The Justice

Media Credit: David Sheppard-Brick Liza Behrendt '11 speaks to a faculty member as he exits the special faculty meeting yesterday.

According to Prof. Gregory Freeze (HIST), the dean of the graduate school, yesterday's special faculty meeting was "the most crowded faculty meeting I have ever seen." The Justice spoke to professors after the meeting concluded to get their thoughts on what transpired inside, the student protest that occurred outside and the general budget situation.

On the meta-major proposal that was met with resistance by faculty:

Prof. Thomas Doherty (AMST): "The meta-majors thing is not completely baked, and I think there are other, more reasonable ways to handle this, these difficulties. And certainly, we shouldn't do this precipitously."

Prof. Mark Hulliung (HIST): "I still don't quite understand what the dean is really up to with the meta-majors. ... If it's another way of talking about interdisciplinary [majors], we have all these programs going, sure. ... But if you ask me exactly what is a meta-major … it's pretty fuzzy in my mind."

Prof. Jytte Klausen (POL): "I personally believe that it's a mistake from the beginning, even before we walk into this meeting, to frame this as a question of creating meta-majors, of creating this new academic plan. Ultimately, this is about cutting faculty."

On the proposal to add a Business major:

Prof. Steven Burg (POL): "I've been an advocate in my capacity as a person who does admissions for a very long time to have a Business major at Brandeis. I think it makes perfect sense and more sense now than ever before."

Prof. Peter Woll (POL): "Proposals to establish a Business major ... are a little bit surprising, and the dean of admissions is talking about things like engineering. ... It's way too early [for that]."

On students not being allowed into the meeting:

Prof. Dian Fox (ROMS): "I think there's a time and a place for things, and I think that people might not speak as honestly or clearly if they were afraid that students would misunderstand or not know the background. ... I think people need to be able to speak without worrying that afterward people are going to be saying, 'Well you said we're going to cut this program.'"

Burg: "Students have no role in this meeting-it's a faculty meeting-but students will be involved in the process established by this meeting, so I have no problem with students not being here."

On the student protest and student input in general:

Woll: "It's pretty neat that the students are here. I don't know why I'm surprised; I guess I shouldn't be, but I am."

Klausen: "I think it's cute. I'm perfectly happy to see students being out here."

About the administration and faculty's approach:

Prof. Joseph Lumbard (NEJS): "I think for the most part the administration is handling this well; the only criticism I would have of the administration is that they at times seem to propose major restructuring programs before proposing how we could actually work with that which is already there ... and that the best way to go is to first propose what we can do with what already exists."

Klausen: "The discussion has been sidetracked to a discussion about how we can reinvent ourselves, about how we can become more exciting and attract more students. But that's not really the problem. We get enough students."

Prof. Jacob Cohen (AMST): "What's amazing to me is that, [of] all the suggestions for changing the curriculum, not a single one as far as I know came from any desire on the part of students to have changes in the curriculum. Contrary to what happened in the '60s when all the changes came as a result of student initiative, ... this seems to haven taken place without any student initiative ... They're talking about what kids are thinking, what parents are thinking in the wider world, [but] they've got students here; they could ask them."

Compiled by Mike Prada and Hannah Kirsch, from staff reports.

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