Harvard graduate students have been on strike since April 21.
John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe/Getty Images
Boston mayor Michelle Wu withdrew from speaking at a Harvard Law School commencement event Wednesday after learning that striking graduate student workers had plans to picket the event.
Wu, who graduated from Harvard Law in 2012, was scheduled to speak at the law school’s Class Day, held the day before commencement. According to a Harvard Law spokesperson, the Harvard Graduate Student Union reached out to Wu to discourage her from participating in the event.
The mayor’s office proposed alternatives to withdrawing entirely, including having Wu acknowledge the strike from the podium or participate in the event virtually. In exchange, her office asked the union to “either not picket during her remarks or not consider her participation as crossing the picket line,” a union spokesperson told Inside Higher Ed. For its part, the union offered to have Wu speak to graduates at an off-campus venue. Neither side agreed on an alternative.
