Reno to Speak at Law School Commencement

U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno will be the keynote speaker at the Law School's Commencement exercises, school officials said earlier this week.

Reno joins a plethora of Clinton administration luminaries also speaking at Harvard over Commencement Week.

Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Colin L. Powell, Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna E. Shalala and U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders will also be making the trip north from Washington to Cambridge to speak at various events June 9 and 10.

Reno, who is a 1963 graduate of the Law School, was invited by the graduating students' Class Committee.

The committee invited Reno after surveying members of the class. Reno was the only speaker the class invited.

"We held out. We thought that if we could get her it would be worth it," said Jodi Grant, first marshall of the graduating class.

"She is such a model of integrity, at a time when lawyers are getting flak for not having any," Grant said.

"Harvard Law School is proud to claim Janet Reno as one of our graduates," said Dean Robert C. Clark.

"Her voice and presence at graduation will provide invaluable inspiration to a new generation of lawyers," Clark said.

Reno will be only the third Commencement Speaker in the Law School's history. The custom began in 1991.