Brendan Weintraub
Hello and good morning to Interim President Lynch, members of the Board of Trustees,
honorary degree recipients, faculty, staff, alumni, family and friends. And a very special shout
out to the Class of 2016!
It seems cliché to start off a graduation speech with “we did it.” But I think it’s safe to
say that after the past four years, we have earned the right to say it, and say it loudly. As I
thought about writing this speech, I brainstormed the many things that brought us together as a
class. Was it orientation? Was it the fact that Pachanga started back up during our first year or
that the library party was created during our sophomore year? Was it being buried under a
ridiculous amount of snow during Nemo? After some thought, although these were shared events
individually, they weren’t incidents that brought us all together. Maybe you, excuse my French,
hated orientation, or you don’t like Levin dance parties, or you enjoy being ridiculously cold.
What makes us so special as a class is our complete differences. Yes we have unifying
factors that place us into groups within Brandeis: being a part of the theater, a sports team, or a
community service group. But finding a common denominator between all of us is hard. Unless
you think of the most basic attribute that we’ll all have by the end of the day: a Brandeis degree.
Now yes this may have been the hardest, and easily the most expensive piece of paper we
ever get, but think about the experiences we’ve had since coming to Brandeis.
Freshman year, we were all wide-eyed and ready to take on the world, with our motto in
mind. “Truth. Even unto its inner most parts.” Maybe you knew exactly what the motto meant,
and precisely how you were going to make an impact. Or maybe you were like me at that point,
and were just trying to figure out how to pronounce “Usdan” and survive 9am classes.
Regardless of whichever category you fell under, I don’t think any of us knew how the next four
years were going to unfold. We would go on to dream big.
Sophomore year we settled in, many of us having a year under our belts out of high
school. In true Brandeis fashion, we discovered that it is possible to take 5 classes, be in a
performance group, and have time for a job on campus. We smiled at the person riding their
unicycle across campus. We knew the best way to get up Rabb without actually walking up the
stairs. We started our next chapter in our Brandeis career.
Sophomore year allowed us to establish ourselves on Brandeis’ campus. We had more of
an idea on how we could achieve our motto. We finally knew all of the resources that Brandeis
offers—whether that be the Hiatt Career Center, Study Abroad, or our amazing professors and
professional staff. We soaked up the knowledge we could from those we encountered and finally
had a better sense in what direction we could go to realize our goal.
Junior year was a year full of experiences. It was the time many of us chose to study
abroad. We went all over the world: from Chicago to China, finding fluency in languages, and
finding ourselves. Those who didn’t go abroad found a new sense of home at Brandeis: familiar
faces were missing in the community, but new connections were made. But regardless if we went
abroad first semester, second semester, the summer, or not at all, we all grew immensely during
this year. Friendships were tested: to be honest we were all in a long distanced “relationships”
with a best friend or two during Junior year.
Senior year we came back together, unifying again as a class in our pursuit of social
justice. Many of us had internships and jobs that threw us into new paths in our education and
career goals. We began to plan out our lives after Brandeis, with an uneasy feeling of losing
something. Although we each have our differences, that unity of being a “brandeisian” shined
through student activism, dedication to our work, and the occasional Joe’s night.
Brendan Weintraub
Now, from the experiences we’ve had over the past four years, there are some lessons
we’ve shared that I think are crucial in keeping our inner Brandeisian alive.
First, keep your Brandeis friendliness, and yes sometimes awkwardness. After being on a
campus that has a day dedicated to being kind, people who hold doors for you even though
you’re 20 feet from it, and groups that bring in service dogs to play with during stressful times,
the real world may take us for a whirl. Depending on where you end up, you may find a crowd of
people all looking at their feet, who don’t think twice to stop and say sorry after bumping into
you. You may feel discouraged and excessively stressed when you have a deadline for a work
project that your co-workers aren’t helping you with. In these times, keep your altruism. Don’t
lose the genuine spirit each and every one of you have. I saw it during our first year here, and it
multiplied as we all got to know each other.
Second, make sure you are comfortable in the space that you’re in, but don’t be afraid to
push out of your comfort zone from time to time. If our sophomore year taught us anything, it’s
that we can accomplish so much when we are in a supportive environment. I mean we did
discover how to avoid the Rabb steps… We all have a right to feel at ease. That being said,
coming to Brandeis was, for many of us, something that pushed us out of our comfort zones.
We’ve persevered the past four years, and have succeeded. Never be afraid to try something new
and fail. It’s something to add to your experience repertoire and can teach you how to succeed in
the future.
Third, it’s important to keep our loved ones with us. Whether you listened to former
President Fred Lawrence and found your spouse (I’m still waiting for mine, but I’m not bitter),
or best friends that will last a lifetime at Brandeis, keep in touch. Text them; call them; FaceTime
them; even write a letter. Make it known that they are special and that you’ll always be there for
them. Don’t let something like distance keep you apart. We didn’t during junior year, so let’s not
start now. Smartphones were a great invention y’all, just saying.
Finally, never forget the power that comes with immense passion. Social justice was a
key factor in many of our decisions to come to Brandeis, and after four years, we solidified the
meaning. Our class was key in many of the changes we saw in Brandeis over the past four years.
The activism students showed, and the work they put into the causes they were a part of
transformed campus culture and structure. Groups of us were integral in our campus divestment
campaign; in holding our community accountable for title IX issues, including the hiring of
professional staff and the creation of the Rape Crisis Center as support services for survivors on
Brandeis’ campus; in breaking the silence and standing up to the lack of resources for and
disproportionate representation of students of color on Brandeis’ campus through FordHall2015,
easily one of the most iconic and powerful stances students made to fight for their right to be in a
welcoming space. Although these are just some examples of the legacy we will leave Brandeis
with, they show what true passion can do. Our passion and our actions are what promote and
encourage social justice. Whether you are actively engaged in protests, are a support system for
those who are, or find other ways of helping others, we can and will make an impact in whatever
we choose to do.
Whether your Brandeis experience was full of Levin dance parties, studying at all hours
of the night in the dungeon, or speaking up for what you believe in, all of our stories lead us to
where we are right now. And although this ceremony, this day, is a common denominator for all
of us, we will all disperse again, sharing what we’ve learned and experiencing new things along
the way.
So to be thoroughly cliché, congratulations to the class of 2016! We did it.