In the spring of 2018, the Brandeis Board of Trustees appointed independent investigators to look into racial discrimination and misconduct charges against the former men’s basketball coach, university procedures around complaints related to bias or discrimination, and more general questions about how we treat one another at Brandeis.
The first report, which looked specifically into what happened related to the former coach, was shared in September.
The second report, which focuses on campus climate, was shared in November. As the report shows, there are many ways in which Brandeis has fallen short of what we aspire to when it comes to upholding standards of equity and fairness. The investigators point out that much of what they observed is not unique to Brandeis.
But as Brandeisians, we aim for a higher standard. We can do better, we are working to do so, and we are committed to doing more.
In some cases, the university had begun to address issues long before the situation with the former coach became public, thanks in part to efforts by student leaders, as well as committed faculty and staff. In other cases, we are just starting the work we need to do.
To address issues newly surfaced by the report, the administration will be working on additional action plans, which will be communicated over the coming months.