Brandeis budget crunch

tumblebunny
Fri, 03 Apr 2009 08:25:46 +0000

Sulsk and B77:

I don’t want to get sidetracked into a lengthy discussion of the Rose imbroglio. B77’s take is reasonable enough and probably accurate, up to a point. Campus museums in general get little traffic and have a lot of work in storage: both are givens and no reason to shut down, as was originally announced. Plans for the Rose are not part of an orderly process pre-dating the crunch; they are a direct response to the crunch. For a variety of reasons, the appearance is one of an institution in trouble and ready to take drastic steps.

My D plans to major in biology and, bless her, climb on the pre-med treadmill. I doubt that this path will be directly involved in the cuts. We’ve been to Brandeis twice. The first time my D sat in on a class, and the second time she stayed overnight and hung with Brandeis students. We know that Brandeis is special, believe me. We also know, protestations to the contrary, that the university is wounded, though the severity of the wound remains unclear. That’s why I’m asking and will continue to ask very tough questions.

Bates and Brandeis are (New England) apples and (Florida?) oranges. Both are outstanding for different reasons. All depends what you want, no? Rather, in this case it depends on what tumblebunny wants (she’s varsity gymnastics; hence the name).

Tumblebunny’s Dad