The Liberal Arts Posse program will return to Brandeis in the fall of 2011, University President Jehuda Reinharz announced in an Aug. 25 campuswide e-mail.The Liberal Arts Posse program was suspended at Brandeis in fall 2009 due to budgetary constraints, according to a Sept. 15, 2009 Justice article. Reinharz's e-mail explains that the program was able to return "due to the generosity of several donors who have stepped forward to reinstate this valuable program, which enriches campus life."

In an interview with the Justice, Reinharz said that he could not reveal the names of the two major donors who provided for the return of the program, explaining that one wished to remain anonymous and the other was out of the country and could not be reached for permission to reveal the identity. He said, however, that the donors decided to renew the program because they understood its importance in relation to the University's values.

"They were really taken by the description [of the Posse program] and understood very well why this is so important for us," said Reinharz.

Reinharz said that he had been in discussion with the donors since the beginning of last semester.

"It took me a few months to find the right people. These kinds of discussions don't take place over one conversation-they consist of a number of conversations over a period of time," he explained.

The Posse program's website explains that the program is designed to identify "public high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential who may be overlooked by traditional college selection processes," and provide them with full scholarships to selective universities with which the program is partnered.

The University has two posse programs: the Liberal Arts Posse, which, according to Reinharz's e-mail, was established in 1998, and the Science Posse, which Reinharz wrote was established in 2008. Dean of Academic Services Kim Godsoe wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that a large portion of funding for the Liberal Arts Posse is from the University.

Reinharz explained that the Posse program recruits students that it identifies as potential candidates, and the Brandeis admissions office then chooses the final 10 candidates who will receive the scholarships.

Reinharz's e-mail also states that the recruitment effort for the reinstallation of the liberal arts program will take place in Atlanta. The choice of location marks a deviation from the University's usual Posse recruitment effort, which has typically taken place in New York.

According to the e-mail, "the program's new focus on a Southern city is an important and prudent step as the University expands its reputation into a part of the country where the Brandeis name is less well known."

Godsoe wrote that other universities with two Posse programs typically recruit students from two different cities, so shifting Brandeis's liberal arts program from New York to Atlanta emulates that model. Godsoe also noted that "this is a wonderful opportunity for Brandeis to recruit students from a part of the country where students are less familiar with Brandeis."

Reinharz further said that establishing a Posse program in Atlanta simultaneously provided the University with a chance to enhance its recruitment efforts and reinstall the program. He explained that while he has visited Atlanta in an effort to recruit students, that region lacks a significant number of applications to the University, and establishing a Posse program would be vital for recruitment efforts.

"This combines two important things for us: both recruiting a Posse group after a one-year hiatus and doing it in an area of the country where we have not had enough visibility," he said.

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