Brandeis University students have been able to purchase pork and shellfish products from Usdan Student Center over the past several years. This year, however, students were surprised to learn that pork and shellfish had been removed from the menu, only being served on campus by vendors and food trucks. Since 1987, the University has shifted back and forth between serving and not serving pork and shellfish on campus with a highly variable degree of student input. Consumption of pork and shellfish are expressly forbidden by Jewish dietary law, although the University defines itself as a Jewish-sponsored nonsectarian institution on its website. Prof. Marc Brettler '78, Ph.D. '86 (NEJS) provided an alternative definition in an email to the Justice. "I prefer 'nonsectarian Jewish-founded' to 'sponsored.' In fact, we now receive significant support from outside of the Jewish community," he wrote.  
Senior Vice President for Communication Ellen de Graffenreid told the Justice that the University has had a "longstanding policy" that prohibited the sale of pork and shellfish in University dining halls. However, on Jan. 21, the Justice reported students lamenting the disappearance of pork and shellfish this year from Usdan when they recalled it being served just last academic year.
This is not the first time that pork and shellfish have allegedly disappeared from campus dining halls. In fact, the University's policy has been changed or forgotten a couple of times since 1987, when pork and shellfish were first introduced to campus. 

Handler and Ad Hoc Committee
Back in 1987, a small committee of the Board of Trustees chaired by Gustav Ranis '52, known as the Ad Hoc Committee to Review the Academic and Financial Implications of the Strategic Plan, had written its "Final Report" in 1987 to provide feedback on the strategic plan submitted by then-President Evelyn Handler, who died in 2011. At the time, Brandeis was facing declining academic standards for admission, likely in part because of "an increasingly liberal admissions policy with respect to Jewish applicants in other quality schools," according to the report. Additionally, the report takes note that "[m]ost potential applicants today, including a majority of the affirmatively Jewish, ... would strongly prefer a student body which is more diversified."  
In order to appeal to a more diverse, and ideally higher-quality, applicant pool, the report recommended "consultation with relevant student groups" to establish an international kitchen facility that would "better serve Asian and other ethnic and religious groups' preferential tastes."
"Our current offerings clearly represent a deterrent to able East Asian and South-east Asian applicants, to cite but one example," the report reads. Noting the complexities of explicitly catering cuisine to other ethnic groups, the report estimates that "if these changes are implemented carefully and sensitively, they should not present a problem" to Brandeis' relations with the American Jewish community. The report contains no explicit mention of serving pork or shellfish as a part of this International Kitchen facility. Ranis, the primary author of the report, died in 2013.
A Sept. 3, 1987 article in the Justice reported on the arrival of pork and shellfish in Usdan Caf?(c) and Boulevard. Pork and shellfish had previously been unavailable at Brandeis but, that year, were being included as part of the regular menu, the article explains.
Scott Williamson, then-associate director of food services, said in the article that the new cuisine was meant to "[accommodate] the palates of international students."  The article also identified the wide range of reactions among the student body. Some kosher students were quoted in the article as expressing "dismay" at the new food, while "many were not offended or particularly concerned." 
Rabbi Albert Axelrad, the then-Jewish chaplain, was quoted saying that "if some Brandeisians want shellfish and pig products, that deserves to be satisfied." Axelrad, however, also said he opposed serving pork and shellfish in Sherman Dining Hall, the location of the kosher facility.
Rod Crafts, the dean of student affairs at the University from 1984 to 2000, wrote in an email last month to the Justice that the introduction of pork dishes was well-received and the result of an appeal from Asian-American students. "Students of all backgrounds were positive about the introduction of pork dishes in Usdan. They understood that this was in response to a direct request from Asian-American students," he wrote. John Hose, who at the time served as executive assistant to Handler, was unable to confirm that such a request occurred, in an interview with the Justice. He did, however, recall a variety of reactions to pork among students, ranging from praise to displeasure. According to the minutes of a Dec. 3, 1987 meeting of the University Board of Trustees from the University Archives, the Student Senate was in support of the new policy to serve pork and shellfish.
Hose also noted a strong response from individuals off campus regarding the serving of pork and shellfish.  "There were about 175 letters that were received," recalled Hose. "They were virtually equally divided between for and against. Virtually all of the people who wrote-and this is with the exception of two-were Jewish.  Many alums but not all alums." 
Furthermore, the same minutes from the Dec. 3, 1987 Board of Trustees meeting indicated that the University did not suffer financially from the new policy. "The issue has consumed a great deal of staff time answering the letters that have been received, yet an analysis of the letter-writers' giving records reveals that the letters are not coming from substantial donors," the minutes state.
Paul Levenson '52, one of the authors of the Ranis Report and a trustee emeritus of the University, said in an interview with the Justice that he felt Handler was inappropriately criticized.
"When I first heard about the uproar that was being focused on Dr. Handler, my immediate reaction was, 'Wait a minute. She did not originate this idea. It was handed to her.' And that was what I thought was extremely unfair," he said. 

