Social justice. Don't you hate that term? It is an empty catchphrase, a shibboleth, an obligatory nothing on this campus. We've been using the term too long and too often-a fact that is all too evident when every new University initiative is labeled a social justice program by default. We should stop talking about social justice until we talk about the deeper ramifications of those words. What do they mean? What are our values? What do those values require of us? How can we make our vision into reality?

Brandeis has a long and rich history of student activism of which we should all be proud. Though the 1969 student takeover of Ford Hall is perhaps the most noted and celebrated historical example of that activism, Brandeis students through the decades have accomplished great things: heading the national student strike coordination center in 1970, leading the charge against apartheid in the '80s and today's Sudan divestment efforts are but a few distinguished examples. The character of Brandeis activism has changed, however, and not necessarily for the better.

Brandeis' most energetic and hard-working activist groups think of their mission as students and not as strategic organizers. As a student, you look to the great student movements of the '60s and try to emulate them. As a student, you know you can easily invite speakers and plan events and protests, so that's all you spend your time doing. As a student, you talk about the world as it should be; as an organizer, you make it happen.

The key to effective social action is articulating a vision for the future and a credible theory of change, examining the steps you can take to make that vision a reality. Too many Brandeis clubs fail to even discuss that vision, much less take the time to make sure their actions contribute to that goal. These groups should be mapping out the power relations on campus, figuring out who can give them what they want and then figuring out how to put pressure on that power figure. These groups should be building e-mail lists and allies; they should know how to build power and have a media strategy. But we can't fault these groups; there is no institution or organization on campus that teaches students change-making skills.

Brandeis activism today increasingly concentrates around a few great figures who created professional organizations that operate mainly outside Brandeis. The examples are many: Aaron Voldman '09 and Julia Simon-Mishel '09 created the Student Peace Alliance, which boasts college chapters across the country. Allyson Goldsmith's '10 ELEVEate works with girls in Senegal. Sam Vaghar '02 developed the Millennium Campus Network, and Justin Kang's '09 LiveCampus last year put on a live concert on a college campus in every state in the union.

To be sure, these were the accomplishments of Brandeis students working together, and it would be a grave mistake to overlook the hard work of dozens of people in making these things happen.

Still, the tenor of Brandeis activism has changed. Our accomplishments consist of founding organizations that will soon escape any strong ties to the University. Indeed, many of the most famous names in Brandeis activism come from alumni, who learned and honed their skills after leaving campus.

Andrew Slack '02, Ben Brandzel '02, Josh Peck '02, Ari Rabin-Havt '01. These recent alumni have done and continue to do great work consistent with the Brandeis ethos of social justice. Members of the progressive activist community constantly tell me that Brandeis has a reputation for smart, effective online organizers. These people didn't learn their organizing skills from Brandeis classes; by and large, they figured it out after graduating.

Brandeis alumni are counted among the best in the field. Brandeis students, however, are not. There is raw talent here that needs to be trained and tapped. As a community, we must recommit to learning the skills, vision, and best-practices for effective activism in the modern age.

I've been thinking about this idea: Brandeis is not simply a university but rather a two-stage experiment in social entrepreneurship that uses the legal and institutional structure of the University to interface with society. In the first stage, the Jewish community opposed discriminatory quotas in higher education by creating a new top-flight academy that would reject quotas and use competition to force other universities to follow suit. That mission has been successful.

The second stage is a work in progress.

Now that University quotas have been eliminated, the Brandeis experiment can move on to a broader goal: training and equipping the next generation of social entrepreneurs and agents of change.

Brandeis talks a good game about social justice but neither defines it well nor empowers its students to foster it. Even the committed activist clubs on campus are stuck in a paradigm of community service and instinctive protest or the vague idea of "raising awareness." We can do so much more than that.

Brandeis should be a fountain of new ideas and new recruits for the broad social justice movement. Brandeis should be a hotbed of new ways to organize, of students teaching students, of the next wave of activism. A Brandeis degree should mean more than just a liberal arts education. A Brandeis graduate should have the tools and knowledge to make the change that we believe in, to be a citizen in the most expansive sense of the term.

I humbly submit that now is the time to own up to our limits. We students are stumbling in the dark. We don't know or don't talk about the values that underpin our vision for the future. We don't really even know how to make this happen. It's time for a change.

I want to see a world where organizers and activists from across the country travel here to teach us and learn from each other. I want to see a world where Brandeis is known again for its commitment to ethics, where students collaborate with the foremost change agents of our time, a Brandeis firmly rooted in the social justice movement.

Let's not sit about and bemoan what Brandeis has become; let's build it. Let's invite alumni back to share their wisdom; let's start organizing workshops and booking rooms to make that happen. Let's have those late-night chats about our beliefs but also those early-evening discussions with the leading organizers of our day. Let's bring back the Brandeis spirit.

Let us learn how to make the change we wish to see in the world.

The Brandeis we wish to see may not be built by the time we graduate, but if we start now, maybe someday soon it will be.



The writer is a founder of the Justice Organizing Initiative, which seeks to promote a concrete vision of activism on campus. Visit the Web site at http://bit.ly/ JOI_Brandeis.