October 21, 2009

Mitchell hosts naturalization ceremonies for 300 new U.S. citizens

About 300 new U.S. citizens participated in naturalization ceremonies Oct. 21 at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul. This was the first time William Mitchell has hosted naturalization ceremonies.

U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson, a 1963 William Mitchell graduate, administered the oath of citizenship to 147 Minnesota residents from 43 countries at a morning ceremony in the law school’s Auditorium. U.S. District Court Donovan Frank, a William Mitchell adjunct professor, administered the oath to another 150 applicants in an afternoon ceremony.

“It is very appropriate that the law school should host this naturalization ceremony because one of the first steps in navigating the process of law was established by the lawyers of this nation, who are an integral part of our judicial system.”

In his welcome, Mitchell President and Dean Eric Janus told the audience that Mitchell was founded 109 years ago by immigrants who needed a law school where they could study at night and raise families.

“I can think of nothing more fitting than to have this ceremony in a place where the rule of law is preserved and flourishes,” Janus said.

Among the ceremony officiates were second-year Mitchell student Scott Cody, Judge Magnuson’s intern, who called the Court to order, and Rebecca Arsenault Herize, a 2005 Mitchell alumni and attorney for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, who presented the morning group for citizenship.