In a Feb. 22 column titled "Seeds of knowledge," which ran on page A2 of the Boston Sunday Globe, columnist Sam Allis printed several inaccurate demographic statistics following his interview with University President Jehuda Reinharz. These statistics did not match those released this year by the University. Allis reports in his column that there are over 200 Muslim students and about 200 black students at Brandeis. According to Institutional Research though, there are only 77 undergraduate and 32 graduates who claim to be black.

Allis told the Justice in an e-mail that the numbers cited in his article were based on what Reinharz told him.

"Reinharz and I most definitely did talk about the number of black students at Brandeis," Allis wrote. "The discussion was part of the larger one about the current state of black-Jewish relations in this country. I included some of his thoughts on the issue in my column. According to my notes and memory, he said there were about 200 black students at Brandeis."

Reinharz said he does not deny that Allis must have thought he heard the figures printed in the Globe.

"But it is unlikely that I would have used the exact same number, to say to him 200 African-Americans and 200 Muslims," Reinharz said. "It just doesn't make sense-just not logical."

In an e-mail to the Justice, John Hose, Reinharz' executive assistant, said that Allis erroneously applied the number 200 to both Muslims and African-Americans at Brandeis instead of just Muslims.

Reinharz said he did not call the Globe to correct the figures because it would not serve Brandeis "any purpose" to get into an argument with Allis.

"Whether I said 200 or 100 or 50 or a billion, do we want to have a fight [with the Globe]..., I mean it's about Brandeis, and to me that is the most important thing," Reinharz said. "I wish we had 200 at Brandeis."

Reinharz said he agreed that the estimate of 200 black students is too high and that Brandeis has fewer than 100. However, he said the number describing the Muslim students was accurate.

Reinharz said that he hoped that the numerical inaccuracies do not detract from the message of the article.

"My aim, and has been all along [is that] I want to diversify the campus," Reinharz said.

"We clearly have not fully succeeded in some areas," Reinharz said. "But, I do believe that we have succeeded in the area of multiculturalism, for which I do not mean religion, I do not mean race, I do not mean ethnicity, but just that-multiculturalism."

According to Assistant Dean of Student Life Rev. Nathaniel Mays, the most recent estimate he has is that there were only about 80 Muslim students at Brandeis in 2001-120 fewer than the number Reinharz said to be true.

Mays said that since there is no official questionnaire at Brandeis that asks for a person's religion, he was asked by the Administration after Sept. 11, 2001 to determine how many practicing and non-practicing Muslim students there were on campus.

"Although it's quite possible that the numbers increased [since then]," Mays said. "However, I haven't seen it. It's possible-and if that's the case, I'd be really happy."

"I hope we get to the point where we get those types of numbers. If we have them now...I'm ecstatic because it's great to know."

Reinharz said he knows the 140 people in the Muslim Student Association are not all Muslims.

"I am fully aware of it, but there are lots of people who are probably not on their list, who are Muslim," Reinharz said. "Some of them are American-born, some come from abroad. But 200 is the number I've been given."

Mays said that from when Brandeis has grown "clearly a lot more diverse."

Allis described Brandeis as having "dizzying heights of multiculturalism." He told the Justice that he didn't know "what else to call a campus with students from 101 countries."

"And I couldn't care less, you know, if the percentage is 64 this or 39 of this or 20; it really is irrelevant," Reinharz said. "What is relevant to me is that they all feel welcomed at Brandeis; that they all feel that they are part of what we are trying to do."

Rebecca Chaikin '07 contributed to this article.