelling substance, leaving some in need of medical treatment. The university’s interim provost raised the possibility that hate crimes were committed and said people accused of spraying the chemicals are banned from campus. Our Erin Gretzinger has the full story.
A swastika was projected on a Wisconsin dormitory: A group of people lit road flares, displayed antisemitic symbols, and chanted racist words outside of a University of Wisconsin at Whitewater dormitory on Sunday night, according to the institution’s chancellor, Corey King. He called the actions abhorrent and consistent with a group that’s unaffiliated with the university and has been visiting other campuses. Four people can be heard chanting “there will be blood” in a video of the incident. NBC News has more.
Quick hits
- Fall undergraduate enrollment rose: About 176,000 more undergraduates enrolled in the fall of 2023 than did the year before, an increase of 1.2 percent, according to figures released today. The new data shows particular growth in community colleges that have a vocational focus. The rate of enrollment increase is slightly below an earlier estimate of 2.1 percent that was part of preliminary findings released in October. (National Student Clearinghouse Research Center)
- Cyberattacks buffet institutions: Kansas State University required students and faculty members to reset passwords on Tuesday after a cybersecurity incident disrupted systems over the last week. Separately, Carnegie Mellon University said on Friday that a summer data breach may have compromised personal information of more than 7,300 current and former applicants, contractors, employees, and students. (KSNT, Kansas State, EdScoop)
- Michigan State won’t bar ex-football coach from campus: Mel Tucker will not be allowed to have any affiliation with or be an employee of the public institution, it said on Friday, formalizing the fired coach’s punishment after university investigators found that he’d sexually harassed an anti-sexual-violence activist hired to speak to the team. But Tucker will not be barred from visiting campus or sporting events, an important consideration should he ever coach for another college football team. Tucker has denied the allegations and said he’ll sue Michigan State for wrongful termination, though he has yet to do so. (USA Today, The Chronicle)
Comings and goings
- Lisa Jasinski, senior director of strategic initiatives in the president’s office at the University of Texas at San Antonio, has been named president of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest.
- Claudia Williams, a former senior adviser for health innovation and technology in the White House under President Barack Obama, has been named chief social impact officer in the School of Public Health at the University of California at Berkeley.
- Jenny Varner became president of Davidson-Davie Community College, in North Carolina, after serving as acting president following the death of Darrin Hartness in July 2023.
- John McVay, president of Walla Walla University since 2006, plans to retire at the end of the academic year.
To submit a new-hire announcement, email people@chronicle.com.
Footnote
Readers have been suggesting words and phrases to banish from campus. Craig Vincent, a librarian at the College of Westchester, never wants to hear the following two phrases again:
- We need to think outside the box.
- We need all hands on deck.
Craig correctly points out that all thinking done to correct a problem takes place outside of boxes — at least aside from cats nestling in cardboard and employees yearning to leave their cubicles. As for “all hands on deck,” he notes that “we are a library staffing an event, not a ship in rough seas.”
We’re seasick of navigating sailing metaphors.
🆘 Which words and phrases do you want to throw overboard? Email dailybriefing@chronicle.com, and we’ll anchor a future Footnote with your submissions.
