High-profile speakers on campus

  • Michelle Alexander, legal scholar, social justice advocate, columnist at The New York Times, Jan. 15, 2024, MLK Symposium keynote. 
  • Ted Deutch, former U.S. Representative and senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of a founding member of the Hamas terrorist organization and author of NYT Bestseller “Son of Hamas,” Nov. 28, 2023.
  • Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (MI), Jan. 12, 2023. Climate conversation.
  • U.S. Reps. Elissa Slotkin (D) and Peter Meijer (R), Feb. 16, 2021. Voices across the aisle in challenging times.
  • Henry Louis Gates, Jr. & Eric Foner, Jan. 29, 2021. How a divided nation comes together. 
  • Nusrat Durrani, Award-winning Media Executive and Producer of “An American Prayer,” Oct. 30, 2020.
  • Maria Elena Salinas, CBS News contributor, and Bryan Llenas, Fox News national correspondent, Oct. 21, 2020.
  • Trevor Noah, host of the Daily Show, Oct. 20, 2020.
  • Jocelyn Benson (D), Michigan Secretary of State with Frank LaRose (R), Ohio Secretary of State, Oct. 9, 2020.
  • Lawrence H. Summers (D), former Secretary of the Treasury, and Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Oct. 7, 2020.
  • Anita Earls, associate justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, Sept. 29, 2020.
  • Larry Hogan (R), governor of Maryland, Sept. 11, 2020.
  • Shaka Senghor, March 19, 2020. Writing My Wrongs, STAMPS speaker series.
  • Angela Davis, Jan. 19, 2020. MLK Symposium keynote.
  • Gene Sperling, economic adviser to Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, April 15, 2019. Economic Dignity.
  • Christiana Figueres, architect of Paris Climate Agreement March 14, 2019, Advancing Climate Action. 
  • Ben Shapiro, editor-in-chief of The Daily Wire and host of “The Ben Shapiro Show,” March 12, 2019.
  • Steven Crowder, host of Louder with Crowder, Oct. 25, 2018.
  • Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, Feb. 13, 2018.
  • Charles Murray, author, Oct. 11, 2017.
  • Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Sept. 19, 2017.
  • Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Jan. 30, 2017.
  • Noam Chomsky, 2017, 2013. Political activism and language.
  • Ben Carson, Dec. 9, 2016. Republican presidential candidate.
  • David Horowitz, Nov. 30, 2016. Progressive censorship.
  • The Rev. Jesse Jackson, Nov. 16, 2016. Fifty years of civil rights leadership.
  • The Young Turks live broadcast, Oct. 3, 2016.
  • Tim Kaine, Sept. 13, 2016. Democratic vice presidential candidate.
  • Ben Shapiro, April 7, 2016. Free speech.
  • Cathy Young & Lauren Southern, March 28, 2016. Free speech.
  • Milo Yiannopoulos and Julie Bindel, Feb. 23, 2016. Feminism.
  • Bill Ayers and Dinesh D’Souza, Feb. 3, 2016. The fight between left and right.
  • U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Feb. 6, 2015.
  • Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, 2016 spring commencement.
  • Izzy Ezegui, Nov. 20, 2014. Squad commander in the Israel Defense Forces.
  • Angela Davis, Jan. 21, 2013. Prison industrial complex.
  • Charles Murray & Jared Bernstein, Sept. 11, 2012. The Other America: Then & Now.
  • U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, Oct. 31, 2011, moving up the economic ladder.
  • Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, 2011 spring commencement.
  • U.S. Sen Rob Portman, R-Ohio, 2011 U-M Law School commencement speaker.
  • President Barack Obama, 2010 spring commencement.
  • Chief Justice John Roberts, Sept. 11, 2009.
  • President Bill Clinton, 2007 spring commencement.
  • President George H.W. Bush, 1991 spring commencement.