Spring Break
Won't say goodbye
by Lauren Ehrlich
Features | 3/13/07
Posted online at 10:45 PM EST on 3/12/07
/ Last updated at 1:35 AM EST on 3/12/07
Some say the small size of the Brandeis population is socially restrictive. But for many alumni, the size of the University lends itself well to fostering close friendships-and sometimes, marriages.
Karen Ann Engleberg '79, assistant vice president of alumni relations, described a phenomenon she calls "Louie Love," wherein one Brandeisian marries another. Based on anecdotal evidence, Engleberg said, Brandeis' rate of alumni marriages is higher than at other colleges.
Fifteen percent of Brandeis alumni are married to another Brandeis graduate, Engleberg said.
Barry Margolis '79 hypothesized that Brandeis' "intimate setting fostered meeting [between] future spouses."
One group of alumni, who have remained friends since meeting their freshman year, also serve as a testament to the power of the Brandeis bond.
In the fall of 1975, seven first-years living in North Quad's Gordon Hall formed a friendship that lasted 28 years.
Their friendship has taken them through marriages, careers and, sometimes, to balmy vacations in the Florida Keys.
"Our group [of friends] was very close during our years at Brandeis ,and, through the effort of a few of us, we stayed close," Marc Ehrlich '79 said.
After graduation, the group began to lose touch, keeping in contact only sporadically through postcards or e-mails. Their careers and families became more important, and they began to drift apart, Ehrlich said. But after traveling to the well-attended 20th reunion of the class of 1979, Ehrlich had an epiphany.
"I realized that I wanted these guys in my day-to-day life," he said.
Ehrlich assembled a Yahoo.com group that included the e-mail addresses of all of his friends from that first year at Brandeis.
He called the group "OK-Bye," after what they called their intramural volleyball team senior year.
Their team name came from an inside joke: "If one of us was on the phone, [David Kessler '79] would try to get us off the phone so we could get back to something important. Dave would start saying, 'OK… OK… OK… OK bye… OK bye… OK' until we hung up or cracked up. It seemed like a good name for senior year. The irony is that 28 years later, we still have not said goodbye."
Karen Ann Engleberg '79, assistant vice president of alumni relations, described a phenomenon she calls "Louie Love," wherein one Brandeisian marries another. Based on anecdotal evidence, Engleberg said, Brandeis' rate of alumni marriages is higher than at other colleges.
Fifteen percent of Brandeis alumni are married to another Brandeis graduate, Engleberg said.
Barry Margolis '79 hypothesized that Brandeis' "intimate setting fostered meeting [between] future spouses."
One group of alumni, who have remained friends since meeting their freshman year, also serve as a testament to the power of the Brandeis bond.
In the fall of 1975, seven first-years living in North Quad's Gordon Hall formed a friendship that lasted 28 years.
Their friendship has taken them through marriages, careers and, sometimes, to balmy vacations in the Florida Keys.
"Our group [of friends] was very close during our years at Brandeis ,and, through the effort of a few of us, we stayed close," Marc Ehrlich '79 said.
After graduation, the group began to lose touch, keeping in contact only sporadically through postcards or e-mails. Their careers and families became more important, and they began to drift apart, Ehrlich said. But after traveling to the well-attended 20th reunion of the class of 1979, Ehrlich had an epiphany.
"I realized that I wanted these guys in my day-to-day life," he said.
Ehrlich assembled a Yahoo.com group that included the e-mail addresses of all of his friends from that first year at Brandeis.
He called the group "OK-Bye," after what they called their intramural volleyball team senior year.
Their team name came from an inside joke: "If one of us was on the phone, [David Kessler '79] would try to get us off the phone so we could get back to something important. Dave would start saying, 'OK… OK… OK… OK bye… OK bye… OK' until we hung up or cracked up. It seemed like a good name for senior year. The irony is that 28 years later, we still have not said goodbye."
Be the first to comment on this story