After a lengthy search to replace Brandeis’ former Director of Sustainability, Mary Fischer, Brandeis’ administration decided not to proceed with hiring a successor and shuttered the Office of Sustainability over the summer of 2024. The administration justified its decision by stating that it was a necessary cost-saving measure, considering Brandeis’ financial difficulties. However, in the context of severe flooding, hurricanes, droughts and natural disasters increasing in frequency due to the climate crisis, the administration’s decision couldn’t have come at a worse time. 

The climate crisis is a crisis of our own making. Universities like Brandeis are among the wealthiest institutions in the world, and our carbon emissions are likewise exceptional. The administration’s decision to close the Office of Sustainability was a short-sighted measure and an affront to Brandeis’ foundation as a beacon of social justice. I encourage you all to sign the petition to reopen the Office of Sustainability. 

Brandeis wasn’t always on the wrong side of history. In 2016, Brandeis published its first climate action plan, which set a goal of a 10% reduction in electricity-related carbon emissions by 2018 and 15% by 2020 compared to 2015. The administration put solar panels on the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center and the library, installed a campus-wide building automation system and installed new windows in residence halls. In 2018, President Emeritus Ron Liebowitz said, “Brandeis is fully focused on adopting an orientation toward personal accountability” and that by “increasing our efforts in sustainability and helping Brandeis act responsibly … we can make a difference and set an example.”

By October 2018, Brandeis decreased carbon emissions from electricity by 13%, surpassing its goal. A new climate action plan, called Vision 2030, was in the works with a planned adoption date sometime in 2020 but was pushed back indefinitely by the pandemic. Nonetheless, administration began work on several of the recommendations the action plan outlined. A successful “Year of Climate Action” from 2022-23 reaffirmed Brandeis’ commitment to meaningful environmental action. 

However, Vision 2030 was never adopted. This past summer, one line in an email from the administration quietly stated that the Office of Sustainability would be closed. The website that listed our sustainability goals ceased to exist. 

Other schools in the Boston area are doing what we promised to do. Bentley University, our neighbor in Waltham, has reduced its annual greenhouse gas emissions by 70% since 2008 and will be carbon neutral by 2030. Boston University agreed to purchase 100% of its electricity from renewable sources, and Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are taking similar steps to become more sustainable. Climate change is a social issue with implications that touch every part of the world, and Brandeis, the so-called social justice school, has washed its hands of this issue. We’ve fallen behind our peers and strayed from what sets our community apart from all others. Our net greenhouse gas emissions have only fallen 8% since 2015, and without the Office of Sustainability, it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to catch up. No one will be there to ensure that the administration makes decisions with sustainability in mind.

Yes, our razor-thin operating surplus, heavily supported by the endowment, is too small for comfort at just $1.9 million. Closing the Office of Sustainability, however, will not help our financial situation. The money saved by the work of the Office of Sustainability has the potential to far exceed its expense, considering it consisted of one full-time employee and a few student hires. If the administration is concerned about long-term financial stability, it should focus on making buildings more efficient, using less energy and investing in renewable energy. When Brandeis entered a 20-year purchase agreement for solar energy in 2017, we saved $70,000 in energy costs in the first year and will save $2 million over the course of the agreement. However, this agreement only covered 3.5% of Brandeis’ electricity use. It’s clear that if we continued to move toward renewable energy and make our buildings more efficient, we’d put Brandeis in a better financial position. 

And who pushed for that agreement? It was the Office of Sustainability. Without it, we’re no longer focused on entering into these money-saving agreements. Other initiatives spearheaded by the Office of Sustainability, such as the replacement of windows with better insulating ones, paid for themselves in a matter of years and are now saving us money. Environmental sustainability is financial responsibility — and it has an added benefit of helping those who are suffering from the effects of climate change. 

I chose Brandeis for the commitment to social justice it proudly expresses, and I’ve seen that, unlike many other universities, people here have a strong desire to help others and shape the future for the better. I’ve been fortunate to have been given opportunities here that I wouldn’t have had anywhere else, and I credit the administration, faculty, staff and my fellow students for those opportunities. I also know for a fact that the vast majority of our community cares about our commitment to sustainability and to the future of the planet. We’re a school built on tackling issues that harm those who don’t have the opportunities we have. It’s not too late for the administration to reaffirm its commitment to a more sustainable future by reopening the Office of Sustainability. I encourage all of you to sign the petition to do so and put Brandeis back on the track that aligns with our core values. I also remind the administration that it can resolve an issue, even one as pressing as the budget crisis, without sacrificing the values that have guided us since our foundation.