On Tuesday, following requests from vocal faculty members, the strategic planning steering committee and Provost Steve Goldstein '78 released the individual reports from nine of the 11 task forces that were created last spring and met throughout the summer. These reports contain many of the details and specific tactical plans that faculty and others had hoped to see included in the plan, but were absent from the framework.

The task forces were assigned to work on Academic Innovation, Alumni and Building Community, Benchmarking, Facilities and Campus Evolution, Faculty, Scholarship and Research, Flexible Education Through Technology, Global, Integrated Arts and Learning Communities and Student Experience.

There are two reports which are not yet complete, according to an email from Goldstein. The Financial and Development Task Forces are "still at work," he wrote in the email.

After comments that the framework was "uninspiring" and lacked specific ideas, the release of the reports shed more light on the planning process to this point, and members of the strategic planning team expressed the thought that this is an important step in the process.

"Brandeis loves a good, big, complicated debate. This kind of open conversation is, in part, what helps us get closer to the ideal of justice," said Scott Edmiston, director of the Office of the Arts and cochair of the task force on Integrated Arts. "I think its fantastic how much the community cares about this plan and the passion with which they are discussing it."

All of the task forces put forth both broad and specific ideas,.
The next step for the planning committee is to gather feedback from the community about the framework in order to start working on the final draft of the plan.

"There are many terrific ideas in the task force reports," said Daniel Terris, director of the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life and one of the cochairs on the Global task force.

"Now the challenge is for the broader strategic plan to capture the zest, specificity, and imagination of the process. This will mean making tough choices-but I am certainly optimistic that we have the intellectual firepower within our community to make this a success."
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