October 7: Brandeis University

Brandeis University was officially dedicated on this date in 1948 as the first Jewish-sponsored, non-sectarian university in the United States. Established on the 100-acre campus of the failing Middlesex University in Waltham, Massachusetts, Brandeis was conceived of and established through the efforts of Rabbi Israel Goldstein (also a founder of the National Conference of Christians and Jews), attorney and fundraiser George Alpert (the father of Richard Alpert/Ram Dass), Albert Einstein, and Abram L. Sachar, who became the university’s first president. Einstein broke with the enterprise, however, after objecting to the inclusion of Francis Cardinal Spellman in a fundraising event, and over Einstein’s desire to have the presidency go to Harold Laski, a progressive scholar whom George Alpert characterized as “a man utterly alien to American principles . . . tarred with the Communist brush.” The rift went deep; Einstein refused an honorary degree from Brandeis in 1953. In 2011, Brandeis was ranked as the 31st best university in the U.S. by U.S. News and World Report, and Forbes ranked it 57th among universities and liberal arts colleges combined. Its graduates have included Abbie Hoffman, Thomas Friedman, Michael Walzer, Angela Davis, Ha Jin, and Michael Sandel. The student body at Brandeis is now approximately 60 percent Jewish and has a diverse, international contingent.

“Brandeis never became the Harvard of the Jews. Harvard became the Harvard of the Jews . . .” Ethan Bronner, New York Times