Jennifer Granick, Alumna and Civil Liberties Expert, Named as Keynote Speaker for Commencement

New College of Florida announces that Jennifer Granick, director of civil liberties at Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society, will be the keynote speaker at the College’s 48th Commencement on May 23, 2014.
Granick, a 1990 graduate of New College, has been recognized as an expert in the Internet, cyberlaw, privacy and civil liberties for more than a decade, for her work at Stanford and previously at the Electronic Frontiers Foundation.
“We’re thrilled and honored to have Jennifer Granick returning to the campus,” said Dr. Donal O’Shea, president of New College. “She has a deep understanding of how the Internet is woven into our world, and throughout her career has demonstrated the conviction and courage to act on that insight. Her path is in keeping with the best traditions of New College and she is a tremendous role model for our graduates.”
Last summer, Granick was a prominent voice in the debate over the surveillance practices revealed by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden and detailed in The Guardian and The Washington Post. She co-authored columns published in the Times and in The Atlantic magazine shortly after the practices were unveiled, and her writing proved prescient.
The Times article defined how the NSA metadata collection was illegal, a finding later confirmed by the independent Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. The Atlantic article predicted correctly that foreign countries would spurn American internet service companies, costing them valuable business.
Granick received her law degree from University of California’s Hastings College of Law, and went on to practice criminal defense law for a decade before joining the Stanford faculty. She has served as the Center for Internet and Society’s executive director, as civil liberties director at the Electronic Freedom Foundation, and has worked for the Internet law firm ZwillGen PLLC.
At commencement, New College will award Granick an honorary Doctor of Laws degree, the first such degree awarded by the College.