Altman and the Policy Change
At the conclusion of the 1989 to 1990 academic year, Handler announced her intention to step down from the University presidency at the end of the following academic year, according to a June 22, 1990 article in the Justice.
In September 1990, the University announced that Prof. Stuart Altman (Heller) would serve as the interim president for the academic year, taking over for Handler. The Justice reported in a Sept. 11, 1990 article that Handler would leave campus on Oct. 1 to take a sabbatical for the remainder of the academic year until her term as president concluded.      
Altman said in an interview with the Justice that he ended the policy of serving pork and shellfish on campus during his tenure as interim president because it became "a much bigger issue than the reality," he said, in that pork and shellfish was only available in Usdan; it was not being served in all dining halls across campus. Altman explained that the decision was not a big affair. "We just quietly ended the policy and it stopped." Altman also recalled the decision being made by a consensus of "leading administrators." "We didn't go to the Board. We didn't get a vote. I remember there was no major issue," he said.
Prof. Emeritus Saul Touster (AMST), who served as councilor to interim president Altman, recalled people expressing concern with the introduction of pork. "I know of a lot of people who expressed their views in favor of the pre-Handler traditional cuisine," he wrote in an email to the Justice.
Crafts, in an email to the Justice, wrote that he was aware of Altman's decision at the time but was not consulted. 
He recalled that students, particularly Asian-Americans, were upset by the decision. "This decision was viewed as antithetical to the founding principles of Brandeis (openness to all)," he wrote. 
Prof. Jonathan Sarna (NEJS) recalled serving on a committee with Altman and Touster to end the policy of serving pork and shellfish, he said in an email to the Justice. Neither Altman nor Touster were able to confirm the existence of a committee, and Altman did not recall Sarna's involvement.
In an interview with the Justice, Hose said he believed that any decision to serve or not serve pork and shellfish could have been decided without formal documentation and approval.
The 1990s and a second arrival
Despite Altman's decision to end the policy of serving pork and shellfish, the foods found their way back to campus. The timeline is unclear as to exactly when they returned. Mark Collins, senior vice president for administration who left the University in December, as explained in an interview with the Justice that pork was served in Usdan. "There was bacon and pork. It was in Usdan through last year, absolutely," he said. 
When asked when pork was first served, Collins recalled it being served throughout his tenure. "I took over dining in 1998 or in 2000-somewhere in that ballpark-and I'm not aware that we weren't [serving pork in Usdan] as far back as that," he said. Collins could not recall who led dining before him.
Collins clarified that neither Sherman Dining Hall, the Faculty Club nor catered events on campus served pork during his tenure per his understanding of University policy. He described Usdan as more of a "universal facility" that was used by a wide variety of students with different dietary preferences.  

Prohibited Once Again
However, this year, pork and shellfish were again no longer served in Usdan. De Graffenreid has told the Justice that the University did not serve pork and shellfish in campus dining halls out of respect for the University's Jewish heritage. Jay DeGioia, the director of campus dining services, said in a Jan. 21 article in the Justice that "during the bidding process it was clear that not allowing pork or shellfish to be served in the dining halls would be part of the new contract."  
Collins explained to the Justice that during the request for proposal process for a dining services provider, which began in Fall 2012, a University committee worked in concert with a consultant to compose the RFP and communicate with prospective vendors. De Graffenreid said she did not know which University staff members were involved with the committee.  
In response to a vendor question that following February of 2013 about the possibility of serving pork in the nonkosher section of Sherman, the consultant sent a response to the vendors as part of a larger addendum to the RFP saying, according to Collins, that "no pork or shellfish is served at any location on campus." Collins said he had no idea why the consultant sent that response.
John Storti, director of strategic procurement, explained in an interview with the Justice that the policy, as he understood it, allowed for student groups and outside vendors, such as Dunkin' Donuts and Sodexo food trucks, to serve pork and shellfish, which struck a balance between not serving pork and shellfish in dining halls but still providing it to interested students.  
Storti also wrote in an email to the Justice that Usdan may not have technically been considered a dining hall because of its a la cart?? style of service "with many models for various food stations." Such a classification would have permitted Usdan to have served pork and shellfish under the current understanding of the policy.  Sodexo and the University announced that Usdan Caf?(c) will be renovated this summer to become an all-you-can-eat style cafeteria similar to Sherman, according to a Jan. 28 article in the Justice, which would be classified as a "dining hall."
Storti explained in an interview with the Justice that a Currito Burritos vendor is expected to open in Usdan Boulevard as a part of dining hall renovations this summer and will serve pork.  Storti emphasized in the interview that no dining plans are carved out in stone and that he welcomes student input.