The commencement speaker for UNC’s graduating Class of 2023 is now set.
Prominent civil rights lawyer and founder of the human rights nonprofit Equal Justice Initiative Bryan Stevenson will deliver the spring commencement remarks, UNC announced on Wednesday.
“I’m always excited to speak to college graduates, especially now when there are so many challenges we face in our nation and globally,” Stevenson said in the university’s release. “This generation will have to address critically important issues, and while Commencement is an end, it’s also a beginning of what kind of world graduates will create.”
Stevenson is known for his legal challenges of excessive and unfair sentencing for death row inmates, children who was prosecuted as adults and abuse of mentally ill incarcerated Americans. He has argued and won cases at the U.S. Supreme Court level, later founding the Equal Justice Initiative to combat mass incarceration, excessive punishment in the criminal justice system and racial injustice. In 2018, the organization and Stevenson opened the Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration, as well as the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, to “create new spaces, markers and memorials to address the legacy of slavery, lynching and racial segregation.”
“I’d like graduates to be hopeful about the ways they can change the world, deepen our commitment to human rights and justice for all,” Stevenson said. “I’d love to reinforce the importance of creating lives that are healthy, whole and purposeful.”
“Carolina’s mission calls for us to improve society and to help solve the world’s greatest challenges,” said UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz, “and Bryan Stevenson has done just that in his work in the areas of social justice, equality and reform. He is uniquely suited to address our graduates at this critical time in their lives.”
Bryan Stevenson, renowned public interest lawyer and executive director of @eji_org, will deliver the keynote address at #UNC's Class of 2023 Spring Commencement on May 14. Learn why Stevenson is looking forward to addressing a new generation of leaders https://t.co/oAAgGG8pK0
— UNC-Chapel Hill (@UNC) December 14, 2022
Stevenson did not attend UNC, but his trip to Chapel Hill in the spring will not be the first time he has visited campus. His best-selling book “Just Mercy,” which details his efforts to overturn a wrongful conviction of Walter McMillian and examines systemic racism in the U.S. judicial system, was part of the university’s reading list in 2015 and Stevenson held a discussion session with the UNC community. “Just Mercy” was also included in the Tar Heel Family Reading Program in 2020.
In Wednesday’s release, Stevenson also shared one of his earliest memories of adoration for Carolina: the men’s basketball teams during his youth.
“It started as a child for me when we watched ACC basketball games,” said the civil rights lawyer. “I admired Dean Smith and many UNC players. But working with legends like Julius Chambers, Jack Boger and Ted Shaw also made me think of UNC as a place where great teaching was taking place. North Carolina has a rich history that is key to the future of America, and I think UNC has a central role to play.”
Other recent commencement speakers for UNC’s graduating classes include novelist and English professor Daniel Wallace for the winter 2022 ceremony, New York Times columnist and author Frank Bruni for the spring 2022 ceremony, former UNC basketball head coach Roy Williams for a special Class of 2020 ceremony, and Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett for the Class of 2021.
UNC said its Class of 2023 spring commencement will be held on Sunday, May 14, 2023.
Photo via the Equal Justice Initiative.
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