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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.
Three San Francisco couples set out Monday for their annual road trip to Ashland, Ore., for the town’s famous Shakespeare festival. They drove separately and planned to meet at 6:30 p.m. on the terrace of their favorite Japanese restaurant there.
They had booked a table for six, but only four showed up for dinner.
Judith and Wylie Sheldon were found dead in their running car on the side of the road to Oregon, shocking their friends and family and leaving a hole in San Francisco’s arts and film world.
Ms. Sheldon, 84, was the daughter of William Wyler — who won three Oscars for best director — and chaired the board of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Mr. Sheldon, 86, was a prominent lawyer.
David Smith, who had befriended the couple more than 40 years ago, said in an interview that he and the others at the dinner table had grown nervous as time ticked on and their friends did not answer repeated calls to their cellphones. They learned they had not checked into their hotel either.
The friends eventually learned from one of the couple’s sons that the California Highway Patrol had found the couple at 5:46 p.m., both dead inside their running Jeep Compass. It was parked on the side of Interstate 5, north of Redding, Calif., more than 100 miles from their destination, the authorities said. Ms. Sheldon was driving, while Mr. Sheldon was in the passenger seat, according to the authorities.
The Redding area on Monday was under an extreme heat warning issued by the National Weather Service. Temperatures reached 109 degrees, according to the Weather Service.
Mr. Smith said he learned from the son that the couple had been found without any water or other liquids in the car. The fan was on high, but the air conditioning was not working, meaning they might have been blasted with hot air, Mr. Smith said. The windows were rolled down. The car had plenty of gas, and there were no signs of mechanical failure or foul play, Mr. Smith said the son told him.
“They didn’t crash. They stopped. They both just died there,” Mr. Smith said. “The entire thing is so bizarre. We’re still in a state of shock.”
The circumstances and cause of the couple’s death is under investigation but “appears to be medically related,” the Highway Patrol said in a statement.
Whether the heat contributed to the couple’s death “may be determined” by an autopsy, a spokesman for the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office said, adding that one had not been scheduled yet and could take several weeks to complete.
“We’ll just have to see,” the spokesman, Tim Mapes, said.
The Sheldons met at Stanford University and had two sons. They lived in a large home in San Francisco’s upscale Pacific Heights neighborhood that had views of the bay from the front and a garden out back.
They hosted many parties there on behalf of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival and sometimes let revelers pose for photos with Mr. Wyler’s Oscar statuettes. Ms. Sheldon fell in love with silent movies after first seeing those created by her father — before his better known blockbusters like “Ben-Hur” and “Roman Holiday” — only about 30 years ago, said Anita Monga, artistic director of the festival.
Stacey Wisnia, the festival’s executive director, said the couple was generous, delightful and unassuming.
Back in Ashland, Ore., Mr. Smith said the four remaining friends had distracted themselves from their grief by attending plays, including “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Come From Away.” They were able to give away their friends’ tickets.
Ms. Monga had last seen Ms. Sheldon just last month at the film festival, which was held at the newly remade Castro Theater.
“This is such a shock,” Ms. Monga said of the deaths. “Also because it’s still a mystery.”
Luigi Mangione appears for a pretrial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, June 17, 2026.
Angelina Katsanis/AP
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Angelina Katsanis/AP
New York — In a dramatic reversal, Luigi Mangione’s legal team on Thursday backed away from a plan to use a psychiatric defense when his case goes to trial in state court in September. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to murdering health insurance CEO Brian Thompson in 2024 on a Manhattan street.
At a hearing only a day earlier before state Judge Gregory Carro, Mangione’s attorneys confirmed that Mangione had been undergoing psychiatric evaluation. They signaled that his defense would be based at least in part on the argument that Mangione was experiencing “extreme emotional disturbance.”
But in a one-line letter sent to Carro on Thursday, Mangione’s team said that “at this time” they no longer intend to introduce psychiatric evidence during the trial. It’s unclear what sparked the shift. Mangione’s team didn’t respond to NPR’s request for comment.
Former Manhattan prosecutor and legal analyst Gary Galperin told NPR it was a “stunning reversal” for Mangione to withdraw from the psychiatric defense. “One can only speculate at this point as to the reasons,” he said.
