Boston Mayor Michelle Wu Withdraws as HLS Class Day Speaker After Union Urges Her Not to Cross Picket Line

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu ’07 has withdrawn as the Class Day speaker for Harvard Law School after the Harvard Graduate Student Union-United Auto Workers asked her not to cross its picket line, according to an email sent to graduating law students on Tuesday evening.

Wu’s office said the mayor was “deeply disappointed” not to attend and had spent the past week attempting to reach a compromise with the union that would have allowed her to participate.

“The Mayor is a strong ally of the labor movement and believes in respecting picket lines, but wishes that the union had taken one of the many alternatives available,” a spokesperson for Wu wrote in a statement.

Wu’s team and the HLS Class Marshals had proposed alternatives to the union over the course of several days, including acknowledging the strike from the podium during her remarks or participating virtually, according to a person familiar with the matter. The efforts were unsuccessful.

HGSU-UAW president Denish K. Jaswal wrote in a statement that the union appreciated Wu’s office’s “efforts to find a path forward” but maintained that the proposed alternatives would not have satisfied the picket line.

“While we understand that Commencement activities will carry on, any speaker participation in those activities, regardless of format, would have required crossing our picket line. We thank Mayor Wu for opting not to,” Jaswal wrote.

The Law School did not say whether it plans to find a replacement speaker for the ceremony, which begins Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. HLS Dean of Students and Associate Dean for Community Engagement, Equity, and Belonging Monica E. Monroe wrote in the email that the event would be reoriented around pre-scheduled speeches from affiliates within the school.

“We will refocus the Class Day speaking program tomorrow more squarely on our student award winners and on remarks and tributes to be delivered by our Class Marshals,” Monroe wrote.

Wu was first announced as the Class Day speaker on May 11, when Monroe shared in a press release that the school was “thrilled” to have her speaking at the event. Wu, at the time, called the role a “deeply meaningful honor.”

“This institution helped shape my sense of purpose, and I look forward to celebrating a class that will now shape the world,” she wrote.

HGSU-UAW first announced in a Thursday press release that it had called on several Commencement and Class Day speakers — including Wu, comedian Conan C. O’Brien ’85, former Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), and comedian Ronny Chieng — to boycott the ceremonies in solidarity with the strike.

Jaswal praised Wu’s decision not to speak in a statement to The Crimson, framing it as an act of solidarity with the strike.

“As a stalwart advocate for the city of Boston, Mayor Wu has dedicated her tenure to making Boston a better city for its workers, its families, and its communities,” Jaswal wrote.

“Her decision to stand with HGSU-UAW exemplifies a new generation of leadership, one that does not simply espouse values at a podium but demonstrates them in moments like this one. We are deeply grateful for her solidarity,” she added.

Wu has a long history with Harvard’s graduate student labor movement. In the fall of 2016, as Boston City Council president, she joined other city and state leaders in calling on Harvard’s leadership to remain neutral in the graduate students’ bid to form a union.

Two other scheduled HLS Class Day speakers will also no longer speak during Wednesday’s program. HLS professor Naz K. Modirzadeh — this year’s recipient of the Albert M. Sacks-Paul A. Freund Award for Teaching Excellence — will be unable to take part due to a personal matter, according to Monroe.

Harvard Defenders clinical instructor John Salsberg — the recipient of the Suzanne L. Richardson Staff Appreciation Award — was removed from the speaking program after Wu and Modirzadeh’s withdrawals. Salsberg wrote in a statement to The Crimson that he was informed on Tuesday that he would no longer deliver his prepared remarks.

HLS spokesperson Jeff Neal wrote in a separate statement that, after Wu and Modirzadeh confirmed they would not attend, the school decided to refocus the ceremony and drop Salsberg from the speaking lineup.

“After learning that both Mayor Wu and Professor Modirzadeh would not be participating, the school decided to reorient Class Day to focus on our student award winners and on remarks and tributes to be delivered by our Class Marshals,” Neal wrote.

“The recipients of both the Albert M. Sacks-Paul A. Freund Award for Teaching Excellence and the Suzanne L. Richardson Staff Appreciation Award will be acknowledged from the stage at Wednesday’s ceremony,” he added.

The remaining speakers will be student award winners and the Class Marshals, according to Monroe.

Wu’s withdrawal comes as HGSU-UAW continues the longest strike in its history, now in its 36th day after members began withholding their labor on April 21. The union’s bargaining session with the University last Thursday — the fourth since the strike began — ended without a deal or movement on several core demands.

The next session is scheduled for May 29, and the union plans to picket Commencement and Class Day ceremonies as negotiations draw on.

Earlier this month, roughly 200 first-year Law School students signed letters calling on faculty to endorse a statement supporting the strike and to commit to not hiring replacement workers for striking graduate students. The letters also urged the University to reach an agreement with the union.

—Staff writer Uy B. Pham can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at ubp.88. Follow him on X @uybpham.

—Staff writer Claire L. Simon can be reached at [email protected] and Signal at csimon.13. Follow her on X @ClaireSimon.