Actress Sarah Jessica Parker is the Class of 2026’s commencement speaker, Northwestern announced Tuesday. Parker will also receive an honorary Doctor of Arts degree at the ceremony. 

Best known for playing Carrie Bradshaw in “Sex and the City,” Parker is a pop culture icon backed by years of television and Broadway acting credits and awards. She has won multiple Golden Globes and Emmy awards. 

She wrote in a university news release that she is “truly honored” to be addressing Northwestern’s graduating class.

“Sarah Jessica Parker has been a strong supporter of the arts and humanities for many years, and I am thrilled she will be our commencement speaker,” Interim President Henry S. Bienen said in the news release. 

Parker does not have a connection to Northwestern, other than having visited campus before. She came to the School of Communication’s quarterly Dialogue with the Dean series in April 2025. That event sold out quickly, as one would expect. 

Parker follows last year’s Steve Carell and 2024’s Kathryn Hahn, making her the third actor in a row to give Northwestern’s commencement address. 

Commencement will take place on June 14 at the United Center.

The legal fight between Faculty, Alumni, and Students Opposed to Racial Preferences and Northwestern’s Pritzker School of Law is not over yet.

After the conservative group’s lawsuit over the law school’s hiring practices was dismissed in January, the organization appealed the ruling on Friday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit.

The organization first sued the Pritzker School of Law in July 2024, alleging that the law school discriminates against white men in its faculty hiring process. It claimed that the school gave preferential treatment to less-qualified candidates from diverse backgrounds.

The group later voluntarily dismissed the case in January 2025 but filed a similar lawsuit the following day.

FASORP filed that lawsuit on behalf of a group of legal scholars who alleged they were passed over for jobs at Pritzker because they are white men. FASORP is represented by America First Legal, which was co-founded by Trump adviser Stephen Miller.

The new Ryan Field’s construction has drawn significant criticism from both the city of Evanston and the village of Wilmette. Now, as Evanston considers allowing the stadium to host even more sporting events starting in 2027, Wilmette Village Board members are expressing their disapproval. 

The Chicago Stars, the city’s professional women’s soccer team, will play their 2026 season at Northwestern’s temporary lakefront stadium — Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium. But the soccer team is also currently pursuing a permit with the city of Evanston to play at Ryan Field. 

The “unique use” permit would allow the team to play 15 regular season home matches at Ryan Field starting in 2027. The team would rent Northwestern’s stadium for up to five seasons.

Wilmette Village President Senta Plunkett read a letter from her to Evanston’s City Council, Land Use Commission and Mayor Daniel Biss at a board meeting Tuesday. 

“Northwestern has asked a lot from its neighbors in Wilmette and Evanston, and to ask for more while the extent of the adverse impacts of the already approved events remains unknown is unfortunate timing,” Plunkett read aloud. 

The Stars’ application is expected to go before Evanston’s Land Use Commission in March. It will then go to City Council for a final vote.

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