Provost Marty Krauss has decided to accept all the recommendations for academic changes proposed by the Brandeis 2020 Committee, with a slight modification to a proposal regarding the Anthropology Ph.D. program, according to a campuswide e-mail she sent yesterday. The Board of Trustees will consider those proposals at its March 24 meeting. Krauss has accepted other proposals to suspend admissions to the Cultural Production Master's program; suspend admissions to the MFA Program in Theater Design; reorganize the major in Hebrew Language and Literature and the undergraduate minor in Yiddish and East European Jewish Culture as tracks within Near Eastern and Judaic Studies; reorganize the American Studies department as an interdepartmental program and create a Division of Science. While the Brandeis 2020 Committee recommended fully suspending admissions to the Anthropology Ph.D. program, Krauss recommends that the program continue to allow admissions through the M.A. program.

Krauss established the Brandeis 2020 Committee in January after the Board of Trustees mandated reductions in the academic commitments of the School of Arts and Sciences to ensure the long-term financial health of the University, a concern Meyer Koplow '72, chair of the Board's Budget and Finance Committee, communicated at a special faculty meeting Jan. 20.

In her report addressing the 2020 proposals, Krauss noted that she met with several faculty and students to gather feedback about the proposals. A special faculty-only meeting was held last Thursday to discuss the proposals. After the meeting, some faculty members told the Justice that representatives from many of the affected areas advocated for the continued existence of the programs.

"I recognize the need for what's being done, ... and yet at the same time I'm struck by the difficulty of what's happened on a very immediate level [as a member of the Theater department]," Prof. Eric Hill (THA), a member of the Faculty Senate Council, said after the meeting.

"Everybody made passionate defenses of their cut programs," Prof. Thomas Doherty (AMST) said after the meeting. "I think everyone understands the concept of no money. The concept that some of us have difficulty understanding is how these particular measures will actually add to the University's bottom line." He pointed out that American Studies faculty believed that the department would not cost the University more money as a department. Doherty noted that Theater Design representatives gave a Powerpoint presentation featuring some student-designed work.

Krauss said after the meeting that all the talks "were extremely well-constructed and well-argued" and noted the "beautiful images" of the Theater Design program's presentation that "made you excited for the kind of work students do."

Krauss wrote in her report that she agrees with the Brandeis 2020 Committee's proposal to suspend admissions of external students to the Anthropology Ph.D. program.

"While the Anthropology doctoral program had some difficulties in the recent past leading to relatively weak time-to-degree and placement data, efforts by the current complement of talented faculty have helped to cultivate a promising group of M.A. and Ph.D. students," she said.

The department has also brought in significant new revenue to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences through an expanded Master's program, Krauss wrote. A smaller Ph.D. program open only to students from the M.A. program "will maximize the opportunity to maintain the significant revenue stream of the M.A. program, while reducing the cost of the Ph.D. program and limiting it to those students most likely to excel." Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe will determine the number of Ph.D. slots, Krauss wrote.

In an interview Monday, Krauss said M.A. students told her that "one of their criteria in looking for [a] master's program was whether there was a Ph.D. program at that university and that had we not had a Ph.D. program in Anthropology they probably would not have considered Brandeis."

Krauss wrote that she made her decision regarding termination of the Cultural Productions program after the graduation of the current students "despite the ardent testimonials received from faculty, current students, and alumni regarding the unique contributions of the program towards interdisciplinarity at Brandeis." She went on to state that while she understands that this decision may be a loss for Brandeis, "problems regarding mentorship and focus of the program" made it a target of serious review by the committee. "I have heard the argument that this program produces net revenue for GSAS, and while that is true, I am convinced that the University would have to make additional fiscal commitments in the long run to ensure that this program achieves and maintains a level of excellence that we would expect for any master's program," she wrote.

Regarding the theater design program, Krauss wrote that her decision to terminate it after the current students graduate "is based in part on the projected costs of revitalizing and restructuring the M.F.A. Program in Theater Design, as noted in the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee report, as well as in recognition that many University theater arts departments have excellent programs without an M.F.A. program in design." She added that she agrees with the recommendation to develop a more robust undergraduate curriculum in the history, performance and design aspects of Theater Arts.

Krauss wrote in her report that the reorganization of the American Studies department will be effective July 1. She said she recognizes that the department agrees to the reduction of four faculty positions mandated by last year's Curriculum and Academic Restructuring committee proposals and "would like to maintain its departmental status." She wrote, however, that she agrees "with the Brandeis 2020 proposal that its reorganization as an interdepartmental program solidifies these reductions and secures an opportunity for it to remain a vital University program."

Krauss also stated that chair of the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies department has confirmed that Hebrew and Yiddish will become tracks within the department beginning with the class of 2015. She also accepted the proposals to terminate the Italian Studies major and the Internet Studies minor beginning with the Class of 2015. She added that she had received a plan from the NEJS department to achieve its new faculty target of 22.

The report stated that on Feb. 25 the Graduate School Council approved merging the Ph.D. program in Biochemistry and the Ph.D. program in Biophysics and Structural Biology to form a single Ph.D. program in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry.

The reduction in University-funded Ph.D. slots in the departments of Computer Science and Chemistry will take effect in the 2010 to 2011 academic year, according to the report.

The report states that in accordance with the proposals "the Dean of Arts and Sciences will ensure that stand-alone GSAS Master's programs will prepare a three-year plan to achieve benchmarks for enrollment, expenses, revenues and metrics of student success and satisfaction. Programs that do not achieve their benchmarks by 2012-13 will be phased out."

Krauss also wrote that the Humanities Council is making plans to increase interdepartmental flexibility and student choice through more resource sharing. She added that she has received a plan from the Council about the possible creation of Mandel Seminars in the Humanities and a master's program in interdisciplinary humanities.

Krauss told the Justice that she did not expect everyone "to be happy or to be supportive of these decisions, but I hope that they would respect the process and respect the ultimate challenge that we faced, as one that's not unique to Brandeis.