On Monday, March 31, Interim President Arthur Levine ’70 held a second town hall for undergraduates students in Rapaporte Treasure Hall, just over a month after the last meeting, to provide updates on the changes to the curriculum and address student concerns surrounding university ranking, immigration law enforcement, new on-campus housing, the cost of attendance and other updates.

After noticing that all of the students were seated in the back half of the hall, Levine moved closer to the crowd of about 30 to begin the meeting. After a brief introduction, Levine passed the microphone to Prof. Joel Christensen ’01 (CLAS), Senior Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs who has been, in Levine’s words, “honchoing the curriculum.” Christensen spoke about his work, and stated that he hoped to deliver the final amendments for the Board of Trustees to ratify in their April 28 vote. This would include newly proposed microcredentials, as well as four new academic schools, separate from the current academic schools at Brandeis, both of which Levine described in greater detail at the Feb. 25 town hall. Christensen stated that these new schools would largely be managed by the current Dean of Arts and Sciences, Jeffrey Shoulson. He also announced that he wants to create three new majors in the Brandeis curriculum: an engineering major, a communications major and a combination major of philosophy, politics and economics – currently under the working title PPE. Christensen promised these new changes will not affect the classroom experience of Brandeis students, but he hopes they will result in “enhanced career support” for students as they apply for jobs post-graduation. 

Following Christensen’s remarks, Levine discussed the new changes, adding that, for him, the biggest surprise was that 88% of the faculty voted in favor of the curricula changes, which is a margin few expected. Additional changes will include alterations to the General Education Core Requirements for all Brandeis students, but which will not apply to anyone already studying at Brandeis, and will only go into effect as new students enroll. Levine explained that there are discussions determining “whether or not it makes more sense to establish the core requirements as skills, knowledge and value, rather than the subject matter you need to study,” he said the goal of revising the core requirements was for general education to equip students for the “global digital knowledge economy.” Another major update to education is an emphasis on careers. “We’re a liberal arts college,” Levine said. “Liberal arts are only effective when they have one foot in the library [and] one on the street.” To fulfill this aspect of education, Levine said “we want internships for every student who wants it.” 

Beyond real world experiences, Levine’s updates would include the option for students to receive competency certificates. According to the Interim President, competencies are skills, knowledge and value that employers are seeking. This can be accomplished through a “suite of competency aligned with different professions,” as well as demonstrated outside the class with internships. Those who achieve competencies will receive an additional transcript listing the competencies they accomplished. 

Moving away from academic restructuring, Levine spoke on new housing, which Brandeis is planning to break ground on by summer 2025 and to open fall of 2027. Levine also touched on the University’s capital campaign effort, which aims to raise between $750,000,000 and one billion dollars. 

During the question and answer portion of the town hall, one student talked about the planned new housing and new program offerings having the potential of increasing tuition. “Affordability is critical,” Levine, who is a first-generation college student, said in response. He added that he has spoken with an admission consultant, in regards to the impact of lowering tuition in half and eliminating merit aid. According to Levine, the consultant advised against it as it would drive away applicants rather than encourage low-income students to attend. Levine considers this so-called “discount” approach the best way to maintain Brandeis’ status while still offering a way for low-income students to afford tuition. “We are locked into this price [tuition], but one of the things that we are not locked into is how much we discount it,” Levine said. 

Another student raised the question of whether Brandeis had plans to instate a permanent dean of The Heller School for Social Policy and Management and shared their concerns over the possibility of the school downsizing or shutting down. Levine’s response was emphatic — he claimed “I don't think Heller has had a greater champion than me in the president’s office, in well over a decade … I really admire Heller.” He added that “Heller is more important than ever,” noting that the school was created in response to social policy changes in the United States and around the world. “This was a wonderful opportunity to influence policies, with our research. Well, now what is happening is that we need Heller because our policies are changing,” Levine said. He also expressed desires for the social sciences at Brandeis to gain the advantage of seeing public policy and social science in action within the Heller School. Levine’s plans for Heller included appointing interim deans within the next couple of years and to eventually appoint a permanent dean. 

The next student question was regarding the drop in Brandeis’ official U.S. News and World Report ranking, going from 44 to 63 in the past few years. Levine’s response touched both on the reason that Brandeis’ ranking fell in the first place, as well as what current plans are to improve it. He noted the considerations that went into these rankings changed significantly, in ways less favorable to Brandeis’ score. Now, small class size, while a benefit of attending Brandeis, is not counted in the criteria. Levine also pointed to the fact that graduation rates are evaluated relative to expectations. Schools with lower retention rate that graduate more of their students than expected would be rated better than a school with a higher retention rate that maintains a higher graduation rate but graduates students lower than what was projected. As Levine put it, a school with a 40% graduation rate that graduated 60% of its class in one year would see a boost in their score. Whereas if Brandeis is expected to graduate 90% of its students and only 89% of students graduate, they would not receive the same evaluations, despite a materially higher rate of graduation. Levine assured students that although there were aspects of the rankings that couldn’t be controlled, he is working to improve the aspects that can be helped. Levine also sought to reassure students about the quality of the education they are receiving, telling them that he considered Brandeis today to be better than it was when he attended the school. Levine described his experience at Brandeis as being colored by the current events of the time, including the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War.

