Cooperation 101
Brandeis president says getting along comes naturally at noted university
LOU HIRSH
Managing Editor
Debates over who should decide the validity of non-Orthodox conversions. Disputes over whether roadways and businesses should be allowed to remain open during Shabbat. Vehement disagreement over the Netanyahu government's handling of peace talks with the Palestinians.
To those who look at discord in Israel and ask, to borrow a phrase from a well-known American conflict - "Can't we all just get along?" - the president of Brandeis University says "getting along" is exactly what has been happening for years at the noted institution, located in Waltham, Mass.
"In Israel, we are becoming more and more apart as Jewish people; at Brandeis, the opposite is happening," says Jehuda Reinharz, who recently paid a visit to the Valley.
In an interview with Jewish News, Reinharz said the university, known worldwide as a leader in scientific as well as Jewish studies, has always placed a high value on inclusion, which he believes is the institution's secret of success as it prepares to turn 50 later this year.
"Brandeis is not a Jewish university," he emphasizes. "It is a Jewish-sponsored university open to all. But we take seriously our responsibilities to the Jewish community."
Reinharz notes that the non-sectarian policies of Brandeis leave room for people of all faiths, races and nationalities, provided that they meet the university's requirements for academic excellence and leadership potential. About 60 percent of the student body of 4,000 - 3,000 undergraduates and 1,000 graduate students - is Jewish. Students come from 59 different countries, and several religions are represented, including Islam, Buddhism and many Christian denominations.
"We're always looking to keep a diverse student population," says Reinharz.
Even among the Jewish denominations, which are all represented on campus, he notes that students have no problem sharing religious facilities and often get together for religious and holiday programs, with little of the strife that has been seen elsewhere.
Outside the classroom, social action is a regular part of life at Brandeis. Reinharz says there are currently about 500 Brandeis students involved in social volunteer programs in Waltham and nearby Boston.
"It isn't just academics that the students are looking for when they come to Brandeis. There's a really strong sense of social consciousness among the students here," says Reinharz.
Reinharz notes that Brandeis is able to fulfill its many responsibilities to the academic as well as Jewish communities by making inclusion a priority in all of its programs. Missing at Brandeis are the types of institutions that some label exclusionary, such as fraternities and sororities.
"We don't have fraternities and sororities at Brandeis, and we've never had them," Reinharz says.
A key to education at Brandeis, he says, is that students are asked to think from a multitude of disciplines - sampling courses from several fields beyond their own majors - to gain the ability to approach problems from many perspectives. The idea is to move beyond their preconceived assumptions about the world.
The university also maintains high standards of excellence, admitting only a small portion of those who apply; the university received 6,000 applications for the most recent freshman class, into which there were only 800 openings. By the same token, the university makes a concerted effort to allow qualified students to attend through scholarships, even though its endowment fund of $300 million is dwarfed by that of other universities of similar prestige.
"We concentrate on the quality of the student applicants, not their ability to pay," says Reinharz.
The university also caps total enrollment to ensure interaction among students and faculty; the university's average class size is 17 students. And there is a policy that all faculty members must teach, so there is little use of teaching assistants compared with other universities, Reinharz notes.
The university's commitment to diversity apparently played a major role in the decision by Hadassah, the worldwide women's Zionist and service organization, to place its recently formed International Research Institute on Jewish Women at Brandeis. The founding director of the institute, as well as head of the women's studies program at Brandeis, is Professor Shulamit Reinharz, wife of the Brandeis president, who accompanied her husband on his recent trip to the Valley.
"Hadassah could have placed that center anywhere in the world, and they chose Brandeis. I think that says something," says Shulamit Reinharz.
She says the university's women's-studies courses take the approach adopted in many Brandeis programs, giving students opportunities to approach the subject matter from many perspectives - linking women's studies to, for example, music and anthropology. The program's approach is to de-emphasize the politics and gender debates that could otherwise polarize students.
"The goal is that this should be solely an educational activity. We're trying to take the fireworks out of it," she adds.
The university's priorities have apparently struck a chord with the general public, judging by the thousands of people around the world who participate in chapters of the Brandeis National Women's Committee, which helps raise funds for the university's library facilities. Shulamit Reinharz says the Phoenix chapter is among the most active, and there are also chapters in places as far away as Japan and Korea.
"Many of these people have never even attended Brandeis, which I think says a lot about the support we have," she adds.
In the next few months both Reinharzes and their Brandeis colleagues will be busy as the university prepares not only for the 50th anniversary of the state of Israel, but also for the university's 50th birthday in the fall. Along with special concerts and other commemorative activities in and around the campus, the U.S. postal service will be unveiling a postcard commemorating the Brandeis milestone.
Jehuda Reinharz, a professor of Jewish history, says he's got a busy year ahead of him, but relishes the chance to commemorate both anniversaries.
Born in Israel in 1944, he attended high school in Germany before coming to the United States in 1961. His has done extensive work in Jewish history studies, earning master's degrees from Columbia University, Harvard University and the Jewish Theological Seminary, and his doctorate in modern Jewish history at Brandeis in 1972.
From 1972 to 1982, he lead the Judaic studies program at the University of Michigan, returning to Brandeis in 1984. He served as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Brandeis before becoming the university's seventh president. He currently edits book series on Jewish history. A book he recently wrote, "Zionism and the Creation of a New Society," will be published in May of this year.
Reinharz's passion is Jewish history, and he believes the work being done now by students, as well as the role Brandeis is playing as a think tank for the Jewish community, will help shape the future of the Jewish people.
The university, he notes, was founded by immigrant families who placed a high value on education. In the wake of the Holocaust and the founding of the state of Israel, the desire to establish Jewish institutions in America in part gave birth to Brandeis. Now the university, Reinharz says, has a chance to play a pivotal role in healing the wounds created by division in Israel and even in the U.S. Jewish community in recent years.
"There's been a sense that Brandeis was established for a purpose, and it still does fill the special needs of the Jewish community," he says. "I think it will continue to do so for many years to come."
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