Police Log 9/26-10/17
(10/21/25 10:00am)
MEDICAL EMERGENCY
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BEMCo in the basement: supervisors speak on recent policy changes
(09/30/25 6:25pm)
Brandeis Emergency Medical Corps is undergoing various policy changes in the 2025-26 academic year. There has been confusion and speculation among the student body surrounding these changes.
The Brandeis Jewish Bund holds first event of the academic year, grows interest from students in-person and online
(09/30/25 2:36pm)
On Wednesday Sept. 17 the Jewish Bund held a “Study in for Palestine” gathering in Farber Library from 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. At one large table several Bund members laid out maps of Palestine and Israel, posters naming those dead from the conflict, and a banner reading “Stop Supporting Genocide.” About 10-15 other Bund members and supporters flanked the central table and sat at adjacent tables leading toward Starbucks. At around 4:00 p.m., a small opposition of at most 10 students huddled in a circle deliberating the Bund a little more than five feet away from the table. At the time, most of the opposition appeared to be male students, some wearing religious apparel and similar white button downs and black slacks. The men did not interact with the Bund beyond standing within the vicinity of the study-in and glancing at the table.
“New Year, no genocide”: Brandeis Jewish Bund hosts first vigil this year
(09/30/25 10:00am)
On Thursday, Sept. 25, members of the Brandeis Jewish Bund gathered with students and community members in the Shapiro Campus Center for a “vigil to honor and remember those murdered by Israel in Palestine, Iran, Yemen and Lebanon,” according to a Sept. 24 Instagram post. The vigil’s organizers entered the atrium and established themselves at the steps, laying banners and distributing surgical masks to attendees to be used as face coverings. Six members carried in a wooden coffin covered in a keffiyah, imagery which is synonymous with Bund gatherings. Two of the Bund’s banners, which have been used in previous demonstrations, read “Stop Supporting Genocide” and “Bund” written in Yiddish. A new banner with white lettering on a black background presented, “New Year No Genocide.” This vigil intentionally occurred one day after the celebration of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year.
DeisRobotics shares past triumphs and plans for this coming semester
(09/30/25 10:00am)
Tucked away in the back of Goldfarb Library is the Automation Lab — home to DeisRobotics, Brandeis’ very own robotics club, which competes regularly in National Havoc League tournaments in Norwalk, Connecticut and holds informative workshops for students interested in engineering and associated skills. Last semester, the team qualified for the NHRL world tournament and won second place in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Combat Robot Competition.
Becky Behar: “May you live, grow and thrive like a little fish in freshwater”
(09/30/25 10:00am)
Becky Behar, winner of the 2025 Isaac Anolic Jewish Book Arts Award, presented a viewing of her photos at the Kniznick Gallery at The Women’s Studies Research Center from Sept. 4 to Sept. 18. A new-age photographer, Behar was brought up under Sephardic Jewish heritage and descends from the diasporic population expelled during the Spanish Inquisition in the late 15th century. Her work titled “Tu Ke Bivas” has been derived from a Ladino — or Judeo-Spanish — language, blessing her parents often invoked: “May you live, grow and thrive like a little fish in freshwater.” Behar’s photos imbibe her culture and traditions through the enactment of her mother and daughter performing these rituals today. Although her family’s migration led her through Turkey, Columbia and ultimately the United States, her Ladino language, Jewish religion and Sephardic customs remained few of the only constants in her life.
Brandeis receives overall F in college free speech
(09/30/25 10:00am)
Brandeis University earned an overall F in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s 2026 free speech rankings, placing 149th of 257 U.S. colleges and universities. The school’s rules received a “yellow light” designation, meaning Brandeis has chosen policies that may be applied in a way that violates rights to free speech. “That means that there’s one or more speech code policies in a student handbook, faculty handbook, somewhere … that they’re worded in a way that they could be applied unconstitutionally. It’s vague or arbitrary wording,” said Sean Stevens, chief research advisor at FIRE, in a Sep. 26 interview with The Justice.
