A School of Quality Fights a Stereotype

In 1948, a defunct medical school squatted quietly near Waltham, Mass. The 200 acres of grass and mud were violated only by a stable, a single classroom building, a few houses, and The Castle, a fantastic melange of turrets and crenelations.

In the eight years since, the fieldstone stable has sprouted a shining wing and become a library; the dissecting room of The Castle has become a dining hall. Thirty-one major buildings have risen, roads have been built, shrubs planted. Respected academic names and promising younger ones have brought ability and prestige to the result: Brandeis, the first Jewish-founded nonsectarian university in the country.

The current wails of established colleges testify that even abstract thinking about expansion is difficult, that building a new institution of immediate high quality is a prodigious task. Brandeis has accomplished that task.

In seeking the ideal of an institution of quality, where "the integrity of learning will not be compromised," Brandeis has conquered many obstacles--no money, and no alumni to get it from; no academic reputation and no faculty to derive it from.

But through the fund-raising abilities of President Abram L. Sacher, and through such devices as foster alumni, money was gathered. Through high salaries and freedom from administrative burdens, an eminent faculty was assembled. Now, as the University concludes its eighth year, thousands of benefactors, hundreds of alumni, and Sachar and his staff can look back on a noteworthy achievement in American education and a milestone in the history of American Jewry.

That milestone is the first on a 70-year-long road. For decades, American Jews have wanted to found a nonsectarian educational institution. They have felt a vague gratitude to the hundreds of colleges founded by other denominations which have admitted Jews, frequently without limitation.

The impetus has been one of gratitude, not of defensive obligation. "After all," Sachar explains, "the Jewish community always chose to make its great gifts to existing institutions" with such happy results as Harvard's Littauer School of Public Administration.

Interest in founding a school was first prompted in 1867 with the establishment of Swarthmore by the Friends. But this movement was cut short by immigration: Jews constituted a sizable part of the Eastern European waves which came to this country between 1870 and World War I.

"Yes, But This is an Emergency"

The concern of American Jews became rehabilitation or support, or of eking out a living in a new land. A University was still a "wonderful idea, but this is an emergency."

Other emergencies followed: two World Wars, Nazi persecution, the plight of millions of displaced persons, and, for many Jews, the hope of Israel.

Finally came the catalyst to action. In 1946, the campus of defunct Middlesex Medical College was offered to a hastily-organized group of Boston businessmen. Middlesex was founded by Dr. John Hall Smith, an old New Englander who reacted against discrimination by other medical schools. Smith succeeded in maintaining a non-discriminatory admissions policy, but failed to maintain a satisfactory level of instruction.

The school was offered at no cost; the only demand was that the businessmen found an educational institution which continued the non-discriminatory admissions policy.

Despite obvious risks, the seven managed to raise $1,300,000 ad at one point shelled out $250,000 of their own. After settling squabbles with a "prefounding group" in New York, supported by Albert Einstein, they brought Brandeis into being in October, 1948.

The Castle and the miscellaneous buildings were the entire setting. Fortunately, the founders agreed on Sachar--a genial, stocky man with a remarkable ability to raise funds--for the presidency. Educated at Washington University, Harvard, and Cambridge, Sachar had taught history at the University of Illinois, and had written a "History of the Jews," which has gone through 14 editions. He also had gained an excellent administrative background by serving as president of the National Hillel Foundation for 15 years.

More important was the educational philosophy Sachar brought to the post. He could have taken the natural conservative course of gradual growth--both in size and quality. Instead, he chose to set high standards immediately.

"I was fortunate," he recalls, "to have had the complete support of the trustees" in recognizing with him that a modest, economizing start was insufficient. They went about building "not with the philosophy of a better day tomorrow, but rather, start at the top today."

The success of such a philosophy, of course, depends on the money with which to implement it. Sachar had the good sense to realize that he could not count on support simply because of a vague sympathy by Jews for a Jewish undertaking. It is a truism about American Jewry that its members dun each other for a perplexing number of causes. Instead, Sachar realized that the University's principles, if understood by potential benefactors, could lead to more certain bases of support.

Thus, the insistence on academic quality can be seen as a method as well as a principle. A school of excellent academic reputation would be much more likely to draw support than just another college. By emphasizing quality, Sachar could appeal to an obligation of pride.

The principle of strict nonsectarianism could be used with greater effectiveness in seeking support from Jews. By making Brandeis a showcase of democracy, Sachar could appeal to the tendency of Jews to want to illustrate that when they are in the majority, they will practice the same principles of religious freedom by which they benefit in society--an obligation of justification.

The most specific manner of creating support was by association. Early in the school's history, interested outsiders suggested that the new, alumni-less group "adopt" alumni. The University quickly did so, realizing that many of its potential benefactors were first or second generation citizens who had not attended college and thus would respond to an offer of a mock diploma.

