Correction appended.

When the History of Ideas discipline first appeared at Brandeis in the 1950s, it boasted eminent professors who helped establish the University on the map academically in its early years. According to Prof. Jacob Cohen (AMST), as recently as the 1990s, it was "elite," "respected" and "had prestige." Today, it has been reduced greatly in size and importance, as a program that offers only a minor-one that no students have chosen to put on their diplomas since 2010, when only one did, according to data from the Office of the University Registrar.

Despite its current lack of student enrollment, the program is supported by a substantial endowment that was donated during the 1990s. If the program were discontinued, according to the donation agreement, the University would be required to give up the funds in the endowment to the Cambridge Public Library. Two trustees of the funds, one of whom was also a faculty member and directed the program for eight years, contended in interviews with the Justice that some of those funds have been misused, having been directed to purposes outside the scope of the academic definition of the history of ideas.

History of the program
Over the course of its existence, the History of Ideas was first a graduate program, then became part of the Philosophy department, eventually became a major of its own and finally became a program with a minor, which it is today. According to the program's website, the faculty have included distinguished scholars as Herbert Marcuse, Alasdair MacIntyre, Kurt Wolff and Lewis Coser and has also produced eminent alumni including Michael Sandel '75, the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass professor of government at Harvard University, Michael Walzer '56, professor emeritus in the School of Social Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study and Evelyn Fox Keller '57, professor emerita in the history and philosophy of science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In recent years, the program had been led by Prof. Emeritus Silvan Schweber (PHYS), a physicist who studies the history of science and Dr. Amelie Rorty, a philosopher who is currently a visiting professor of philosophy at Tufts University. Rorty was the director of the program from 1995 until 2003, when her contract expired and she left to pursue a research opportunity at Yale University. Since that time, the directorship of the program has been held by multiple faculty members, including Profs. Michael Randall (ROMS), Bernard Yack (POL) and Eugene Sheppard (NEJS).

Since Rorty left the directorship, the History of Ideas program has changed substantially. Rorty offered several courses specifically tailored to the program, such as the core course "HOID 127A: Seminar: History of Ideas," and other electives. The program also organized a History of Ideas Student Forum, which "provide[d] the opportunity to present a problem or issue for discussion," according to the Registrar's University Bulletin from the 1999 to 2000 academic year. The bulletin goes on to explain that students worked either individually or in groups to select a discussion topic and an accompanying list of readings.  In the past 10 years since Rorty's departure, the History of Ideas program has not offered any of its own courses; it has cross-listed courses that are hosted by other departments. The last time the core course was taught by Richard Koret Professor of the History of Ideas Mark Hulliung (HIST) in spring 2003, the only time he taught it.  

On April 25, 1995, the Hannah Oberman Trust donated one million dollars to be used by the University for the History of Ideas program. On December 29, 1999, the Trust again donated to the University, this time a gift of $500,000 in "marketable securities" to establish the Safier-Jolles Fund in order to "provide funding for the program" and to be used "exclusively ... in support of the History of Ideas Program." The agreement also required the University to provide a semi-annual report on the investment and expenditures from the fund. According to an estimate from Senior Vice President for Communications Ellen de Graffenreid, the current market value of the fund is approximately $800,000.

The agreement dictated that if the History of Ideas Program is discontinued or terminated, all remaining funds would be distributed to the Cambridge Public Library.

Alleged violations of gift agreement
Rorty, who became a trustee of the Hannah Oberman Trust in 2006, provided several documents related to the donated funds to the Justice during an interview, alleging multiple violations of the original gift agreement.

Most of the violations involve courses or events paid for by the fund which do not fall within the scope of the field of history of ideas. David Lyons, another trustee of the fund and a professor of law and philosophy at Boston University, agreed in an interview with the Justice that there were activities paid for which did not relate to the academic scope of the program.

Rorty wrote in a June 4, 2012 email to Dean of Arts and Sciences Susan Birren and Provost Steve Goldstein '78 that "there is solid and substantial evidence that HOID is not a viable independent program; and there is ample documentation that the University has misappropriated Safier-Jolles Funds."

Rorty expressed concern about the academic appropriateness of the core course offered in in fall 2011, "PHIL 109b: Ethics and Emotions." According to letters sent to Rorty from two external philosophy professors, Calvin G. Normore of University of California, Los Angeles and Daniel Garber of Princeton University, who each reviewed the course's syllabus, it should not have been considered a core course in a History of Ideas program of study, though it is a strong course in philosophy. Garber wrote that he was "extremely skeptical that it should count as a course in the History of Ideas" and Normore said that he did not see how it "[could] possibly serve as anything like a central course in a History of Ideas program."

Rorty also expressed concern in an April 2012 email to University Treasurer Chris O'Brien that the Fund was being used to pay for a conference in 2004 on "Civil Liberties in an Age of Surveillance," which she said "bears no serious connection to the history of ideas."

Since then, there have been several other events sponsored by the program, which are only of questionable relation to the history of ideas, according to Rorty. One, which took place on Nov. 4, was titled "The Female and Her Body in Pakistani Contemporary Art." Prof. David Engerman (HIST), the acting director of the program, said in an interview with the Justice that the event explored "contemporary art but [placed] it in historical perspective. ... The title [of the lecture] may not have reflected that fully."