Arthur Levine was sworn in as the tenth president of Brandeis University
(09/30/25 10:00am)
The Brandeis Board of Trustees has named Arthur Levine ’70 official president of the University at the Sept. 16 installation ceremony held in the Napoli Room at the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center. Joined by about 60 trustees, senior administrators and several local alumni and donors, Levine was sworn in and presented the University medallion and charter. Having served as interim president since Nov. 1 2024, following president emeritus Ron Liebowitz’ resignation, Levine has taken office as tenth president of Brandeis.
Forking Paths: Students and faculty discuss chance encounters that affected their lives
(09/16/25 10:00am)
On Thursday, Sept. 11, History of Ideas faculty and students gathered in Rapaporte Treasure Hall for an annual panel featuring faculty and student speakers. This year’s discussion theme was centered around the idea that we live in a “garden of forking paths,” and speakers were prompted to discuss a chance encounter from their lives or fields of study that ended up having an enormous impact. The event was moderated by Professor David Katz (HIST), director of the History of Ideas program.
Police Log 9/5-9/12
(09/16/25 10:00am)
MEDICAL EMERGENCY
Tornado lands near campus: sign of rising tornado rates amid global climate crisis
(09/16/25 10:00am)
On Saturday, Sept. 6, five tornadoes hit Massachusetts in varying locations just west of Brandeis’ campus and Waltham. The closest tornado ended its destructive path about 15 miles away from the University. They were all level EF-1 tornadoes, with wind speeds ranging between 94 to 104 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service. The first two tornadoes hit down in Paxton. The first hit at 4:02 p.m. with estimated winds of 100 mph and a path of 0.17 miles long. The second one hit four minutes later, with estimated winds of 94 mph and a distance of 0.13 mph. The third tornado landed in Holden at 4:08 p.m. with winds of 104 mph and traveling at a rate of 0.15 mph. The fourth tornado hit Berlin at 4:25 p.m. with a wind speed of 104 mph and traveled an estimated 0.60 miles. The final tornado touched down in Stow at 4:30 p.m. with a wind speed of 104 mph and traveled 2.38 miles. It caused extensive damage to the trees in the surrounding area.
Brandeis to introduce “Oscar Sort” recycling technology to campus
(09/16/25 10:00am)
Soon to appear above trash cans in the Shapiro Campus Center is “Oscar Sort,” which is a “smart recycling assistant” according to Intuitive Artificial Intelligence, the creator of the new technology. The “zero-touch zero-waste stations” will use camera sensors to determine which form of waste an item is and prompt users to drop their waste into the appropriate bin. Oscars are already in use across national airports, universities and sporting arenas including TD Garden in Boston. On campus, the technology will help reduce the amount of waste incorrectly sorted as trash which often finds its way into landfills or the ocean instead of recycling or compost plants where they can be properly processed.
“A liberal arts for tomorrow”: Brandeis’ new model for higher education
(09/16/25 10:00am)
On Wednesday, Sept. 10, President Arthur Levine ’70 invited academic policymakers, press and alumni to Washington D.C’s National Press Club for a panel discussion about Brandeis’ plan to “reinvent the liberal arts.” The Board of Trustees Executive Vice President, Cynthia Shapira, welcomed panel attendees. Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey then provided opening remarks and expressed his desire to see the “Bay State” become the “Brain State” by delivering “accessible, responsible and effective” education to all. Markey concluded that the American Dream should be delivered through “higher education, not less education.”
A new department titled the Office of Access and Excellence has taken effect
(09/09/25 10:00am)
In an email sent on Sept. 2, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Carol Fierke announced the creation of the Office of Access and Excellence. The new office “will focus on recruitment, support, and retention of students, faculty, and staff.” Additional goals of the office refer to coordinating resources to “remove barriers and create pathways for success.” Collaborations between Student Affairs, Academic Affairs and Human Resources will ensure a tangible administrative process for students and staff. Notably, the Gender and Sexuality Center and the Intercultural Center, formerly part of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Education & Learning Initiatives (ODEI), have been moved to the new office. The still named ODEI website now takes viewers to information regarding the Office of Access and Excellence. The website provides resources to the Alumni of Color Network, the Brandeis Faculty and Staff Pride Alliance and the Staff-Faculty Accessibility Group. Also highlighted are information about all-gender restrooms and a “know your rights” section linking to the Brandeis Counseling Center and Hiatt Career Center. It remains unclear if the Office of Access and Excellence is a remodeling or renaming of the ODEI, and much of the language on the website still refers to “diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging [within] the Brandeis Community.” The new director of the office will be Lee Bitsóí, who previously served as Brandeis’ Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Associate Vice President for Diversity Affairs and Special Advisor to the President for Indigenous Affairs at Fort Lewis College. His address to the University in the aforementioned email with Fierke concluded, “Our commitment to our founding values remains unwavering as we implement this university-wide approach to strengthening a sense of belonging for all in our community.”
