Teachers are our priority

By: Michael Perloff

Posted: 11/25/08

Hurricane Mortgage Crisis has made landfall in Waltham. With a $10 million budget shortage and a defunct pool, Brandeis faces an unprecedented economic crisis. Even if the University receives assistance from one of its many generous benefactors, it will still need to make some sacrifices.

As the challenges mount, we, the students, should embrace the opportunities that emerge in times of hardship. Instead of just accepting the new restrictions on our college experience, we should find a way to help the members of our community whose lives will be most drastically affected by this budgetary crisis.

The great casualties of the economic storm are the faculty and staff members who will soon be unemployed. Cutting staff, particularly faculty lecturers, is always the last resort of any academic institution. Nevertheless, highly qualified and highly loyal people will be without jobs by this time next year.

The University is asking a lot of the student body too. Our sacrifices, while not as severe, begin in the classroom, where the University has placed a hiring freeze on faculty positions. If the University's financial situation does not improve, then it may ask us to forego scholarships, diverse food choices and other important parts of our college experience.

Not only does this mean that the University will not add any additional professors, it also means that the school will not replace any faculty members who retire, take a sabbatical or are forced to leave. As the faculty shrinks, the course offerings will have to follow suit. The disappearance of the USEM will only be the first.

The swim program is yet another sacrifice. If the University's financial state is forcing it to fire faculty, then it clearly doesn't have the money to repair the pool. Without training facilities, the future of the swim team remains in question.

For some, these sacrifices may be too much. Swimmers are some of the students most devastated by the current crisis. Swimmer Herbie Rosen '12 seemed frustrated by the indeterminate status of his team, yet acknowledged that "a college is based on academics first," and that people's livelihoods come before the pool.

Rosen also admitted that swimming only played a partial role in his decision to come to Brandeis. The students who did come here solely to swim are significantly more upset, and some have even entertained the thought of transferring if the University does not guarantee the program's survival.

I can understand this position. I came to this school, in part, because of the quality of the debate team. If the University could not sustain that program, then I would be severely disappointed, but the main reason I came here was for the History department, and if the University's budget situation forced it to cut that area, then I would seriously consider transferring, too. But even if the University could no longer afford to maintain the quality of the debate team and the quality of the History department and I were forced to forego all my passions, I would still not suffer the brunt of this budgetary crisis. That distinction belongs to the people who are losing their jobs.

All this upheaval gives us the chance to fulfill the creed of this institution. More than any sports team, academic department or club, Brandeis rests on the pillar of social justice and the forces of compassion and activism that come with it. With members of our community facing excessive challenges, we can act on these values.

There are endless ways for us to help ease the transition from employment to uncertainty. We can help them buy basic needs as they search for new jobs through something as lavish as a dinner benefit featuring the Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra or do something as simple as dorm-storming and tabling in Usdan. We can help them find new jobs by encouraging Hiatt Career Center to help faculty and staff members even after they have been let go.

However good these ideas sound, executing them will be difficult. I understand that the latest economic forecast shows that financial support for this project is unlikely. But even if we can't raise vast sums of money, efforts like these will show the recently released members of our community that they always have a place here, even if they aren't on the payroll.

Everyone has been touched by this economic hurricane, and we will all need to accept sacrifices that go beyond the limits of the University. But on this campus, there are people who will soon face unexpected economic strife. We can find ways to help these people, and, as Brandeis students, we should.