Another, which occurred on Nov. 12, was titled "The Great LOL of China-What's Funny in the Middle Kingdom." The speaker, Jesse Appell '12, discussed and performed xiangsheng, a form of Chinese comedy. The sponsorship was announced in the opening remarks of the lecture.

When Rorty became trustee of the fund in 2006, she began an email correspondence with then- Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe and Senior Vice President and University Counsel Judith Sizer, during which Sizer wrote, "Do you think the donors would be at all amenable to some modest changes in the language of the gift agreement? As I review the matter, it seems to me that a clarifying tweak or two might be helpful."

De Graffenreid said that the retroactive tweaking of gift agreements "is not uncommon" in a university setting. Sizer added (in an email forwarded through de Graffenreid) that "gift agreements may legally be amended by written agreement between the University and the donor(s), and this happens at Brandeis from time to time."

However, Lyons said in an interview with the Justice that such action is improper. "It's asking for a legitimation of wrongs that have already been done," he said. Rorty expressed a similar sentiment, saying that "originally the donors, and now the trustees, believe that in making this suggestion, the University implicitly acknowledges that something has gone wrong."

According to an email from Director of Development Communications David Nathan, the University's gift policy states that if gifts are restricted, as the History of Ideas funds are, they should "use language that permits the University to apply the gift to a related purpose in the event that the designated purpose is no longer necessary or able to be performed."

Throughout her time as trustee of the fund, Rorty alleges that the University was uncommunicative and unhelpful. In 2011, Rorty and Lyons requested a meeting with University President Frederick Lawrence, which was postponed and replaced by a meeting with Birren, which was then postponed twice, according to Rorty. Upon finally meeting with Birren and Provost Goldstein, Rorty said that the two "deflected specific questions about the Program with vague and non-committal replies."

In April 2012, Rorty and Lyons wrote again to Lawrence and O'Brien, appending a list of specific violations of the terms of the agreement, and received no reply or acknowledgement, according to Rorty.

They wrote again to Lawrence, Goldstein and Birren in May 2012 and again received no reply, according to Rorty. In June, Lyons and Rorty again requested a meeting with Birren and Goldstein to discuss plans for remediation of the violations of the fund and set a meeting for June 8. On June 7, Birren canceled the meeting, writing that they should "[provide] Dr. Sheppard with this time to develop his ideas" for the program, according to an email provided by Rorty.

Sizer, who manages the legal particulars of the Safier-Jolles Fund according to de Graffenreid, has a limited ability to respond to press inquiries, and "can't speculate about questions or give opinions" because of her role as the University's attorney.

Sizer said in an email sent from de Graffenreid that "oversight of the university's gift funds is the responsibility of the Office of Financial Affairs and Treasury Services and the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs, with assistance when needed from the Office of the General Counsel."

Future of the program
Engerman, who is currently serving as acting director while Sheppard is on sabbatical, said in an interview with the Justice that the program has undertaken "the usual recruiting work through academic services," including participation at academic fairs, and the program maintains "a mailing list of 50 [to] 60" people.  

Cohen said that if the program were to be revived to anything near its former state, he believed that there would be two things needed: student initiative, and "there has to be one person: a professor."

In an email to the Justice, Birren did not comment on the specifics of Rorty's allegations, but said that she does see value in the program.

"The History of Ideas program provides an important intellectual framework for both students and faculty for engagement in thinking about the historical context of ideas and values," she wrote. "The program has broad value for undergraduates and across the disciplines that is seen in the co-sponsorship of lectures, the availability of grants for students (in any major) completing Senior theses with relevance to the history of ideas and the thesis prize for exemplary undergraduate research relating to the history of ideas."

She also added that she sees an exciting future ahead for the History of Ideas at Brandeis: "We are continuing to build the program and are working to increase the participation of undergraduates in the minor by creating compelling new programming and courses," she wrote. Specifically, she cited an upcoming lecture in the spring by philosopher Hilary Putnam and the upcoming hiring of a new assistant professor of Politics, Jeffrey Lenowitz, who will contribute to teaching in the History of Ideas program.

According to the original donation agreement, the University is required to continue to support the program from its general funds.

When asked what her expectations were for the program that she formerly directed, Rorty said in an email to the Justice that she would like to see higher standards upheld.

"It would be good to have the director of the program be someone whose work has been-and will continue to be-in the History of Ideas. There are serious scholars in the field," she wrote. "It would take considerable reorganization to transform the program as it now exists-as virtually nothing but window dressing-into a respectable and thriving program that does honor to Brandeis' once distinguished program in the History of Ideas."

She also offered a more realistic option for the revival of the program. "Second best would be to have somebody who's really in the history of ideas at Brandeis [direct the program]-and there are a lot of people like that ... People who don't just do token history-a little bit of Kant, a little bit of Plato in every course. And have a thriving program really devoted to the history of ideas. To make the transition between what exists now, which is virtually nothing, and that, would require some very serious thinking."

However, she said, "if it turns out that nothing really viable can be done, then I would think it would be better to scrap it than to have some false thing that does harm to the idea of the history of ideas."

Former program directors Yack and Sheppard did not respond to emails requesting comment.

-Tate Herbert and Andrew Wingens contributed reporting.

Correction: The development of the fall 2011 HOID core course "PHIL 109b: Ethics and Emotions" was incorrectly characterized as being paid for by the Safier-Jolles fund.