Text on screen reads: “Brandeis at 75.” Historic imagery of students is shown.
Text reads: “One Brandeis. Countless Stories.” Footage of students in more recent history is shown.
Max Perlitsch ’52 is seated in a room full of books. He says, “I’m a member of the first class to come to Brandeis in the fall of 1948. In the beginning, there were no traditions, no school newspaper, no school governance.” Black and white photos of Brandeis students from the 1950s are shown.
Noah Risley ’24, seated in front of a piano, says, “We were the Covid class, class of ’24. So our fall semester was wild, like our orientation was a free mask, a Covid test, and go to your room.” Imagery of students in Covid testing lines is shown. Noah continues, “But I met my girlfriend of two and a half years here. Her name’s Lauren, she’s great. She was actually the first person I saw.” Pictures of Noah and Lauren laughing and holding hands are shown.
Curtis Tearte ’73, Trustee, seated in an auditorium, says, “Student activism was very, very prevalent during that time, and many students were very, very focused and engaged regarding the anti-war protests, particularly as it related to the military draft.” Archival imagery of students demonstrating on campus is shown.
Detlev Suderow ’70, P’05, seated alongside a woman in an auditorium, says, “If you think about 1966, that’s 21 years after the Holocaust. There shows up this guy with an obvious German accent. Some people looked at me strange, but never in any way made me feel uncomfortable.” An old photo of Detleve and his wife is shown.
Eric Pressman ’98, seated in a room full of books, says, “What was Brandeis like in the late ’90s? I would say it was just when technology was starting to pop up.”
Cassie Seinuk ’09, seated in a room full of books, says, “Right away when I came here, I was introduced to the whole GLBTQA+ community, which was different letters at the time, and didn't’ quite understand what my palace was in that, but I knew it was really important.” An aerial shot of campus is shown.
Noah says, “Brandeis’ motto is ‘Truth even unto its innermost parts.’ So when we’re in the classroom, talking like something like a book, that can mean getting into a book so much you break its spine, and get into its innermost parts, or its halves.” Noah holds up a book broken in two. “I did that with this book, which is why it really speaks to my Brandeis experience.”
Eric says, “I have a lot of favorite memories.”
Jillian Franks PhD’26, seated in an auditorium, says, “And I’ve been able to go on some adventures with my cohort. We did this midnight breakfast thing and the line was so long. Of course, it was one night where it was snowing and cold and we were huddled together like penguins.” The long line and a picture of Jillian with her friends are shown.
Eric says, “My friends and I had this tradition where every time it snowed, we would grill.” An old picture of Eric and his friends grilling in the snow is shown.
Corrie Algar ’14, seated in a room full of books, says, “And I don’t know if I can admit to this now, but I guess it’s gone now, and I’m not a student here anymore, I can’t get in trouble, right? I totally climbed the castle when I was here. Like, me and some of my rock climbing friends. We climbed up to the top of the castle and sat there. It had such amazing views of the Boston skyline.” Old imagery of the castle and footage of the Boston skyline is shown.
Max says, “Dream and keep dreaming the dream that you have of one day being who you really want to be and see that fulfilled in what you choose to do with your lives. As a senior alumnus of this school, I feel I wanted to share this message, this central message with you, so you’d never forget what this special gift has been? That do it?” A voice off-screen says, “I don’t have notes,” and laughs. Max says, “Ok,” smiles, and gives a thumbs up.
Text reads, “Celebrating Brandeis at 75.” The Brandeis University logo is shown. Text reads, “Visit us at Brandeis.edu/75.”