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Who’s Speaking at College Graduations Across the U.S.?
The federal government has investigated prominent universities, paused grant funding and revoked student visas. And still, it is graduation season on American campuses, where thousands of young adults will soon don four-sided caps and celebrate years of hard work while “Pomp and Circumstance” plays on repeat.
Like always, college administrators have selected a range of keynote speakers to impart wisdom (and, they hope, avoid controversy) at commencement ceremonies.
A year after pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated at many graduations, and amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on higher education, colleges are walking a tightrope in picking speakers. Administrators want to find someone who is interesting and accomplished and perhaps has ties to their school, but also who is unlikely to set off protests or say something that would bring unwelcome attention.
This year’s list includes many of the usual suspects: governors, cabinet secretaries and political commentators with well-known views on the most divisive issues of the day. It also includes scores of athletes and celebrities from outside the partisan fray.
Here is a look at some of the others, including a Muppet, who are scheduled to address graduates in the days and weeks ahead:
The Entertainers
Nothing seems likelier to boost graduation attendance than having a celebrity onstage to shake hands with graduates. This year, plenty have signed up.
The rapper Snoop Dogg will speak to graduates of the University of Southern California’s business school, and Jon M. Chu, a film director, will speak at that institution’s universitywide commencement. Steve Carell of “The Office” will be at Northwestern University, and Sandra Oh of “Grey’s Anatomy” will headline Dartmouth College’s ceremony. Elizabeth Banks of “The Hunger Games” will speak at the University of Pennsylvania. The singer Usher will be honored at Emory University’s graduation.
Vanderbilt University invited Gary Sinise, whose credits include “Forrest Gump” and “Apollo 13.” The singer Sara Bareilles will speak at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Taylor Sheridan, the creator of “Yellowstone,” will take the stage at the University of Texas at Austin. LeVar Burton, of “Reading Rainbow” fame, will speak at Howard University.
Perhaps no celebrity speaker will be more anticipated, or more unusual, than the amphibious orator at the University of Maryland: Kermit the Frog, who will have to forgive his hosts for not having green among their school colors.
At a time of intense political division and sharp critiques of higher education from many Republicans, colleges have signed up a bipartisan contingent of government leaders to speak.
President Trump has said he will take the stage at the University of Alabama and the U.S. Military Academy. At least two members of his cabinet are also planning to address students. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is set to speak at Dakota State University, and Doug Collins, the veterans affairs secretary, will visit Piedmont University in his home state of Georgia.
Plenty of governors are also preparing speeches. Among Republicans, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire will address Nashua Community College graduates, Phil Scott of Vermont will be welcomed to Norwich University and Glenn Youngkin of Virginia will speak twice in two days, first at Liberty University and then at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise. Charlie Baker, the former governor of Massachusetts and current leader of the N.C.A.A., will talk to graduates of Colby College.
Democratic governors will also take the stage, including Maura Healey of Massachusetts at Mount Holyoke College, Ned Lamont of Connecticut at Trinity College, Wes Moore of Maryland at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, JB Pritzker of Illinois at Knox College and Tim Walz of Minnesota at the University of Minnesota’s law school. Steve Bullock, the former governor of Montana, will speak at Columbia Law School.
Some international leaders are also expected. Jacinda Ardern, the former prime minister of New Zealand, will be at Yale University’s Class Day, and Mary McAleese, the former president of Ireland, has been invited to St. Mary’s College in Indiana.
The Athletes
Many universities opted for sports stars this year. Derek Jeter, the longtime New York Yankees shortstop, will speak at the University of Michigan, and Orel Hershiser, the former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher, will talk to graduates of Bowling Green State University, the school he attended.
Decorated Olympians are also on the speaker list. The gymnast Simone Biles will address graduates at Washington University in St. Louis and the swimmer Katie Ledecky at Stanford University will do the same. Mia Hamm, who won three Olympic medals on the U.S. women’s soccer team, will talk at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Emma Coburn, a medal-winning track and field athlete, will give the address at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she competed as a collegian. Justin Best, a gold medalist in rowing, will speak at his alma mater, Drexel University.
