Brandeis University's 61st Commencement was in many ways a perfect day, full of clear-eyed visions of the world that the Class of 2012 is entering and equally full of hope and optimism that the social justice mission and appetite for activism which have long been Brandeis hallmarks will help make that world better.

Posse Foundation founder Deborah Bial '87 gave a rousing commencement address, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen lent star quality to the Heller School ceremony and President Fred Lawrence paid tribute to Bial and the late philanthropist Myra Hiatt Kraft '64 as alumni who taught the whole community what it means to be Brandeisian. They "understood that social justice is not about what we think in the privacy of our rooms and studies; it is about how we act out into the world and change that world," Lawrence said.