College Announces 2006 Graduation Speaker
March 2006
The College of Arts and Sciences has announced that alumna Gloria Allred and College senior Jack Cohen will be the speakers for this year's graduation ceremony. The ceremony will take place on Mother's Day, May 14, at 6:30 p.m. on Franklin Field.
Ms. Allred is a founding partner of the Los Angeles firm Allred, Maroko & Goldberg, one of the nation's pre-eminent employment law firms. A tireless advocate for victims whose rights have been violated, she has fought high-profile legal battles for nearly 30 years. A leading feminist, she has won many honors for pioneering legal work on behalf of women's rights and the rights of minorities in cases of discrimination for gender, race, age, sexual orientation and physical handicap. Ms. Allred is founder and president of the Women's Equal Rights Legal Defense and Education Fund. Time magazine called her "one of the nation's most effective advocates of family rights and feminist causes." Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley awarded her a commendation "for her many outstanding contributions to the justice system."
Ms. Allred can often be heard on the airwaves as an expert commentator on legal issues. She was an Emmy-nominated talk show host on KABC TalkRadio in Los Angeles for 14 years and is a columnist for the legal newspaper The Daily Journal. USA Today selected her as one of the 25 most important radio talk show hosts in America. In 2004, Law & Politics and Los Angeles magazine named her a Southern California "Super Lawyer." Ms. Allred was born in Philadelphia and graduated from Penn's College for Women in 1963. She earned her J.D. from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles.
In place of a traditional address, Ms. Allred will be interviewed by her daughter, Lisa Bloom, who is an anchor and commentator on Court TV.
Jack Cohen is a Physics and Philosophy major from Connecticut. He served as class president in both his freshman and sophomore years. His undergraduate experiences include a semester at the University of Edinburgh and a summer volunteering in an indigenous community in Costa Rica. He has been recognized by the Greater Philadelphia Philosophy Consortium's Undergraduate Conference and was selected as one of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's Campus Activists of the Year.