From the basketball world, Carmelo Anthony will return to Syracuse University, where he won a national championship. Grant Hill, whose pass set up the shot that delivered Duke University an Elite Eight win in 1992, will be back in Durham. And Jonquel Jones of the New York Liberty will speak at George Washington University.
Perhaps no sport is better represented on the graduation stage than football. Among the current and former players invited to speak: A.J. Brown at the University of Mississippi, Derwin James Jr. at the University of Bridgeport, Miles Killebrew at Southern Utah University and Larry Fitzgerald Jr. at the University of Pittsburgh.
The Media
Journalists, sportscasters and television hosts will be well-represented on graduation stages, including Holly Rowe of ESPN at the University of Utah, Al Roker of NBC’s “Today” at Siena College and Steve Kornacki of NBC News at Marist University.
Jason Gay, a Wall Street Journal sports columnist, will speak at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Jay Shetty, an author and podcast host, will give remarks at Princeton University’s Class Day. Jonathan Karl of ABC News is set to be onstage at Washington College’s commencement, while Scott Pelley of CBS will talk to graduates of Wake Forest University.
The Faithful
Many religious universities selected faith leaders to speak at their ceremonies.
Bobby Gruenewald, a Christian pastor and the founder of the popular YouVersion Bible App, will address graduates of Oral Roberts University. At Brigham Young University, Clark Gilbert, a leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, gave the keynote address this week. Bishop Robert Barron will speak at the Catholic University of America, and the Rev. Ricky Jenkins, who leads a church in California, will address graduates of Wheaton College in Illinois.
Benedictine College, a Catholic institution in Kansas, chose Sister Deirdre Byrne, who is a surgeon and a retired Army colonel, as its commencement speaker.
The Executives
Several universities opted to have a business leader talk to graduates, including Virginia Commonwealth University, which invited Everette Taylor, the chief executive of Kickstarter.
Melonie D. Parker of Google will talk to graduates of Stillman College, and Sal Khan of Khan Academy will be pulling double duty at Johns Hopkins University and Carnegie Mellon University. John May, the founder of a private equity firm, will speak at East Carolina University, and Kristin Huguet Quayle, a vice president at Apple, will speak at Furman University.
The Scholars
While they may lack celebrity status, lots of institutions choose scientists, professors and administrators who are products of the university system to give parting advice to students.
Harvard University, which is embroiled in a legal fight with the Trump administration, invited Dr. Abraham Verghese, a physician and writer, to deliver its keynote address. Dr. Huda Zoghbi, a neurogeneticist, will speak to graduates of Rice University. Charles F. Bolden Jr., a former astronaut and NASA administrator, will be onstage at Ohio State University. Alan M. Dershowitz, a legal scholar who represented Mr. Trump in an impeachment trial, will speak at the New College of Florida.
Angela Duckworth, a psychology professor and author, will speak at Bates College. The California Institute of Technology selected Walter Massey, a physicist. And the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign stayed close to home, choosing its chancellor, Robert J. Jones, to speak to graduates.
