University President Jehuda Reinharz told the Justice last Friday that while he wished the Faculty Review Committee would have made more concrete recommendations in its evaluation of Dean Jaffe's academic restructuring proposals, he appreciated the work of the committee in issuing their report. He disagreed with many of the committee's criticisms of the administration's approach used to introduce the proposals, saying that "there is no perfect process" and that the University's reputation has not been damaged by the administration's approach.

He also said that "hard choices" lay ahead in terms of what initiatives the administration should move forward with in its integrated planning process.

During the meeting, Reinharz spoke about his opinion of the integrated planning process, how he intends to evaluate departmental needs in the future, and the faith he has in his senior staff to make the right decisions.

Reinharz said the University will see an annual increase of $15 million to its budget over the next seven years. During that period, the already-defined "wish list" of spending increases requires a $40 million annual budget increase. This list includes pay increases, funding for academic programs and the construction of new residence halls.

The review committee's 34-page report said the Dean's suggestions to make cuts in physics, as well as to eliminate the music composition Ph.D program, the linguistics major and the teaching of ancient Greek were unacceptable. It also said that no more than two faculty positions should be cut from the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies department.

The Dean's proposals sought to create additional faculty positions in other departments and to help solve what the Dean has termed an "academic structural deficit" by shifting financial resources in the arts and sciences.

During a special March 3 faculty meeting, Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe rescinded those proposals in the face of the report's conclusions and mounting faculty opposition.

"The faculty is reluctant to decide that resources ought to be taken from one place and placed in another," Reinharz said.

At the meeting, Jaffe reaffirmed his commitment to increase salaries for staff and faculty and raise stipends for graduate students. Reinharz said that while these measures will use part of the $15 million budget increase, the remainder of that money will still need to be budgeted.

Jaffe's announcement arrived on the heels of the Faculty Review Committee's Feb. 15 evaluation of his plans.

When asked if he agreed with the Faculty Review Committee's analysis, which suggested the process of proposing curricular change had been executed poorly, Reinharz said the administration has tried to propose changes in other ways in the past, and that they have not worked.

Reinharz said these processes, which involved year-long meetings of representatives from across the university, often produced few results. He also said that unlike past exercises, Jaffe's curricular proposals were not proposals for cuts, and that the university's budget was growing, adding resources to the arts and sciences.

Because Jaffe rescinded his proposals, which included the reduction of faculty in physics and Near Eastern Judaic Studies as well as the elimination of ancient Greek, the graduate musical composition program and the linguistics major, Reinharz said he did not yet know which items on the "wish list" would be funded.

"These are enormously difficult decisions," he said.

While much of the community voiced opposition to the curricular proposals, Reinharz said Jaffe did a good job of reviewing the Academy to see where improvements could be made to secure the University's future.

"[Jaffe] brought a great measure of equity and analysis to this process," Reinharz said.

Reinharz said Jaffe is now working with each affected program and department individually, to see what adjustments need to be made, adding that he wants each area of study to be adequately staffed.

The Faculty Review Committee and individual professors expressed concerns that because the dean's proposals were made available for public scrutiny, the University's reputation as a leading liberal arts institution suffered.

But Reinharz said the University's reputation has not been damaged because of debate over curricular changes. He said other universities are constantly talking about ways to improve themselves.

"Had a decision been made to eliminate department 'X,' that would have had an impact, but people would have eventually lived with it," Reinharz said.

While Reinharz said he has the power to make decisions regarding curriculum and finance issues himself, he trusts his staff to make such decisions on their own.

Referring to the many letters sent to Brandeis on behalf of other colleges and organizations urging Jaffe to reconsider his proposals, Reinharz said, "If I want to mobilize my friends and my colleagues in my field to do something, I can get 100 people to sign a letter tomorrow morning to do all kinds of things."

Reinharz said he was not opposed to departments organizing letter writing campaigns, but added that "one has to take these letters for what they are worth.