Presidential Search Committee hears student opinions
Seven members of the Presidential Search Committee held a town hall meeting on Monday night for students to express their views and opinions about the upcoming search for a new University president. The members present at the town hall meeting included Chairman of the Board of Trustees Malcolm Sherman, Student Union President and nonvoting committee member Andy Hogan '11, trustee and Fundraising Chair Barbara Mandel, Search Committee Chair Meyer Koplow '72 and Profs. Gregory Petsko (BCHM) and Leonard Saxe (Heller).
The committee was formed in the wake of the Sept. 24th resignation of University President Jehuda Reinharz. Reinharz will remain president until a successor is chosen or until June 30, 2011.
"The purpose of this meeting is to see what students want," Hogan said in his introduction.
Amanda Hecker '10, the Student Union vice president, was the first student to comment about the search. She said that she wanted a president who already loves Brandeis and is committed to the institution, because she believes that will lower the new president's learning curve at the onset of the first term.
Heddy Ben-Atar '11, the junior representative to the Board of Trustees, said that she wanted a president who was willing to take the initiative to foster closer connections with students and lead the rest of the administration in doing so as well.
"We want a stronger connection with our leader," said Ben-Atar.
Rachel Markman '10, a member of the Student Advisory Committee to the Presidential Search Committee, said after the meeting that she wished more students had attended, but she was very impressed with the students who came.
Jason Gray '10, former Student Union president, echoed Ben-Atar's claims about the desire for a president whose chief concern is forging connections with students.
"If you walked into [the] Usdan [Student Center] and asked students what they want in a president, their first answer would be someone who is deeply committed to what students want. We need someone who connects with students," said Gray.
Gray said his other two chief recommendations for a new president were someone who emphasized the importance of financial aid and someone who may not want to put their whole career into Brandeis.
Julian Olidort '11 and Nicholas Hornstein '11, both members of the Student Advisory Committee, raised the issue of the search committee's opinion on the importance of selecting a Jewish president. Olidort said that this issue had come up among the Student Advisory Committee, but they had not reached a consensus.
In response, Koplow explained that it was a necessity for the president to connect with the donor base, many of whom are people of Jewish faith.
"We have learned the hard way that if the President cannot connect with the donor base, then there are bad results," he said.
Saxe added that, whether Jewish or not, the new president needed to be able to connect with the values of the Jewish community.
"There are people that can do that who are not Jewish," he said.
Tara Metal '10 expressed concern that no fine arts or humanities professors had been selected to serve on the Presidential Search Committee. Koplow said that he would be meeting with the humanities faculty before other segments of the faculty. He did not say when these meetings would occur.
Jonathan Sussman '11 also stated his belief that the committee was not representative of the majority of the Brandeis community, as there is minimal faculty representation and the only student is a non-voting member.
The Presidential Search Committee, chaired by Koplow, was formed after the most recent Board of Trustee meetings at the end of October and includes thirteen people in total, nine of whom are trustees as well as three faculty members and Hogan as a student representative.
Sherman responded to Sussman's claims by saying that he was not necessarily looking for percentages of representation but for the best possible committee members.
"I can only say that a huge amount of thought went into it," he said, adding that it was virtually impossible to satisfy all constituencies.
Metal also questioned the committee members about the status of the Rose Art Museum and how the search committee related to this issue.
Koplow said that "he did not want to get off on a Rose detour," but explained that the committee had enthusiastically welcomed the recommendations from the Committee on the Future of the Rose Art Museum's final report at their last meeting in October.
Koplow also said the decision whether or not to sell any art would likely be determined before there is a new president.
Markman said she was pleased with the meeting and that the search committee seemed receptive to the student's ideas.
"I am very happy to hear students' concerns and emotions. I think in the next phase we need to hear how students want Brandeis presented," Professor Saxe said after the meeting.
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