Members of the Class of 2024 celebrating their graduation during Boston University’s 151st Commencement on May 19.

Commencement 2024

BU Celebrates 7,600 Graduates at Buoyant 151st Commencement

Ceremony includes small student walkout over war in Gaza and a farewell to President ad interim Kenneth Freeman

In a mostly upbeat ceremony, members of the Class of 2024, joined by family and friends, celebrated Boston University’s 151st Commencement at Nickerson Field on Sunday, undeterred by chilly weather and a small student walkout over the war in Gaza.

The ceremony also included a farewell from University President ad interim Kenneth Freeman, who will pass the torch to BU’s incoming 11th President Melissa L. Gilliam on July 1.

“On your shoulders rests the enormous responsibility for guiding our nation and the world, and for addressing the substantial challenges we face,” Freeman told the graduates. “You are the future for Boston University and for humanity.”

Ahmass Fakahany (Questrom’79), chair of BU’s Board of Trustees, asked the assembled 3,700 grads and 20,000 guests to stand and show their gratitude to Freeman.

Commencement speaker and best-selling author David Grann (GRS’94), whose book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI became an Oscar-nominated 2023 thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, told the graduates that their journeys will not necessarily take them where they expect now, and quite often the opposite. His speech, often interrupted by laughter, told of his own twisty journey and a turning point involving the hunt for the elusive giant squid.

At BU, Grann studied with Nobel laureates Saul Bellow (Hon.’04) and Elie Wiesel (Hon.’74) and expected to become a novelist, but as he recounted to the Nickerson Field audience, his inaugural effort was roundly rejected and he found himself in journalism. Soon he was on assignment from The New Yorker, on board a scientist’s tiny boat departing from a New Zealand harbor at night, in a storm, hunting for the elusive giant squid, which has never been captured alive.

Actually, they were hunting for baby giant squid, which are more numerous and presumably easier to capture. But when they finally caught one, they almost immediately lost it. “There was no climactic ending—except perhaps the spectacular end of my career,” Grann said.

But when the scientist vowed that he would never give up, Grann “realized that what had happened on the boat was not only a story, it was far more interesting and revealing about the human condition than anything I had concocted in my imagination.” It also marked the start of his journey to bestseller lists and Hollywood.

“Often the most rewarding moments of our quests are the ones born of seeming setbacks, the ones that opened our eyes to new possibilities and led to triumphant ends we could not fathom,” he said.

After his speech and before the awarding of diplomas, about 100 graduates stood and walked out as a protest against Israel’s conduct of the war with Hamas and its toll on civilians in Gaza. Students chanted and waved Palestinian flags as they exited—countered by a few Israeli flags waving among the graduates and guests—but did not disrupt the flow of the ceremony.

The walkouts joined a group protesting at the intersection of Comm Ave and Harry Agganis Way both for better conditions for BU’s graduate students and residence life workers and condemnation of Israel’s actions in Gaza. Graduates and their families bypassed the protesters, who chanted, yelled through megaphones, and held signs high in the air.

Earlier, student speaker Michael Arellano (CAS’24, GRS’24) told the crowd on Nickerson Field of being “terrified of tomorrow”—of facing an ending to the growth, change, and support they’d had at BU. “I’m trying to understand the beauty of inevitable growth, the beauty of evolving through different eras of our lives, gathering wisdom and experience,” said Arellano, who uses they/them pronouns. 

Grann received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at the ceremony. The other honorary degree recipients were: Rev. Walter Earl Fluker (GRS’88, STH’88), BU’s Martin Luther King, Jr., Professor Emeritus of Ethical Leadership, who delivered the Baccalaureate address at Marsh Chapel on Sunday morning (honorary Doctor of Laws); Claudia Goldin, a Harvard professor and 2023 winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics (honorary Doctor of Laws); and Kenneth Feld (Questrom’70), former trustee and chair of Boston University’s Board of Trustees and chair and chief executive officer of Feld Entertainment (honorary Doctor of Humane Letters).

One of the biggest reactions of the day came when Freeman noted Goldin’s other passion, golden retrievers, and pointed out that BU has recently added a young golden retriever named Bean as its first comfort dog. Bean then appeared on the Jumbotron, to rousing cheers from the graduates. Good dog.

As previously announced, Yuri Corrigan, a College of Arts & Sciences associate professor of Russian and comparative literature, received this year’s Metcalf Cup and Prize, the University’s highest teaching award. Metcalf Awards for Excellence in Teaching went to Veronika Wirtz, a School of Public Health professor of global health, and Alexis Peri, a CAS associate professor of history. 

Freeman accepted this year’s record-breaking class gift of $59,172 from committee cochairs Amanda Brown (COM’24), Sage Winkler (CAS’24), and Yadira Cabrera (COM’24).

In his remarks, Freeman asked the graduates to turn and salute their families, and also acknowledged the 69 United States military veterans and enlistees among the degree recipients. “The University is proud of you and gives you its sincerest thanks, wherever your tours of duty may take you,” he said.

Fakahany noted the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the class. “When today’s senior class entered four years ago, the traditions of first-year students—the Student Walk and the Matriculation ceremony—were held remotely,” Fakahany said. “Students took their classes virtually. Today we confer more than 7,000 degrees in nearly 350 fields of study. And as I look out over this gathering, it is wonderful to see so many of you here in person.”

Reverend Doctor Robert Allan Hill, dean of Marsh Chapel, delivered the invocation, and Reverend Jessica Chicka (STH’07,’11,’19), University chaplain for international students, gave the closing benediction. Stella Fitzgerald (CFA’24) sang the National Anthem and led the traditional singing of BU’s school song, Clarissima.