Shaker Heights commencement speaker withdraws amid growing petition

Jordan Unger
·2 min read
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SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio (WJW) – Former Congresswoman and retired Secretary of HUD Marcia Fudge has withdrawn from speaking at the Shaker Heights High School commencement ceremony.

The school district made the announcement on its website Friday evening, stating that Fudge, “asked to withdraw as guest speaker at the Class of 2024 Commencement. Superintendent Dr. David Glasner accepted Fudge’s offer to withdraw Friday afternoon.”

The decision comes after more than 900 people signed a petition to have the former congresswoman removed as a guest speaker on June 5 due to her connection to a murdered teacher in the district.

On Thursday, FOX 8 reporter Suzanne Stratford spoke with graduating senior Catherine Monroe, who said it’s difficult to separate Fudge from the death of Ms. Alisha Fraser.

In 2015, then-Rep. Marcia Fudge (D) wrote a letter to Cuyahoga County prosecutors on behalf of former Judge Lance Mason, asking for leniency and calling him a “good man” after he pleaded guilty to domestic violence charges from 2014, including punching and choking Fraser in front of their kids.

After the couple divorced and Mason was given a second chance, he returned and murdered Fraser in 2018 at her Shaker Heights home.

After Fraser’s murder, Fudge released a statement that reads, in part:

“My heart breaks for Aisha Fraser. I pray for Aisha’s family, especially her children. My Support of Lance Mason was based on the person I knew for almost 30-years. The person who committed these crimes is not the Lance Mason familiar to me. They were horrific crimes, and I condemn them.”

Fraser, who was beloved by students like Monroe, taught sixth grader at Woodbury Elementary. Monroe said the Class of 2024 was the last group taught be Ms. Fraser.

“We’d like a speaker who embodies the values of Shaker and is able to support the students moving forward and me personally, I just don’t think I could sit through the graduation,” Monroe said on Thursday. “The class of 2024 was the last class Ms. Fraser ever taught fully so I think that was inconsiderate and inappropriate.”

FOX 8 reached out but wasn’t able to get a comment from former Secretary Fudge on Thursday.

In Friday’s update, the school district said it was reviewing the commencement program.

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