Spring Break
Presidents, prejudice and protests: A look back at Brandeis in 2007
by Jacob Kamaras
Senior Editor
Features | 1/15/08
Posted online at 2:45 AM EST on 1/15/08
Most would consider being in the same room as a former U.S. President to be a unique opportunity, and in that respect, many who spent the 2007 to 2008 academic year at Brandeis were doubly privileged. After a crowd of 1,700 last January witnessed the 39th President, Jimmy Carter, defend his book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, less than 11 months later, 5,000 students, faculty and staff heard the 42nd president, Bill Clinton, advocate for civic engagement in the honor of Eli J. Segal '64, his former adviser.
While Clinton's pleas to bridge growing social inequalities, solve the sustainability crisis and form a common humanity were received with seemingly unanimous approval and enthusiasm among the crowd at the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center, Carter's visit sparked a semester-long controversy.
"My bottom line was that the Palestinians are horribly treated, and their treatment is not known or minimally known in the United States," Carter said of his book, which is critical of Israeli policy. "I chose that title knowing that it would be provocative." Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz immediately rebutted the former president's speech, addressing what he called blatant inaccuracies and oversimplifications in Carter's book. Dershowitz added tension to the atmosphere when he responded to one student's question by commenting that she would have supported keeping Adolf Hitler in power because he was democratically elected by the German people.
Carter wasn't the only president who made headlines through his visit to Brandeis, as University President Jehuda Reinharz garnered attention first for not attending the event because of a previously scheduled fundraising trip, and then by criticizing the committee that invited Carter for leaving the University with a "huge bill" of $95,000 in security and logistical costs.
The price tag for the visit initially seemed much higher when The Jewish Week quoted now former trustee Stuart Eizenstat last February as saying that there were "more than a handful" of Jewish donors who informed the University that they would withhold their contributions because the school had hosted Carter. In reporting the concerns of University donors, Nancy Winship, the senior vice president for institution advancement, said the e-mails "kept coming and coming." But fear of a financial catastrophe was squelched over the summer, when the University announced that it raised a record of $89.4 million in cash donations for fiscal year 2007, topping the previous year's record of $81.3 million by 10 percent. Winship went on to confirm that no major donors withheld contributions because of Carter's visit.
While Clinton's pleas to bridge growing social inequalities, solve the sustainability crisis and form a common humanity were received with seemingly unanimous approval and enthusiasm among the crowd at the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center, Carter's visit sparked a semester-long controversy.
"My bottom line was that the Palestinians are horribly treated, and their treatment is not known or minimally known in the United States," Carter said of his book, which is critical of Israeli policy. "I chose that title knowing that it would be provocative." Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz immediately rebutted the former president's speech, addressing what he called blatant inaccuracies and oversimplifications in Carter's book. Dershowitz added tension to the atmosphere when he responded to one student's question by commenting that she would have supported keeping Adolf Hitler in power because he was democratically elected by the German people.
Carter wasn't the only president who made headlines through his visit to Brandeis, as University President Jehuda Reinharz garnered attention first for not attending the event because of a previously scheduled fundraising trip, and then by criticizing the committee that invited Carter for leaving the University with a "huge bill" of $95,000 in security and logistical costs.
The price tag for the visit initially seemed much higher when The Jewish Week quoted now former trustee Stuart Eizenstat last February as saying that there were "more than a handful" of Jewish donors who informed the University that they would withhold their contributions because the school had hosted Carter. In reporting the concerns of University donors, Nancy Winship, the senior vice president for institution advancement, said the e-mails "kept coming and coming." But fear of a financial catastrophe was squelched over the summer, when the University announced that it raised a record of $89.4 million in cash donations for fiscal year 2007, topping the previous year's record of $81.3 million by 10 percent. Winship went on to confirm that no major donors withheld contributions because of Carter's visit.
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