Michelle Wu Withdraws From Harvard Law Class Day Over Picket Line
michelle wu withdrew as Harvard Law School’s Class Day speaker after the Harvard Graduate Student Union-UAW asked her not to cross its picket line. Her office said Tuesday evening that she was deeply disappointed not to attend, after spending the past week trying to reach a compromise.
Harvard Law Class Day
Wu was first announced as the speaker on May 11, and she said then that the role was a deeply meaningful honor. She added, “This institution helped shape my sense of purpose, and I look forward to celebrating a class that will now shape the world.”
The mayor’s office said she is a strong ally of the labor movement and believes in respecting picket lines. Wu’s team and the HLS Class Marshals proposed alternatives, including acknowledging the strike from the podium or taking part virtually, but those options did not resolve the dispute.
HGSU-UAW Picket Line
Denish K. Jaswal, the HGSU-UAW president, said the union appreciated Wu’s office’s efforts to find a path forward. He said the proposed alternatives would not have satisfied the picket line, adding, “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.”
The union said in a Thursday press release that it had called on several Commencement and Class Day speakers to boycott the ceremonies in solidarity with the strike. Those speakers included Conan C. O’Brien, Mitt Romney, and Ronny Chieng.
Monica E. Monroe Email
Monica E. Monroe, the HLS dean of students, said the school would shift the ceremony around the speakers it still has. “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,” she wrote in an email to graduating law students.
The law school did not say whether it plans to find a replacement speaker for the ceremony, which was scheduled to begin Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. Graduating students will now hear a different program structure, with the school turning to award winners and class marshal remarks instead of Wu’s address.