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Video: Raising a Baby in Altadena’s Ashes
“So, my daughter, Robin, was born Jan. 5, 2025.” “Hi, baby. That’s you.” “When I first saw her, I was like, ‘Oh my God, she’s here.’” “She was crying and immediately when she was up on my face, she stopped crying.” “I got the room with the view.” “But it wasn’t until way later, I saw a fire near the Pasadena Mountains.” “We’re watching the news on the TV, hoping that it’s just not going to reach our house.” “The Eaton fire has scorched over 13,000 acres.” “Sixteen people confirmed dead.” “More than 1,000 structures have been destroyed.” “And then that’s when we got the call. Liz’s mom crying, saying the house is on fire.” “Oh, please. No, Dios mio. Go back. Don’t go that way. It’s closed. Go, turn. Turn back.” “Our house is burning, Veli.” “Oh my God.” “It was just surreal. Like, I couldn’t believe it.” “There’s nothing left.” “Not only our house is gone, the neighbors’ houses are gone, her grandma’s house is gone. All you could see was ash.” “My family has lived in Altadena for about 40 years. It was so quiet. There’s no freeways. My grandmother was across the street from us. All our family would have Christmas there, Thanksgivings. She had her nopales in the back. She would always just go out and cut them down and make salads out of them. My grandmother is definitely the matriarch of our family. My parents, our house was across the street. And then me and Javi got married right after high school.” “My husband’s getting me a cookie.” “Me and Javi had talked a lot about having kids in the future. Finally, after 15 years of being married, we were in a good place. It was so exciting to find out that we were pregnant. We remodeled our whole house. We were really preparing. My grandmother and my mom, they were like, crying, and they were like, so excited.” “Liz!” “I had this vision for her, of how she would grow up, the experiences maybe she would have experiencing my grandmother’s house as it was. We wanted her to have her childhood here. But all of our preparation went out the window in the matter of a few hours.” “And we’re like, ‘What do we do?’ And then we get a phone call. And it was Liz’s uncle. He was like, ‘Hey, come to my house. We have a room ready for you.’” “In my more immediate family, nine people lost their homes, so it was about 13 people in the house at any given point for the first three months of the fire. It was a really hard time. We had to figure out insurance claim forms, finding a new place to live, the cost of rebuilding — will we be able to afford it? Oh my gosh, we must have looked at 10 rentals. The experience of motherhood that I was hoping to have was completely different. Survival mode is not how I wanted to start. “Hi, Robin.” “Robin — she was really stressed out. “She’s over it.” “Our stress was radiating towards Robin. I feel like she could feel that.” “There was just no place to lay her safely, where she could be free and not stepped over by a dog or something. So she was having issues gaining strength. So she did have to go to physical therapy for a few months to be able to lift her head.” “One more, one more — you can do it.” “All the stress and the pain, it was just too much.” “Then Liz got really sick.” “I didn’t stop throwing up for five hours. Javi immediately took me to the E.R. They did a bunch of tests and figured out it was vertigo, likely stress-induced. It felt like, OK, something has to slow down. I can’t just handle all of it myself all the time. My mom is so amazing and my grandmother, they really took care of us in a really wonderful way. So — yeah.” “We’ve been able to get back on our feet. “Good high-five.” “I think it has changed how I parent. I’m trying to shed what I thought it would be like, and be open to what’s new. Robin is doing much better. She’s like standing now and trying to talk. She says like five words already. Even if it’s not exactly home for Robin, I wanted to have those smells around. You walk in and it smells like home. For us, it’s definitely tamales. My grandmother’s house is not being rebuilt. I can tell she’s so sad. “Let me just grab a piece of this.” “So right now, where Javi’s standing is the front. One bedroom there, here in the middle, and Robin’s bedroom in the corner. My grandma will live with us versus across the street, which is silver linings. Yeah, and we did make space for a garden for her.” “What are you seeing? What do you think? What do you think, Robin?” “The roots of Altadena — even though they’re charred — they’re going to be stronger than before.” “How strong you can be when something like this happens, I think is something that’s really important for her to take on. And that I hope Altadena also takes on.”
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New video shows fatal Minnesota ICE shooting from officer’s perspective
People participate in a protest and noise demonstration calling for an end to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Minneapolis.
John Locher/AP
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John Locher/AP
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota prosecutor on Friday called on the public to share with investigators any recordings and evidence connected to the fatal shooting of Renee Good as a new video emerged showing the final moments of her encounter with an immigration officer.

The Minneapolis killing and a separate shooting in Portland, Oregon, a day later by the Border Patrol have set off protests in multiple cities and denunciations of immigration enforcement tactics by the U.S. government. The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents.