“What remains, of course, at this point is the question of what defense they will pursue at trial,” he added.
This maneuver came after Carro ordered Mangione’s attorneys to quickly share psychiatric information with prosecutors.
“They need to know what the malady is that this defendant suffers and how that triggered extreme emotional distress,” he said, during Wednesday’s hearing. “I’m not going to let you surprise people on the eve of trial. Get it done.”
Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Joel Seidemann repeatedly complained that Mangione’s team was “stonewalling” the prosecution by withholding medical information about his psychiatric state. “We have gotten nothing,” Seidemann said.
Mangione’s lead attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo denied her team was delaying the court process or improperly withholding information.
But legal analyst Richard Schoenstein says by withdrawing the psychiatric defense, Mangione’s team “is avoiding the court deadline to produce its psychiatric evidence.”
According to Schoenstein, this latest move “does not entirely foreclose” Mangione’s team from returning to some form of psychiatric argument during the trial, but he added that such a defense would now be far more difficult.
Mangione’s case has drawn worldwide attention. Legal experts say the 28-eight-year old has drawn an unusual level of public support because of his criticism of the health insurance industry. Thompson, a father of two, was CEO of UnitedHealthcare at the time of his murder.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Carro also indicated that a tranche of court documents would be made public that apparently relate to Mangione’s potential psychiatric defense. On Thursday, Carro reversed course.
In a signed order, he said that because Mangione will no longer present psychiatric evidence, “the court’s previous order sealing certain transcripts, emails, and documents, remains in effect.”
Mangione’s state trial is scheduled to begin in early September, with a federal trial expected to take place later.
The museums, designed by conservative nonprofits and Trump appointees, tell the story of early America, from colonization to revolution. The one exhibition looking beyond the early years is the “Wall of American Heroes.” It is a list of 51 people, chosen to illustrate 250 years of American history.
A White House spokesman said they were “individuals who shaped this nation’s history, culture and spirit across generations.”
The people pictured on this national honor roll — and the people left out — help illustrate what this administration sees as the highlights of American history.
Amid the administration’s efforts to reshape the nation’s relationship with its past, Trump appointees heavily weighted the list toward a single era of American history — and a few specific kinds of hero.
The other exhibitions in the Freedom Trucks were crafted by a pair of conservative nonprofits, PragerU and Hillsdale College. But the “Wall of American Heroes” was created by Freedom 250, a nonprofit effort whose leaders were chosen by President Trump and that was created to lead the planning of celebrations of the nation’s 250th birthday, overshadowing a bipartisan congressional commission.
A spokeswoman for Freedom 250 said Mr. Trump was not directly involved in the selection of those featured.
But the list clearly tracks Mr. Trump’s own lifetime and the heroes of the conservative political movement.
The wall’s tilt toward heroes of the baby boomer generation, for instance, extends beyond Hollywood stars and musicians. Of the four religious leaders on the list, two — Archbishop Fulton Sheen and the Rev. Billy Graham — also appeared on TV regularly in the 1950s and 1960s. The only painter on the list is Norman Rockwell, known for his idealized depictions of American life in that period.
By contrast, there is only a handful of figures from the first decades of American independence.
“That’s a disservice, if your intention is to present the last 250 years,” said Sarah Weicksel, the executive director of the American Historical Association. “Because all of the people on this list are building on the work and struggles and progress that was made by the people in the 150 years prior.”
The “Wall of American Heroes” was inspired by a similar display in a traveling museum created by the State of Virginia. But Virginia’s display celebrates little-known historical figures.
Mr. Trump’s, by and large, celebrates people who are already well-known — and, often, people who were famous in their own time. For example, it praises P.T. Barnum, a circus impresario who used hoaxes and freak shows to draw crowds. The wall calls him an “icon of American sensationalism.”
The spokeswoman for Freedom 250 said that many of the names on the wall were drawn from a list of 250 people that Mr. Trump wants to include in a “Garden of American Heroes” in Washington.
The spokeswoman declined to say what criteria were used to narrow down the list.
The only president whose name appears on the wall — not on the list of heroes, but alongside his quotation — is Mr. Trump himself.
Explore the Wall of Heroes
Navigate the display by dragging from side to side.
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