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TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013
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THE JUSTICE
ADMINISTRATION
HELLER SCHOOL
Communications reorganized Center ■ Senior Vice President for
Communications Ellen de Graffenreid spearheaded several department changes. By Marissa ditkowsky JUSTICE Editor
Brandeis reorganized its Office of Communications this summer, splitting the department into four divisions and dissolving a former unit. The four divisions will be as follows: Strategic Communications, Creative Services, Integrated Media Relations and Digital Communications. The News and Communications unit is being dissolved and will be replaced by the Integrated Media Relations unit. Therefore, such positions as editor of BrandeisNOW have been eliminated. Former News Director Charles Radin will now act as the communications liaison in the Office of the President. According to Radin in an email to the Justice, the job will entail “doing
writing and research of whatever kind President [Frederick] Lawrence and Chief-of-Staff David Bunis need.” “The primary goal of this reorganization is to create a more collaborative structure in the Office of Communications to advance Brandeis’ strategic goals and be more responsive to the campus community’s needs,” wrote Senior Vice President for Communications Ellen de Graffenreid, who is responsible for the reorganization of the department, in an email to the Justice. According to de Graffenreid, the reorganization “took into account the goals that I was asked to achieve when President Lawrence hired me, the Brandeis Strategic Plan, feedback from the campus community gathered through a formal survey, current best practices in higher education communications and marketing, and a research project in which my team benchmarked the communications organizations of more than 20 peer institutions.” The reorganizations will be accompanied by new communications initiatives and projects. De Graffen-
reid explained that this fall, the department will be initiating an update of the Brandeis graphic identity and a major market research project. According to a July 29 memo to the campus community sent out by de Graffenreid, the Strategic Communications unit will be responsible for the overall editorial direction of institutional-level communications at Brandeis. The unit will handle publications, photography, video, email marketing and web features. The unit will be led by Laura Gardner, who has accepted the position of executive director. Gardner will be working with photographer Mike Lovett and videographer Ryan Scura on major editorial and institutional projects. She will also act as the daily manager for Brandeis Magazine. The Integrated Media Relations unit will be implemented “to significantly enhance Brandeis’ external media presence in print, television, online and news-based social media.” The team will also help to enhance internal communications. The University will be hiring an executive director for
this unit. This leader will serve as University spokesperson and work closely with the president’s cabinet. According to de Graffenreid, the search for an executive director will start immediately. Creative Services will continue under the leadership of Deborah Wieder, according to the memo. However, the unit will have new objectives. “The team will work very closely with Strategic Communications to manage the visual aspects of Brandeis University’s identity and serve as brand stewards, while providing a source of expert advice on creative approaches that reflect the diversity of Brandeis’ audiences and goals,” wrote de Graffenreid in the memo. The Web Communications team is being renamed Digital Communications “to better reflect the scope of their duties as a linchpin for our integrated communications and marketing efforts,” the memo states. Audrey Griffin-Goode will continue to lead the unit. According to the memo, this team will also work on home page editorial efforts and social media.
A WARM WELCOME
OLIVIA POBIEL/the Justice
University President Frederick Lawrence welcomed and shared words of wisdom with the incoming Class of 2017 to Brandeis University during the Brandeis Beginnings ceremony on Sunday to kick off this year’s orientation.
ADMISSIONS
Lawrence discusses ‘Fisher’ case
■ Proponents of affirmative
action defended its impact on diversity on campuses in the wake of the Fisher case. By Marissa ditkowsky JUSTICE EDITOR
The recent Supreme Court decision in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin led to a national discussion regarding the applicability and effectiveness of affirmative action. Brandeis administrators took part in this discussion, noting the influence any change in affirmative action could have on the University and the United States. On July 2, University President Frederick Lawrence participated in a panel discussion at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia to examine the significant rulings of the Supreme Court’s 2012-2013 term. During the event, Lawrence and other members of the panel discussed Fisher and its implications. After being rejected from the University of Texas at Austin, plaintiff Abigail Fisher filed a lawsuit asking that the Court declare the university’s race-conscious admissions inconsistent with Grutter v. Bollinger, a 2003 case which established that race had an appropriate but limited role in the admissions policies of public universities. Fisher, a Caucasian female, maintained that the university had racially discriminated against her in its admissions process. Justice Anthony Kennedy delivered the majority opinion, stating Fisher could only challenge “whether
the university’s decision to use race as an admissions factor ‘was made in good faith.’” Due to the fact that the Fifth Circuit failed to apply strict scrutiny as maintained by the Supreme Court majority, the case was vacated and remanded in a 7-1 decision with only Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissenting. “There were those of us who [were] feared [by] the fact that the Court took this case only 10 years after the Grutter decision … So there was certainly concern that it was agenda-driven and that the agenda might very well be overruling Grutter and overruling [Regents of the University of California v. Bakke],” said Lawrence during the panel discussion. Lawrence asserted that he has taken comfort in the fact that the Supeme Supreme Court did not overturn Grutter or change the protocol of affirmative action. “I guess in my head I share … pessimism that affirmative action may be on shaky ground … But I think we will learn a great deal about this in the coming term and terms … watching how lower courts continue to work,” he said. Although the case specifically referred to public universities, the controversy over affirmative action could potentially reach to private universities. “The fact that this is a core issue to us as a private university means that it will affect us sort of one level removed,” said Lawrence during the panel discussion. “But if the court decides down the road that affirmative action is actually a form of racial discrimination, that would affect us in private universities, as well,
