At last week's faculty meeting on Oct. 10, Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel gave a presentation on preliminary student enrollment demographics as of approximately Oct. 4. Following the meeting in an email to the Justice, Flagel stressed that these numbers are not final, and may fluctuate in the next few weeks.

According to the presentation, total enrollment increased by approximately half of a percent from last year, with 3,608 undergraduate and 2,203 graduate students. The acceptance rate for students was about 37 percent, based on the preliminary numbers provided.

The University netted 9,496 applications from both first-time and first-year students combined, more than any other undergraduate class in the history of the University. Of the 9,496, 3,517 were admitted. Although there were no major shifts in grade point average of accepted students as compared to previous years, there was a large shift in demographics, with 18 percent of the first-year class being composed of international students, as compared to 16 percent for the Class of 2016.

The percentage of African-Americans in the class is 10 percent, up from seven percent last year, which was attributed in the presentation partially to a shift in geography demographics, with fewer students from the Middle-Atlantic and New England regions and more from the South.

In terms of graduate student enrollment, the University saw a slight decrease in enrollment, although the Heller School for Social Policy and Management saw a 1.6 percent increase this year. International students also increased from last year by about two percent within the overall graduate student population.

Flagel also said that the Latino population has increased among graduate students, and that there was a huge spike in the number of international graduates students from China enrolled this year at 10 percent, up from five percent last year.

Flagel also remarked on the frequency and size of merit scholarships. "No matter how much of an affection a kid has for Brandeis, when you look at the kinds of money being offered by our competitors-it is an exceptionally difficult decision," he said. Admissions has begun to reinstitute merit scholarships in "very small increments," Flagel stated, with the largest awarded this year at $15,000.

The test-flexible policy "experiment," as Flagel termed it, was also addressed in the form of a brief question-and-answer session with the assembled faculty. Flagel described the program as a "a pilot program that had very narrow parameters as to how they could apply if [students] choose to forgo traditional standardized test scores."

Flagel also said that no more than 10 percent of the class will be admitted through the test-flexible policy, and that "[applicants] are going to have to be at the top of our talent pool in order to be admitted under this score option policy."

During the meeting, University President Frederick Lawrence invited Prof. David Derosier (BIOL) to present a eulogy to the congregated faculty about the positive personal attributes and professional scientific advances made by former professor Hugh Huxley, who passed away on July 25 in Woods Hole, Mass. at the age of 89. Derosier described the late professor as a "giant of science" for his award-winning research on muscle structure and function.

Following a moment of silence, Lawrence turned the attention of the meeting to a variety of other topics, including the second phase of the Lemberg Children's Center project. Lawrence explained that renovations on the original center are scheduled to begin after Jan. 1, and will include renovations to the grounds and parts of Schwartz Hall. Lawrence alluded to "some major rebuilding and renovations in the center of campus space."

On the topic of campus aesthetics, Lawrence announced that famous West Coast sculptor Chris Burden will have a display in front of the Rose Art Museum. It is "a major project that will symbolically and ritually connect the Rose to campus," he said. Lawrence said that an announcement with exact dates will be coming soon.

On the topic of the strategic plan, Provost Steve Goldstein '78 said that he and Prof. Anita Hill (Heller) are currently in the process of pulling together groups that will implement specific parts of the plan, breaking it down into "18-month achievables" and "36-month achievables."

Faculty Senate Chair Prof. Eric Chasalow (MUS) also spoke about the plan in his Senate report, stating that "we don't have a lot of specifics yet and we are looking forward to a very detailed discussion."