To: The Wellesley College Community
From: President Paula A. Johnson
Re: Announcing Liz Miranda ’02 as Wellesley’s 2021 Commencement Speaker
Date: April 16, 2021
I am delighted to announce that Massachusetts State Representative Elizabeth “Liz” Miranda ’02, a longtime community organizer and a champion for immigrant rights, gender equality, and racial justice, will address the members of the class of 2021, and their families and friends, at Wellesley’s 143rd Commencement on June 4, to be held on Severance Green and virtually on the Class of 2021 website.
Rep. Miranda serves her home community of the 5th Suffolk district, which comprises the Roxbury and Dorchester neighborhoods of Boston and is one of the commonwealth’s most resilient, diverse, and culturally rich communities. Her efforts as a co-sponsor of the Safe Communities Act, which would protect due process and prevent contracts that allow state and county personnel to act as federal immigration agents, embody her drive to make her district—and the entire commonwealth—a safer place for all of its residents.
Katie Christoph, class co-president, and Lauren Gedney, class co-vice president, shared this with me in a letter on behalf of 2021 Class Council: “In a year where our nation’s ever-fraught sociopolitical realities have been laid bare, we wanted to choose a speaker whose ethos is firmly rooted in justice, empathy, and a commitment to the power and radical promise of grassroots action to effect change. We are honored that Rep. Liz Miranda ’02 will be joining us to commemorate a year—and a resilient senior class—like no other. A steadfast organizer and relentless advocate for immigration, environmental, maternal, and racial justice, we believe Liz is the perfect choice to unify and energize our class after a fragmentary year, and we implore our peers to embrace her ethos of ‘joy as resistance’ in the years to come.”
Through her dedicated service to her community, Rep. Miranda exemplifies Wellesley’s motto: Non Ministrari sed Ministrare. Not to be ministered unto, but to minister. I very much look forward to hearing her remarks.
