Sack Matt Rushton! 

There is a lot to deride Matthew Rushton for as the current chief of police at Brandeis Public Safety. Students are appalled by his connections to Provident Response Insight Group (also known as Police Reform Insight Group), a private security LLC which assisted in the brutalization of student protestors in November 2023. Those same students are sickened by his alleged negligence which led to the death of a Brandeis student weeks later. His tacit approval of ICE’s use of “public areas” on campus doesn’t help his case, especially as he tried to deny 4/4 protestors that same right. This conduct has and will continue to be adjudicated by bodies which hold far more institutional sway than a leftist Jewish student org at Brandeis. Regardless, let’s take a look at some of his most recent antics. 

On April 29th, Rushton published a letter to the editor in which he demonstrated a lack of basic comprehension skills. He made 3 main points: that the Justice overstated early protest numbers, that the Justice’s depiction of our protest route was incorrect, and that the Justice mischaracterized the final flag-burning that led to dispersal. Let’s address these in order. 

1) The Justice claimed that “the group of demonstrators consisted of at least 100 students.” They did not claim that these students magically materialized at 4:00 as the protest began. 2) The Justice later claimed that “the protesters proceeded to march counterclockwise up Loop Road, past East Quadrangle and around the front of Skyline Residence Hall.” This is a fact. We could not find the “incorrect” claim Rushton is referring to.

3) This is the final (and most insidious) of Rushton’s claims. He implies that police had no intention of arresting students. That’s convenient. This discounts visual documentation of police with zip ties in hand, as well as the fact that a Waltham PD van (a ‘paddy wagon’) was en route as the protest dispersed and police rushed at the crowd. Make of that what you will. 

As a side note, just because something is “consistent with the university’s understanding” doesn’t make it true. You can’t cite yourself in a research paper. 

Consequently, we call on President Levine to subject Matt Rushton to a semester of UWS. We earnestly hope that it will improve his reading comprehension skills. If not, the least Brandeis could do is sack him. 

Sincerely, 

Selected writers from the Brandeis Jewish Bund