President Reinharz sent an e-mail to professors Monday saying that they should be sensitive to the heavy nature of this semester's events when they assign work to students."This has been a very difficult fall semester for many members of our community," Reinharz said in the e-mail. "The tragic death of Eliezer Schwartz '04 this weekend brings yet another wave of sadness and grief. We are all grappling with the circumstances of his death."

Schwartz's sudden death on Sunday morning was one of several tragedies that befell the University in the past few months; Reggie Poyau '04 died in Senegal and Mary Jagoda '05 died on a recent kayaking trip. The exposure of racism and the demonstrations and reactions that ensued exacerbated the students' first semester, according to Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Marty Krauss.

"I was very supportive of what (President Reinharz) sent out," Krauss said. "I was at the service Sunday night and could see for myself how devastated the students are about Elie's death. It has been a very extraordinary semester."

Krauss has received many e-mails saying that students were deeply pained and that their work suffered as a result of this.

"I think if you follow the news in the Justice since that time, there have been a series of events each of which has had a tremendously draining impact on parts of, or all of the student community... Of concern, especially around the racism expressed in a feature story in the Justice, are the lost friendships among the many students involved in the aftermath of the publication," said Dean of Student Life, Rick Sawyer.

Assistant Dean of Student Life Alwina Bennett agreed with Sawyer.

"I believe that the letter from the President represented an acknowledgement from the highest places in the University that students have been under enormous stress and pressure this semester," Bennett said. "It has been a semester of losses and pain. It is not possible to separate all the events and try to establish which are more significant."

Professor Alice Kelikian (HIST) disagreed with Bennett. According to Kelikian, while the recent deaths hurt the entire community, they must be separated from the more club-oriented issues.

"I see extra-curricular activities as central to campus life, but they should in no way impinge upon the basic academic mission of the University," Kelikian said. "While I think that the deaths are extremely upsetting to faculty too, I feel that the 'political pressures' fall into a separate category."

Regarding the incident with the Justice and the reactions to it, Professor David Roberts (PHYS) agreed with Kelikian.

"Distractions are part of college life, and students need to manage their time and effort as they see fit," Roberts said. "In my courses there must be an ongoing workload in order that the students learn the material."

While many students are not aware of the recent actions taken by the provost, their reactions have varied greatly so far.

Komal Daswani '07 commended this step by the administration.

"I respect the provost's making an effort to help the students deal with such a rough first semester, seeing as tragedies have taken place that have adversely affected the Brandeis community," Daswani said.

Michal Goldstein '05 disagrees, saying that workload should not be a focus at this point.

"I'm not entirely sure what the benefit of cutting down students' workloads would be in light of recent events," Goldstein said. "It would, of course, give students more time to think about Brandeisian life and would also reduce student stress levels. However, learning is the great and much-lauded cure for bigotry, as one of the necessary ingredients for bigotry is ignorance."

"I hope students, staff and faculty will reach out to one another and offer their hope, experience and support in this difficult time," Bennett said. "I would like to publicly thank the President and all of the senior administrative staff, and the faculty for their care and concern for the student body.