The diversity of Jewish life on campus might be expected to produce tensions, as it has in Israel. But one of Brandeis's goals is to find a way for different kinds of Jews to live together. Organized Sabbath dinners on campus are an example. Sucheta Puranik, a junior from Wallingford, Conn., said it was fascinating to watch Jews, who are so used to being in the minority, feel in charge. But she said she joined the campus intercultural center to find others who feel a bit left out during Jewish holidays.
Blacks make up less than three percent of the student population.
In its early years, Brandeis's goal was not Jewish pluralism but the purest assimilation. Again, Harvard and other elite universities founded by religious communities were the models. Until 1937, for example, all presidents of Brown University were Baptists, many of them ministers. Today Brown, like the others, is a center of secularism. The Brandeis student body began overwhelmingly Jewish but quickly became more diverse, with 40 percent non-Jewish students.