This past weekend, members of the Brandeis Mountain Club (BMC) packed into vans bound for Acadia National Park in Maine. The club has spent nearly four decades bringing Brandeis students off campus and into the outdoors. Now, for the first time in close to 10 years, BMC has received secured status at Brandeis. 

BMC officially became a secured club this semester after passing both a Student Senate vote and a campus-wide vote, joining the small group of organizations the University recognizes as a core part of student life.

"When a club gets secured, that club is basically a representation by the school that that organization is a core part of student life at Brandeis," BMC President Isaac Lambert ’26 said in an April 27 interview with The Justice. "It's largely a recognition of that, but also it comes with certain privileges and increased responsibility."

Lambert has served on the executive board for three years and was previously the vice treasurer and treasurer. He explained that the new status will do a lot for the current e-board. "Everybody on e-board is a volunteer, just like every other club, and we spend a lot of hours each week planning and running trips," he said. "Right now, it's mostly about, like, recognition of that service for the community."

That community is hard to miss on campus. Founded in 1987, BMC runs trips every weekend of the semester, including climbing, hiking, backpacking and skiing. "A big part of it is proving that you're a very large, popular club on campus, that you're a core part of the student experience," he said. "For us, to be honest, that wasn't very difficult to prove, because we run multiple trips every weekend. Each one of them is full."

Lambert said while the actual process to become secured took only about two months, the push behind it has been nearly four decades in the making. "I think it's something that every Mountain Club president has thought about and kind of talked about, but nobody has really just gone and done it," he said. "The whole thing took maybe two months, but that's built on years and years and years of work on the club's part . . . [We] have to recognize the work of previous e-boards and previous presidents."

The process started with an initial meeting with the Student Club Support Committee, chaired by Luke Farberman ’27. After committee members audited a BMC executive board meeting and confirmed eligibility, Lambert and other e-board members presented to the Student Senate, which voted in favor with the required two-thirds majority. The measure then moved to the entire student body via referendum, where it also passed. “We presented in front of the Student Senate and they voted on it. They voted for us to become secured with a two thirds majority vote.
And then the vote was put on the Student Union ballot for the whole student body to vote on. And that vote was passed as well,” Lambert explained.

BMC gear room manager and trip leader Elizabeth Josiah ’28 said in an April 27 interview with The Justice that secured status gives BMC more impact. "There are some distinctions with being secured relating to being eligible to have a P-card, space in the SCC, and also of course makes a difference towards being recognized as being a really important and integral part of Brandeis,” Josiah said. “Being secured kind of means that you have a bigger impact on the Brandeis community."

One major change for the club will be receiving a P-card, which will allow its treasurers to manage the club’s finances more easily. "[A P-card] is going to make it easier for us to be a more accessible club for everyone because we'll be able to manage our payments a little bit easier," Josiah said.

She also added that potential space in the Shapiro Campus Center could help keep BMC’s trips running smoothly and free. 

She also added that potential space in the SCC could ease both gear storage and administrative work, and by extension keep BMC's trips running smoothly and free. “Another thing is being eligible for space in the SCC. It might be really helpful to have a space for both administrative work and maybe also to store gear. So that's also something that would help us out a lot in just managing and running the club. If things are smoother on our side, it's a better student experience for everyone involved,” Josiah said. 

BMC helps students be able to try new things without the worry of costs or even skill level. "We're all about accessibility and reducing barriers," Lambert said. "Being outdoors and doing things like climbing and hiking and backpacking and skiing, those can all be very expensive, knowledge-based activities … and our goal is to reduce those barriers."

The process of gaining secured status is time consuming, which is part of what makes it so significant. "It requires a lot of work and initiative from the perspective of all of the executive board members, and it also requires the student body to be involved in and excited about a club on a large scale," Josiah explained. "It also requires contributing something new to the Brandeis community that is not already provided by existing secured clubs and organizations."

She credited the outcome to an e-board "who is super excited about making sure that Mountain Club was the best version of the organization that it could be," along with the hundreds of students who keep showing up to fill trips. "We literally could not have done it without all of those individuals who voted for us to become secured," Josiah said. "[It] was lovely to see that support as well."

Graduating senior Lambert is most excited for the friends he's leaving behind. "[This was] something that I wanted for the future and all my friends that are still in the club," he said. "What I'm excited for them to experience … is just being able to be leaders in the community and be on a secured e-board, [to] have a little bit more responsibility, work closer with administrators, to see what we can do for the Brandeis community and student life here."

This club has had an immensely positive impact on Lambert’s time at Brandeis. “I’ve been a member of the club for four years, but on the e-board for three,” he said. “My favorite experience might be my first trip ever … an ice climbing trip when I was a freshman. I had never been climbing before, and ice climbing is pretty intense … but the e-board members and the guides made it such a wonderful experience, even for somebody who had never done it. That trip made me fall in love with climbing … now it’s one of my favorite things, and I’m actually going to be a climbing guide after I graduate.”

For Josiah, the recent addition of spring trips to Acadia National Park has been a highlight. “I've loved our camping trips to Acadia National Park in Maine. We're branching out to include a spring trip, which we just led actually this past weekend,” she said.

But it’s more about the personal growth that people have on those trips that makes it worth it. “I love to see it when people face their fears on hikes,” Josiah said. “You can really see that personal growth, and you can be a part of someone experiencing something that's maybe a little bit challenging, a little bit scary, and seeing them accomplish that is like a really cool feeling and being able to support them through that.”