so this is something we pay very close attention to.” According to Lawrence, diversity is a core piece of Brandeis. “Going back to when the University was founded in 1948, as a university they would not discriminate and therefore would be open to all comers,” he said during the panel. Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel also acknowledged the University’s emphasis on diversity. “In many ways, Brandeis was founded as a response to the exclusionary admission practices of elite institutions,” he wrote in an email to the Justice. According to Flagel, the University admissions process was designed to avoid discrimination against any group. “We undertake a complex, holistic review of all applicants to determine the best fit for Brandeis. This balances student profile with the talents and backgrounds that make for our highly competitive entering classes,” he wrote. “I haven’t seen anything in the Supreme Court decisions that are likely to impact that process.” For critics of affirmative action concerned that affirmative action could allow for “unqualified” students to be admitted to universities, Flagel wrote, “Our students are phenomenally successful, persisting through to graduation as well as in placement in graduate schools and careers, and the profile of our entering class is among the highest in the nation. I don’t imagine [those] kinds of concerns … are an issue for Brandeis.”
The strategic plan, a plan endorsed by the Board of Trustees that was designed to provide a framework for decision making for the University, introduced the sentiment from the University that it must continue to increase diversity among its student population, a result considered to be the purpose of affirmative action by its proponents. According to the strategic plan, as of its release, 21 percent of the University’s undergraduates are students of color, 30 percent are first-generation college students and 30 percent come from low-income households. “Brandeis continues to reach out nationally to increase the diversity of our applicant pool,” wrote Flagel in regards to the University’s plans to increase diversity as stated in the strategic plan. According to Lawrence, for schools such as Brandeis, it could be easier to defend programs that would increase diversity. “I think that those of us with smaller universities and smaller undergraduate student bodies it may be somewhat easier to make the cases for why specific decisions had to be made the way they are. In large state universities, the challenge may be very great,” he said. Despite the questions regarding affirmative action and its future following Fisher, diversity remains a key component to the University. “There is no more important aspect of [ensuring] that we protect the vision of the founders to remove any barriers to an elite education for the very best students, regardless of their background,” wrote Flagel.
receives service grant
■ The Center for Youth and
Communities received a grant from the Walmart Foundation to help fund its summer program. By ILANA KRUGER JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
This past July, the Center for Youth and Communities at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management received a grant for $2.5 million from the Walmart Foundation. The grant, part of Walmart’s 2013 Summer Youth Employability Initiative, funds programs that provide jobs for teenagers in cities including Hartford, Conn.; Philadelphia; San Diego; and Chicago, among others. This is the second year in a row that the CYC has received a grant from Walmart. CYC Director Prof. Susan P. Curnan (Heller) said in a July 22 press release, “We describe our approach to the summer program as ‘100 [percent] work, 100 [percent] learning.’” The center gives grants to different agencies in the cities mentioned above to support the programs. These programs are then supervised by researchers at the center who also provide technical support as needed. The initiative gives at-risk teenagers a chance to participate in work-to-career programs in government and non-profit settings that give them important skills and experience for future employment. The CYC works with schools, local government and non-profit agencies to place the teenagers in the programs. Curnan said she believes that the programs are vital for the success of participating teenagers. “Summers matter—over the long term, youth who participate in year-round programs or multiple summer experiences intentionally combining work, learning, and support can improve educational outcomes, are less likely to drop out, have less difficulty getting and keeping jobs, and have higher lifelong earnings than those who do not.” The CYC works to “improve the quality of education, workforce development, and organizational and community-building systems” through “scholarly research and practical experience,” according to the center’s online mission statement. The Walmart Foundation, whose other initiatives include sustainability, hunger relief and economic empowerment for women, gave over one billion dollars to its various beneficiaries in the past year. “At Walmart, we recognize the need to support the next generation of our nation’s workforce,” said Julie Gehrki, senior director of the Walmart Foundation, in a July 22 press release. “By working closely with the Heller School’s Center for Youth and Communities at Brandeis University, we are able to help provide youth access to job opportunities and skills training during the summer months so they can return to school more prepared for the future.” The center was given five million dollars from the Walmart Foundation in 2012 for its National Program Office to disburse among different urban communities to fund similar summer programs. According to Walmart’s press release, it is estimated that the grant funded 120 hours of work for teenagers at around one hundred work sites this summer.