At the start of this new academic year, marked by leadership changes, University restructuring and ongoing geopolitical issues, The Justice Editorial Board hopes to give the student body a comprehensive look into the state of Brandeis as it stands today. 

On housing and admissions:

As commuters may know, the construction of a new dorm in South Residence Lot is now underway. The class of 2026 remembers the stressful housing process and dorm overcrowding in their first three years at Brandeis. Many of these issues faced are now moot due to a decrease in applicants to Brandeis. There are no longer lofted triples — rooms intended to be doubles that held three people — some natural triples are used as doubles, East Quadrangle and Village Residence Hall doubles are being made available as singles for an extra price and the Shapiro basement, known for small windows providing little light, flooding, noisy pipes and an inadequate bathroom, is now empty for the second year in a row.

More and more students are resorting to living off-campus as campus housing is often expensive, unsafe and of poor quality. In 2021, The Justice reported the presence of black-colored mold on a wall and green-colored mold under a bed in a Ziv Quad suite, with references to earlier instances of mold. The same article provides details about mice appearing in Gordon Residence Hall in North Quad. A Feb. 6, 2024 article also reported a sewage flood in Ziv 129 “caused by improper disposal of non-flushable items.” However, this flood was not the first of its kind, and the University faced criticism from Ziv residents for its lack of preventative measures.

Other housing options and additions that have begun taking place are also encountering a set of issues: namely, the “Bigger Bed” rental option, which gives the option for students to upgrade their Twin XL beds to a full-size mattress, has faced many late deliveries, leaving students lacking the beds they paid for weeks into the semester and demonstrating a greater issue of disorganization at Brandeis when undertaking new initiatives.  

At the Sept. 5 faculty meeting, the Vice President of Enrollment Management, Jennifer Walker, shared the incoming class profile, which detailed a decrease in international students from 17% in 2024 to 11% in 2025. This is worsened by the fact that international students transfer out after their first year at higher rates, meaning a drastic decrease in diverse voices on campus. This is most likely a direct result of the Trump administration’s attack on visa holders in the United States. According to an Aug. 18 Reuters article, the Trump administration has revoked more than 6,000 student visas. The article clarifies that 4,000 of these visa cancellations took place “because the visitors broke the law, with the vast majority being [instances of] assault,” but a “small minority” of these visa cancellations happened because their holders demonstrated “support for terrorism.”

There has been a decrease in the average high school GPA  — from 3.89 to 3.83 — and average SAT score — from 1435 to 1398 — of admitted students, illustrating Brandeis’ admission standards dropping in wake of their need for students. The total fall matriculants is 767 students, up from last year’s 735. The class of 2027 had 873 students and the class of 2026 included 1007 students, making it the largest in Brandeis’ history. The most disquieting change in admissions is the dissolution of the Brandeis Midyear program for the 2025-26 school year.

On the financial implications of Brandeis’ restructuring:

On Aug. 4, the University announced the launch of four new academic schools: The School of Arts, Humanities and Culture; The School of Business and Economics; The School of Science, Engineering and Technology and The School of Social Sciences and Social Policy. This reorganization plan also included the restructuring of Brandeis’ graduate schools. The Heller School for Social Policy and Management continues to grant graduate degrees under the new School for Social Sciences, and the Brandeis International Business School has been renamed to the School of Business and Economics. The School of Business and Economics “incorporates” both graduate and undergraduate degree programs while the former Heller School continues to grant graduate degrees — though it is “more closely connected to the undergraduate social science programs,” according to the University’s frequently asked questions page.

The same page guarantees that the reorganization plan’s financial model will include a “phased budgetary process as we move from revenue shortfalls to our new model.” Further, the plan describes that “during the initial period, staff and faculty budgets will move with departments, centers, and programs into their new units.” 

This board questions how this plan will impact academic departments and schools that were already facing budgetary challenges. Furthermore, how will it guarantee financial fairness among the four schools when only one of them is dedicated to arts and humanities? 

In the wake of losing the Lydian String Quartet and Musicology and Music Composition Ph.D. programs due to ongoing budget cuts, this Editorial Board understands that programs in the arts at Brandeis are typically the first to go. The University made that prospect abundantly clear when it silently eliminated Brandeis Arts Engagement, as well as terminated the contract of beloved Prof. Taylor Ackley (MUS) with no discretion to the public. This Board hopes that this reorganization plan will reinstate these lost initiatives and address the plethora of student critiques that have largely been sidelined. 

On the Office of Access and Excellence:

Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Carol Fierke, announced the creation of the Office of Access and Excellence, which, in her Sept. 2 email, she explains “will focus on recruitment, support, and retention of students, faculty, and staff.” The Office of Access and Excellence’s website outlines three main objectives and action plans for each point. “Educat[ing] and empower[ing] the community through workshops and professional development, programming, and engagement.” The student workshops will be developed by the Intercultural Center and Gender and Sexuality Center, while the faculty workshops will be headed by the Center for Teaching and Learning to “[provide] expertise to assist in developing robust learning modules.” The center will also “provide supportive services and resources through referrals and consultations,” essentially acting as a middleman between students and other Brandeis offices. The final goal, “[To] cultivate an environment of respect and connection by providing spaces for civil discourse and opportunities to learn with and from one another,” is the least elaborated upon in Fierke’s email, does not include an action plan and is the most unlike the other objectives. It is possible that this office is where complaints regarding politically motivated doxxing or other such provocations will be directed to. It is unclear what “providing spaces for civil discourse” entails: whether or not there will be professional staff involved in guiding discourse or if intergroup communication will be permitted for resolving issues of differing views on campus.  

Through the financial challenges Brandeis is currently facing, this Editorial Board is wary of the major spending decisions Brandeis is making, namely the new renovation of Kutz Hall and the new dorm building, especially as these construction projects are taking priority over the functioning of the academic departments at Brandeis. Overall, Brandeis is in a major period of transition, and it’ll be difficult to tell if the University will be better off after the changes taking place, especially considering that Brandeis’ priorities, which landed the University in its current situation, seem to remain unchanged.