On Sept. 29, the Chaplaincy Working Group released its report on the University’s chaplain services, recommending many changes to the current Interfaith Chaplaincy structure, including its leadership and system of reporting.

The release of the report was announced via an email Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel sent to the student body on the same day. Senior Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Sheryl Sousa and Dean of Students Jamele Adams were also cosignatory on the email.

“Last spring we formed a working group to look at the structure and roles of our Chaplaincy services,” Flagel wrote in the email. “It was an appropriate time to do so, since we have several transitions in our chaplaincy.”

The group was chaired by Prof. Wendy Cadge (SOC) and included Prof. Jonathan Sarna (NEJS), Jewish Chaplain Rabbi Elyse Winick ’86, Protestant Chaplain Rev. Matthew Carriker and students Elena Insley ’15, Ethan Stein ’15 and Shruti Vaidyanathan ’16.

The group’s first recommendation, as stated in the report, is that the University hire a Director of Spiritual and Religious Life, who could coordinate the chaplaincy and act as a voice for all the different chaplaincies at the University.

“The current part-time chaplains are not administratively positioned to weigh in on issues that effect the university as a whole and to make changes and corrections to their work and vision as needed to serve the full university,” the report reads. “Hiring a director who serves simultaneously as a chaplain will elevate the chaplaincy by letting the campus community know who to go to first and who is in charge of the chaplaincy.”

This potential director would be a chaplain as well, Cadge wrote in an email to the Justice.

A second recommendation in the report suggests that the Interfaith Chaplaincy change its name to the Department of Spiritual and Religious Life and change its reporting structure so as to have a “dotted line relationship” between the Provost and the Dean of Students with its reports, reporting to the Dean of Students. Cadge wrote that the “dotted line means the person would still have a relationship to the Dean of Students but would not formally be supervised by that person.”

Stein added in an interview with the Justice that the thought process behind the latter suggestion “was more of ‘we’ll have a new director, who will report to the Provost and then the Dean of Students.’”

“That [new measure] will, again, have more visibility for the students about what the chaplaincy does,” he added.

Cadge also noted that reporting directly to the Provost “would help the Chaplaincy relate formally to a broader sector of the university population.”

Another suggestion in the report included the creation of an “affiliate” position for religious leaders active in the community but not currently labeled “chaplains” in campus religious life.

Stein cited the leaders of the Brandeis Chabad in particular, noting that while they open their doors to approximately 200 students every week for Shabbat services and dinner, they are not called chaplains. This lack of intermediate position “puts them in a very interesting place because they have none of the freedoms of being part of the Brandeis community, but they have restrictions.”

The report concluded with recommendations for leadership changes within the Catholic chaplaincy and the suggestion that the University gather data on students’ spiritual identities and backgrounds so as to get a better understanding of the community’s religious needs.

“A significant number of students on campus are students of faith, and it’s very important to have a structure for people to practice freely and have the necessary religious figureheads who they can talk to, who can provide support, provide anything we possibly need, whether it’s service times, whatever,” Stein said. “So I think students need to know more about the chaplaincy personally.”

In the wake of the release, Cadge wrote that she has not heard much from the chaplains on the suggestions listed in the report. “Overall, [the] reaction has been muted,” she wrote in the email.

Stein also noted that the report is a necessary component in bettering the Interfaith Chaplaincy at the University, but it is still just the first in many actions. “It’s a big step moving forward with the chaplaincy at Brandeis,” he said, “but there’s still a lot to be done.”