Students entering the University starting in Fall 2019 will be required to take courses in line with the Brandeis Core, the University’s newly designed educational curriculum.  The Brandeis Core was designed to showcase the University’s “academic rigor, robust debate, diversity and justice,” according to the Brandeis Core Website. 

Under the new curriculum, students will engage in dialogues surrounding social justice, diversity, equity and inclusion in the United States as well as Difference and Justice in the World, which replaces the non-Western requirement, allowing them to explore themes of social consciousness, inclusivity and cultural competence in an academic setting, according to the Brandeis Core website. In addition, the new Core requirements are aimed to equip students with a critical yet receptive mindset through both coursework and Critical Conversations surrounding the topics, encouraging students to approach truth critically through the lens of identity inquiries, cultural perceptions and differences between facts and evidence. 

In addition to training individuals to engage in Critical Conversations and to solidify their understanding of diversity, inclusion and cultural awareness, the new curriculum also outlined essential skills for students to look after their own mental health. Courses such as “Navigating Health and Safety” teach students strategies to prevent hazardous situations and offer them training with the Brandeis Counseling Center and the Prevention, Advocacy & Resource Center, according to its description from the curriculum website. 

Similarly, the “Mind and Body Balance and Life Skills” modules will teach students to stay healthy and utilize opportunities and challenges to “develop long-term goals, and practical, professional and life skills,” according to the website.