Ersatz Alumni, Real Help

The success of the "foster alumni" has been startling. Over 6,000 men donate $100 each year to the school, and 49,000 women add $5 each to support the library. The total each year equals the income from an endowment of about $15,000,000.

Interest does not stop at mailing checks. There are Brandeis Foster Alumni clubs around the country, and "even though we've never had more than 200 graduating in any one year," says Saul Elgart, Director of University Resources, "Over 4,000 people turn up for commencement."

With this source of income assured, Sachar went out to build a University. There once was a good deal more truth than humor in his stock greeting to visitors: "Hello there. Have you seen the three new buildings that went up this morning?"

The Castle was entirely remodeled, and was followed in rapid order by Ford and Sydeman, classroom buildings; Ullman amphitheatre, with its indoor auditorium built on the stage designed for outdoor use; neat blocks of dormitories; A Student Union; the Shapiro athletic center; the already famed Three Chapels. Now under construction are the Slosberg Music and Art Center, and a $2,500,000 science building, made possible by a grant from the Hayden Foundation.

In the same way he brought buildings, Sacher set out to buy a faculty. He had to. Given the philosophy of starting at the top, the faculty was the sine qua non. He succeded in getting men like the late Ludwig Lewisohn, Leonard Bernstein '39, A.H. Maslow, Max Lerner, Irving Gifford Fine '37, Herbert Marcuse, and Frank Manuel '30.

The high salaries he offered have remained high. Brandeis received $440,000 of the recent Ford Foundation grant, and was one of the new schools awarded additional funds in recognition of previous efforts to raise faculty salaries. The Brandeis administration voted the entire $700,000 grant for use to increase the earnings of untenured members.

The Good Get Better

Salaries, however, have not been the only lure. Brandeis has not yet had to resort to the technique of many smaller schools: hiring many young teachers and then firing them before they reach the higher paying academic levels. As a result, good younger men have been able to develop at the Waltham campus.

In addition to faculty and facilities, the University sought to extend its emphasis on quality through special events and extracurricular activities. The best known of these is the annual Creative Arts Festival, which has included the world premiere of the English adaptation of the "Threepenny Opera" and a major are exhibit, "Young America--Artists Under Forty."

The School had to start its sports program slowly, of necessity. It had only freshmen in its first year, and has never had the manpower to support teams in a dozen sports. The program began with football, basketball, and baseball; and soccer and tennis have been added since.

There is now informal fencing competition, which has been so popular that it may be elevated to the intercollegiate level next year.

Not only sports, but academic activity got a boost in 1953 with the construction of the athletic center. Utility rooms with great window walls alternately house fencing, modern dance, half-finished paintings, or badminton.

The modernistic, overhanging beams and great windows of the center form an imposing contrast to the school's first athletic venture. "It was a freshman football game against Harvard," Sachar recalls, "and your team had to lend us the pants." The Judges' first team triumphed, 21 to 7.

Brandeis has also borrowed in academic respects. Its General Education S, like Dartmouth's Great Issues course, is required of all seniors. It involves a lecture every two weeks by an outside speaker, and subsequent panels and discussions.

Harvard Roots

Unlike the Dartmouth course, General Education S does not deal with issues, but with philosophies of life. Thurgood Marshall spoke last month, "not about the 'Alabama Story'," says Sachar, "but about how it is to be an American Negro in the South."

The school's General Education program clearly stems from Harvard, and its English Composition course required of virtually all freshmen, is patterned after the Harvard predecessor of Gen. Ed Ahf. Language and physical training requirements are also similar.

The school frankly admits to eclecticism. Borrowing is only a sensible way to achieve quality. "After all, we would be foolish not to try to learn from the experience of older, larger schools," Sachar believes.

Nevertheless, there has been no fear of letting borrowed programs develop. In General Education, for example, there has been a tendency away from "large omnibus courses," and Creative Arts has been added to the traditional three fields of humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

The emphasis on quality has been successful. Because the administration has been careful, however, to prevent overextending the educational facilities offered, Brandeis has been the frequent target of criticism on a quantitative basis. Its only graduate school is a small (150) one in arts and sciences, and critics clamor for a medical school--as a haven for Jewish medical students denied access elsewhere because of apparent quota limitations.

Sachar has steadfastly refused, however. The stated reason is that if there is to be a medical school, it must be a good one, and that the thirty or forty million dollars necessary for a good medical school are not available.

Perhaps the more realistic reason is that the found would be very easily available--because of the belief of the Jewish community in quota limits.5Brandeis has been both praised for true nonsectarianism and criticized for hypocrisy after it constructed the already famous Three Chapels last year. The three, Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant (from left) are designed to appear equal in size, even though the Jewish structure holds twice as many as either of the others.