Elizabeth Warren is this year’s commencement speaker at UMass Amherst
The 2017 undergraduate class at UMass Amherst is getting the Bay State’s senior senator — and one of the country’s most prolific Democrats — as their commencement speaker this May.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren will deliver the keynote address at the university’s graduation ceremony this year, UMass officials announced Monday. The commencement is scheduled for May 12 at the school’s football stadium, McGuirk Alumni Stadium in Amherst.
In a statement, UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy praised Warren’s “staunch advocacy” on education, the environment, and economic justice. Subbaswamy said the senator represents a strong role model for students.
“These issues are in alignment with our campus’s core values and our long history of activism in pursuit of social justice,” said the chancellor. “At UMass Amherst we stand for the hopes, the ambitions, the bold experiments and the innovative solutions of the people of Massachusetts and the world beyond. We share Sen. Warren’s commitment to making a profound, transformative contribution to the common good.”
Subbaswamy went on to specifically highlight Warren’s efforts to reform the student loan system.
Last year, Warren delivered (at-times humorous) commencement addresses at both Suffolk University and Bridgewater State University.