Recent updates to the 2025-26 Student Code of Conduct: Hazing, Doxxing and Artificial Intelligence
(09/09/25 10:00am)
Each academic year, Brandeis updates the Rights and Responsibilities Student Code of Conduct. This year, adjustments were made to the Hazing Policy (Section 2.11), the use of artificial intelligence (Section 4), and the Doxxing Policy (Section 10.4a).
Rats remain: Brandeis stops use of rat poison known to harm local wildlife
(09/09/25 10:00am)
On July 25, a sickly coyote pup was found on Brandeis campus. It later tested positive for a potent rodenticide known as Second-Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides which has been used by Brandeis to minimize the rat population. SGARs are poisons that prevent blood clotting and lead to internal bleeding and ultimately death. These poisons take about a week to kill rats but live in their system for over four weeks and can be transferred to any animal that consumes the rodent. This poison “causes a very painful death for the wildlife,” said Brandeis Students for Environmental Action, a local and regional environmental activist group, president Justin Kiozumi ’27 in an interview with The Justice on Sept. 8. SGARs poisoning has resulted in deaths of several species of predators that are eating the rats, such as owls, coyotes and most commonly red-tailed hawks.
Brandeis attempts to enhance public safety with the Brandeis Safe app
(09/09/25 10:00am)
This year Brandeis introduced new changes to public safety with the Brandeis Safe app. It works together with the Brandeis Emergency Notifications System to provide real-time updates regarding safety on campus. Introduced on April 30, 2025, the app modernizes safety through features exclusively available on campus. Some of the safety features include an emergency button, safety walks, friend walks, virtual walks with public safety and other campus resources. The app also offers a mobile blue light for individuals walking alone late at night. Additionally, Friend Walk is a resource that allows Brandeisians to send a friend their location with the click of a button. The receiving student is provided a link and map with the sender’s location. If an individual feels unsafe at any time, they can hit the panic button. The virtual walk with public safety allows a person to select a destination and begin their walk instantly alongside a trained member of public safety. This feature is available for up to two hours at a time.
Welcome Back Rally celebrates Brandeis workers, cross-union and academic staff
(09/10/25 10:00am)
On Sept. 3, six Brandeis unions held a cross-union rally on the Great Lawn, starting at noon. The unions represented were the Brandeis Library Worker’s Union, Service Employee International Union Local 888, SEIU Local 509, SEIU 32BJ and the University’s newest union, Research and Academic Staff SEIU 888.
Administration discuss new office, building projects and Trump's campus impact
(09/09/25 10:27am)
Faculty and staff gathered in the Rapaporte Treasure Hall for the meeting as Chair of the Faculty Senate, Prof. Jeffrey Lenowitz (POL), opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and outlining the day’s agenda. He also noted that a special faculty meeting will be scheduled in the near future to address the implications of recent executive orders on the University which impact federal funding and international student enrollment. Lenowitz then turned the floor over to University President, Arthur Levine ’70.
Graduate Commencement: Shirley Ann Jackson and Giselle Gabriel, Heller MA SID `25 impart inspirational speeches
(05/19/25 10:00am)
On May 18, 2025, the Brandeis community gathered in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center to celebrate the University’s 74th Graduate Commencement. This ceremony acknowledged the achievements of students from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis International Business School and Rabb School of Continuing Studies and named two honorary degree recipients, Shirley Ann Jackson and Jim Obergefell.