Wu cancels speech to Harvard Law graduates as grad workers picket commencement

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has pulled out of speaking at Harvard Law School’s Class Day ceremony on Wednesday, in consideration for graduate student workers who are on strike and picketing during commencement week.

Graduates were informed of the decision a day ago, according to an email shared by the law school.

In a statement, Wu’s office said despite “repeated efforts” to reach a compromise with the union to appear before the graduates, those were unsuccessful.

“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,” the statement reads.

The Harvard Graduate Student Union, HGSU-UAW, has been striking since April 21 after 15 months of unsuccessful negotiations with the university. The union, which represents 4,000 members, has been pushing for higher wages, protections for non-citizen workers and independent investigation procedures for student workers facing harassment or discrimination.

Denish Jaswal, a PhD student and bargaining committee member, said the union is picketing throughout commencement week, “ to make clear to the broader Harvard community that our workers deserve conditions that protect us in our workplace and allow them to afford to live while doing this work.”

She added the union is “very proud that Mayor Michelle Wu will stand with Harvard striking student workers.”

Wu is a 2007 Harvard College and 2012 Harvard Law School alumna. She cancelled a previous Harvard appearance in 2024, after student groups withdrew support for the event amid arrests on other local campuses of students protesting the war in Gaza.

Harvard Law School’s Class Day is one of multiple graduation ceremonies happening across the Cambridge campus this week. Commencement activities started Tuesday with President Alan Garber addressing seniors. They culminate with the main university-wide commencement on Thursday.

Wu offered the union alternatives, including delivering her remarks virtually or acknowledging the strike from the podium, according to Jaswal. But she said those options “would have necessitated her crossing the picket line.”

Jaswal added that the union offered for Wu to deliver her speech off-campus but that the mayor declined.

Grad student workers will picket Thursday from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. to coincide with the main commencement, Jaswal said.

Though the union requested “all speakers to not cross our picket line,” Jaswal said on Wednesday the union has “not heard much back from others yet.” Slated to speak Wednesday at the undergraduate Class Day is comedian and actor Ronnie Chieng; Conan O’Brien is the main commencement speaker on Thursday.

In the Tuesday email to graduates, the law school stated it would “refocus” the speaking portion of its ceremony on “student award winners and on remarks and tributes” by class marshals.

“While we are very sorry about the last-minute changes to tomorrow’s program, we are excited to celebrate you, the fantastic Class of 2026,” the email said.

The union and university officials have met at the bargaining table three times since workers went on strike. The next bargaining session is Friday.

“The University remains committed to reaching an agreement," a Harvard spokesman said in a statement. "One that continues to recognize — as the union’s two previously-ratified contracts have — the important role student workers have in fulfilling Harvard’s teaching and research mission.”