Laura Coates, anchor and chief legal analyst for CNN, has been selected to speak at the Class of 2024 Commencement.
Coates grew up in St. Paul, graduated from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs in 2001 and returned to Minnesota to attend law school at the University of Minnesota, where she graduated in 2005. She started her career as an attorney in Minnesota and later moved to New York. She then worked for the U.S. Department of Justice as a federal prosecutor.
Coates joined CNN in 2016, where she anchors “Laura Coates Live.” She is the author of two books: “You Have the Right: A Constitutional Guide to Policing the Police” and “Just Pursuit: A Black Prosecutor’s Fight For Fairness.”
Coates was chosen by Macalester senior administration earlier this week and, as is customary, will receive an honorary degree at Commencement and deliver a keynote speech.
“We are honored to celebrate Ms. Coates, whose pursuit of justice in her career as an attorney, author and journalist aligns closely with Macalester’s values,” President Suzanne Rivera wrote in an email to The Mac Weekly. “We look forward to welcoming her to campus, and back home to St. Paul, as an honorary degree recipient and our 2024 Commencement speaker so that our community may be inspired by her dedication to making the world a better and more just place.”
Macalester’s Class of 2024 Commencement will take place on Saturday, May 11 in the Macalester Stadium.
