
SGAR-free campuses in Waltham
SWW End of summer update September 5th, 2025
We’re happy to report that Waltham’s two universities, Bentley and Brandeis, which between them cover a good deal of green space and border on much more, have both stopped using SGAR poisons on their campuses. Bentley University clarified to us last spring, after several contacts, that they do not currently use SGARs in their bait boxes. More recently, Brandeis University agreed to stop using SGARs on their campus, after lobbying from SWW and from student groups. This is an especially welcome development given that several dead hawks, as well as a dying coyote pup, all found on the Brandeis campus, had tested positive for SGAR poisoning. (See the relevant article in the Waltham Times.)
SWW has since reached out to Brandeis students (some of whom have joined our email list!) regarding the importance of proper trash disposal and management for keeping rats at bay by depriving them of ready food sources. Part of this effort has been to have Brandeis students to take the “CAMPUS CHAMPION PLEDGE” (see the picture).