First-years unite at Light the Night

The Class of 2023 gathered at Chris Burden’s "Light of Reason" installation for an annual tradition as the first day of New Undergraduate Student Orientation came to a close.

Photo/Mike Lovett

Students from the Class of 2023 come together with their orientation leaders for Light the Night.

The Class of 2023 gathered at Chris Burden’s "Light of Reason" installation outside the Rose Art Museum to close out the first day of New Undergraduate Student Orientation with Light the Night, an annual tradition inspired by university namesake Louis Brandeis’ iconic quote: “If we would guide by the light of reason, we must let our minds be bold.”

Orientation core committee members Andrew Baxter ’21, Grace Berry ’21 and Emma Wolters ’21 started Light the Night by explaining how Brandeis represents home, community and family. 

The new students were given blue lanterns and instructed to write down a hope or a dream for their time at Brandeis. As the members of the Class of 2023 raised their lanterns, Baxter, Berry and Wolters flipped a switch and the Light of Reason was illuminated.

After the event, the new first-years shared their first dinner together at Brandeis on the Great Lawn. The Boston-based band The Free Downloads played songs like Van Morrisons “Moondance,” Corinne Bailey Rae’s “Put your records on” and Toploader’s “Dancing in the Moonlight.”