Mayor Michelle Wu has abruptly withdrawn as the Class Day speaker for Harvard Law School scheduled on Wednesday, one day before the commencement ceremony, the university confirmed.
The Harvard Graduate Student Union-United Auto Workers prompted the cancellation, according to an email sent to graduating law students Tuesday.
“We are writing to share the disappointing news that, in light of outreach from the HGSU-UAW graduate student union, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu ’12 has informed us that she will not be able to speak at Class Day tomorrow as originally planned,” according to the email provided to the Globe by Harvard. “We look forward to welcoming her back to campus in the future.”
Wu, who graduated from Harvard Law in 2012, was selected by this year’s class to speak on Class Day, which is held the day before Thursday’s commencement.
A spokesperson for Wu did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Globe Tuesday night.
The Harvard Crimson reported that the graduate student union asked Wu not to cross its picket line.
The union representing 4,000 graduate students went on strike in April, citing a lack of progress in negotiations that have stretched on for more than a year for a new contract.
“Mayor Michelle Wu will stand with Harvard’s striking student workers . . . , declining to cross HGSU-UAW’s picket line and withdrawing from her scheduled remarks at Harvard’s Commencement,” Harvard Graduate Student Union said in a statement Tuesday.
The union ” will bring its picket line to Commencement to make clear to the broader Harvard community that these workers deserve conditions that protect them in their workplace and allow them to afford to live while doing this work,” the union statement said.
Wu was the first Harvard College graduate to serve as Boston mayor in more than a century, the university touted when it announced that she would speak at Class Day.
The email to students said that this year’s winner of the Albert M. Sacks-Paul A. Freund Award for Teaching Excellence also would be unable to attend the ceremony.
Professor Naz Modirzadeh, a 2002 graduate, is “unable to take part in Class Day due to a personal matter,” the email said.
“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 day’s events will instead shift toward student award winners, according to the email.
“In consideration of these unexpected circumstances, 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,” the email said.
Tonya Alanez can be reached at tonya.alanez@globe.com. Follow her @talanez.