Brandeis University’s commitment to campus sustainability began 15 years ago with the hiring of its first sustainability manager, Janna Cohen-Rosenthal BA ’03, MBA ’13. However, Brandeis’ commitment to campus sustainability has come into question with the recent decision to eliminate the Sustainability Office and the departure of former Director of Sustainability Mary Fischer without a replacement, prompting students to seek change.

In 2008, Brandeis became a charter signatory of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. That same year, Cohen-Rosenthal was hired as the sustainability coordinator for the university. She spearheaded initiatives that included reducing plastic bottled water consumption on campus, enhancing recycling programs, promoting energy and water conservation, worked with students through the Eco Reps program and authored the university’s first Climate Action Plan in 2009. 

Cohen-Rosenthal left her position in 2012 to pursue a MBA, in Social Policy and Management at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, According to a Nov. 21 Justice article, the role of sustainability coordinator remained vacant for the following three years. In response to growing student demands for a renewed commitment to sustainability, Mary Fischer was hired as the Director of Sustainability in Sept. 2015. However, after the quiet dissolution of the office dedicated to campus sustainability in the Summer of 2024 and the departure of its director during the Spring semester of 2023, several students are now echoing the efforts of those in 2015 by advocating for change once again.

“I … worry what precedent this sets if other universities see that Brandeis, say, gets away with this and scrubs the office sustainability and what they’ve done,” said Justin Koizumi ’27, the Vice President of Student for Environmental Action, in a Nov. 1 interview with The Justice. “I still consider this a top university and I think that we do set the standards for other universities and by having this dishonesty and [if] we were to let this go as the students, then other universities might follow suit.” 

SEA is a student-led club that was founded in 2009 and played a key role in authoring the university’s first Climate Action Plan. Although the club became inactive during the COVID-19 Pandemic, a group of students in 2022 revived the club and havesince hosted trash cleanups and attended protests.

 This year the club is aiming to focus on helping other students accomplish personal projects related to sustainability and environment — through the $55,000 Campus Sustainability Fund — and push for the sustainability office to be reinstated, according to Lukas Gordon ’26, one of SEA’s co-presidents. 

To initiate this change, SEA launched a petition calling for the university to “reestablish the office of sustainability and hire a new sustainability coordinator.” The petition states “Without [the Office of Sustainability], we are directionless, lacking sustainability policies, and lagging behind other universities in an issue where Brandeis, as a social justice institution, should be a leader.” 

The cut to the office was a step made by the administration in response to recent budget cuts that have impacted other parts of the university including most recently the reduction to the music department, the elimination of Brandeis Arts Engagement, layoffs of about 60 staff positions, annual staff performance review and merit increases freeze — which has been lifted — and a pause to the Science 2A construction. 

“We just want to let the administration know that yes, we care about the budget crisis. This is something that we absolutely need to focus on if we want the University to keep thriving as it has for the past 75 years,” Gordon said, “but, closing the office of Sustainability is not a step that we should take even with a budget crunch like this.” 

He goes on to share that “environmentalism is a good financial plan” explaining the financial savings the university would benefit from if environmental investments like efficient windows and solar and wind energy were made. 

“Sure there is a front cost you need to hire somebody. You need to give them resources to research and enter into these kinds of deals and make change,” Gordon said in advocating for more contracts with sustainability energy companies. He adds “It seems pretty short that they’re not looking down the road to what money we could be saving and just looking for short term cost savings.”  

Gordon and Koizumi say that they understand the budget is a concern for the University and in the case that the office is not reinstated, they urge the university to take “practical steps” that aid the University’s commitment to sustainability, which, according to the two SEA club leaders, would include reducing energy use by making buildings more efficient, purchasing more renewable energy sources and have more accountability and transparency. 

“I would just like to see more oversight in what the school does going forward,” Gordon said, suggesting the need for student oversight. He adds, claiming that the University has “promise[d]” that students would be involved in future projects related to sustainability like the new residence hall, which is said to be designed to achieve “Passive House” certification and set to break ground in the summer of 2025 and open in the fall of 2027. This certification recognizes construction efforts focused on energy efficiency and carbon reduction. However, he noted that “it’s hard to trust” when “[the university is] not providing [students] with any information,” particularly since websites that previously contained resources from the Sustainability Office, including metrics and dashboards now “don’t exist.”

Similar sentiment was expressed by Prof. Sally Warner (ENVS), in a Sept. 17 article from The Justice. Warner notes, while the university says it aims to achieve certain sustainability standards, “‘without someone in a dedicated role who understands sustainability … to push for that, it will be so easy for the administration to make decisions around the bottom line of construction, instead of life cycle operating costs.’” 

Koizumi reminds the University of its commitment to social justice and highlights that students will take action in line with the University’s foundational principles. “We’re an environmental justice school; we are a justice school in general,” he says. “We organize these kids and bring these kids in for the idea that they’re for justice, of course, we’re going to react and I think this is the time the students are going to react.” 

As of press time, the petition received 238 signatures. The group is 167 signatures short of its goal of collecting 500 for the petition.