The reaction to the shooting has largely been focused on witness cellphone video of the encounter. A new, 47-second video that was published online by a Minnesota-based conservative news site, Alpha News, and later reposted on social media by the Department of Homeland Security shows the shooting from the perspective of ICE officer Jonathan Ross, who fired the shots.
This image from video made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Jonathan Ross via Alpha News shows Renee Good in her vehicle in Minneapolis on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026.
Jonathan Ross/AP/ICE
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Jonathan Ross/AP/ICE
Sirens blaring in the background, he approaches and circles Good’s vehicle in the middle of the road while apparently filming on his cellphone. At the same time, Good’s wife also was recording the encounter and can be seen walking around the vehicle and approaching the officer. A series of exchanges occurred:
“That’s fine, I’m not mad at you,” Good says as the officer passes by her door. She has one hand on the steering wheel and the other outside the open driver side window.
“U.S. citizen, former f—ing veteran,” says her wife, standing outside the passenger side of the SUV holding up her phone. “You wanna come at us, you wanna come at us, I say go get yourself some lunch big boy.”
Other officers are approaching the driver’s side of the car at about the same time and one says: “Get out of the car, get out of the f—ing car.” Ross is now at the front driver side of the vehicle. Good reverses briefly, then turns the steering wheel toward the passenger side as she drives ahead and Ross opens fire.
The camera becomes unsteady and points toward the sky and then returns to the street view showing Good’s SUV careening away.
“F—ing b—,” someone at the scene says.
A crashing sound is heard as Good’s vehicle smashes into others parked on the street.
Federal agencies have encouraged officers to document encounters in which people may attempt to interfere with enforcement actions, but policing experts have cautioned that recording on a handheld device can complicate already volatile situations by occupying an officer’s hands and narrowing focus at moments when rapid decision-making is required.
Under an ICE policy directive, officers and agents are expected to activate body-worn cameras at the start of enforcement activities and to record throughout interactions, and footage must be kept for review in serious incidents such as deaths or use-of-force cases. The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to questions about whether the officer who opened fire or any of the others who were on the scene were wearing body cameras.
Homeland Security says video shows self-defense
Vice President JD Vance and Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in posts on X that the new video backs their contention that the officer fired in self-defense.
“Many of you have been told this law enforcement officer wasn’t hit by a car, wasn’t being harassed, and murdered an innocent woman,” Vance said. “The reality is that his life was endangered and he fired in self defense.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has said any self-defense argument is “garbage.”
Policing experts said the video didn’t change their thoughts on the use-of-force but did raise additional questions about the officer’s training.
“Now that we can see he’s holding a gun in one hand and a cellphone in the other filming, I want to see the officer training that permits that,” said Geoff Alpert, a criminology professor at the University of South Carolina.
The video demonstrates that the officers didn’t perceive Good to be a threat, said John P. Gross, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School who has written extensively about officers shooting at moving vehicles.
“If you are an officer who views this woman as a threat, you don’t have one hand on a cellphone. You don’t walk around this supposed weapon, casually filming,” Gross said.
Ross, 43, is an Iraq War veteran who has served in the Border Patrol and ICE for nearly two decades. He was injured last year when he was dragged by a driver fleeing an immigration arrest.
Attempts to reach Ross at phone numbers and email addresses associated with him were not successful.

Prosecutor asks for video and evidence
Meanwhile, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said that although her office has collaborated effectively with the FBI in past cases, she is concerned by the Trump administration’s decision to bar state and local agencies from playing any role in the investigation into Good’s killing.
She also said the officer who shot Good in the head does not have complete legal immunity, as Vance declared.
“We do have jurisdiction to make this decision with what happened in this case,” Moriarty said at a news conference. “It does not matter that it was a federal law enforcement agent.”
Moriarty said her office would post a link for the public to submit footage of the shooting, even though she acknowledged that she wasn’t sure what legal outcome submissions might produce.
Good’s wife, Becca Good, released a statement to Minnesota Public Radio on Friday saying, “kindness radiated out of her.”
“On Wednesday, January 7th, we stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns,” Becca Good said.
