Decatur, GA – Attorney and activist Layli Miller-Muro will deliver the commencement address for Agnes Scott College’s classes of 2020 and 2021, a press release announced.

Miller-Muro is the founder of Tahirih Justice Center, a national nonprofit dedicated to ending gender-based violence. Tahirih’s holistic model for protection combines free legal services and social services case management with public policy advocacy, education, and outreach.

The center educates thousands of professionals every year to create a community better able to respond to the unique needs of immigrant women and girls. Miller-Muro plans to focus her remarks on justice as a pathway to healing and unity and looking forward from 2020.

After graduating from Agnes Scott in 1993, Miller-Muro was accepted into the American University in Washington, D.C., where she earned a J.D. and an M.A. in International Relations, according to Agnes Scott. As a law student, she represented a 17-year-old girl who had narrowly escaped genital mutilation and forced marriage in Togo. The case climbed to the highest immigration court in the U.S. and set national legal precedent.

“That case sparked my passion but also opened doors to what is my legal career in gender-based issues,” Miller-Muro said. She went on to collaborate with her former client to write a book about the subject, using the proceeds to found the Tahirih Justice Center. In recognition of her work to transform the lives of other women, Miller-Muro has received numerous awards including Newsweek Magazine‘s 150 Fearless Women in the World and Goldman Sachs 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs.

Sharing the platform with Layli Miller-Muro will be alumna Christine “CJ” Elizabeth Brandi Montgomery, who will address the class of 2020. CJ is a first-generation college student from Chattanooga, Tenn. With a major in Africana studies and minor in education, CJ is currently an M.A.T, candidate for Relay Graduate School of Education and a kindergarten teaching resident at KIPP Soul Primary School.

Addressing the class of 2021 will be senior Sydni Perry ’21. Sydni is an English-creative writing major and a music, and theatre minor from Evans, Ga. This aspiring actress has been active in different creative capacities and leadership roles across campus and currently works in the office of President Leocadia I. Zak.

WHEN: Saturday, May 15, 2021

– Class of 2021 | 9 a.m.

– Class of 2020 | 3 p.m.

Both commencements will be in-person for those who can attend, and live streamed promptly at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. at agnesscott.edu.

WHERE: Agnes Scott College, Science Quadrangle, 141 E. College Ave., Decatur, GA 30030

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