Brandeis Alumni, Family and Friends

Commencement 2025: ‘Let us resolve … to promote moderation and sobriety amid the extremism of our time’

May 18, 2025

By Julian Cardillo ’14
Photography by Dan Holmes and Gaelen Morse

A joyful atmosphere filled Brandeis’ leafy campus Sunday as the Class of 2025 gathered with family and friends to celebrate the university’s 74th Commencement in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center.

University Professor Jonathan Sarna ’75, MA’75, H’25, the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, delivered the keynote address to undergraduate students during the morning ceremony.

Physicist and former Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute president Shirley Ann Jackson, H’25, addressed graduate students in a separate afternoon ceremony.

Brandeis awarded three honorary degrees. Sarna, a preeminent historian of American Judaism and a Jewish communal leader, received an honorary Doctor of Letters. Jackson, whom Time Magazine called “perhaps the ultimate role model for women in science,” received an honorary Doctor of Science. Businessman and activist Jim Obergefell, H’25, the lead plaintiff in the landmark 2015 Supreme Court case legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, received an honorary Doctor of Laws.

In all, Brandeis awarded more than 1,700 degrees to undergraduate and graduate students.

Interim President Arthur Levine ’70 offered students three blessings in his remarks at the ceremonies: the hope to hold onto their dreams; the responsibility to pursue work they can be proud of; and the belief that they can make a difference and be effective.

“Tomorrow morning is going to require hope, responsibility and a sense of efficacy,” he told the graduates. “And I really beg of you, please be the people who will make that commitment, because no one else can.”

Different class years, same message

In his keynote, Sarna, who is retiring in December after 46 years in academia, described the Class of 2025 as a “sober” generation, not unlike his own Class of 1975, which he said seemed more concerned with “university budget cutbacks” than the radical activism of the 1960s.

“Our generation … had much reason to be sober,” Sarna said. “We had lived through an era driven by a president, Richard Nixon, intoxicated with power and fueled by rage. We watched the unfolding Watergate scandal, and the resignation of the vice president and then of the president. We experienced October 6, 1973 — Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar — when we awoke to horrifying news of a surprise attack on the State of Israel from neighboring Egypt and Syria.”

He continued to compare the two classes, separated by a half century, yet similar in temperament.

“Your generation, Class of 2025, likewise has much reason to be sober. Yours, too, is an era driven by a president intoxicated with power and fueled by rage. You lived through a global pandemic filled with lonely quarantine restrictions, Zoom classes, mandatory COVID testing, ubiquitous masks,” Sarna noted.

“Later, you watched as Russia invaded Ukraine, killing tens of thousands and displacing over 15 million people. And you experienced October 7, 2023, the holiday of Simchat Torah in Israel, when we awoke to horrifying news of a surprise attack upon the Jewish state’s southern border from neighboring Gaza.”

He urged Brandeis’ newest alumni to reject the extremism of our time, and to embrace moderation and sobriety. “Let us resolve … to promote moderation and sobriety amid the extremism of our time,” he noted.

“Back in 1975 that was the message my class of graduates heard, and that, members of the Class of 2025, is my message to you as well.”

Undergraduate student speaker Hana Klempnauer Miller ’25 challenged her peers to meet adversity with courage and purpose.

“The choices we make and the actions we take reveal who we are. So be unshakeable,” she implored her fellow classmates. “Carve a path forward not just for yourself, but for others to follow. Be defiant in the face of disappointment, and resilient in the wake of tragedy. Be truthful. Be joyful. Find what sparks your soul and refuse to let it go.”

‘Do not let others write your story’

Just hours after the undergraduates recessed, graduate-degree recipients and their families and friends convened in Gosman for the afternoon ceremony.

Jackson began her address by outlining her own background as an African American girl growing up during the upheaval of the civil rights movement, the space race and desegregation. As one of only two Black women undergraduates at MIT, she encountered prejudice that helped fuel her ambition.

“Colored girls should get a trade,” a professor admonished her when she announced her intention to major in physics.

“I chose physics as my trade — and in doing so, I chose not to be defined by limitation, but by possibility and accomplishment,” Jackson told the graduates and their families. “In fact, I often have told those whom I have advised or mentored that heritage is by chance; success by choice.”

She continued, “Do not let others write your story. Claim your intellect. Own your purpose. And if doors do not open, then open or create new doors.”

In their respective remarks, Jackson and Levine each reminded graduates of the need for moral clarity and truth-telling, and urged them to help create a better world, whatever their chosen profession.

“Tomorrow requires scholars, educators and researchers committed to discovering the truth in a time in which it is being trampled upon, and telling the world about the truths you discover, whatever the obstacles,” Levine said. “You can make a difference.”

Jackson enjoined her audience, “Ask yourself, not only ‘What can I achieve?’ but ‘What can I contribute?’”

‘Let us channel our resilience and faith into purpose’

Student speaker Giselle Gabriel, Heller MA’25, a native of Dominica, praised the university’s history and expressed deep gratitude to those, including an alumna, who supported her on what, at first, felt like an unlikely journey.

“Their belief in students like me inspired me not just to excel but to dream of how I could give back one day,” Gabriel said. “And that is what Brandeis stands for, a legacy of transformative giving, where generosity fuels excellence and enables us to lift each other higher.” She called on her fellow graduates to carry forward the Brandeis ethos in their next life chapter.

“As we step into the world beyond these walls, let us channel our resilience and faith into purpose,” Gabriel continued. “Let us lead with the same boldness that founded this university, the courage to challenge injustice, innovate fearlessly and uplift others. Let us honor the legacy of those who came before us by building a future that is bolder, brighter and more inclusive.”

In total, 919 students earned bachelor’s degrees. The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences awarded 228 master’s degrees; The Heller School for Social Policy and Management awarded 195 master’s degrees; Brandeis International Business School conferred 165. The Rabb School of Continuing Studies/Graduate Professional Studies awarded 126 master’s degrees. The university also awarded nine master’s certificates.

PhDs were conferred upon 66 candidates in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, 12 in the Heller School, and three at the Brandeis International Business School.