“I am now left to raise our son and to continue teaching him, as Renee believed, that there are people building a better world for him,” she wrote.
Protesters confront law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.
Adam Bettcher/AP
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Adam Bettcher/AP
The reaction to Good’s shooting was immediate in the city where police killed George Floyd in 2020, with hundreds of protesters converging on the shooting scene and the school district canceling classes for the rest of the week as a precaution and offering an online option through Feb. 12.
On Friday, protesters were outside a federal facility serving as a hub for the immigration crackdown that began Tuesday in Minneapolis and St. Paul. That evening, hundreds protested and marched outside two hotels in downtown Minneapolis where immigration enforcement agents were supposed to be staying. Some people were seen breaking or spray painting windows and state law enforcement officers wearing helmets and holding batons ordered the remaining group of fewer than 100 people to leave late Friday.
Shooting in Portland
The Portland shooting happened outside a hospital Thursday. A federal border officer shot and wounded a man and woman in a vehicle, identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Venezuela nationals Luis David Nico Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras. Police said they were in stable condition Friday after surgery, with DHS saying Nico Moncada was taken into FBI custody
DHS defended the actions of its officers in Portland, saying the shooting occurred after the driver with alleged gang ties tried to “weaponize” his vehicle to hit them. It said no officers were injured.
Portland Police Chief Bob Day confirmed that the two people shot had “some nexus” to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. Day said they came to the attention of police during an investigation of a July shooting believed to have been carried out by gang members, but they were not identified as suspects.
The chief said any gang affiliation did not necessarily justify the shooting by U.S. Border Patrol. The Oregon Department of Justice said it would investigate.
On Friday evening, hundreds of protesters marched to the ICE building in Portland.
The biggest crackdown yet
The Minneapolis shooting happened on the second day of the immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities, which Homeland Security said is the biggest immigration enforcement operation ever. More than 2,000 officers are taking part and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said they have made more than 1,500 arrests.
The government is also shifting immigration officers to Minneapolis from sweeps in Louisiana, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. This represents a pivot, as the Louisiana crackdown that began in December had been expected to last into February.
Good’s death — at least the fifth tied to immigration sweeps since President Donald Trump took office — has resonated far beyond Minneapolis. More protests are planned for this weekend, according to Indivisible, a group formed to resist the Trump administration.
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Trump administration can’t block child care, other program money for 5 states: Judge
A federal judge ruled Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration cannot block federal money for child care subsidies and other programs aimed at supporting needy children and their families from flowing to five Democratic-led states for now.
The states of California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York argued that a policy announced Tuesday to freeze funds for three grant programs is having an immediate impact on them and creating “operational chaos.” In court filings and a hearing earlier Friday, the states contended that the government did not have a legal reason for holding back the money from those states.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it was pausing the funding because it had “reason to believe” the states were granting benefits to people in the country illegally, though it did not provide evidence or explain why it was targeting those states and not others.
The programs are the Child Care and Development Fund, which subsidizes child care for children from low-income families; the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which provides cash assistance and job training; and the Social Services Block Grant, a smaller fund that provides money for a variety of programs.
The five states say they receive a total of more than $10 billion a year from the programs.
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, who was nominated to the bench by former President Joe Biden, did not rule on the legality of the funding freeze, but he said the five states had met a legal threshold “to protect the status quo” for at least 14 days while arguments are made in court.
The government had requested reams of data from the five states, including the names and Social Security numbers of everyone who received benefits from some of the programs since 2022.
The states argue that the effort is unconstitutional and is intended to go after Trump’s political adversaries rather than to stamp out fraud in government programs — something the states say they already do.
Jessica Ranucci, a lawyer in the New York Attorney General’s office, said in the Friday hearing, which was conducted by telephone, that at least four of the states had already had money delayed after requesting it. She said that if the states can’t get child care funds, there will be immediate uncertainty for providers and families who rely on the programs.
A lawyer for the federal government, Kamika Shaw, said it was her understanding that the money had not stopped flowing to states.
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