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Brandeis’ own Zac Gondelman is chosen to be this year’s Truman Scholar

On March 28 Zac Gondelman ’26, was named a 2025 Truman Scholar. From a pool of 743 candidates, Gondelman was selected through a rigorous application process that involved recommendations from distinguished leaders to join the cohort of 54 students selected nationwide. He will be the 12th Brandeis student to receive this fellowship, and the second chosen in a row. Gondelman is pursuing a major in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, with minors in Politics and Religious Studies. He is currently studying abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark. 

Brandeis medical volunteers and staff at the 129th Boston Marathon

 The Boston Marathon is a cultural event which draws hundreds of thousands from across the world into the city and surrounding areas to cheer on runners in a grueling 26.2 mile course. On April 21, the 129th celebration took place with more than 31,000 participants entering the race including Brandeis Track and Field coach Michael Schmidt. This being his third marathon of the year, Schmidt ran at an impressive 5:53 minutes a mile pace, placing within the top 350 finishers. His final time of 2:33:53 was 29 minutes behind overall winner John Korir of Kenya who finished after 2:04:45 hours of running. 

Springfest

 On April 27, the Brandeis tradition of Springfest swept across campus in full force. This year, the Campus Activity Board spared no expense at making the day one to remember. Not swayed by a bit of rain, CAB staff circulated through the Brandeis residence halls at 10 a.m. with tins of breakfast sandwiches. From that moment, the festivities were nonstop. Students in the campus center lined up to get temporary tattoos, pashminas and free jewelry at different stands set up all over the atrium. The morning was filled with treats and celebration, lighting spirits on campus and preparing everyone for the music. 

After Hugh Hayden: A closer look at the exhibition through ekphrastic poetry

On April 24, 2025 at 2:30pm, The Rose Art Museum invited students to perform their poetry in conversation with Hugh Hayden’s exhibition, “Home Work.” I arrived ten minutes early, setting aside my belongings. Student poets dressed in flurries of flowery patterns and spring colors were scattered in the Museum, reciting their poems and practicing silently to themselves as I wandered through the exhibition. I made my way to the entrance to await the formal start of the tour. I found a stack of booklets titled “After Hugh Hayden” that was a chapbook collection of all the student poems

Balancé-ing through ballet

On April 26, the Brandeis Ballet Club celebrated their 15th year of bringing the art of ballet to the Brandeis community through their annual Spring Showcase. Unlike “The Nutcracker,” a more defined production traditionally performed each winter, the Spring Showcase featured a myriad of original performances choreographed by different students in the club.

"Signs for Change" Exhibit: A powerful start to Creative Arts Festival

To kick off this year’s annual Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts, Brandeis’s Students for Environmental Action club put up an exhibition in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium on Wednesday, April 23. The exhibition, titled “Signs for Change,” was thematically focused on climate justice and featured both artwork made from recycled materials and an interactive display that shared educational environmental facts. One part of the exhibit featured over a dozen pieces of cardboard painted with images and words promoting climate action. The pieces were artfully placed to make a pile while maximizing the number of signs that were visible. Other pieces were taped on the windows above the central pile. This colorful and eye-catching display was accompanied by a quick response code with a link to a petition supporting Mass 350’s Climate Change Superfund Act. 

Roots with friends!

This past week, as Brandeis celebrated the 73rd year of the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts, campus was transformed into a venue for all forms of artistic expression with a captivating array of performances and events that swept through every corner. One of the defining features of Brandeis is the incredible faculty and their work. This shines through in performances and events that celebrate the creativity and talent of Brandeis staff, one of which is Music at Mandel’s Roots Music with Taylor Ackley and Friends.

Doxxing has no place at Brandeis

In this time of crackdowns and fear, we are responsible for keeping each other safe. Safety does not mean protection from ideas we do not like, but rather, freedom from persecution for these ideas. The freedom to explore and express our ideas is foundational to our mission: “By being a nonsectarian university that welcomes students, teachers and staff of every nationality, religion and orientation, Brandeis renews the American heritage of cultural diversity, equal access to opportunity and freedom of expression.”

Jewish students are not a monolith. Brandeis must stop treating us like one.

As a prospective student, I was told Brandeis would be a place to explore my Jewish identity. Quickly, I learned I was a lesser member of the community than the legitimate Jewish students — the ones who grew up going to Jewish day schools and went to Israel during their gap years. I was an aberration, a Jew who felt no connection to Israel and wasn’t particularly interested in making one.

Letter to the Editor — John Plotz

To the Editors:

Letter to the Editor — Matthew Rushton

To the Editor:

Letter to the Editor — Jon Hochschartner

Fund cultivated-meat research to stop pandemics

The past, present and future of campus protest

Over the past 75 years, Brandeis students have exercised their right to freedom of speech by conducting protests and rallies on campus. In 1969, on January 8, a group of African-American students staged a takeover of Ford Hall, demanding a change for better minority representation on campus. This sparked waves across the University, as other students went on hunger strikes and conducted sit-ins as a way of expressing solidarity. This protest lasted eleven days, and while not all demands were met, student protestors were granted amnesty. A year later, the University administration signed an agreement with the Afro-American Organization to bring 80 additional minority students to Brandeis. This is just one example of protest demonstrations on campus. Since 1969 there have been other instances of students, faculty and facilities fighting for social change: the Pearlman Hall take-over (1970), Apartheid Protest and Divestment movements (1970), the Ford Hall protest (2015), Brandeis Employee rallies (2024), Brandeis staff, students and facilities protest against merit delays (2024).  Protesting is at the core of a University that since its founding has prided itself on valuing inclusion and justice.  As best demonstrated in Brandeis’ mission statement, this institution “Honors freedom of expression and civility of discourse as fundamental educational cornerstones.”

Boston’s West End: The spirit of a neighborhood destroyed

The West End neighborhood of Boston can be categorized today by Massachusetts General Hospital, TD Garden and its towering highrises. The streets are busy and the buildings are shiny and new. A now popular neighborhood for young professionals, the West End was once the home of Boston elites, immigrants with diverse backgrounds and the catalyst of abolition in the Commonwealth. 

Brandeis Women's and Men’s University Athletic Association tournament day one overview

Big changes made to Major League Baseball in recent years

Paige Bueckers: A Special Talent

Senator Booker breaks record, speaks for 25 hours straight to protest Trump administration’s agenda

On the evening of May 31, Senator Cory Booker (D) of New Jersey began a 25-hour marathon speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate. He stated, “I rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able. I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our country is in crisis.” He held the floor in protest of the Trump administration’s actions and Elon Musk’s interference in various critical government functions, such as social safety nets, via the Department of Government Efficiency.

2025 Commencement speakers announced

On April 2, Interim President Arthur Levine sent an email to the Brandeis community announcing that Professor Jonathon D. Sarna ’75 (NEJS), a historian of American Judaism, and the Honorable Shirley Ann Jackson, a theoretical physicist and higher-education leader, will be the keynote speakers for Brandeis’ 74th Commencement ceremonies. 

Senate charters two clubs and debates resolution on transgender athletes

The Brandeis Student Union meeting was called to order on April 6, at 7:05 p.m. by Vice President Ría Escamilla-Gil ’27