Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

March 25, 2024

For this year’s DEIS Impact festival, the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Education and Learning Initiatives produced an historic three-day symposium, Embracing Difference: Recognizing Jewish Identity at the Margins in the Effort to Address Racism and Antisemitism, held on March 25-27 in Hassenfeld Conference Center. The symposium was centered around Audre Lorde’s ‘theory of difference’ and intersectionality, and brought together regional and national scholars, practitioners, and the Brandeis community to explore the evolving narrative of “who is Jewish?” – and how those within the greater Jewish diaspora, the Black community, and other marginalized sectors can come together to harness collective agency in the struggle for social justice.

March 30, 2022

This event explored how classical Indian Dance connects movement of the body as a form of self-expression. For this session, the Student Union was joined by Neena Gulati, a master of Indian classical dance, specifically the Pandanallur style of Bharatanatyam. She gives lecture-demonstrations, explaining and demonstrating her art form to varied audiences. She has received high critical acclaim for her professional performances throughout India and the United States. The Boston Globe described her as a "pioneer in bringing classical Indian dance in all its nuance to New England."

March 31, 2022

Athlete Ally and Brandeis Athletics hosted a Fish Bowl style panel with transgender athletes from across NCAA sports and divisions. This was an opportunity to learn first-hand about the transgender athlete experience and the importance of trans inclusion in athletics.

April 1, 2022

This workshop, hosted by Keshet, used an interactive timeline activity to explore key moments in LGBTQ+ Jewish history in the United States. Participants explored the implications of this history for our work on LGBTQ equality and belonging in Jewish life today.  

Facilitated by Eli Sobel (they/them) Associate Trainer at Keshet and Program Administrator at GSC Brandeis and Presented by the Gender and Sexuality Center and Keshet. Deis Impact is made possible by the generous support of the Louis D. Brandeis Legacy Fund for Social Justice. Learn more about the Legacy Fund.

April 1, 2022

Dr. Janice Johnson Dias is the bestselling author of Parent Like It Matters: How to Raise Joyful Change-making Girls and a renowned sociologist who has devoted her life to inspiring girls to become change makers—whether through her investment in her daughter Marley Dias’s humanitarian projects, or through her work with the GrassROOTS Community Foundation’s “SuperCamp,” which she co-founded ten years ago. She has trained hundreds of children in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Dr. Johnson Dias’ collaborative work on black girls' mental, sexual, and physical health issues earned her a special Congressional recognition and grants from the Robert Wood Johnson and Annie E. Casey Foundations.

During this book talk, Dr. Johnson Dias explored the roots of belonging by analyzing her social science research and her own hard-earned experiences to demonstrate the interconnection between poverty and health and its impact on women and girls.

April 1, 2022

In this conversation between GLAD’s Community Engagement Manager, Qwin Mbabazi and Mass NOW Executive Director SashaGoodfriend, participants learned about the history and current efforts centering women and transgender people in public policy in the Commonwealth, including the fight to pass the I AM Bill to Increase Access to Menstrual Products in all schools, shelters and incarcerated facilities and end period poverty statewide.

Facilitated by Anastasia Owen, (she/her/hers), Candidate for Master of Public Policy '22 at the Heller School. Presented by the Gender and Sexuality Center, GLGBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), MassNOW, Heller’s Queer Graduate Student Union, Brandeis’ LGBTQ+ Professional Association, and the Heller Gender Working Group.

April 8, 2021

This event explored Deis Impact's theme of Im/Migration as it relates to the migration of caste and its effect on the South-Asian diaspora in the United States. Facilitated by Jaspreet Mahal of the Student Accessibility Support Office and the Boston Study Group, a nonprofit organization working within the anti-caste movement.

April 9, 2021

Jose Antonio Vargas is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and Tony-nominated producer. Jose's keynote address, "Notes of an Undocumented Citizen," discussed his groundbreaking new book and what Jose describes as, "homelessness, not in a traditional sense, but in the unsettled, unmoored psychological state that undocumented immigrants like myself find ourselves in.”

Deis Impact joined forces with the African and African American Studies Program (AAAS) as part of their 50th anniversary commemoration to host Angela Davis ’65 and Julieanna Richardson ’76, H’16 as keynote speakers.

Davis discussed her experiences at Brandeis and the ways she engaged with and cultivated her scholarship and activism at Brandeis and beyond. It was standing-room only in Levin Ballroom with a video-feed to a projector/screen in the Shapiro Campus Center. The event was also live streamed.

This event included four Brandeis alumni from various generations speaking about their work and experiences in fighting for justice reform and prisoner rights.

Pastor Cori Bush from Ferguson, Missouri, joined us to share about her experiences.

A roundtable discussion of Brandeis faculty, students and alumni.

Su’ad Khabeer, a performance artist, performed her one-woman show.

Davis captured the attention of the standing-room-only audience with memories of her experiences at Brandeis and the ways she engaged with and cultivated her scholarship and activism at Brandeis and beyond.

Members of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers spoke about the current boycott on Wendy’s restaurant.

Mariama White-Hammond, a Boston-based faith leader, spoke forcefully about environmental racism, oppression and privilege.

Brandeis alumni from different stages in their academic and professional careers reflected upon how oppressed people can or cannot rely on the system of the international criminal courts. These reflections were taken from their experiences as participants in the Brandeis in the Hague program.

This workshop introduced critical consumption theories around race, gender and other social identities in the context of the media we consciously and unconsciously consume.