The next student asked for Levine’s perspective on the image of Brandeis he wants to project and how he would characterize the University. The student described a shift in the public perception of Brandeis from the time they originally applied, having seen it as more focused on social justice and policy, to the present day perception “with a large emphasis on our Jewish heritage.” Levine’s response consisted of three parts. He described Brandeis as simultaneously an “elite liberal arts college and a world class research university,” a combination which he believes sets Brandeis apart from other schools. Levine also stated that he believes Brandeis has retained the values of its founders, maintaining its reputation for excellence as well as its “abhorrence of exclusion of any kind,” referencing the quotas placed at other universities at the time of Brandeis’ founding limiting how many students of marginalized groups could be admitted. Levine specified that he considered this inclusive practice to be far-reaching, not just applying to antisemitism, but to inclusion of many groups. Finally, Levine characterized Brandeis as having a duty to improve the world, describing its role since its founding as a pioneering force — a role that he believes continues to this day. 

The following student’s question was in regard to the new majors that are in the process of being developed. The student specifically wanted to know when the Politics, Philosophy and Economics major would be available for students to declare, and if it would be possible for current students to study it. Christensen responded that, although it’s still unclear when students will be able to declare majors in the program, he hopes for it to be available soon for students to engage with in other ways, by taking classes that would fall under the major. He shared that the major would fall under the social sciences and public policy school, but would be “deeply rooted” in the humanities at Brandeis. The same student questioned whether it would be possible to be involved in internships through this major as an international student who is limited by the kind of internship they can pursue, to which Christensen and Levine both clarified that all majors at Brandeis, new and old, will be able to interact with the new internship program. Levine stated that “we have no major for which an internship will not apply.” Levine also described what he sees as the value of a liberal arts education. He referenced the difference between a soft skill and a hard skill, and he claimed that the qualifications that employers look for are often the soft skills: communication, writing, creative thinking and adaptability were all important skills that he brought up as byproducts of a liberal arts education that are highly valued by employers. 

The next student questioned the proposed microcredentials and competencies. They were worried that the additional transcript, meant to make students more employable, would result in the commodification and devaluing of the actual skills that the microcredentials seek to quantify. To this, Levine responded that, in his opinion, the microcredentials should be wholly tangential to the Brandeis experience, and that they shouldn’t be the main way that any student gets value out of Brandeis.

Another concern a student raised was if there are any plans in place to reopen the Office of Sustainability, which was shut down in the summer of 2024. Levine responded that he considered its reopening a necessity. Christensen offered details on the changes, stating that in reorganizing the school, the Office of Sustainability is at the top of their list. Christensen also claimed that the goals of sustainability go hand in hand with such budgetary restrictions, as greater sustainability can also decrease university costs.

The next question was from a self-identified international student who, although they said they were excited for what the new program would bring, expressed worries about the security of international students, referencing recent news across the country about international student visas being revoked. The student asked for reassurance about their security at Brandeis. Levine responded, acknowledging the importance of the question, and discussed how Brandeis has been affected by the recent executive orders, citing a lawsuit Brandeis had recently joined, challenging  national budget cuts affecting universities across the country. He added the University is currently following Massachusetts state law, which supports civil rights laws. He reiterated from the previous town hall meeting that Brandeis would continue to follow the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion, regardless of whether it was under that name, again referencing the pioneering values of Brandeis that he believes to be crucial to its existence. He gave his word that Brandeis is committed to protecting its international students, and giving them the support and services they may want or need, referring them to the International Students and Scholars Office at Brandeis to get more detailed information.

The following student asked if the plans to improve housing would be solely to add new housing, or if it would include improvement of current housing options. Christensen fielded this question, revealing that both were in the works. The new housing will be phase one of a program to improve housing at Brandeis, and it will house over 600 students, which will eventually allow the university to close the East Quadrangle. He also revealed that the school is “looking at a complete rejuvenation of Charles River Apartments,” as another phase in their plans to improve housing at Brandeis. Dine also reinforced that this new dorm is the first part of a 10-15 year plan for housing, referring to it as “the first domino.” Another student asked about concerns surrounding the affordability of the new housing. Dine answered that the school is trying to make housing more affordable. Financial aid calculations are intended to take the average rate of a room, and the school is going to do its best to make the new buildings affordable.

The last question came from a student who was concerned about the availability of funds like the Hiatt Undergraduate Transport Fund, available to support student travel for academic and professional reasons. The student asked about Levine’s confidence in the capital campaign he is planning, and shared their worries about the impact that its potential failure would have on first-generation and low-income students. Concluding the town hall, Levine emphasized his confidence in the success of the capital campaign and promised students that there would be no cuts to these programs in the coming year, reiterating how much he loves Brandeis, and crediting it with how he found his friends, wife and vocation, just as he did at the February town hall.