Brandeis University Develops "Coexistence Studies" Program

May 17, 2002

Source: The Boston Globe

On May 17, 2002, The Boston Globe featured a story on Jehuda Reinharz, president of Brandeis University in Waltham, MA, and his new program in conflict resolution. With this program, the university is "poised to become a world leader in teaching Israeli Arabs and Jews - and dozens of other warring peoples - to live together on the same land... Brandeis has begun building on its historically Jewish identity to create a new field it calls 'coexistence studies'... The school is now aggessively recruiting Jews and Arabs, Hindus and Muslims, and other historical antagonists to attend college together... In recent years the campus has reached out to Christians and Muslims, trying to create a hothouse of religious pluralism. About 100 Muslim students and 125 Hindus now mingle easily on campus, where about half of the 4,400 students are Jewish."